by Helen Phifer
Her house was cool and it was a welcome relief after today, her forehead and chest were still burning. Annie checked the downstairs was secure then kicked off her flip flops and made her way upstairs. As she got near to the top stair she got a whiff of rotten vegetables and wondered if next door had burnt their tea. It smelled like school dinners, back in the day when she was nine years old and life was such a breeze. She went into the bathroom and began cleaning her teeth, splashing cold water onto her face. She looked into the mirror above the sink and froze, there was someone standing behind her. She whipped around to face them but no-one was there. Her heart was racing; she definitely saw the figure of a man. Picking up the heavy glass tumbler from the shelf she felt the roof of her mouth dry up as she edged closer to the shower curtain. Please don’t let there be some freak standing behind it. Her left hand shaking, she tentatively reached out and grasped the plastic, whipping the curtain aside and screeching as she did so with part fear and part relief - there was no-one on the other side. That horrible smell seemed stronger in here. With legs that felt like jelly she made her way out of the bathroom. The door to the master bedroom was ajar and she couldn’t remember whether she had left it that way or not. She should ring Jake and ask him to come back but then she knew it was probably her imagination playing tricks on her so she carried on.
Too scared to step into the room in the dark, she reached her hand and arm through the gap, feeling along the wall for the light switch. Please don’t let anything grab my arm. A vision of Pennywise, the clown from her favourite horror story when she was a teenager, filled her mind, ripping poor Georgie Denbrough’s arm right out of its socket with its sharp pointed teeth. She found the switch and bathed the room in light. She pushed open the door and stepped inside. It was empty but the smell was strong in here. It was so strong that she lifted her hand to cover her mouth and nose. She walked further in, across to window to crack it open and let some fresh air in. It smelled as if something had been left to rot in here but she hadn’t used this room since she’d come back. Afraid to bend down and look under the bed she forced herself to do it. The only things under there were the plastic storage boxes that were filled with the books that wouldn’t fit onto her bookshelves. Feeling braver now she walked to the wardrobe and flung open the doors, no smelly man hiding inside. Looking into the mirror she thought she saw a dark shadow flit across it and she turned to the space behind her where it would have been. The room was empty, a trick of the light perhaps. Satisfied there was no-one there, she turned off the light and shut the door until the latch clicked shut. Annie then opened the small cupboard which she kept her bedding and towels in. That was okay so it just left the other bedroom. Her legs were not shaking quite so much but she did the same and stretched her arm through to switch on the light. Once the room was lit up she stepped inside. It was empty and this room was so small there was nowhere for anyone to hide, the bed was a divan with drawers underneath it. There was an antique church pew which was currently an antique clothes horse and an old dressing table she had painted a chalky white colour, with a stack of magazines and books on it. Nothing was out of place and she was thankful the smell was only very faint in here because she was knackered and wanted to go to sleep. She went back into the bathroom to get the air freshener and began spraying it around hoping to mask the smell. Just to be on the safe side she ran back downstairs to check that she’d locked up and then she checked each room again. The house was empty and she was all alone. At least she hoped she was because something that smelled so bad couldn’t be a good thing, could it?
Once upstairs she got undressed into her favourite pair of faded pyjamas and then climbed into bed, leaving the nightlight on. Picking up her book she began to read about the sordid life of a celebrity escort. No longer able to read anything remotely scary before bed, she would read a couple of pages of some biography or other to keep her mind free from the horrific images that all too often wanted to take over.
***
Will was sitting at his desk. The office was empty, he had told his detectives to call it a night and he would see them bright and early to continue their hunt for Laura’s killer. How had this happened, he didn’t understand it. They had all been together two nights ago in the pub. They needed to find that guy she left with because it was a pretty good bet he had been the one to kill her, but would he have killed her if he knew she was a copper? Surrounded by twelve other coppers? Will wasn’t sure if anyone could be so stupid. Guilt gnawed at his insides and he felt sick, his body was fuelled by nothing more than caffeine and it was making him feel ill. He lifted his hand which was shaking like an alcoholic’s. He needed food to take away the wired, nauseous feeling in his stomach but he didn’t know what to eat – What a bloody mess, how could one man fuck up his life to such a degree in the space of a couple of weeks? He glanced up at the whiteboard with a picture of Laura’s face looking back at him. Her lips were smiling, but her eyes were staring at him, accusing him, and he looked away. He had let her down, just like he had let Annie down. He felt his eyes sting with tears. The door opened and he blinked several times to clear them, he couldn’t let anyone see what a mess he was, it wasn’t exactly professional. Jake strode through the door and Will breathed out in relief. Jake wouldn’t care if Will threw himself on the floor and howled, although Jake would tell the whole station about it.
‘I come bearing gifts.’
Will looked at the plastic containers. ‘Please tell me that’s home-cooked food, I’m starving.’
Jake passed them over. ‘Alex’s lasagne made from scratch, a box of salad and jacket potatoes. I’m running a feed the fucked up couple’s kitchen. Annie came for tea.’
‘Thanks Jake, how is she, does she know?’
‘She seemed okay, shocked but everyone is. She managed to eat a full plate of tea and drink three glasses of wine so that’s her fed, watered and hopefully tucked up in bed for the night. What’s up Will, you look like crap?’
Will screwed his eyes up. ‘You really need to ask or are you just being polite in case I have toothache or a migraine. And by the way I do have a migraine.’
‘Look, we all know you’re a total fuck up, there’s not much point in beating yourself up about it. You’re just going to have to get a grip and move on; I can’t be bothered with you feeling sorry for yourself and all that.’
Will felt his mouth drop, he couldn’t help it. Jake had a way of rendering just about everybody speechless.
‘Let’s face it you had your chance with Annie and screwed it up by getting leathered and sleeping with Laura, who is now dead and in a fridge in the morgue. You’re losing your touch Casanova.’
“Why don’t you piss off Jake?”
“Because I’ve come to cheer you up my friend. You know, I never thought I’d hear myself say this but you and Annie make such a good couple. You are both so right for each other and I don’t like seeing the pair of you like this, hurting and lonely.’
‘Me either, I feel as if my heart has been ripped from my chest. Last year I didn’t think I would ever feel this way about a woman. I used to look at my dad and Lily and wonder if I would ever be that happy. Now I realise more than ever that Annie is the one for me. I just wish I knew how to make it up to her.’
‘Space and time mate, she is missing you just as much but you have to understand where she’s coming from. She was in a terrible relationship and then she left that one and started a new one with you, someone who has the worst track record for relationships out of all the men in the station. She’s bound to be a bit edgy and pissed off with you.’
‘I know that, thanks for reminding me. I just hope she realises that I could never find a woman to take her place.’
Jake slapped his back. ‘No I totally agree with you there, you won’t ever find someone like Annie and her amazing gift of seeing dead people.’
Jake turned to leave and Will followed him, he needed to go home and shower then eat and hopefully go to bed and fall into a coma for t
he next six hours.
***
Annie tossed and turned in her sleep, it wasn’t a restful slumber by any means. She could hear a little girl’s voice calling to her and she kept pushing it to the back of her mind. It sounded as if it was coming from the mirror. She mumbled ‘No, go away.’ Several times in her dream she was in her old bedroom that she shared with Mike, the oval antique mirror she’d had since they got married was in the corner. It looked as if a bright light was shining from inside it but she knew this was impossible because the bedroom light wasn’t on. The girl’s voice came from inside the glass, ‘Please help me Annie. You have to. He won’t let me go and I know Sean is killing those poor women. He used to be a good boy, I need you to help me make him stop and then you must set me free. I don’t want to live with the shadow man anymore. I want to be free and go into the light to see my mum.’ A high-pitched shriek made Annie wake from her sleep and sit bolt upright. Something was wrong. She swung her legs out of the bed and picked up the first thing she put her hand on which was her Kindle – Nice Annie, are you going to read the nasty man a story? The smell was back and it was so strong that it made her gag. Lifting a hand to her nose and mouth she covered them as best as she could and pushed open her bedroom door. She was terrified but had no choice, she had to look into the mirror. As her fingers reached touched the switch she stared in the general direction of the corner of the room where the mirror stood and felt her knees threaten to give way. There was no bright light but she saw two red pricks of light, either reflected in the glass or inside the glass, glowing red. Two eyes and then they were gone. She flicked the switch and the light burst into life. The room was empty, no kid, no smelly man and no animal with glowing red eyes. There was just her and that awful smell. She wondered if an animal had got trapped in here while the house had been empty and was decomposing somewhere. Eugh, she needed a man to poke around under the floorboards and behind the wardrobes just in case. Tomorrow she would be extra nice to Jake and see if he would come and take a look for her. As tough as she was she didn’t want to find half a rotting pigeon in her house. Seeing dead people she could handle as long as they weren’t too scary but dead animals freaked her out.
She pushed the two red eyes to the back of her mind or else she’d never sleep in her own house ever again. She went in her bedroom and closed the door. As she climbed back into bed she said a prayer because it made her feel better, but she knew that whoever the kid was she needed help and she had better find a way to help her because she was beginning to scare her. The poor little thing wanted to be with her mum and she wondered how long she had been dead. Her clothes weren’t that old fashioned but then Annie wasn’t very hot on kids’ fashion. She remembered the plastic toy she’d thrown into the drawer that the girl had left the very first time. If she could find out who it was or what film it was based on that would be a start.
***
Will walked into his empty house, he didn’t like it. He had got so used to Annie being here it was strange now that she wasn’t. He locked the front door and took his plastic boxes into the kitchen where he set about emptying them onto a plate, except for the salad, and put the plate in the microwave. Running upstairs he stripped off and then went into the bathroom where he had the quickest shower ever, three minutes and he was towelling himself dry and slipping on a pair of clean boxers. It was almost eleven and he was only just eating his tea. He took the plate from the microwave and sat down at the table to eat. Alex was an excellent cook. He cleaned his plate, mopping up the last of the sauce with a slice of thick bread and even thicker butter. Then he got a bottle of water from the fridge and went upstairs to bed. He put his iPod on, managing to switch playlists before Adele had a chance to rub his nose in it once more. Throwing himself onto the bed he thought about Laura again and then he thought about Annie. He wondered if she would be able to do her thing and speak to Laura like the other dead people she had spoken to. Imagine if Laura could somehow communicate with her, it would be amazing. She could even tell Annie what happened and save months of investigation. Then he realised that Annie would probably be the last person she would speak to if that sort of thing was even possible and he couldn’t exactly go around and ask her to try and contact the dead spirit of the woman who had split them up. Annie would probably punch him in the balls for even thinking about it but it happened in that film Ghost with Whoopi Goldberg – that was a film you moron. This is real life. Still it might be worth asking Jake to ask her because they both knew that Jake was that crass he would and she wouldn’t think anything of it coming from him.
Chapter 20
Father John couldn’t settle, he didn’t like being this far from his own church. He knew it was a part of his job to cover whatever parish was in need and over the years he had moved more times than he cared to remember but he felt as if he should be there. Especially with the discovery of another woman’s body in his church grounds. Was there some connection to him or was it just a coincidence and whoever was killing them either liked or hated catholic churches? He had a week-long course of special mass, three funerals and the wedding of a prominent business man’s daughter to perform so he couldn’t go home yet if he wanted to. He would phone his nephew Ryan later to see if the police had told him anything about what was going on. He was surprised that Ryan hadn’t already phoned to tell him about the body but then again he might not even know about it. Ryan lived the life a younger John could only dream about, often staying at some girl or other’s house, sometimes not coming home for days. It did leave him a little envious but he could cope with that, he was past it now anyway or so he liked to convince himself. The only woman he’d ever really loved had been Beth and she had shaken his faith to his very core; on more than one occasion he had asked God if he had purposely taken her away from him. He was still waiting for his answer which he didn’t think he would get anytime soon but as the years had gone on he had learnt to forgive and forget. He had never looked at another woman again with a hint of passion for fear of God striking them down; he couldn’t live with any more deaths on his conscience.
He lay in bed and thought about that fateful day back in 1984. He had been young, so naïve, but all he wanted had been to help. Not to cause any distress. Sophie had been such a beautiful child and he had failed to save her from the shadow man. John shuddered, the thought of that shadowy figure filled him with dread, to this day he couldn’t stand the smell of cooked cauliflower. If the thing ever came back, next time John would banish it for good, he would seek help from Father Bob and together they would send him back to wherever he had come from. A loud bang as the wooden crucifix which was above his head fell to the floor made him jump out of bed. It had narrowly missed his head. How on earth had that happened? His heart began to pound in his ears as he bent down to pick it up. He turned it over in his hands. It wasn’t broken so he hung it back on the nail and waited to see if it would happen again. He began to repeat his prayers and watched the cross but nothing happened. He sighed and got back into bed, something was going on and he was too afraid to find out what.
***
He had gone home from work and run himself a bath; he had stayed in it for almost an hour, topping up the hot water whenever it started to get cold. Today had been better than he could have imagined and he replayed every single minute of it over in his mind. He needed to pick his next victim, there was no point hanging around, he wanted to do it while they were knee-deep trying to solve the first two murders and not give them any breathing space, it was turning into a game and he was beginning to think that he could win if kept his cool and followed the ground rules that he’d set. All day he’d tried to come up with a plausible excuse to go into the CID office and failed. Tomorrow he would offer to help out with the house-to-house enquiries, tell them he wanted to help in some way. They never said no to anyone else helping them out and they were in shock so they wouldn’t think anything of it. When he’d towel-dried himself he wandered naked into his office and picked up his most recent
photos of Laura. He studied her for a long time; she had been beautiful and still looked beautiful even in death. He pinned them onto her noticeboard, he was very proud of what he had managed to achieve and now it was time to put Operation Anael into action.
He turned to the third noticeboard which was empty, but in the next few days it would fill up to match the other two. He already had a girl in his sights, when he had been watching Laura he couldn’t help but notice the girl who worked in the hairdressers below her flat and he had a bit of a crush on her. She looked about twenty one and had beautiful long, blonde hair. He knew it wasn’t natural as he seen her sitting in the chair, her hair covered in pale blue bleach, flicking through the pages of a magazine but he’d realised she was perfect. Opening the wardrobe he stared at the two outfits hanging up. He reached out to stroke the sleeve of Laura’s suit jacket a whiff of the perfume she wore was released. He inhaled – Goodnight ladies. He pushed the door shut and walked to his bedroom across the hall, he was tired. The last two weeks of running a double life were hard work. Before long he was under his duvet. He didn’t notice the little girl standing at the edge of his bed, her eyes moist with tears. If he had he would probably never kill again but he couldn’t see her even though she visited him often. He could see the black shadow that was never far behind with its creepy red eyes but he wasn’t afraid of him. He knew him from a long time ago; it was the shadow that had scared Sophie in the days before she died. It had spoken to him a few weeks ago and told him if he wanted to set Sophie’s soul free he should do what he asked and kill the priest. Sean had already been pondering this for a while but he had started his own plan of revenge against Father John and would not deviate from this until he was satisfied it was finished. Only then would Sean kill the priest, in one of his beloved churches, under the watchful eyes of God. He would sacrifice the priest’s soul to the shadow man and set Sophie free. Laura would be a hard act to follow, there would be a media frenzy tomorrow and it would probably even go national. Sean would be famous but he wasn’t in it for the glory, he was in it to make sure that priest wished he had never set eyes upon Sean’s family. Sean ran his hands over his head and chuckled, there wasn’t much hair but he would go and get it cut tomorrow and make friends with his next victim. He turned on his side and smiled to himself, it was amazing when a plan came together.
