The Team and the Ghost

by S G Read

  ‘About metre.’ Stuart answered wondering where this was going.

  Molly was off again and hurried along the passage down into the cellar then out into the garden again.

  ‘Now if that is a metre from the wall why is that little cellar window so far from the chute?’ She asked.

  The three of them looked in the cellar walked back to the coal cellar and then back to the cellar again.

  ‘There is a room between this one and the coal cellar.’ Stevey cried.

  ‘I bet it is a priest hole.’ Stuart added.

  ‘If Tim was here, he could search it just like that.’ Molly exclaimed. ‘That ghost is never about when you want him!’

  ‘He might have already searched it.’ Stuart said deep in thought.

  ‘But if he didn’t and he hasn’t mentioned this place at all, since he has been talking to us. Which kind of makes me think he either forgot it or he didn’t know about it.’ Stevey exclaimed.

  ‘So he might be in there waiting for us to find him.’ Molly cried.

  ‘There must be a secret lever or something.’ Stuart exclaimed.

  ‘What are we waiting for let’s find it!’ Molly urged.

  The cellar wall was covered in an old green blanket and they pulled it down so that they could see the entire wall but nothing stood out as a lever that would open a door.

  ‘You don’t think the door is in the coal cellar?’ Molly asked when they had no luck.

  ‘No the coal would get in the way.’ Stevey answered.

  ‘Hang on doesn’t it seem odd that you have coal and all the fires are log burners. There isn’t anything to burn coal in and that coal has not been moved for years with the layer of dust on it.’ Stuart declared.

  ‘So he put him inside then had coal delivered to cover the door.’ Stevey concluded.

  ‘So we have to move the coal!’ Molly realised, a little sadly.

  She was sorry now she said anything as the last thing she wanted to do was to shift coal.

  ‘So what do we do with it?’ Stuart asked. ‘It is your coal.’

  ‘We could fill buckets and drag them out of the coal cellar back up the chute and make a pile we could get rid of later.’ Stevey answered and they went off looking for buckets and ropes.

  They changed clothes and put makeshift masks on their face to keep the coal away from their faces and out of their lungs. It reminded Stuart of the jungle when he was trying to search the bodies for anything helpful. This was better than that but only slightly.

  It was a long tiring job dragging a bucketful of coal out and tipping it out so that the bucket could be returned and refilled. Slowly the pile of coal diminished until they were able to sweep it to the other side of the coal cellar to make the wall clear enough to open a door should they find it.

  ‘I really hope there is a door there after this.’ Molly declared, as she was as black as the proverbial ace of spades.

  ‘Do we wash and change first?’ Stuart asked as he was just as black.

  ‘Let us have a quick look.’ Stevey suggested. ‘In case we get dirty again, when we come back down.’

  Molly and Stuart looked at each other and with no one arguing they started searching again.

  ‘It would help if the light was a little brighter.’ Molly declared as she scraped her finger nails along the wall trying to find a catch.

  ‘We need a torch.’ Stevey declared. He walked to the top of the coal cellar steps but stopped. ‘The only trouble is I am filthy and I don’t want to leave footprints behind me everywhere I go. Look the other way Molly.’

  While Molly looked the other way he stripped to his boxers and slipped off his trainers to allow him to walk through the house. He stopped to wash his hands in the toilet before he went upstairs to find his torch. When he returned he had a torch that worked out of the several he tried He dressed on the coal cellar steps and slipped his feet back into his trainers before walking back down.

  ‘Now let us see what we can find.’ He declared.

  They pushed prodded poked and twisted, until they were fed up with it but did not stop, their time in the house in Apsford gave them an insight on where things were and how easy it was to disguise them.

  Stevey suddenly pushed a brick. There was a click and a section of wall sprang open a little way. The three pulled at it and it slid forward and in a half circle to reveal an opening.

  They all cheered but then stopped when they realised they might be going to find Tim’s body. Stevey shone the torch in but could not see anything, he moved into the doorway and shone it along the length of the secret compartment to reveal a pile of bones sitting there with a pair of swimming trunks still on the lower half.

  ‘Hello Tim.’ Stevey said quietly and the other two moved to see where he could.

  ‘Yes!’ Molly declared holding her fist aloft and turning as she did so. ‘Who are you?’ She added.

  The two boys looked where she was looking and saw an old man standing there with a shotgun pointed at them.

  ‘Me, I am Humphrey Carlisle and I am very sad that you have just found my nephew.’ The man answered.

  He moved down the stairs and made them turn round, they did not argue as he had a gun. One by one he used cable ties to secure their hands behind them until they were unable to stop him doing what he wanted to. He pushed them inside with the barrel of the shotgun and made them sit down before he used cable ties on their feet to stop them from being able to escape. Then he left them while he collected some duct tape to cover their mouths to stop them calling out. He also tied a rope round a hook next to Molly’s head circled her neck with it, circled Stuart’s neck with it, did the same with Stevey and then tied it to a hook next to Stevey’s head.

  ‘Now when you try to free your selves you will strangle one or both of the others that should keep you quiet for a while. All I have to do now is to close the door and make sure no one can open it again!’ He said triumphantly. ‘It will mean that three more children will have disappeared from Gordon Hall and will not be seen again.’

  The three inside saw the door close and then the room was silent. A muffled pop from outside had them wondering what had happened but the door did not open again.

  Humphrey Carlisle looked at his handiwork, the pop had been him firing at the lever which opened the door from the outside and it was now useless.

  Chapter 15

  When Pat returned with her shopping she drove round to the kitchen door walked in and called a greeting but was met with total silence. She put the shopping away and then put the food on to cook before walking up to the games room to see what the children were doing but it was deserted. She looked into the cellar and saw their bikes were gone and the cellar was locked up and went back to the kitchen. While she was waiting for the kettle to boil she phoned Stevey on the mobile but he did not answer. She did not bother to phone Wendy and David as they were not back yet.

  When Tim returned from the convent he looked for the others but could not find them, he eventually walked into the kitchen.

  ‘Where are the others Mrs Brown?’ He asked politely.

  ‘I have no idea Tim. No note to tell me where they have gone and they are not answering the mobile phone.’

  ‘They might be at Stuart’s I’ll pop over and see.’

  Half an hour later he returned.

  ‘No sign of life over there apart from the automatic lights. I tried every room just in case, I like to be thorough.’

  ‘Where can they be it is not like Stevey to go without letting me know where they have gone.’

  ‘Perhaps they are in a dead zone.’ Tim exclaimed repeating what he had heard on television.

  ‘It is possible. I will give them half an hour before I get worried.’

  ‘I’ll check with Ronnie and Marmalade.’ Tim offered.

  ‘Can you talk to dogs then?’ Pat asked.

  ‘No I stroke Marmalade and talk to Ronnie but I don’t think Ronnie knows that I am a ghost.’

  Tim left ag
ain and went over to the breakers yard. Ronnie was there removing parts as usual and Marmalade came to greet him as soon as he climbed through the gap in the fences.

  ‘Have you seen the others Marmalade?’ He asked but Marmalade only managed a woof to answer him.

  He walked to where Ronnie was working. ‘Have you seen the others Ronnie?’

  ‘No they haven’t been round today Tim have you tried Stuart’s house?’

  ‘Yes Ronnie thanks.’

  Tim stoked Marmalade for a while then returned to the hall but Pat was worried.

  ‘It is not like them.’ She declared. ‘And they have Molly to look after.’

  When the mobile rang, Stevey tried to answer it in the dark but his hands were tied behind him and the rope round their collective necks made it awkward to move without someone else grunting, which was all they could do. The tape stopped any conversation so all that could be heard was a low grunt when someone tried to do something and then a higher pitched grunt, when it hurt someone.

  Stuart tried to get to the phone with the same result so he gave up. They were a pitiful sight sitting on the floor covered in coal dust and breathing through noses that were slowly being invaded by the coal dust on their clothes.

  Pat phoned Wendy on their mobile, to see if she had been given a message of some kind but she knew nothing but they did use the call as a reason to cut short their visit to Aunt Sissy and head home. They expected the children to have turned up before they arrived but it was a good excuse. It was not to be however and when they reached the hall Pat was in a state, fearing the worst. David walked down to see Dan who immediately started searching the garden to see if they were there while David, Wendy, Pat and Tim searched the hall thoroughly without success. When they walked back down stairs the doorbell rang and David hurried over to answer it. Dan stood there alone.

  ‘I don’t know if it has anything to do with it but there is a large pile of coal in the front garden Mr Sellars.’ He announced.

  David went with him round to the place where the coal was piled up and they could see the trail leading from the chute.

  ‘Why would they order coal?’ David asked. ‘Does anything burn coal in the hall?’

  ‘I don’t think so even the kitchen range used to use logs as we have the trees up the top and along the side of the lane.’ Dan answered.

  ‘I wonder if they thought they would empty the coal store for some reason and have got them selves locked in?’ David speculated.

  ‘I’ll get my shovel and wheelbarrow and get this lot shifted. If it is not wanted I can find a home for it.’

  ‘I think you can get rid of it anyway you want Dan and if I am wrong I will replace it.’ David declared.

  Dan walked off to get his tools and David walked round into the front door.

  ‘Did anyone search the coal store?’ He asked when the others came to meet him.

  No one had and they walked to the coal store door in a group. The door opened to reveal an almost empty room with a small pile of coal on the left hand side but it was to dark to see much else. Pat went off to find a torch while the others waited but he like Stevey tried all there was there and none would work. Not to be beaten she picked up a bedside light and an extension lead and returned to the coal store. When the light was turned on they saw the footprints appearing to go into the wall and a scrape mark where something had marked the ground in a circular movement. Tim put his hand to his mouth.

  ‘The priest hole.’ He declared. ‘I was told about it by my father but I never really knew where it was. They must have thought my body might be in it and the door has closed on them.’

  David examined the wall where the shotgun had blasted the lever that used to open it.

  ‘That doesn’t explain the damage to the wall, there is more to this than meets the eye.’ He said thoughtfully. ‘Still we will get them out before we do anything else, can you get in there Tim?’

  ‘Yes but I will have to be careful where I try to rematerialize or they will get a serious freezing as I have to go very cold to pass through thick walls.’

  He faded away and passed through the wall but when he tried to rematerialize he heard a muffled scream and stopped. He moved on and tried again only to hear a lower pitched muffled scream. He moved on a second time and successfully rematerialized. It was dark inside and he could not see anything. He could not go back out and get a torch as it would not pass through the wall with him so he felt around the door trying to find a lever without success. As he moved along he stepped on something round and raised a groan.

  ‘Who is that?’ He asked stepping back to where he was but all he received as an answer was a muffled unintelligible noise. ‘Who?’ he asked and received the same answer. He felt what he had trodden on and found a leg which he felt along and up to where the head should be. The leg was warm so he knew it was not his body and proceeded until he found the mouth with tape on it. He searched for the end on the tape with Stevey trying to say take it off carefully and ripped it off.

  ‘Ow.’ Stevey complained.

  ‘Is that you Stevey?’ Tim asked.

  ‘Yes it is.’ Stevey retorted shortly.

  ‘What are you doing in here?’

  ‘Waiting for a bus.’ Stevey declared. ‘Now can you get us out of here before your uncle comes back?’

  He said the wrong thing when he mentioned Humphrey and Tim was immediately frightened.

  ‘My uncle was here?’ He asked with a tremble in his voice.

  ‘Who do you think locked us in here and blew away the key with his shotgun?’ Stevey asked, then worried in case Tim would go and hide somewhere, he added. ‘If you get my torch, you can see to find the lever, we know where it is.’

  Tim was hesitant but finally found Stevey’s torch, making Stevey squirm and the others complain because Stevey was squirming.

  ‘Now what?’

  ‘Push the button Tim, there is only two buttons and one will make the light come on.’ Stevey explained and Tim did just that.

  By the light and with Stevey’s guidance, he started to search for the lever but the light went out.

  ‘Shake it or hit it.’ Stevey declared.

  Tim shook the torch and it came back on. The search continued until Stevey cried. ‘Yes that’s it!’

  Tim pulled on the lever and the door opened with a click. He tried to push it further and with help from the outside the door swung open.

  ‘Well done Tim.’ David said when the door was open and looked in at the three children trussed up like turkeys. ‘We will soon get you out.’

  ‘I don’t think so!’ Humphrey said from the top of the coal store steps.

  The three below who were not tied up froze, it was not over yet. Tim faded from sight, when faced with the uncle who killed him.

  ‘And who might you be?’ David asked ready to take action.

  ‘He is Uncle Humphrey the one who killed Tim.’ Stevey answered from the priest hole.

  ‘And just in case you have any ideas of coming up to take on this old man shotgun and all, I can see two boys in the priest hole and they will be my first two shots and believe me I will have reloaded before you get up the steps.’ Humphrey exclaimed.

  He threw down some more cable ties.

  ‘Put one of them on his wrists and make sure they are behind his back.’ Humphrey continued pointing at Wendy. ‘Good now do the same to her.’ Meaning Pat.

  Wendy did as she was ordered and was ordered to help David to the floor inside the priest hole. Then she was forced to put a cable tie on his feet when he was sitting like the children.

  Molly suddenly felt the chill in her leg but stopped herself from crying out and moved the leg to safety making Stuart moan. Tim reappeared where his uncle could not see him and started untying the rope round her neck. It was not a special knot but it was tight and he had to struggle but by pushing and pulling he loosened it and was able to untie it from the hook it was tied to. He unwound it from round her neck while Pat was being force
d to sit on the floor. When it was Wendy’s turn he hit her with the back of the shotgun in case she was going to make a last minute stand causing David to curse him and threaten to find him where ever he went but Humphrey just laughed.

  ‘Once the coal is back in here they will never find you that is why I hid the boy here after I killed the little twerp. I actually came back to move the body in case they did find it, as they were taking the search to heart but now there are too many to get rid of so you can all stay in there. Oh and breath shallow it is a sealed room and there are six of you now.’

  He strapped Wendy up as she moaned on the floor and then dragged her inside before aiming the shotgun at the lever which opened the door from the inside.

  ‘Just in case you do get free I will make it impossible for you to get out.’ He declared and fired at the lever blowing it to smithereens. ‘Must run.’ He added and pushed the door closed, until it clicked in place to show it was locked.

  Humphrey walked up the stairs and into the hall but the back of a shovel sent him flying back down the stair and the shotgun fired into the ceiling. Dan stood and looked down at him.

  ‘I have wanted to do that for a long time.’ He told the unconscious man but water started pouring out of the ceiling. ‘What the… Of all the damned luck!’ Dan spluttered.

  He used the ties to bind Humphrey and left him lying on the floor where the water was already starting to build up. Dan hurried down to open the door but there was no way he could shift it on his own. After he made sure that Humphrey was secure, he took the shotgun and rushed off to phone anyone he thought could help.

  He phone the police, the fire brigade and a plumber, in that order before he ran back with a two buckets to try to catch the falling water and spent the next fifteen minutes running up the stairs with a buckets full of water to empty in the toilet. As that was the nearest place to get rid of it.

  ‘Are you alright Mrs Sellars?’ Stevey asked from his seated position.

  ‘I am going to have quite a headache Stevey but I think I will live.’ she answered.

  ‘What do we do now?’ Stevey asked.