Chapter 6
SIX
Harry stared at the vehicle, couldn’t take it in.
First, it had been used to crash into Matt, and now, here it was, sitting above Gayle, and filled with four life-sized, fully-dressed dummies.
What the hell was going on? He had a sneaking suspicion that he knew, but that didn’t necessarily make him feel any better about it.
‘Not the best of likenesses, is it?’ he said, and he took his phone out to snap a few pictures, then checked the driver’s door.
It opened easily, and now he had a better view of what had been placed inside.
More photos were taken, and a quick scan of them only made the whole scene seem even more bizarre and creepy.
Of the four dummies, two were wearing suits, the other two were in white dresses. The symbolism wasn’t lost on Harry. The dummies themselves seemed to have been made of stockings filled with paper, the faces little more than paper plates stuck in place, and with faces drawn on in felt tip pen.
Someone had gone to a lot of effort, Harry thought. There was humour in this, but of the darkest kind, and Harry wondered, if he listened carefully enough, whether he would hear the menacing laughter of its creator?
‘This is really creepy,’ said Ethan. ‘I’ve seen some weird stuff in my time, but nothing like this.’
‘Same,’ said Liz.
‘That’s the three of us, then,’ grumbled Harry. ‘And if you ask me, someone’s got too much time on their hands, don’t you think?’
Harry stared for a moment at the one clearly meant to be him.
‘Impressed with the scarring detail,’ he said. ‘Artistic.’
‘It’s the four of us, isn’t it?’ Liz said. ‘You, Grace, me, and Ben.’
‘Looks that way, yes,’ spotting something then in the lap of the dummy version of himself.
As he reached in to grab it, Ethan asked, ‘Why, though?’
The answer wasn’t just in Harry’s mind, it was also in the smell he then noticed.
‘Move!’ he roared, and before Ethan or Liz could do anything to resist, he grabbed them both, and flung them back towards the Rav.
Sprinting, they raced away from the vehicle, then a wave of heat slammed into them, followed by a shockwave that knocked them off their feet.
The thump of the explosion was softer than Harry had expected, but no less terrifying. Glass and burning bits of paper rained down around them. The air was filled with the acrid stink of petrol and burning plastic.
Harry pushed himself up onto his knees, shook his head to clear it.
‘You both okay?’
Both Liz and Ethan answered in the affirmative, though there was a hesitancy to their tone, shock no doubt squeezing tight hands round their throats.
Harry stared for a moment at the burning wreckage before them. What had once been an expensive SUV was now a torched wreck.
‘That was lucky,’ coughed Ethan. ‘We could’ve been killed.’
Harry was kicking himself for not being more cautious and checking the vehicle thoroughly first. Even so, something didn’t seem quite right.
‘Yes, it was, rather, wasn’t it?’ he said, and pushed himself up onto his feet, brushed himself down, and started to scan the horizon. Then he lifted up a pointed finger. ‘There you are ...’
Liz and Ethan, both still on the ground, turned to see what Harry was pointing at.
‘I don’t see anything,’ said Liz.
‘Same,’ said Ethan.
Then a glint of light shone out briefly from further up the lane.
‘We’re being watched,’ said Harry.
Liz was on her feet immediately.
‘I’ll go,’ she said. ‘Bike’s quicker.’
‘You’ll stay right where you are,’ said Harry. ‘No chance of catching them now, that’s for sure.’
Liz, Harry could tell, wasn’t convinced.
‘I’m not risking you going after someone who’s willing to go to this much trouble to threaten me,’ he said. ‘Stay here, and that’s an order.’
‘You’re just going to let them get away?’
‘They’ve already got away, Liz. That’s the whole point of this. They were far enough off to watch us approach. If we hadn’t run, they’d have waited till we were far enough away to set the thing off anyway. They weren’t trying to kill us.’
The looks of disbelief from both Liz and Ethan almost made Harry laugh.
‘Then what where they trying to do?’ Ethan asked. ‘They crashed into Matt, then drove up here, strapped in the dummies, and then what, just waited for someone to call this in?’
‘My guess is they called it in themselves,’ Harry said. ‘It’s what I’d do. You don’t lay a trap like this if you’re not confident it’s going to work, do you?’
‘I’ll be honest, I’m proper confused,’ said Liz, rubbing her elbows. ‘And I didn’t half land badly. I tell you, if I’m bruised for this marriage thing, I’m not going to be happy.’
Harry saw that even the ever impeccably-turned-out Ethan was looking dishevelled.
‘You know what this is, don’t you?’ Ethan said.
Harry didn’t answer right away. Of course he knew.
It was obvious. The hand behind it, one he would right now happily rip off and feed to Smudge, was no doubt the same one that tapped in the message and sent the photos a couple of weeks ago.
He’d almost forgotten about that. This, however, had brought it right back to the front of his mind.
‘It’s a warning,’ Harry said.
‘A warning?’ repeated Ethan. ‘About what?’
‘And why am I a part of it?’ Liz asked. ‘And Ben and Grace?’
Harry had forgotten up to then that he was holding something, the thing he’d grabbed from the lap of the dummy behind the steering wheel. It was an envelope, but it didn’t contain a letter, that much was clear from the weight of it. He ripped it open and tipped the contents onto his palm.
‘A digital voice recorder,’ said Ethan, looking at what Harry was holding. ‘Don’t see those around much now, do you? Most people just use their phone.’
‘Never liked them,’ said Harry. ‘Always feel like an idiot speaking into one, like everyone’s staring. And yes, I know they’re staring anyway, because of this face of mine, and that I should be used to it, but there we are.’
‘You going to listen to it, then?’ Liz asked.
Harry realised he should’ve probably slipped on some disposable gloves before handling the recorder. He was making too many mistakes, was too distracted.
He hit play.
Harry recognised the voice immediately. It was one he would never forget, and one he’d always refused to put a name to.
‘Hello, Harry,’ the voice said, sounding relaxed, playful, mean. ‘Now that I’ve got your attention, I think we should talk, don’t you?’
A number was read out, and the message was done.
‘Who was that, then?’ Liz asked. ‘And what do they want, Harry? Why do they want you to talk to them?’
‘And why go to all this trouble just to get a message to you?’ added Ethan.
Harry slipped the voice recorder into a pocket.
‘I need to make a phone call,’ he said, took out his phone, and walked back towards the inferno.