The Undertaker's Cabinet Page 8

  Some moments passed with frequent glances back to the gate but when finally he heard the sound of keys in a lock he was in no hurry to step inside.

  Almost before the door was open he started to speak, "I am here to see Tidd."

  A small, thin man eyed him cautiously. "And who may you be?"

  "I am Porter on an errand from my master. And you, sir?"

  "And who is your master?" the man replied without answering his question.

  He might have taken offence at the attitude of the other man but he was anxious to complete the task. "Mr Moreton and he has sent me to collect a parcel."

  The door opened wider revealing a gloomy interior. "You are earlier than I had expected. The parcel is not quite ready. Please step inside."

  "You are Tidd?"

  "I am, sir. Please." He motioned for Benjamin to step across the threshold.

  He looked over the man's shoulder. The passageway beyond stretched long and straight into everlasting darkness. It was not a step he cared to take. "Perhaps, you can ready the parcel and I shall await your return."

  Tidd laughed. "You are not afraid are you? I may be some time and night will fall before I am done. It is best you step inside. There is hot tea in my office."

  He did not like being challenged, and even though the sense of disquiet grew with every passing second, he stepped across the threshold and into the asylum. The sound of the door closing behind thudded in his ears.

  "If you would care to follow me. The hospital is a labyrinth to those unfamiliar with the layout. It took me several months to feel confident I would be able to find the way back to my office after my rounds. Losing your way in here could entail misplacing more than just a few hours. Why my predecessor, Carr was..."

  "Do you think we could move matters along quickly please? Mr Moreton was anxious for the parcel to be with him before nightfall."

  "As you wish." Tidd turned and walked away.

  A solitary lamp might have soothed his nerves somewhat but Tidd did not offer to light one. He simply walked quickly down the corridor and his feet tapped out a lively pace on the tiles beneath his shoes. The corridor was gloomy and what little light there was dripped from grubby windows high on the wall. Aside from the lack of wailing, it felt like the desperate place he had always imagined.

  Before very long Tidd paused beside an unremarkable looking door. "In here." He pushed the door and it swung inward revealing an altogether more hospitable environment. A single oil lamp flickered in one corner but the warm glow of a wood-stove cast more than sufficient light around the room. It was no larger than his office at Moreton's but it felt much smaller. Old newspapers were scattered about in a tumble of disorder and threadbare garments made a strange rug on the floor.

  "If you'd care to take a seat, I'll make you some tea before I go and collect Mr Moreton's parcel." Tidd ushered him toward the dirty looking chair beside the warm stove. As he sat his eyes settled on a collection of papers which looked altogether out of place. They had been dropped beside the chair as if they were today's read and discarded journal. He picked them up.

  "Just a few of the more interesting patient notes." Tidd smiled. "You'd be surprised what sort of life some of this lot had before they came here."

  Benjamin dropped the papers immediately. "I have no wish to read them thank you."

  Tidd took the steaming kettle from the top of the boiler in his hands. Benjamin could almost smell the burning skin as the handle singed his calloused flesh. "Why that fellow throttled the life out of his ma and pa and kept them like mannequins for almost a year before the smell of rotting flesh raised the alarm. Edgar Roe is his name and right here in this very building is where he makes his home." He poured the tea and whispered conspiratorially. "But he was one of them that liked a tincture a bit too much."

  "It's very quiet. Are we away from the lunatics here?" Benjamin took the tea and felt a little less nervous about his surroundings.

  Tidd stepped back and took a crude wooden club from beneath his overcoat. "Oh no sir. They're right above us but their demons don't start poking them until the sun goes down. Then you'll hear a racket. A bloody good one it is too." He tapped the club into the palm of his hand. "Mind you, it doesn't bother me. Not now at least. Time would be I'd hear them screaming all night long and it used to drive me mad, I can tell you. Don't hear a thing now. I just do me rounds and get some shut eye in that very chair; nice and warm like."

  "Above us? But they're locked away I assume?"

  "Most of them. There's some that like to wander the corridors all night; the harmless ones that is. It don't ring true with me though. I mean why would they be locked away in here if they was harmless?"

  "Where's this parcel then Tidd?" His voice betrayed the anxiety he so plainly felt at Tidd's last remark.

  "Alright, alright, I'll go now. I won't be long." He took the lamp and opened the door. "You'd do well to stay right here."

  He watched Tidd stride confidently into the gloom. His lamp flickered briefly before being swallowed by the murk. Benjamin had no intention of moving and if it weren't for the clutter in his way he might have wedged the chair up against the door. He closed the door and pushed another log into the stove to bring flaming brightness to the room once again.

  What madness could bring a man to murder his parents in such a way? What manner of lunacy would drive someone to keep them as statues to watch over him? The type of lunatic with whom he shared a roof at this particular time, that was who. He sat back down and picked up the doctor's notes just as a faint yet terrible lament writhed along the corridors and fell upon his unaccustomed ears. He looked nervously toward the door and after a minute passed and he was satisfied the room was not about to be breached he started to read.

  The minutes passed and Benjamin found his mind filled with terrible images of death and murder. He wanted to replace the book but found he could not for he was captivated by the horror. It appalled him and enthralled him in equal measure. The light from the stove grew dim again but he strained against the dying of the light to read just a few paragraphs more. In the background the sound of a banshee went unheard.

  "Quite the tale eh?"

  He jumped for he had not heard the sound of the door opening. He turned quickly and gasped for Tidd's face had become foul and snarling in the flickering shadow. He dropped the papers and jumped to his feet.

  "I could not say, I barely made it past the first page."

  "Right you are." Tidd sneered.

  "Does this mean you have found Mr Moreton's package? Am I free to leave this tiresome place at last?"

  "I have sir. It's right outside this room. You will need my help to lift it into the carriage though for it is quite the weight."

  He was anxious to be rid of Tidd's company. "It may not appear so but I am used to heavy work. I am quite sure I shall manage." He walked around the other man and once again found himself in the gloomy corridor.

  "Bring the lamp, Tidd. I can barely see a thing." The lamp appeared at his shoulder and illuminated the passageway in front. "And the parcel?"

  Tidd swung the lamp downward. "There you go, sir. It's right there."

  He looked down and saw a large shadow. He pushed it with his foot. He had worked with cadavers long enough to recognise the feeling immediately. He turned to Tidd. "What is the meaning of this?"

  Tidd grinned and held the bloody end of the club beneath his nose. "It's what Mr Moreton ordered."

  Benjamin looked from Tidd to the lump on the floor. It was bound in a filthy rag with a dark stain at one end. He watched as the stain spread through the fibres turning the rag from grey to black before his eyes.

  "You have just murdered this creature!"

  "Aye but he was trying to escape and we can't have that can we? Besides Mr Moreton wanted a fresh one and they don't come any fresher than Roe."

  Benjamin turned back to face the killer. "How dare you, you filthy animal. This is barbaric. Mr Moreton would never have agreed to such a thing."
He raised his hand to strike Tidd but he was too slow and Tidd took his hand in his own and pulled him forward.

  "Be careful Mr Porter or you might find yourself sharing a cell with one of our residents tonight. No-one would think much of a another scream in the darkness. Especially me." He pushed Benjamin away again.

  Benjamin straightened his sleeve and turned away. There was nothing to be gained except a broken nose and a night with a lunatic from continuing the exchange.

  "I shall be sure to tell Mr Moreton of your actions, Tidd. And if it so suits him, the police too!"

  "Be sure you do. I wish only to be worthy of my retainer. And you can tell the Old Bill anything you like, they're just glad someone else looks after this lot. Now allow me to show you to your carriage." Tidd bowed then barged past him and heaved the corpse onto his back. The shadow of blood on the rag made a stain on his cheek. "Follow me unless you wish to stay the night."

  Even though Tidd bore the dead-weight of a body upon his back his pace was fast and Benjamin struggled to keep up. Tidd had left the lamp at his room and now the darkness made the screams of those restrained more intense. Tidd's hummed dirge provided an accompaniment.

  How this man dared to speak such lies was a testimony to his base nature, especially since Mr Moreton was not there to counter such slander. He would tell Mr Moreton exactly what Tidd had said and watch the anger rise in his cheeks. Tidd would no longer be retained to do whatever vile acts he believed he was entitled to do. There was clearly some misunderstanding at work here. For what would Mr Moreton want with the corpse of a lunatic? A freshly murdered one at that.

  He watched as Tidd flung the body into the carriage and when it did not sit as he wanted, he kicked it with his greasy boot. The man might be insane but now he had passed, he deserved to be treated as any man would; with a modicum of reverence and respect.

  "Leave him be, Tidd. His body is in my charge now and I would not have you maul him like a wild animal."

  "Suit yourself." He aimed one last kick at an unseen body part and walked back inside the asylum.

  Benjamin gently pushed at what was evidently a leg, easing it inside the carriage. The afternoon had long since vanished and the darkness of the evening had taken hold. This had been an experience he would sooner forget and the feeling of unease which grew stronger with every second made him weary to the bone.

  He was less concerned that the police might stop him than he was about Mr Moreton's intentions. A carriage with the words Moreton the Undertaker embossed on both doors was unlikely to arouse anything other than respect from anyone who saw it. He was concerned over what he might find when he returned to the office; about what he might see and the words he might hear. He climbed into the cab and drove back down the dark driveway. He dared not look to either side for the thought of lunatics roaming freely was still on his mind. Instead he kept his eyes on the lit road and the passing traffic ahead.

  Mr Moreton had spoken of obsession and insanity this afternoon and as he climbed down to open the gates and breathe free air again, Benjamin wondered if indeed there was some truth to his words.

  "Mr Moreton! I've been to Bethlem but I feel we need to talk about matters of a grave nature before I provide you with what the creature Tidd supplied." He banged on the preparation room door three times in rapid succession. "I must speak with you, sir!" He had left the carriage and its contents in the yard. He could easily have managed the body on his own but he did not want to darken Moreton's doors, not when the man had so much on his mind already. He had considered diverting to the marshes on the way back and hurling the body into the water. Something had stopped him though. As cruel a man as Roe had been in life, he did not deserve to rot in a stinking marsh for all eternity.

  "Sir, I realise this is a difficult time but there has been a terrible misunderstanding. Now if you'd only..." To prevent Benjamin from spying on him Mr Moreton had taken to leaving the key in the hole when he was present inside. The sound of the key turning stopped his words instantly.

  "Ah there you are, Benjamin. You were gone so long I fell asleep."

  Mr Moreton looked tired but the vapours on his breath were not the sour ones of sleep but of gin. He had detected it on the breath of men in the gambling rooms but never before on Mr Moreton. He closed the door behind him preventing Benjamin from looking inside.

  "Mr Moreton. Have you met this man Tidd before? What do you know of him?"

  "I know enough and that is all I need to know."

  "He is not to be trusted. I can personally vouch for that." He saw Mr Moreton's eyes narrow slightly. "I am convinced he murdered a man this evening." He waited for a reaction and when none came he added. "Absolutely convinced."

  "And who was this man he murdered?"

  "I do not know for sure but I believe it may have been a man named Roe."

  "The same Roe who committed parenticide?"

  "Why yes!" Benjamin said quickly. "You are aware of him?"

  "Only what I read in the papers. He was an evil madman and the world is better off without him in it."

  Benjamin was aghast at his employers point of view on the matter. "You condone Tidd's act? How can you? You are not in your right mind Mr Moreton. You have just lost poor beautiful Alice and you ask me to parley with man you know is a murderer?" He stepped away from the man he thought he knew. "For what purpose did you charge me to bring him here?"

  Mr Moreton took an equal step toward him.

  "You know nothing, Benjamin. Is Alice not more deserving of life than that creature you protect in the carriage? My Alice who never spoke a harsh word against any man is less deserving of life than a murderer? I thought you held her in your heart as you would your own mother. I was mistaken." He turned his back. "I ask nothing further of you other than to deliver Roe. I release you from further obligation, Benjamin."

  He felt nauseous. Was he about to throw eighteen months of hard work away over a murderous lunatic? Was he on the verge of letting down another man who had shown paternal love?

  "If you would only explain yourself so I could better make a decision. I wish nothing more than to stay in your employ; to be your friend. Yet I cannot do so when I am left in the dark like a corpse myself. I ask you again, allow me to help you."

  "Then bring Roe and deliver him to the preparation room. You will see the point I have been labouring on."

  Benjamin remained where he was for a moment. He was unsure where this night would take him but he had trusted Mr Moreton thus far and not once been failed. He would not turn away from him without seeing and hearing an explanation. He walked quickly out of the building and into the yard where the horses waited impatiently. Their senses were used to the scent of a dead man riding behind them but even they were uneasy at the scent of the cargo they carried tonight.

  He stabled the horses before returning to the carriage. Roe had not yet started to decompose and his body smelled no worse than a butcher's shop. He pulled him out and hoisted the body over his shoulder. The last year and a half had given him a strong back and sturdy legs but the weight still bore down on him with every step.

  He entered the rear of the shop and called out. "Mr Moreton I have him."

  "Then bring him through as you would any other."

  The passageway was dark but an oil lamp glow leaked through a gap in the door. He kept his eyes fixed on it until he stepped into the room. Mr Moreton was at the far end, where they had both looked upon Alice just a few hours before. Her deathly smell had already started morbidly to perfume the room. Mr Moreton had his back toward the door but he was obviously busying himself.

  "Where shall I put him?"

  "Bring him here please and place him on this table." He stepped aside so Benjamin could see.

  The second table had been placed beside Alice and beside them both stood a grand wooden cabinet.

  "Would it not be wonderful if our loved ones forever looked as they did on their finest day? If we could keep them not only in our minds as they once looked but k
eep them in our homes too? Would that not be worthy of some small sacrifice, like say the death of a murderer." He indicated where he wanted the body. "Put his head at that end."

  He did as he was asked and laid Roe's body down on the table. He wiped his hands across his trousers for they felt as sticky as they did when he held sweet pastries from the baker. Alice Moreton lay where she had been all that day. He was careful not to let Roe's body touch her.

  "What is this?" He pointed at the cabinet.

  "It is beautiful is it not? It was made by the carpenter appointed to the Earl of Aberdeen!"