The Green Dragon by Dorothy Dixon. Part 2.
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Howard was still afraid when he woke up. It was night and the long ward was silent. Yes, he was still afraid, but he was stronger, much stronger. Something was going round and round in his head. It was something the detective had said, just before the nurse came.
He looked around the room. Everyone was sleeping. He could see the moonlight on their beds. Moonlight! That was it! The guard had said ‘in the dark’. But he was wrong. It wasn’t dark. It was moonlight, bright moonlight.
Howard sat up in his bed. He suddenly felt excited. Was he remembering at last? But his thoughts were gone before he could catch them. He wanted to shout with anger, but he had seen something. His arm was free. The pole and tube had gone and the curtains were open. Then he noticed something else. The guard was not there!
Howard tried to control his thoughts. What did he know so far? An old lady had been killed, an old lady who lived in Primrose Avenue. And the police thought he had killed her. That name, Primrose Avenue, he’d heard it before. Was the answer there? Could he find the address if he was free?
Free! He had to get free. He had to escape from the hospital. He had to discover what had really happened, because he was certain he had not killed anyone. He hadn’t… he hadn’t done that terrible thing. Then he lay back on the bed. He was feeling weak. How could he escape? They had taken away all his clothes.
Suddenly Howard heard voices outside the ward. He shut his eyes quickly, and lay very still. He could hear the voices of his guard and the nurses. The big doors opened and they came in quickly. They were pushing a stretcher. A man was lying on it He was groaning.
‘It was just outside the hospital,’ the nurse was saying. ‘He walked in front of a bus.’
They put the new patient on the bed next to Howard’s. Doctors and nurses were all around him. Then one of the doctors said, ‘We’ll have to operate,’ and the man was taken away again on his stretcher.
‘I’ll go and phone his wife,’ said the guard, and left the ward. Then it was quiet again.
Howard didn’t move for a very long time. Then slowly he opened his eyes. The ward was quiet. The other patients were sleeping again. He lifted his head and looked at the next bed. The man’s clothes were still on the chair by his bed. They had forgotten to take them away. He wanted to laugh!
Howard got out of bed and stood up carefully. For a moment he thought he was going to fall. He shook his head. Then he felt all right. He smiled to himself. He felt strong. He could do it. Now he knew he could do it. He could escape!
He dressed in the bathroom. The man’s clothes were a little too small but he could get them on. He looked at himself in the mirror. Now for the difficult part…
But he was lucky. He saw nobody, and nobody saw him. He walked quickly out of the ward and out of the hospital. Outside, he saw that one of the nurses had left her bicycle against the wall. Howard stared at it. He had a strange feeling that he had done all this before. Somehow, a bicycle was important. But why? He couldn’t remember. But he knew he could ride a bicycle. He shook himself, got on the bicycle and rode away quickly.
Somehow he knew the way. It was like having a map in his head. There was Primrose Avenue, and there, yes, there was the big old house. It was hidden behind trees.
Howard started to walk up the drive. It was like the dream. He knew the way exactly. He was certain the answers were here, the answers to all of his questions.
Suddenly, he jumped into the shadow of the trees and stood very still under the branches. He could hear voices. He looked out slowly and saw a van, a white van. It was parked outside the house. Two people were standing by it. They were talking. They were wearing dark uniforms. Then he saw who they were. The police! Of course! A woman had been murdered in this house, and the police were guarding it. He had to be more careful. He had to go round to the back of the house. Nobody would be able to see him there. He crept through the trees silently. He stayed in the shadows.
Again, he knew the way. Here was the back of the house and here was the drainpipe beside the balcony. He climbed up easily and opened the window. Somehow he knew it wasn’t locked. He climbed in and stood in the dark. He was breathing deeply, but he wasn’t afraid. The house felt warm and friendly. He felt his way across the upstairs hall with his hands. Then he started down the stairs, step by step, slowly and carefully. Suddenly he felt afraid… very afraid. But why?
The house didn’t feel friendly any more. Something was waiting for him downstairs, something evil and cruel and…
Howard cried out. He was terrified. Someone was lying on the floor below! He could see a white shape, with the arms out at the sides.
Then the moon appeared from behind a cloud and shone through the window. Howard’s legs felt weak. The body he had seen on the floor had seemed real. Was he remembering something or was he just dreaming it?
He could see clearly now. It wasn’t a body on the rug below. It was only some white marks. The police had made white marks on the floor. They had wanted to show the place… the place where the body had been. There was nothing to be afraid of, but had he remembered something else? He looked again, nearer and nearer. Then he turned away. He was feeling sick. Beside the shape of the head, the rug was dark, dark with blood.
Howard almost fell down the last steps. He ran across the hall. He crashed into tables, chairs and a large, heavy wooden box. The moonlight shone on its top. It was covered with Chinese dragons. He turned away. He couldn’t breathe. He had to get outside. He had to get into the cold night air.
Suddenly he stopped. Voices! He heard the sound of a key in the lock. He looked around wildly. He had to hide, but where, where? The Chinese box…? No, not there, not with those dragons! But he had to. There was nowhere else. He climbed in.