‘There’s no written evidence to prove it, Rob, but I can only assume that your father found out somehow about the witching room and the chant that could trap people in it, and decided it would be an effective way to make himself some money.’
Rob looked over at Vicky again. She was beckoning him to hurry up.
‘It’s over now, detective inspector,’ Rob told him. ‘It’s really over. Whatever year or month or day these men have been trapped in, they’re free to go.’ He held up the gauntlet and said, ‘Apparently they’re only waiting for proof that Esus has gone for good.’
‘And that’s it? That glove? Let’s go and tell them, then. But you realise that if they are who we’re guessing they are – inmates unlawfully released by your late father from Dartmoor Prison – we’ll have to arrest all of those who have yet to complete their sentences. It won’t make any difference how long they’ve been banged up in that so-called witching room of yours.’
DC Cutland showed him a clipboard. ‘We have the complete list of their names here. All those who were promised by Governor Russell that they would be eligible for the Social Conscience programme. And there’s a van on its way from Crownhill.’
*
They crossed the courtyard and entered the house. As they approached the foot of the staircase, they could hear frenzied whispering from up on the landing. Rob thought: they could have spoken in their normal voices now, but they must have been whispering for so long that they were afraid to talk out loud.
Vicky was already there, next to the dark broken-open doorway to the cellar, and as Rob and John and the police officers came in, Grace and Portia and Katharine came out of the drawing room, too.
DI Holley went to the bottom stair and looked up. At least seven whisperers were looking back down at him, including the one with the shark’s-fin hair.
‘Right,’ he said to Rob. ‘You’d better tell those fellows that the boogie man’s gone and they can come down.’ He paused, and thoughtfully cracked his knuckles, one by one. ‘If they don’t, though, we’ll have to go up and fetch them. By force, if necessary. Two of the officers outside are equipped. This whole situation has already gone far beyond the bounds of what you might describe as reasonable.’
Rob climbed up the first three stairs, and they creaked loudly as always. The whispering died down, although more of the whisperers came to the balustrade and leaned over.
‘The presence that was keeping you trapped in time here has gone for ever,’ Rob announced. ‘I drove Esus to the River Plym and he fell in, and that’s the last the world will ever see of him. You can feel now how real you are, can’t you? You can come down, and you can walk out of this house, and you need never come back here again.’
He held up the gauntlet and waved it from side to side. ‘You see this? This is his glove – Esus or the Fluter or Old Dewer or whatever you want to call him. He’s gone, I promise you.’
There was yet another flurry of whispering. Then, slowly and cautiously, the whisperers began to descend the staircase. The priest was first. Rob took him to be the Father Thomas that John had told him about – the vengeful priest for whom the witching room had been installed in the first place. He was followed by three thuggish-looking men with shaven heads and tattoos, and then, to Rob’s relief, by Martin, looking dazed. If Martin had been freed, then surely Timmy must have been, too, although he didn’t want to tempt fate by shouting out his name.
As the men came down, they gathered in the hallway, and DC Cutland and two other officers went up to them, one after the other, asking their names. Father Thomas stood on his own in the corner, his head bowed as if he were praying. When Martin came down, he stared at Rob as if he couldn’t believe his eyes, and then said, ‘Rob. Thank God.’ Katharine ran up to him and threw her arms around him, sobbing.
Two or three of the men in old-fashioned dress appeared to be utterly bewildered. Bartram stumbled on the stairs and had to make a grab for the banister rail to stop himself from falling over.
Ada Grey came down, looking shocked. John took hold of her hand and led her into the drawing room, where she could sit down. He asked her again and again how she felt, but she was speechless. All she could do was open and close her mouth and shake her head.
Last of all, Jaws descended the stairs, and in his arms he was carrying Timmy, although Timmy’s arms and legs were floppy and he looked as if he were sleeping.
Vicky let out a cry of sheer joy, and ran up the stairs to meet him. Rob felt his eyes fill with tears, and he couldn’t help thinking: That God that I don’t believe in, maybe I do now.
Although Vicky held out her arms for Timmy, Jaws wouldn’t hand him to her. He came right down to the hallway, still holding him, and stood there for a moment like a sportsman who has just been awarded a trophy.
DI Holley went up to him and said, ‘You – what’s your name?’
‘Shearing, if you must know. Ron Shearing, Usually known as Jaws.’
‘Well, now, Mr Shearing. Why don’t you hand this young lad back to his mother so that this can all end happily ever after?’
Jaws looked down at Timmy and smiled. ‘He ain’t asleep. He’s hypnotised. We had to do it to stop him from crying all the time. Lenny over there, he done
