The Beneath (28 page)

CHAPTER 26

The police had finished clearing the Rat Cavern, as someone had unimaginatively called it, the lights had been mostly dismantled and the wires reeled in. Dozens of specialist officers had swarmed through the tunnels, bagging evidence and making maps.

The Police Commissioner had asked for the tour before the caves were sealed up.

“What I don’t understand,” she asked the junior detective who had been assigned to show her around, “is how this much tunnelling had gone unnoticed when it is so close to the Tube network. Don’t TfL have engineers checking these things?”

“I’m sure they do, ma’am,” said the officer. “But from what I’ve heard, these caves are all pretty old, so they might have been here long before the Tube
tunnels were built.”

“Perhaps,” said Commissioner Vijh, sighing. “It’s not going to stop the Mayor asking awkward questions at the emergency assembly tomorrow though, is it?”

The two of them continued walking along the narrow string of lights until they came to a section where the floor was littered with small white tags, each with a number. Commissioner Vijh bent down to look more closely at the nearest few, reaching out to touch the ground but pulling back just millimetres before her fingers grazed the rough surface.

“How many was it?” she asked, her voice so low that Detective Sergeant Rooney barely caught her words.

“We’ve not had the full forensic report through yet, ma’am, but from the number of teeth we found piled up here it’s hundreds of people, probably over a thousand.”

“Genocide on an unprecedented scale right here in London.” The Commissioner shook her head as she looked at the tags stretching away towards the far wall. “I can’t imagine why those people put up with him for so long.”

Detective Sergeant Rooney wasn’t entirely sure what to say to that, so stayed silent apart from a murmured “No, ma’am”. The pair then continued walking until Rooney coughed gently.

“There really isn’t much more to see, ma’am. We’ve searched every inch of the caves, clearing out all the
bodies of the rats. The gas was very effective. I didn’t see a single live one.”

“I heard a rumour, Rooney. Someone said that they weren’t just ordinary rats but something much bigger. Can you verify that?”

“We’ve tried very hard to keep those rumours down, as we don’t think it would be helpful for the public to know the truth. Some of the ones I saw were the size of foxes or small Labradors. Huge.” Rooney shuddered just thinking about it again.

“No, you’re absolutely right – this really mustn’t get out. The Mayor would go ballistic.”

The Commissioner stopped and touched one of the sturdy supporting columns. “I’ve seen enough, thank you. It’s time I left.”

“Right you are, ma’am,” said Rooney, turning round gratefully. “Let’s get back above.”

Much further into the caves, through a tiny crack and beyond the reach of the paralysing gas, something stirred. Beady yellow eyes pierced the dark to watch over the litter of newborn rats, each considerably larger than a man’s hand.

They could wait.

The Beneath
has been a long time coming, and it has only made it this far with the help of some fabulous professionals at Nosy Crow. A great team of editors has helped to knock it into shape – Rachel Moss, Hazel Cotton and chief whip-cracker Kirsty Stansfield. I might not have seemed grateful at the time, but I can see now that you helped to tease out the book which was hiding in the early drafts – so thank you all. Dominic Kingston has also been a key part of the team, driving the publicity machine and introducing me to some brilliant librarians and booksellers.

While I’ve been writing I’ve been constantly amazed by the blogging community, with their boundless enthusiasm for new books and their continued support of old ones. I’m really looking forward to hearing what you think about this one. My writing friends from Twitter have also been invaluable, keeping me going when the end was nowhere in sight, offering virtual coffee and cake at every opportunity. Twitter has also given me access to experts in a whole range of subjects, and I’d particularly like to thank Jenny Rees for her advice on police procedure.

One other person whose name I must mention is Lizzie Wakefield. Lizzie gave a whopping donation to Authors for the Philippines after the devastation of Typhoon Haiyan in order to have her name in this book – I hope that you like being Nan, Lizzie! Sorry it’s taken so long.

I must also thank all the readers of
Small Blue Thing
I’ve met and spoken with at school events, on the blog, at
Queen of Teen
and on Twitter. Your enthusiasm and encouragement has been humbling and inspiring – please keep writing!

And finally I have to thank my family – Pete, Jake and Ellie – for their patience and unstinting support. I couldn’t do any of this without you.

Small Blue Thing

Perfectly Reflected

Scattering Like Light