tree line.
They veered to their right so as to keep the other search party nearby, Campbell leading the way. Finally, Campbell stopped and turned and glared at Day.
“What do you know?” Campbell said.
Day stopped walking and took a step backward. He felt the comforting weight of the Colt Navy at his side. He was confident that he’d be able to draw it before Campbell could reach him.
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“You know me?”
“I know the name you’ve given me.”
“Nothing else?”
“What should I know about you?”
“Nothing. Nothing that has any bearing on the disappearance of Oliver Price.”
“Do you know where he is? Where the family is?”
“I do not, sir.”
“Mr Campbell, I’m here to find a missing family. To rescue them if possible, to avenge them if they’re already dead. Your behavior makes me more suspicious with every moment that passes. If you’ve killed those people or hidden them away, I’ll find out. And I’m not alone. If you plan to kill me here and leave my body in these woods, you’ll have to kill Mr Hammersmith, too. He won’t be easy to kill. And neither will I.”
“I have no wish to kill you.”
“Good. I have no wish to be killed.”
“Please believe me when I say that I mean no harm to anyone, that I only want to find Oliver alive and well.”
Campbell bit his lower lip and looked off to the side. He raised his head and opened his mouth to speak, but his eyes rested on something over Day’s shoulder and a look of alarm suddenly appeared on his face.
Day whirled around and scanned the woods. He saw nothing but dark trees and thickets. He turned back in time to see Campbell disappear. The big man faded back into the trees and was gone without a sound or any trace.
“Campbell,” Day said. “Campbell!”
There was no response. Day drew his Colt Navy. He stood in place and turned in a circle. There were trees behind him, in front of him, on every side, and they all looked the same. Grey and brown and black and, occasionally, a bit of the starry night sky high above. There was no indication of which direction to go. He realized that the comforting trail of footprints in the snow had been false. Here there was only damp underbrush; no snow had made it down through the canopy to the ground. It had all been caught by the branches above and melted away.
What had frightened Campbell? Was there something in the forest or had it been an act meant only to distract Day long enough for the big man to leave him? Had he abandoned Day or was he setting the inspector up for an ambush? Could Day count on Grimes to find him? Or was Grimes cooperating with Campbell? Had Hammersmith been abandoned, too?
There were too many questions. Anything was possible, and Day decided that conjecture was useless. The best he could do was be cautious and be brave. He thought of Claire and his unborn baby.
He drew his compass from a pocket in his vest and opened it, waited until the needle pointed north. When he had got his bearings, he started walking.
13
As he lay half asleep in his bed, Peter Price caught sight of movement from the corner of his eye and turned his head. A spider lowered itself from the ceiling above his chest on a glistening thread. It was the size of Peter’s fist, and he could see each of the wiry hairs on each of its writhing legs. For a moment he lay unmoving, simply watching the thing draw closer, and it seemed to him that its gestures were deliberate, as if it were communicating something lovely and terrible to him.
Then he sprang from the bed and lit a candle. In its unsteady glow, he searched the air above the bed. He pulled the covers from the mattress and threw them on the floor, picked them back up and shook them out. Nothing. There was no spider. Just to be sure, he patted himself down and ran his fingers through his hair.
The sound at the door was soft, and had he been asleep, it would not have awakened him. He padded carefully across the room, carrying the candle and watching for spiders the whole way. He opened the door a crack. His sister Anna stood in the hall, small and shapeless in her nightgown. Her bare feet stuck out below the hem of the gown, and Peter noticed, for the first time, that her toes had the same squared-off appearance as his own. He wondered whether little Oliver’s toes had looked like that.
“Did I wake you?” Anna said.
“I wasn’t sleeping.”
“May I come in?”
Peter nodded and moved out of the way, and his sister stepped inside, closed the door behind her. She hurried across the room and sat on the edge of Peter’s bed, drawing his rumpled blanket over her lap. She stared at the window over the foot of the bed, but Peter was sure there was nothing to see. Candlelight reflected against the darkness there, swaying and jumping across the rippled glass.
“Is Virginia asleep?” Peter said.
Anna nodded. “Asleep and snoring,” she said.
“Why does all of this bother us so much more than it does her?”
“She seems to have put it entirely out of her mind.”
Peter shook his head and leaned against the wall. He set his candle on the low table by the door. He glanced at the floor, looking for spiders, but saw only bare polished wood. He didn’t look up at his sister when he spoke.
“How can we do that?”
“Forget, you mean?”
“Yes.”
“She’s very young. She’s only a child.”
“Aren’t we children, as well?”
“We’re practically adults.”
“And yet we still shout at Rawhead in the pits.”
“Everyone does.”
“Everyone who’s a child.”
“I didn’t say we were adults yet, only that we’re practically grown. We’re still allowed to do childish things.”
“Except forget about Oliver.”
“Or what was done.”
“Have the policemen found anything? Have you heard?”
“Where would I hear? I’ve been in all the same places as you today.”
“Sometimes you find out about things.”
Anna nodded solemnly. “I do pay more attention than you. But nothing’s been said. I imagine they’re out in the woods or perhaps down in the mines, looking for everybody.”
“Maybe they’ll find Father.”
“Maybe they’ll find Mother.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Mother’s long gone. At most they’ll find Hester, and nobody wants her back.”
“I’m sure Father does.”
“Do you think they left together?”
“Left us?”
Peter shrugged, unable to repeat the possibility that they’d been left behind.
