Halton Cray (Shadows of the World Book 1)

by N. B. Roberts

  ‘Not drinking tonight, Thom?’ questioned Carla-Louise, examining his empty hands. ‘Have a glass of wine, at least. I wish I’d taken a taxi here now,’ she reflected, leaning in to him and patting his thigh, ‘so I could at least have another glass. It’s not a little depressing this so-called party.’

  He chortled sarcastically as if to a private joke, and then turned to her all charmed.

  ‘What can I do to make you happier?’

  She smiled and went to say something – but Lee at that moment wasn’t looking where he was walking and crashed into Frances. She had a full glass of cider, which flew into Carla’s lap.

  ‘Argh!’ She sprang to her feet, looking down to her soaked self, hands outstretched. ‘You idiot woman!’

  Lee, apologising, tried not to laugh.

  Thom moved from his seat to retrieve napkins, while Dan and Mel exchanged looks.

  ‘I am sorry,’ said Frances, furrowing her brow in resentment at the name-calling. ‘It was an accident!’

  ‘It wasn’t her fault,’ added Terry.

  Carla’s top lip curled up over her teeth as she glared at Frances. She robotically brushed her lap, though the fabric had absorbed the strong smelling cider. Terry fetched his wife another drink, rubbing her shoulder on his return.

  ‘Thank you, Thom.’ Carla’s tone changed as she took napkins from his hand. ‘It’s useless! I’ll have to change my dress.’

  ‘Nonsense,’ he said, disappointing me. ‘It’s pouring down, and this’ll be dry before you know it. Stay and try to forget it happened.’

  She tutted. ‘Cider! – on French silk! I doubt the rain could make it worse. Ugh! My drycleaners aren’t open tomorrow. Well, I’m not sitting here smelling so vile.’

  Thom Smiled. ‘Whatever you wish.’

  She pouted and moved towards the door.

  ‘How long will you be?’ he asked, following her.

  ‘I hope no more than an hour.’

  They disappeared together out the Great Hall, turning towards the main entrance. From that moment my eyes consistently revisited the door, checking for his return. Meanwhile I sat next to Frances with Terry by her. Opposite were Jan and Geoffrey, who agreed that Carla was completely out of line.

  Thom didn’t return and eventually Dan went to his office looking for him, but reappeared saying he wasn’t there.

  ‘Did you check the De Morgan Gallery?’ I asked.

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘So it wasn’t locked?’ I leant forward.

  ‘No.’ He looked baffled. ‘Why would it be?’

  ‘No reason, I guess. And the window shutters?’

  ‘What about them?’

  ‘Nothing.’ I pursed my lips.

  Stacey was eyeing us both suspiciously. ‘Can it be locked then?’ she asked. ‘Because I’d like it if it was. I’d feel better.’

  ‘Thom has the key to it,’ Dan replied. ‘I’ll ask him though, when he makes an appearance.’

  Geoffrey made himself and Jan some tea, which was available on the drinks table. To which Dan joked that this wasn’t a tea party. We all sat uncomfortably silent with one another as Geoffrey and Jan slurped their hot drinks. What broke the ice was the re-entrance of Mike and Amy, looking vastly altered to when they left. Moreover, Amy was in tears.

  ‘We got to our car,’ panted Mike, ‘and found the windscreen badly cracked down the driver’s side. Couldn’t see a thing out of it. Plenty of other cars were okay – why did it have to be ours? We saw that woman leaving, the one in the red dress – didn’t we, love? Her car was alright, but she still looked furious as she sped away. So, we’ve come back to dry off until our breakdown service arrives.’

  All this propelled a few other guests who’d driven to the party to say their goodbyes quickly.

  ‘We’d better get you both dry as possible,’ said Frances. ‘It’s too hard keeping warm in this old house as it is. Maybe I can find some towels.’

  ‘We’ve only got tea towels!’ Mrs Evans interjected.

  ‘I may be able to acquire a couple,’ I said, seeing how Mike and Amy shivered.

  ‘Yes,’ muttered the old battle-axe. ‘Someone has friends in high places!’ She raised her eyes to the double-height ceiling of the grand room. ‘And dark places, too.’

  I headed for Thom’s office, finding it empty and his door ajar. I went round to the stairwell that I’d once climbed soaked through myself, remembering how close I’d felt to Thom that day.

  ‘Thom?’ I called, knocking at his apartment door.

  Silence.

  I tried the handle and it opened. It was pitch-black. I switched on the light.

  ‘Thom, are you up here?’

  With no response I hurried to his bathroom. I didn’t feel that uncomfortable taking his things without asking. I was sure he wouldn’t scold me genuinely for it. If nothing else, I hoped we were good friends.

  I handed the towels to Frances who showed the couple to the toilets. Then I walked the corridor encompassing the courtyard in a full square, wondering how things came to this. I’d foreseen talking to Thom at the party, recapturing moments lost in recent weeks. How I never imagined he would bring a date and I suffer Mark turning up. Speaking of which.

  ‘Hey, Alex.’

  ‘Hi, Mark. I was just heading back to the Hall.’

  ‘Hang on,’ he said, taking hold of my arm. ‘You do know I came here hoping you’d give me another chance.’

  ‘To be frank, I really hoped that wasn’t the case. I’m just not–’

  ‘I think you’re still a bit angry, Alex, that’s all. And I get it, I do. But maybe it’s a waste of time staying angry. Love and hate are just opposite sides of the same coin, you know.’

  Some might see this as romantic; I saw it as a problem. I hid my smile and gently pulled my arm free of his hand.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I said apologetically, ‘but I just don’t feel that way about you now. I won’t change my mind.’

  He looked put out, annoyed even, as if I’d been leading him on.

  ‘Mark, I don’t know what Stacey said when inviting you along, but you should doubt what she says when talking about my feelings.’

  ‘Fine.’ He tightened his jaw, looking away. ‘I’m gonna get going then.’

  ‘I think that’s probably best.’

  ‘You know, Alex, I really did like you. I made one little mistake and then said sorry. Why are you being like this? It’s not like you’ve got blokes lined up around the corner waiting to go out with you.’

  ‘So, I should just go out with anyone who takes an interest?’

  ‘I’m not anyone, Alex. And I’m probably the best you’re gonna get.’

  I realised something very worrying. Mark reminded me of Owen – not in looks, but personality. How had I never realised before?

  He shook his head and walked off.

  I scanned the corridors, almost expecting to see Thom standing in one of them looking at me vexingly. He wasn’t there. An image of him and Carla-Louise laughing together entered my head and I almost shed a tear.

  I returned to the Great Hall feeling deflated.

  ‘There’s something very different about this house,’ I heard Jan say, as I made my way back to where everybody sat. She looked up and around the Great Hall, with hands clasping a fresh mug of tea, and her flesh-coloured plastic ears still attached to the sides of her head.

  ‘You’re telling me,’ I said in a reflex.

  ‘You’ve seen and heard things, have you?’

  ‘There have been some odd things happening lately that no one can explain.’

  ‘What like?’

  ‘Like–’ I paused and thought best not to mention the ghostly hammering sounds. I tried to think of an example less grim.

  ‘Like,’ began Dan, ‘a visitor complained this morning that the fireplace growled at her.’

  Everyone’s eyes leapt to where Dan pointed. Stacey’s glued there.

  ‘But I’m sure she must’ve imagined it,’ I said
.

  Geoffrey turned to his wife, who was just as grey and wrinkled. ‘What do you mean when you say the house is different?’ His glasses steamed up where he held his hot tea beneath. ‘Different from how it used to be, or just from other houses?’

  ‘I remember it from the last time I came here,’ she answered him. ‘It used to feel so friendly. Now it feels like it’s got a nasty game to play!’ She pulled her shoulders in. ‘There’s a dark feeling about it.’

  Stacey’s eyes filled with fear.

  It surprised me to hear silent Su utter coolly, ‘This isn’t helpful.’ as she stood looking out the window.

  ‘Humph!’ carped Mrs Evans, attempting her third mince pie. ‘It’s had a dark feeling about it for a while now, let me tell you! And I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s noticed.’

  Su looked at Doreen and then to Stacey. ‘Don’t fret.’

  ‘I’m bored,’ moaned Lee, pulling out his phone to play a game.

  ‘I used to visit this house when I was a small girl, from down in the village,’ said Jan. ‘We called it the haunted mansion.’

  ‘Perhaps we shouldn’t talk about this now?’ I interposed.

  ‘Oh, we didn’t see anything,’ Jan defended herself. ‘They were just stories put about by the adults to keep you away from such places.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ asked Geoffrey. ‘Why would adults want to keep you away, and from what places?’ He shook his head impatiently.

  ‘None of the children admitted to seeing the ghosts, but they were told stories by their parents. The children always said mummy or daddy saw a shadow lurking in the gardens.’ She gesticulated. ‘Or up at the windows, or down by the Shockers. Quite rightly too they should try to keep their children away, because of the murder.’

  ‘Murder?’ repeated Mrs Evans. Her ears popped up like toast. ‘What murder?’

  ‘I wouldn’t have been ten years old when it happened. They never caught him.’

  ‘That’s sexist,’ blurted Dan, sipping on his beer. ‘Many a woman has killed.’

  Mel elbowed him.

  ‘Not like that.’ Jan shook her head. ‘A woman couldn’t kill like that.’

  ‘Oh please stop!’ Stacey pleaded, with tears visible on her cheeks.

  ‘Yeah, leave it out,’ said Darren, rubbing her back.

  Lee stared at Jan. ‘How’d they die?’

  Jan was about to speak. As she drew breath to do so, all the lights went out.

  Seventeen

  BLIND

  ‘Thou didst, as one, who, journeying through the darkness, hears a light behind, that profits not himself, but makes his followers wise.’

  – Dante Alighieri, Purgatorio

  Some might imagine there was a scream, a whimper, perhaps even a death or two in the darkness. In that first thirty seconds – which is rather a long time when trapped in a pitch-black, haunted old mansion – no one spoke, moved, or cried out. Stacey may have fainted, but who could tell? Dan broke the silence first.

  ‘Must be a blackout.’

  ‘No, it can’t be!’ cried Mrs Evans.

  ‘It is,’ I said, looking out the bay window, which had a good view of the main road. ‘All the streetlamps are out. I can’t see any cars on the road either.’

  I heard her shuffling my way. It was easy to distinguish her tread: quick steps in stout heels. She bumped into me, huffing, as if I deliberately got in her path. I could make out her sturdy figure while she stood so close against the glass. Fuzzy gleams of light bounced back and forth off the panes, making up the slightest glimmer in the darkened Hall, as my eyes adjusted to it.

  ‘How long do you fink this’ll last?’ Courtney piped up.

  Mrs Evans scoffed, ‘How long’s a piece of string! I’m glad my friends couldn’t make it now. So many had the good sense to cancel at the last minute.’

  ‘Wonderful! Just wonderful!’ exclaimed Geoffrey. ‘This is the perfect finish, Jan, to all your ghost stories. – Jan? – Jan?’

  ‘Where is she?’ Dan asked. ‘Have you found her?’

  ‘Oh, Christ!’ he cried.

  ‘What is it?’ asked numerous voices.

  ‘I put my damn fingers in her tea! Frigging boiling! Jan, is this you?’

  ‘Geoff?’

  ‘Yes, I’m here. Now sit up. What are you doing? Did you fall? Faint?’

  ‘No, I – I was thinking about that murder when the lights went out. I got down onto the floor, in case I fell off the chair.’

  Stacey had since been breathing heavily and sobbing, but keeping her panic fairly controlled. With each howl of the wind and crash of rain on the windows, her audible terror increased. ‘Where’s Frances? Where’s she gone?’

  ‘She’ll be back soon, Stace,’ I told her. ‘It’ll be okay.’

  ‘No it won’t!’ she cried.

  ‘Use your phones for light,’ yelled Dan, as a small white beam pierced the blackness yards away. It barely made a difference to the rest of the grand room.

  ‘I haven’t even got my phone!’ snapped Stacey. ‘It’s in my bag in the staffroom.’

  ‘Mine too,’ I said.

  ‘I’ve got mine,’ said Darren. ‘Come on, Stace, I’ve got you.’ Using his phone he lit the space between them. ‘It’ll be alright – although, I haven’t got much power left.’

  ‘Oh!’ she sobbed hard. ‘It won’t be alright! Not while we’re in this place. I want to go home. I want to leave right now!’

  ‘Oh, Stacey, for heaven’s sake, calm down!’ Mrs Evans insisted.

  ‘I could search about for torch,’ said Geoffrey. ‘Could someone sit with my wife until I get back?’

  ‘I’ll take care of her, Geoffrey,’ Su volunteered. ‘Is this you, Jan? You’re like a twig!’

  We heard Geoffrey feeling his way along the darkened hallway. Dan began offering to fetch people drinks using his phone to guide him. Meanwhile Terry asked if Frances would be able to find her way back to the Hall okay, as he didn’t know the building to go and fetch her. Stacey continued sobbing while Darren consoled her. His light very soon went out and Lee used his in its place.

  ‘Doesn’t anyone else have their phone?’ asked Darren.

  ‘Actually,’ said Dan, ‘I’m not sure we should run our batteries low considering we might be stuck in here for a while. I mean, it’s torrential out there. I’m not driving in that with no streetlight. We may need to make calls later.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Terry. ‘I’m turning mine off. I’d rather sit in the dark for five minutes.’

  ‘But the power might not come back on in five minutes!’ grumbled Mrs Evans.

  ‘I didn’t mean it literally.’

  She huffed. ‘Well, I’d use my phone but it’s in my handbag.’

  ‘I want to get out of here!’ cried Stacey. ‘If I can’t drive in this, I’ll just sit in my car.’

  ‘Don’t be such a baby!’ uttered Lee, his phone light waning until the darkness swallowed it up completely, and the room was utterly black again.

  ‘We’re better off in here, Stace.’

  I thought I might escape to search for Frances and find out if she was still with Mike and Amy. Last I knew they were in the toilets. Now Geoffrey was somewhere in the house too. Not to mention my –

  ‘Is everyone alright?’ Thom’s voice was firm.

  ‘Thom,’ I whispered in relief.

  ‘Rues, there you are!’ exclaimed Dan.

  ‘Don’t come in here!’ griped Mrs Evans, before stuttering a little. ‘It– it’s much too crowded as it is!’

  ‘Mrs Evans, we’re in the Great Hall!’ I reminded her.

  ‘Is Carla back?’ asked Dan.

  ‘If she were, Dan, you’d regret shortening her name.’

  Frances re-entered the Hall – her clunky heals trekked cautiously into the room. ‘We made it,’ she said. ‘Everybody – I have Amy and Mike with me.’

  We heard nothing of them for a few minutes, until chairs scraped on the floor as they felt their way over and
sat down.

  ‘Fran?’ Terry called out to his wife, ‘where are you?’

  ‘I’m over here. Were you going to come and find me?’

  ‘And waste my phone battery?’ He laughed. ‘Not a chance. You know this place better than me.’

  We all expected the lights to come back on any minute. Mike quietly whispered to his fiancée, trying to keep her calm. Suddenly he raised his voice to the room –

  ‘Is there no other lighting anywhere in this place?’

  ‘I’m not aware of any,’ answered Thom.

  ‘Shouldn’t you be doing something useful, Thomas,’ lanced Mrs Evans, ‘like checking the fuse boxes? Maybe one of those has been tripped and it controls all the lights around here!’

  ‘A fuse box in here which controls all the lights, including the streetlamps on the main road?’ He laughed subtly. ‘Is that how it works then?’

  ‘I don’t know how it works, do I! Do I look like an engineer?’

  ‘Certainly not,’ he replied. ‘But rest assured, it’s no blown fuse or tripped breaker from in here.’

  It was odd that Thom’s voice came back at me from all different corners of the Great Hall. It made me feel a little dizzy. He was so talented, I had no doubt he was capable of throwing his voice. I just found it puzzling why he would. The only other explanation was that he moved about the room, as if searching for something. But what?

  ‘I should probably know this, but is there no emergency generator?’ asked Mike.

  ‘Afraid not.’

  ‘How stupid!’ declared Mrs Evans.

  ‘Yes, most ridiculous,’ Thom replied, ‘because of all the brain surgery and heart operations that go on here. Why on earth didn’t they prepare better?’

  She sighed heavily.

  Mike interjected, ‘I take it we’re on the same distribution grid as the local neighbourhood then, are we?’

  ‘The very same, yes,’ Thom confirmed. ‘They’re as powerless as us – no pun intended.’

  ‘What about the phone lines?’

  ‘Conventional phone lines would run on their own power supply, but the phones here are cordless and require AC power to operate.’