by Lynda Stacey
‘How long are we going to be cooped up like this? It’s like being a prisoner. I hate being inside. I feel like I’m in that cage again. I don’t like it, Maddie. I hate it, it’s horrible,’ Jess whispered as she sat up against the pillows, looked down at where Bandit stared into space and pulled her knees up under her chin. ‘Why haven’t they caught him yet? I want to see Jack.’
Madeleine knew that Jess feared what Liam might do. She feared being trapped and enclosed and since being found, they’d all had to spend many hours just sitting in the middle of the garden with her, looking towards the woods, the summer house and the vast open fields that lay beyond. They’d all agreed that there was a certain safety in numbers, but Jess needed space and time to heal and until Liam was caught, neither the space, nor the healing was going to happen fast.
‘I don’t know, honey. All I know is that while the police are outside, we are all safe.’
‘He’d killed both his mother and his sister, Maddie. They’re buried in the cellar of that house, the one where you lived. They think he killed our Mother and Michael too and they even think he could have been involved in your father’s death. Have you even thought about what that means?’ Her voice still shook with fear. ‘He’s done all of this for years, killed them all. Even that girl you caught him shagging in your bloody hallway, Maddie. She’s dead. I mean, why? Why would he do that and what was all that with the marker pen and the eyes?’ They were words that Jess had repeated continuously, words that she needed answers to and words that spun around in her mind like a washing machine on full cycle.
Madeleine pulled her sister back towards her, caught Bandit’s eye and silent words of compassion passed between them.
‘Sweetie, please don’t. Don’t torture yourself. Whatever he did, it’s done. We can’t change it. All we can do is look after each other now, isn’t that right, Bandit?’
She had no idea what else to say. It was true. Liam had killed them all. The police had confirmed that the bodies of three women had been found; all had been buried in the cellar. All had been tortured and just as he’d indicated to Jess, all had been dropped from a height that had broken almost every one of their bones. The identity of the third was still to be announced, but if the noticeboards were anything to go by, the third body would be that of her missing agent, Bridget.
There had been a picture on the desk of her father, the reason for which still hadn’t been answered. But Madeleine suspected that she knew what had happened, just as she knew what happened to Michael, her mother, to the parents Liam said had moved to Ireland and to his little five-year-old sister, whose only misdemeanour had been being born blind. His mother had cared for her, more than she’d cared for him and the jealousy had begun.
Maddie’s mind spun like a child’s roundabout getting faster and faster, spinning out of control as it went, all the questions and answers were blending into one and she felt a constant feeling of nausea and stomach cramps. The deaths of Michael, her mother and father, even her agent, Bridget, were because of her – and she had so very nearly lost Poppy, Jess and Bandit too. Why did Liam hate her so much? He’d call it love but she was his obsession and she hated him with every fibre of her body.
She stood up, rubbed her stomach and looked over to where Bandit clasped the diary. His face had gone grey, but perspiration shone from his forehead as he stared at the wall, watching the clock that hung before him.
‘You okay?’ Madeleine asked as she watched him shake his head.
He stood up, walked to the bathroom and rinsed his face in the sink. ‘The words in the diary, Maddie. Did you understand what they meant?’ he asked when he came back into the bedroom.
Madeleine nodded. ‘Of course, it meant that Emily went to live with Eddie’s mother. What else?’
‘My father, Maddie. His name is Arthur. Emily’s baby was Edward Arthur. Put the clues together: Arthur, my dad’s gatehouse and the lady he went to visit through the tunnel. What’s the betting that Emily’s baby is my father and all his ramblings are true? Emily Ennis is my father’s mother – my grandmother – he just didn’t know it.’
Chapter Forty-Five
May 8th, 1943
My Eddie has not returned and I presume him dead. I’ve had to make the heart breaking decision to have my Arthur adopted. Eddie’s mother will bring him up as her own and I must admit, I do trust her to do this.
Father is pleased with this decision and I’m sure that he has made it worth her while to take the child. And from what I gather, the gatehouse is now hers to keep and he’s also agreed that Arthur can be brought in secret to the hall, through the tunnels to the room by the bell tower. With this, I must be grateful. At least I still get to see my son, although he won’t grow up knowing who I am.
With the war still in full force, there are many wounded soldiers, so many hospitals that have been set up to look after those who need medical care and I’ve decided to keep myself busy and enlist in the medical corps, where I will work in a nursing capacity and help wherever I can. As far as I’m aware, many soldiers need help with missing limbs, wounds that still haven’t healed and problems of the mind that may never go away. It’s the only thing I can think to do. I still pray that Eddie lives and I’m going to search every soldier’s face for my Eddie in the hope that I find him and bring him home to the hall, where he belongs.
It will break my heart to leave my beautiful son behind. I live for every single smile that he gives and can’t imagine not being with him every single day, not being able to hold him or put him to bed or even being able to watch him grow at the hall. He may only be at the gatehouse, but to me it’s still so very far away.
The news channels had spoken of nothing but Liam O’Grady for days. His house had been searched and boarded up after the bodies of his mother, Angelina Corby and Bridget had all been found, buried at the base of the servant’s staircase. And the body of his sister, Freya O’Grady, had been found weighed down at the bottom of the garden pond. The same pond which he’d told Poppy had had no bottom and anyone who fell in would never come out.
Following the evidence that had been found, the police were now making enquiries into the deaths of eight victims, along with arson and the attempted murders of both her and her beautiful sister Jess.
Madeleine watched the television as pictures of Liam’s house flashed up on the news. Her heart was in her mouth. She had lived in that house with her three-year-old daughter. Slept there, made breakfast there, and lived happily there, in the place where, unbeknown to her, lived a deranged serial killer who she made love to, ate dinner with and had allowed her daughter to play in those rooms so close to where the bodies had been found.
She could barely breathe with nerves as once more Liam’s photograph flashed up on the screen, making her heave and reach for a glass of water, taking a sip before replacing it on the bedside cabinet.
They’d taken up residence in room four of the hotel while the private residence rooms were refurbished and that part of the house rebuilt. The room was huge. The Victorian four-poster bed that her father had bought stood in one corner and the windows looked over the ha-ha at the side of the property, where sheep grazed on the autumn grass.
A knock at the door made her jump. ‘Who is it?’
‘It’s Jack, Mrs Frost, I mean, Madeleine,’ he said as the door opened. ‘I have Inspector Johnson here, miss. I’ve seated him in the dining room.’
Madeleine noticed Jack’s eyes connect with Jess and they sparkled with love and warmth.
‘Jack, could you do me a favour?’ she asked as she once again looked between Jack and Jess. ‘Would you mind taking the rest of the day off, spend some time with Jess, you know, look after her for me. I think she’d like to stay in her own room tonight.’ Madeleine smiled as she saw the two of them beam with delight. It didn’t take a genius to realise how close the two had become, how their romance had blossomed and how they both radiated love the moment the other walked in the room, and even the protective big sist
er in her knew that time alone with Jack was exactly what Jess needed.
Jack winked at Jess. ‘It’d be my absolute pleasure, Madeleine. Thank you.’
Looking in the mirror, Madeleine pulled a brush through her hair and added a touch of lip gloss. Satisfied with her appearance, she turned to Bandit and they walked out of the room and down the stairs. The inglenook fire was already lit and eerie looking pumpkins stood all around the floors and windowsills. Even though the private quarters of the house had been badly damaged by the fire, the rest of the hall had been miraculously saved and after a deep clean, most of the hotel had been allowed to re-open to guests; with Halloween fast approaching the pumpkins had been carved and lit giving the room a warm, atmospheric feel.
As she entered the dining room she saw that Inspector Johnson was already there. Bandit gripped onto Madeleine’s hand as they walked towards him and sat down.
‘Mrs Frost, the exhumation of your father and subsequent autopsy has brought new evidence to light and I need to inform you that we are now classing his death as murder, not suicide,’ the inspector said as Madeleine noticed tears spring to his eyes. ‘I knew your father very well, Mrs Frost, and, if I’m honest, I was very shocked to think that he’d taken his own life.’
‘What’s the new evidence?’ Madeleine fought back the tears. She’d been right all along. He had wanted to live and had intended to be around for her, as he’d promised.
‘I’m afraid I can’t say, Mrs Frost. I’m sure that all will be revealed at the new inquest. All I will say is that your father was a good man. It was an honour to know him.’
At this, he stood up and walked to the door. Madeleine walked with him, leaving Bandit at the table with a look of shock on his face.
Madeleine took her time in reception, studied the walls and counted the ghosts. So much had already happened here. So many things had gone wrong.
‘I think it’s about time I did the right thing. It’s time that the hall had new owners,’ she announced as she walked back into the dining room and sat back down by Bandit’s side.
‘But, it was his dream. This whole place was your father’s dream; why would you sell it?’
Madeleine could see sadness in Bandit’s eyes. She thought back to the conversations she’d had with her father about the hall, about his wishes and his dreams. But now she had to think about Bandit; if his suspicions were correct, and she had no reason to doubt them, this house was part of his heritage and his father’s heritage before him.
Chapter Forty-Six
August 31st, 1943
After my initial training with the 21st Army Group Medical Corps, I have been deployed to a hospital in London. It means that I can live in the London house but I’m hardly ever there as the suffering of the injured keeps me at the hospital doing what little I can to relieve them.
I look closely at every soldier that I tend. Not many of the nurses do this, but it’s the only way that I can search for my Eddie, the only way to see the faces of those that are injured and know that he is not amongst them.
This war can’t go on for much longer and I pray for the simplicity of Wrea Head Hall. I used to be bored by the daily routine, of spending hours in the kitchen chopping up vegetables for cook, or of the time I’d spend chatting with Mary, wishing for excitement and joviality or of how I’d moan when on a Wednesday, without fail, we’d eat pheasant week after week. But now all I wish for is to eat pheasant on a Wednesday, chat with Mary and curl up on my bed with my baby boy. I miss him so much. I need to hold him in my arms and go for walks with him in the meadows, but then I remind myself that he is no longer mine and my heart tears apart repeatedly as I think of him calling another woman ‘mother’.
Will he ever know how very much I love him, how I live for his every smile? All I wish for now is that I might find my Eddie and we can go home to be one family, together.
December 24th, 1944
It is Christmas Eve and it is such a relief to be back at Wrea Head Hall.
Just before Christmas, I found my Eddie. There he was, just sitting in a corner of the hospital where I worked for so long, in a wing I’d never been in. It was a wing saved for those who have lost their minds, somewhere I’d never thought to look before and even though I am glad that he is alive, my heart breaks every time I look into his eyes. He is no longer the man that I once knew. He stares into space, doesn’t recognise a soul and no longer seems to know who I am.
But all is not lost. I was allowed to go home and had permission to take Eddie with me. I’m sure that now he’s home and is surrounded by the things he held dear, he will begin to remember.
I will take him to the summer house in the morning, to the room beneath the bell tower and sit with him on the secret staircase. Surely he will recollect the times that we had. After all, how can a man not remember his home, his mother or his loved one? But I am quite prepared that he might not and I fear that he will always live within his own mind. But if he does, he does. It does not matter to me, he is still my Eddie and I will care for him for as long as he needs me to.
It appears that in my absence, the whole house has fallen apart. Everything has changed and nothing is as it was. Mary married Benjamin. Of course, Father didn’t approve, but they took themselves away, eloped to Gretna Green and married in spite of him. And only now that I’m home have they told me that my beautiful twin died in childbirth two months ago. I should have been there for her, should have helped her and I’m heartbroken and feel so guilty that she, and her unborn child, died without me at her side.
Young Rose is now walking, talking and causing havoc and Jimmy got one of the chambermaids pregnant and immediately ran away to fight in the war. Mother will have had a fit and the girl will have been sent away to bear the child and paid handsomely never to return and even though I can’t judge, I’ve always known that this would happen.
I’m afraid that returning home with Eddie will push Mother over the edge. But I can’t leave him alone and intend to care for him and if Father won’t allow Eddie to stay with me at the hall, we’ll live in the summer house. After all, it’s cosy and Eddie built it out of his love for me.
Edward Arthur is happy. I went to see him the moment we arrived back at the hall. He is well looked after and now thinks of Eddie’s mother as his own and, even though my heart breaks daily, to disrupt his life now would be cruel. Besides, would there be any point in telling Eddie of his son’s existence, especially when ten minutes later he forgets who he is?
Chapter Forty-Seven
The days were passing and Madeleine needed to run.
Placing the diary under her pillow, she walked down the stairs. She smiled and looked out to where both Jack and Jess ran around on the ha-ha with Poppy, playing a game of catch. A police officer stood on the terrace right next to them, in the same place that he’d stood for the past few weeks. Always alert, always watching. At least the police had taken their security seriously and at one point had even offered to put the whole family into a witness protection programme, but to do that, they would have to leave Wrea Head Hall and every other single person and part of their life behind. She couldn’t imagine leaving Bandit behind. Nor could she ever imagine not seeing Jack, Bernie or Nomsa ever again. She could have insisted that Bandit came with them, but again he would have had to cut all ties with his past and that would mean never again seeing his father. It would be asking him to choose between the two of them. And to do that would be unfair.
Christmas was almost upon them, and Madeleine felt excited that on Christmas Eve the new owners of the hall would be announced. Until then, the restoration continued and the beauty of the hall was beginning to return to its original state.
She closed her eyes and thought of Bandit. Of how hard he’d worked these grounds, of all the gardening, game keeping and general maintenance he’d done, just as his father and grandfather had done before him. She thought of all the weathers he’d worked in, the storms that were followed by rainbows and then sunshine.
She’d long since stopped putting Buddy on a lead in the grounds of Wrea Head, there simply didn’t seem much point. The nearest road was around half a mile away, and Buddy had now learnt where he could and couldn’t go. Besides, he’d saved their lives, so freedom was the least he could expect.
Running over the grass, Madeleine caught her breath and purposely slowed her pace. She looked over her shoulder to the gatehouse, where Eddie had lived and Edward Arthur had been left so many years before.
‘Again, do it again, Aunty Jess. Again,’ Poppy’s voice came through the trees and Madeleine grinned from ear to ear. She knew exactly what Emily had meant by living for every smile; it’s what she’d done with Poppy for years and she thought of the many times she’d watched her sleep, especially the months when she’d lived in Liam’s house, and the new knowledge of what secrets that house had held made her shake. The police were now sure that Liam had been responsible for Michael’s death and the inquest had proved that he’d drugged her father.
A nationwide manhunt was in place and each night Madeleine switched on the television in the hope that she’d see news of his capture, although she felt sure that if he had been caught, the police would inform her and the security around the house would probably be dropped.
Her lungs burned with adrenaline. It was a while since she’d last run and the exertion on her body was taking its toll. Slowing down, she picked up a stick, threw it into the trees and watched Buddy as he ran after it through the dried winter leaves. He picked it up, brought it back and dropped it at her feet, and now barked at her to throw it again.
Kneeling down on the grass she laughed as Buddy jumped up, knocking her to the floor. He wagged his tail as his whole body bent in two, backwards and forwards, licking in mid-air, taking in every stroke and tickle that Madeleine gave.