[2022 Wattys shortlisted story]
A missing family. A twenty year old murder. An old ghost story. And a private detective from London. But what do they all have in common? It's the job of DCI Neo Denzel to figure it all out.
In the quiet town of Mart...
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Neo pulled off the main road. Towering trees faced them on both sides.
They'd used the emergency staircase to escape the Sailor's mate without further stares, though Neo knew the damage had already been done.
Whilst he was still on the case, he was going to make the most of it and they'd driven straight to where the electric point was marked on the map Charlie had found. She'd been silent, other than the occasional directions.
As they stepped out, the area hummed with mystery. For the most part, the road was quiet. Only a handful of passing cars even disturbed them as they started searching.
'What should we be searching for?' Neo raised his head and looked at Charlie.
'Hard to say,' she admitted. 'Could be a standard electric box. Could be something else.'
'Very helpful.' Neo rolled his eyes and Charlie smirked.
'Just keep looking. I want to find this place before it gets dark.'
Neo looked up at the light filtering through the trees. They still had many hours before they had to worry about that.
They kept walking a few metres apart from each other. Neo turned in circles, trying to see anything out of the ordinary, but everything looked fairly normal to him.
'How far away from the road do you think it is?' Neo asked. He turned back to see that they were already pretty hidden from view. He could only just make out the side panel of his car.
'It can't be much further,' muttered Charlie, though it sounded like she was trying to reassure herself more than Neo.
'I think we-' but he never got to finish his sentence as his foot clanged against something metal.
Charlie rushed over as Neo bent to look at the floor. He tried to dust off the leaf litter but realised it was all attached to something.
'What is that?' Charlie exclaimed as Neo lifted a net up.
'I don't know.' Neo stepped to the left so he could lift the entire thing up.
It was a black net, threaded with leaves and needles. Someone had even looped some ivy through to help it blend in with the forest floor.
'Well, we know what it was trying to hide at least.' Charlie nodded towards the metal doors placed straight into the ground.
Neo placed the net aside and felt around the doors. He pushed his hand through a hinged section and pulled the one door up.
The smell of rot and decay greeted them and they both wrinkled their nose.
Charlie fished a flashlight from her rucksack and clicked it on. Stone steps lead down to a dark tunnel, though from their position they couldn't see much.
