The Realms Thereunder

4

Daniel spied the police officers when he was already mostly down St. Michael’s Street. They were standing outside of the Gatehouse, and although that wasn’t a common sight, it wasn’t particularly rare either-it just meant that he wouldn’t be able to nag the staff about getting in.

The coppers were talking to some of the guests while the staff stood in the doorway. Someone turned-Daniel now recognised him as Scouse Phil-and called out.

“Johnny! Johnny Boy! Wait up!”

Daniel slowed and looked behind him. There was no one around him, but Phil was definitely talking, and walking, directly to him.

“Keep walking,” Phil said in a lower voice once he was nearer.

“Don’t look around, just smile and greet me.”

Daniel jerked his head upwards and slapped Phil on the arm as he came to walk alongside him. One of the police officers turned her head to study Daniel and Phil. Her face registered them disinterestedly and then turned back to the group.

“Are you in trouble, like, Danny? Those officers there want to talk to ya. Thought ya’d want to be told. Have ya done anything any of us should know about?”

Daniel only frowned and shook his head.

“We’s got to stick together, right? I wouldn’t tell them about you-just like you wouldn’t tell them about me, right? I scratch your back, and we wash each other’s hands, right?”

“Of course,” Daniel said, trying to sound reassuring.

“Champion. Well, best lay low awhile, and stay out of the usual haunts, just for a few days-that’s as long as the pigs usually stay interested.”

“Sure. Cheers, Phil.”

“Be seein’ ya, Danny Boy.”

They had reached the end of the street and they split. Daniel headed towards George Street, planning a route of escape, and then realised with a start that today was the day he had arranged to meet Freya. He had to make his way up to Summertown and dodge the police that were prowling for a vagrant matching his description. At all costs he would have to avoid the canal where he’d made his kill, which would have been an ideal route otherwise. That left Jericho as a possibility, though not a great one. He was just going to have to stick to the side roads and chance it.

A couple nerve-racking hours later, he made it. He tried to stick to streets with a lot of parked cars on them for cover. Of course that thinned out the farther he went into affluent North Oxford, but there was more street parking as soon as he crossed Marston Ferry Road into Summertown.

Now he pushed open the wooden lych-gate of the church of St. Michael and All Angels and stepped into the churchyard. Passing row after row of worn, weathered tombstones, he thought, All these people came before me, with lives nearly as big as my own . . .

He twisted the oversized iron ring that hung on the large double doors of the church, which responded with a half turn and a sharp clack. Pushing the door open, he stepped inside.

The church was rather plain, as churches go. He was still cold, but warmer for being out of the wind and the rain. He slid into a pew and closed his eyes. He was tired and began to nod off.

There was the thump of something flat hitting the stone floor. Daniel turned and saw a thin old man with dusty grey hair standing near the door of the church. He clutched a handful of narrow slips of paper and was inserting them into a stack of order of service books. He smiled, made an apologetic face, and bent to pick up the book he’d dropped.

Daniel studied him for a moment. Was this man going to make him leave, or was he just keeping an ostentatious eye on him? This man could make trouble for him if he wanted to. Perhaps it would be better to wait for Freya outside.

He stood and started to make his way out. To do so, he passed the old gentleman, who looked up, smiling. “Can I help you?”

“I’m just leaving,” Daniel said.

“That’s not what I asked. I said, can I help you?”

“No, I’m fine,” Daniel said, and turned to go.

“Hold up a bit,” the old man said, reaching into his back pocket. He withdrew a wide leather wallet, removed a bank note, and gave it to Daniel.

“No thanks, I’m fine,” Daniel said, looking at the square of paper.

The old man took Daniel’s wrist and shoved the money between his fingers. Daniel kept his eyes on it-there was something odd about the way it looked.

“Is there anything else?”

“What?” Daniel asked.

“You didn’t come in here to ask for money.”

Daniel couldn’t work out if the note was for five pounds or ten.

The colours, in this low light, seemed to be somewhere between.

Was it for fifty? The man’s words registered then. “Sorry?”

“What did you come here for?”

“I was waiting for someone.”

“Oh, do they attend this church?”

Daniel examined the note more closely. The shapes didn’t seem to add up. He pulled it tight and held it steady.

“I don’t know.”

“What is their name?”

There was something wrong with what he was holding. His arm stiffened as he thrust the money back at the man. “Here, take this, I don’t want it.”

“But you asked me for it.”

“No, I don’t need it. It’s too much.”

“Too much? I don’t understand . . .”

“Take your money!” Daniel yelled at the old man.

“But I didn’t give you money.”

“What?” Daniel looked down at his hand. He was holding one of the slips of paper-a notice sheet-that the man had been inserting into the books. “Oh.” He tried to read it but couldn’t.

“Come back and see me if you like. I’ll be here.”

“Okay-thanks.” Daniel shoved the paper in his pocket and left. He hurried down the church path, towards the street. He looked past the wooden lych-gate and to the street. There was a familiar figure approaching him-Freya. He raised a hand to greet her and saw a shape slide out from behind a privet hedge behind her.

“No!” Daniel shouted, breaking into a run. He barrelled through the wooden gate and suddenly felt himself falling forward. The ground was no longer where it should have been. He didn’t fall far, but landed with a jolt that knocked the air from his lungs.

When he raised his head, he saw that the sky was clear now and the sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky. He was lying in the middle of a wide field of green grass and there wasn’t a building in sight.