The Third Skull
Book Two - The Revelation
A Paranormal Mystery Thriller
By Andrew M Stafford
Text Copyright © 2016 Andrew M Stafford
All Rights Reserved
All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
Thank you to
DC Rob Callaway (Retired)
Beta Readers Nigel Burrough, Claire Herbert, Sharon Newton and Philip Newton
Penny Rowe for proofreading
Ian CP Irvine for his advice and encouragement
For Kerry, Olivia, Sam, Mum and Sharon.
Especially for Dad.
Please note: This is the second in a two part series. The story begins with The Third Skull (Book One - The Discovery) and concludes with The Third Skull (Book Two – The Revelation)
If you have not already downloaded Book One - The Discovery, please click here and download it for free.
If you prefer, alternatively you have the option to purchase an Omnibus edition containing both Book One and Book Two.
Please click here for the Omnibus version of The Third Skull.
Table of Contents
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Epilogue
A Message from the Author
Other books by Andrew M Stafford
Please note: This is the second in a two part series. The story begins with The Third Skull (Book One - The Discovery) and concludes with The Third Skull (Book Two – The Revelation)
If you have not already downloaded Book One - The Discovery, please click here and download it for free.
If you prefer, alternatively you have the option to purchase an Omnibus edition containing both Book One and Book Two.
Please click here for the Omnibus version of The Third Skull.
Chapter 44
“You’re a very lucky lady,” said Doctor Newton as she examined Heather lying in the hospital bed. “Another few minutes and the smoke would have killed you,” she added in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.
Heather’s neighbour had called 999 after she’d seen smoke coming from the ground floor flat. The firefighters were breaking the door down within minutes. If it hadn’t been for her neighbour, Heather would have died.
“What do you remember?” asked Grace, who sat beside her daughter holding her hand.
Heather had no intention of telling anyone what happened in the early hours of the morning. The memory of the young woman being physically and verbally abused by her brother-in-law and then kicked and set on fire by the other man were the first things she’d remembered when she’d regained consciousness in the hospital a few hours earlier.
“You're lucky the whole building didn’t go up in flames,” added her mother.
There would be an investigation to discover what had caused the fire, but the firemen were almost certain it had been due to a faulty gas oven. Heather was happy to go along with whatever the investigation found if it meant she didn’t have to explain what really happened.
“You can stay with us until the insurance sorts out the mess in your flat. I reckon your place will stink of smoke for months,” said her father.
Heather turned away from her parents and sighed.
She blocked out her parent’s wittering voices and thought of Alice and what she’d said. She'd referred to Finn when she’d told her ‘although the man who she saw resembled someone she knew, it wasn’t that person’.
It's definitely my sister’s husband, thought Heather.
The young woman told Heather her name was Alice Donaldson and she’d died whilst protecting two children from the man. The man who Heather was certain was Finn.
She visualised him in her mind’s eye. He even had the same scar where Finn cut himself. There was no doubt in her mind.
“You have to leave now, visiting time’s over,” said the nurse pulling open the curtains around Heather’s bed.
Grace kissed Heather on the forehead and told her they’d visit her again soon.
“Don’t worry, we’ll make room in our home for when you’re discharged,” said her father.
“But how? You’ve already got Sophie and the kids staying with you.”
“We’ll sort something,” said Grace.
Heather watched her parents make their way out of the hospital and tutted to herself as her father searched his pockets for cigarettes.
The nurse was busy at her bedside.
“Put your finger in here please,” asked the nurse as she prepared to measure her blood pressure.
Heather held out her hand whilst the nurse attached the monitor to her finger.
“One hundred and twenty over eighty, not bad,” said the nurse removing the clip from Heather’s finger.
Heather looked at the nurse and gave her a weak smile. She looked again and couldn't believe who stood next to her.
“Alice Donaldson,” whispered Heather.
“Heather, please listen and listen carefully, I can’t speak for long. What happened last night was real. But that man wasn’t Finn. He’s one of the men from whom you need to protect Charles Nash. He’s coming back, and he needs Nash, and it’s up to you to make sure he doesn’t find him.”
Although what was happening was surreal and unbelievable, Heather had experienced so many strange things over the last few months she accepted that Alice was real and talking to her. She’d also learnt that she needed to ask questions and demand answers.
“If not Finn, then who was it?”
“Alexander Drake. He died one hundred and seventy four years ago and was evil. His spirit is infiltrating your brother-in-law and will use him to do his work.”
Heather blew air through her cheeks as she digested what Alice told her.
“And the children, what of them? You said something about keeping them from him?”
“Louisa and William, they’re brother and sister. They’re not his biological children. He took them on as his own after their mother was murdered.”
“Murdered by Drake?” asked Heather.
“More than likely, but it wasn’t proved.”
A doctor made his way along the ward and Alice ducked down and attempted to look busy. When he’d passed she continued in a hushed voice.
“I discovered something on the eve of the children’s fifth birthday, and after what I’d found out I had no choice other than to get them out of the house as soon as possible. I had no plan, I just took them and ran.”
&nbs
p; “What did you discover, what was Drake planning?”
“A sacrifice.”
“He would have killed the two children?”
Alice nodded.
“Not just Drake, there were three others."
“But why?”
“It would have been a ritual. An offering which had it happened would've resulted in something so hideous I don’t even want to contemplate it.”
“But why those children?”
"They held a secret."
"What could they know, they were only children for God's sake?"
"It's not what they knew, it's what they had."
"Sorry, you've lost me, what could two five year olds have that would be worth killing them for?"
"It was a birthmark, they both had a mark on the back of their heads. But it wasn't just a blemish or a nevus, it was a pattern as if it had been carved into their bone. You could even see it through the thin skin covering their skulls."
"What would have happened if the sacrifice had gone ahead? What kind of evil are you talking of, and why I am supposed to protect Nash?"
The doctor walked back along the ward and Alice ducked again and pretended to adjust the sheets on Heather's bed.
When the doctor had gone Heather repeated the question in a hushed tone.
"Tell me about the sacrifice?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"The sacrifice, why would Drake do that?"
The nurse looked up with a worried expression and Heather saw that she was no longer Alice.
Heather let out a long sigh, apologised and explained that she felt confused.
“You need more rest Heather, you’ve had a nasty experience and your mind is mixed up at the moment,” said the nurse plumping up the pillows.
Heather lay on her side and thought of what happened. She was convinced she wasn’t losing her mind.
There was something of which she was certain. The next time, if there was to be a next time, that she spoke with either Alice Donaldson or Charles Nash, she wouldn’t let them slip away until she’d found out exactly what was going on.
Chapter 45
“Don’t worry, you’ll soon get the hang of it,” said Kieran through the window of the Porsche he’d bought for Linda.
Linda had been driving the high performance car around the empty car park for the past hour and a half.
“I had no idea how hard these things are to drive,” said Linda as she gripped the wheel and looked over to her husband. “It’s so different to the Mondeo.”
“This car's a totally different beast, you’re bound to find it strange at first. Don't give up, you’ll be fine, I promise.”
Linda wasn’t sure it was a good idea for her to have such a powerful car. She was a nervous driver at the best of times. She’d appreciated her husband’s good intentions when he’d surprised her with the keys to the gleaming red car, and she had to admit the surge of excitement at the time was overwhelming. She loved the registration plate HE11 BDG and thought it was a nice touch. But now, after a few attempts at driving, she thought she’d be better sticking with her eight year old Ford.
“This thing makes me nervous and I’m not sure how safe I’d be on the road.”
“Well, it’s too late to take it back now, and I’d lose a fortune if I sold it,” said Kieran in a frustrated tone.
“Surely you’d get your money back if you sold it second hand, it’s less than a week old.”
“I’ve lost thousands just driving out of the showroom.”
“Okay, I’ll try to get used to it, but if not, I’d prefer not to have it,” said Linda with a sigh.
Kieran looked grouchy.
“It’s not as if we’re poor!” said Linda. “And if you want my opinion, this millionaire malarkey is not what it’s cracked up to be.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it’s the way you earned the money.”
“Well, It’s not as if I’d made it overnight.”
“I don’t trust Gabriel Butler. He’s got his claws into you. He says ‘jump’ and you say ‘how high’?”
“It’s not like that at all.”
“Really? You’ve been watching that house for over twenty years. And like a little arse licker you’ve been telling him of the comings and goings like ‘a snake in the grass’, ready to strike and report back to Butler the moment there was something new to squeal to him about.”
“Linda, you make me sound as if I’m a criminal.”
“All I’m saying is that he’s paid you an awful lot of money to do very little, and I won’t be surprised if he’ll be back wanting more from you.”
What Linda said had put him in a terrible mood. But deep down he knew she was right.
“Okay, move over, I’m driving this bloody thing back home,” said Kieran opening the driver’s door with a look of thunder on his face.
Chapter 46
Butler wiped a tear from his eye with one hand and gripped the sheet of paper with the other. What he held in his hand was something he’d been waiting for all of his life. And before his life, he’d been waiting for it for fifty-two years when he’d been Jonathon Trafford, forty-one years as Benjamin Stride and before Stride, as the original evil Joseph Morris.
Butler had asked Finn to print five copies of the third and all-important archetypon.
Having the archetypon in front of him wasn’t the end of his search, it was only the beginning. There was plenty more to do.
“I know you’re out there somewhere Mathias you little shit,” said Butler under his breath. “Why couldn’t you have just drowned when I dumped you in the pond like any normal kid would have done?”
He sighed, stood up, walked over to window and looked across to Finn Maynard’s house.
“Don’t worry, I’ll flush out the bitch who's looking out for you this time around, and when I do, she’ll wish she’d never been born.”
Chapter 47
After considering her parent’s offer, Heather accepted. She had little choice. Most of her friends didn’t have enough room. Those who did where married with children, which made things awkward.
It would be weeks, or maybe months until she could go back to her flat. The fire in the kitchen had caused a lot of damage, not only to Heather’s, but also the property above.
After being discharged from hospital she’d called to the fire damaged flat to collect a few things to take to her parents. The first thing Heather noticed was the bitter acrid smell left in the wake of the fire. She took none of her clothes, they were unwearable because of the pungent odour. She hoped the insurance would pay for a new wardrobe of clothes. She grabbed her laptop, a few books and DVDs which had not been damaged. She walked past her bedroom and saw Charlie staring at her from the bookshelf.
“I suppose you’d better come too,” she said reaching up for the heavy stone head.
She cradled it in her arms and thought that something about if seemed different.
“Why are you so cold?” whispered Heather.
The stone had always emanated warmth as if it had an inner core heating it. Now it was icy to the touch.
Her father waited outside with the engine running as she locked up the flat. She made her way to the car with two plastic bags and Charlie.
Heather was greeted at the door of her parent’s house by Grace, Sophie, Rosie and Jack. Grace and Sophie flung their arms around her, Rosie hopped up and down with excitement and Jack stared up from the floor with a look of indifference. John huffed as he carried his daughter’s things from the car.
“It'll be a squeeze,” said Grace, “but if you don’t mind sharing a room with your sister and Jack, things should be fine.”
“It will be like old times, having you two girls back in the house,” said John with a smile.
Heather sat next to Sophie while their parents were in the kitchen.
“Sorry I didn’t have time to visit you in hospital, and I’m sorry about what happened to y
our flat,” said Sophie with a look of sadness.
“Don’t worry about it, you’ve got enough on your own plate, let alone to be overly concerned about me.”
The two sisters hugged and tears welled in their eyes.
“So what’s happening with you and Finn, are things improving?” asked Heather.
Sophie burst into tears and Heather felt awful for saying the wrong thing.
Sophie wiped her eyes, looked at her sister and feigned a smile.
“I don’t know what’s happening to him. He’s lost it, he really has. I’ve been back once since the episode on the garden path to collect a few of the children’s things to bring here.”
Heather put her arms around her.
“Mum and dad haven’t told me much. What happened on the garden path?” asked Heather.
“It was awful. You should have heard what he said. He called me ‘pathetic’ and told me to ‘fuck off’. You know Finn, it’s not like him at all. I’m so worried for him. I’m sure he’s having a breakdown and I can’t be near him to help.”
Heather held her and kissed the top of her head.
“He said ‘forget about Finn, he’s gone. He’s dead,’” said Sophie fighting back tears.
“I asked him if he wasn’t Finn, then who was he. Do you know what he said next?”
Sophie broke down in tears and couldn’t continue.
“Shush,” said Heather, “we needn't discuss it now, we can talk about it later. I’ll be here for you.”
Heather spent the rest of the day calling her insurance company to organise what would happen after the fire.
By nine o'clock the sisters were too tired to stay up and headed for bed. Sophie had been staying in her parent’s spare double room with Jack, while Rosie had been sleeping in the small box room. Heather would share the double bed with her sister until her flat was repaired and ready for her to return.
Heather lay next to her sister in the quiet bedroom. The only sound was Jack snoring.
“I see you’ve brought that stone head with you,” said Sophie.
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