by Mina Carter
“We still don’t know who she was,” Piran told them a bit dejectedly. “There’s no one in the family tree it could be. I can only guess she wasn’t actually from this house. I’m going to get everyone out later. We all need some time to think over what we’ve found. I could certainly do with a good night’s sleep.”
Becky pursed her lips a bit, not sure she wanted everyone to leave until Miss Freaky could go with them.
“In the meantime, could you email me all the pictures you’ve got, Imy?”
“As soon as we’re online I will,” she replied. Becky realised a bit of a friendship was forming between her daughter and the curator.
Thinking she needed to get her daughter out of the house for a while, Becky left Piran in charge and headed into Wimborne. She planned to treat Imy to a mug of creamy hot chocolate and some really sweet and sticky cake.
After the break from all the weirdness and strangers, Becky returned to Frippe House, ready to deal with it all again. She’d resigned herself to the fact Miss Freaky would be hanging around for a bit longer yet.
During her absence, Xander had arrived, though Becky had actually forgotten he’d said he would come. He was in the kitchen in conference with Piran. They were discussing how much longer it would be before the secret room could be cleared. As yet, it seemed Piran had kept the news of the writing on the walls to himself. Once it was time to remove the coffin, the room would have to be lit up properly, and then the words would be revealed to everyone. For now, all the historians were too focused on the coffin to take notice of the walls.
The good news Xander had was that the paperwork should be finalised the next morning, meaning Becky only had to suffer Miss Freaky under the same roof for one more night. The solicitor was intrigued by everything that was going on, but he wasn’t the one who had to stay in the house overnight.
Becky was on the verge of saying as much when a scream ripped through the house, silencing every other sound.
CHAPTER NINE
“MUM!” BECKY YELLED as she tore from the room and bounded up the stairs. Hurtling into the bedroom where her mother had been sleeping, she ground to a halt.
Sitting up on the bed, Brenda was staring at the wall opposite, and Becky did too.
Drawn on the wall in what looked like blood was the same symbol for Lucifer she had seen in the notebook.
“What the fuck?!” Becky shouted. “What’s that doing there?!”
“I’m sorry I screamed,” her mother said quietly. “It scared me when I first woke up. I thought I saw someone in here, but I must have been mistaken.”
“Mum, are you okay?” Becky sat down beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
“I’m fine. It was just the shock.”
“What on earth is that?” Xander exclaimed, having followed Becky up the stairs.
“It’s a satanic symbol for Lucifer. We found it in a coded notebook and someone knew what it was. I’m not sure I even want to know how it got here.”
Biting her top lip nervously, Becky had the distinct feeling Frippe House wasn’t the safest place to be. She suddenly thought about the small incidents she had rationalised away the first night she was in the house, and wondered if her explanations might have been way off the mark.
“It’s the effigy. Finding it has released something evil,” Brenda said earnestly.
“I’m not sure you should jump to supernatural conclusions,” Xander commented. “Alice lived here alone for years and nothing like this ever happened.”
“And she probably didn’t even know that thing was down there! Becky has been here for two days with nothing weird happening, and now this!”
Becky decided to keep all the tiny oddities to herself rather than worrying her mother even more. “Mum, calm down. The effigy will be gone tomorrow. For tonight, I think we’ll all feel a bit safer if we book into a Bed and Breakfast place. I’m sure there’s one in Wimborne.”
“Gordon House is a good one. It’s this side of the town centre.” Xander looked a little sheepish. Maybe he felt awkward about dismissing the idea of the supernatural?
Even if the symbol had been put there by someone pulling a nasty prank, Becky still didn’t want to stay in the house another night. Maybe after Miss Freaky had been taken away she would be okay about returning.
“Crap, Heath is meant to be coming round soon. I don’t have his number to get hold of him.”
“You can make the booking and explain you won’t be arriving until a little later,” Xander suggested.
“Yes. Good thought. Thanks.”
Becky was feeling really rattled and didn’t like it one little bit. She wanted to get out of the house immediately, but she’d have to get rid of everyone first, gather up all they needed for overnight, and she still had to tell Imy about what had happened.
Before thinking about any of that though, she had to get her mother calmed down. She was starting to wonder if maybe she would be better off clearing the house, taking any money, and just leaving the place to fall down in its own time. But she couldn’t bring herself to consider that thought too seriously. And there were the financial penalties of doing that to consider. If there were any more incidents, she might well return to the idea though.
By the time Becky finally got back downstairs with her mother, news of the symbol on the wall had spread through everyone in the house. Imy was waiting for her mother and grandmother at the bottom of the stairs. She hugged them both.
“Right, whoever did that can get the fuck out now!” Becky told everyone, glaring at around angrily. “No one owning up to it? Fine! In that case, you can all leave immediately!”
“Becky, love, don’t overreact,” Brenda said in a whisper.
“Someone drew a satanic symbol on the wall of the room you were sleeping in. This is not an overreaction; it’s common sense!”
Standing with her arms folded, Becky continued to glare at the historians until several shifted uncomfortably. Finally, the first one headed towards the door.
“Don’t come back until after ten tomorrow morning,” she added when the others began to take the hint too.
As everyone gathered up their possessions, Becky stood by the front door with it open. She didn’t respond to any of the mumbled goodbyes she got. Finally the house was emptied of strangers. Nearly. She hadn’t seen Mr Francis go passed her, so headed to the library. He was so engrossed, he didn’t even hear her enter.
“Mr Francis, could you go please,” she said shortly.
“Is there a problem?” he responded, looking bemused.
“Yes, there is. I want everyone out of the house. I won’t allow anyone to frighten my mother, and until someone admits they did it, I want you all gone.”
“Ms Frippe, I can assure you I’ve done nothing of the kind,” Mr Francis told her, his tone highly offended.
“You can assure me all you like, as long as you leave while you’re at it.”
Pursing his mouth, he collected up a notepad, pen and tablet, then swept passed her without a word. Becky wouldn’t be surprised if she never heard from him again, but right then she didn’t care.
Shutting the front door firmly behind Mr Francis, Becky sighed, letting go of her anger a bit, and then checked how long she had to wait for Heath. It was just coming up to five, so not too long. Until he arrived, they would pack their clothes for the night.
Still feeling on edge, Becky insisted they all stayed in the same room, so the packing took longer than it should have. By the time they were finished, it was already nearly six. Becky had no intention of staying in the house any longer though. She ushered Brenda and Imy outside and locked the door.
“Are we just going to stand around until he gets here?” Imy asked a bit sarcastically.
“Yep. I’m not setting foot back inside that place until that thing is gone. Nor am I going to let those nutjob ‘experts’ have free run any more. From now on, I’m going to be keeping a much closer eye on them, if they have the nerve to return.�
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“Becky, I don’t think it was any of them,” Brenda put in cautiously.
“You said you saw someone in the room, and it certainly wasn’t Imy or me, so it had to be one of them. Simple as that.”
Imy sighed and said, “Mum, there might be another explanation. You’re contradicting yourself saying it was one of them, then saying you won’t come back until the effigy is gone. Either you think it was a hoax, in which case the effigy isn’t the problem, or you think it’s something paranormal, in which case you’ve just accused a whole load of people of something none of them did.”
“Do I look like I’m in the right mood to be rational to you, Imy?”
“Most definitely not, but that doesn’t change the facts.”
Becky sat in the car, staring at the house she had hurriedly abandoned. Much as she hated to admit it, she knew something strange was going on in there. It was just a matter of finding out what and dealing with it. If – and it was a big if – there was something supernatural happening, she had no idea how to tackle it. She guessed her first step would be to find a paranormal investigator, if there was such a thing outside of fiction books.
None of them spoke as they waited. Becky was starting to need the loo, but she would rather go behind a tree then step foot back inside Frippe House.
“This is nuts,” Imy finally said. “We’re sitting outside a perfectly good house for no real reason.”
“It might be ridiculous, but we’re not going back in.”
“What are we going to do then?” Brenda asked quietly.
Shrugging, Becky sighed heavily. The last three days had been completely insane. She had been lumbered with a dirty great house full of valuable items, which should have been great, but the house had been hiding some dark and disturbing secrets, and she had the feeling there was a lot more discovered yet. Maybe when Dan arrived she’d feel happier about being in the house, but until then, Becky was going to remain extremely wary.
Finally, the Land Rover pulled up beside Becky’s and Heath got out. He looked at them all sat in the car and frowned.
“What’s going on?” he asked worriedly when Becky also got out to greet him.
“Something happened earlier and I kicked everyone out.”
“Something?”
“Someone went into the room my mum was sleeping in and drew a satanic symbol on the wall in paint that’s the colour of blood. I lost it a bit and told all the nerds to leave.”
“Do you know who did it?”
“Nope. It could have been anyone. I basically gave them free reign.”
Frowning, Heath said calmly, “You better show me. It might come under criminal damage, in which case it needs reporting. At the very least, you need a crime reference number for your insurance claim.”
Although she didn’t want to go back inside, Becky knew Heath was right. She would trust his judgment and let him get in touch with the police. After all, Heath was the one who knew the law and its terminology.
Unlocking the front door, she stood back to let him enter first. She felt nervous about crossing the threshold. For the first time, she got the feeling there was a presence in the house that definitely wasn’t happy about her being there. Her heart hammered against her ribs as they mounted the stairs.
“Which room?” Heath looked at her with a frown tugging at his brows.
“That one.” She pointed to a shut door just along the landing.
Opening the door carefully, Heath slipped inside. “Becky? There’s nothing here.”
She burst through the door and stared at the wall in shock. It was completely clean. There wasn’t even a hint of the red paint. Where it had been was just the perfectly ordinary wallpaper.
“It was right there!” She pointed to the space where the symbol had been such a short time ago. Was there a chance someone had cleaned it off? That would leave signs of being done though; there would be at least a pinkish tinge to the wallpaper, and it would probably have left a damp patch. She placed her hand on the wall. It was bone dry. Becky couldn’t think of an explanation, unless everyone who had seen it had been hallucinating, and she didn’t think that could have happened.
“It can’t be gone,” she told Heath, even though she could see with her own eyes it was.
Heath sighed heavily. “Something here isn’t right. Is the effigy still downstairs?”
“Yes. I should be able to get rid of it tomorrow.”
“I want to take a look at it.”
Becky really didn’t want to go back to the secret room, but Heath looked determined. Not wanting to come across as a complete coward she mentally pulled on her big-girl pants and turned towards the door.
It was strange finding the kitchen empty after having so many people around. The space felt alien somehow, as if the soul had been ripped out of it. She shivered violently.
Armed with a torch each, they made their way into the secret room. Huddling behind Heath, Becky had to force herself to go along the corridor and around the corner at the end.
Becky screamed.
The effigy was sitting up, staring straight at them.
CHAPTER TEN
BECKY TURNED AND ran, hearing Heath following her. She was truly terrified for the first time in her life. All the words on the walls of the secret room rushed through her head. Was there a chance they had actually released something evil from hell?
She charged out the front door, shaking from head to toe.
“Who did that?!” Heath demanded, looking almost as afraid as Becky was, though he was trying to hide it.
Was there a chance one of the boffins had moved the thing? As unlikely as it seemed when they had all been so obsessed with seeing it as it was found, there couldn’t be any other explanation.
“Mum?” Imy looked at Becky in concern, standing beside the car.
“I’m okay. We just got a bit of a fright. It looks like someone moved the effigy.”
“But they wouldn’t do that! I heard them talking about not altering it at all until they had it somewhere they could study it properly. How has it been moved?”
“It’s sitting up,” Heath told her, his voice trembling just a tiny bit. He had probably seen some pretty horrific things in his time, so the fact he was rattled worried Becky even more.
Imy’s eyes widened to saucers. “It’s what?”
“Sitting up, so it was looking straight at us when we went in.”
“Oh my God!”
Becky saw her daughter’s face turn ashen and guessed her own was probably the same colour.
“We should get out of here,” Heath told them firmly. For the moment, Becky was happy to let him take charge. Her brain had ground to a halt. With no logical explanation at hand, she was at a total loss.
“You can come to mine and we’ll have the food,” he added.
Ordinarily, Becky would have hesitated about going to the house of a man she barely knew, but with her mother and daughter around too, she wasn’t worried. Nor did she really like the idea of going to an impersonal Bed and Breakfast place while she was still in such a state.
Not sure she could drive, Becky asked her mother to do it and they followed after Heath in his car. He lived in the centre of Wimborne, in a large flat over a shop, meaning they had to walk from a long-stay car park. Becky didn’t really care though. She was just glad to be away from Frippe House for the time being. She wasn’t sure she ever wanted to go back there, but doubted she would be permitted to stay away.
Sitting in the large living room of Heath’s flat, all of them around a table that wasn’t really big enough, they ate in silence. Becky barely even tasted the food. She couldn’t get her head around the effigy sitting up.
When they had finished eating, Imy got out her laptop to show Heath the pictures of the walls and what was written on them.
“Look, I’m the last person to jump to a conclusion like this normally, but maybe we should face the idea the place might be haunted,” he said when he’d finished lookin
g at the photos. “Ordinarily, I’d dismiss a suggestion like that immediately, but something very strange is going on in that house, and it can’t be rationalised.”
“I’m starting to think the same,” Becky finally admitted out loud. “There’s been all sorts of tiny things since I got there, but I managed to think of a reason for them all. Now it’s getting to the point when I can’t just right things off logically.”
“Then what do we do?” Imy asked nervously.
“Blowed if I know,” Becky replied with a shrug. “I’m not sure I even believe ghosts exist, but I can’t keep dismissing all this stuff now. It’s just getting too weird.”
“I guess the first thing to do is find someone who knows about this sort of thing?” Heath suggested.
“Like a paranormal investigator or medium?” Becky responded uncertainly.
He shrugged. “It can’t hurt, and then you’d at least know where you stand.”
“Maybe we should also look into the documented history of the house too,” Imy put in. “We don’t know anything about it and if there was anything strange happening there, we should at least be able to find some of it online.”
After getting Heath’s broadband password, Imy set about her own investigation into Frippe House, armed with a pad and pen to write down whatever she found. Brenda took over Heath’s kitchen to make them hot drinks and find snacks, and Becky and Heath sat together in front of his computer, looking up paranormal investigators.
Two hours later, they took a break to collate all they had found out.
“Okay, the house was first built in fourteen ninety six by Roger Frippe,” Imy began. “He had two daughters and a son, also called Roger. The first alterations to the house were done in fifteen twenty two, then it was added to again in fifteen sixty nine. It wasn’t all that big to start with, just a posh farmhouse, from what I’ve found. The Frippes were sort of successful, though it was a bit on and off.
“In sixteen sixty three, James Frippe was doing pretty well and extended the house even more, adding on a larger reception room and a master bedroom – the one Alice slept in. He had quite a big family and there was a lot of disputes between his heirs when he died in sixteen seventy eight. I found a record that basically said two of the heirs were taken out of it all by one killing the other and then being hanged for the murder. Then the house went to Jeremy Frippe and his wife Arabella.
