Read Midnight: The Second Jack Nightingale Supernatural Thriller for Free Online

I’ve been through in the last three weeks, I very much doubt it,’ he said.

7
    N ightingale pushed open the door to the office, waving the padded envelope that Turtledove had given him. ‘Great, you’re still here,’ he said. ‘Got any popcorn?’
    Jenny looked up from her computer, frowning quizzically. ‘I was just about to go home. How did it go?’
    Nightingale slid a DVD out of the envelope. ‘If I’m right this is another home movie from my dear departed daddy.’
    ‘That’s what Turtledove wanted to give you?’ She followed him through to his office and watched as he slotted the DVD into the player.
    ‘Yeah, he said he had only just received it. And here’s the kicker – he had to prove that I was alive before he could hand it over.’
    Jenny picked up the remote. ‘Are you sure about this?’
    ‘Sure about what?’
    ‘That you want to know what’s on that DVD?’
    ‘Why wouldn’t I?’
    ‘Because if it’s anything like the last message, it won’t be good news. And maybe you’d be better off not knowing what he’s got to say to you.’
    Nightingale sat down and lit a Marlboro. ‘Press “play”, Jenny,’ he said.
    ‘Do you ever listen to a word I say?’ she said, sitting down on the sofa by the door.
    ‘With bated breath, but if it was important enough for me to drive all the way down to Hamdale for, it’s important enough for me to watch, whether or not we’ve got popcorn.’
    ‘We haven’t,’ she said. ‘But there are some chocolate Hobnobs in my drawer.’
    ‘I’ll pass,’ he said. He waved at the television. ‘Please, the suspense is killing me.’
    Jenny pressed ‘play’ and sat with the remote in both hands as the screen flickered into life.
    There was no mistaking the face of the bald elderly man that filled the screen as he adjusted the lens. Ainsley Gosling grunted and took a step back, frowning as he studied the camera. His scalp was dotted with liver spots and scabs, and he was wearing the same crimson dressing gown he’d had on for the first DVD they had watched. Gosling turned his back on the camera and waddled over to his bed, then grunted as he sat down, wrapping the gown around his massive stomach. He was holding an opened bottle of brandy in his left hand.
    ‘This was made at the same time as the other video he sent you,’ said Jenny.
    ‘I guess it’s a PS,’ said Nightingale, flicking ash into the crystal ashtray by his computer terminal.
    Gosling took a long pull at his brandy bottle, then wiped his mouth with his sleeve. ‘I don’t know why I’m doing this,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘There’s no way you can possibly be alive to see this. By now you’re burning in Hell and cursing the day you were born.’ He took another drink, then held the bottle out in front of him. ‘Half empty or half full? What do you think, Jack? Are you an optimist, or a pessimist?’ He laughed harshly. ‘Not that it matters, not if you’re in Hell.’ He ran his hand over his scalp. ‘So, are you dead or alive, Jack? If you’re dead then this is a waste of time and the DVD will have been destroyed. But maybe, just maybe, you managed to find a way to survive.’ He leaned forward and stared at the camera with watery eyes. ‘Maybe you’re a chip off the old block,’ he growled. ‘Are you, Jack? You’ve got my genes, have you got my guile? Did you manage to pull a rabbit out of the hat at the last minute?’
    ‘I did, actually,’ said Nightingale.
    Gosling took another gulp of brandy. ‘Okay, if you are watching this, Jack, then you did the impossible. You did what I couldn’t do. Somehow you managed to beat Proserpine.’ Gosling chuckled. ‘Even as I say that, I realise how stupid I sound.’ He shook his head. ‘I’m rambling. Sorry.’ He forced a smile at the camera. ‘I’ve been under a bit of pressure, as you can imagine. Here’s what happened. Proserpine gave me knowledge. That was the deal I struck. Access to Satanic secrets in exchange