Footsteps in the Dark Read online

  She did smile, but it was a pathetic effort. He patted her hand. ‘Cheer up, Sis: we’ll get out all right.’

  He sat still for a few minutes, trying to think what other implements he could use against the door. He felt Margaret’s hand gripping his arm, and glanced down at her. Her eyes were fixed on the door, and she was white as death. He looked quickly in the same direction, and saw what had attracted her attention. Inch by inch the shutter was sliding back.

  ‘Move!’ Peter said under his breath, but it seemed as though she either did not hear him, or dared not stir. He slipped in front of her, shielding her; there was no time to force her over to the wall.

  The panel slid still farther; they saw a cowled face behind the grille, and through the slits in the cowl eyes glittered as the light caught them.

  Peter stood perfectly still, and his mouth felt unpleasantly dry all at once.

  The sinister face disappeared; there was a sound of bolts being drawn, and the door was opened. On the threshold stood the Monk, an automatic in his right hand. He put up his other hand, and pulled the cowl back from his head.

  A bitter cry broke from Margaret. ‘My God! You!’ she gasped.

  For the Monk was none other than Michael Strange.

  Seventeen

  FOR AN INSTANT THEY ALL THREE STARED AT ONE ANOTHER. Then Strange said in a voice of blank surprise: ‘How the devil did you get here?’ His eyes travelled to Margaret’s tense face, and he took a quick step towards her. ‘Please don’t look like that! It’s all right, Miss Fortescue.’

  Peter decided that he could not have recovered from the blow on his head so completely as he had thought. ‘How did we get here?’ he repeated. ‘That won’t quite do, Master Monk! I don’t know what your little game is, but…’

  Strange said impatiently: ‘I’m not the Monk. Oh, I know I’m togged up in the same disguise, but you can’t really think I’m he!’

  Margaret leaned forward eagerly. ‘You’re not? Oh, I said you couldn’t be!’

  His eyes softened. ‘You believe me, Miss Fortescue? Without proof ? In spite of appearances?’

  She nodded. ‘If you tell me so,’ she said quite simply.

  It seemed as though he was going to take her hand, but he did not. He said only: ‘Thank you.’ Then he turned to Peter. ‘I told you you’d get yourself into a mess if you didn’t stop poking your nose into my affairs,’ he remarked cheerfully. ‘I’m not the Monk, and my name isn’t Strange. I’m Inspector Draycott, of the C.I.D.’ He thrust his hand into the front of his robe. ‘I’ve got a card somewhere, in case you still don’t believe me.’

  ‘Draycott!’ Peter said. ‘You don’t mean you’re the man who handled that big case against Williams last year?’

  ‘I did, yes. Who told you? Malcolm? I was always afraid he might spot me.’

  ‘I don’t think he ever saw you till we came down here,’ Peter said, feeling rather limp. ‘Then are you after the Monk?’

  ‘Of course. I’ve been after him for months.’

  ‘And you’ve known about this place all the time?’

  ‘I’ve suspected it, but I only found the way in to-night. Look here, I think we’d better reserve my story till we’re out of this, don’t you? Miss Fortescue must be worn out. How did you get here?’

  ‘Through the panel in the library!’ Margaret said. ‘I found it by accident.’

  ‘Then there is an entrance from the Priory!’ Michael exclaimed. ‘But you didn’t come down here just for fun, did you?’

  ‘No, no!’ Margaret said, and quickly told him all that had happened to them.

  He listened frowningly. His comment, which made Margaret laugh, was: ‘Damn. From my point of view this is the worst thing that could possibly have happened.’

  He saw her eyes dancing, and smiled ruefully. ‘Yes, I know, but don’t you see that when the Monk finds you’re gone to-morrow night he’ll know this place is discovered, and clear out. And the devil’s in it that I don’t know where his get-away is.’ He shrugged. ‘Well, I shall have to find it during the next twelve hours, that’s all. The first thing to do is to get you out of here.’

  ‘By the way, where are we?’ Peter asked.

  ‘You’re under the Priory.’

  ‘I thought as much! But did you get in by the panel in the library?’

  ‘No, I never knew of that. I got in through the cellars of the Bell Inn. The passage leads right under your grounds. I suppose neither of you have the faintest idea how you came here, after the Monk caught you?’ They shook their heads. ‘Then we shall just have to search till we find the way. I can take you back to the Bell easily enough, but it’ll mean walking home from there, as I daren’t get my car out of the garage for fear of rousing Wilkes or Spindle. And I should say you’ve had about enough for one night.’

  ‘No, we haven’t, have we, Peter?’ Margaret said. ‘I agree that we ought to find the way back to the library, but we’re quite game to do what you want us to. You didn’t come down here just to look for us, did you?’

  ‘I didn’t. I came to reconnoitre, and to find where the press is.’

  ‘Then before we try and find the way out let’s get on with the reconnoitring,’ Margaret said briskly. ‘I don’t feel done-up at all now.’

  Michael looked at her uncertainly, but Peter clinched the matter. ‘I’m damned if I’ll go meekly home at this stage!’ he said. ‘I was right then? It is a printing press?’

  ‘Yes, it’s a press all right. I want to locate it first, and make sure how many ways there are of getting into it. I’ve found one, I think.’ He led the way out of the square cell, and they found themselves in a low, vaulted passage in which Peter could not stand fully upright.

  Turning to the right Michael stopped in front of a stout door similar to the one they had come through, except that it boasted a lock. He tried it, but it did not open. ‘I think I’ll go and get Jimmy Fripp,’ he said. ‘He’s much cleverer at opening doors than I am, and we shall waste less time in the long run. You’d better come along too, just in case of accidents. Mind your heads.’ He went before them up the passage, his torch showing them the way. Once a rat scuttered off almost under their feet, but Margaret had gone through too much to be discomposed by a mere rodent.

  As they proceeded down the passage the air became noticeably fresher, and the reason for this was soon made apparent, for they saw a square opening in the side of the passage. No light could be seen through it, but it was obviously a window. Peter stopped Michael to point to it. ‘Ventilation? But aren’t we underground?’

  ‘Yes, and that was one of my main difficulties – to find how this place, if it really did exist – was ventilated. Not very easy with all you suspicious people on the watch. Remember that night you saw me, Marg – Miss Fortescue?’

  ‘Margaret will do,’ she said. ‘Yes. Were you looking for it then?’

  ‘I was, but I didn’t find it till later. Have you ever looked down the well in that bit of the garden that looks as though it were once a sort of pleasance?’

  ‘The well? Oh, I know! No, I hate looking down wells. I don’t think any of us found it for quite a long time, did we, Peter?’

  ‘I don’t think we did. But I’m afraid I never even thought about it.’

  ‘You might easily fail to see it unless you happened to stumble on it as I did,’ Michael said. ‘The weeds have grown up all round it, and it only sticks up a couple of feet out of the ground. That’s it.’ He pointed to the opening. ‘Cut right down in the side of the well. Clever, isn’t it? Come along; we’ll get hold of Jimmy before we start talking.’

  ‘Fripp?’ Peter said, following at his heels down the passage. ‘Do you know Charles and I once heard you holding a most suspicious conversation with that fellow?’

  ‘Did you? Yes, it’s his one fault, and I can’t break him of it. He will talk where he can be overheard.’

  ‘Charles set an inquiry agent on to him. Look here, is he an ex-burglar or not?’

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