‘Hello,’ Harry said, a little confused, as whoever this was, she didn’t match the description of the woman that they’d been given by Dan, Pat, and Ruth.
‘You’ve come about a possible booking, yes?’ the woman said. ‘Do come in!’
Harry hesitated. ‘Can I ask your name, please?’
Harry saw a flicker of distrust in the woman’s eyes.
‘We’re police,’ Harry said, and showed her his identification.
The woman leaned in, eyes squinting, as she said, ‘Oh, well, so you are. I’m Mrs Sanford. Is something the matter?’
Matt appeared by Harry’s side, saw the woman, and frowned. ‘Oh,’ he said. ‘Well, this can’t be right, can it, Boss?’
Harry didn’t answer, his focus still on the woman in front of him.
‘What can’t be right?’ the woman asked. ‘If you’re a little nervous, that’s okay, you know. People do find what I do a little bit strange to begin with. I don’t think I’ve ever done a consultation with the police. How exciting! Is it a crime? Is that what you need help with? I saw a programme on television once, it was American I think, where the police had a psychic consultant. It was fascinating! And I promise to be as helpful as I can!’
‘And what is it that you do exactly?’ Harry asked.
‘Why, I’m a medium,’ the woman said, and Harry heard the surprise in her voice at being asked. ‘But you know that already, don’t you? Would you like some tea?’
‘And your name is Sanford?’ Matt asked.
‘Yes, that’s what I said,’ the woman replied. ‘Grace Sanford.’
‘Grace?’ Harry said now beginning to wonder just what the hell was going on. ‘Are you sure?’
A look of sharp indignation cut across Grace’s kindly face. ‘Of course I’m sure!’ she said. ‘It’s my name, isn’t it? I may be eighty-five, but I’m not about to forget that, am I? Named after my own aunt. And she had the gift, too, you know.’
‘Then who’s Beverly when she’s at home?’ Matt asked, looking to Harry.
‘Beverly?’ Grace said. said. ‘You mean my granddaughter?’
‘Do I?’ Harry asked.
‘What has that girl done now, may I ask?’
‘We thought you were her,’ Matt said.
‘Well, as you can see, I’m not!’ Grace replied. ‘Is she in some kind of trouble?’
Harry said, ‘You just asked what she’d done now, implying that she’s been in trouble with the law before.’
Grace folded her arms, rolled her eyes. ‘She has the gift, like me,’ she said, ‘but she’s a little too keen to get some recognition for it. I think she just gets a bit carried away, you know, but it’s not the best way to do things, is it?’
‘Do you know where she is?’ Matt asked. ‘We were supposed to be meeting her here.’
‘Well, she was here until a few minutes ago,’ Grace replied. ‘She’s been a bit odd today. All started when we were watching the local news and there was something about a fire I think, over Hawes way. Anyway, she had jobs to do, around the house, and she was obviously in a rush to get off when she eventually left. Flew off out of here at goodness knows what speed. Honestly, she’ll get herself killed driving like that!’
‘What car was she in?’
‘Mine actually,’ Grace said. ‘Hers is in the garage, on account of it being an old Mini and not very happy about the cold weather. But will she get a new one? Of course not! So stubborn!’
Harry held up a hand in an attempt to stop Grace from talking so much. ‘Can you give us your car’s details, please, Mrs Sanford?’
‘Of course I can,’ Grace replied. ‘She’s probably back at her own place, you know. She said she had a few things to check on.’
‘Address?’ Harry asked.
Grace told them the address and Matt punched it into his phone, Harry then taking down Grace’s car details.
‘It’s back in Sedbergh,’ he said.
‘Then that’s where we’re heading,’ Harry said. ‘Come on!’
With a swift goodbye, they were back in the car and Matt was racing them out of the drive and back down the road, towards Sedbergh. Pulling out of the lane onto the main road, a car zipped past just fast enough to catch Harry’s attention long enough for him to see it and do a double-take.
‘Bloody hell, that was her!’ he said.
‘You sure?’ Matt said.
‘Of course, I’m sure! Floor it!’
Instead of heading left to Sedbergh, Matt swung right, chasing after the speeding car. ‘Doesn’t hang about, does she?’
‘Don’t chase too hard though,’ Harry said. ‘If she’s making a run for it, then she’s flighty enough as it is.’
Matt eased off.
‘Where’s this lead to?’ Harry asked.
‘Straight on and you’ll be to Kendal and on to the Lake District,’ Matt said. ‘But before that, you can jump on the M6.’
A couple of minutes later, Harry saw the car ahead indicate left. Matt followed and rolled them onto the motorway.
‘Right, time for some blues and twos,’ Harry said.
Matt did the honours and the car erupted into a parade of sound and light.
‘She’s slowing down,’ Matt said.
‘Sensible,’ Harry said, watching as the car in front of them eased back, indicating left, onto the hard shoulder.
With Matt parked up, Harry was out and at the driver’s door of the other car in a heartbeat. He leant down at the window to see a woman matching the description they’d been given of Beverly Sanford, sitting in the driving seat, her head in her hands.
Harry knocked a knuckle against the window.
The woman looked up, her face riven with panic as she dropped the window.
‘Beverly Sanford?’ Harry asked.
The woman nodded.
‘Just wondering if you had time for a little chat?’
Chapter Twenty-Six
‘I’m sorry,’ Beverly said, and Harry could tell she meant it. ‘I just panicked. I didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t thinking straight. Am I under arrest? Am I going to prison?’
Harry was sitting opposite Beverly in the room given over to interviews, back at the offices in the Community Centre in Hawes. Matt was with him and on the table was a ubiquitous tray of tea and biscuits. There was also the new recording device which Harry had been able to persuade Detective Superintendent Swift to have provided. Though the offices they used in Hawes weren’t exactly your normal, everyday police station, Harry believed it was important for them to be treated as such. And having to drive any suspect all the way to Harrogate for questioning had struck him as not just a huge waste of time and resources, but also really annoying. The words ‘saving money’ had been enough to convince Swift though. They didn’t have any cells, that was true, and so questioning someone who was actually under arrest would therefore still have to take place away from their base of operations, but it did mean they could do things not just a little more efficiently and effectively, but also professionally.
‘We just need to ask you a few questions,’ Harry said.
‘But why do we have to do that here?’ Beverly asked. ‘Why am I here? And how am I going to get home? I had nothing to do with what happened, with the fire! I didn’t, I promise!’
‘Your car is outside,’ Harry explained. ‘We had a couple of our team head out to fetch it for you. And you’re here because, although not under arrest, running away from the police doesn’t exactly demonstrate a willingness to cooperate. And after what happened, you can understand why we need to talk to you.’
‘I said I’m sorry,’ Beverly said, her hands twisting her mug around on the table, the sound of it a faint grinding squeak. ‘I didn’t mean to drive off.’
‘Still,’ Harry said, ‘I’m sure you can understand our need to be cautious. For now.’
Beverly gave a shallow nod then sipped her tea.
‘Firstly,’ Harry said, ‘and in light of your attempt to avoid talking to u
s—’
‘I’ve said I’m sorry!’ Beverly said.
‘We do need to caution you,’ Harry continued, ignoring Beverly’s interruption. ‘You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.’
‘So, I am under arrest then!’ Beverly said. ‘But I didn’t do anything!’
Harry sat back in his chair and did his best to look relaxed and approachable. Judging from the look on Beverly’s face, it had the opposite effect.
‘Can you take us back to when James Fletcher contacted you, please?’
‘It was just through my website,’ Beverly said. ‘It’s not a very good one, I know, but I don’t want it to look too slick, if you know what I mean, like it cost a lot? Because otherwise people will think I’m into this for the money, and I’m not. I’m really not!’
‘Into what?’ Matt asked.
‘Being a medium,’ Beverly said.
‘And can you explain what that means?’
‘It means that I mediate—thus the name medium—communication between the dead and the living.’
‘And how do you do that?’
Beverly shrugged. ‘I’m not really sure. I just do.’
Harry said, ‘And that’s why James contacted you, yes?’
‘He wanted me to help him contact his wife. And I agreed to help. I mean, why wouldn’t I? Like I said, I don’t do this for the money. If you saw my car, you’d see just how true that was!’
‘So, you visited the family house,’ Harry said.
‘I always do an initial visit, a consultation I suppose, to see what I’m dealing with, if it’s legit or not. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been asked to visit someone only to find that it was just a few idiots wanting to take the piss.’
‘And what did you find during the first visit?’
‘A family in mourning,’ Beverly said. ‘It was awful what had happened, to James’ wife. And I really wanted to help, you have to believe that! But I nearly didn’t go, when I realised, you know, which house it was.’
‘What about the house?’ Matt asked.
‘The stories,’ Beverly said. ‘Everyone knows them. I mean, there’s not much on the Internet about it, but there are enough rumours about it for some of it to be true. And I wasn’t really sure about mixing up the two, something for the family, which is really personal, but in a house like that. I mean, it had a part of it knocked down because it was so haunted! That’s something you can’t ignore, not doing what I do.’
Harry was having trouble taking Beverly seriously, but there was no doubt in his mind that she fully believed everything she was saying.
‘So, you had this consultation and then you visited once again.’
‘Yes,’ Beverly nodded. ‘For the séance.’
‘You’ve done a lot of these, yes?’ Harry asked.
‘Quite a few,’ Beverly said. ‘Gran’s been doing them all her life.’
‘Grace?’ Matt said.
‘Yeah, she’s amazing!’ Beverly said, her eyes lighting up. ‘It was her who said I had the gift and helped me explore it.’
‘And how did this séance go?’ Harry asked. ‘The one at the house?’
‘It was okay, to begin with,’ Beverly said. ‘There’s always some resistance to what I do, but they all seemed okay with it. But then it all went a bit, well, wrong, I suppose.’
‘How do you mean?’ Harry asked. ‘And you’ll forgive me here, because I know nothing about what a séance involves.’
Beverly then explained what had happened, how she had arrived at the house, set the room up, then had everyone sitting around the table.
‘This knocking you mention,’ Harry said. ‘Is that normal?’
‘It depends,’ Beverly said. ‘On how strong the spiritual energies are, that kind of thing.’
‘So, how did it go wrong?’
Harry saw that at this question, Beverly looked uneasy.
‘There was a feeling to the place,’ she said, shifting in her chair. ‘I can’t really explain it. I’ve done this enough times before to know if someone’s trying to get through, from the other side, but nothing like this.’
‘How do you mean?’ Matt asked.
Beverly went to speak, then fell quiet.
‘Just take your time,’ Harry said.
‘There was something else in that room, that house,’ Beverly said.
‘Another person?’ Harry asked.
Beverly nodded. ‘Yes and no. Helen came through, I could feel it, feel her, but there was something else, too, something or someone trying to take control.’
‘You’ll have to explain it a little more,’ Harry said.
Beverly took a slow deep breath, then exhaled.
‘We were in the circle,’ she said. ‘There was the knocking, we all heard it. Then I could feel Helen coming through, but she was finding it difficult, I think. I don’t know. Maybe that doesn’t make sense. But it’s like a door, you see? And sometimes doors are too heavy or they get stuck and you need help to open them. I think that’s what this was like.’
‘Someone helped Helen?’ Harry asked, trying to ignore that he was now questioning someone about communicating with ghosts.
‘Yes,’ Beverly said. ‘Another presence, older, it helped Helen, because she seemed weak, I think because she had only just crossed over, so she probably doesn’t know what she was doing, might even have been a little scared. But then there she was, but there were two of them, this other one helping Helen, channelling her through me, and then there was that voice, and it was my voice, but it wasn’t, and there was this bright light—’
‘What bright light?’ Matt asked.
‘I saw it,’ Beverly said. ‘It blinded me, but I think it’s because Helen was showing me, what happened to her I mean, in the accident? At least, that’s all I can think it was. I couldn’t see! It was just this light, and a road, and then the sound of a crash and—’
Beverly stopped talking and a choked cry broke from her mouth.
Harry pulled out a couple of evidence bags from his pocket and placed them on the table between himself and Beverly.
‘Do you recognise these?’
Harry watched as the colour drained from Beverly’s face, her voice visibly stuck in her throat.
‘Well?’
‘Yes,’ Beverly said. ‘Yes, I do.’
‘And can you tell me why?’
Beverly was quiet again.
‘These were found in the room where you conducted the séance,’ Harry said.
‘I know,’ Beverly replied.
‘And why would that be?’
‘Because I put them there.’ Beverly sighed, slumping forward, her head in her hands.
‘I think I know why,’ Harry said, ‘but perhaps you would be so kind as to explain.’
Beverly dropped her hands to the table then looked up at Harry.
‘First time I did it,’ Beverly said, ‘I was nine-years-old . . .’
Chapter Twenty-Seven
‘I don’t know where I got the idea from,’ Beverly said, her voice clear and firm for the first time since Harry and Matt had pulled her over on the M6. ‘I probably read it in a book or a comic I think, but then maybe I came up with it myself.’
‘Came up with what, exactly?’ Harry asked.
‘Dad’s always fished,’ Beverly explained. ‘Still does. So getting hold of the materials was easy, you see? Just a length of fishing wire and two or three small fishing weights, the little round ones which just snap onto the line.’
‘So, what is it that you did, then?’ Matt asked, and Harry could see the confusion in the DS’s face because he hadn’t told him how he suspected the wire and weights had been used.
‘I went up to bed,’ Beverly said. ‘Read for a bit, just to make sure that Mum and Dad were all settled downstairs and not about to come up and check on me. Then I pulled out this
spool of fishing line I’d taken, and the weights, and went across the landing to their bedroom.’
‘Then what?’ Harry asked.
‘I tied the end to the latch on the window,’ Beverly explained. ‘Then a few inches down, I attached some of the weights. And then I strung the line down from the window to the floor, across the bedroom floor, out across the landing, and into my own room. And then I just waited.’
‘For what?’ Matt asked.
‘Mum and Dad went to bed at half ten, so I’d had to force myself to stay up. Wasn’t that difficult, if I’m honest, as I was so excited about what I was about to do.’
‘And your parents went to bed?’ Harry said.
‘They did,’ said Beverly, ‘and they didn’t see the fishing line. Why would they? It’s basically invisible if you lay it on the carpet. I waited for them to turn out the light, gave it a few more minutes, you know, until the house was really, really quiet, and then, in my own bed, pretending to be asleep, I just gave a little tug on the fishing line.’
‘What happened?’ Matt asked.
‘I didn’t expect it to work at all!’ Beverly said. ‘But there was this sound of tapping from the window in my parents’ bedroom!’
‘And they heard it?’ Harry asked.
‘Not right away, no,’ Beverly said. ‘I tapped again, waited a minute, then again, and then I heard Mum say to Dad that she could hear something tapping against the window.’
‘And I bet you got a right old bollocking!’ Matt said, shaking his head.
‘Dad got up, went over to the window, and I thought I’d had it, but all I heard him say was that he couldn’t see anything outside, then he pulled the curtains shut again and went back to bed!’
‘You got away with it?’ Matt said.
‘I did,’ said Beverly. ‘So, I waited, and did it again.’
Harry was amazed. ‘And what happened then?’
‘Mum was in a right panic,’ Beverly said. ‘Started telling dad someone was outside throwing stones at the window. Then the lights were on and Dad was up and grumbling as he went to the window, and he’s looking out and saying that there’s nothing out there, that no one’s throwing anything, and then he finds the fishing line!’
Restless Dead (Harry Grimm Book 5) Page 20