The Guesthouse

by Abbie Frost

  Her face is pale, her eyes strangely blank. ‘No, sorry, I—’

  She stops and looks back into the house. ‘I have to get on. You’ll—’

  It’s then he hears the cry.

  Chapter Twenty

  ‘You heard it inside the house?’ Hannah leaned forward.

  ‘I did, just that one time. A single cry, but enough for me to know I had to do something.’

  Hannah stared at him, willing him to go on, as if the harder she looked, the better she could see into his memories. Eventually he continued.

  ‘Lady Fallon insisted I had no right to look around and legally she was correct. I didn’t hear another sound inside that house and she kept saying it had been a fox screaming outside. That they had a litter of cubs up on the bank and a vixen who was always making a racket. That I had been listening to those ridiculous old stories about a ghost.’

  ‘What did you do?’ Hannah asked.

  Sandeep coughed for a moment. Then lay back in his armchair, letting out little gasps and rubbing the back of his neck.

  The door opened. ‘Soup’s ready.’ Mo’s face fell, and he went to his dad, crouched beside the armchair. ‘Are you all right?’

  Sandeep shook his head. ‘I’m fine. For God’s sake, stop fussing. I’m just fine.’

  Mo looked down for a moment then stood again. ‘Well, there’s food in the kitchen if you want it.’ When neither of them replied, he walked out, closing the door behind him.

  Sandeep spoke gruffly, as if berating himself. ‘He means well, my son. Caught me at a bad time as usual.’

  When Hannah said nothing, he brushed his hands over his knees and stared into the fire. ‘Where was I? Oh yes, I made a fuss, of course I did. Tried to get a warrant for a search – all the outhouses and so on. But I was refused, told to stop.’

  ‘And you did?’

  He glared at her. ‘What do you take me for? I thought a child was in danger, so I used to go over there whenever I could. Talked to Rob too, but he just kept on saying the same thing.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Well I could barely understand him most of the time. He’d just mutter away to himself about this and that. Kept saying stuff about a face at the window. Completely crazed if you ask me. Could never tell whether he thought there was a ghost. I got him to let me look in his cottage, the greenhouse and the potting sheds, but found nothing. He refused to come to the station to give a statement and, after a while, he just started avoiding me.’

  ‘What about your boss?’

  ‘He did send someone else over, apparently, but he found nothing. In the end I was told they’d had a complaint about me – I could be charged with harassment and conducting a search without a warrant.’ He coughed and his hand clenched into a fist. ‘Lady Fallon said I had searched the whole house without permission. Complete rubbish, but everyone knew how obsessed I was with the place, so they were inclined to believe her. The lady of the manor could do no wrong.’

  He pulled up his blanket with a trembling hand. ‘And that wasn’t the end of it either; the accusations only got worse. One day I was called into a meeting, sat down in front of a row of sergeants and told that Lady Fallon had made a serious accusation. She said I’d assaulted her, made inappropriate advances.’ His lips twisted. ‘Can you imagine? She didn’t pursue it, thank God, but that was it – the end of my career.’

  There was a long silence as they both stared into the fire. Sandeep sighed and continued. ‘My wife didn’t believe it, but she still blamed me. Blamed my obsession with this place.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘I gave up and left the area. We went over to London. I took an office job that paid half what I’d been earning, and Meera never really forgave me. And Mo – well, it was years until he settled.’

  They sat for a while and listened to the flames crackling in the hearth. And then, a piercing sound cut through the house.

  Close by and very loud.

  Someone screamed.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Hannah rushed out into the hall and found Rosa sitting on the bottom stair, staring at her phone, her eyes brimming with tears. Sandeep stumbled behind, gripped the doorframe. ‘What is it? What happened? Are you all right?’

  Rosa’s screwed-up face burned red. ‘Bloody man. Stupid bloody man.’ Hannah sat next to her and Sandeep limped to a small sofa at the side of the hall.

  ‘He says it’s the weather,’ Rosa sobbed. ‘It’s too bad to drive back, so he’s staying overnight – with a friend.’ A sharp laugh. ‘A friend.’

  Hannah tried to think of something to say, as the rain whipped against the windows and Rosa stared bitterly at her phone. ‘Apparently the police will be over to see us tomorrow, so we can’t even leave.’ She wiped a tear from her face and stood with a shrug. Back to the normal Rosa. ‘Better tell my daughter her father has abandoned us.’

  She stomped up the stairs and Sandeep watched her go, shook his head, then shuffled back into the drawing room. Hannah stayed where she was for a moment, until she heard shouting from the family room.

  Your precious father! You have no idea. It’s always me that has to deal with it.

  There was a pause. Then Chloe, her voice shrill and angry: Shut up! Just shut up!

  Hannah jumped as the door at the top of the stairs banged open, and Chloe raced down, passed her, and out the front door.

  After a few seconds Hannah followed. The rain was even heavier now, the wind stronger, but Chloe had only got as far as the garden bench under the porch. She huddled in one corner, clutching herself against the cold, her eyes wet with tears. Hannah stood beside her, watching the rain pound against the grass. A drip trickled down her neck and a fine spray, blown in under the porch, settled on her face.

  After a while Chloe pulled out a tissue and wiped her nose. ‘I’m all right. It’s just my mum …’ She shook her head, and Hannah knew that frustrated feeling well.

  ‘It’s freezing. Why don’t you come in and watch some TV in my room for a bit?’

  Chloe nodded and wiped her eyes.

  Upstairs, Hannah made them hot chocolate and they sat next to each other on her bed.

  Chloe took a sip. ‘Thanks. I’ve used all the chocolate in our room.’ She laughed bitterly. ‘Mum says I’ve had enough.’ She leaned back against the wall and drained the last of her mug. ‘She’s really worried about Dad and I’m not helping, but she’s so …’ She shook her head again.

  ‘Mums and daughters are always a difficult combination.’ Hannah took the empty mug from her and put it on the bedside table. ‘I used to have endless fights with mine when I was a teenager.’

  ‘And your dad? Did you get on with him?’

  ‘He’s dead.’

  Chloe swallowed. ‘Oh. Sorry, I didn’t—’

  ‘But I never really knew him. They broke up when I was five.’

  Chloe sat very still for a couple of seconds. ‘My parents might be getting a divorce.’

  Hannah leaned over and gave her a hug.

  ‘It’s all an act.’ Chloe’s voice shook. ‘Them being together, all of us one happy family. Has been for ages. He’s been cheating on her, you know.’ She broke away and looked up at Hannah. ‘And the house in Scotland … well, I think it’s just for me and Mum. He’ll be living here with her. That’s why we’re staying in this fucking place.’

  Hannah went to speak, but Chloe carried on. ‘My mum wanted to rent somewhere in Scotland, but he said this was better. It just happened to be near his girlfriend. That’s probably where he is now.’ She swung her legs over the side of the bed and shoved her feet into her trainers.

  Hannah remembered Liam saying that Rosa had been the one who had found The Guesthouse. Another lie to cover his tracks.

  ‘I’m sorry, Chloe.’ Hannah put an arm around her again. ‘Look, you’re nearly old enough to do your own thing. A couple more years and you’ll be off to work or university. You can make your own—’

  ‘I’m starting a new schoo
l … away from all my friends,’ Chloe went on. ‘We’ve got no money now and it’s all because of Dad.’ A tear ran down her cheek. Hannah passed her a tissue and wondered why Liam had retired if he was poor. Surely doctors of his age were well paid.

  ‘His girlfriend, she was one of his patients. Mum says he’s done it all before, that’s why he got the sack.’ She sobbed again, blew her nose with the tissue. ‘Please don’t tell anyone. I shouldn’t have said anything.’

  Hannah took her hand. ‘Of course. Don’t worry.’ They lapsed into an awkward silence, Chloe clearly cringing with embarrassment.

  In the end she got up and went over to the window, to watch the rain beating down against the glass. ‘It was sad about that man who died, wasn’t it?’ She stared down into the rose garden. ‘He was pretty scary, though.’

  ‘Yes, he was, but completely harmless. He just wasn’t used to talking to strangers.’

  ‘I didn’t like the way he stared at me, you remember? But it wasn’t just that, it was when I saw him from my window, lurking around out there in the fog. That really scared me.’

  Hannah went to stand next to her. ‘Me too.’

  ‘He was there one minute and then gone the next.’

  Hannah spoke as gently as she could. ‘It’s the way the ground is out there, all the dips and rises.’

  They watched the rain for a moment and then Chloe sighed. ‘I wonder how Lucy knew him?’ she said.

  Hannah wiped condensation off the glass. ‘I don’t think she did, at least she didn’t meet him in the garden with me.’

  There was a little smile on Chloe’s face now, a secret smile that said she knew something Hannah didn’t.

  ‘I heard her calling him.’ Chloe lowered her voice. ‘My bed is by the window, you see.’ She gestured to the space they were standing in. ‘I couldn’t sleep, so I played a game on my phone until it started to get light. You know Candy Crush? It’s pretty good.’

  When Hannah didn’t respond she carried on. ‘Anyway the room was stuffy so I pushed open the window to get some fresh air and that’s when I saw him. He was just a black shadow and at first I thought he was a ghost. But when he moved I could see it was a man. A big man like the gardener. I knew it had to be him even though I couldn’t see his face.’ She leaned back, her eyes glowing.

  ‘Then I heard it – a noise from next door, from Lucy’s room.’

  ‘What was it?’

  ‘A creaking noise, Lucy’s window opening, I think. And her voice, calling to him, all faint and soft like she didn’t want anyone to hear.’ She grinned. ‘But I heard. I had my ear pressed right up to the open window.’

  ‘That doesn’t mean she knew him,’ Hannah said. ‘She might have been wondering who he was, telling him to go away.’

  Chloe smiled. ‘She knew him all right. Or thought she did. Like me she guessed it was the gardener and she called him by his name to make sure. Rob? Is that you Rob? That’s what she said. Said it a few times.’

  ‘And what did he do?’

  ‘Nothing, I don’t think he could hear her. He just walked off into the mist.’

  Their eyes locked for a moment and the rain drummed into the glass.

  ‘What was that?’ Chloe turned and put a finger to her lips. ‘Shhh!’

  A crackling sound, then the lights flickered and buzzed. Chloe shut her eyes tight. And – with a bang – all the lights went out.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chloe whimpered and Hannah could only just make out her face in the gloom. She reached for her, willing her voice to sound calm.

  ‘It’s all right. Don’t worry, it’s just a power cut, probably all this wind.’

  There was a clatter outside on the landing and a shout from Rosa. ‘Chloe, are you in there?’

  ‘Let’s go,’ Hannah said.

  Chloe grabbed her hand like a frightened child. As soon as they opened the door, Rosa clutched her daughter to her. ‘There you are. Thank God.’

  Lucy’s door opened and she called out. ‘Sorry. It might be me. I turned on my light and, with all the other stuff I’m using, it might have overloaded a circuit.’

  ‘Great,’ Rosa said. ‘Just great. What are we supposed to do now?’

  ‘It’ll be fine.’ Hannah spoke firmly. ‘There’ll be a fuse box somewhere downstairs.’

  She took out her mobile and switched on the torch, noticed the low battery symbol flash up again. She left Chloe and Rosa on the stairs and Lucy on the landing and padded down to the hall, as Mo emerged from the kitchen with a torch.

  ‘I thought the fuse box might be in that storeroom.’ He pointed the beam back the way he had come. ‘It isn’t, but I did find this.’ A wave of the torch.

  She went with him to look into all the downstairs rooms, their beams of light illuminating paths through shadows and cobwebs as the sun fell from the sky. The house felt like a shipwreck full of abandoned empty rooms, its secrets hidden forever under layers of grime. When they came back into the hall for the last time, Hannah’s phone abruptly died. She could just make out Rosa and Chloe sitting huddled on the stairs, but Lucy seemed to have disappeared.

  The beam of Mo’s torch shook a little as it settled on the door that led to the green corridor, the only place they hadn’t looked. They made for it, their footsteps loud in the darkness. Mo passed the torch to Hannah as he opened the door and she was glad of its weight in her hands. She stood back and shone the light along the green walls for him. Let out a sigh of relief when he whooped and shouted that he’d found it. The fuse box was just inside the door.

  A couple of clicks, a buzz, and the lights flickered back on. Rosa and Chloe came downstairs, Rosa muttering something under her breath.

  Lucy opened her door and began to come down too. ‘My lightbulb’s gone. That must be what did it.’

  ‘Give me a minute,’ Mo said. He went back into the kitchen and emerged moments later with a metal stepladder. ‘These were in the storeroom too. I’ll fix your light.’ How long had he spent exploring this house on his own? Hannah hadn’t even noticed a storeroom.

  Lucy tried to take the ladder from Mo, but he carried it past her and up the stairs. ‘It’s OK, I’ve got this.’ When he reached her door, he stood awkwardly with the steps and pulled a bulb from his pocket.

  Lucy walked slowly up towards him. ‘Thanks. I’ll do it.’ And she took the bulb, put it in her own pocket and reached for the ladder. Mo passed it over reluctantly, and she dragged it inside. Before he could say anything else, she closed her door, leaving him on the landing, his forehead creased as if he had failed a particularly easy exam.

  As Hannah walked back to her room, she wondered what had happened to Lucy’s usual charm. Mo must have thought he was in with a chance, and she had humiliated him.

  She flung herself on her bed and plugged her phone back in, waited for it to glow back into life. There was no wifi or signal. Switching it off, she lay back on the bed, letting her mind wander.

  Maybe Chloe was right and Lucy had known Rob. The fact that she had called his name from the window didn’t prove she knew him; there were any number of ways she could have found out what he was called. There might even have been a mention on Preserve the Past website, but that didn’t explain her tears after the discovery of his body.

  Needing a distraction, Hannah jumped up and walked across the room. Even without wifi, she had an idea where she might find some answers about this house.

  She raked in the bedside drawer for the postcard, on which she had recorded the names and dates of the last few Fallons. Then she opened her bedroom door a crack and peeped out. The dark corridor stretched away towards the stairs, the only sound the pounding rain against the windows.

  Once she had crept past all the occupied guest rooms and along the opposite corridor, she moved faster. There it was – the little room at the end – the twin of the office next to her bedroom.

  The door was locked, but she pulled the postcard from her pocket and thought for a moment. Tapped in the
most obvious date to try, the last Lady Fallon’s birthday. The keypad beeped and she threw a fist into the air as the door clicked open.

  Inside, the dingy room looked just like its twin: the same rough curtains covering the window, the same layer of dust coating everything. She clicked on the light and a bare bulb in the centre of the ceiling flickered on. Remembering last time, she used a chair to prop the door ajar and stepped inside.

  There was no desk in here, just the chair and a large dark-wood wardrobe. This room was probably a dressing room and the door in the opposite wall must lead to one of the bedrooms. She tried the handle, but it didn’t budge and there was no keypad.

  Something about the imposing wardrobe made her turn back towards it. It was tall and polished, with intricate carvings across its panels. It seemed to suck all the light from the room, and she felt a nerve in her neck tighten. She paused, reluctant to touch it, but somehow drawn closer. Come on, get on with it. She pulled the door. It creaked open and she felt the room begin to spin. Sucked in a lungful of something horribly familiar.

  She gripped the handle, a rushing sound in her ears, and time rolled back. She was a little child again.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Twenty-one years ago

  Hannah

  She’s staring up at Mummy, but Mummy looks all different. Her face is red and blotchy and she’s crying and shouting. Mummy never does that, never shouts or cries. She always makes Hannah feel better when she’s sick or hurt. Hannah covers her ears, but her tears keep falling like drops of rain onto her new Spice Girls duvet.

  Mummy keeps shouting and everything feels wobbly. It’s hard to breathe.

  Daddy is just staring at them. He doesn’t say anything, until Mummy starts to push him away. Starts to hit him and her face is all red and Hannah has to look away. When he does speak it’s so quiet Hannah can only just hear him.

  ‘Ruby, don’t be stupid.’ Daddy says it really nicely, like he’s going to give Mummy an ice cream, even though she’s being nasty.