Page 13 of Four of Hearts

‘They’re ...’ he began, but his voice caught in his throat.

‘Dummy’s, Harry,’ Liz finished for him, and pointed to the one behind the steering wheel. ‘And I think that one’s meant to be you.’

SIX

Harry stared at the vehicle, couldn’t take it in. First, it had been used to crash into Matt, and now, here it was, sitting above Gayle, and filled with four life-sized, fully-dressed dummies. What the hell was going on? He had a sneaking suspicion that he knew, but that didn’t necessarily make him feel any better about it.

‘Not the best of likenesses, is it?’ he said, and he took his phone out to snap a few pictures, then checked the driver’s door. It opened easily, and now he had a better view of what had been placed inside. More photos were taken, and a quick scan of them only made the whole scene seem even more bizarre and creepy.

Of the four dummies, two were wearing suits, the other two were in white dresses. The symbolism wasn’t lost on Harry. The dummies themselves seemed to have been made of stockings filled with paper, the faces little more than paper plates stuck in place, and with faces drawn on in felt tip pen.

Someone had gone to a lot of effort, Harry thought. There was humour in this, but of the darkest kind, and Harry wondered, if he listened carefully enough, whether he would hear the menacing laughter of its creator?

‘This is really creepy,’ said Ethan. ‘I’ve seen some weird stuff in my time, but nothing like this.’

‘Same,’ said Liz.

‘That’s the three of us, then,’ grumbled Harry. ‘And if you ask me, someone’s got too much time on their hands, don’t you think?’

Harry stared for a moment at the one clearly meant to be him.

‘Impressed with the scarring detail,’ he said. ‘Artistic.’

‘It’s the four of us, isn’t it?’ Liz said. ‘You, Grace, me, and Ben.’

‘Looks that way, yes,’ spotting something then in the lap of the dummy version of himself.

As he reached in to grab it, Ethan asked, ‘Why, though?’

The answer wasn’t just in Harry’s mind, it was also in the smell he then noticed.

‘Move!’ he roared, and before Ethan or Liz could do anything to resist, he grabbed them both, and flung them back towards the Rav.

Sprinting, they raced away from the vehicle, then a wave of heat slammed into them, followed by a shockwave that knocked them off their feet.

The thump of the explosion was softer than Harry had expected, but no less terrifying. Glass and burning bits of paper rained down around them. The air was filled with the acrid stink of petrol and burning plastic.

Harry pushed himself up onto his knees, shook his head to clear it.

‘You both okay?’

Both Liz and Ethan answered in the affirmative, though there was a hesitancy to their tone, shock no doubt squeezing tight hands round their throats.

Harry stared for a moment at the burning wreckage before them. What had once been an expensive SUV was now a torched wreck.

‘That was lucky,’ coughed Ethan. ‘We could’ve been killed.’

Harry was kicking himself for not being more cautious and checking the vehicle thoroughly first. Even so, something didn’t seem quite right.

‘Yes, it was, rather, wasn’t it?’ he said, and pushed himself up onto his feet, brushed himself down, and started to scan the horizon. Then he lifted up a pointed finger. ‘There you are ...’

Liz and Ethan, both still on the ground, turned to see what Harry was pointing at.

‘I don’t see anything,’ said Liz.

‘Same,’ said Ethan.

Then a glint of light shone out briefly from further up the lane.