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With most of the coppers now out of the way, I took the opportunity to take a good look around Garrick's underground lair. The accommodation was even more spacious than I had imagined. The main rooms ran the entire length of the tumbledown farmhouse above as well as the ruined barns on either side. It was clear that much of this space had originally been constructed by human hands, presumably as cellars for storage, as the ceilings were unnecessarily high for even the largest Goblin stature. Garrick had linked the cellars together with arched tunnels and closely-fitted doors, although the doors themselves looked as if they were rarely closed. As I had seen on my previous visits, he had used the space under the farmhouse itself for his study-cum-library, as well as a surprisingly well-equipped kitchen, a well-stocked larder, a bathroom and other essential domestic facilities. Evidently he was a Goblin who liked his creature comforts. The archways at either end led to two separate, spacious laboratories that I now had the leisure to investigate more thoroughly. The benches of one lab were cluttered with complicated glassware in twisted shapes and bubbling retorts that a human would probably think was used for chemical experiments, although alchemical might be more appropriate. There were shelves of carefully-labelled chemicals in stoppered bottles, earthenware storage containers, and sealed jars of liquid preservatives containing rare and mercifully unrecognisable portions of unusual animals. The second laboratory seemed to contain both less and more than the other one. A human would think the room mostly empty, with just a few shelves and cupboards, and a single bench, lining the walls. What the room contained a lot of was magic. The walls and floor were infused with puissant spells which seemed to writhe and twist in unlikely dimensions, the arcane movement somehow always just out of sight. It was a room for the creation of, and experiments with, magic and glamours of all kinds. Garrick clearly liked to keep his interests separated. The main space had been enlarged by the addition of several side-rooms which had been hollowed out by Goblin hands, judging by the low vaulted ceilings and masonry walls. These included one which Garrick used as a bedroom: for all his apparent comfort in residing this close to the surface, he was still enough of a Goblin to feel more comfortable surrounded by solid stone in all directions. Another thing that must have made Garrick feel a great deal more secure was the presence of two long tunnels with hidden doors, providing secret entrances or, more likely, emergency bolt-holes that emerged in distant parts of the fields and woodlands beyond. It was just the kind of contingency that the Professor would incorporate as a matter of course. As I poked my way around the rambling facilities, it slowly dawned on me that Professor Urquhart Garrick has gone, left in haste at some time before the police had arrived – perhaps very shortly before. At first glance, it seemed that nothing had changed in the underground quarters. The bookcases were filled with ancient books and rare volumes bound in embossed leather. But as I looked closer, I could see that the truly irreplaceable stuff was missing. There were spaces in the bookshelves, some packaged glamours missing from the shelves in the laboratory, and a few items of clothing taken from the bedroom cupboards. I could imagine that Garrick was not best pleased when Clathy and Drummond dumped themselves on him, especially with the restrained form of Clunie in tow. I guessed that the brooding bulk of Drummond would have persuaded the Professor - who had always been a bit of a coward - to comply. No doubt he played along, pottering around his demesne while Drummond and Clathy sat in the best chairs by the fire and fretted. Then he ducked out unseen, using one of the secret tunnels I had discovered earlier. No doubt Garrick was hedging his bets. If nobody tracked down the fugitives, then they would eventually leave and he could quietly return and nobody would be the wiser. Alternatively, he make sure he was absent in case of any unpleasantness. Still, there was half a lifetime's investment in this place, and I doubted that Professor Garrick would relish the prospect of abandoning everything he had accumulated in a century or more. I went to track down Luncardy, who was still directing the last of the forensics crew in the living area. "How are you doing?" I asked her. "Almost done. Not sure if there's anything of great significance here anywhy." "Probably. I do think that the Professor cleared out just before we arrived," I said, "Perhaps while we were right outside. Can you spare a couple of coppers to keep a watch on this place?" Luncardy looked at me shrewdly. "You think Garrick will come back?" "Don't know. Maybe. It's worth a try." Luncardy nodded slowly. "I've got just the boys for that job," she said.
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Part 86