by S M Hardy
‘Huh, you could say that,’ I said.
He slumped back onto the pillows. ‘Tell me,’ he said, so I told him about the fires and the chanting and the effigy of Laura, only pausing when the orderly squeezed past me to change Simon’s water. Then I told him about Emma’s close shave and, out of everything I’d told him, I could see this shook him the most. It was almost as though all the other weird stuff was, not expected exactly, but not surprising either. I had suspected my old friend was keeping things from me, now I was darn well sure.
When I finished speaking, he was quiet for a long time and when he did start to speak he didn’t look at us, but stared off into space.
‘Even from a young age I knew there was something not quite right about Edward.’ Laura and I shared a confused look. What had Edward to do with his assault and what had happened since? Did Simon believe it was Edward who had been ransacking his own room? Why would he? He would surely know its secrets. ‘He could be terribly cruel and if he wanted something, by God he would make sure he got it. In fact, he would rather destroy a thing if he couldn’t make it his own.’ He went quiet for a few moments as though remembering the past. ‘Ed and Ollie were always very close, but in the months before Ed … before Ed disappeared and I was told he was dead, there was something going on between them. They had fallen out and it was serious. Then Constance died and Ollie … Ollie changed. Everyone said Constance dying was an accident, but now looking back …’ Simon raised his eyes to mine. ‘Looking back and remembering little things that were said and done – I’m not so sure it was – I think it’s quite possible Edward killed her.’
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The journey back to Kingsmead wasn’t much different to our earlier drive to the hospital. It was spent mainly in silence. I occasionally glanced Laura’s way. She sat with her arms wrapped across her chest as though hugging herself. She was scared, so was I.
Simon wouldn’t be drawn into telling us any more. He said he was tired and by God he looked it. I didn’t push him as much as I wanted to and then the end of visiting hour’s bell went and it was too late. As we went to leave, he told us he had a lot to think about and needed to get it all straight in his own head and I guessed he really did. Everything he’d thought about his brothers, and possibly the rest of his family, he was now beginning to realise was untrue or based on lies.
‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ I said.
‘Yes.’ He glanced towards Laura as she bent to retrieve her handbag from the floor and gave me a pointed look. ‘And then you and I will talk.’ He couldn’t have made it clearer – he wanted to speak to me alone.
As we drove into the estate the back of my neck began to tingle. Apart from the women in the pool and the images I’d seen at the clearing, my friends from beyond the veil had, surprisingly, kept very much to themselves since our arrival. From the increasing pressure at the top of my spine I was under the impression this was about to change.
Laura went to her room to dress for dinner while I hurried to mine to check on Emma. I wanted to leave her alone in this place even less than I had before. From now on, if she couldn’t come with me, I wasn’t going anywhere.
When I entered the room, she wasn’t in bed and my chest tightened in anxiety. I hurried to the bathroom, but the door was open and it was empty inside. I spun around – where on earth was she?
A soft breeze touched my face and when I glanced towards the windows the curtains were gently swaying.
‘Emma?’ I called.
‘I’m out here.’
I crossed the room in a couple of strides and threw back the curtains. Emma was sitting on the balcony with a book and a large glass of something fresh and fruity and brimming with ice.
‘I wondered where you were.’
She tilted her head to one side as I stooped down to kiss her cheek. ‘I had to get up. I was sick to death of lying in bed like some damned invalid.’
‘You nearly drowned.’
‘But I didn’t.’
I sat down at the table opposite her and took hold of her hand. ‘I nearly lost you.’
She squeezed my fingers. ‘I’m fine.’
I studied her face. ‘Do you remember what happened?’
‘I dived in, swam a couple of lengths and’ – she grimaced – ‘I was about to get out. The water was warm, I knew it was warm, but I suddenly felt so cold, like the heat was being leeched from my body.’ She gave a small shake of her head. ‘Then it was like something had wrapped itself around my ankles and it started to pull me under. I guess I must have panicked, because the harder I struggled the worse it got.’ She let out a shuddery sigh. ‘I know you always say the dead can’t hurt us, not physically, but’ – she looked at me with frightened eyes – ‘I heard her. I heard her screaming at me.’
I didn’t bother telling her she was wrong. I no longer thought she was. The spirit was definitely trying to harm her. ‘What did she say, Emms?’
She took a sip of her drink. ‘She kept screaming “He’s mine – you can’t have him – he’s mine.”’ She let out a shuddery breath. ‘Did you see her?’
Her hand felt cold in mine. ‘There were two of them,’ I told her. ‘A young woman and an older one. It was the older woman who had hold of your ankles.’
She bit her lip, mulling it over for a second or two. ‘I wonder who they were? And what did she mean, do you think?’
‘I don’t know. Maybe we should try looking into the history of this place.’
‘Maybe we should,’ she said, with a sigh. ‘How did it go at the hospital?’
I pulled a face. ‘Laura and Simon appeared to hit it off, so that’s something.’
‘But …?’
‘Simon dropped a bit of a bombshell – he says he thinks Edward might have killed Oliver’s first wife.’
‘Really?’
‘That’s what he said.’
‘Are you going back to see him tomorrow?’
‘I think I have to. Simon said he had some thinking to do, but he made it quite clear he wanted to speak to me alone, which could be difficult. I can hardly stop Laura from visiting him.’ I paused, thinking about it. ‘Anyway, this whole sorry mess has to be resolved, we can’t stay for ever and I don’t feel I can leave Laura here alone the way things stand.’
‘I agree.’
‘So,’ I said, my heart sinking. ‘Like it or not, we’re here to stay for the foreseeable future.’
Emma had begun to flag by the time I was ready for dinner, but wouldn’t hear of us eating in our room.
‘I want to get to know Laura,’ she said.
While I poured the drinks, the girls chattered amongst themselves. Laura was telling Emms about her flatmate, who was flying off to New Zealand, to marry a Kiwi.
‘This is why I was soon to be homeless,’ she explained. ‘Jenny’s parents owned the property and were going to sell it after she moved out. It’s weird really, everything seemed to happen at once. Out of the blue Andy, Jenny’s fiancé, was offered his dream job back in New Zealand, so they brought the wedding forward, then someone her parents knew made an offer on the house before it even went on the market and on the very same day my company announced job cuts due to a takeover, and mine was one of the positions that was going to go.’
‘So finding out you were an heiress was like a dream come true,’ Emma said.
Laura took a sip of her drink. ‘It was certainly unexpected and couldn’t have come at a better time. As I told you, as far as I was aware, I had no family.’
‘Well, you’ve met Simon now, at least.’
Laura’s smile slipped a bit. ‘He didn’t look at all well.’
‘He did have a nasty smack on the head,’ Emma said, ‘but hopefully he’ll be allowed home soon.’
‘I’m looking forward to getting to know him and hearing all about the family.’ Laura looked down into her glass before raising her eyes to look at me. ‘So, what do we do now?’ she asked.
‘How do you mean?’
> ‘Do we tell the police about the dummy?’
I rubbed at my chin. ‘We should,’ I said, still not sure what I thought about the detective inspector. ‘They would certainly consider it a threat, or possibly a warning.’
She looked back into her drink. ‘I suppose. It’s all a bit of a mess, really.’
‘Maybe you should have a word with Brandon Fredericks,’ I said. ‘It could be he can find a way of getting around you having to live here until this has all been sorted out.’
‘Hmm. It is a bit of an odd condition, don’t you think? I can see why my grandfather might want me to live here for a couple of years. I suppose he was hoping I’d fall in love with the place and not decide to sell the family home, but why have I got to move in so soon? It doesn’t make an awful lot of sense. I could have had commitments, a job or a holiday booked.’
‘I suppose he thought with all the money you’d be inheriting you wouldn’t need a job any more, and a holiday could always be rescheduled,’ Emma said.
‘All the same – it’s a bit manipulative,’ and she frowned as if this had just occurred to her – maybe it had.
Emma lasted through dinner, but when her head began to nod, I excused us and took her upstairs to bed. I did offer to return downstairs to keep Laura company, after a nudge in the ribs from Emms, but Laura said she was tired too. I wasn’t surprised, an awful lot had happened throughout the day. As I turned out the light and settled down in bed, I hoped the following one would prove a little less stressful. I wasn’t holding my breath.
We woke early. Emma was none the worse for her near drowning and was raring to be up and about after having a day in bed and a good night’s sleep. I wasn’t so lively. From the moment I’d laid my head on the crisp, white pillow and closed my eyes sleep eluded me. The spirits who had, until now, remained strangely silent decided to make themselves known. At first they were tentative, which was unusual, then they became more persistent; so much so I slipped out of bed and went to sit on the balcony rather than disturb Emma, who was sleeping peacefully. Fortunately, due to the unusually hot spring days, the temperature outside wasn’t as cold as it might have been. Still, I was beginning to shiver by the time my friends had finished with me.
I had no other choice but to open my mind to them, otherwise I suspected they would go on and on all night and probably throughout the following day. One of the deceased was a distraught woman, the other a bombastic elderly man. Neither had messages for the living, all either wanted was for someone to listen.
She wept for her children, one who had been taken from her and the other who had never drawn breath. From her heavy Devonshire accent, I guessed she was a member of staff, not a family member. The man was related by marriage. Gruff and disgruntled by how his family had never loved him in life and, to his mind, had disrespected him in death, he moaned on and on. I felt sorry for her, the man not so much. He was a pompous old windbag and I suspected his family had been relieved when he’d died.
I did learn something interesting: there had been someone else who had stayed in the house who’d had the sight and, whoever this person was, she had scared them. One would think the dead no longer had anything to fear – apparently they had. This woman proved it.
They gave the impression she had been a visitor to the house rather than a permanent resident and, as the departed have no concept of time, she could have stayed in the house one hundred years ago or as recently as last month. One thing both spirits were adamant about was that she was one of the Devil’s children.
The sun was creeping over the horizon by the time they let me go and I could slide back under the covers and drift off for a couple of hours. Consequently, when Emma sprang out of bed all bright and cheerful, I wanted nothing other than to hide my head under the covers and go back to sleep.
I didn’t, I had things to do, the first of which was to phone Detective Inspector Brogan. He wasn’t answering his phone, so I left a message saying Laura had been threatened and for him to call me. I was probably in for a tongue-lashing for not having reported the incident earlier. I didn’t much care. They hadn’t made any progress on Oliver’s murder and I doubted whether what he could possibly see as a sick practical joke would prove any different.
‘I’m going to take your advice,’ Laura said over breakfast.
‘What advice was that?’ Emma asked, accepting a refill of coffee from Maddy.
‘Jed’s suggestion I talk to Mr Fredericks to see if he can do something about changing my move-in date.’
‘It’s worth a try,’ I said, helping myself to another slice of toast.
‘Though I’m not sure where I’ll go.’
‘You can come and stay with us,’ Emma said.
‘Could I? Are you sure? You don’t even know me.’ Laura looked from Emma to me, her expression so grateful I couldn’t have said no even had I wanted to.
‘You’ll always be welcome,’ Emma said.
Laura’s eyes filled up. ‘You are both so kind.’
‘You might change your mind after a few more days living under the same roof as us,’ I said, making her laugh, which was good to see.
Laura excused herself as soon as we’d finished breakfast and went off to phone Brandon. Emma and I decided to go for a hike into the village. I was finding the house oppressive and, although I doubted very much spirits talked to each other, it appeared last night’s conflab had opened the floodgates. I could hear whispering and see shadows everywhere.
The weather was still unseasonably warm and as we strode along, Emma’s hand in mine, I began to relax and immediately the gates closed behind us my mood grew more cheerful. We didn’t talk about Simon, the house, the poolroom and certainly not the clearing where the whole nightmare had begun.
Emma told me about the book she was reading and how it was so much better than the film. I told her a bit about a trip Reggie and I had made to the country where the book was set, albeit censoring it somewhat. She didn’t need to know why we’d been there, and I’d rather forget it. The country was beautiful, our reason for the visit not so much.
We took the long, scenic route following a bridle path through the fields and woods, reaching the village by midday and, once there, decided to have a light lunch in the local pub. The building was a picture postcard, white-painted, black-beamed old coach house and, judging by the number of cars already crammed into the small car park, appeared to be fairly popular. The laughter and chatter greeting us when we walked inside was enough to let us know we’d chosen well.
It was bigger inside than it looked from the car park and, with its low ceilings, wooden beams and huge open fireplace, suited us down to the ground. We grabbed a small corner table and while Emms perused the menu I got us a couple of drinks in.
I still hadn’t heard from Detective Inspector Brogan, which was a surprise, but then was it? Perhaps now Oliver was gone he wanted to keep as far away from the rest of the family and Kingsmead as he could. Whatever the reason it made me uneasy.
Did he know of the existence of the photographs? And if he did … I would have thought he’d want them destroyed. Cynical and suspicious person that I am, this made me wonder once again about who had broken into Edward’s room and what they had been looking for. Surely to God, DI Brogan … No – for one thing how would he have gained access without anyone knowing? And the figure I’d seen running from Edward’s room was nowhere as tall as Brogan and was slight of frame. It could even have been a woman – and that set me thinking. Who exactly was his lover?
‘Penny for them?’ Emma asked.
I started. ‘Sorry, I was miles away.’
She grinned at me. ‘So I could see. Are you dreaming of the roast beef sandwich you just ordered or something far more interesting?’
My smile was sheepish. ‘Actually, I was wondering why DI Brogan hasn’t returned my call.’
‘Hmm, it is a bit strange. I’d have thought one murder, an assault and now a threat of violence would have had him camping on the door
step.’
‘Not these days, Emms. They haven’t the manpower.’
She sniffed. ‘Simon Pomeroy being such a bigwig in a ministry department should have been enough to have DI Brogan running around all over the place.’
‘I never said—’
‘You didn’t have to. It’s pretty obvious Simon is more than an office manager. Hearing him on the phone to his assistant was the giveaway.’
We couldn’t linger over lunch as long as we would have liked. I had to be back to ferry Laura to the hospital and I was very interested in hearing what Simon had to say about the rift between Edward and Oliver, particularly given what he’d said about Oliver’s first wife – and this time I wouldn’t be put off.
As the gates to the estate slowly swung shut behind us my earlier feeling of oppression returned and with it a growing sense of dread. Then when we reached the brow of the hill and the downward slope to Kingsmead it turned into full-blown anxiety. Doctor Bell’s old Mercedes was parked out front of the house together with another car I didn’t recognise.
Emma and I exchanged a glance. ‘I hope Laura’s all right,’ she said and we both set off down the drive at a fast stride, which was almost a jog by the time we reached the front door.
The good doctor was in the entrance hall talking to Mrs Walters and the housekeeper’s expression was one of relief as we appeared through the door.
I didn’t beat about the bush. ‘What’s happened now?’ I asked.
‘It’s nothing to worry about,’ Doctor Bell quickly said. ‘Miss Simmons had a nasty fall, but she’s fine. A few bumps and bruises, is all.’
‘Mrs Walters, can you show me to Laura’s room, please?’ Emma said and her tone was enough that the housekeeper instantly gestured for Emma to follow her, leaving me with the doctor.
‘She fell, you say?’ I said, looking towards the stairs, remembering the fate of Oliver’s first wife.
Doctor Bell put a palm against my back. ‘Walk with me,’ he said and as soon as we were outside on the steps, his bedside smile disappeared to be replaced by a worried frown. ‘I suggest you go and have words with the stable hand.’
