The Haunting of Highdown Hall

by Shani Struthers

  “So,” said Ruby, trying to make sense of it. “Cynthia did know Levine, but only in a work-related sense. There’s absolutely no information linking them together in a more personal sense?”

  “None that I could find,” replied Theo.

  “It’s not much to go on, is it?” Ruby was downcast again. “Perhaps Levine isn’t our man after all.”

  “There’s no such thing as coincidence,” Ness muttered, echoing Sarah’s sentiment.

  It seemed Cash agreed too.

  “Remember what Esme Harris said, that Levine left the party looking red and flustered. He was obviously agitated, but why? Had someone said or done something to upset him? Perhaps he and Cynthia were having a clandestine affair? Maybe she teased him like she did John Sterling?”

  “Maybe,” replied Ruby, “but the only way we’ll find out is through Cynthia. Talking of which...” Ruby paused as she went to fetch the newspaper article about Ron Mason, which she had slipped into her coat pocket the day before. “The box Esme gave me; I’ve left it at the flat, but I found this in it.” Nodding at Cash, she said, “Or rather we found it.”

  “What is it?” Ness leant her head to one side.

  Handing the newspaper photograph over to Theo, Ruby explained hers and Cash’s theory.

  “I recognise him, a bit of a rogue Ron Mason, if I remember correctly, a ladies’ man. Have you heard of him, Ness?”

  “Vaguely, but I’ve never seen any films with him in I don’t think.”

  “There is a resemblance though, isn’t there?” continued Theo. “A pretty strong resemblance I’d say.”

  “There is,” Ruby agreed. “I thought I’d look into his background this afternoon; see if I can find a link with him at least.”

  “Good luck with that.” Theo raised a cynical eyebrow. “We’ve read just about everything there is to read on Cynthia and not once has Ron Mason been mentioned.”

  “I know, and it is just speculation on our part but you never know, it’s within the realms of possibility. Cynthia’s father on her birth certificate was listed as ‘unknown’, but the very fact she kept a cutting of him suggests he was significant to her in some way.”

  “Was he her brother’s father too?” Corinna enquired.

  “I don’t know,” admitted Ruby. “And it’s not as if I can just pop down to the record office to check either. They’re closed until after the holidays now.”

  “But it’s possible,” Ness interjected. “Mason could have hung around just long enough to get Mary pregnant again and then taken off.”

  “Anything is possible,” Theo sighed, “that’s the problem. Anyway, Ruby, research what you can about this Mason character just in case, but remember you must get some rest.”

  Ruby was just about to promise she would when the phone rang. She answered it quickly while Theo, Ness and Corinna started putting on their hats, gloves and coats. Only Cash remained where he was. Replacing the receiver, Ruby turned to the imminently departing crowd, wincing as she did so.

  “Erm, you’ll never guess what?” she said, hoping she sounded suitably apologetic.

  “What?” responded Corinna chirpily.

  “We’ve got ourselves an emergency.”

  ***

  All callers to Psychic Surveys sounded distressed to varying degrees, but on a scale of one to ten, Ruby would say the call she had just taken ranked around the nine mark. The fact the woman had felt the need to phone on a Sunday nudged it up to ten. After apologising profusely for doing so, the woman, Angela Lawrence, then went on to tell Ruby that she’d only been resident in her home for six months, but ever since moving in she had felt nervous and anxious, as though she was being watched – not just intermittently, but all the time. Then, she’d confided further, the night-time noises had started: footsteps on the stairs, when she knew damn well her husband and two teenage sons were in bed; a door banging at intervals downstairs. Often, just as she was drifting off, she’d hear a grunt-like noise in her ear, deep and guttural, inhuman. She was the only one in the house who experienced such phenomena; the others remaining blissfully unaffected, alternating between teasing her and becoming irritated whenever she mentioned it. More and more irritated in fact, she told Ruby. Normally, she hated to get out of bed at night, once beneath the covers she would remain there, her eyes stubbornly shut until morning. But last night she’d suffered a raging thirst that just wouldn’t abate.

  Fed up of feeling bullied in her own home, she had eventually got up. It was pitch black outside, she told Ruby, and silent, but not an easy silence, it seemed ominous instead. Steeling herself, she had made her way downstairs and drank an entire pint of water before returning to bed. And that’s when she had seen him, an outline of a large man, solidly built, standing halfway up the stairs, blocking her route back to safety, leering at her, reaching out to her, his features fixed in a threatening grimace.

  “Well, I screamed the house down, didn’t I? I just screamed and screamed. My husband rushed out of the bedroom towards me and passed straight through him, didn’t even know he was there. He thought I’d seen a spider or something. A spider? If only! I really feel I’m going out of my mind, Miss Davis. Please help. Even though it’s Christmas in a couple of days I feel like running away. Leaving them all to it. I can’t take this any longer. I simply can’t.”

  Ruby knew the team should rest but there was no way she could ignore the distress in Mrs Lawrence’s voice. She sounded desperate.

  After promising they would come straight away to her address in Crawley, Ruby asked how she’d heard of Psychic Surveys.

  “Your website. There’s quite a few of you on the net, isn’t there? Psychics I mean. But your website stood out, no fancy nonsense, it was down-to-earth. I like that.”

  Smiling at her words, Ruby resolved to tell Cash as soon as possible about Mrs Lawrence’s opinion of his handiwork.

  ***

  Within minutes, Theo, Ness and Cash were piling into Ruby’s Ford and making their way to Lailey Way in Crawley. Corinna had offered to stay behind to research Ron Mason and Ruby had gladly accepted, it was one less thing for her to do when she got back. They agreed to discuss her findings when they returned. As they sped along the A27, Theo couldn’t resist entertaining them all with an old nursery song, the lyrics slightly tampered with.

  “I saw a ghost. Where? There on the stair! Where on the stair? Right there!”

  Cash openly showed his amusement but Ness remained as straight-faced as ever.

  Stifling her own laughter, Ruby brought them back to the case in hand. “Seriously though, I don’t like the sound of this man ‘leering’ – no one likes to be leered at.”

  “We’ll sort him out, don’t worry,” said Theo confidently, reprising the song but whistling it this time, fully realising how much she was annoying Ness.

  The house in Lailey Way was a mid-terrace, ex-council house, the kind hurriedly put up after World War II. Painted cream, it may have looked smart once upon a time, but now it looked careworn, in need of some serious TLC. One window had a distinct crack in it and the grass in front was patchy in some places, overlong in others; Ruby bet to herself that even in summer no flowers graced the borders running alongside the path to the front door. It was unenticing enough even without its supernatural guest.

  Cash grabbed the bag of paraphernalia from the boot of Ruby’s car and followed the rest of the team up the pathway to knock on the door.

  “Mrs Lawrence?” said Ruby, stepping forward. “I’m Ruby from Psychic Surveys and this is my team. May we come in?”

  The woman in front of her looked harried; her dyed black hair unkempt and her eyes somewhat wild. Although she knew they were coming, she hadn’t bothered to dress. She stood there in a night-dress and dressing gown, a cigarette hanging from one side of her mouth.

  “Come in, come in,” she muttered, not bothering to remove the cigarette.

  All the curtains in the house were drawn, something Ruby hated to see during the daytime, be
lieving it imperative to let the light in whenever you can, particularly in a house that was suffering spiritual upheaval. There was also an unpleasant smell in the air, reminiscent of laundry left for too long in the washing machine, its sweet freshness quickly turning sour.

  Ruby glanced at the stairs as Angela Lawrence directed them into the living room, where a Christmas tree, haphazardly decorated, stood rather forlornly in one corner – the only nod to the annual celebration that she could see.

  “My husband’s out,” the woman explained quickly. “I haven’t told him you’re coming. He’ll hit the roof if he finds out. You’ll have to be quick.”

  “Why will he hit the roof?” Theo asked, concerned.

  “Because he doesn’t believe, you see. He thinks I’m round the bend, so do my boys, they can’t feel, hear nor see nothing at all. But I can, all the bloody time.”

  “Just here at home, or elsewhere as well?” Ruby was intrigued.

  “It has happened before,” Mrs Lawrence admitted – reluctantly, as though confiding a dirty secret. Then with a little more gusto, she declared, “I’m haunted I am, continually haunted and I don’t know why. I’ve done nothing to deserve it.”

  Another psychic then, thought Ruby, but one reluctant to acknowledge it.

  “It would help if we opened these curtains,” said Ness, gentle understanding in her voice. Clearly she was thinking the same as Ruby. “Do you mind?”

  “No,” replied Mrs Lawrence, “not at all. I don’t know why they’re still closed.” She did indeed look genuinely perplexed. “I just haven’t got round to opening them yet I suppose.”

  “Not a problem, we’ll do it,” said Ness, motioning to Cash to help.

  Although not a particularly bright day outside, the house felt distinctly better with the curtains open. It was amazing what the light could do, no matter how faint.

  “And a window too?” Ness asked. “Can we open a window? It can represent a physical exit to the spirit.”

  “The locks are a bit stiff on the windows; I keep meaning to get my husband to see to them. I think he painted over them when we first moved in, although he won’t admit it, sealed the bloody things shut. A door would be easier.”

  “The door it is then,” replied Ness. “I’m sorry to have to do so; it’s rather cold outside.”

  “It’s alright, I understand,” said Mrs Lawrence, and Ruby was sure that, on some level at least, she did.

  After checking that the woman’s two sons were out too, Ruby ran through with her their typical procedure. First, she explained, they would try to connect psychically with the spirit in a bid to persuade him to move on. Then they would cleanse every room with smudge sticks and essential oils to remove any residual energy. Afterwards, she would advise her on the use of suitable crystals. Brown tiger eye was good for protection against unwanted spirits as were calcopyrite and carnelian. Noting a slight frown cross Mrs Lawrence’s face, Ruby assured her that stones were relatively inexpensive and could be purchased from a number of places – Ruby’s favourite was a crystal shop set beside a tea room in the picturesque village of Litlington, but she reassured Mrs Lawrence that she wouldn’t need to go that far. Before Psychic Surveys left, she continued, they would place citrine around her home, a highly effective crystal for soaking up negativity.

  As Mrs Lawrence nodded, Ruby asked, “Was it on the stairs that you last saw him?”

  “Yes,” Mrs Lawrence shuddered. “Leering, like he always does.”

  “I get that impression too,” chimed in Theo. “But I also sense that’s all he ever did, leer I mean. He liked the ladies did Cyril, but he wasn’t very successful with them.”

  There came a bang from upstairs, as though a vase or something had been knocked off a table and thrown to the floor.

  Mrs Lawrence immediately stepped closer to Ruby.

  “That’s him,” she whispered, clutching at her dressing gown. “You’ve upset him.”

  “Don’t worry.” Ness reached out an arm to comfort her. “We’re not in the business of goading spirits to get a reaction. We’re here to help them move on, that’s all.” She looked pointedly at Theo. “Aren’t we?”

  Theo ignored her and went to stand at the foot of the stairs.

  “Can you sense him right now, Mrs Lawrence?”

  “I sense him all the time,” was the terrified reply.

  “Ruby, Ness, shall we try and connect? Cash, perhaps you could stay with Mrs Lawrence in the living room?”

  “Sure,” replied Cash dutifully.

  Standing in the cramped space at the bottom of the stairs, trying to ignore the multitude of coats hanging on a rail beside them and the impressive collection of trainers and shoes scattered at their feet, the trio joined hands.

  Before they tuned in, Ness whispered, “You know she’s a psychic too, don’t you?”

  Ruby nodded her head whilst Theo said, “Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt, huh?”

  “Theo,” hushed Ruby, noticing another disapproving glare from Ness.

  “I just meant perhaps we can help her, you know, afterwards, to deal with her gift.”

  “We can try,” replied Ruby, not convinced they’d be able to do so.

  A clear image of the man Angela Lawrence was complaining about popped into Ruby’s mind. He was in his late fifties, with a face full of bristle, an impressive gut and ill-fitting clothes. It was fair to say he hadn’t been one of life’s beauties. And yes, Theo was right; he did have an appetite for the ladies, very much so. Sadly his feelings had rarely been reciprocated, the few relationships he’d had ending on a less than happy note. He wasn’t a violent man, Ruby sensed, but a very frustrated one – the lack of female appreciation forcing him to become something of a voyeur instead. And although he had created a catalogue of sexual fantasies in his mind, as far as she could tell, they had remained just that – fantasies.

  The man, Cyril, was leering at her now, his tongue flicking out between his lips, clenching both hands at her as though he wanted to grope her breasts.

  “Cyril, stop it!” said Ruby firmly. “That sort of behaviour does not impress me.”

  Ruby could sense he was taken aback by her admonishment. He quickly recovered though, turning his attentions towards Ness instead and thrusting his crotch at her.

  “Charming,” muttered Theo. “Leave me out, why don’t you? The only broad here you might have stood a chance with.”

  Humour, Ruby knew, was necessary in dealing with Cyril. He wasn’t a bad soul, just wayward. She actually pitied him his frustration, perhaps if the fairer sex had been kinder to him in life, not succumbed of course, but treated him with compassion rather than such obvious disdain, he might have been more tolerable. Instead, she felt overwhelming waves of loneliness emanating from him, a human emotion so strong it anchored him.

  “Cyril,” said Ruby gently. “You know as well as we do that you have passed. But what you may not know is you don’t have to take feelings of loneliness with you into the light, you can just let them go. You don’t have to take your physical body either. Leave it behind.”

  Cyril had stopped leering. He looked confused instead.

  Ruby continued, her head still bowed, her hands joined to Theo and Ness.

  “Inside, Cyril, you are beautiful, you are magnificent – we all are; every single one of us. You belong to the light and waiting in it are people who love you, the real you, maybe even a past love, a woman I mean, someone you met in another lifetime.”

  Cyril’s interest was piqued. He peered beyond them.

  A girlfriend?

  “Yes, a girlfriend, maybe even a wife, longing to be reunited with you.”

  A pretty girlfriend?

  Ruby nodded her head. “Oh yes, very pretty indeed.”

  I don’t want no-one like me, he said, distrustful suddenly. She has to look nice.

  “Everyone looks nice in the light, Cyril,” Ruby assured him.

  Tentatively, Cyril descended one stair.

  “Tha
t’s it, Cyril,” urged Theo, “come forward.”

  He was hesitant again.

  Are you sure she’s there – this girlfriend?

  “You’re never going to find out if you don’t look.” Ruby smiled encouragingly at him.

  Another stair descended.

  “Open the door wider,” Ruby whispered to Ness, before returning her attention to Cyril. “Come on, Cyril, be brave. You need to leave this house now, and this life, it’s over, it’s done with – just take with you the lessons you’ve learnt, nothing more. Start again, somewhere else, somewhere better, somewhere you’re going to be a lot happier.”

  He was on the bottom stair now.

  And you’re sure she’ll like me?

  Such disbelief in his voice. Had no one ever returned his affections?

  “She’ll adore you,” Ruby was confident.

  He was only inches away now, the look on his face a little more trusting. But again he hesitated.

  I don’t believe in God.

  “You don’t have to.”

  Why?

  “You’re believed in, that’s what matters.”

  Cyril hung his head.

  I’m not a Catholic or nothing.

  “I’m not sure God is either.”

  What is he then?

  “Love.”

  Cyril hesitated no more. Understanding smoothing his grizzled features, lending him an almost serene quality, he walked right up to Ruby and then through her, continuing on his journey at last. As he did so, Ness squeezed Ruby’s hand; they both found the moment of releasing someone highly poignant.

  Turning slightly, all three watched him take his leave. Not long now and Mrs Lawrence would be leered at no more; another success for Psychic Surveys. In the frame of the doorway the silhouette of Cyril’s body was only just visible as the shimmering light started to wrap itself around him.

  Moments before he disappeared entirely, he turned to Ruby.

  I’d still like to cop a feel of your tits though, he said, and winked at her before fading entirely.

  Stunned at first, she soon burst out laughing, as did Theo and even Ness. Some people, dead or alive, were incorrigible.