Playing Dead: Book One of The Whitechapel Chronicles

Chapter 17

After it was done, I lay next to the woman's corpse and Harper lay on the other side, like some kind of macabre ménage-trois.

I stared up at the ceiling, my mouth open in awe and a thin trickle of blood snaking down my chin. Harper had been right. The pain had gone; the thirst had dissipated and was replaced with a sense of fullness and of calm. I felt calm for the first time since Harper had drugged me in the apartment.

Something small and with too many legs, crawled over my foot but I didn't care. In fact, the basement seemed less drenched in darkness than it had before. My fear of this place no longer twisted in my gut, I felt stronger, more alive than I had in days.

"We have to get rid of it," Harper said suddenly, sitting up.

I looked at him questioningly and he rolled his eyes as if I were really the dumbest creature he had ever met.

"The body," he drawled sarcastically. "The woman."

"Oh," I said, wrinkling my nose in distaste.

"Did you think I would leave it to rot down here in my basement? It smells bad enough after having you down here, let alone a decaying body."

He stood up and went over to the hatch, jumping up with ease and tugging on the handle before walking back to where I still lay. "Well, come on then, help me."

I stared at him and then at the woman in alarm. Jumping up, I backed away slightly. "Wait, you want me to help you get rid of her?"

"For god's sake, Megan, you ate it, it's only fair you dispose of your own trash," he said, shaking his head.

"Stop it," I gasped. "How can you talk like that? She was alive, she was a ...a person with feelings and ...and rights. We killed her."

"Hmmmm, actually I think you'll find that you killed her. I only abducted her. You were the one that stopped her heart." He smirked and I was horrified at how amusing he found this whole thing.

"I didn't mean to," I croaked. "I...I just...."

"You were just hungry and inadvertently killed her whilst feeding your own desire. Heart-breaking and tragic, I'll give you that, but I'm afraid that kind of defence wouldn't go down well in a court of law," he said, mock-sympathy on his face.

"Fuck you," I growled, feeling my body tense up.

"Hey, whatever floats your boat but right now, I'm afraid we have this little lady to think about. Dead bodies tend to put me off my stride, if you know what I mean."

"You're vile, you know that?"

He grinned. "And you're pretending to give a shit, when just a few moments ago you were ripping her throat out. Don't come at me with the moral high ground Megan, because trust me, you're on the same level as me now, whether you like it or not. Now are you going to help me or am I going to have to leave you down here with it as it rots?"

He grabbed hold of the woman's body and hauled it up over his shoulder with ease, carrying her over to underneath the open hatch.

"Here," he said. "You hold it while I get out and then you'll have to lift it up so I can grab it." He went to hand over the body and I backed up slightly, staring at him incredulously.

"I can't lift her up to you, don't be crazy."

"You just have to hold it; I'll lean down and pull it up."

"Stop calling her it."

"Would you rather we called her by her name? It's Margaret I believe. Megan, say hi to Margaret. Margaret, meet Megan. There, now we have formalities over and done with, just fucking hold it so I get can get it the fuck out of here." He was being disgustingly flippant, but I could feel the anger boiling under the surface and his steady menacing stare made my resolve weaken.