THE SILENCE OF THE STONES: Will the secrets written in the stones destroy a young woman's world? The runes are cast. Who will die?

by Rebecca Bryn

  ‘And?’

  ‘The results support what Derek told us, Miss Harper, not what your mother, Gweneth, told you.’

  ‘She’s lied to me again? But…’

  ‘You were right when you said the runes that spelled Cadi could be a grave marker. The bones we found belong to Cadi Ap Dafydd.’

  ‘But… I’m Cadi. I’m not Cadi?’ She tried to make sense of it. ‘She told me Cadi was my sister, before. Is that what you’re saying? I am Katherine, and she’s Cadi. Were we twins, like she said?’

  ‘No, Miss Harper. We did more comparisons, once we knew the body was Cadi. You have the same mitochondrial DNA as Nerys Reece. That’s why we couldn’t identify the bones straight away. We were making the wrong comparisons.’

  A bomb dropped into a silent pool in her mind. Time slowed the dimple in the water, the ring of upwelling, splashing bubbles, and the slow expanding ripples. ‘I’m…’

  ‘You are Bethan Reece.’

  The ripples swelled and spread outwards. She stared blankly at Greg, who seemed as stunned as she was. Then her cheeks flushed hot. They had to be as red as Greg’s.

  Greg stared at her, eyes wide. ‘Jesus, Alana, we…’ He stopped himself short and blushed even redder.

  Maddy and Tony spoke as one. ‘You didn’t…’

  ‘No, we didn’t.’ She didn’t want to go there but the lid was off the cookie jar. ‘It was after you and Greg had a falling out, Maddy. And I thought Tony didn’t want me. We needed comfort, and we… we almost slept together… then we realised we didn’t love each other in that way. Greg loves you, and I love Tony.’

  DC Flowers heaved a sigh of relief that echoed around the room.

  The full import of what the officer had said finally penetrated. Greg hugged her, so tight she could hardly breathe. ‘You’re Bethan. You’re my sister, Bethan.’ He hugged her again and danced her round the floor. A nurse gave them a severe look but it didn’t stop him. He held her hands and studied her. ‘You don’t seem very pleased to have a little brother.’

  ‘I… Are you sure about this, DC Flowers?’

  ‘Can’t you see the resemblance?’

  Tony butted in. ‘She’s better looking than him.’

  DC Flowers’ smile faded. ‘Gweneth was convinced she was doing the right thing. Two cot deaths was considered very suspicious in those days, in fact, women were jailed for more than one cot death until relatively recently. Social services monitored the first months of your life quite closely.’

  Maddy nodded. ‘Angela Canning.’

  ‘Yes, quite. The chapel ladies of the time decided you were in real danger, Bethan, especially, when Nerys became pregnant with Greg, here, and began behaving oddly. They considered social service weren’t doing enough. It may be Nerys has another alter we know nothing about, and that was the cause of the strange behaviour. Whatever the reason, it was decided to remove you from her care for your own safety, since social services wouldn’t. Siân snatched you and Gweneth, being childless, agreed to take you.’

  Was this her memory of being scooped up as she ran across the green? ‘Does this mean I’m thirty-two, not thirty-three?’

  DC Flowers smiled. ‘I’m afraid it does.’

  ‘And Siân left me The Haggard…’

  ‘Maybe she felt guilty, later. Maybe she hoped you’d come here and do a bit of digging, just as you have. Perhaps she hoped you’d stir things up and find Cadi.’

  ‘Despite the fact that her sister could land in jail.’

  ‘It’s all speculation. But they knew if Nerys was in custody, Greg would be cared for when he was born, lessening the risk of another mysterious death. All they had to do was stick to the same story.’

  The portrait that hung in The Haggard haunted her, now. ‘What happened to Cadi? How did she die?’

  ‘The injuries on the skull show a blow to the temple. A fractured skull. Forensics say she’d probably have died instantly.’

  ‘If Nerys had told the truth at least Siân and Dafydd would have had closure.’

  ‘I think by then Rhiannon had taken over, and she has no conscience, as far as I can tell.’

  Greg uncrossed his legs. ‘I suppose this means Nerys will spend the rest of her life in a mental institution. Does she know about us?’

  ‘She’ll be told. The psych said knowing you are alive, and know about her, should help her recovery. What would help even more is if you’d agree to visit her. I know it’s a lot to ask… It could be she’ll be able to live a normal life, one day, but the treatment involves making her face all the things she’s been avoiding all these years. The abuse, the cot deaths, losing everything, being in jail, and then causing deaths, fires: almost killing Saffy, her own granddaughter, and Tony. It may be more than her mind can take.’

  ‘I’m not sure. Greg?’

  He looked at Maddy and then at her. ‘If it means we could get our mother back. Would it hurt us to give it a go? She may not be the monster I thought she was.’

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  HOLLOWAY PRISON 1ST TURN LEFT.

  Alana sat together in the rear of the black cab, Greg at her side. The square red-brick outline of the building loomed above them. They shared a nervous glance; Holloway was a place neither of them had ever expected to see the inside of.

  She patted her pocket for the fourth time. Passport, pound coin for the locker, change for refreshments, a couple of nappies in case of emergencies, a drink and a snack for Saffy, and cash for the taxi. Everything else had been left at Greg and Maddy’s flat. Saffy, in the child seat between them, had chattered all the way on the train to London, but was now sound asleep through sheer exhaustion. She’d be grumpy when woken.

  Greg paid the cab driver and arranged to be picked up in two hours.

  She unstrapped Saffy. ‘This is it, then.’

  ‘At least you’ve met her before, even if neither of you did know who you were.’

  ‘In every sense of the word.’ The attempt at levity missed its mark. She hoisted Saffy onto one hip with a movement that was becoming second nature. Saffy walking, she’d discovered, meant stopping to investigate every weed, turning over every leaf and picking up every pebble, most of which had to be tasted. It was quicker to carry her.

  ‘Two o’clock. They said be half-an-hour early.’

  ‘So you said, twice. Stop worrying. You said yourself, she’s not a monster.’

  The visitor centre was bright and friendly, laid out with tables and a children’s play area. They checked in and were given forms to fill out their names and addresses. What name was she supposed to put? Katherine Harper or Bethan Reece? In the end she put Katherine Harper and Saffy Harper. Greg listed himself as Anderson. They returned them to the desk.

  The woman behind the desk perused them briefly and pointed to a notice. A list of allowed items meant they had to leave all but one nappy and cash for refreshments in a locker. ‘Baby wipes are available in the Visits Hall if you need them. Take your ID and the locker key with you.’

  At two-twenty they were allowed to leave for the Visits Hall, where they were searched. Allowed through, at last, they were met by the Family Contact Officer, a young woman with short blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

  She greeted them with a smile. ‘Thank you for agreeing to see me. Your mother won’t leave her cell. Dr Jessop is with her, now. I’ll take you to her.’ They followed her along corridors lined with steel doors until she stopped by one with a female guard outside and peeped through the hatch. She unlocked the door. ‘I’m afraid you will find this distressing. It may be best if you leave your little girl with me until you see how it goes.’

  She didn’t want to let Saffy out of her sight.

  The Family Contact Officer picked up on her concern. ‘She won’t come to any harm, Miss Harper.’

  She kept doing this to her daughter. ‘I’ll be back in a minute, Saffy.’

  Nerys sat in a corner on the floor, with her knees drawn up to her chest, cuddling a blanket and sucking her t
humb: she rocked gently backwards and forwards. Dr Jessop shook their hands. ‘Come in. You can perch on the bed while we talk.’

  Greg looked shocked. ‘What’s wrong with her?’

  ‘I’m afraid your mother has regressed. Do you know anything about Dissociative Identity Disorder?’

  ‘DC Flowers told us what you told him. I can’t say we really understood it, other than a person has multiple identities.’

  ‘It’s possible I can show you, if I can get through to her.’

  Dr Jessop squatted on the floor by the hunched figure. ‘Lowrie? Some friends have come to see you. Will you say hello?’

  Lowrie shook her head, squeezing her eyes tight. ‘Don’t like shut in. It’s dark. Don’t hurt me, Dada.’

  ‘Lowrie protects Nerys from the memories of childhood sexual and physical abuse. She was your mother’s first alter and, as far as I tell, she is three. Lowrie, count to ten for me.’

  The thumb came out of the mouth. ‘One, two, free, five-nine… ten!’ The brief shout of triumph preceded the swift re-insertion of the thumb.

  ‘Is Sam, there? Sam, I need to know what is the square root of two hundred and twenty-five?’

  Lowrie’s eyes went blank and then sparked. She jumped to her feet, chest puffed out and threw the blanket aside. ‘Easy-peasy. Fifteen. Ask me something harder.’ The voice was that of a young boy. He realised they weren’t alone. ‘Who’s this?’

  Dr Jessop introduced them. ‘This is Gregory Anderson and Katherine Harper. Sam, is Nerys there?’

  ‘Nerys has gone.’

  ‘Where has she gone, Sam?’

  ‘Don’t know. She’s gone deep. Not talking.’

  ‘I need to speak to her. It’s important. These people have come a long way to see her.’

  The face went blank again and Nerys, if it was Nerys, sank onto the bed.

  Dr Jessop turned to them. ‘Sam is another of Nerys’ alters. She has another, Janet, who’s very good at drawing, amongst other things. She and Sam helped Nerys pass exams at school.’

  DC Flowers said Rhiannon was her dominant alter.’

  ‘They come at need and leave when they’re no longer necessary. When your mother was here before, Rhiannon was what Nerys needed at that time and has done for many years. If we could get Rhiannon to come out it would be a step forward, but I think she’s sulking.’

  ‘I am not sulking.’

  The woman who stood before her, was the one she knew from Coed-y-Cwm. Rhiannon glared at them. ‘What do you want?’

  She glanced at the doctor who nodded encouragingly. ‘We came to see you?’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘We wanted to talk to you, and to Nerys.’

  ‘Nerys isn’t here.’ She looked around, as if only just realising where she was, and sat down again, her head in her hands. ‘I said this would happen, Nerys. Why didn’t you listen to me? Any fool knew the child couldn’t be Bethan.’ She looked up. ‘Who’s feeding Pryderi?’

  ‘Harriet’s putting food down for him. I’ll take him in when I get back. You don’t have to worry about him.’

  ‘Thank you, Alana.’

  Dr Jessop spoke quietly. ‘Can we speak to Nerys, now?’

  ‘She’s not talking. I can’t reach her. Why should I try?’

  Gregory put a hand on his mother’s arm. ‘Nerys, can you can hear me. It’s Gregory. It’s your son, Gregory. I have Bethan with me. Bethan’s come home.’

  Rhiannon snorted. ‘That’s Alana. Siân’s niece. You could be anyone. It’s a trick.’

  ‘Let me try, Greg.’ She moved closer to Rhiannon. ‘I’m not Siân’s niece. My mother stole me, Bethan, from Nerys and raised me as her own. I know it was Cadi buried up on the moor. I saw her name spelt out in runes.’

  ‘Why should I believe you?’

  Rhiannon didn’t want to believe her, but Nerys would. ‘Nerys, listen. I know you tried to protect Bethan up at the stone circle. Rhiannon didn’t want you to have Bethan home, but I’m here.’ She looked up at Dr Jessop. ‘Can I bring Saffy in? Nerys mistook her for me because, apparently, I looked like her at that age. Nerys lost me when I was two.’

  ‘It may be the trigger she needs.’ She went to the door and spoke to the guard through the hatch. After a moment, the door opened and the Family Contact Officer brought Saffy in.

  ‘Nerys? Can you see Bethan?’

  ‘It isn’t Bethan.’ Rhiannon’s face contorted and went blank. Her back hunched, her shoulders dropped and her face appeared to take on more wrinkles. She rubbed her arms with her hands, in the gesture she’d seen that night, through the window, but her eyes were bright and her smile gentle. She didn’t appear to notice the fact that she was in a prison cell. ‘Bethan? It is Bethan.’

  Saffy recoiled slightly and Dr Jessop moved forward a step.

  She lifted Saffy onto her lap. ‘Nerys, Bethan went missing thirty years ago. Nerys… Mum, I’m Bethan. I grew up. This is your granddaughter, Saffy.’ She turned to Greg. ‘And this is your baby son, Gregory.’

  Tears glistened on Greg’s cheeks. ‘It’s true, Mum. I am Gregory.’

  ‘I’ve waited thirty years.’ Sobs wrenched at the frail form. ‘You came home. I knew you would. I knew you’d come home.’

  Greg moved first, taking his mother in his arms. ‘It’s okay. It will be okay. We’ll help you get better.’

  Her words could barely be heard through the sobs. He released her and she moved a tentative hand to touch his cheek. ‘You have your father’s eyes. His smile.’

  She moved to Nerys’ other side. It was as if life suddenly made sense: the yawning void inside her had been filled, distressing though it was. ‘We understand.’

  ‘You’ve grown into a beautiful young woman. You remind me of Annie.’ She smiled at Saffy. ‘I won’t hurt you, cariad. She’s so like you were, Bethan.’

  The cell door opened and Dr Jessop put a hand on her shoulder. ‘That’s great progress, but it’s enough for one day. And visiting time is over.’

  ‘We’ll come again.’

  ‘Don’t go. Please don’t go. I have to tell you about Cadi.’

  Dr Jessop nodded. ‘We’re listening, Nerys.’

  ‘The chapel ladies ostracised me, sure I’d killed my babies. I knew they’d taken Bethan. I lured Cadi into the house, hoping that if I hid her, Siân would panic and have you brought back. Cadi fell over and hit her head on the edge of the stone hearth. I didn’t know what to do. No-one would have believed it was an accident, not after Tomos and Angharad, and Bethan going missing. I buried Cadi’s body, and hid. I’ve been hiding ever since.’

  Greg smiled through tears. ‘I knew you were innocent.’

  ‘We believe you, Mum.’

  ‘Don’t go.’

  ‘We have to, Mum.’

  ‘We’ll come again soon.’ Greg paused at the door. ‘Dad knows you’re here. He remarried, like you wanted. He’s happy, but he’s never stopped loving you.’

  ‘He used to visit me. I told him to stop coming.’

  ‘Perhaps he’ll come with us, and we can all visit, together, on a family day.’

  They walked outside and the cell door clanged shut behind them.

  ‘Don’t like shut in. Don’t like dark. Don’t hurt me, Dada.’

  ‘Oh God… so much grief because a disgusting paedophile couldn’t keep his filthy hands off his own daughters.’

  Dr Jessop led them back to the Visitor Centre. ‘It will take a long time, but don’t give up on her. Nerys is still in there, and strong enough to come out and face the truth, despite Rhiannon. She loves you both, and that’s what will get her through this.’

  ‘Do you think she’ll ever be released?’

  ‘I can’t say. She’ll be in therapy for years, and much depends on the courts and what her sentence is. She may die in here. I’m sorry.’

  ***

  The sea breeze lifted Alana’s hair from her shoulders. She squeezed Tony’s hand. ‘I think you’ve walked far enough for a first time out,
don’t you?’

  ‘It seems a shame to go back. It’s so beautiful here, Alana.’ He laughed at Saffy paddling through rock pools. ‘She loves the beach.’

  ‘It’s something we should talk about, Tony. It’s a good place to raise children but would you want to live here, full-time?’

  ‘I don’t ever want to leave.’

  ‘You have to earn a living.’

  ‘Maybe I can find work here. Whatever happens, Alana, even if you don’t get the Arts Council grant, we’ll keep The Haggard, I promise.’

  ‘I’d hate to lose it now. It’s more home than anywhere else I’ve ever lived.’

  ‘I can see that. We have the rest of my sick leave to work something out.’ He stared out across the bay to Ramsey Island and sighed. ‘We should get back. This afternoon will be emotional.’

  ‘I know I’ve met James before, but then he was Greg’s dad, not mine.’

  They walked back to the car, Saffy collecting pebbles on the way. She turned for a last look at the ocean. The light played across the ripples, and the air was so clear she could make out the crevices in the cliffs on the island. It called for watercolour, not acrylic, to capture the delicate colours. Cobalt and Brown Madder… over Transparent Yellow and Permanent Rose under-painting.

  She smiled and held Saffy’s hand. She had the rest of her life to paint.

  James arrived early, apologetic about his poor time-keeping. She met him as he got out of his car. Irene smiled but didn’t make any move to open her door. She appreciated her step-mother giving them this moment to themselves.

  The awkward silence stretched between them like an elastic band about to snap. James broke it, at last. ‘The place hasn’t changed that much.’ He nodded towards the house with too-small windows. ‘The insurance assessors are coming tomorrow.’

  He was skirting round the main issue, giving them both time. She followed his lead. ‘You own the house?’

  ‘After Nerys was convicted, nobody wanted to buy it. I rented it out. I had no idea Nerys was my last tenant. The name the agent had was Rhiannon Rawlings. I knew Nerys’ sister as Annie Jones.’