Flight of the Falcon (Byrdes of York #1)

23. Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Three

Hugh

A fter a very uncomfortable conversation with Deidre Matlock, Hugh had agreed to meet her and Jack Speight on Ogleforth and show them the tunnels and the rooms underneath. He’d agreed with Falcon that no mention would be made of Malik, just the task Father John had sent them on and what they had found in the ‘gentleman’s club’ room.

“Good morning,” he greeted Deidre and Jack as he approached them.

“Hugh.” Jack grinned at him and held his hand out. “Feels like we’re on a boys’ own adventure!”

They laughed but Deidre frowned. “Why don’t you show us what you found, McHughes?”

Ouch, she was still mad at him. He nodded and led the way to the boiler room at the back of the building, handing Deidre the key to the door. He didn’t mention that it was a copy, letting her think it was the only one.

“Follow me,” he said, leading the way down the stairs and to the door at the back.

He was glad there was no sign of their passing with the dolly last night; he didn’t want to try and explain to them about the sarcophagus.

Francis and Robin had been in the previous evening to clear up and check that there was no sign that Malik’s body had ever been there.

“We spent some time mapping the place,” he explained as they walked. “We only had a rudimentary map that Father John gave us, which was sadly out of date, but we think we’ve got everything now and the only entrance left open is the one we came through.”

“What made you close off the others?” Jack asked.

“Swales’s goons kept finding their way in using the version of Father John’s map he gave them when he was taken. Plus, we didn’t want anyone else finding them accidentally.”

When they reached the first room, Hugh reached out and switched on some of the arc lights, putting his torch down on the table. He turned to see the effect the reveal of the room was having on Matlock and Speight. They were staring around the room in astonishment.

“Wow,” Matlock said as she spun slowly in place. This is…”

“Yeah,” Hugh agreed. Though he’d become used to the room, he could still remember the first time he’d seen it.

“And you say it’s an exact replica of what the York Gentleman’s Club used to look like?” she asked.

“It is,” Hugh replied. He pulled his phone from his pocket to show her the photograph they’d found of the club in the York Explore archives. The room was shown in all its glory in black and white. It was exactly the same, down to the type of decanter and glasses on the sideboard.

Hugh led them into what had been the sarcophagus room and showed them all the weapons that were on the wall, from Roman swords to the gatling guns.

“How many weapons are there?” Speight asked, already taking photos of the room.

“You know, I’ve never counted them,” Hugh replied. “It looks like there’s representation of weapons through the ages. As far as we’ve been able to ascertain, nothing has been added since the mid-19th century.”

“Are there just the two rooms?” Matlock asked.

“There’s one more, but we have to go back into a different tunnel to get to the outside door. The one that led into here from there has been covered over.” He led them back out and around to the outer door. “When we first arrived, there were spell traps on the door. We had to clear those first before we could enter.”

Matlock raised an eyebrow. Hugh knew from previous cases he’d worked on with her that she wasn’t exactly a believer in magic and the paranormal, but he’d never let it stop him.

They entered the smaller room with its flagstone floor and stood in the middle of the room. As with every other time he’d been in here, he shivered as a feeling of fear and horror overcame him. He stepped outside with the excuse that there wasn’t really enough room in there for three of them.

Jack joined him a moment later, looking uncomfortable. “Not a nice room.”

“No,” Hugh agreed as they waited for Matlock. “I don’t even want to think about what might have taken place there.”

A moment later Matlock joined them. “I’ve seen enough for now. Let’s get back upstairs and I can contact the higher ups and see what they want to do about this. You say it was one of the Canons at the Minster that alerted you to this place first?”

“Yeah, Father John McKenzie. He was kidnapped and killed by Swales as well.

How Swales found out about this place I don’t know. I remember when he showed up at the hospital he kept going on about treasure under the Minster, but…” He looked around them. “I guess some of those books and weapons could be considered treasure, though I’m not sure if that’s what he was referring to.”

“Hmpf.” Matlock replied. She was still mad, not just about them keeping this news to themselves for a few weeks, but also for the fact that Francis had gone over her head yesterday and arranged for the addresses Turner had got out of Swales’s henchman to be released to Falcon.

What she didn’t know was that Raven, with Falcon along with him, was out there now, flying over the moors and looking for any sign of Gil at each of the addresses. Hugh hoped they had found him. He was concerned for his friend, especially as he still had a broken leg.

They reached Ogleforth and Matlock dismissed him. He knew she’d come back around; they’d worked with each other on several cases, and she’d never stayed mad at him for long. Checking his watch, he headed back to the shop. He’d assured Falcon he would keep an eye on Abbie whilst he was out with Raven.

There were several customers in the shop when Hugh got there and he jumped in to help Abbie serve by bagging up their purchases and running the card machine. Together they made quick work of the queue.

“I see you’re popular this morning.” He smiled at Abbie. She laughed and hugged him. “We’ve been busy since the other day when the police were here. Many of them are just curious, but once they’re here they have a look at the books and stock up. I’ve sold loads of those ghost tour books Falcon has in stock. You can always guarantee that ghosts sell in York.”

“I heard there’s a shop where you can buy your own ghost?”

“ York Ghost Merchants . They’re on St Saviourgate, so not that far away. You can get them by post as well,” she replied.

Hugh laughed. Well, this was a tourist area. Whatever sold, he guessed. He’d never been on a ghost walk. Maybe when this was all over he could get Falcon to go on one with him.

The afternoon passed slowly, even though they were busy. Hugh worried about Falcon and Gil. He wished Fal would contact him and let him know how he was doing.

By closing time, he’d just finished serving a family from Northumberland who had all bought a book, from the parents down to the baby in the pram. He’d had a good chat with them about where they lived, sharing memories of the time he’d spent in Morpeth. Ushering them out of the shop, he turned the lock and was about to help Abbie cash up when his phone rang.

Quickly pulling it out of his pocket, he answered, “Fal?”

“We’ve found him, Hugh.” Falcon sounded tired. “Can you get to Old Malton and bring Francis with you? Raven’s phoning him now. I’ve also reached out to Matlock.”

“I can do that. Is he okay? Did you see him?” “I did. We’ll know more when we get there.”

Falcon

Falcon ended the call with Hugh and turned to Raven. They were both sitting outside of a café in the marketplace in Malton. It had been an exhausting day. Starting from 6am, they’d been searching for Gil at the addresses passed on to them. They’d started in Whitby but didn’t find anything there, so they’d driven to Old Malton and Raven had taken to the air once more. Accompanying him, Falcon had used their eyes to search the grounds of the large house near Old Malton. He’d left Raven to search the grounds, then ‘spoke’ to several local birds for their memories and to get them to fly closer to the house.

Following up an impression from one of the starlings, he’d got it to fly to an upstairs window. Looking in, he’d spotted Gil laid on a bed in the room. It was hard to tell if he was okay or not from the view he had. He’d left the bird to keep watch and let Raven know he could land and shift once more.

“Here you go.” The young man who’d served them brought their coffees and a couple of pastries out to them.

“Thanks,” Falcon said, glad they’d found somewhere still open in the early evening.

He slumped back in his chair, enjoying the coffee and the sweetness of the pastry.

They had about an hour before Hugh and Francis would be with them. He’d phoned DI Matlock and asked for the police to join them at the house at 7pm. She’d sighed but agreed. It seemed her boss had overruled her and told her to work directly with Francis and his sons. She’d not been happy, but as she’d said, at least they were making progress.

“Penny for them?” Raven asked after they’d both been quiet for a few moments. “Not sure they’re worth that much!” Falcon grinned at his brother. “I was just wondering if I could get Hugh to go away with me for a few days after this is all over.”

“Where had you in mind?”

“I’m not bothered. It would just be nice to be together, the two of us, with nothing life threatening going on.”

“Anywhere with a bed then.” Raven grinned at him and Falcon laughed. Yeah, that would do.

Just under an hour later, they were back at the house in Old Malton. It was a fairly new building and there were a couple of cars parked in the driveway. Just as they got out of their car, a local police vehicle drew up and DC Speight, along with DC Turner from York, got out with a uniformed PC.

“Falcon, Raven,” Speight acknowledged, then introduced everyone. By this time, Hugh and Francis had arrived.

Fortunately, they’d agreed to meet out on the main road, so Falcon was hopeful that the inhabitants hadn’t seen them yet. He stepped up to Hugh and squeezed his hand in greeting. He was rewarded with a smile just for him.

“Glad you could join us. I believe Gil is being held in one of the upstairs bedrooms at the back.” Falcon knew exactly which one, but since neither Speight nor Turner knew about his abilities, he didn’t want them to question how he knew.

“Shall we?” Speight asked and the uniformed officer who had been introduced as Mandy Smith strode towards the driveway.

They all followed behind as a police van with more uniformed officers drove up and blocked the driveway so anyone inside would not be able to get out. It might have been a bit of overkill, but they had no idea what they were dealing with.

Speight pounded his fist loudly against the wooden door. There was no answer, but Falcon could tell there was someone inside. It felt like they’d just upset an ant hill.

Several of the officers had gone round to the back, and there were shouts and scuffles as comments over the radio came back that some of the residents were making a run for it.

Speight turned to a couple of uniformed officers, who between them were carrying a small battering ram. Applying it to the door, they shouted, “Police!” And then entered the property.

There was no-one in immediate view, so Falcon and Hugh followed the police officers through to the kitchen area. It looked as though they’d disturbed the residents as they had been sitting down to dinner as there were five half eaten plates of food around the table.

A large glass wall looked out over the garden and Falcon could see that the police had several men corralled and were putting them in cuffs.

“Upstairs, you said?” Hugh asked Falcon.

“Yes, come on.”

As they were making their way up the stairs, they could hear Gil’s voice calling out. “Police? In here! Help!”

“We’re coming, Gil. Hold on!” Hugh shouted back. “Hugh?” Gil sounded relieved.

When they got to the right door, there was a key in the outside of the lock. Falcon turned it and gestured Hugh into the room. Gil was sitting down on the bed, his leg propped up as best as he could. He looked grim and in pain, and his face showed several bruises.

“Thank god,” he said as they came in the room. “I was beginning to think no-one would find me.”

“We’re here now,” Hugh said as he helped his friend get up from the bed. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

Between them Falcon and Hugh got Gil down the stairs to the front room.

Matlock had now arrived, and she was talking to Francis, who was looking through a small, semi-familiar book.

“Mr Summers,” Matlock greeted him. “It’s good to see you, sir. There’s a paramedic on his way to assess you.”

Gil nodded as Hugh helped him sit on one of the sofas.

Falcon walked over to his father, wondering what he was so fascinated by. “Dad?” he asked.

Francis held the book up, and Falcon saw that it was similar to the one he’d found in the underground room.

“Another journal?”

“Yes, from 1875. Look here.” He pointed to a cut out of a newspaper article. “Excursion Train Struck by York Express: 10 people dead.” Then he pointed to one of the names – John Jarratt was listed amongst the dead.

“Ah.” Was all Falcon could think of to say. “That might explain a couple of things.” “What was that?” Matlock asked, stopping her conversation with Turner and Speight and turning to them.

“I was just saying that the men caught here today might be able to explain a couple of things about what’s going on,” Falcon replied.

“Ma’am?” One of the police officers interrupted and Matlock turned her attention to him. After a few moments, she sighed. “Thank you, Pollard.” Matlock replied. “I want your report on my desk first thing in the morning.”

“Yes Ma’am.” Pollard confirmed before he left the room.

“It looks like we’re a day late,” reported Matlock. “Ian Swales was here yesterday according to Big Jimmy, one of the guys we took into custody. He was complaining about how Mr Byrde and his family were ‘getting in his way’ and it was time they ‘put a stop to it’.”

“Has anyone else said anything?” asked Hugh.

“Not yet. Just that one guy mouthing off. The rest are remaining quiet. We’ll interrogate them when we get them back to the station. See what else they know.”

Falcon turned around to check on Hugh and saw he was talking to Gil. The paramedic had arrived and was gently checking over Gil’s face and closing a couple of cuts with butterfly bandages. He left Francis to talk to Matlock and went to join them.

“How are you doing, Gil?” he asked.

“Better than he could be,” the paramedic answered for him.

“What he said.” Gil looked up at him. “The leg is still okay, but it aches a lot as I’ve not had any painkillers and hardly any food or drink for a few days. Other than that, it’s just bruising and a few cuts.”

“There you go.” The paramedic stood up. “That’s all I can do for you. As I suggested earlier, you’ll need to make an appointment with the fracture clinic to have your leg X-rayed and make sure it’s definitely okay.”

Gil nodded. They shook hands before the paramedic went to give his report to DI Matlock.

“Here.” Hugh handed Gil a bottle of water and some ibuprofen, along with a couple of cookies he’d scrounged from somewhere. “What do you want to do, Gil?” He asked him a moment later. “You’re welcome to come back to York with us.”

“Thank you. I’d like that. Not that I can make the stairs in your place.”

Hugh laughed. “I’ve given up the rental maisonette and have been staying with Fal. Imogen and Lucinda are safe in France.”

“He can stay in the house with me,” Francis said as he came up to them. “There’s a room on the ground floor you can use.”

“Sounds good,” Gil replied. “So, what’s been happening since I’ve been gone?”

Francis laughed. “We’ll catch you up in the car. It looks like the police are going to be here for a while yet, looking for clues as to where Swales may have gone. There’s also a chance that he might come back, so they’re going to leave someone here to keep an eye on the place.”

“Let’s head back then,” Falcon said, helping Hugh get Gil up from the sofa. Francis went off to tell Matlock they were going, and the others made their way out to Falcon’s car.