The Black Door

"Joe's dead." The voice on the end of the phone cracked.

"No, no he's not. I'm with him now."

"What! You, can't be..." there was a strangled sob, "but, I'm standing over his body."

"Hang on, I'll put him on."

The next story, after The Collector, starts with a scene something like the above. It will change, for sure, but the initial conversation where there's a dead body, and it's yours, had a powerful hook. I've half a book of notes already on this, incorporating an earlier story.

I can see the scene, Joe hunkered down next to the decayed, rotted remains, gently poking the metal plate in the skull, seeing the movement from the loose screw - knowing that he has the same plate and same screw loose in his head.

The only clue is the remains of a drawer, taken from an old oak bureau. One that Joe recognises, the one that crushed his skull in the first place. Where did the dead Joe come from, where was it going, and what has the drawer got to do with anything?

This is a run towards the end, Joe dying, forced to face the darkness one more time.