Memory Scents: A Psychological Thriller

by Gayle Eileen Curtis

  “Are you ok, Grace? You’ve gone awfully pale. Let me get you some water.”

  Grace was so close to telling Chrissie everything, for what reason she wasn’t sure. Maybe she was looking for an ally; someone to help her rid the world of the bastard, a friend to lean on so she didn’t feel so impossibly alone.

  Grace was trying to swallow the fact that Tim had been in Chrissie’s garden causing mischief with their precious daughter’s childhood possessions. How much further would the man go?

  “I’m fine, Chrissie, just a little tired. You won’t throw these things out will you?”

  “No, of course not. I thought you were going to pressure me into going to the police. That’s what Sarah thought I should do when I first found them.”

  Grace leafed through the hard back book Nadine had loved so much as a child. Tears sprung to her eyes.

  “And now?”

  “I don’t know really. I know she thinks you should always follow your gut feeling. And that’s what I’m doing.”

  “Go with your gut feeling, Chrissie. The police won’t take much notice I wouldn’t have thought. I don’t think these things belong to one of the victims.”

  Grace felt bad saying this to Chrissie, knowing that any good friend would tell her to report it.

  “It is really weird though isn’t it? Where could they have possibly come from? I mean, I’ve heard of people experiencing paranormal activity but nothing like this, especially not with a stranger’s possessions. Sarah says it could be some kind of poltergeist, but I don’t even want to think about that.”

  Grace was deep in thought again. A tear trickled down her face.

  “I’m sorry, Grace. My mouth runs ahead of my mind sometimes.”

  “It’s not you, Chrissie. I’m just very emotional. I want to hear about it, I really do. I may be able to help you solve the puzzle so please don’t hide it from me.”

  Chrissie reached across the table and squeezed Grace’s hand, unable to hold back her own tears.

  *

  After Grace left, Chrissie was relieved to have some time on her own. She sat on the sofa and stared at the book she’d found on her garden table.

  “Bedtime Stories,” she said out loud to the room, as if it might come back with some answers. She flicked through the pictures. They were ironic really, depicting another world. A whimsical world where there was Good and Evil. A place where Good always triumphed over Evil, not like in reality.

  Just as she was pondering on these thoughts, the phone rang.

  “Hello, darling. It’s Mum.”

  “Hi Mum, are you alright? Is Dad alright?” Chrissie suddenly panicked, not used to hearing from her mother two days in a row.

  “Yes, everything’s fine. I wanted to talk to you about something. Have you got a minute?”

  “Yes, several. What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong, there’s just something I need to tell you.”

  “Mother, you’re frightening me. What is it?”

  Sylvia relayed everything that had happened on that awful night at the holiday cottage when Chrissie was snatched. The line at Chrissie’s end went quiet for a very long time.

  “Chrissie, darling? Are you ok?”

  Chrissie slumped back on the sofa; nausea rising in her stomach.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Chrissie almost whispered.

  “I’m so sorry, Chrissie. You suffered some sort of amnesia afterwards. The doctor said it was because of the shock and for the time being was for the best. We just wanted you to have as normal a childhood as possible after that awful incident.”

  “Did he touch me? Did he…you know?”

  The line was quiet again.

  “Did he touch me?!” Chrissie shrieked down the phone.

  “Not as far as we know. We don’t know if it was a man, darling. It was dark and you didn’t have a description. You just said you thought it was a man and he smelt funny. Darling, we kept it from you because we love you.”

  “So, did the police think it was the person who killed all those children?” Chrissie snapped at her.

  “They couldn’t be sure. There was a huge police hunt but they couldn’t find anything. The point is, darling, you survived.”

  “I know that Mother, but you can’t just ring me with this monumental news and expect me to immediately focus on the bright side.”

  “But you mustn’t dwell on ‘what ifs’.”

  “You’ve obviously had plenty of time to get used to this information over the years, where as I haven’t. So please allow me to have some time to adjust to what you’ve just told me, instead of doing what you always do – stick a plaster on it and hope it’ll go away!”

  Chrissie slammed the phone down. Her mother had the good sense not to phone back, thinking it was best to leave her daughter to calm down.

  Chrissie felt so angry. But she didn’t quite know who with. She could see why her family had kept it from her, although it was typical of them. But then maybe all their protectiveness over the years had stemmed from this incident. She needed time for all this information to filter through her mind.

  The thought that as a child she might have been so close to such an evil monster made her feel physically sick. Her mother was right. She was immensely lucky to have got away.

  A thought dawned on her. The shed. The memory of the flashback flooded her mind. That was why it was all so familiar. Perhaps that’s where he had taken her. She shivered, thinking of poor little Karen, who probably took her place. She didn’t want to sit with those thoughts. It was all too much. She decided to get dressed and sort out the jumble of her mind by walking along the beach.

  *

  “I went to see Chrissie today, you know, my friend in the village?”

  “Oh yeah.”

  “She’s still having some really strange things happening at the house and it’s now spread to the garden.”

  “Really.” Tim was dead pan and sarcastic. He didn’t even look up from the newspaper crossword he was doing.

  Grace continued to channel hop. She needed to choose her words carefully.

  “She found some children’s clothes and a book in the garden. She’s not sure whether to go to the police, what with everything that’s happened with Alice.”

  That got his attention. The paper lowered slightly.

  “It was really strange. For a few minutes after she showed me what she had found I thought they were Nadine’s things.”

  “What has that got to do with Alice and why would she go to the police?”

  “All this activity in the house; I suppose she thinks it’s got something to do with all those murders from years ago. She thinks one of the victims is trying to get a message to her about the killer.”

  Tim chuckled and continued with his crossword.

  “It would be amazing if it did though.” Grace pressed further.

  “If it did what?”

  “The messages from beyond the grave; if they led her to the killer.”

  “Grace, I don’t know what you’re waffling on about. The police won’t take any notice of your nutty friend, especially if she keeps going on about silly ghost stories.”

  He looked quite calm. Grace couldn’t tell if she’d rattled him or not. But then she supposed that was how he’d managed to become a serial killer.

  She had without realising it rattled him quite a bit. He hadn’t thought of the scenario that Chrissie might go to the police. He didn’t want them tracing the items to his house. It was drinking too much that had caused him to make that error. He had to keep a clear head, especially when there was a new police investigation going on.

  “Will they open up a full investigation like they did all those years ago?” Grace asked, trying to sound naive.

  “I should imagine they have done already.” Tim muttered almost under his breath.

  Grace settled on a repeat of an old drama programme, as a slightly uncomfortable silence landed in the room.

  “Bette
r get the sheds cleared out.” Grace said, keeping her eyes on the television screen.

  The paper lowered again.

  “What’s that got to do with anything?” Tim’s voice became dark and cold.

  “Oh, nothing. I was just thinking the other day we ought to have a clear out before the winter sets in. Tidy the garden up a bit.”

  Grace knew she needed to go steady. She could see it had hit a nerve with him and she didn’t want to push him too far.

  *

  “I know you’re very angry with us at the moment, darling. But I’ve just called to tell you we did what we thought would be best for you at the time. We decided to tell you because we didn’t want you finding out through someone else, especially as you were having some therapy.

  Daddy and I were so thankful every day that you were spared, and we still are. We didn’t want it to be a black cloud over our lives. So we tried to carry on as normal. It made us appreciate all three of you so much more, even though we didn’t think that was possible. It wasn’t an easy decision to make, not telling you. And I know you think we’ve suffocated you over the years, but now you know why. Anyway…that’s all I wanted to say on the matter. We love you very much and we hope you can see our reasons for keeping it from you….”

  Chrissie turned off the answer machine. Despite the situation, she chuckled to herself. Her mother had sounded so matter of fact and defensive. She did that when she was wounded.

  Chrissie, having calmed somewhat, called her mother back to put her mind at rest. The fresh air from the sea had done her the world of good.

  They had a much better conversation about it all even though Chrissie still felt extremely sore and upset. It was as if someone had allowed her into a room of memories where the door had been locked for so many years.

  Her mother was right. It served no purpose to dwell on “what ifs”. She hadn’t been aware of it for so many years and had got along in her life quite happily. Something her mother thought she wouldn’t have done had she remembered the awful incident.

  But she couldn’t whole heartedly throw herself into this carefree attitude. She needed some time. Every moment she thought about what could have happened, her stomach turned over. She felt like she’d been rescued from falling off a cliff, but she was still standing on the edge. Each time she looked over her shoulder she was staring down a sheer drop.

  Chrissie decided to call Sarah before she settled down for the night. She wanted to let her know she’d been right about the childhood memory. She still couldn’t believe it. A whole part of her life seemed to have been erased; like a piece of puzzle that didn’t belong in the whole picture.

  The anger Chrissie felt earlier began to bubble up inside her. It made her realise who she was angry with. The person who’d tried to snatch her. How dare they? How dare they put her and her parents through that awful trauma? Her lovely, kind parents who’d strived to give her and her siblings a magical childhood. Something that, in Chrissie’s opinion, should be set in stone, not something you had if you were lucky. And how dare they try to cut her life short; what right had they to make that decision.

  These feelings gave her the determination to work out the messages she was being given and the will to work out who it was who committed these abhorrent crimes.

  *

  Grace knocked at her sister’s door but there was no answer. She’d brought her some shopping, knowing she wouldn’t have been out of the house. She put the bags down on the door step and let herself in. All was silent apart from the buzz of the refrigerator.

  She went through the rooms calling her, but there was no answer. She remembered the last time she’d freaked out and scolded herself for even thinking it. Eve was just upstairs taking a nap.

  She switched on the kettle to make a hot drink for them both and began to unpack the shopping, whilst reassuring herself everything was fine. But the atmosphere felt heavier than usual and she couldn’t shake off the feeling of foreboding. She scolded herself again and finished putting the shopping away.

  As Grace put the last of the things in the fridge and cleared the kitchen table of bags, she noticed an envelope with her name on it.

  At first she thought Eve had gone for a walk and left her a note. But then the logical side of her brain told her that Eve would have scribbled on a piece of paper, rather than go to the trouble of putting it in an envelope.

  A sick feeling began to rise from the pit of her stomach as she opened the carefully folded letter.

  Dear Grace,

  I’m so sorry...

  Grace didn’t get any further. She scrambled up the stairs so fast she fell up them. She recovered herself immediately and within seconds she was barging through Alice’s bedroom door.

  A loud scream made her jump. She turned around to see who it was and then realised it had come from her mouth.

  Eve was laid on Alice’s bed, a deathly shade of white. For what felt like a few seconds Grace was rooted to the spot.

  Brain in gear, she checked for a pulse, but she was shaking so much, she wasn’t sure if she could feel one or not. She ran downstairs to call for an ambulance. She tried to calm her breathing so she could relay the address to the operator on the end of the phone.

  “Grace? Whatever’s happened? I heard a terrible scream.”

  Grace turned in the hallway to find Eve’s next door neighbour, Dennis. He was a close friend of the family and a retired Detective Inspector. He’d been at the forefront of all the murder investigations and had been a huge support to their entire family during their time of need.

  “Oh Dennis, she’s upstairs….she’s in Alice’s bedroom…”

  Dennis sprinted up the stairs two at a time with Grace following closely behind him.

  “Christ, Eve!”

  “Is she still alive, Dennis?” Grace said, as Dennis checked Eve for a pulse.

  “There’s a faint pulse.” He leaned his face near to hers to see if he could feel her breath on his cheek.

  “It’s weak, but she’s still with us.” Dennis moved her carefully into the recovery position in case she was sick. He picked up the bottles of tablets she’d taken, and examined the labels.

  “Just try and keep calm, Grace, the ambulance will be here in a minute.”

  “Oh god, Dennis! What was she thinking?”

  Grace sat on the end of the bed, her head in her hands.

  “She’s not been right since Alice went Grace. You know that.”

  “But to get in this...that’s the ambulance!” Grace raced back downstairs to guide them to the correct house, not wanting to waste a second.

  Grace and Dennis followed the ambulance to the hospital, leaving the crew space to bring Eve back to life.

  “Try not to worry, Grace. I don’t think she’s taken enough. She’s in the right hands now.”

  “But I wasted time making a drink and unloading the shopping,” Grace sobbed, “I just thought she was having a nap as normal.”

  “You’ve got nothing to reproach yourself for. It was inevitable it would come to this, she’s been in such turmoil.”

  “If it was inevitable, Dennis, then I should have looked after her better.”

  “Look, you can’t watch someone twenty four hours a day. She’d have found a way at some point.”

  “I clearly wasn’t watching enough. I just assumed Jon was on top of it all. But now, as I reflect on recent events, he obviously wasn’t.”

  “Grace, you need to remember you had your own loss to deal with. In my experience, when people plan this sort of thing, they’ve gone beyond accepting any sort of help.”

  They parked out the front of the hospital and watched as the ambulance crew deftly unloaded Eve and rushed her through the emergency doors. Grace and Dennis followed. They were sent to the family room by an austere but friendly nurse, despite Grace’s protests to be with her sister.

  “Let them do their jobs, Grace. Sit there and I’ll get you a drink.”

  Grace was going over and over thin
gs in her head. Her mind was like a washing machine running through a cycle. Round and round. All she kept thinking was what if she’d reported Tim or followed through with her plans earlier. Maybe this wouldn’t have happened.

  Perhaps Eve would have coped better knowing who it was, even though it would have been such a shock finding out it was her brother- in-law. This thought caused little sobbing noises to escape her mouth; she was so knotted up with it all. When Dennis came back in with their drinks she was rocking backwards and forwards in one of the weather beaten chairs.

  Dennis put the cups down and grabbed Grace by her shoulders.

  “Grace, this is not going to help Eve!”

  “You don’t understand,” Grace sobbed again, “you don’t understand.”

  “Hey, come on. It’s ok. She’ll be alright.” He sat next to her and pulled her body towards him. She gripped his shirt, having always found him more of a comfort than Tim. She relaxed in his arms and cried and cried.

  Once she’d calmed, Dennis got her to drink the coffee he’d brought. She seemed to be much calmer after she’d released all her pent up emotion.

  She smiled at Dennis and then frowned as she looked at his tired face.

  “Are you alright? You don’t look your usual sprightly self.”

  “I’m just tired, Grace. Too much golf and gardening.”

  “Are you sure that’s all it is? You look a bit pale.”

  Dennis was the picture of health. He was in his fifties, the same as Grace, and as the years had been kind to her, so they had to him. He’d had his fair share of admirers over the years and he was the healthiest police officer Grace had ever known. In her experience they were usually overweight smokers with a drink problem. But she’d known Dennis long enough to know there was something weighing heavy on his mind.

  “Honestly. I’m fine. By the way I’ve called Jon and he’s on his way. I tried Tim as well, but there’s no answer.”