The Cross

Chapter Thirty-Nine

‘Can I have a word?’ Carter asked as Joel wandered into St Aldates police station just before eleven the following morning. Joel was too dulled from hunger to ask what it was about, but he nonetheless noticed the stern note of authority in his friend’s voice.

Once in the privacy of his office, Carter shut the door, turned to him and shook his head. ‘Maybe I wasn’t clear, but I thought you were back on the job now.’

‘I am,’ Joel said weakly.

‘So where’ve you been the last thirty-six hours?’

Joel sat heavily in a chair. What could he tell him? That after a despairing night curled up on the floor of an empty London apartment he’d paced the streets of the city for endless hours, trying to ignore the terrible hunger pains that were getting worse by the hour? Could he tell him about the homeless man down by the Thames embankment that he’d stalked? How he’d very nearly given in to the almost overwhelming urge to attack him and drink his blood? That if it wasn’t for the fact he knew it was futile, all he wanted to do was put a shotgun to his own forehead?

‘I was chasing up a potential lead for the Stone case,’ he said, rubbing his eyes. ‘Turned out to be nothing.’

‘Pull it together, Joel, you don’t look good.’ Carter glanced at his watch and winced. ‘Fuck. Listen, I need a progress report from you but you’ll have to fill me in on the way. We had a right nasty murder up in North Oxford last night.’

Carter was acting testy and distracted as the car took them across the city and listened to Joel’s weary report on just how little progress was being made on the Stone/Lonsdale case. It didn’t take long to bring Carter up to date, and by the time they’d reached the crime scene in Frenchay Road and waded through the cordons of police tape, Joel had pretty much run dry of things to say. Carter wasn’t happy. Following him inside the house, where the forensics team led by Jack Brier were still combing for evidence, Joel’s nostrils twitched at the scent that hung in the air. Blood had been spilled here. A lot of blood.

‘Should have seen this place yesterday,’ Jack Brier said cheerfully. ‘I’ve seen some butcher’s yards in my time, but this was something else.’

Joel was already visualising it with a clarity that took his breath away. He could see blood pooled lusciously across the floor, almost taste the glistening red rivulets that trickled down the walls. He could hear the big round fat red velvety drips of it sploshing down from the mantelpiece. For a moment he was swimming through an ocean of it, warm and smooth as melted chocolate, laughing deliriously as he gulped down swallow after swallow …

‘… Matt Dempsey,’ Carter’s voice said, breaking in on his daydream, and Joel realised he’d been talking to him. ‘History guy, American, museum curator. Looks like an aggravated burglary, but we’re still not sure what’s been taken, if anything. Some dusty old relic that’s probably worth a couple of bob on eBay or down the local flea market. Dempsey’s daughter was here when it happened. Poor kid saw everything. She’s in the JR being treated for shock. Williams and Keenan have been to talk to her.’

Even in his dulled state of mind, Joel remembered all too well his past encounters with Inspector Murdo Williams. ‘Williams hasn’t been put on this, has he? The guy’s a total spoon.’

‘You think I should have given it to you?’ Carter said.

Joel ignored the dig. ‘Any idea who did it?’

‘How’re we doing on those DNA results, Jack?’ Carter boomed.

‘Have something for you tickety-boo,’ Brier called back jovially from across the room.

‘Better have,’ Carter said. ‘Though from the daughter’s description of the guy and what the bastard did here,’ he said in a lower tone, turning to Joel, ‘we all know who the money’s on. The fucking bastard vampire.’

Joel’s eyes opened wide. ‘The what?’

‘Not the kind you were so obsessed with lately,’ Carter said. ‘This loony just thinks he’s a vampire. Even filed his teeth to look like fangs.’ He shook his head quizzically at Joel’s expression. ‘Headline news, St Elowen massacre, jailbreaks, maniac sword killer on the loose, nationwide manhunt — none of that ringing any bells? Guess you haven’t been watching the telly.’

‘No.’

‘What have you been doing?’

Joel shrugged.

Carter put a hand on his shoulder. ‘I wouldn’t ask, but you really do look like shit. Maybe you should go home. What’s that bottle you keep fiddling with?’

Joel hadn’t even been aware he’d been clutching it. It was completely empty now. ‘It’s nothing,’ he said, tucking it back in his pocket.

‘Jesus, that looked like fucking blood all crusted around the neck of it,’ Carter said with a grimace.

‘It’s a sports drink,’ Joel said. ‘High protein stuff. Keeps me energised.’

‘Well it ain’t working, mate.’

‘There’s nothing wrong with me,’ Joel protested.

‘Got to be frank, Joel. I wouldn’t have stuck my neck out for the old man to bring you back on the job if I’d thought you weren’t up to it.’

‘I’ll be fine,’ Joel said.

Carter wasn’t any more convinced than Joel was himself about that. ‘All right, listen. Go home. Take the rest of the day off. I’ll cover for you when I get back to the nick. But tomorrow I want you back at work looking and acting like the Joel Solomon I used to know before you started getting all weird on me. Got it?’

The driver of the unmarked police car seemed a little bemused when Joel got him to drop him off at a little butcher’s shop on Walton Road, half a mile from his flat. Black pudding was made of blood, Joel figured, so maybe it would help the hunger. He was chewing on a mouthful of it as he walked the rest of the way home. He didn’t feel any better yet.

Halfway up the street, his phone rang. He swallowed down the revolting mouthful, answered the phone and heard an excited voice that he recognised immediately. ‘Dec?’

‘Joel! I’ve been shitting meself worrying about you. Are you okay?’

‘I’m back,’ was all Joel could reply.

‘Did you get them? The vampires?’

‘I got some.’

‘What about that Stone?’

‘I got shot before I could get him. I think he might have escaped.’

‘You got shot? Jesus.’

‘Just winged me,’ Joel said. ‘Nothing major.’

‘Listen, Joel, this is frigging amazing and you’re never going to believe me, but I’ve got some news,’ Dec gabbled. ‘I’m teamed up with this guy, a vampire hunter. A proper pro, he is. You should see this place. I told him all about you, about the cross and stuff. You should come out here and join up with us.’

Joel groaned inwardly. He’d told the kid to stay away from all this. ‘What vampire hunter?’

‘Errol Knightly’s his name. Written a book about them, too. The stuff he says in it, Joel, blow your mind. I can’t put the frigging thing down, so I can’t. It’s called—’

Joel had already pulled out his police-issue BlackBerry, tossed the remains of the black pudding in the nearest litter bin, and was running an online search. ‘Got it. They Lurk Amongst Us,’ he finished for Dec, scrolling quickly through the site as he walked.

‘That’s it. That’s the one.’

‘Come on, Dec. Open your eyes. You don’t really think this guy Knightly—’

But Dec was too carried away to listen. ‘If we could team up, with you and the cross and all, and then start recruiting more guys, we could have a whole frigging vampire hunter army. Just think, Joel. The Federation might even get to hear about us, and want to join forces, like. That’d be just so cool. Think how many of the fuckers we could put away. And Errol said that—’

Joel was just about to interrupt him by saying, ‘I don’t have the cross any more, and I don’t know where it is’ when something else he’d caught from Dec’s high-speed babble made him stop. ‘Hold on. Backtrack. What did you just say about the Federation? What Federation?’

‘Errol’s got this video footage from Romania. There’s this group called the Federation that go round destroying vampires with some kind of special gun. They have these agents, highly trained. Errol reckons it’s a black ops branch of the CIA, or MI5, you know, like Spooks? Or maybe it’s some kind of military special forces team that nobody’s ever heard of. I told you this was frigging amazing, didn’t I?’

As Dec was babbling on, Joel had found the TV interview on Knightly’s website. ‘You’ve actually seen this footage?’

‘It’s awesome!’ Dec burst out. ‘Errol’s just about to upload it to the site, any time now. There’s this woman agent who works for the Federation. She’s a stunner, so she is, with this great big frigging hand cannon that must be one of their secret weapons. She’s not scared or anything. She’s cool. You see her shoot this vampire, and he just frigging explodes, man—’

Joel was gripping the phone so tightly that the plastic casing was beginning to crack. ‘Are you at Knightly’s place right now? Give me the address. I’m on my way.’