Oxford Shadows (25 page)

“I’m fed up with these phones,” Rupert said, but he stopped and looked down at Madison while she checked the content of the message.

“It’s Aunt Louise. She wants to see … us.” She stared up at him. Louise actively seeking his presence shocked her. “You and me.”

Rupert couldn’t help enjoying her surprise. “I might have done a bit of schmoozing this morning.” That had certainly not been his intention when he had seen Madison’s aunt, but when he left they were on much better terms. The content of their conversation wasn’t anything to smile about, and that knowledge killed his mood. “We should get to her place.”

“Now?” Madison arched an eyebrow and pouted her lips. “After what I’ve learned about Sam, I’d prefer to avoid seeing her right now. I need to digest the whole ‘big brother’ news.”

Rupert lowered himself so his gaze was level with Madison’s. He brushed her cheeks with his fingertips. “I know, but Louise had a bit of an epiphany this morning. If she says she wants to see us, we should indulge her. She loves you very much. Plus, she might shed light on this new brother of yours.”

Madison leaned her face against the palm of his hand like a comfort-seeking kitten. “Okay.”

They hurried outside into St. Aldate’s. Thank God, his sweet Morgan was still there. Rupert couldn’t see any parking ticket stuck onto the windscreen.
Bingo.
With renewed haste, he took hold of Madison’s hand.

“We should be at your aunt’s in less than ten minutes. We talk to her and then back home. I’ll run you a hot bath, and we’ll share another ‘first.’” Snapshots of Madison naked with water dripping over her had him swallowing hard.

Ten yards away from the Morgan, Rupert stopped mid-step and turned. Behind him, Madison had frozen, her fingers tightening around his. A muffled moan escaped from her lips. Although night had started to descend, it was still light enough for him to see how pale she was, as if all the blood had drained from her face.

34

THE HUMMING ECHOED inside Madison’s skull. Haunting. Hypnotic. Then the sound morphed into a pounding. Or maybe the two sounds overlapped each other. She couldn’t know. Shadows flickered around her and her eyes failed to keep track of them. They flew all around her in a morbid ballet.

The air she breathed now had the spiciness she had tasted in the wine Aurélie gave her. The flavor spread throughout her mouth and tingled on her tongue. She swallowed.

The drums increased in volume, reaching a pitch that forced her to cover her ears to keep the noise out of her head, to keep thinking.

What’s that on the windscreen of the car? Stains? Wide splashes of paint?

She stepped closer, even as her instincts demanded she flee. Rupert called her name. He sounded so far, far away. As if in slow motion, Madison extended her arm and her fingertips touched the windscreen. The warm wetness glued to her skin, shooting shivers of disgust to her core. She brought the tips of her fingers closer so she could see what the liquid was.

A coppery smell overwhelmed her and her nostrils flared.

Blood.

The taste of blood, the scent of blood was everywhere: around her, inside her. Fear gripped her organs and squeezed them hard. Her lungs burned from the lack of oxygen. Or maybe from the air trapped inside them. She couldn’t say anymore. She wiped her fingers against her jeans. Still the stench and the dirt didn’t go away, having filtered through the pores of her skin into her bloodstream.

Rupert was by her side. “Madison?” He shook her shoulders, but she flopped like a lifeless doll. “Maddie?” Only when he slid his key into the lock of the car door did she react.

“No!” she screamed. “No!”

Too late. Rupert had opened the door, and in the same movement he recoiled and spun around. His arm wrapped around her shoulders and pushed her backward, making his own body into a shield against whatever was in the car.

“Don’t look.” He force-marched her toward the other side of the sidewalk. “Let me deal with it.”

Her back hit the outside wall of Christ Church College, and she went up on tiptoes to catch a glimpse of the Morgan. As if what was inside controlled her mind. And her better judgment.

Despite the fading evening light, a lamppost shed its bright halo directly over the car. Its door was ajar. The dark mass on the passenger seat had moving and flimsy contours. It was alive.

“I want to see it.” She spoke without her eyes disengaging from what was in the car. “I need to.”

Rupert let her move back two steps closer to the Morgan, his arms still clasped tightly around her and his body still a barrier.

Her eyes squinted and the image hit her brain. “Ahh!” she shouted.

Goosebumps formed on her skin at the same time as a sudden itch begged her to scratch her arms, her neck, and every other part of her shaking body. Snakes slithered on top of each other, writhing and wriggling. Tails and heads mixed together in a concoction from hell. As she watched, one of them curled upward and extended toward the steering wheel. It rolled along it, playing out a disgusting ballet.

“Shut the door!” Madison stamped her foot. “Shut that fucking door!”

Rupert parted from her and with the back of his fist slammed the door and locked it. “I’m calling someone to take care of that shit,” he told her, as if anyone would be a fair match for this madness. “Then I’m taking you away from Oxford.”

“I need to see my aunt.” Her gaze flicked away from the blind spot she had been staring at to meet Rupert’s eyes. “Now. We can’t leave her behind. This is Aurélie sending me a message.”

“Okay. Get Ollie’s arse back here, and his car keys. He’ll need to stay next to my car until the guy arrives.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t draw any more attention to ourselves. What if your man reports it to your father?”

Rupert closed the space between them. “I trust the guy. Get Ollie to come here.” Aurélie could still be nearby, and was maybe putting Ollie in harm’s way. “He can keep a eye on the car from afar until help comes. I can’t leave my car unattended. What if they’re poisonous and someone breaks into the Morgan because it’s illegally parked? I can’t let that happen.”

Reluctantly, Madison nodded. “He always switches off his cell when he studies. I’ll have to go and get him.” She headed back inside Christ Church in search of Ollie.

Rupert drove Ollie’s Austin Mini—the one he had bought from Pippa’s father—like he did his own sporty Morgan. His foot drilled the accelerator as if they were racing at a NASCAR event. Madison grabbed the edge of her seat to prevent her upper body from jerking against the seatbelt at every turn. Her knuckles had gone as white as her face. The whole reptilian show had sucked the blood from her.

“We stop, we check what your aunt wants to say, we tell her what happened, and then we bugger the hell out of there. If she doesn’t want to follow,
her
choice.”

“Okay.” Rupert had already made that same statement five minutes earlier. She nodded again.

When the Austin burst into Louise’s driveway, its wheels screeched on the gravel. Rupert parked the car with a handbrake turn. He was out of the vehicle in a heartbeat and opening her door in the next. Madison psyched herself up. She had to get out, but fear rendered her legless, as if she had knocked down a dozen shots of tequila.

Rupert unbuckled her seatbelt and his arms circled around her waist, making her pivot swiftly on her seat. She managed to take hold of his neck and let him pull her up.

“Are you able to walk?” he whispered into her ear.

Madison tested how responsive her legs were by unlocking her tight hold on Rupert. She didn’t crash down on her butt.

“Let’s get inside,” she summoned up all her energy to say.

Rupert headed toward the steps leading to the entrance, his fingers clasped tightly around her hand, his body a few inches ahead. The dusk had receded, leaving Oxford to the pitch dark of the night. A chilly wind tingled Madison’s face. She had a first hint that something was wrong when she noticed the door was half-open. Tension settled in the pit of her stomach.

“Stand back,” Rupert ordered.

He pushed the door and entered the deserted hallway. A lamp shone on a side table. “How many people live here?”

“Sister Madeleine and two others, in addition to my aunt.”

“It feels like nobody’s here.”

Memories of a conversation she had overheard last week between Louise and Madeleine echoed in her mind. “They have a retreat this weekend. Somewhere in the Cotswolds.”

“Are you sure your aunt asked you to meet her here?”

“Absolutely.”

Madison took her cell from her pocket and searched for the message she had received a mere twenty minutes ago. “Look.” She extended the screen toward Rupert and read her aunt’s exact words. “‘Come to my place with Rupert. ASAP. Very urgent.’ She must have cancel—” Her voice crashed.

The walls of the corridor weren’t their usual immaculate white anymore. Blotches of color stained them at irregular intervals. Madison didn’t need to run her fingers over the liquid. She already knew.

“Oh my God.” The words gurgled in her throat. They would have exploded if Rupert’s hand hadn’t covered her mouth.

“Don’t, baby. Don’t make any noise.” His order was a murmur. “Stay here.”

She shook her head. No freaking way was she letting Rupert venture further into the house without her.

“Fine, but you stay behind me.” He took a few steps, following the trail of blood. In a silent agreement, they were both careful that the wooden floor didn’t creak under their weight. The blood led toward the back of the house. Toward the prayer room. A ray of light sliced through its half-open door. The fall of something metallic froze Madison in her footsteps. Rupert waved his hand toward her. She wasn’t going to move anywhere. Her mouth had gone bone dry, her tongue tasting the closeness of death.

Rupert pushed the door open slightly and his jaw clenched. He seized his cell from the pocket of his jeans and started punching in the same number three times: 999.

“I’m calling the police,” Rupert warned whoever was in the room, but he didn’t push the button yet.

Madison wriggled behind him to find out whom he was talking to. His body filled most of the doorframe but she stole a glimpse from around his shoulder.

Sam knelt on the floor, on the opposite side of the room, below the crucifix. He was slouched over a body next to him. “She asked me to come and see her. I found her like this.”

Her?

35

MADISON LAUNCHED herself forward. She slid through the narrow space between Rupert and the doorframe, flew across the width of the room and crashed down on her knees at the side of the body lying sideways on the floor.

“Aunt …” she groaned. “Aunt Louise.” Madison called her aunt’s name through chattering teeth.

Madison’s hands brushed the cold skin of Louise’s face while her eyes scanned the rest of her aunt’s body, searching for the source of her injury. A red hole stained the center of her white shirt. Blood seeped from the wound. Her heart was still beating. She was still alive. A whirlwind of hope kicked courage back into Madison.

Shooting her gaze back to Louise’s face, Madison forced herself to smile and she said in a reassuring tone, “Auntie, we’re calling an ambulance. Just hang in there, please.”

Louise’s lids lifted to reveal eyes that had already turned glassy. Madison stifled a moan.

Rupert’s foot swept the bloody knife behind him.

“She wanted me to remove it before she …” Sam tried to explain. His voice had lost its cockiness.

“What are you doing here?” Madison wanted to jump at him, bury her fingers in the orbs of his eyes. She ignored the caring way Sam had set Louise’s head over his knees to cushion her position.

“I received a text from her while I was with you, asking me to come to that address.”

“He didn’t hurt me.” Louise’s voice sounded more like a croak.

Madison reverted her full attention to her aunt. “Don’t talk, please. Save your strength.”

Madison’s own strength was faltering, as tears started flowing down her cheeks. She shouldn’t cry. Her aunt needed her to be calm, not to freak out. Louise couldn’t stand girls who had no self-control.