“Blasted Brits!” Theo sniffed as she said it. “In other countries neighbours make an effort to get to know each other, there’s a sense of community, but not here, oh no. Here we keep ourselves to ourselves, look the other way.”
“Which is why Benjamin wasn’t found for a week,” mused Corinna.
“Ha!” Theo replied. “He’s lucky it was just a week. Some are left for much longer than that. What about that poor girl that wasn’t discovered for three years – that’s right three years! She lived in a block of flats in central London, for heaven’s sake, she had a job, but you’re right, Linda, somehow she was invisible, to her workmates, her family, everyone. How does that happen?” She apologised. “I’m sorry. Listen to me ranting. Please, carry on.”
There was a brief moment whilst everyone did indeed consider Theo’s words – the case she was talking about had made headline news in 2011. The woman, only in her late thirties, had concerned Ruby greatly. She had wanted to go to her flat, make sure her spirit had moved on, wasn’t anchored – like so many were – by loneliness. But she couldn’t just turn up – that wasn’t the Psychic Surveys way. If new tenants encountered a problem, she could only hope they’d call or that someone else, someone genuine, had dealt with it. Before the moment could stretch into several, Ruby prompted Linda, who duly carried on.
“Quinn chained me to that kitchen sink, or as good as. I was his slave, making him endless cups of tea whilst he watched the telly. He demanded cup after cup of the stuff.” She looked at Ness, who’d remained largely quiet throughout, absorbing every word. “That’s why I don’t drink it,” she explained, “won’t go near it in fact, even the smell of it is enough to make me sick.”
Immediately, Ruby covered the top of her mug with her hand.
“It’s fine, it’s okay, I… I’m not worried about tea right now. That’s the least of my problems.” Linda took a deep breath. “I was at his mercy, in the kitchen and in the bedroom.” She leaned forward conspiratorially. “He had a problem in that respect you know. He had difficulty getting an… erection. Never before we were married, mind, only afterwards. You think I’d be grateful that was the case wouldn’t you? I wasn’t. It didn’t stop the violation.”
Ruby too felt sick, but at the way in which Linda had suffered. Not wanting tea either, she asked Cash if he wouldn’t mind taking the mugs from the room and depositing them in the kitchen. He did, hurrying back afterwards.
“That was life week after week, month after month for me, nothing more, nothing less than a nightmare. Can you blame me for breaking, for fighting back? I didn’t know I was going to do it, honestly I didn’t. I didn’t know I had the strength in me, but I did, it came from somewhere deep inside and possessed me. I was in the kitchen, standing at the sink, staring out into a dull day, I’d never felt so hopeless, or so angry. The emotions in me were simmering, like stew in a cauldron. He wanted tea.” Linda’s laugh was bitter. “No surprises there. I took him a fresh cup and came back with the half finished one. He was watching the telly, laughing at something, I don’t know what. I was so homesick, not just for my parents, but for my old bedroom too, my sanctuary. I loved music back then, like all the kids did, was mad for it. I’d had a record player at home, plenty of records too. I was spoilt I suppose. I only had a radio at Gilmore Street. A tinny little thing, it was my one luxury. It’s amazing I was even allowed that. Whilst he continued to watch his programme, I wanted to listen to music. Back in the kitchen, I turned it on. A song was playing; I remember it so well. It was by Tom Jones, I was keen on him too. It was one of his latest hits. The words were so poignant, as if Tom knew about my situation and had written it just for me.”
“Tom Jones?” Ruby sat up straight, remembering what Ellie had said. “What’s that song of his?” She looked at Theo. “The Green something?”
“Green, Green Grass of Home?”
“That’s it, that’s the one!” Ruby almost yelled back.
Linda was nodding too. “Yes, that was it. But how—”
“Ruby!” At last Ness spoke up. “What’s going on here?”
“Ness, I think you know what’s going on, but let Linda finish her story.”
Although she was impatient – they all were – Ness complied.
“It was Green, Green Grass of Home – I haven’t listened to it since. Can’t bear to. Quinn came up behind me, startled me. He said I was playing the radio too loud, that it was disturbing him. It wasn’t. No way. How he heard it over the noise of the TV I shall never know. He picked it up. I knew what he was going to do. I darted forward, tried to take it from him – the radio was my only link to the outside world. It kept me sane. He sent me flying as we wrestled, straight into the kitchen table. As he began to twist and turn it in his hands, to destroy it, my sanity fled. I couldn’t survive without it. I honestly felt that way. He threw it to the floor in pieces and turned back towards me, as I knew he would, his fists bunched. Have you ever been hit by someone you loved, any of you? It hurts. Not just on the outside. It hurts so much.”
Ness was close to tears herself. “I… I know what it’s like to be beaten,” she answered. Ruby looked at her, stunned by the revelation. Ness had been a victim of domestic abuse too? When? But it wasn’t Ness telling the story.
“It’s his eyes I remember the most – looking into them and seeing the evil that lay at the heart of him – actually seeing it. And somehow that evil found me. It reached out and wormed its way into the heart of me too, like a disease, infectious. His mug that I’d fetched earlier from the living room was on the table. I grabbed it. Swung it at him. Smashed it against his skull. He staggered. I rose. I continued hitting him, I was so angry. He fell. The dishes in the sink – the dirty, greasy dishes – I grabbed at them next, smashed them over his head one by one. I loved seeing him cower like I’d cowered. And then a frying pan, still thick with lard and bacon rind, I brought it down over and over again. He was groaning, pleading, crying. I couldn’t believe my ears and eyes. He was crying! But he hadn’t shown me any mercy when I’d pleaded and cried. I…”
“Go on,” Ness gently encouraged.
Linda had grown pale as she recounted. “The kettle had only recently boiled. I set it to boil again, willing it to hurry, and again, as if Satan himself was on my side, it did. I lifted it up and brought it over to him. He looked up, just terror in his eyes now, sheer terror, and I poured. Over his face, his arms, his chest and his fat belly. I poured until it was empty, watching as his skin began to blister. And then, and then….” Her words ended on a sob.
“Linda.” As Ness had done, Theo reached across too. “It’s okay. You can stop there. We understand. Corinna, get her some water. She needs something to drink.”
A few minutes later, Corinna came back with the glass, handed it over and then pulled her chair to sit closer to Linda, placing one arm around her shoulder. Linda considered herself evil for what she’d done, but everyone in the room was reserving judgement on that right now. As Ruby sat staring at her, stunned to hear all she had from the horse’s mouth rather than via Ellie, she tried again to make sense of it. A soul divided?
Theo and Ness both looked at her but it was Theo who spoke. “In the kitchen, Ruby. Now.”
Chapter Thirty
“A soul divided? You really think that Linda is in part Ellie?”
“How else do you explain it, Ness?” replied Ruby. “Their stories run along the same lines.”
“But… it’s so unlikely.”
Ruby disagreed. “You said it yourself. If you can think it, it’s possible.”
“I know, but even so, it’s a little too far-fetched, even for me.” Ness shook her head. “No, I’m inclined to agree with Theo on this one. Souls are individual. They’re unique.”
Theo raised an eyebrow. “You agree with me? Makes a nice change.”
Ignoring her, Ness rushed on. To Ruby’s relief she wasn’t instantly dismissing her theory, she was at least considering it. “If what you’re saying is true, E
llie thinks she killed Quinn. Does Linda corroborate that?”
“Linda doesn’t know if she did or not. He was an inert mess on the floor when she left and what happened to him afterwards she hasn’t a clue.”
“If she’d left him for dead, he would have been found,” Theo pointed out. “And as we know from your special friend in the police force, Ness, there’s no record of another death at Gilmore Street. Certainly not a murder.”
Ruby tensed at the mention of ‘special friend’ but Ness was on form and carried on the conversation without biting. “The strange thing is, as I’ve already told you, we can’t get Ellie past the point when she fought back.”
“That’s right,” replied Ruby, “you said it’s as though her memories have fallen off a cliff from that point onwards. They just don’t exist.”
“But obviously Linda’s do. We need to quiz her further.”
“Tonight?” Theo looked at her watch, “Oh come on, it’s late. Give the poor woman a break, she’s had enough for one day, I think.” Turning towards Ruby, she said, “And so have you. You need some sleep.”
Ruby couldn’t argue with that. She was so tired from earlier events she felt like someone had pulled the plug on her. “But we can’t let Linda disappear.”
“We can’t hold her prisoner either,” Theo protested.
“No, I realise that but I get the impression she wants resolution just as much as we do. She needs to come back to Gilmore Street with us.”
Theo was horrified by her suggestion. “That’s not a good idea, Ruby. If it is Quinn, we know he can get physical, and seeing Linda might tip him over the edge. Remember Highdown Hall and Cynthia’s reaction when we brought her old flame Rawlings into the room. Poor Corinna, she really copped it.”
“Theo’s right,” Ness looked as if it pained her to admit that yet again. “Quinn’s violent enough as it is.”
Ruby only agreed in part. “But don’t you see, if Linda’s there it forces the issue, which could mean fast results.”
“Ruby,” Theo admonished, “this isn’t about fast results. This is about spirit rescue. Or have you forgotten?”
“No, Theo, I haven’t forgotten but I’m also aware that we’re in the public eye. Like I said, we need a resolution.”
“A resolution that’s in the interests of both parties,” Theo continued.
“But Linda’s plagued by him, and, in turn, she plagues him. Shouldn’t they face up to each other? Lay their demons to rest.”
“All this talk of demons,” Theo said, “I don’t like it.”
Ruby forced a smile. “At least it’s only in a metaphorical sense this time.”
“I don’t know, Quinn seems pretty demonic to me.”
“He had an inferiority complex,” Ness reminded Theo. “Which you yourself pointed out. Leaving home at fifteen, venturing to another country to get away from his family, I think we can assume his childhood wasn’t idyllic.”
“Safely assume,” Theo elaborated.
“Ness…” Ruby didn’t know if now was the right time to say what was on her mind but she decided to go ahead anyway. “I didn’t know you’d been a victim of domestic abuse too.”
Ness’s brush-off was immediate. “This isn’t about me. Let’s focus shall we?”
She should have gone with her earlier instinct and kept quiet.
Theo exhaled in exasperation. “There’s another problem with your plan, Ruby. Aside from the possibility of Linda’s sudden appearance riling Quinn so much the damn house falls down around our ears – which might be a bit of a bonus come to think of it – it’s that Samantha’s husband doesn’t want us back there. He’s intent on exhausting every other avenue instead.”
“Once I’ve told Samantha the latest development, she’ll deal with Jeff.” Ruby was quite sure about it. “Her ultimate aim is to get her house back, so if she thinks we can achieve that then we’re in. No, getting into Gilmore Street isn’t the problem. The problem we have is deciding whether to take Linda back and… Ellie too.”
Ness shook her head as vehemently as Linda had done when offered tea. “I definitely don’t want Ellie involved, not at this stage. Not whilst we’re still trying to work it out – Ellie’s a fragile girl, she’s been through a lot. There is simply no way I’m taking her into Gilmore Street and you won’t be able to persuade me otherwise. And, frankly, I’d rather Linda didn’t come back either. It should just be us going in armed with this new information.”
Ruby held up her hands in submission. “All right, okay, we do it your way.”
“Good,” Theo said, although she still didn’t look satisfied. “Ruby, you call Samantha in the morning and see what you can sort out. Meanwhile, talking of Linda, where’s she staying tonight? A hotel?”
“I don’t think coming down here was that pre-meditated, she’s got nowhere booked. It doesn’t matter though, I’ll offer her the sofa-bed.” Noticing a frown on Theo’s face, she added, “Don’t worry, Cash is staying, Jed too.”
“You’ll be fine then, but, to be on the safe side, hide your knife block.” Giving it a little more thought, Theo added, “And the kettle.”
Ruby phoned Samantha as soon as it was decent the next morning with the news they’d discovered the spirit’s identity.
“Quinn O’Brien? How’d you find out?”
Ruby told her, a potted version at least.
“Wow! His wife’s still alive? And she’s sure it’s him? You’re sure?”
“As sure as we can be. Do you want your house back, Sam?”
“You know I do, more than anything. We’re at my sister’s now and it’s driving me mad. What with her family and my family, there’s not enough room to swing a cat.” She paused. “Or a kettle for that matter.”
It was good to see Samantha retaining a sense of humour.
“Then we need to go back to Gilmore Street. But there’s one thing stopping us. Your husband.”
“Jeff? Okay, okay, look, don’t worry – he needn’t know a thing. I’ll say I’m out with the girls and then meet you with the key. I want you to go back, especially after what you’ve just told me. How soon can you meet me?”
“Tonight, let’s do it tonight.”
“Under cover of the darkness?” Samantha questioned.
“Exactly.” Leaving it until late there was a chance any lingering reporters would be gone, tempted by the warm lights of a pub interior instead or a meal on the table at home waiting for them. Asking Samantha not to tell anyone about what they had planned, not even her children, she readily agreed.
“Good luck, Ruby, I’m counting on you.”
“No pressure then,” Ruby laughed, feeling exactly that – under pressure.
Later that morning, Theo and Ness arrived on Ruby’s doorstep. Clearly relieved to see that Linda hadn’t done a bunk in the night, they sat down with her to answer her questions but also to ask a few more. Allowing them to take the lead, Ruby listened as Ness quizzed Linda about life after Gilmore Street – there’d not been much of one it seemed. Unsure if she’d killed Quinn or not, she’d taken flight, disappeared entirely. Moving from place to place, as far afield as the Highlands, she’d lived like a nomad, renting various flats, working behind bars or on farms for cash-in-hand, regularly changing her hair colour, her hairstyle, even her name on occasions. She’d given her former home, the Midlands, a wide berth.
“Did you ever check the newspapers to see if there’d been a murder reported at Gilmore Street?” Ness asked her. “For curiosity’s sake I mean?”
“I checked nothing, not for years. I didn’t want to know. And I’m not sure if that’s because I’d have been frightened by the truth or disappointed by it. I think disappointed. I wanted him dead you see, he deserved to die.”
“Judging by everything we know, you didn’t kill him,” Theo decided. “Rather like the Brighton Trunk Murders, his battered, bloodied and abandoned body would have caused national speculation. At the very least there’d be some sort of record of it and w
e know there isn’t. Not unless someone else discovered him and hid his body, but now we really are clutching at straws. No, the likelihood is he survived, took himself off somewhere, perhaps even back to Ireland, to lick his wounds. It’ll be interesting to see exactly when he died though and the cause of death too. To which end Corinna’s at The Keep trying to find out. Because, you see, at that juncture, Quinn did return, the spirit of Quinn that is. You condemned him to hell, Linda, and that’s exactly what Gilmore Street represents to him – it’s hell.”
“For me as well,” Linda pointed out.
“It’s hell for both of you.”
Linda pressed her lips into a thin white line and looked away.
“Linda,” Theo continued, glancing at Ruby as she spoke, “I know Ruby wanted you to come to Gilmore Street when we go back to confront Quinn, but Ness and I have advised against it.”
“I don’t have to go back?” Linda asked the question of Ruby, not Theo.
Ruby endeavoured to explain. “We’re worried about your safety. He’s as violent in death as he was in life and seeing you might antagonise him.”
“But I want to go back!” Linda flashed before making an effort to calm again. “I know I said I didn’t want to. But I’ve since thought about it. I want to face him again. I need to. Me and Quinn, we’ve got unfinished business.”
“Unfinished business?” Ruby queried.
“Look,” Linda said, looking really quite distressed, “I know you wouldn’t lie to me, I do. I think you people are genuine, but I want to make sure you really do move Quinn on. That he’s gone. That this world isn’t home to him anymore.” A plea in her eyes, she added, “That’s the only way I can go on.”
“Linda…” Ness started to try and dissuade her but Ruby interrupted. Linda’s words had been heartfelt. They’d also struck a note of concern deep within her – ‘That’s the only way I can go on’ This was a woman still on the edge. At no point had she managed to pull significantly back from the precipice. The effect of reading about her past in the newspapers, travelling down to seek Ruby out, to vent her anguish on her, proved that. Despite what Theo had said, a fast result, any result, was needed, lest there be another tragedy.
44 Gilmore Street Page 25
