‘You’re right. It doesn’t look as if it’s real, but my God it’s incredible. It must be at least six feet tall. Look at those teeth. They would rip a man to shreds.’

Arthur stopped mid sentence, realising what he had just said, and looked up at James whose face had drained of all colour. Martin helped him to a chair and threw Arthur a look as if to say no more.

‘I’m sorry, James, that was so insensitive of me. I didn’t think. It’s just I’ve never seen anything like this before.’

James nodded, trying to block out the images in front of his eyes of his son being eaten alive by the monster he’d brought into his house. Martin took the photograph from Arthur to have a look.

‘Are you sure this thing hasn’t been stolen? I mean, I can imagine it would be worth some money to the right people.’

‘I wish I could say that was the case, that somehow it had been taken by two men who had access to the house and the cellar, but there is always someone here. This house has never been empty since we moved in. If Eleanor and myself went away with the children, the staff were always here.’

‘Do you trust your staff?’

‘Yes I do. Lucy and Mary would no more steal from us than they would their own mother. And what would they do with it? I should think if either of them had seen it they would be too terrified to touch it.’

‘What about the man who picked us up – Davey?’

‘Davey is a good man. He would have no reason to steal it and he saw it the night of Joe’s disappearance, as did my wife. It almost caught her in the cellar, but she managed to escape by the grace of God.’

‘Do you think I can talk to your wife about what she saw that night?’

‘No. You will not mention any of this to Eleanor. She is not well and hasn’t been since that night. I don’t want you to upset her. If I find out that you have tried to discuss it at any point, I will not be responsible for my actions.’

Arthur looked at Martin, who put his head down.

‘Of course not, old chap. I don’t want to upset your good lady. I give you my word I won’t talk about anything but pleasantries with her.’

James felt his shoulders relax. ‘Thank you. I’m sorry, but this has been so very hard on us all.’

Martin smiled at his friend. ‘Why don’t we talk about what we do know and what we can do that might help.’

Arthur pulled a book out of his well-worn leather briefcase and a pair of spectacles from his shirt pocket.

‘You have to understand we are on unprecedented ground here. To my knowledge nothing has ever been documented about it apart from in ancient tribal scripts. I have some notes here that I made while staying with the Cree tribe. The elders described it as a Wih-tih-koh. It is supposed to be a half beast of demonic origin, which could either possess the characteristics of a monster or human, and which liked to eat human flesh.’

Arthur appeared to note James wincing, but there was no nice and fluffy way to describe the fact that these things were cannibals. He had clearly decided it was better to just blurt it out and be done with it.

‘Now, the one in your picture looks to me like it was more human, or tried to appear as a humanoid but didn’t quite carry it off. They were cave dwellers and lived in the dark, damp caves or tunnels of the Great Lakes Region. Once they had had their fill and their bellies were full they would hibernate for a long time. I have no idea how long because no one seemed to know that part, but you have to remember what I’ve heard were tales told around camp fires at night. This is not proven historical fact because, up until now, there was no proof that these things existed. I was under the impression it was all mumbo jumbo.’

‘Did they say if they could be killed?’

‘Yes, the only way to kill them was by fire.’

James thought back to that night he had first encountered the thing. It had smelt of burnt flesh. Had someone tried to burn it before he’d bought it? He thought it likely and he wondered who.’

‘We can’t find it, though. We’ve searched the cellar and the drain that leads to the sewers and out to the lake many times over. Some of the tunnels are too narrow for us to get down, so how does it manage when it’s larger than all three of us?’

‘According to the legends it can change its appearance at will, so it won’t have a problem.’

‘It could be anywhere. What am I to do? I can’t rip the entire sewerage system to shreds searching for it. The authorities would think I had lost my mind and have me locked up.’

‘No, you can’t, and who is to say it is under there? It could have found an underground cave somewhere along the hillside. There are certain Cree symbols that we can paint around the house to create a barrier. Apparently it can’t cross them, so the best thing we can do is to paint them on the inside of the cellar door and then on the walls around the house near to the doors and windows. I don’t know if this will work or whether it’s just superstition, but the native Indians believe it works, so there’s nothing to lose. I’m afraid it might be the only thing we can do. When was the last sighting of the creature?’

‘The early hours of New Year’s Day when my wife heard a noise in the cellar and ventured down there looking for our son. No one has seen it since.’

‘Good. That must mean it’s hibernating, so if we seal the house with these symbols hopefully, when and if it does wake up, it won’t be able to come inside and your family will be safe.’

James nodded. He felt deflated. He had been hoping that Martin or Arthur would have a solution, a way to find it so he could kill it with his own two hands.

‘Yes, that sounds like something we should do. The sooner the better. Come on, let me get you something to eat. You must be starving and I’ve forgotten my manners. I’m sorry, but you have to understand how I want nothing more than to keep my family safe.’

‘Daddy.’

James stood up, horrified to think that Martha might have been listening to their whole conversation. He strode across and scooped her up into his arms.

‘Hello, sweet pea, how long have you been there?’

‘Not long. I’ve just come downstairs. I’m hungry.’

James kissed her soft cheek and rubbed his fingers through her silky, strawberry blonde hair.

‘Me too. I’d like you to meet my friends, Martin and Arthur. They’ve come all the way from London to see us.’

Martha held out her hand towards Martin, who smiled and shook it. She did the same to Arthur, who shook hers then lifted it to his lips and kissed it. Martha giggled and James felt his heart lift. Laughter was such a rare sound in this house now that it made him smile.

‘Have you come to kill the monster?’

James looked at his daughter. She was far too old for her years.

It was Arthur who answered. ‘If we could kill it then we would, but I think it’s gone to sleep now for a very long time, so what we are going to do is make your house safe so that it can’t come back inside. How does that sound?’

‘Good, I suppose, but I would much rather you killed it.’

‘Me too, sweetheart, but sometimes we can only do the best we can. I promise you this: if it ever wakes up and tries to come back, then, yes, we will kill it.’

Martha stared him in the eyes, as if trying to determine whether he meant it or not. She seemed to decide that he did and nodded her head.

‘Thank you. Can I have something to eat now, please?’

James laughed and led them all to the dining room where Lucy had just finished setting the table.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Annie excused herself. She was tired and it felt as if her brain was too big to fit inside her skull. She went upstairs where she looked in on Alice and blew her a kiss, then she went into the guest room, which had become her temporary home. All she wanted was to be back at her own house, soaking in the bath – preferably with her at one end and Will at the other. Then she wanted to put her fresh pyjamas, collapse onto her huge bed and into Will’s arms, and make long, slow, passionate love.