The Sinister (Excerpt)

‘…With this, the team of recovery specialists started their search for the missing man, combing the tracks with the aid of the Underground Management and their people. They targeted the area where Mrs Parkes had estimated her husband’s disappearance. It was quite a feat, considering that they could not disrupt the train service, and they worked fervently to find any clue to the whereabouts of the elderly man, but after two bothersome hours of careful combing of the area and even the surrounding building structures, they had to admit that there was no sign of the missing gentleman anywhere. It was as if he had disappeared into thin air, indeed.

Liam finally gave the order for the team to pack up and call it a day. There was no more to be searched in the dark crevices and tunnels of the underground railway and its secret inlet passages. The Inspector gathered up his gear and found himself a way in from where the others were. At once he heard a strange sound, one not of an everyday manner down here, but quite alien in its noise. A shuffling quite close to him begged to be scrutinized and he quickly took up his torch to find the cause of it, shining his sharp beam in the direction of the sound.

From right on his shadow came two grotesque deformed feet, enormous and sporting talon-like nails from their toes. They walked away from him at a steady pace on the track, strolling without a body into the dense dark of the tunnel. A primal shriek escaped Liam, and it alarmed his colleagues to respond immediately. They all switched on their flashlights and pointed them in the same direction, but found nothing at all. In the gleam of their lights all they could perceive was the shiny silver of the worn train rail and the vacant air around it.

Feeling awfully daft, Liam rubbed his eyes profusely as the other men slowly switched off their lights one by one and returned to their tasks, muttering under their breath in speculation of the officer’s fright. Liam looked into the emptiness, shaking his head, convincing himself that he was imagining things.

  *****

After work Rakha and Joyce went home briefly to ready themselves for the execution of their plan and make arrangements for their absence. Rakha’s husband thought her daft, in fact, but he agreed nonetheless to watch the children to allow his wife her Halloween kicks. He and the children had their own Halloween night planned. Just before she left the house, her cell phone rang, announcing the police service on her screen.

“Hello,” she said quietly as she slipped her boots on.

“Hi Rakha. Officer Liam here. I thought to just report in on our search today to keep you updated. Couldn’t get hold of you at the station,” he sounded slightly perplexed about it.

“Oh, yes, yes, that is because of Halloween night, you know. I worked the earlier shift to get the evening off, get an earlier start,” she laughed awkwardly, very intent on not letting him know what she and her friends were up to.

“Oh. Okay, well, we couldn’t find Mr Parkes anywhere,” he said, and Rakha felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She was grieving for the poor old lady who had lost her husband more than she was concerned for what caused his disappearance.

“Are you sure? Oh, the poor lady,” she lamented the loss.

“Yes, I know. It is dreadful, especially during this season of horror, you know?” he actually sounded compassionate, his normal rigid tone absent. “I have to go. It’s been a long day,” he said and she thought to herself how long her Friday was still going to stretch with the coming events.

“Of course, Inspector. By all means. Have a good Halloween and don’t have too much candy,” she smiled.

“Wait! Don’t hang up yet, I forgot to tell you this. I saw something today during the search we conducted for Mr Parkes. I have been thinking about it nonstop for the past few hours, whether it was real or not,” Liam said urgently.

Rakha found this odd.

“I am confused. Does this have anything to do with Mr Parkes?” Rakha asked.

“Maybe,” he said, “Just be careful near the station’s platform. I am not really sure what we are dealing with.” Her silence prompted him to say more, to reveal his befuddlement. “This is just the oddest case I have ever been assigned to solve. I just don’t know,” Liam forced his words, sounding very confused.

“I think you are working too hard. Relax, it’s Halloween. Nothing makes sense, right? It’s not supposed to,” Rakha laughed about Liam’s seriousness.

“Okay, then,” Liam replied blandly and said goodbye.

Rakha felt sad for Dorothy as she left the house, but she felt something more, dormant, deeper inside her gut that she dared not think on…’

   CLICK TO ORDER NOW