Inside Evil

Chapter 9 - Part IV

*Inside Evil and its sequels are available on Amazon, Kobo, B&N, Smashwords and iBooks*  

Karl shrank lower in his car seat as he saw the door to Roberta Arlington's house open. It was still early, around 7.30am, and a tall and thin young man wearing a duffel coat and scarf stepped out, pushed his glasses up his nose and turned to look both ways up the street. Roberta slammed the door shut, and Karl squinted and saw that there seemed to be a cut on her cheek. She looked thinner to Karl, gaunter than she had when he'd brazenly stepped into her house and idiotically questioned her. She took Sam's gloved hands and the pair briefly hugged before making their way towards him.

Karl shrank even lower in his seat to avoid detection, but Roberta's eyes seemed elsewhere and they hurried past without a backwards glance. It was cold outside, and though the air was still, the darkness of the winter morning kept the damp sky hanging over Ridgewood. There was no way in which he could follow the pair by car, so instead Karl reached over for his own scarf and gloves and stepped into the cold air with a creak of the car door. He reached once more inside the car for his police baton, a second consideration which he hadn't aimed upon making. He wouldn't need it, but Karl stowed it under his coat just in case.

Roberta and her male companion were disappearing down the road at quite a pace, and Karl initially had to jog slightly to catch up to a safe tailing distance. They turned left into a cobbled alleyway which led through a number of residential streets and moved through the town in silence, Roberta occasionally scanning the roads ahead of them. Karl kept pace easily, but he wasn't as fit as he used to be, and the speed of the two youngsters caused him to break into a slight sweat underneath all of the layers that he was wearing.

Ahead of him, the couple disappeared around a corner causing Karl to sprint forward and carefully push his head around the brickwork of a particularly enclosed alley. He caught a glimpse of Roberta's leather jacket as she moved through the small churchyard and was obscured by the stony porch. Keeping pace, he saw that the pair turned right onto the high street, ducking their heads slightly to move under the archway of another entrance to the small churchyard that was surrounded by residential streets and shops.

Karl realised where they were going as the couple slowed their pace at the corner of a small side street. The man with Roberta said something and was hidden from view as he moved off down the road, leaving Roberta behind. She looked around nervously, her hands deep in her pockets, the end of her nose turning pink in the cold. After a few minutes, her companion appeared again and Karl, inching forwards, saw the couple arrive at a large double door and slip into Best Books.

****** 

"Let's get this over with as quickly as possible," Roberta said in a hushed tone as she and Sam stepped into Best Books and locked the door behind them.

"I agree, the last thing we need is Sue turning up."

Roberta shuddered at the mention of the woman's name and tried to focus her mind on other matters as Sam pulled away the wooden board that was sealing the fireplace. Roberta saw the smashed brickwork that Sam had told her about.

"We have to go through that?"

"There's a ladder on the other side, come on."

Without waiting for a response Sam took off his jacket, pushed up the sleeves of his jumper and crawled through the gap. Roberta could hear a creak as he put his feet on the ladder and started to descend. "Roo, are you coming or not?"

Roberta looked around at the shop whilst her stomach churned. She didn't want to be here, and she cursed to herself that she'd let Sam talk her into it. If he believed her about the mirror, then she believed him about these candles, but he was adamant that she should see them for herself. She crouched down and saw Sam's face staring out through the hole. "We haven't got all day Roo, in and out remember."