You can do this, Ruby.
Rosamund’s parting words formed in her head, the scribe of them perfect.
You can do this.
She wouldn’t have left her if she didn’t think so – not Rosamund. From what Gran had told her, she was strong, down-to-earth – fearless. Someone Ruby aspired to be like. It took a supreme amount of effort, but she forced her eyes open. Focussing on Ellie, the girl had started to sob.
“Oh, God, Ruby, what he did to my mum!”
She was looking towards the kitchen window, at something other than the cold ceramic of the sink. “I can see it so clearly, every cell in my body can feel it. He terrorised her.” And then she stopped, faltered slightly before carrying on. “I… I can see something else. More memories. But they’re not Mum’s. They’re yours aren’t they, Dad? They’re your memories. I can see them too! Even though I never inhabited your body, I can see them.” She gasped again. “Your family, they were…” Ellie seemed to struggle to find the right word. “Feral.”
Was Quinn’s grip around her neck lessening or was she imagining it? No, there was definitely less pressure. She was rising to the surface again, able to tune more clearly into what Ellie was saying.
Ellie’s breathing had quickened, similar to the way it did when you were watching a particularly scary film on TV. Suddenly, Ruby understood. What she was seeing was horrifying, nothing less than that.
“You were so young. How could they do that to a child? You never knew love did you, Dad? You were beaten; starved of all that’s good in life, by your father, your brothers, all of them. But most of all by your mother – she stood by and did nothing. She looked the other way. It’s her you blame the most isn’t it? For letting it happen, for letting you down. What made them like that? How far does this go back? How many generations? Who’s at the beginning of it all?” She shook her head violently. “Whoever it was, what a weight of responsibility to carry. What a legacy to leave.”
As Quinn turned from Ruby to Ellie, he released her entirely – almost as sudden a gesture as it had been when he’d attacked her. She fell back against the wall and slid down against it, one hand reaching out for her great-grandmother’s necklace, needing it more than ever, the comfort of it. After a few moments scrabbling blindly about, her fingertips brushed against the cold hard stones – thankfully still intact – and closed around them as eagerly as Quinn had closed his hands around her neck, snatching them up towards her chest. They felt wonderful, as wonderful as being able to breathe again.
“Ruby,” Ellie’s concern was clear. “Are you okay?”
“Carry on, Ellie,” Ruby croaked. “I’ll… I’ll call for the others if needs be.”
Ellie started speaking again. “Dad, I can see something good now. Oh, this is better, much better. It’s you and your first sight of Mum. You’re at the fair, working one of the stalls and she’s suddenly there in front of you. You’re finding it hard to believe your eyes – she’s petite, she’s pretty – she’s the most beautiful girl you’ve ever seen. Because you, even you, can recognise beauty when you see it.” Ellie shook her head. “The trouble is, you don’t know what to do about it, do you? How to treat this precious gift that’s come into your life and who incredibly thinks you’re beautiful too. You want to love her, but where do you start? Thoughts crowd your mind – dark thoughts that drag you back to the life you tried to escape, and you let them in, you give them access. You hold the door wide open. She’s too good for me. She won’t stay with me; her parents won’t let her. I’m a traveller. I’m a waster. I’m nobody. But you can’t let her go. You’d rather kill yourself… or her. She comes away with you, she agrees, but the disappointment in her face when she sees the house, you can’t bear it. She was disappointed by the wedding too, wanted a big do, her parents there at least. She misses her parents, yearns for them more than she yearns for you. It’s the start of so many disappointments and so you do the only thing you know how to – you lash out. She’ll stay with you, you’ll make her stay, and she won’t show any more disappointment. She’ll keep her mouth shut, do your bidding. Do whatever you want. She’s yours, the only good thing you ever had.”
“Except you,” Ruby reminded Ellie, never taking her eyes off Quinn, assessing his demeanour all the while. “He had you.”
“Yes! Yes, that’s right. I was your second chance wasn’t I? Your chance to get it right. Except you never knew about me until it was too late, until she was beating me out of her. She didn’t give you that second chance.”
Quinn’s body was shaking. Ruby didn’t know if it was from anger or grief, as it was impossible to tell from her position. But she daren’t move. Daren’t interrupt. This was family business.
“I’m sorry I never knew you, Dad, despite everything, and what you did to Mum. Maybe we’ll meet on the other side, or even in another lifetime, in better circumstances. Maybe you’ll be my dad again. Maybe we’ll be friends. Who knows what’s in store for us. But I’ve got a feeling, Dad, a strong feeling. I think we might meet again and it’ll be a good life. We’ve paid our dues. We’ve suffered enough. We deserve a good life. But now, right now, you have to go, because this life is over. Your hell is over. Go to the light that Ruby talks about, you have to, because I’m not staying, there’s no point. You’re dead. I’m not threatening you, Dad, but once I leave this house I won’t come back. Mum’s alive and I’m seizing my chance to get to know her. That’s our second chance and I won’t ruin it. But I won’t think of you as a monster, Dad, and hopefully Mum won’t in time. Not… not when I tell her what I saw.”
Quinn’s hand was rising; slowly, slowly, it was rising.
“Ellie, back out, start to back out. Get out of here.”
Ellie stood her ground.
“Ellie, he’s preparing to strike again, call the others!”
Ellie ignored her. Ruby tried to call instead but her throat was too sore. All that emerged was a pathetic croak. “Ellie,” she beseeched again.
Finally Ellie glanced at Ruby before speaking again.
“Ruby, stop panicking, there’s no need. He won’t hit me. And you never would have, Dad, would you, had I lived? I have every faith in that. And do you know why, Dad? I’ll tell you why. It’s because I trust you.”
There she went again, using the very same word she had used to Ruby – such a healing word, such a privilege.
Miraculously, Quinn’s hand started to lower. Ruby could barely believe the evidence of her eyes.
“Go now, Dad. You got your second chance after all. Don’t ruin it this time. Don’t let it always be the past that defines you. Triumph over it instead. If you can do that for me, if you can dig deep into the chambers of your soul, I promise that I’ll remember you. And I will only remember you with kindness.”
Ruby dared to straighten up. Quinn was backing away, towards the corner of the kitchen he had first appeared in, where the table used to be, the one he had crashed into, the one he had sent Linda crashing into so many times.
Was he going? Was he doing as she asked, taking his second chance? Had Ellie cracked it, cracked him, but this time in the best of ways?
“Goodbye,” Ellie whispered and even with the lack of light, Ruby could see the glint of tears on her cheek.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Despite her words, Samantha had decided she and her family would stay at Gilmore Street. Jeff wasn’t so sure. He still didn’t believe their problems were over but one look at Samantha and he knew not to go against her again. Thank God for strong women, Ruby thought. She was glad she had so many of them in her life.
Although he hadn’t materialised, she heard Jed bark.
“Yeah, yeah, and strong dogs too.”
Cash walked into the living room where she was resting on the sofa.
“And strong men as well, good men. I’d never forget to count you, Cash.”
“What?” Cash clearly didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. He shook his head in a perplexed manner and continued with
what was on his mind. “I’ve just popped into your office, Ruby, like you asked me, to check the messages. Bloody hell, it’s gone wild. All that positive press attention, your business is going to explode, in the best possible way of course.” He broke into a grin. “I think you might need to set up a separate concern though.”
“A separate concern?” Ruby was curious. “Why’s that?”
“One specifically for animal spirit rescue.”
Now she was the one baffled. “What do you mean?”
He had one hand behind his back and now he brought it forward, waved a newspaper in front of her. “Look,” he said, opening it and pointing to an article within. “The Haires went to the paper too, told them about the rabbit!”
Ruby groaned. “Oh no, not the rabbit!” The fact they’d moved a rabbit on, it just gave the press more ammunition to have a dig at them.
“Ruby, don’t look like that, it’s a great article. That friend of yours, Robin, he’s the one who wrote it, I think it’s going to get you a lot of fans. Spiritual rescue of a human kind is one thing but everyone wants their cat or dog to make it all the way to the Rainbow Bridge, where the animal spirits play. I tell you, it’s going to get a lot of people rooting for you.”
Ruby had to laugh. “Well, perhaps you’re right, or at least I’ll choose to think you are. Maybe there’s an animal rescue type out there with psychic abilities, perhaps we can tempt them with a bit of freelance.”
“You never know your luck. Here budge up, let me sit down.”
He didn’t just sit, he lay, wrapping his arms around her as he did. At her feet, Jed materialised in his usual curled position. He loved it when it was the three of them, snuggling up – a family of sorts.
“How are you feeling?” he murmured into the thickness of her hair.
“I’m all right, just tired. My throat’s better though, it’s not so sore.”
“Rest. That’s what you need to do. Rest.”
“I will.” For now.
Closing her eyes, it was actually Cash who fell asleep first. Again Ruby couldn’t help but laugh – he was as bad as Jed in that department! She tried to drift but it was hard to shut down – there was still so much racing through her mind, but it wasn’t all bad, not by a long shot.
Ellie and Linda had finally met, their reaction upon seeing each other incredible to witness. It was truly as if each had found someone they’d been looking for all their lives. There were no recriminations, Ellie certainly didn’t think Linda ‘evil’ for what she had done, she had sympathy for her instead – sympathy and love. As for Linda, she only had love for the girl standing in front of her – it seemed to burst from her. Seizing her second chance too.
When it had just been the Psychic Surveys team alone again, Corinna had wondered how Linda and Ellie’s relationship would develop.
“In the way it was always meant to,” Ness had replied.
Corinna was still curious. “Ruby, did Ellie tell you exactly what she saw regarding Quinn? How much he suffered growing up?”
She hadn’t and nor would Ruby quiz her about it. In some instances, ignorance was bliss. She knew all she had to know.
But Corinna wasn’t satisfied. “As Ellie said though, who first kicked off the cycle of abuse in that family and why? How far back does it go? Just how many lives were affected and what if other members of his family are grounded for the very same reasons as Quinn? How will we ever find out?”
Theo had put her arm around Corinna then. “We all have questions about this case, sweetheart, the impossibility of it, the possibility, when evil first got a stronghold. I’ve literally dozens too. But we also have to remember that there aren’t answers to everything. There are mysteries in life and mysteries they’ll remain, no matter how much we dig. We can only do so much about helping others too. Certainly I can’t afford a tour round Southern Ireland searching for grounded members of the O’Brien family just yet, but maybe one day. What’s the town you said that Quinn grew up in?”
“Ballinagar,” answered Corinna.
“Perhaps we’ll organise a jolly over there.”
“A jolly?” questioned Ness, looking aghast at her choice of word.
“Yes, Ness, a jolly. Got to have some fun in-between the hard work.”
Although they had all laughed as heartily as Theo at that, Ruby was still agitated. Whilst Cash had been at her office this morning, Theo had popped round and she couldn’t resist mentioning to her about the bad wolf – how ever since facing her own demon it rose so readily to the surface.
Theo listened and then asked her what she was worried about exactly.
“That it hasn’t gone, I suppose. That it’s still inside of me, a part of me.”
There was relief in voicing it.
Theo had looked at her before replying, obviously taking a few moments to consider her reply. “Ruby, I know you think of me and Ness as ‘giants’ in the psychic field, but you’re a ‘giant’ too. A giant who defeated what plagued you for so long, what plagued your mother too, and to a certain extent your grandmother. All three of you were affected. But it’s important to remember that that particular evil was external, not internal. It’s not a part of you.”
“Then why does the dark take me over so completely sometimes?”
“But it doesn’t, that’s just it. You fight back, all the time.” Theo had shifted on her seat, her not inconsiderable bulk making the chair creak slightly beneath her. “Ruby, the darkness within us is nothing to do with our souls. It’s human. We have a predisposition towards it. That’s the human psyche for you. But even then there’s balance. No human is wholly evil; no one is wholly good. Why do you think you have to be the exception?”
Ruby had hung her head. “I… I don’t know.”
“You’re being hard on yourself, Ruby. Come to think of it, that’s something that is unbalanced about you – you give yourself a hard time when you really don’t have to. And – I’ve said this before as well, countless times in fact, especially lately – you work too hard. That’s bad for your health as well as your soul. It’s bad for your relationship too. Cash loves you. But everyone has a breaking point, which this last case highlighted. Learn from it. Evolve.”
Theo had risen from the chair she clearly found uncomfortable and taken herself off, leaving Ruby to ponder her words.
Suddenly sleep didn’t seem so important anymore. Instead, she elbowed Cash in the side. He sat up immediately.
“What is it? What’s happened?” he cried.
“Nothing, nothing’s happened!”
He turned to her. “What is it then? Why’d you wake me up?”
“Because I want to go on holiday.”
“On holiday? What, now?”
“No, not now!” Again she elbowed him, unable to keep a lid on her laughter. “But soon, very soon.” She shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe in a week or two. Can you take time off work for a short while?”
“My work? Yeah, yeah, of course I can.” His familiar grin was back. “There’s got to be some perks to being your own boss.”
Something she was about to find out.
“Okay, let’s do it,” she decided.
“Yes!” Cash punched the air. “Where shall we go, Mauritius, Barbados, Jamaica…”
“Hang on, Cash, calm down a bit! I don’t think finances are going to stretch that far. Besides,” she joked, “I’m not sure if Jed can accompany us abroad. They have rules about that sort of thing don’t they?” She shook her head. “No, I was thinking somewhere more local, Lyme Regis perhaps, the Jurassic coast, we can go fossil hunting, sit on the beach, gorge on fish and chips, find a cosy pub, just chill together. I even know a place we could stay.”
Cash raised an eyebrow. “Do you, how come?”
“Contacts,” Ruby replied, it wasn’t so far from the truth.
The frown on Cash’s face quickly disappeared. “Lyme Regis you say? Okay, you’ve sold it to me, dinoland it is.” He followed the trail of her eyes to where J
ed was now sitting up, his wagging tail showing he was also excited at the prospect of a holiday. “So, Jed’s coming too?” he asked, smiling.
“Damn right he is. This family sticks together.”
“Yes, Ruby, we do.”
As Cash pushed her back down on the sofa again, the intent in his eyes was clear. Happily she succumbed, pleased to be welcoming back the light.
THE END
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Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
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