The Secret of Crickley Hall

by James Herbert

  ‘The safety lines the divers were attached to limited their search a bit, but they had a good look around the area close to the well bottom. The body of the boy and what was left of the woman were all they found.’

  Gabe was thinking of Stefan Rosenbaum: had the young Jewish boy, still alive when he had been dropped into the well, managed to drag himself from the river into a cavity in the rockface, to die there alone and in utter darkness? It was too gruesome to contemplate.

  The two police divers emerged from the house at that point, the tops of their rubber suits peeled down to the waist, diving equipment in their muscled arms. Both men looked pale, their expressions grim, as they made their way to their vehicle. Behind them came the paramedics carrying a bodybag on a stretcher gurney. Because of the plastic bag’s size and shape, Gabe knew it contained the remains of Nancy Linnet.

  Inside Crickley Hall, Eve quietly wept, while Lili Peel avoided looking at the bodybag that contained the small preserved body of Stefan Rosenbaum. They had witnessed the condition of both bodies when the paramedics brought them up from the cellar to be bagged and put on stretchers. Nancy Linnet was no more than a skeleton dressed in faded rags, but the boy was in an almost perfect state, although his skin and hair were bleached pure white.

  To Eve, he had looked beautiful, the hair that fell over his forehead still full, although colourless, his features reposed as if in sleep. Instantly, she knew it was Stefan’s presence she had felt last Sunday when she had dozed in the sitting room. It hadn’t been Cameron who had come to her and soothed her brow, calmed her fears, but this little boy, Stefan. Or, that is, his ghost.

  She wept not just because of sadness, but also because she now knew for certain that death wasn’t the end. Lili had told her that most spirits passed over as easily as walking through an unlocked door; it was only the troubled spirits who lingered in this world, those spirits who needed some resolve to their past life, whether by revenge, atonement or conclusion. Eve desperately wanted to believe her. So she did.

  The paramedics returned to collect the second bodybag and, as they gently placed it on the stretcher, Eve wondered if the boy’s soul could now rest in peace or would forever be lost in Crickley Hall. There seemed to be no way of knowing for sure.

  Chief Superintendent Pargeter had departed and PC Kenrick was trudging across the metal bridge to his patrol car parked in the lane. He stepped to one side to let the police divers’ van pass, then went on his way.

  Gabe was about to go back into the house when a sound made him stop and look towards the bridge. The girls had also stopped dead in their tracks and they looked in the same direction as their father. The sound that had caught their attention was a dog’s excited bark, one that was so familiar to them all.

  Percy Judd had left Crickley Hall earlier that morning after an uncomfortable and cold night on the landing with the others, checking on the water level in the hall every few minutes or so until they were sure it wasn’t going to come anywhere near the top of the stairs, none of them, apart from Loren and Cally, catching a minute’s sleep. By late morning the next day, the temporary bridge having been put in place, he was looking all of his eighty-one years and Gabe, when the danger had passed, had tried to persuade him to take a nap in his and Eve’s empty bed, but Percy had declined, saying he’d ‘gotta bit of business to tend to at home’. Now he was back and restraining a dog that was desperate to cross the bridge and get to the girls.

  ‘Chester!’

  Both Loren and Cally had screeched the name together. Chester finally broke loose from Percy’s grip and, trailing the leash behind, raced towards them as they raced towards him. They met at the end of the bridge, Chester throwing himself at them, knocking Cally over (although she didn’t seem to mind, she was giggling at the pet’s antics so much). His tail wagging furiously, Chester slobbered all over the sisters, barking happily between licks.

  Gabe whistled and Chester was off like a shot, tearing across the grass to reach his master, his barks becoming short gasps of joy. So eager and so intoxicated with delight was Chester that he almost bowled Gabe over too. The engineer could not help but chuckle as he tried to calm the dog down and avoid Chester’s slavering tongue at the same time. When Gabe finally declared, ‘Enough, enough,’ and stood, the dog ran back to the girls to be fussed over again. Meanwhile, Percy was crossing the lawn towards him.

  ‘What’s the story, Perce?’ Gabe called out, frowning his bewilderment but happy to have Chester returned.

  ‘Sorry, Mr Caleigh,’ apologized the old gardener when he was still a few steps away. ‘I couldn’t tell yer afore’ cause yer’da wanted him back.’

  The engineer shook his head, still puzzled. ‘I don’t get it.’

  Chester was rolling in the grass now, wheezing in pleasure at the fuss being made by the girls.

  Slightly out of breath, Percy stood before the engineer, his face flushed a little more red than usual. ‘All the pets run away from Crickley Hall. Any new tenant who brings a dogor cat with ’em to the house soon loses ’em. None of ’em settle here. I found your dog, ol’ Chester there, wandering up the road the day he ran away. Looked like a drowned rat, he did, all soaked an’ sorry fer hisself, so I took him home with me. Intended to keep him with me until you folks decided to move out. I knew it wouldn’t be long; never is. I did it because it were best fer the animal, hope yer’ll understand that, Mr Caleigh.’

  Gabe grinned. ‘Sure I understand, Percy. You did the right thing. Chester was miserable here.’

  ‘No, he were scared, that’s the truth of it. Some animals sense things that most people can’t. It were the dog’s howling and whining that made me come to the Hall las’ night. I knew it were because something were wrong here. Oh, I sensed things was not right days ago, but it were Chester that decided me.’

  ‘We’d have been in real trouble if you hadn’t shown up.’ Gabe stuck out a hand and Percy shook it.

  ‘That’s all right then,’ the old gardener said, his face creasing into a smile. He took on a look of concern. ‘How’s the missus now? She all right?’

  ‘You mean her head? The paramedics treated the whack she took – it wasn’t too serious, they said. Still wanted her to have it checked out at the hospital, though, but Eve, well, she plain refused to go. Gotta nasty bump though, right where Pyke hit her with his walking stick. Some bruises on her legs too, but yeah, she is okay.’

  Gabe glanced towards the house, its front door open wide. ‘Come with me and see for yourself,’ he invited Percy.

  Percy looked at Crickley Hall with some trepidation and Gabe thought he was going to decline his offer. But then the mood passed and the old man’s face relaxed.

  ‘I’ll do that, Mr Caleigh. I’ll come inside with yer. The badness is gone, I jus’ know it.’

  Together, they walked to the front door.

  81: ENDING

  Gabe saw that his wife had been weeping when he and Percy entered the house. She and the psychic were standing a few yards from the front door and Lili had her hand on Eve’s shoulder, as if offering comfort. He splashed towards Eve through the thin remaining puddles and took her in his arms; she leaned into him and he held onto her.

  ‘You saw the bodies?’ he asked in a gentle voice.

  Eve nodded against his shoulder. ‘The boy,’ she murmured. ‘He was so beautiful.’

  Lili spoke. ‘He was the reason the others were held here. They couldn’t – or wouldn’t – pass over without him. Their power was limited, blocked by Cribben’s, but they gave you signs – the sounds from inside the landing cupboard, the cellar door that wouldn’t stay shut, the sounds of scattering feet from above in the dormitory – all those things to make you aware of their presence and their history in this place. You saw them almost in reality, Eve, when the spinning top had somehow taken your mind to a different level of consciousness. Your youngest daughter saw them easily, usually as little lights, because her mind is still fresh and open to them. Mostly, though, they drew spiritua
l energy from Loren, which is why she’s felt so tired inside the house. Pyke knew she was the key to the hauntings.’

  ‘Is that why he tried to kill her?’ Eve asked numbly.

  ‘No. It was as he said himself: Loren was the sacrifice, the one to take his place.’

  Eve drew in a sharp breath, thinking how close it had been. If Gabe hadn’t . . .

  ‘You see,’ Lili went on, ‘the children gave you signs, whereas the spirit of Augustus Cribben gave you warnings. He didn’t want you to interfere because he stood between Stefan and the other spirits. He refused to let go, he wanted power over all the evacuees. He considered they belonged to him in life and also in death. Ultimately, he was mad, and so was his spirit.’

  Eve gave a shiver and raised her head. ‘Is that possible?’ she asked of Lili. ‘Can a person carry insanity into the next life?’

  ‘Some psychics assume many ghosts are either disturbed or distressed – why else would they choose to haunt the living?’

  ‘When we talked last night,’ Gabe said, ‘you told us that you knew Gordon Pyke was the kid in the photograph, this Maurice Stafford, as soon as you laid eyes on him: I don’t understand – Pyke was an old man, nothing like the boy.’

  ‘There was something about Maurice that never changed. The thumbprint was the same.’

  Gabe shook his head, not understanding.

  ‘I’m sorry, it’s difficult to explain – you have to be psychic yourself to understand. Let’s just say that, like a thumbprint, everybody’s aura is individual and although it can vary through life, depending on illnesses and emotional states, its essence remains identifiably the same. Psychics can pick up on that singularity.’

  Lili solely addressed Eve. ‘When you showed me the photograph of the evacuees I was immediately drawn to Maurice Stafford. A peculiar evil emanated from his image and when I saw that evil personified coming towards me . . . well, I panicked. I’m so sorry I ran away, Eve. It was the shock . . . ’

  ‘He tried to kill you, Lili. Of course I don’t blame you for running. What else could you have done?’

  ‘Something braver?’

  Eve smiled. ‘You did the right thing. Just by coming to us yesterday, you did the right thing. I know how reluctant you were to get involved in spiritualism again. You’re probably even more reluctant after last night.’

  ‘No. I’m not afraid any more. For almost two years I’ve dreaded the return of a certain spirit who wished me harm and I vowed never to use my psychic ability again because of it. Now I realize I can’t turn it on and off like a tap. But this particular spirit didn’t show last night when it would have had the perfect time to hurt me; now I’m sure it’s finally gone, it’s passed over peacefully. It’s something I sense rather than can claim.’

  Lili’s smile took in all of them and even though there was dirt on her face and her clothes were dishevelled, her green eyes sparkled and her smile was radiant. Bright sunlight shone through the broken window over the stairs and it created a golden-halo effect around her tousled yellow hair.

  She had stopped speaking and, without turning her head, her eyes looked to one side as if she were listening to something the others couldn’t hear.

  Then she said, a quiver in her voice, ‘Oh God, they’re stronger than ever.’

  Gabe, Eve and Percy eyed her in surprise, and Eve with some trepidation. The hall was bright with sunlight, the shadows of the night vanquished along with the group’s fear. Yet all was not quite right; there was a tension in the air compounded by a coldness that stiffened them.

  ‘They’re back,’ said Lili, simply, turning to point towards the broad staircase.

  They followed her direction and Eve gasped as she clung to Gabe’s arm. Percy stood rigid, his lipless mouth open, his weary eyes squinting.

  ‘Lord mercy . . .’ he uttered.

  Nine small figures were standing on the stairs, one to a step, all of them looking over the banister at the people below. Five girls, four boys, their apparitions clear, defined, as if they were of real flesh and blood. Four of the girls wore dark brown berets, the last one hatless but her hair was in two pigtails tied by tiny pink ribbons; only two of the boys wore caps. They were all dressed in outdoor clothes – overcoats and jackets – and each one carried a cardboard gas-mask box, the string across their chest. They looked as though they were going on a journey.

  The nine visions were perfectly still and perfectly silent. They continued to stare.

  Gabe made to take a step forward, but Eve kept her grip on his arm, holding him there. He regarded her quizzically, but her eyes were on the children and her half-smile puzzled him.

  ‘Eve . . .?’ he ventured.

  ‘Wait, Gabe,’ she responded softly without taking her attention off the children. ‘Wait and see.’ She knew something was about to happen.

  Lili closed her eyes and she was smiling too. ‘The children have come for them,’ she said breathlessly.

  Percy suddenly felt weak, as if his energy were draining away. He staggered slightly, but steadied himself through sheer force of will.

  The oldest girl, the one Eve thought must be Susan Trainer, shifted her gaze from the four people to the open cellar doorway. The battered door hung by one hinge against the wall.

  Lili spun round when the rest of the children looked across the hall at the dark open doorway, and she stared at it too. Her hand went to her throat as she waited.

  Gabe heard the noise on the cellar steps, footfalls that were distinct over the low background rush of the river that ran beneath the house. He glanced at Eve when the grip on his arm tightened and he saw that her eyes were shining from some inner joy, while he felt nothing but apprehension. Surely nothing more could happen? He felt what was now a familiar cold prickling sensation at the back of his neck.

  The footsteps grew louder. Something moved in the shadow of the cellar doorway.

  ‘It’s all right,’ he heard Lili say softly and he wasn’t sure who she was addressing.

  They emerged from the cellar together, the young woman leading the boy by the hand.

  The group of people watched in awe and stunned silence. Percy gave a little moan, a kind of whimper. Eve pressed even closer to Gabe. Lili held both hands up to her cheeks.

  ‘Nancy . . .’ the old gardener said under his breath.

  She wasn’t very tall, but her form was slim, compact. Her hair hung in shiny copper ringlets round her pale pretty face. Her clothes were no longer bedraggled, her long skirt no longer faded; the buckles on her shoes now shone with reflected light, and dark stockings covered her ankles. She still wore the woollen shawl round her shoulders, but her right hand and arm were no longer withered and twisted but smooth and as pallid as the rest of her skin. She was smiling and the fine shallow mist of her aura was luminous in its radiance.

  She held the boy’s hand in her own once-deformed hand, and he came shyly into the hall with her, his wide dark eyes looking about him, taking in the room and its puddle flagstone floor, flitting over the watching people so that they knew he was aware of their presence. The colour in his hair had returned and it fell darkly over his smooth forehead. Stefan and the young teacher moved across the hall and, although their hollow footsteps could be heard, the shallow pools of water they walked through went undisturbed.

  Gabe felt Percy brush by him as if the old man wanted – needed – to confront the ghost of his lost sweetheart, but it was Lili who held him back.

  ‘It’s Nancy—’ he began to say, but Lili gently stayed his words.

  ‘You can’t communicate with her, Percy,’ she told him. ‘Please don’t interfere with what’s happening.’

  He looked uncertainly at the psychic, then back at the two figures crossing the hall. His shoulders relaxed and his eyes softened moistly. ‘She’s so . . . she looks so . . .’ he tried to say. ‘Nancy looks so lovely, as she always did.’

  Lili turned to Eve, who appeared absorbed by the phantom boy. The psychic sensed Eve’s thoughts.

/>   ‘Your little boy has passed on, Eve,’ she said quietly but firmly. ‘Cam isn’t in our world any more, not even in spirit, like these children.’

  Eve seemed dismayed. ‘How do you know?’ It was almost a protest.

  ‘Because they’re telling me so.’ Lili indicated the spirit children on the stairs.

  ‘But – but they’re not saying anything.’

  ‘They don’t have to speak to converse with me. Trust me, Eve. Cameron is in a better place where nothing can hurt him, not even your own grief. He hasn’t forgotten you, though, nor his father and his sisters. He knows you’ll all be together again some day.’

  Gabe slipped his arm round Eve’s shoulders and she pressed into him, comforted by his presence and Lili’s words.

  The ghosts of Nancy and Stefan had reached the stairs when the ghosts above them began to weaken, fading so that the wall and smashed window behind them could be plainly seen. They evanesced to swirling vapour, shimmering when they shrank to tiny balls of light, each one bright, each one incredibly lambent, as if with joy.

  They glided down the stairs and circled the teacher and the boy, spinning faster and faster, creating flight-trails of white mist that soon enveloped Nancy and Stefan, who laughed silently with the thrill of it. Their images grew paler, then dwindled, the two apparitions condensing like the others to become small dancing orbs of brilliant gold. The little balls of light mingled, spun around each other, flying high, then low, swooping and skimming around the grand hall, touching its ceiling, glancing off the walls, weaving elaborate, effortless patterns of dazzling sunlight.

  Gabe was dizzy just watching them. It was wondrous, a spectacle of breathtaking luminance that elevated his emotions so that he began to grin, then to chuckle, then to laugh. And his companions were smiling, then laughing at the light show too.

  One ball of light led the way to dive at Gabe, Eve, Lili and Percy, the others following almost in formation, sweeping between them, circling round and round, pulsating with energy, colours changing to the higher spectrum of a rainbow, so that Eve and Lili cried out in delight while Gabe and Percy laughed with the sheer pleasure of it. One round light settled on the old gardener’s cheek and when he touched a hand to it, it flew out from beneath his fingers to land on the opposite cheek; but it was soon gone, rejoining the others in their display, and Percy’s hand lingered on the side of his face as fingertips might touch a dampness left by a kiss.