She found the door leading to the stairwell and climbed the three flights to the top ward. The smell up here wasn’t as bad but the atmosphere was much more eerie. If she’d been of a nervous disposition she would have been running back downstairs and outside but she strode confidently down the hallway that had once reeked of bleach. Despite the complaints about Stonefort, its reputation for cleanliness had been second-to-none.
Raven paused when she spied a hooded figure at the opposite end of the corridor, swathed in black. It was just standing there, staring at her. Because of the distance, she could make out no discernable features, although its gaze did appear to be riveted on her. Rumours abounded amid the ghost hunter society of a spectre that haunted these halls, the lost spirit of a madman who had butchered his entire family and whose rage lived on beyond death.
When the figure charged at her she stayed put, awaiting the inevitable meeting with the spectre. When they were in range she drew back her fist and smacked it in its very real and very fleshy face.
“Ow,” cried the spook, dropping to the floor.
The face of a man in his early twenties looked up at her with surprise in his green eyes and a bruise on his rapidly-swelling cheek. It wasn’t a face she recognised, certainly not her rival anyway.
“You were supposed to run away,” he wailed. “Why didn’t you run away?”
“Why should I?”
“Because you thought I was a ghost.”
“Your trainers were squeaking on the floor. As far as I’m aware, ghosts don’t wear Nikes. Why are you lurking around here anyway, trying to scare people?”
He shrugged. “For a laugh.”
“Are you usually more successful than this?”
“Yeah, everyone normally shits themselves and runs. You’re the first one who didn’t.” He frowned and rubbed his cheek. “No one’s ever hit me before.”
“That surprises me given that you spend your days scaring people.”
“So why are you here? Come to see a ghost?” he said with a mischievous grin. “If you did you’d probably twat it.”
Raven smiled and shook her head. “What’s your name?”
“Leo.”
“Leo. So why do you enjoy hanging around here, scaring people?”
“Dunno. For a laugh I suppose. You never did say why you’re here?”
“My mother was a patient here.”
His grin fell and he regarded her warily. “Oh.”
“Don’t worry, her crazy didn’t run in the family. I’m just trying to learn more about my family’s past.”
“You’re in luck,” he smiled. “Patient records are still stored here.”
“I thought they would have been transferred out when the hospital was shut down, confidentiality and all that.”
“Nah, no one gave a shit about this place when it was open and they care even less now. I can show you if you like.”
“Yes please.”
He hesitated. “Well, I’ve been a bit skint lately, so if you could make a charitable donation for my hard work…”
When she held out a twenty pound note his eyes lit up and he snatched it off her, stuffing it into the pockets of his hoodie. “This way.”
As Raven followed him down two flights of stairs, idly she wondered whether this was a trap set by her rival. He must have guessed she’d come here after he’d spilled the beans. This boy knowing exactly where the conveniently left patient records were kept seemed a bit too good to be true but she had nothing else to go on, so she was going to roll with it. If this wasn’t a trap then perhaps it was a sign that her luck was finally changing.
When Leo walked into a windowless room stuffed with filing cabinets, she hung back at the door, peering inside.
“Don’t tell me you’re worried about seeing a ghost?” grinned Leo.
“No. I just have a lot of enemies.”
He frowned. “You’re a strange lady.”
“Not the first time I’ve been told that.”
“Fine, to prove I’ve not led you into a trap, tell me whose file you want and I’ll fetch it out to you. It’ll cost you an extra tenner though.”
“I think I can stretch to that,” she said, his words making her feel a little better. “Leona Frost. Admitted February two thousand and one. Died June two thousand and two.”
“Give me a few minutes,” said Leo before delving into one of the filing cabinets.
Raven hung about in the corridor outside the office. There were no windows here, just doors leading into individual cells, the punishment cells for when patients got too out of control. Her mother had known them intimately. Beyond these cells the end of the corridor disappeared into darkness. In those shadowy depths she could have sworn she saw the fluttering of black wings but it might have been the light playing tricks on her.
“Got it,” exclaimed a triumphant voice seconds before Leo reappeared in the corridor, clutching a buff folder, his face covered with dust smuts. “Leona Frost. It’s the girl version of my name. How weird is that?”
“Yes, weird,” she said, taking the folder from him and flipping it open.
“Err, you promised me an extra tenner.”
She produced one from the depths of her coat pocket and held it out to him without drawing her eyes from the folder.
“Ta,” he said, taking it from her, the ten pound joining the twenty in his hoodie.
Raven flipped towards the back of the folder, searching for the information of her mother’s attack on the fellow patient. Then she found it. Richard Elias, aged forty two. He’d needed ten stitches in his left forearm.
“Could you find me another folder?” she asked Leo, holding out another twenty pound note.
Five minutes later Raven held in her hand the file on her rival’s father, which would hopefully contain his name.
“Leo, you’re a genius,” she said.
“Tell my mum that. She says I’m a thick, lazy bastard.”
“Entrepreneur is the word I’d use.”
“I like that better,” he grinned.
“Who’s that?” said Raven when there was the sound of voices from below.
Leo cracked an evil grin. “The Leeds Ghost Hunting society.”
“Shouldn’t ghost hunters come at night?”
“Not this lot, they’re too wussy, especially after I scared the crap out of them in the isolation unit a couple of weeks ago. If you don’t need anything else…”
“I don’t thank you Leo. Go enjoy yourself.”
“I will. Catch you later strange lady.”
She smiled and shook her head as he pulled up his hood and, with ninja-like stealth, crept down the stairs to the next level.
Raven clutched the folders to her chest, delighted by this turn of events. Hopefully they would give her the answers she needed.
As she exited outside into the daylight, screams echoed from deeper in the building followed by the thunder of half a dozen pairs of feet all stampeding for the exit. Go Leo.
CHAPTER 14
Raven was tempted to return home to her sanctuary to read through the files but she wanted to stay close to the hospital in case she needed more of Leo’s help. So instead she went to a local greasy spoon café and settled down at a table in the corner, furthest from the window with a steaming hot mug of tea and a sandwich and began to read.
She was itching to begin with Richard Elias’s folder but she wanted to do this in an orderly fashion, to ensure she missed nothing, so she started with her mother’s.
It wasn’t a complete record of her mother’s stay in the hospital, which took some time to read through as the handwriting was atrocious. The casenotes proper must have been taken away and stored elsewhere. She found it a little sad reading about how quickly her mother had deteriorated, talking to the air, screaming at things that weren’t there - or perhaps things that other people might not have been able to see?
The notes were annoyingly vague about her attack on Richard Elias. According to the spidery scr
ibble, the two patients were in the dayroom. Her mother had been taking part in arts and crafts while Richard read a book. Something about Richard had offended her mother. If he’d been anything like his son, Raven could understand that. Leona had picked up the pair of scissors she’d been using to cut paper with, run at him before any of the staff could stop her and stuck them in his arm. Why the staff had allowed Leona anywhere near scissors was baffling. They’d sedated her mother and put her in a straight jacket because she’d completely lost control. When she was finally communicative again three days later, she’d told the staff Richard was a fire-breathing demon from hell. There was no further mention of the incident in her file.
Next she turned to Richard’s file. Apparently he’d been a successful lawyer and family man with two sons - Jeremy and Ben. Raven sighed with frustration. The notes didn’t mention the children’s ages. However, she recalled her rival had said he had no siblings. The mystery was explained a couple of pages later. Ben had died aged nine of meningitis, which was what had prompted Richard’s mental illness. However this hadn’t been a vague depression, as her rival had said. It had started out that way, which had led to him drinking heavily and his law practice losing clients. His behaviour deteriorated until one day he apparently snapped and beat the shit out of his wife, putting her in hospital for two weeks, breaking an arm, fracturing her leg and cheekbone and knocking out most of her teeth. Neighbours had heard the screams and called the police. Richard had spent seven hours in police custody before being transferred to Stonefort, where he’d lived out the rest of his days, all six months of them. During his first two months on the violent ward he’d attacked a patient and a nurse. However it seemed a combination of sedatives and anti-psychotics gradually calmed him down. The notes mentioned he blamed himself for Ben’s death as he’d dismissed the rash his wife had found on his leg as a heat rash. When he’d finally realised the seriousness of his son’s condition and taken him to hospital, it was too late. The guilt drove him insane and rather than own up to what he’d done he preferred to blame other people, which was why he’d beaten up his wife and attacked the staff at the hospital.
So her rival had certainly downplayed the severity of his father’s illness. Her lips curled into a smile. And his name was Jeremy. Jeremy Elias. Not exactly intimidating.
Raven ordered another cup of tea and made a phone call to every contact she possessed who had access to privileged information. After she’d set them all to work, she received a call from the police asking her to track down an illegal immigrant. It was the last thing she needed but right now the police work was her only source of income, so she couldn’t afford to turn it down. Hopefully it would keep her ticking over until her regular contractual work kicked in again.
As the UK legal system didn’t allow for bounty hunters, for the purposes of her legal work she was classed as a private sector individual. Officially she was only supposed to track down illegal immigrants, those were the terms of her contract, but occasionally her work did extend to wanted felons, such as Nino the Ear Muncher.
After paying for her tea and sandwiches, she headed back out to her car. Before stashing the folders in the glove box, she took out the most interesting documents from both files and photographed them on her phone before replacing them. She was taking no chances with such vital information.
The illegal she had to track down had last been seen working in a takeaway on Burley Street. By the time she got there it was already open for business and two men were waiting for their pizzas.
Raven walked in, her eyes doing a sweep for the man in the photos the police had emailed her, but he wasn’t serving at the counter.
“I’m looking for this man,” she said, flashing the woman bagging up the men’s food the photo of her mark. She recognised this woman, she’d been in the pictures too. The police were convinced she knew exactly where the mark was but had been unable to get her to open up. Raven however had other methods of persuasion.
“Never seen him,” she replied in a thick Turkish accent.
“You sure about that?”
She nodded. “Yes.” She looked to the two men, indicating the conversation was over. “Nine pounds fifty please.”
Raven quietly waited while the men paid, collected their food and left. When they’d gone she grabbed the woman by the front of her t-shirt and dragged her across the counter.
“What you doing?” she shrieked.
“Keep your voice down unless you want me to stuff your head into the fryer.”
The menace in her tone silenced the woman.
“That’s better,” said Raven. “I know you’re lying about Aldo. Tell me where he is and I’ll leave you alone.”
“He no work here anymore. He say he have permit to work but he lie. We no employ people like that, we no want to get into trouble.”
“How upstanding of you. Where is he?”
“He live on Bingley Street, not far from here. Flat twenty three a.”
“Is he still there?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“Good,” she said, releasing the woman. “If you’ve lied to me, I will be back.”
The woman retreated to the far side of the counter, where Raven couldn’t reach her. “I have three brothers. They hurt you if you come back.”
“They can try,” she smiled before leaving.
Bingley Street was only two streets away from the takeaway but she still drove. She didn’t want to drag the mark kicking and screaming the entire way.
When she was just a few doors down from Aldo’s flat, her phone rang. Glancing at the screen, she saw it was One Eye. She’d called him earlier from the café and asked him to see what he could find out about her rival now she had his name. He could find out things her legal contacts couldn’t. However she wanted to get this job done, so she decided to ignore the call for now, putting the phone on silent.
She knocked on the door of a tatty terraced house, cream sheets hanging in both the upstairs and downstairs windows in place of curtains. The downstairs curtain was pulled aside and a face peered out at her, a phone pressed to their ear, eyes widening when they saw who their visitor was.
“Shit,” she sighed when the face vanished. It seemed the woman in the takeaway had called to warn him.
Raven put her boot to the flimsy door and kicked it open, racing inside, chasing after the figure fleeing down the hall towards the back door. A second figure came out of nowhere, a large, muscular male and attempted to grab her but she punched him, knocking him backwards into the lounge.
Ignoring him, she continued to pursue the mark, grabbing the back of his jumper and yanking him back inside before he could escape into the backyard. Putting her foot into the centre of his back, she pushed him to the floor, wrenched his hands behind his back and cable-tied them together before doing the same thing to his ankles.
“Be smart and stay down,” she told the mark when the larger man came racing out of the lounge and down the hall, clutching a baseball bat, bellowing a war cry.
Raven simply side-stepped and kicked him in the knee. When his leg crumpled beneath him she snatched the bat from him, resting it on her shoulder.
“Finished?” she asked him.
“You not taking him,” he said, dragging himself back to his feet. “He my friend.”
“Your friend here is wanted for multiple rape and burglary. If I were you, I’d find a new friend, a better one.”
“I not judge him. Who are you to judge? I bet you done bad things too.”
She rolled her eyes. “The police will be here soon to take him away. Unless you want to join him in prison I suggest you leave. Now.”
He looked less certain. “Police?”
She nodded.
“Sorry Aldo,” he said, rushing out of the room.
“Vassili, help me,” wailed Aldo.
“I don’t think he’s coming back,” she said when there came the sound of the front door slamming shut. She took out her phone, made the call then
sat at the kitchen table to await the cavalry.
They turned up twenty minutes later, six uniformed police officers piling into the tiny but spotlessly clean kitchen.
“Hello boys,” she said.
“Nice one Raven,” said the young, strapping sergeant. “Standard fee applies?”
She nodded. “Of course.”
“This illegal,” said Aldo as he was lifted up off the floor. “She attack me, she crazy.”
“I’ve no idea what he’s talking about,” said the sergeant. “Do you Constable?” he asked one of his colleagues.
“No idea Sarge. He must be hallucinating. Everyone knows he likes to take crack.”
Raven got to her feet and froze. There, standing at the back of the room, was her rival, dressed in the uniform of a police officer. He however wasn’t surprised to see her. No doubt his colleagues had already regaled him with stories about her.
“You’ve not met PC Elias,” said the sergeant, following her line of sight. “He’s the new boy, been with us a couple of months now.”
“Hello PC Elias,” she said, forcing her tone to remain civil. “Are you a new recruit?”
“Nah,” said the sergeant, replying for him. “Been on the force for almost two years but he only recently transferred here from Harrogate. Hero copper, he foiled an armed robbery all by himself.”
Raven’s heart sank. He was a police officer, which pretty much meant he was untouchable. Judging by his smirk he was well aware of that. At least she found out this shocking information before she’d killed him. His colleagues would go all out to arrest his murderer.
Thankfully Jeremy led Aldo out, along with two of his colleagues, so she didn’t have to suffer his infuriating smugness a second longer.
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