Lucy Lockhart: The Awakening

by Bryce THOMAS

  ‘In China?’ Loanne asked, surprised, but prompted,

  ‘Why China?’

  ‘Norton wasn’t part of the company. She was supposed to be there to protect Michael because he was there under witness protection. She must have taken the gun with her on purpose… because she shot him with it! She shot him with my gun, and she bragged about it!’

  ‘Go on,’ Loanne prompted.

  ‘She was supposed to be protecting him and she betrayed him.’ Lucy thought hard for a moment. ‘And me! She tricked me. She made it look like I had killed him and then…’

  ‘Well, she probably tried to make it look like you had killed yourself in a fit of remorse,’ Loanne suggested.

  ‘There’s no probably about it. You’re absolutely right!’

  ‘Do you remember anything about this Michael?’ Lucy shook her head. ‘Only that we were very close,’

  she said sadly, and then, ‘I think perhaps we were in love.’ She stopped to consider what she had just said, tears welling up in her eyes. She sniffed and swallowed hard. ‘I met him at Cambridge.’

  ‘You mean Cambridge University?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Oh, were you a student there, then?’

  ‘Possibly. It might come back to me, but I’m not really sure I want to remember. This is all making me feel so sad.’

  ‘And angry?’ pressed Loanne

  ‘And angry,’ Lucy agreed.

  ‘And you’ve got to get even?’

  Lucy turned her head and looked at Loanne’s face. It had suddenly become tense and serious.

  ‘You have to get even, Lucy, haven’t you?’

  ‘Have I, though? It was all in a different life, Loanne.’

  ‘Yes, but Norton got away with murder!’ Loanne paused, trying to think of something that would add more force to her suggestion. ‘I got even Lucy, with the person who stabbed me!’

  ‘Stabbed you?’ Lucy was aghast. ‘You didn’t tell me someone had stabbed you!’

  ‘Didn’t I? Oh, well daddy swore me to secrecy.’

  ‘What! And he knows about you getting even?’

  ‘Yes. Daddy realized it was me who was making the girl ill, but he stopped me, or I would have killed her.’

  Lucy was shocked. ‘Killed her?’

  Loanne nodded. ‘I was very angry,’ she said with a dismissive shrug.

  ‘Yes, like when you were about to lay into that man who was after us today? I saw it in your face.’

  ‘You know, you and Daddy are alike in many ways. He can tell what I’m thinking just like you did. And he can tell especially when I’m lying. That’s why I don’t say much in tricky situations.’

  ‘But how were you making that person ill?’ Lucy asked. ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘Well, if you concentrate on something hard enough, then sometimes it will happen,’ Loanne stated as if it was a well known fact. ‘It isn’t as uncommon as you might think.’

  Lucy just shook her head. She couldn’t grasp what

  Loanne was saying.

  ‘It’s like healing in reverse,’ Loanne said to explain further. ‘You know? There are people who can heal others or even animals by thinking about it. They do it with their minds, although it is often referred to as hands on healing.’

  Lucy understood now. ‘Right,’ she said. ‘So you can heal? You’re a healer?’

  ‘I suppose I could be. Daddy thinks so.’

  ‘But he’s…’

  ‘Yes, he’s a surgeon, but it doesn’t stop him knowing about these things. He knows about my foresight thing,’ she said with a shrug. ‘I don’t suppose he goes around telling all his colleagues though,’ she added with a smile.

  Lucy tried to think this through. ‘So, does that mean that you reckon you made this girl ill just by thinking about it?’

  ‘Well, she became ill and I was willing it on her. I can’t say for sure that it was all me. She might have just been feeling really bad about what she had done to me.’

  ‘I bet she did after you had finished with her,’ Lucy said nodding. They both chuckled.

  ‘In fact, I know it was me really,’ Loanne admitted after a moment of hilarity. ‘She really hated my guts even after she got better.’

  ‘You know something, Loanne. I’m really glad I’m your very good friend. Truly!’

  More giggles. Then Loanne’s mood turned. Her face hardened unlike Lucy had seen it before. Her jaw protruded, her lips were tight, the muscles in the side of her face flexed, and her dark eyes glowered.

  ‘Double murder. Remember? She killed both of you. And goodness knows how many others she has killed before that, or since!’

  Lucy nodded her agreement.

  ‘So we can’t let her get away with it again, can we? Can we?’ she repeated, urging Lucy for a response. ‘You know what she intends to do when she finds old Skinny.’

  ‘Mr. Thin,’ Lucy said smiling at the same time as contemplating. ‘I wonder what his real name is.’

  ‘There’s only one way to find out,’ Loanne said, and the look on her face stated plainly what she hadn’t said in words.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  The plan was simple. Find Mr. Thin or whatever his real name was, warn him, and get him to testify against Norton.

  But things seldom go to plan.

  In fact there wasn’t much of a plan to start with. It was more of a spontaneous thing after Lucy suggested that at least one more visit to the old farmhouse was required to see if they could find out where its lodger had gone.

  ‘Let’s do it,’ she had said.

  The general opinion after discussing it further was that Mr. Thin was definitely hiding somewhere at the farm, and quite possibly in the house itself. There had to be a reason for the cat simply disappearing. And Lucy recalled another thing. The watery eye that peered through the hole that she had made in the side of the cupboard was possibly a match for one of Mr. Thin’s, because it was after she’d seen the eye, that they both heard the car arrive bringing Ackley, once again, to the back door.

  What plan there was, however, seemed to get off to a smooth start when at six o’clock next morning, Loanne, who was already dressed in jeans and a thick pullover, gently shook Lucy awake. It took less than a minute for Lucy to pull on her sweatshirt and jeans, and together, they tiptoed down the stairs. Lucy pulled on her trainers while Loanne searched in a cupboard for her own. She offered Lucy a jumper which she pulled on over her head, and once they were ready to go, they gave each other a conspiratorial glance, Loanne opened the door and together they silently walked out into the back yard. They would be back before their parents even woke up.

  It was already light outside, though rather grey. They weren’t moving very fast at first, walking as far as the stables and around the corner, through the gate and into the field. A few birds were making their morning calls; somewhere a blackbird, a robin and perhaps some sparrows joined in the morning chorus.

  As they broke out of the mist and into a patch of clear air, looking down towards the fields in the distance, the hedges peeped up through the blanket of cloud like the arched back of some silent sea monster. But the water vapour was already beginning to thin and disperse, allowing the sun to warm the cold spring air. It was warmer in the sun, but Lucy was glad she had accepted the offer of a sweater.

  ‘Norton might not turn up at all if she thinks our Mr. Thin has gone,’ Loanne said as they entered the mist again and broke into a trot through the dew-ladened grass. ‘After all, they don’t know about the disappearing cat!’

  ‘She looked like she was going out to some dance or other, so she’ll probably have a hangover,’ Lucy said and then suddenly stopped.

  ‘What’s the matter?’

  Lucy shook her head. ‘I’m remembering something,’ she said before falling into a silent daze. A good minute passed while Loanne just waited and watched as Lucy wrestled with her memory, or rather, Dianne Derby’s memory.

  Loanne let her concentrate, and eventually, Lucy brok
e out of her trance and began to step forward again. ‘She was all dressed up,’ she said, stating the obvious.

  ‘Dressed to kill you might say,’ Loanne quipped.

  ‘Yes, dressed to kill,’ Lucy repeated thoughtfully. ‘I… Dianne, that is, was dressed up when… when, you know.’ Loanne nodded. She knew it hurt Lucy to say the word.

  ‘Someone was holding me from behind. And I had a long dress on. That’s what made me remember. Norton was wearing a long dress yesterday.’

  ‘So what happened?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ Dredging her memory and speaking slowly she said, ‘I couldn’t move. Whoever had a hold of me had one arm around my waist and one around my neck.’’

  ‘And?’

  ‘She shot me.’

  ‘And she shot you!’ Loanne repeated.

  Lucy nodded. ‘Well not me, exactly, Dianne. Shot her right in the chest.’ She sighed. ‘And it looks like she got away with it. But at least it didn’t go all her own way,’ she added without further explanation. She shrugged, gave another big sigh and then started to walk on a little faster.

  Loanne followed her quietly for a while, letting Lucy work things out in her mind.

  ‘We had better be careful just in case one of them has stayed on guard duty to see if Mr. Thin comes back.’ Lucy said eventually. ‘He’s left all his stuff there, remember?’

  ‘Would you go back for your clothes if you knew they were going to kill you?’

  ‘No,’ Lucy said, categorically. ‘But then, does he know that? Did he take my warning seriously or is his disappearance totally unconnected with what I said to him?’

  ‘Well, we won’t know anything about that unless we find him and ask him,’ panted Loanne as Lucy kept up a steady pace.

  It wasn’t long before they reached the gulley that ran towards the old farmhouse. Until now, the mist had deadened any sound, but in the sunshine once more, Lucy slowed to a stop and put her finger to her mouth.

  ‘We’d better not speak from here on,’ she whispered.

  Loanne nodded that she understood and, together, they headed towards the gap in the hedge. When they reached the spot, their hearts sank. Several branches of spiky thorn had been folded into it and wedged in place at the other side of the hedge by a piece of old kitchen worktop.

  The girls looked at each other and shrugged. Loanne tilted her head sideways, a signal for Lucy to follow her. The field sloped down, once more disappearing into the mist. Carefully, they followed the hedge, and two hundred yards further along, at the corner of the field, there was a shallow ditch with a stream running through a tunnel of brambles into the next field. They had to crouch down really low to get under a strand of barbed wire that had obviously been placed there in order to stop animals using the stream and the tunnel as a right of way, but by putting their hands into the cold trickling water, Lucy and Loanne were able to get to the other side without getting their shoes any wetter than they had been from running through the soaking wet grass.

  Five minutes later, they had climbed back up the sloping field out of the mist and were beside the fence at the garden side of the house. The problem was, this side of the house had windows facing out onto the field, and although it was unlikely that, if there was anybody staying in the house, they would have been looking out of the windows at this time in the morning, they still felt a little more vulnerable than if they could have used the entrance through the hedge facing the back door. But they carried on, now determined to get to their destination and seek out the truth. They climbed over the fence and, stooping a little, with no great reduction of their visibility to anyone who might be looking, they struck out for the buddleia bush. The offending branch that tripped Lucy as she ran past there the day before, was still hanging low against the grass. A sudden shiver went down her spine. It had been a close thing that. She just hoped that they had guessed right, and that there would be none of Norton’s cronies waiting in the house.

  There was still a sharp chill in the air. Lucy’s feet were wet and her hands were bitter cold after having been in the stream. Loanne, she thought, would probably be feeling the same, although she gave no sign of distress of any kind. Instead, she took the lead and went up to the windows of the house, looking through each in turn for several minutes until she was sure that there was no one moving past the open doorways. She turned to Lucy, shrugged and shook her head to indicate that the way was clear.

  Shivering now, Lucy trotted around to the back door. It was closed, but she had expected that. Leaning against the door and putting her head against one of the wooden panels, she waited and listened. But there was no noise from within. Only outside was there any sound; the sound of nature, the chirping of the birds in the garden. It seemed so peaceful... but eerie at the same time.

  Licking her dry lips with an even dryer tongue, she felt the door handle. It turned and suddenly, with her weight still against the door, it moved ajar. She took in a sharp breath, not actually knowing if that was what she was hoping would happen. But the door was opening and, once again, she was entering the old farmhouse.

  Her wet trainers squeaked as she stepped on the bare floor boards. She stopped abruptly, and standing as still as a stalk in a pond, she held her hand up to signal to Loanne to stop while they both waited and listened once again.

  Nothing. The house seemed just as empty as it had yesterday.

  Right, she thought. Enough of this. If there is anybody here then let them know you are trying to find them. There were no cars in the yard and there certainly didn’t seem to be anybody guarding the place. She edged back to the door and whispered to Loanne. ‘Get ready to run if you have to. I’m going to call out.’ With that, she shouted,

  ‘Hello, anybody home?’ Her voice echoed around the bare and empty house. She went to the foot of the stairs and called again. ‘Cooee. Anybody home?’

  Still Nothing. ‘Hello. Hello. You’ve got a visitor. Can

  I come in?’

  Outside the birds seemed quieter. Inside was as silent as a crypt. She tried to swallow, but her throat was too dry. She blew out her cheeks and sighed.

  ‘Seems like it’s just you and me then,’ Loanne said, a thin smile breaking across her lips. She closed the back door and edged past Lucy, before commencing to peep into each room in turn. Although some of the doors were ajar, as she opened each one wider, the gloom in the hallway disappeared with the bright light from the windows. She closed each door behind her as she finished her inspection, sinking the hallway back into a dim grey light. To Lucy there was a definite feeling of deja-vu. It seemed just like yesterday’s visit had begun all over again.

  Except for the cat. There was still no sign of The Cat

  With No Name. ‘Puss, puss, puss!’ she called lightly.

  ‘Come on then, let’s look up stairs again,’ she said with a resigned wave of her hand. ‘We’ve done it once, we can do it again.’ And with a last call of, ‘Puss, puss,’ she strode up the stairs, her trainers, still wet, squeaking noisily on the bare steps.

  Loanne followed silently. There was nothing much to say. Unless they found the cat or Mr. Thin then the trip would be a waste of effort. They could have slept in after all.

  As expected, the bedrooms and the bathroom were as deserted as they had been yesterday. ‘Well, it was worth a try,’ Loanne said encouragingly. ‘We had to try.’

  But it didn’t ease Lucy’s sense of dire urgency.

  CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

  Despondently, Lucy headed back to the top of the stairs. The whole idea had suddenly struck her as being a complete waste of time. She was about to place her foot on the first step towards the bottom when Loanne suddenly cried out a warning. ‘Lucy, they’re back!’

  Panic suddenly started to cut into Lucy’s heart. There was someone downstairs. She, like Loanne definitely heard a door open and close. Nothing loud and definite, just a faint squeak as the hinges turned, but she knew she wasn’t mistaken.

  Both girls stood as still as statues,
listening, waiting, but the place was silent once again.

  ‘Perhaps we are just imagining things,’ Loanne whispered, her voice not in the slightest bit confident.

  ‘After all, we so wanted to find Mr. Thin.’ She nodded as if to tell herself she was right.

  A few second’s later, which seemed long enough for Lucy to die with her heart in her mouth a thousand times, a gap appeared and a shaft of light broke silently into the dark interior of the hallway.

  Slowly, the door to the first, downstairs empty room on the left, silently opened wider and wider until no more light from the window could pour into the space.

  The stillness was eerie.

  ‘Well, well, well!’ A voice broke the silence, making both girls grab onto each other’s arms. ‘My two little sleuths! I think you had better come down from there now, don’t you?’

  Lucy and Loanne stared down at the face. It took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the light and then, with a startled gasp Loanne cried, ‘It’s you!’

  It took a little longer for Lucy to realize who it was and then she, too, recognised the tall, thin man who had answered the door the day before. In his arms he held a long haired tabby cat. ‘Looking for Jules?’ he asked, his silhouette sharp against the open doorway.

  Neither girl could speak, as their mouths had dropped open with the shock.

  ‘Take a breath,’ the man said gravely. ‘Not breathing can seriously damage your health.’

  They both did as he suggested. It felt much better, but not too good, seeing that they had been caught red handed. Lucy was the first to speak. ‘Ackley… he didn’t find you then?’

  ‘I presume you mean our visitor yesterday? The baseball enthusiast?’

  Lucy managed a faint smile. ‘We thought you’d gone for good.’

  ‘It doesn’t look like it,’ the man replied with a wily grin.

  ‘So, you do know he was after you?’

  ‘It seemed likely, considering.’

  ‘And you’ve been hiding from them, then?’

  ‘And did you know Norton had been back as well?’ Loanne asked.