by Agatha Frost
“Can I help you?” he mumbled, looking down at Julia as she stared at him, unable to do anything else.
“Do you remember me?” she asked, smiling weakly. “We met at the pub the other night. Your dad’s gig?”
“Oh, yeah,” Mark mumbled as he squinted at Julia, his confusion and disinterest loud and clear. “Are you the one who –”
“She’s called Jessie,” Julia said quickly. “Are your parents home?”
“My dad’s in the back practising,” Mark said, hooking his thumb over his shoulder. “We’ve got a gig at The Railway tonight.”
“It won’t take long,” Julia said, shuffling past Mark and into the cottage, feeling like her gran all of a sudden. “You’re into David Bowie, aren’t you?”
“Yeah,” Mark said, arching his dark brows over his heavy makeup lined eyes as he closed the door. “How do you know?”
“Your mum mentioned it,” Julia said quickly. “Remember? At the pub?”
“Oh, yeah,” he mumbled again. “Are you okay? You’re a little – twitchy.”
Julia quickly realised she was blinking more than usual. When had she last slept? The fact she could not remember did not bode well. She straightened up and tried to tell her face to play along, but it was getting harder and harder to fight off the sleep deprivation shaking her brain.
“Just a little tired,” Julia said, smiling wide. “Your dad’s in the back, did you say?”
Before Mark could answer, Julia hurried through the cottage, following the sound of the electric guitar. Aiden was in the conservatory, one foot on a speaker as his fingers danced over the strings, his blond hair hanging low over his face. Julia cleared her throat, but he was so deep into the song she did not recognise, she went unnoticed.
“Dad!” Mark called over the noise before pulling the plug on his guitar. “Guest.”
Aiden looked up and swished his hair away from his face, and for a moment, he looked just like the boy by the lake on the picture on her phone. Just as good looking then as he was now, albeit with more fine lines and pock marks.
“Julia?” Aiden cried, displaying a similar confused look as his son. “What a surprise. I didn’t know you knew where we lived. How are you holding up?”
“Not great,” Julia said, glancing at the speaker. “I hear you have a gig tonight?”
“I usually practice in the attic. It’s soundproofed for the sake of the neighbours, but I can’t for the life of me find the key.” He pulled the guitar over his head and rested it against a wicker chair. He offered Julia a seat, but she felt better standing. “If you’re looking for Grace, she’s gone to pick up her mother. Thursday is the in-law dinner night. I’d rather do without it, but what can you do?”
“It’s Thursday?” Julia mumbled.
“I remember what it feels like for the days to blur into one,” Aiden said, smiling under his hair at her, his eyes surprisingly dark against his blond hair. “Can I get you something? Something to eat, or a drink?”
“No,” Julia said, her mind racing. Why was she there? She blinked hard and forced her mind to focus. “Your relationship with Astrid. Was it – were you –”
Before Julia could think of what she wanted to say, the front door opened and Alessandra’s voice floated through to the conservatory.
“I’ve told you repeatedly, nothing good comes from living near a main road, Grace!” Julia heard her say. “You get all of the vagrants and runts of society walking past your door. You need some net curtains up in those windows. Any old drunk can look in.”
They both walked past the conservatory door with plastic shopping bags, neither of them looking in Julia’s direction. Mark walked past, catching her gaze. He looked unsettled by her presence.
“What was it you said you wanted?” Aiden said, scratching the side of his head.
“I didn’t,” Julia mumbled. “I –”
“Julia!” Grace cried, stopping in her tracks as she walked into the conservatory. “What a surprise!”
Alessandra followed her daughter in, her eyes narrowing when she spotted Julia.
“She’s the one I told you about,” the former doctor whispered indiscreetly.
“Julia was just about to tell me why she is here,” Aiden said, folding his arms across his chest. “Weren’t you?”
She could tell he was growing increasingly irritated by her unexpected visit. Julia blinked hard, glancing up at the ceiling. She remembered everything she had seen in Astrid’s bedroom, her thoughts gathering into one place long enough for her to focus on the words.
“Do you know that you’re Mark’s father?” Julia asked, looking Aiden dead in the eyes.
“What sort of question is that?” he replied, forcing a laugh. “Of course I’m his father. I’ve raised him since birth.”
“I meant to say biological father,” Julia continued. “You’re Mark’s biological father.”
“What?” Aiden muttered, laughing even more. “I think you should go home and get some sleep, Julia. Things have been tough for you recently, so I’ll let it slide this time.”
“Tell him, Grace,” Julia said, turning to the doctor. “Tell him how you stole Astrid’s baby.”
Grace’s mouth dropped as she looked from her husband to the stranger in her house. Julia was so focussed on waiting for what Grace had to say, she did not notice Alessandra picking up the lamp until it was too late.
“You should have kept your nose out of where it wasn’t wanted, you stupid girl.”
The heavy lamp hit the back of Julia’s head, smashing on contact. She collapsed into a heap on the floor, her lids clamping shut. It was impossible to resist slipping into the darkness.
Julia was not sure how long she had been unconscious for, but she knew she was no longer in the conservatory. She was sitting up in a wooden chair, but she could not move. She forced her eyes open and looked down at the fabric tying her arms and legs to the chair, a similar fabric gagging her mouth.
“I’ve kept this a secret for twenty years,” she heard a deep voice growl. “Twenty bloody years, and now this.”
Julia squinted into the dark and watched as Alessandra paced back and forth, a shiny kitchen knife in her hand. Grace was leaning against a red chimneybreast, rocking and hitting her head against the brick as she mumbled under her breath, her eyes wide and distant. Her pupils suddenly flicked up, connecting with Julia’s.
“Mother. She’s awake.”
Alessandra stopped pacing and looked at Julia, the knife primed. Julia moaned behind the gag, unsure of if she was trying to beg for her life or scream for help. She heard a similar noise come from her side. She turned her head, the collision from earlier blurring her vision as she realised the back of her head was bleeding. Julia let out a deep moan when she saw Jessie in the chair next to her. Tears tumbled down both their cheeks when their eyes locked.
“There’s no point struggling,” Alessandra said with a small laugh. “I was a doctor. I know how to knot a bandage properly.”
Despite the warning, Julia thrashed against the chair, her eyes fixed on Jessie. She was wearing a pair of bright pink pyjamas, which clashed with her icy skin that was paler than usual. Julia looked around the room she was in, realising it was the attic. She tried to scream out for help, immediately remembering what Aiden had said about it being soundproofed.
“I told you she was back, Mother,” Grace mumbled, pointing a shaky finger at Jessie. “I told you.”
“When did you take your last pill?”
“I don’t need them.” Grace dropped her head like a naughty child. “I think better without them.”
Alessandra sighed and scratched at her head with the handle of the knife. She turned to her daughter, rolled her eyes, and then turned back to Julia.
“None of this would have happened if you had just left the girl where she was,” she snapped through thin lips. “What has it achieved? You got yourself into this mess.”
Julia forced her tongue against the bandage in her mouth, a
nd it rolled down her bottom lip and onto her chin. Julia took in a deep breath, turning to Jessie, trying to convey a message of strength through her eyes.
“Let Jessie go,” Julia said. “She’s done nothing.”
“It’s her!” Grace cried, her voice bouncing off the insulated walls. “She’s come to take him.”
“She is dead!” Alessandra snapped over her shoulder. “Will you just shut up? You’ve already made this worse.”
Grace retreated back into herself and nodded at her mother. Alessandra began to pace again, the knife by her side.
“I know what happened,” Julia said. “I know you weren’t pregnant, Grace. Not with Mark at least.”
“You don’t know anything!” Alessandra snapped. “Nobody is going to give you a gold star for figuring it out.”
“I know your daughter was in love with Aiden,” Julia flicked her eyes to Alessandra’s. “I know she was the one bullying Astrid at school. Everyone thought it was odd that Grace and Aiden got together so soon after Astrid disappeared, but that was the plan all along, wasn’t it, Grace? You were so in love with your best friend’s boyfriend that you couldn’t bear to see her have his baby.”
“That stupid girl was just like her mother,” Alessandra hissed, pointing the knife at Julia. “Evelyn was only a child when she got pregnant too. It must run in the family. We were doing her a favour.”
“By taking her to the hospital appointments and pretending she was your daughter?” Julia jumped in. “I found the scan and the pre-natal vitamins in Grace’s name.”
“They would have wanted to speak to her mother,” Alessandra said. “She was only sixteen. A child! Children should not do adult things if they cannot handle the consequences. We were never going to take the baby. That was never the plan. The girl was dead regardless.”
Julia did not respond. She had not had time to think this part of the story through, so she listened, encouraging Alessandra to talk with a shaky nod. Alessandra pursed her lips, glanced back at her daughter, and then snapped back on Julia like a sniper.
“It was the day of prom,” she said, her voice softening a little, but her gaze icy. “Astrid couldn’t fit into her dress. We tried our best to find her something floaty. The child was barely showing, but she was scared everyone would see. She told Aiden she wasn’t going and she called Grace. Grace wasn’t a bully, she just had – issues. She had a crush on Aiden, and she took it out on Astrid. The girl knew she didn’t mean it. They always made up.”
“She tried to flush her head down the toilet.” Julia could not help but jump in. “And probably while she was pregnant too.”
Alessandra glanced at her daughter again as she rhythmically hit her head into the red brick.
“As I said, she was troubled,” she continued. “Astrid called Grace on the day of the prom and told her that her stomach hurt. I knew her contractions had started. It was early, but it often is with girls of her age. Her contractions were so close together, she wouldn’t have made it to the hospital where we’d arranged her birthing plan. She insisted she didn’t want to go to the local general. Her mum had friends there, and she didn’t want her to know. We’d already arranged the adoption. It was going to be seamless. I had to think fast –”
“So, you took her to Alistair’s workshop,” Julia said. “The basement under my café. I suspect you knew about it because of the affair you were having.”
“How did you know about that?” Alessandra asked with a bitter laugh. “That was decades ago.”
“You treated him like rubbish at the nursing home, and he let you,” Julia said. “That’s unrequited love if ever I’ve seen it.”
“I told the old fool to stay with his wife. He only moved to the nursing home because I was there. We used to meet in the workshop, after hours, but it was never serious.” Alessandra paused and shook her head as though realising she was getting off subject. “We took her down into the workshop. It all happened so fast. I wasn’t a midwife. I hadn’t delivered any babies since my training days. I was a GP. The baby was there, crying in Grace’s arms within minutes. Astrid lost a lot of blood. We couldn’t save her.”
“You could have given her the dignity she deserved,” Julia muttered through clenched teeth. “But instead, you ripped her baby away from her, and left her down there, all alone. And then Grace went to the prom and pretended like nothing had happened.”
“She was dead!” Alessandra cried. “We didn’t kill her! Why would we want to do that? I couldn’t report it. They would have found out I was pretending she was my daughter and arranging an adoption. I would have been struck off the medical register! I wanted to go through with the adoption but –”
“Grace had other ideas,” Julia said.
“She fell in love with Mark instantly,” Alessandra said, her eyes dropping to the floor. “They bonded like they were really mother and son, in a way even I didn’t with my own daughter. I couldn’t rip him away from another mother, so I allowed it.”
“And lied to everyone, acting like you didn’t know and that you were outraged about your daughter having a teenage pregnancy.” Julia paused, blinking hard as she felt the blood trickle down the back of her head. “I bet that was difficult for you. Swallowing your pride to cover up your lies. How did you get Alistair to pave up the yard and hide any existence of the basement?”
Alessandra gulped, blinking hard before glancing back at her daughter.
“I told him Aiden murdered her,” Alessandra said, clearly not wanting Grace to hear. “I knew he would do anything to protect his nephew. He never had children, and he always looked at Aiden like he was his own son.”
“That’s sick,” Julia mumbled, gulping through her dry mouth. “Even for you, that’s sick.”
“It was necessary!” she cried, lifting up the knife again. “At least the baby was raised by his real father!”
“Another necessary lie?”
“Aiden didn’t even know Astrid was pregnant. It was no mistake that they bonded so quickly. It was like the baby knew who he was. It’s only recently that Mark has started to question his father’s authority. I suppose it was bound to happen. If Grace is anything to go by, those years can be somewhat – difficult.”
“And in all of this, did you think about Evelyn?” Julia asked, her vision beginning to blur. “The real victim here. She spent twenty years hoping her missing daughter would reappear, all the while the grandson she never knew existed was living thirty minutes down the road. How do you think she’s going to feel when she finds out?”
“Finds out?” Alessandra laughed. “What do you mean? She’s not going to find out. Aiden and Mark will take some convincing, but you two are going to be easy to deal with. I’d rather it was just you, but my daughter had to bring this one home last week. She came to find you to see what you knew after I told her you were sniffing around and asking questions, but she saw Jessie and had one of her episodes. Convinced herself this girl is Astrid’s reincarnation. I must admit, the similarities are striking.”
“It wasn’t a half-finished circle,” Julia whispered, turning to Jessie, who looked like she was fading in and out of consciousness. “It was the beginning of a ‘G’. You were trying to write ‘Grace’.”
A distant thud shuddered through the floor. Was it thundering again? Julia listened out for rain until she remembered the soundproofing.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t let either of you leave here,” Alessandra said, running the knife along her finger. “You understand why, don’t you? I’ve spent twenty years keeping this secret, and I made a promise to myself that I would take it to the grave, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
“She’s back,” Grace mumbled, the thud happening again. “She’s here. She’s back!”
Julia suddenly felt the crystal around her neck. Was it burning against her skin, or was the pain from her head spreading?
“She’s here,” Grace cried, clamping her hands over her ears. “She’s come to take my baby away.”
>
The thudding grew louder and louder. Alessandra looked around, the knife glittering in the dim light. Julia turned to Jessie, whose head was rolling around on her shoulders.
“Stay awake, love,” Julia whispered. “For me.”
Jessie forced her eyes open and nodded. She attempted to smile through the gag.
“Astrid is here,” Grace cried, her voice growing with the thudding. “She’s finally come back. I knew this day would come!”
“Be quiet!” Alessandra cried. “I’m going to finish this once and for all.”
Alessandra turned to Julia, the knife high in the air. The two women locked eyes, and Julia tried to convey her maternal pain to the mother in front of her, hoping she would understand. There was a flicker of recognition for a brief moment, but it vanished as quickly as it had arrived. Alessandra gritted her jaw and lifted the knife higher above her head, ready to strike.
Julia mentally apologised to Jessie for failing her. She tried to visualise her mother waiting for her on the other side, but the pain in the back of her head was so hot, she could not remember her face.
“No!” she heard Jessie cry out.
Julia opened her eyes, but everything happened too fast for her to stop it. Jessie rocked on her chair, thrusting herself in front of the blade. It struck her shoulder, leaving Alessandra’s grip as Jessie fell to the ground. The chair shattered into pieces, freeing her as she lay on her back, the knife sticking straight up from her prone body.
“Jessie!” Julia cried out, her voice hoarse. “What did you do?”
There was one final thud before a trap door inches from Jessie’s head burst open. Light flooded the attic, followed by glowing white hair. Julia squinted, wondering if Astrid really had come from the other side to save them.
“Grace?” Aiden cried as he climbed into the attic. “What is –”
