Page 48 of The Vampire and the Case of the Malevolent Mermaid

Finally, a familiar barking mrrow made me gasp with relief. My lynx was up ahead. ‘Shadow!’ I called out. ‘Where are you?’

‘Mrrow!’

I followed his voice.

The stench was growing stronger and it was one I knew: it was the scent of death and putrefaction. Maybe the girls hadn’t escaped at all and whatever awaited us wasn’t a rescue mission but a body recovery.

The ground gradually rose, the culvert pipe ended, the passage became cement again and we stepped out of the water. There were metal doors here; I’d seen similar ones at the mine where the Knight Stalkers had set up a base. This place might have originally been built as a bomb shelter; that’s exactly what this section looked like – a World War Two relic, all concrete walls and claustrophobic charm.

I had no idea where this section would open up but there were stairs at the end of the space, similar to the ones where we’d entered. This section had two rooms and the main one had an arched metal door that appeared to be much newer, though it squealed badly when we opened it; it needed a serious application of grease to the hinges.

I half-expected to find the girls behind the door but the room was empty of everything but cobwebs, dust and old radio equipment. On the other side of the room was another, older looking door that was partially open

That was where the stench was emanating from. Oh boy.

I wrinkled my nose and went to open the door even though I really didn’t want to because I didn’t want to see Kate and Essie’s young corpses on the other side. It was ridiculously heavy and the hinges rusted, and even with my vampire strength I barely moved it. Connor came to help, and then Malpass.

Finally the door opened wide enough for us to squeeze through. I could hear Shadow breathing; at least there was one living thing to rescue.

I’d been worried I’d find two dead girls but the room held old supplies and food from the 1940s or 50s. Something – or someone– had been through it recently, and by recently I meant within the last few years. Dry goods and tins had been torn open and scattered across the room. The stench was a foul mix of spoiled food and the mould that had well and truly taken hold of the room. I shone my light around, searching for a clue as to where the girls had gone.

Shadow appeared from behind a stack of metal barrels carrying what looked like a human leg bone in his mouth … complete with shoe.

That was the grossest-ever cat present.

Chapter 29

‘Drop that!’ I shouted, but Shadow wasn’t Fluffy so he blithely came up to my feet andthenhe dropped it. Ewwww. He looked up at me and mrrowed proudly. He’d brought me a gift. Lucky me.

I felt Connor’s hand rest on the small of my back and my stress level dropped a little for the first time since I’d met him and his father’s men. He didn’t keep it there long, just enough to reassure me, and he made sure his touch was obscured by his body.

We squatted down to examine what Shadow had found. ‘Look at that shoe,’ I said.

‘Definitely a man’s.’

‘Yeah, but how old? That style isn’t recent.’

‘No, it’s old,’ Connor replied. ‘Maybe from the 1940s? That would be my guess.’

I resisted the urge to ask him what he’d been wearing in the 1940s. I rarely felt the age gap between us but moments like this reminded me that Connor had a wealth of experience that I hadn’t shared and never would.

Shadow lay down next to the bones. It looked like he’d grasped the entire leg; the only thing holding the joints together was a fewleathery strips of desiccated flesh. I stood up and peered behind the barrels. The rest of the body had to be back there, right?

It wasn’t. Had someone tossed a random leg back there like some kind of pirate's leftovers? Maybe this was a pirate's idea of tidying up. As I shone my light around, I noticed that one barrel had been knocked over and its lid was off. I peered inside and immediately wished I hadn’t because inside it was the remainder of the body.

I recoiled and at the same time, my mind went into overdrive. Supernats lived a long time – could this also be the work of the person who had taken Kate and Essie? Had he been a serial killer before moving into the sex slave industry? But surely that didn’t make sense. Didn’t serial killers usually escalate their crimes, not dial them down to make a bit of extra cash.

I looked at the six other barrels and my stomach lurched. ‘Do you think ... ?’

Connor frowned. ‘Only one way to find out.’

The barrels had rusty metal buckles sealing the lids. He chose one, popped off the buckle, glanced inside – and instantly recoiled. ‘Yep. We got another one.’

Each barrel contained a corpse. Nothing had been done to preserve them and air must have seeped in the containers; the bodies were mostly desiccated and there wasn’t much left but bones and dried tissue.

I took more pictures but these crimes weren’t my focus; they couldn’t be. These deaths were way before my time; besides, the dead could wait for us to hunt down their killers and lay them to rest. First we had to find Essie and Kate … while they were still alive.

Once we’d seen enough, we walked back into the main room. In one corner a metal ladder led upwards. I really hoped that the girls had gone up it escaped – but where the heck were they?

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