A Body Displaced (Lansin Island 2)

by Andrew Butcher

  ‘She will only cry in front of me,’ Adam added. ‘No one else.’

  So she does need other people. Then Juliet amended that thought: Not other people, just Dad. ‘Well, maybe she should let more people in …’ Her voice turned weak. ‘You don’t need to be the only person she opens up to.’

  Adam shrugged, as if he’d forgotten Juliet’s head rested on his shoulder. He laughed in his balmy tone again. ‘I think you’re right. And who knows? Maybe you standing up to her, and Lillian being back, won’t give her much choice but to change.’ He lifted a hand to point. ‘Look.’

  Juliet tried to get comfortable on her father’s shoulder again, and she felt his head lull against the top of hers. She focused ahead. Even from this distance, she could see her gran’s eyes were teary. Then, most unexpectedly, Evelyn placed a hand on the back of Lillian’s, and Juliet saw her mother’s face crumple up, smiling, and …

  ‘Crying,’ said Juliet. ‘She’s crying.’

  ‘Oh …’ Adam sounded genuinely shocked.

  For a time they were silent, simply watching. Then Juliet said, ‘Thanks for telling me all of this, Dad.’

  ‘You deserved to know. I’m just sorry it took so long, and for all the lies.’

  Juliet inspected the sleeve on her father’s arm, the one she’d wrapped hers around. ‘Mum dresses you up like a doll, you realise?’

  Adam chuckled. ‘I know. But it makes her happy.’

  ‘Eeeeeeeeeee!’ Juliet answered the front door to her best friend’s squeal the next day, and by the time she did, Ryan Fraser had already driven off without a hello. Kim held a handbag, along with another bag that was stuffed full. She hugged Juliet to the extent she could with her arms full.

  Juliet moved back and said, ‘Wow, look at your tan!’

  Kim’s skin was almost as dark as her hair now, which was a bob cut that framed her pretty face. And with her large and alluring eyes, also dark, she looked worthy of playing Cleopatra in a Hollywood film. ‘I know, it’s fading already; it was darker than this!’ She pulled a silly sad face, then hurried inside.

  They went to the upstairs living room to sit down and chat. The room had a table ideal for the activity Kim had in mind today. ‘Before I unpack all this stuff,’ Kim began, ‘I need to tell you my big secret.’

  Juliet had been dreading this. The day Nick dropped her back, after she visited her gran and then patched up the hole in the wall, she’d received a call from Kim. Her best friend rang to say she’d made it home safely and also to arrange this meet-up. During their conversation, though, Kim had reminded Juliet she was ‘absolutely dying’ to tell her something.

  ‘I really really really wanted to tell you this sooner.’ Her eyes stretched to an even bigger size. ‘Me and Ryan are engaged. He asked me last November! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!’

  It was lucky Juliet was sitting. Her mind dizzied; she failed to respond.

  ‘Oh.’ Kim’s face screwed up. She seemed to think for a moment. ‘You’re annoyed at me for not telling you sooner, aren’t you? I really wanted to. It was Ryan that didn’t want me to say anything. I think he didn’t want it to look related to that money he inherited, like as if he was just asking me to marry him because he actually has enough cash to afford it all now. I didn’t even tell Mum and Dad until yesterday!’

  Juliet struggled. Thinking of the effects lies had had on her, she wanted desperately to warn Kim of Ryan’s true nature. I’m going to tell her, she decided, and opened her mouth. NO! She clamped it shut. I can’t … She had promised James Rea she wouldn’t reveal the existence of the Otherworld, and how could she explain Ryan’s involvement without revealing everything?

  Her mind scrambled for a solution. There must be a way to address this … Then she had an idea. It was apparent Kim loved Ryan, and he claimed to love her too. As awful as the things he’d done were, Juliet knew he had never mistreated her best friend. Kim would have told her. And she couldn’t even imagine what working for Aldrich would have been like, but Ryan was free of that now. Did he deserve a second chance?

  I’ll have to wait until he comes to pick Kim up …

  ‘Sorry, Kim. I was just shocked. That’s great news.’ She smiled brightly. It did feel nice to see Kim so happy; she just wished the circumstances were different. ‘Have you thought about possible dates?’

  Kim gave her a suspicious look, but in her clear excitement she didn’t question Juliet’s behaviour. ‘Let’s talk about it while we make some jewellery.’ She began to empty the contents of the stuffed bag onto the table, revealing pliers, clippers, and all manners of wires, threads, beads, chains, clasps, and strings—everything separated and neatly bagged up.

  This had been Kim’s hobby for a long time, and since reducing her hours at Ethereal Cuts, she’d been able to put more energy into it, selling her homemade products on the side. She didn’t wear much jewellery herself, but took a lot of pleasure in knowing others liked the pieces she made.

  While they chatted away, Kim interspersed the conversation with jewellery-making basics. Although Juliet enjoyed coming up with the décor for her café, she considered herself inadequate in most artistic endeavours. She was confident she could improve with practice, but believed she had more aptitude for ‘left brain’ activities. The poor excuse of a bracelet she ended up making left both her and Kim in hysterics.

  Eventually they moved on to the topic of Juliet’s family. After her parents visited the private hospital yesterday, they agreed to spend more time with her and Lillian over the next few months. But because a lot of their money now came from investments and renting out property, they needed to nip back to Spain briefly to keep on top of these dealings.

  On the phone the other night, Juliet informed Kim on Lillian’s health, which left Kim in tears. Then she told her about Lillian’s lies, which left Kim annoyed. Now, Juliet let her know about the recent developments.

  ‘It’s good they finally spoke to you,’ said Kim, ‘and that your mum spoke with Lil, but I just think they all need to make it up to you.’

  This was torture, Juliet seeing how upset her best friend got on her behalf … If I told her the truth, she would hate me just for having hidden it at all. Juliet made up that she needed to visit the bathroom, and scooted away. She began to cry as soon as her back was turned, then she locked herself in the toilet.

  A new idea came to her while she composed herself. Dropping her mental guard and opening up to the ‘in-between,’ she tried to summon a spirit who had visited her only once before. The ghost of Kim’s ex, Harry Cracknel, a man Ryan Fraser had murdered.

  Harry was the one who had warned her of Ryan. If anyone could offer help now, it was him. And as she had learnt, spirits sometimes saw glimpses of the future; maybe Harry could see Kim’s. Juliet brought what she remembered of his features to mind. She imagined her ability as ethereal hands reaching into some kind of vortex, fishing for Harry, sifting through the selection.

  No success.

  After some more attempts, she gave up, and decided her previous idea would have to do. She considered that being unsuccessful in drawing out Harry’s spirit might be a good sign. Up until this point, she had assumed Harry was content with how things had turned out, otherwise he would have visited her again. Especially if Kim were in danger. But then, Juliet knew the Spiritworld worked in strange ways. Maybe Harry couldn’t visit again. Maybe he’d moved on. Maybe another soulless person had summoned him and trapped him in a jar. She just didn’t know.

  Luckily it wasn’t long before Ryan arrived, beeping his car horn to signal his presence. To enact her plan, Juliet needed him alone. ‘I’m just going to run out to Ryan and congratulate him on the news while you pack your stuff away,’ she said to Kim, nodding at the jewellery paraphernalia. ‘Okay?’

  ‘Yeah, that’s fine, but don’t say you know he proposed last November. We’re telling everyone he asked me while we were having a roof terrace meal in Rhodes!’ She gave a naughty laugh. ‘That’s why I only told you I had something t
o tell you while we were out there; that was when Ryan finally agreed I could start telling people soon.’

  Juliet laughed. ‘I’ll tell him what a romantic way to propose that was, then.’ She hurried downstairs, then left the house even faster and made her way to Ryan’s car.

  Ryan was inattentively staring away at something, as if confident that only Kim would approach his car. His skin glowed red with sunburn, and his one ear in Juliet’s sight was pretty much flaking onto his shoulder.

  ‘Ryan.’

  He turned. For a split second he seemed startled, but then smiled as if they were old friends. His crooked teeth disturbed her. ‘Juliet. Where’s Kim?’

  ‘She’ll be out in a second.’ Juliet spoke quietly but clearly. To any observers it would look like nothing but a pleasant chit-chat through a car window, but it certainly wasn’t that. There were knives in Juliet’s voice. ‘I’ll say this quickly, before Kim comes out. Since that day at Grendel Manor, I have lain awake many times worried sick over Kim’s safety. Then, when you two were in Rhodes, she rang me and said you’d been acting distant, that you were restless … And that got me even more worried. I’m grateful for what you did, helping out me, Nicolas, and his brothers, but why on earth did you have to do it the way you did?’

  Ryan’s expression was calm, unwavering. He didn’t seem about to answer, and Juliet gave him no time. ‘Actually, don’t tell me,’ she said. ‘One of the main reasons I’ve not told Kim about you is because she loves you. But I want assurance that you really love her, that you would protect her from anything, that you would never even dream of hurting her …’

  Slowly, Ryan’s eyebrows knitted together. ‘I do love her.’ He had a coarse voice, but Juliet had never heard him speak so softly before. ‘She’s the only woman I have ever loved. I would never hurt her, I would never let harm come to her, and everything I did at Grendel Manor, and afterwards, was so I could stay with her … like we agreed.’

  Juliet wasn’t sure she believed it.

  ‘I burnt down Grendel Manor,’ he quietly continued, ‘because it was the best way to get rid of evidence. And I burnt the body at The Burning Grounds as a distraction. I didn’t think anyone would have noticed the manor anyway, because of how secluded it was, but the longer it took anyone to notice, the less likely it was they would find any DNA, or whatever, at the manor …’

  For a moment, Juliet thought over his reasoning. She decided it was ridiculous, and considering how long Ryan had worked for Aldrich, she was certain he could have found a more discreet way to handle the situation. ‘I think you did it because you enjoyed it. And maybe after being Aldrich’s slave for so long, you had to let that anger out somehow … but I hope it’s out of your system, that you’ve moved past that kind of sick stuff.’

  Ryan blinked a few times, seeming to think up a reply. But Juliet spoke again, asking, ‘And did you know about Aldrich’s sacrifices?’

  After a short delay, Ryan pulled a confused face. ‘Sacrifices? I was just his housekeeper. I only figured out he had anything to do with Samantha Crystan’s disappearance when he made me keep tabs on her family.’ His expression became distressed. ‘Did he kill other people?’

  Juliet could not tell if he was lying or not. Hearing noises from inside her home, she panicked. Have I said enough? Will he take me seriously? Spontaneously, she finished with, ‘If you ever give me reason to fear for Kim, I will intervene, and you will lose her.’

  Ryan gave a level stare. Then suddenly he smiled at her and laughed amiably. She realised his manner was an act when she looked back and saw Kim approaching. Juliet had to play her part too. ‘Take care, Ryan,’ she said pleasantly, then pivoted and embraced Kim.

  ‘It was really nice to see you!’ squeaked Kim. ‘Keep me up to date about your parents and gran and everything.’ She moved away from the hug and climbed into the car. ‘Love you lots and lots, bye!’

  ‘Bye, love you.’ Juliet watched the car pull away and leave.

  She headed inside, believing she’d done the best she could do for the time being. The threat she had made was a bit impulsive, but Ryan seemed to get the message, at least.

  Juliet went over to the part of the wall where she’d repaired the hole, then stood staring at it. In Austin’s attempt to stab her in the face, he had destroyed the schedule that once hung there. I need a new one.

  After returning home with the new calendar, she filled out what she could on it. When she hovered over the upcoming Friday, she realised one of her biweekly appointments with Tamara would fall on that day. But after the recent events, she was uncertain if the witch was still expecting her. And do I even want to keep attending? Deciding she wished to discuss her immortality problem with Tamara, she texted the witch and confirmed the session.

  Before Friday came around, she managed to find ways to fill up her time. She called a local driving instructor and arranged lessons, two hours a week. She worked a shift every day at Chanton Hillview, getting back into the swing of it in preparation for Sandra’s leaving. And, solicitous over her gran’s health, she did some research on Lillian’s secondary cancer—the usual treatment, outlook, symptoms, and so on.

  It was bliss to be busy.

  At her appointment in Tamara’s cottage, she explained what Austin had told her, that she would permanently self-actualise ... possibly forever. ‘I don’t want to be immortal.’

  The witch’s response was both reassuring and disturbing. ‘Your ability might allow you to remain forever young and healthy, but I think if someone cut off your head, you’d be as dead as the next person.’

  Juliet hoped it would never come to a violent death, or suicide, but who knew how she would feel in hundreds of years from now? After discussing the effects of her displacement, she asked if there had been any news from James.

  She was worried about Nicolas, with someone wanting him dead and all, but also occasionally wondered what had become of Austin, whom she’d barely thought about since the moment he admitted it had all been an act. If she had been worthless to him, then even thinking of him was a waste of her time. But every now and then she couldn’t help it … I was so desperate to avoid my problems that I rushed into everything with him, forgetting who I was … She had embarrassed herself, she decided, by doing something she had no sympathy for when it was other women : falling for a man so easily, and then being used by him.

  ‘I have not heard back from James yet,’ Tamara said. ‘I will tell you as soon as I do.’

  Juliet was getting used to the waiting game, which was even easier with a crammed schedule. A whole week passed quickly, bringing her up to Sandra’s final shift at Chanton Hillview.

  With the help of her staff, Juliet organised a leaving party for the evening, set in the café. Her employees attended, some of their friends and family, and also a few regular customers. With the go-ahead from the private healthcare centre, even Lillian was able to come. Brynne Hospital had her undertaking physical therapy, so as long as she used crutches and was supervised by Juliet, they reckoned the party would do her some good.

  While Lillian was there, she asked her granddaughter if Austin was coming. Juliet told her gran she was no longer dating him, that it hadn’t worked out. ‘Oh … what a shame,’ Lillian said sincerely, ‘he seemed like such a nice man.’

  The evening went well. Sandra may have been difficult for Juliet’s staff to work with recently, but everyone said good words about her, brought her lovely presents, and wished her the best for the future. She cried as she walked out of Chanton Hillview, declaring in her brazen voice, ‘Earlier today I walked out of here as a staff member for the last time, but don’t you worry, I’ll be walking in and out as a regular customer from now on!’

  Things really got busy for Juliet from then on. Her parents returned from Spain a few days later, and this time she allowed them to stay at hers. Then, a week on, Lillian was discharged from the hospital and settled back in at The Haven too, her recovery now being monitored by all three Maystones.
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br />   Now that Evelyn and Lillian had sort of made up, Evelyn took it upon herself to start pressuring Juliet’s gran to reconsider cancer treatment. Whether it was out of guilt, or just to have some control over the situation, Juliet didn’t know, but she managed to get her mother to drop it, reminding her it was Lillian’s choice. No one else’s.

  There was also some amusing bickering between Juliet’s mother and Lillian over the pronunciation of ‘Evelyn.’

  Juliet had been following the developments in the news regarding Kerra’s death, and over the next couple of weeks, she got the urge to text Nicolas a few times. She didn’t, though. He would be going through a lot right now; he wouldn’t need her complicating things.

  Another appointment with Tamara swung around, and at this one, Juliet wanted to gain more control over her power. Believing in herself, she managed to find a level in her ability where she could be aware of a spirit’s presence without having it appear, and then she could choose either to block it out or let it get through to her. It was a little like the balance she had achieved at the lodge, blocking out the ghosts in Austin’s jar while simultaneously allowing Kerra’s spirit to remain.

  With this new skill, she kept her awareness on the lookout for spirits that were lost, confused, or suffering, and over the next week or so, she helped whichever ones she could to move on. At least some good has come from meeting Austin, she told herself. He proved I can do more with my ability … but I’ll never do the terrible things he did.

  By the start of the new month, she felt better than she had all year. It irritated her a little that, in her eyes, she’d already spent half of 2012 regressing. But it was all behind her now.

  For her next driving lesson, she took her laptop with her in its case, and asked if the route could end outside Chanton Hillview. It was evening, and when the lesson was over she let herself inside the café, then made her way to the office.

  She realised now why it had become one of her favourite places to be: During a busy schedule, it was the perfect private escape—away from home, outside of work hours, and generally detached from life. She set up her laptop, put her music library on shuffle, and then reclined in the office chair, eyes closed, for a few peaceful hours.