George clapped his hands together. 'Right. Let's see just what part of this rubbish is a disguised entrance.'
He strode across the desolate intersection. Aubrey caught Caroline's attention. 'Good man, is George.'
'Indeed.' She smiled. 'Shall we follow him?'
'After you.'
Just before George reached the rubble, the mound groaned and shook. He jumped backward as a rough rectangle detached itself and slammed back with a ringing crash. With nowhere to hide, Aubrey groped for a useful spell, absently noting that the rectangle of rubbish was a door, cunningly disguised and set into the debris. It had been covered with broken concrete and a rusty iron grille.
Hugo von Stralick stumbled out, wild-eyed and panting. Aubrey sighed with relief, and he hurried to the Holmlander.
Von Stralick stood on the edge of the mound and gazed with horror at the gaping hole he'd sprung from. Then he saw he wasn't alone. He wiped his brow with one hand. 'The Heart of Gold. It is gone. Muller and Schnagel are dead.'
'Steady, von Stralick,' Aubrey said. 'What's going on?'
Von Stralick's clothing was in disarray. His grey tweed jacket was streaked with cobwebs. His tie was awry. He'd lost his hat and he dragged at his hair with his fingers, trying to get it into some sort of order. His eyes were not steady; his gaze roamed around, not settling long on anything.
It was most unlike the self-possessed Holmland spy that Aubrey had come to know.
Von Stralick cleared his throat, then closed his eyes for a moment. When he reopened them, his breathing was slower, his voice less hoarse. 'I received a communication, telling me of this place.' He jabbed a finger at the rubble. 'Another refuge that Muller and Schnagel had access to. I had orders for them.'
'Ah,' Aubrey said. 'The machinations among your factions must have come to a head.'
Von Stralick shrugged. Slowly, he was beginning to resemble the fashionable diplomat again. 'When I return to Fisherberg I expect I will hear that some general or other has taken extended leave, or died unexpectedly or suchlike.'
'What were you going to do?' Caroline asked.
'Muller and Schnagel were ordered back to base. I was to take the Heart of Gold and restore it to its rightful place. Discreetly, of course.'
'But who killed them?' George asked.
'That I do not know, but whoever it was has taken the Heart of Gold. It makes matters most uncertain.'
'Uncertain,' Aubrey said. 'Nothing's changed then.' He went to the doorway and peered into the darkness.
'Where are you going?' Caroline demanded.
'The Heart of Gold has gone, but the scene of the crime remains. Let's see what we can learn.'
'Don't even think of telling me to wait outside,' Caroline warned.
'Wouldn't dream of it.'
'Nor me, old man,' George said.
Von Stralick straightened his jacket and sighed. 'I must accompany you, then. Honour insists.'
A short flight of concrete stairs took them to a concourse littered with building debris. As they went deeper, von Stralick produced a bullseye lantern. When he lit it, the light jittered over the pale green wall tiles. Shreds of old posters advertising absinthe, cigarettes and once-fashionable holiday destinations hung forlornly, reminders of busier times.
Von Stralick took them through rusty turnstiles to the platform. The tunnels were black voids swallowing the tracks. Aubrey felt a faint breeze on his face as they walked to the end of the platform, where Von Stralick stopped. The lantern light wobbled on an iron door. A sign announced it was for staff only.
The Holmland spy visibly steeled himself, then put his shoulder to the door. It screeched on rusty hinges and opened onto a narrow corridor. Von Stralick led them to a workshop where tools hung from racks and caught the lantern light. The smell of oil and metal was thick, along with a more unpleasant smell. Aubrey paused on the threshold of the workshop, sensing magic; it had the unique flavour of the Heart of Gold.
Von Stralick, his face grim, put the lantern on a bench, then reached out and pulled a chain. The room was flooded with harsh light. A ghastly scene was revealed, stark and horrible: two men, a bear, all dead, amid a great deal of blood.
Aubrey closed his eyes for a moment in an instinctive desire for the awfulness to go away. He felt as if he'd been punched, very hard, in the stomach.
'Good Lord,' George breathed. He took two ragged steps and leaned against a wall. He covered his mouth with both hands. He didn't take his eyes from the carnage.
Caroline visibly blanched and Aubrey moved to her side, ready to catch her if she fainted, but she took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. 'I'm sorry,' she said. 'It's the blood.'
'Me too,' Aubrey said and he was rewarded with a grateful glance.
Aubrey did his best to study the scene dispassionately, alert to any clues, but he found it hard. Even though Muller and Schnagel were – by von Stralick's accounts – ruthless spies, he wouldn't wish their fate on anyone. Their faces told the story: their deaths had been violent, full of pain and terror.
'They were like this when you found them?' Aubrey asked von Stralick.
'Yes. No. I checked to see if they were alive. That was all.' Von Stralick took a deep breath. 'You'll notice it's a different bear from the one that was at St Martin airfield. This is black. The other was brown.'
Aubrey moved closer to the bodies. One of them was half-underneath the bear, his face horribly torn, the eye patch hanging on his cheek. 'That's Schnagel,' von Stralick said. 'It's Muller over there.'
Schnagel had been killed by the bear. His massive wounds had clearly been inflicted by the claws of the brute.
He examined the bear. It had been shot, several times, but not at close range – no telltale powder burns on its fur.
He looked at Muller. He was lying a few yards away, on his front, with his back to the door. A revolver was still in his hand, but his body had no claw marks, no bites. Instead, he had a gunshot wound – in the middle of his back.
Aubrey tried to reconstruct the scene in his mind. A roaring wild beast, shouting, screams, gunfire. Confusion – much confusion. Would the presence of the Heart of Gold have added to the chaos?
He stood and wiped his hands together. 'It's clear that the bear killed Schnagel. Muller shot the bear, most likely in an attempt to save his comrade.'
'Then someone shot him in the back,' von Stralick muttered.
'From the doorway, I'd say,' Aubrey said. 'Then he stole the Heart of Gold, whoever he was.'
'Or she,' Caroline added. Aubrey shrugged.
'It was here?' von Stralick asked.
'Definitely. Its magical presence still lingers.' He could feel it. It left its mark on the surroundings the same way a heavy weight would on wet sand.
'Well, old man,' George said, 'can't you do that vision thing? The one where you find out what happened?'
He shook his head. 'The Heart of Gold. Magic will be extremely difficult in this area for some time.'
'Then who did this?' von Stralick said.