LOCAL AFFAIRS

LOCAL AFFAIRS

Greater Malling had once been a small, attractive village but it had grown into a large, unattractive town. There were still a few reminders of what it had once been: a pond, a row of almshouses and a lopsided sixteenth-century pub. But the roads had come, cutting in from every side and joining together at noisy intersections. New houses had elbowed out the old. Offices and car parks had sprung up, joined by cinemas, supermarkets and a clattering bus station. Now it was very ordinary. Somewhere to pass through on the way to somewhere else.

It had taken Matt an hour to cycle here from Glendale Farm. He had been afraid that the road would play another trick on him and deposit him somewhere he didn’t want to be. But he was still wearing the stone talisman that Tom Burgess had given him. Somehow the little golden key had unlocked the maze of country lanes and allowed him to find his way.

Matt parked the bike outside a launderette. It occurred to him that someone might steal it but he didn’t care. He wouldn’t be needing it again.

He was looking for a railway station and a train to London. That was the decision he had made: to get as far away as possible from Yorkshire and never come back. Unfortunately, there was no station. The line to Greater Malling had been closed down years ago, and if he wanted a train he would have to go all the way to York. He found a traffic warden and asked about buses. There were two a day. The next one wouldn’t be leaving until three o’clock. That left three hours to kill.

Matt walked aimlessly down the high street and found himself facing a library– a modern building that already looked down-at-heel, with shabby, pebbledash walls and rusting window frames. He thought for a moment, then went in through a revolving door and up a staircase that was signposted REFERENCE. He found himself in a wide, brightly lit room with about a dozen bookcases arranged along the walls, a bank of computers and an enquiry desk, where a young man sat reading a paperback.

Something nasty, something very dangerous, was going on in the village of Lesser Malling. Somehow it involved many of the villagers, Mrs Deverill, an abandoned nuclear power station and something called Raven’s Gate. It also involved Matt. That was what unnerved him most of all. He had been chosen. He was sure of it. And before he left Yorkshire, he was determined to find out why.

Raven’s Gate. It was the only clue he had, so that was where he decided to begin.

He started with the books in the local history section. The library had about a dozen books on Yorkshire and half of them made brief references to Greater and Lesser Malling. But not one of them mentioned anything by the name of Raven’s Gate. There was one book that seemed more promising and Matt carried it over to a table. It was called Rambles Around Greater Malling and had been written – some time ago to judge from the old-fashioned cover and yellowing pages – by a woman named Elizabeth Ashwood. He opened the book and ran his eye down the contents page. He had found it. Chapter Six was entitled Raven’s Gate.

Matt turned the pages and found Chapter Seven. He went back and found Chapter Five. But Chapter Six wasn’t there. A jagged edge and a gap in the binding told their own story. Someone had torn out the whole chapter. Was it just a random act of vandalism or had it been done deliberately? Matt thought he knew.

But the library offered more than books.

Matt went over to the man at the enquiry desk.“I need to use the Internet,” he said.

“What for?” the librarian asked.

“It’s a school project. We’ve been told to find out something about Raven’s Gate.”

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“Nor have I. That’s why I want to go on the Internet.”

The man pointed and Matt went over to the nearest computer. There was a girl clicking away with the mouse at the next desk but she ignored him. He called up a search engine, then typed in:

RAVEN’S GATE

He remembered the words scrawled on the farmer’s wall in green paint. Once again he saw the dead man, his body torn apart, his eyes wide and empty.

He pressed ENTER.

There was a brief pause and then the screen came up with a list of results. Matt saw that his search had listed over twelve thousand possible sites relating to ravens and to gates, but none of them were even slightly relevant. There was an American football team, the Baltimore Ravens, whose players had walked out of the gate. There was a Golden Gate park, also in America, where birdwatchers had spotted a variety of ravens. Apparently ravens were also nesting in the Kaleyard Gate in Chester. But there was no Raven’s Gate… Not on the first page, not on the second, not even on the third. Matt realized he would have to scroll through all twelve thousand entries. It would take him hours. There had to be another way.

He was about to give up when a pop-up window suddenly appeared on the computer screen. Matt looked at the three words, floating in the white square:

›Who are you?

There was no way of knowing who they had come from.

He didn’t quite know how to answer, so he typed back:

›Who r u?

There was a pause. Then:

›Sanjay Dravid

Matt waited a moment to see what would happen next.

›You have made an enquiry about Raven’s Gate. What is your field of research?

Field of research? Matt didn’t know how to reply. He leant forward and typed again:

›I want to know what it is.

›Who are you?

›My name is Matt.

›Matt who?

›Can you help me?

There was a long pause and Matt began to think that the person at the other end– Sanjay Dravid – had gone away. He was also puzzled. How had Dravid known that he was making the search to begin with? Had his enquiry triggered some sort of alarm on the Net?

Then the window flickered again:

›Goodbye

So that was it. Nothing more happened inside the pop-up window and after a while Matt gave up. He went back to the enquiry desk.

“Yes?” The librarian looked up from his paperback.

“Is there a newspaper office in Greater Malling?”

“A newspaper…?” He considered. “There’s the Gazette. I’d hardly call it a newspaper. They never print any news. Otherwise there’s the Yorkshire Post.”

“Where’s the Yorkshire Post?”

“It’s in York. If you want a local newspaper office, you’ll have to try the Gazette. They’re in Farrow Street. But I doubt they’ll be able to help you with any school project.”

It took Matt a moment to work out what the man was talking about. Then he remembered the lie he had told to get on to the computers.“I can try,” he said.

Farrow Street was a leftover from medieval times. It was very narrow and quiet, crammed with dustbins full of bottles and cans. As he turned off from the main road Matt thought that the librarian had made a mistake. It seemed the last sort of place you’d want a newspaper office, cut off from the rest of the town in this dirty and forgotten corner. But about halfway down he came to a row of shops. First there was an undertaker. Then a travel agency. And finally a crumbling red-brick building on three floors that advertised itself with a plasticsign next to the door: GREATER MALLING GAZETTE.

Matt entered an open-plan area with a young, frizzy haired girl sitting behind a desk, eating a sandwich, typing on a computer and talking into a headset that was plugged into her phone. She seemed to be both the receptionist and the secretary for the three journalists who were sitting at desks behind her. There were two women and a man, and Matt was struck by how bored they all looked. One of the women was yawning continuously, scratching her head and staring into space. The other woman was half-asleep. The man was fiddling with a pencil and gazing at his computer screen, as if he hoped that whatever story he was working on would write itself.

“Can I help you?” It was the receptionist who had spoken. Matt thought she was talking into the mouthpiece but then he saw that she was looking at him.

“Yeah. I want to talk to someone who knows about local affairs.”

“Do you live around here?”

“I’m staying in Lesser Malling.”

The girl leant back.“Richard!” she called. She had a nasal, rather whiny voice. “There’s someone here for you.”

The man who had been playing with the pencil looked up.“What?”

“This kid here – he wants to see you.”

“Yeah. All right.”

The man stood up and sauntered over to Matt. He was in his twenties, dressed in a striped shirt and loose, faded jeans. He had a serious, intelligent face… the sort of face Sherlock Holmes might have had when he was young. His hair was short, blond and scruffy. He hadn’t shaved for the last couple of days. Nor, from the look of it, had he changed his shirt. Everything about him was crumpled: his hair, his clothes, even the way he stood.

“What do you want?” he asked.

“I need help,” Matt replied.

“What sort of help?”

“I’m trying to find out about something.”

“Why?”

“It’s for a school project.”

“What school do you go to?”

That took Matt by surprise.“I go to school in Lesser Malling,” he lied. He didn’t even know the school’s name.

“And you’re doing a school project?”

“Yes.”

“Try the library.”

“I have. They sent me here.”

“Sorry, I can’t help you.” The journalist shrugged. “I’m busy.”

“You don’t look busy,” Matt said.

“Well, I was busy until you arrived.”

“Busy doing what?”

“Busy being busy. All right?”

Matt forced himself to keep his temper.“OK, maybe I can help you,” he said. “You’re a journalist. Maybe I’ve got a story.”

“A story?”

“I might have.”

“All right. Come upstairs.”

The journalist led Matt up to the first floor and into a conference room that looked out on to Farrow Street. It wasn’t much of a room, but it was already obvious to Matt that this wasn’t much of a paper either. There were eight seats arranged around a wooden table, a presentation board and a water cooler.

“Thirsty?” the journalist asked.

Matt nodded.

He took out a plastic cup and filled it. Matt saw a single bubble of air rise up inside the water. He took the cup. The water was lukewarm.

“My name is Richard Cole,” the journalist said, sitting down at the table. He produced a notepad and opened it at a blank page.

“I’m Matt.”

“Just Matt?”

“That’s right.”

“You said you were staying at Lesser Malling.”

“Yes. Do you know it?”

Richard smiled humourlessly.“I’ve been through. I’m meant to cover it. Me, Kate and Julia – they’re the girls you saw downstairs – we all have our own territories. I got Lesser Malling. Lucky me!”

“Why lucky you?”

“Because nothing ever happens. I’m twenty-five years old. I’ve been working in this dump for eighteen months. And do you know the biggest news event I’ve had to cover so far? BAD EYESIGHT KILLS OLD

LADY.”

“How can bad eyesight kill you?”

“She fell in the river. We had a dog show in Greater Malling last week. The fleas were more interesting than the dogs. I got a parking ticket once. I almost put that on the front page.” He threw down the notepad and yawned. “You see, Matt, this is one of the most boring places in England… possibly in the whole world. It’s just a poxy little market town that doesn’t even have a market. Nothing ever happens.”

“So why are you here?”

“That’s a good question.” Richard sighed. “Three years at York University. All I ever wanted to be was a journalist. I did a course in London. I thought I’d get on to the Mail or the Express or else I’d just freelance. But there are no jobs around. I couldn’t afford to live in London so I thought I’d come back north again. Maybe get a job on the Yorkshire Post. I live in York. I like York. But the Yorkshire Post wouldn’t have me. I think I made a bad impression at my interview.”

“What happened?”

“I ran over the editor. It wasn’t my fault. I was late. I was reversing and I heard this thump. I didn’t realize it was him until I met him ten minutes later.” Richard shrugged. “Then I heard there was a place going here and, although Greater Malling was obviously a dump, I thought I’d take it. I mean, it was a job. But nobody reads the Gazette. That’s because – apart from adverts – there’s sod all in it. LOCAL VICAR OPENS FETE. That’s one week. Then, a week later… LOCAL SURGEON OPENS VICAR. It’s pathetic. And I’m stuck here until something else comes along, but nothing else has come along so I’m… stuck!” Richard pulled himself together. “You said you had a story.” He reached for his notepad and opened it. “That’s the one thing that’ll get me out of here. An old-fashioned scoop. Give me something I can put on the front page and I’ll give youany help you need. Right, so you’re staying in Lesser Malling?”

“I told you…”

“Where exactly?”

“A farm. A place called Hive Hall.”

Richard scribbled down the name.“So what’s the story?”

“I’m not sure you’ll believe me.”

“Try me.” Richard had perked up. He was looking more interested and alert.

“All right.” Matt wasn’t sure about this. He had only come to the Gazette to ask about Raven’s Gate. But there was something about the journalist that seemed trustworthy. He decided to go ahead.

And so he told Richard everything that had happened since his arrival in Lesser Malling. He described his first visit to the village and the chemist shop, his meeting with Tom Burgess, the lights and whispering in the wood, his time with Mrs Deverill, his second meeting with the farmer and his discovery of the dead body in the bedroom.

“…and that’s why,” he concluded, “I’m trying to find out who or what this Raven’s Gate is. It’s obviously something important. Tom Burgess died trying to warn me.”

“He died – but his body disappeared.”

“Yes.”

There was a brief silence and in that moment Matt knew it had been a waste of his time. The journalist had been making notes when he started talking but after a while he had stopped. He glanced at the notepad, at the half-empty page with a doodle of a dog and a flea at the bottom. It was obvious that Richard hadn’t believed a word he’d said.

“How old are you?” Richard asked.

“Fourteen.”

“Do you watch a lot of TV?”

“There is no TV at Hive Hall.”

Richard thought for a moment.“You never told me how you got there,” he said. “You just said that this woman – Jayne Deverill – is looking after you.”

That was the one part of the story that Matt had left out: the wounding of the security guard and his involvement with the LEAF Project. He knew that if he told the journalist who he was, he would end up on the front page of the Gazette… but for all the wrong reasons. It was the last thing he wanted.

“Where are your parents?” Richard asked.

“I don’t have any,” Matt said. “They died six years ago.”

“I’m sorry.”

Matt shrugged.“I’ve got used to it,” he said, although he never had.

“Well, look…” Richard was less certain now. Either he felt sorry for Matt and didn’t want to say what he was about to say. Or he was simply trying to find a nicer way to say it. “I’m sorry, Matt. But everything you’ve told me is complete…”

“What?”

“Crap. Lanes that loop round in circles. Strange looks from the villagers! Farmers that are dead one minute and disappear the next! I mean, what do you expect me to say? I know I said I wanted a story. But I didn’t mean a fairy story!”

“What about the lights in the power station?”

“OK. Yes. I’ve heard about Omega One. It was built about fifty years ago as a sort of prototype… before they built nuclear power stations in other parts of the country. But they shut it down before I was born. There’s nothing there now. It’s just an empty shell.”

“An empty shell that Tom Burgess was guarding.”

“That’s what you say. But you don’t know for sure.”

“He knew something. And he was killed.”

There was a long silence.

Richard threw down his pen. It rolled around the table and came to rest next to the notepad.“You seem like a nice kid, Matt,” he said. “But the police came and there was nothing there and maybe, just maybe, you sort of imagined the whole thing.”

“I imagined a dead body? I imagined the words written on the wall?”

“Raven’s Gate? I’ve never heard of Raven’s Gate.”

“Well, if you haven’t heard of it, it obviously can’t exist!” Matt snapped sarcastically. Once again he was angry. “All right, Mr Cole. I can see I wasted my time coming here. It’s like you say. Nothing ever happens in Lesser Malling. But I get the feeling that if it did happen, you wouldn’t notice. I don’t know what I’ve got myself involved in, but everything I’ve told you is true and, to be honest, I’m getting scared. So maybe one day, when I turn up floating face down in a local river, you might decide it’s worth investigating. And I’m telling you now, I won’t have died of bad eyesight.”

Matt got up and stalked out of the conference room, slamming the door behind him. The frizzy-haired girl was climbing the stairs and she looked at him, surprised. He ignored her. Coming to the newspaper had been completely pointless. He still had two hours until the bus left for York. It was time to work out how to get enough money to pay for the fare.

He burst out on to Farrow Street and stopped.

There was a car parked in front of him, blocking the entrance. A Land Rover. He recognized it even before he saw Noah sitting in the front seat, his hands resting on the wheel. The back door opened and Mrs Deverill got out. She looked angry. Her eyes were ablaze and her skin seemed to have tightened. Although she was only two or three inches taller than Matt, she loomed over him as she stepped forward.

“What are you doing, Matthew?” she demanded.

“How did you know I was here?” he asked.

“I think you’d better come back with us, my dear. You’ve already caused quite enough trouble for one day.”

“I don’t want to come with you.”

“I don’t think you have any choice.”

Matt thought of refusing. She couldn’t force him into the car, not right in front of a newspaper office in a busy market town. But suddenly he felt exhausted. Mrs Deverill was right. He didn’t even have enough money for a bus. He had nowhere to go. What else could he do?

He got into the car.

Mrs Deverill climbed in after him, closing the door.

Noah rammed the car into gear and the three of them set off.

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