Legacy (18 page)

The first and second buildings weren’t exactly in the best of conditions, but neither of them had damaged drainpipes.

The third had metal drainpipes which left the fourth and fifth ones the likely suspects, so Short continued with his walk deeper along the dark narrow lane towards them.

He found himself weaving past bin bag after bin bag to be suddenly greeted by the sight of something small scurrying across the lane as he disturbed it from a night time feast from the contents of a split bag of rotten food.

Whatever it was, it moved so quickly that Short never even saw it run past his feet and back into its own sanctuary. He shivered at the thought that he may have disturbed a rat and decided to move along quickly as they were one of the few phobias he had in life.

He stood at the back gate of the fourth building and peered over it to discover that part of the drainpipe was indeed missing from the wall and when he looked down at the back yard, he immediately noticed pieces of plastic that matched it lying on the ground.

This was definitely the place – someone had definitely been here a few moments ago and may even still be lurking somewhere.

It could be a burglar – or it could even be Naomi.

He climbed the wall with great ease and landed safely on the other side. He instantly moved slowly and cautiously up the path towards the building, checking if anyone was around.

Then, as if by magic, his path was illuminated by someone shining a light from the other side of the gate. Short turned round to be greeted by Detective Inspector Harran.

              “What are you doing in there, Short? I caught a glimpse of someone heading back here as I turned into the street. I didn’t know it was you.” he shouted as Short turned round, holding his hand up to shield his eyes from the bright light.

              “I heard a noise and came to investigate, Sir!” he replied, “The drainpipe broke while I was checking out the front of the buildings. It looks like someone has tried to climb up onto the roof and I haven’t seen anyone come out of the lane so they may be still hanging around.”

              “Well, I think we’ve made enough noise between us to wake up the dead – so there’s a chance that if it was a burglar, he’s probably buggered off by now, but I’ll come over and check with you just in case.”

Short immediately turned around and continued his search of the building, glancing momentarily to see Harran try to jump over the wall. He gave a little chuckle as he saw his much older and less fit colleague struggling to get one of his legs over – he wished he had a camera right now to capture the moment on film.

As well as watching his body struggle to climb the obstacle in his way, all Short could hear was a pitiful moan and groan as Harran managed to get himself over and down safely before making his way towards Short.

Short began talking to Harran, but there was no reply as Harran struggled for breath after his physical excursion.

              “Well, there’s no sign of a break-in whatsoever, Sir.” Short reported.

Harran finally got his breath back and spoke.

              “Maybe they’re on the roof! You said you haven’t seen anyone come from here after you heard the drainpipe break, so perhaps they’re still up there. Some of these buildings have skylights so maybe they could be trying to get in through one of them as we speak.”

As Harran finished, Short shone the light from his mobile phone up the building wall and onto the roof to hopefully see anything above them, but nothing was caught.

Short knew there was only one way for them to find out whether someone was definitely hiding up there– and that was to climb up and look.

Once again, it was obvious to Short that he would have to volunteer to do it because after witnessing Harran’s pathetic display of climbing over the gate a moment ago, Harran would never be able to climb onto the roof.

Luckily there was another drainpipe situated on the opposite side of wall and it was certainly in a lot better condition than the damaged one had been in, so after Short checked its stability, he began his ascent onto the roof.

As a boy he used to spend hours climbing trees and on the odd occasion having to shimmy up drainpipes onto the roof of the local school to retrieve the football he or his friends had managed to kick on it.

Short managed to climb up the drainpipe with relevant ease and soon he was near the top and held onto the edge of the roof in order to pull himself up.

As he did so, he was greeted by the sight of Naomi and Lucius curled up in the middle of the roof.

Lucius tried to stop Naomi from screaming as she suddenly saw Short come into view, but it was in vain. The unexpected loud shrill that came from her made Short jump and he immediately lost the grip he had on the edge, sending himself falling to the ground below.

He hit the floor with a sickening thud at the feet of Harran, who had run over to see what the scream was about only to witness his colleague fall before him. Harran immediately checked to see if Short was still conscious and luckily he was, but the look on Short’s face revealed the pain that he was suffering right now.

As Harran was checking him, he suddenly felt a cold chill on his left shoulder and looked up at the roof, catching a glimpse of what looked like two heads disappearing from sight.

              “Who’s up there? I am a police officer! Make yourselves known!” he shouted towards them.

Lucius noticed Naomi’s look of shock at seeing Short’s crippled body and he instinctively grabbed her, quickly placing her head on his chest so she couldn’t see the horror below them.

Harran called for an ambulance to come to the back of the shop immediately and also requested for any available officers to come to the scene.

Lucius knew that no matter how bad it would look on them, he and Naomi would have to leave the scene pretty fast, but just as he was about to make his hasty exit with a sobbing Naomi, he suddenly noticed something moving along the alleyway.

As it drew closer, Lucius noticed exactly what – or rather who – it was and he instantly knew he and Naomi needed to find another hiding place as soon as possible.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

Harran was too busy comforting Short, who was now drifting in and out of consciousness after his nasty fall from the roof a few moments ago, to notice that someone else had joined them in the backyard.

It was Zephal – and he had easily leapt over the same gate Harran had struggled to get over without making any noise whatsoever and he stood in silence, a little confused to find Harran and Short in the back yard as it was Lucius’s scent that had led him to his present location.

Harran was extremely concerned for his colleague’s health, but masked it incredibly well and he nervously checked to see if anyone had arrived to help yet.

And that is when he noticed Zephal.

Zephal knew exactly who he was, but Harran had no idea that he was now looking at the man who was responsible for the deaths of the coroner, the nurse and one of the policemen outside Naomi’s flat.

Harran called to him.

              “Is this your property?” Harran asked. “I have an injured police officer here and an ambulance is on its way right now.”

Zephal continued to stay still, but grinned at Harran as he gave his reply.

              “Looks like you have quite a problem on your hands!

Harran looked back at Zephal and immediately noticed that the gate still had a padlock on it.

              “How did you just get in here?” he asked quizzically.

But all he got was another grin and Zephal started walking towards Harran menacingly.

              “The question is,” Zephal growled, “are you going to make it out of here alive – not like the others who have stood in my way so far!”

Harran shot to his feet as he realized he was now yards away from the murderer he had been chasing and even though he had longed for this moment, the odds in his favour didn’t look too good as the man he was facing looked incredibly stronger than him.

And the only other policeman with him right now was in no state to even put up a fight.

Harran and Zephal remained still for a few moments with neither man taking their eyes off the other, patiently watching out for any sudden moves.

Zephal’s breathing started to become a little more erratic by the second until his facial expression changed from a devilish grin to an animal-like snarl which immediately sent chills up Harran’s spine.

If that wasn’t terrifying enough, Harran noticed that the more aggressive Zephal became, the more his eyes were changing to a blood red colour.

For the first time in a while, the backyard was so silent anyone could hear a pin drop.

Zephal broke the silence, mocking Harran.

              “Look at you – you sad pathetic mortal! I can sense the fear that is running through your body right now because you know how weak you really are compared to me!”

Harran was shaking nervously inside and he was pretty sure it was beginning to show on the outside too, but he still spoke back bravely.

              “Very soon this place will be full of policemen who I will give the order to take you down, whatever the outcome may be. And I can’t wait to see your face when that happens.”

And Harran’s reward for standing up to Zephal became immediately clear – with one swift move, Zephal leapt towards Harran, striking him across the face as he did so – sending a stunned Harran straight to the ground.

              “Stop playing games with me!” Zephal growled back at Harran, “One of the things you should never do is stand in the way of someone who could wipe you off this earth in seconds, so if you value your life, tell me where the girl is!”

Harran just looked up at Zephal in shock after receiving such a hard blow, which brought an air of silence with it which made Zephal more disgruntled.

              “Have it your way - if you want to play the brave hero by keeping your silence then maybe I should kill your young friend laying here. It looks like he’s in a large amount of pain so I would be doing him a favour by relieving him of it – in fact, by the time I’ve finished with him, he will feel nothing ever again!”

Zephal began to walk towards Short who was groaning in immense pain on the ground and as he reached him, proceeded to kick Short in the ribs which made him cry out in agony.

Harran struggled to his feet and limped over towards Zephal.

              “Leave him alone!” Harran shouted, “Don’t bring him into this. It’s just you and me now. You keep bragging about how strong you are, but you prefer to pick on the ones who can’t fight back. If you’re the sort of man you say you are, then prove it, don’t be a coward!”

Harran knew that by stalling Zephal, he was wasting precious time in the hope that the back-up he had requested would arrive very soon and help him in the mammoth task of bring Zephal down.

Harran could see that everything he had said was making Zephal angrier by the second and he felt a moment of relief as he could suddenly hear the sound of police sirens become increasingly louder in the distance.

But Zephal didn’t show any sign of worry whatsoever.

              “So you would rather save the lives of these pathetic weaklings than tell me where the girl is hiding? It may seem a brave act to you, but to me I see it no more than a piece of stupidity that could cost you your life! No matter how many men stand shoulder to shoulder against me, I will annihilate you all! I will not stop until someone has the guts to tell me where the girl is hiding out!”