Free In the Flesh by Clive Barker Page B

had a fear of water,' Garvey said ruminatively as he stared into the drained pool. 'Don't know where it comes from.'

     

     

      'Childhood,' Jerry ventured.

     

     

      'I don't think so,' the other replied. 'My wife says it's the womb.'

     

     

    'The womb?'

     

      'I didn't like swimming around in there, she says,' he replied, with a smile that might have been at his own expense, but was more likely at that of his wife.

     

      A short sound came to meet them across the empty expanse of the pool, as of something falling. Garvey froze. 'You hear that?' he said. 'There's somebody in here.' His voice had suddenly risen half an octave.

     

      'Rats,' Jerry replied. He wished to avoid an encounter with the engineers if possible; difficult questions might well be asked.

     

      'Give me the torch,' Garvey said, snatching it from Jerry's hand. He scanned the opposite side of the pool with the beam. It lit a series of dressing rooms, and an open door that led out of the pool. Nothing moved.

     

     

      'I don't like vermin-' Garvey said.

     

     

      'The place has been neglected,' Jerry replied.

     

    '- especially the human variety.' Garvey thrust the torch back into Jerry's hands. 'I've got enemies, Mr Coloqhoun. But then you've done your researches on me, haven't you? You know I'm no lily-white.' Garvey's concern about the noises he thought he'd heard now made unpalatable sense. It wasn't rats he was afraid of, but grievous bodily harm. 'I think I should be going,' he said. 'Show me the other pool and we'll be away.'

     

    'Surely.' Jerry was as happy to be going as his guest. The incident had raised his temperature. The sweat came profusely now, trickling down the back of his neck. His sinuses ached. He led Garvey across

     

    the hallway to the door of the larger pool and pulled. The door refused him.

     

     

    'Problem?'

     

     

      'It must be locked from the inside.'

     

     

      'Is there another way in?'

     

     

      'I think so. Do you want me to go round the back?'

     

     

      Garvey glanced at his watch. 'Two minutes,' he said. 'I've got appointments.'

     

      Garvey watched Coloqhoun disappear down the darkened corridor, the torchlight running on ahead of him. He didn't like the man. He was too closely shaven; and his shoes were Italian. But - the proposer aside - the project had some merit. Garvey liked the Pools and their adjuncts, the uniformity of their design, the banality of their decorations. Unlike many, he found institutions reassuring: hospitals, schools, even prisons. They smacked of social order, they soothed that part of him fearful of chaos. Better a world too organized than one not organized enough.

     

      Again, his cigar had gone out. He put it between his teeth and lit a match. As the first flare died, he caught an inkling sight of a naked girl in the corridor ahead, watching him. The glimpse was momentary, but when the match dropped from his fingers and the light failed, she appeared in his mind's eye, perfectly remembered. She was young - fifteen at the most - and her body full. The sweat on her skin lent her such sensuality she might have stepped from his dream-life. Dropping his stale cigar, he rummaged for another match and struck it, but in the meagre seconds of darkness the child-beauty had gone, leaving only the trace of her sweet body scent on the air.

     

     

      'Girl?' he said.

     

     

      The sight of her nudity, and the shock in her eyes, made him eager for her.

     

     

    'Girl?'

     

     

      The flame of the second match failed to penetrate more than a yard or two down the corridor.

     

     

      'Are you there?'

     

      She could not be far, he reasoned. Lighting a third match, he went in search of her. He had gone a few steps only when he heard somebody behind him. He turned. Torchlight lit the fright on his face. It was only the Italian Shoes.

     

     

      'There's no way in.'

     

     

      'There's no