Jennifer drove in a trance, clipping the footpath when she took a corner, and crossing traffic lights blindly as she followed the drivers ahead. How could a four-year-old boy make the two mile journey to the boathouse in half an hour? Turning right, she took the road marked ‘Shady Pines’ and parked at the entrance to walk to the cabin. Looming pine trees flanked the path to the river, their branches bowed with snow. She blinked against the glare as she followed the double set of footprints to the boathouse. Her quickening breath rose in visible puffs as she buttoned her coat against the biting cold. It felt like she was walking in someone’s dream, a snow globe forest frozen in time. The only noise was the fresh snow being crushed underfoot as she walked to the door of the cabin.
She stomped her feet, scattering crumbs of snow across the front decking of the cabin. The cold ice found its way into her shoes and melted between her toes. Father Kelly's voice rose from inside.
'We're in here, Jennifer,' he said.
She slowly walked in, her shadow falling ahead of her. The gloomy wooden walls seemed to breathe with a vibration of negativity, and there was an audible hum in the air. It was as if the boathouse was alive. ‘Hello?’ Jennifer called out, waiting to hear Josh’s footsteps running across the varnished wooden floorboards.
Father Kelly stood by the stone fireplace, his arms folded. ‘Close the door,’ he said stiffly. She glanced at the grandfather clock in the corner, it’s hands frozen at exactly one thirty.
‘Where's Joshua?’ she asked, her eyes darting around the room.
‘They did a good job rebuilding this place after the fire. You’d never imagine it had been burnt to the ground,’ Father Kelly said, as he turned and cracked his knuckles.
36 Chapter Thirty-six
‘Joshua didn’t come here by himself, did he, Father?’ Jennifer said, the snowy footprints outside having told her as much already. ‘Now, are you going to tell me where my nephew is, or do I have to find him myself?’
‘Why, he's right here.’ Father Kelly walked to the adjoining bedroom door and opened it slightly, allowing Jennifer to peep inside at the blond-haired boy reading a book. Entranced, his lips moved as he read the words, but he did not appear to hear her.
Jennifer opened her mouth to speak, and the door closed before her. ‘We’ve got some business to take care of first,’ Father Kelly said, taking her by the elbow.
'To hell with you.' Jennifer reached for the door handle to take Joshua home. She pulled back her hand as the hot metal burnt her skin. Her head snapped upwards in surprise and Father Kelly shoved her towards the soft leather chair, his face graced with a cunning smile. With a frantic heart, she stared into the empty hollowness in his eyes, wondering if any part of the gentle priest had been left inside. Calling for Joshua, she was greeted with silence.
‘He can’t hear you. Now sit down before I hurt someone.’ The slick voice confirmed what Jennifer already knew.
‘I know who you are,’ Jennifer hissed, as she was backed towards the chair.
The priest’s clerical attire contrasted strangely with his twisted features, contorted in a sneer. ’So tell me, who am I?’
‘You’re a pathetic coward who used Father Kelly to kill people just to get to me. If you even think of harming Josh I’ll finish you off, do you hear me?’
‘Fighting talk, given that you are a mortal and I am immortal.’
‘I am more than you think and I can end you,’ Jennifer spat, prodding the cold air with her finger. She wanted to stand to deliver the words but Father Kelly loomed over her, his frame married to a graveyard darkness rising from his body.
He jabbed his thumb back at the bedroom door, delivering his words in a fit of rage. ‘And I can end your brat in there, so shut the fuck up before I kill you both.’ Jennifer slumped in the armchair, hope dissipating like sand through her fingers.
‘That’s better. What’s a man got to do to get a little respect around here?’ He tugged on his clerical collar as the room grew dim.
Crippled with the fear of losing Joshua, Jennifer desperately tried to invoke guidance from the other side. She transmitted a tendril of thought, and a bolt of pain ripped through her skull as the entity before her intervened. She clasped her throbbing forehead. ‘Ahh! How can you stand there mimicking a good man? At least show yourself, Grim Reaper, Frank, or whoever you are.’ She sensed something outside her periphery nagging like an unanswered phone.
Father Kelly's ice-cold fingers gripped her hand, infiltrating her thoughts with images of a terror-stricken Joshua being dragged from the room. A knife glinted against his throat. ‘That’s enough!’ she screamed, pulling her hand away. ‘You can have what you want, but only if you release Josh.’
‘All in good time.’
Jennifer felt another tug outside of her consciousness. Someone was coming. But they were not strong enough to protect her from what lay ahead. The best she could hope for was to save the child whom she loved more than her own life. The humming grew louder and she flinched as the priest touched her hair.
‘It was quite a surprise to discover we're both the same. Spawned from loveless parents and rejected by our peers, we never had a chance to be accepted in their world. You're not one of them. But you've never failed to disappoint me. Do you want to know something? When your body grows old I can make you immortal. We are destined to be gods. Can’t you feel it?’
‘I am not you, I’m nothing like you,’ Jennifer said, with a tremor in her voice.
‘But you have a touch of death about you, wouldn't you say? Who do you think is responsible for the demise of all those poor people?’
Jennifer whispered the words, ‘Father Kelly.’
The priest threw back his head and laughed. ‘It’s been a long time since I had such a good chuckle. I’d forgotten what it’s like.’ He wiped the corner of his eye. ‘You disappoint me, Jennifer, I really thought you would have worked it out by now. Father Kelly was not my host. I met him when he tried to exorcise me from another of my steeds. Well, you can see how that worked out, can’t you? He proved useful when I visited Sam in prison, but he gives me only a temporary home. Far too much godliness in this body, it makes me sick. No, someone far darker led the executions.’
Jennifer searched her mind for answers. ‘I don’t understand. If Father Kelly isn’t responsible then who is?’
The priest opened his arms, his smile wide as he delivered the news. ‘Why you are, my dear.’
Jennifer recoiled in horror. ‘No, you’re lying. It’s not true!’
Father Kelly leaned over her, gripping the armrests on each side. She shrank back in the chair to avoid his rancid breath, the same rotting smell that accompanied every encounter.
‘Don’t deny the darkness in you, it's beautiful. Remember when you prayed for the death of your father? That’s when I entered your soul. I came here looking for revenge against your mother, but when I heard your sweet prayer, my disappointment at her death soon vanished away. At first I wanted to kill you, but then I discovered you were more of a prize than I could ever imagine.’
Jennifer thought back over the recent weeks. The back door left open, the scratches, how she had known that Joan and Shelley were dead long before she got there. She clasped a hand over her mouth as she retched.
‘Don’t worry, I’ve helped you cover them up. After all, you’re no good to me in prison. No good at all.’ Father Kelly locked his fingers as he stretched. ‘Your manipulation of Johnny was a joy to behold. You even brought the rope from your shed, all knotted in preparation. It's a shame you couldn't have stayed to watch the floor show.’
Jennifer shook her head in disbelief. ‘But you spoke to me in custody.’
‘You weren't going to listen to me any other way. All the others were puppets, but you were always destined to be my true host.’
‘Charlie?’ Jennifer wiped her tears with the back of her hand, as her voice broke into a sob.
‘Of course. By the time Charlie drank the whiskey you bought,
he didn't feel a thing. Spontaneous combustion is a trick I learned from a prison friend and you took to it beautifully.’
‘Lies, it’s all lies,’ Jennifer said, watching the half man, half entity as his eyes gleamed fiendishly.
‘Don’t deny what you’ve seen for yourself. Remember walking Shelly to the bridge? It was quite amusing watching you pointing to your image on the CCTV, wondering who it was,’ he cackled, savoring every moment. ‘As for Joan and her annoying dog, she got such a fright when she saw you again, she had a heart attack on the spot. Levitation is an excellent way of breaking the ice, don’t you think?’
Jennifer threaded her fingers through her hair, grasping the tendrils from the roots, as if the pain would summon her from the nightmare. But when she raised her head, the priest was still there, she was still in this godforsaken room, and she was still accountable. ‘I can’t … remember.’
‘I’d love to help you, but this really isn’t the time. Now you know you the truth, perhaps that puts a different slant on things. After all, do you really deserve to live a so-called normal life after killing all those people?’
Jennifer shook her head in response, dry washing her hands, tainted with the blood of the innocent. She jumped as fists pounded at the door from outside, and Will called her name.
‘It's time. Surrender yourself wholly to me or I’ll kill the boy right now and take you in your grief,’ the priest’s words came quick fire, and Jennifer knew she was running out of time.
Her heart hammered so fast she wondered if she would die regardless. She had little choice, and she needed to be sure that her nephew would be spared. She wanted to see Josh one last time, but she was frozen to the spot. The pounding grew louder and Will shouted at her to open the door. What would he think of her when he found out what she was?
The priest gave Jennifer a wintry smile. ‘You think he can help you? The more people you involve, the more people will die. Is that what you want?’ He raised his hand and Will fell through the door, frozen in shock as he stared at the unearthly figure before him. The half man, half priest's eyes glinted with evil intentions as a thick mass swelled from his body, threatening to swallow Will's very being.
The stench was overpowering, and Jennifer screamed, breaking the spell. ‘Get Josh out, now!’ As the entity turned to Will, Jennifer transmitted her guarded thoughts to Joshua like a loaded bullet. Snapping out of his trance, Joshua burst through the bedroom door and ran into Will's open arms. ‘Just get him out, I'm behind you,’ Jennifer screamed as Will scooped up the frightened child and ran through the open door. But Jennifer knew escape was futile, and locked the door firmly shut behind him.
Weakened, she dropped to the floor, her knees hitting the hard wood as she emitted a cry of despair.
The floorboards creaked as Father Kelly stood over her, nudging her body with his black leather shoe. ‘I was going to spare you the pain, but after that little trick, you can have it all.’
‘No,’ Jennifer said, her hair falling limply around her face. ‘Just take me. At least if I know there’s something of me inside, then you won’t hurt Josh.’
The priest chortled. ‘I will go as far to say there could be some truth in that. Yes, I will have you, whole and intact. Your body will live a long and well-fucked life. Sound like a deal?’
Jennifer nodded numbly, picking herself up from the floor. Sobs wracked her body as she stood before him, awaiting his instruction.
‘Now my sweet, give me your hands and lower your guard. Soon we will be taking the same breath.’
Jennifer nodded numbly and lowered the wall of protection from her mind. Will was calling from outside her perimeter and her last tear fell with relief as she sensed Josh was safe. The grasp on her hands tightened as the cold black ink of the entity’s being invaded her fingertips. For a moment she lost her sight, falling into darkness as it drowned her with relentless force. Tendrils of hatred found her blood, now under his ownership.
With rapture, he discarded his old steed, finding her organs and mingling his presence with hers, choking all that was pure. He was no longer a puppet master, but alive inside her body, grounding himself to the earth and savouring every moment.
Jennifer fought the urge to claw her throat as his presence slid upwards. Gasping for breath, black spots appeared in her vision as the darkness filtered through her brain. She saw his childhood, his upbringing. His first fumbled sexual encounter and the murders that followed. His life was her life and her heart pounded against her rib cage as her nightmares took flight. Her hands grew numb and moved without her instruction.
As the last of the entity left the priest, Father Kelly fell to the floor; a marionette whose strings had been cut. Jennifer fought to keep her eyes open. It would have been easier to retreat inside her body and hide. Her natural instinct fought her acceptance and rewarded her with agonising pain.
Blue-lipped and ashen-faced, Father Kelly gripped his fingers against the chair, dragging himself upwards. Pulling a small bible from his inside pocket, he began to recite an exorcism. Jennifer's eyes rolled back into her head as she fought the slithering tentacles of evil with all her might. Numb and heavy, she forced her hands to clutch the silver cross around her neck. Between gasping breaths, she whispered the words, ‘I do not accept you,' because she knew the only way to rid herself of the entity was to reject him when he was naked to her world.
The whispers hidden at the back of her mind grew louder as many voices spoke in Latin, casting the entity out. She sank to her knees as light splintered through her being, and she was lifted to the other place. ‘No!’ The entity screamed a torturous cry. ‘You are mine, I will not let you go!’
Jennifer opened her eyes. Father Kelly, her mother and Charlie stood with their palms outward as they radiated light towards her, commanding the being to leave. Jennifer did not care if she was alive or dead, she just wanted the infection removed forever. A thousand maggots of hatred squirmed from inside her as the black tar fought the expanding light.
Caught in two worlds at once, her earthly life hung by a silken wisp. A warm hand touched her hair and caressed her face. ‘Jennifer, stay with me.’ Will’s voice seeped through the thick mist in her mind. She tried to speak, but the words were foul and contemptuous. She groaned in relief as the pain eased, and Father Kelly’s voice brought her back to the other place. ‘Expel him my child. He is spent now.’ Jennifer opened her mouth to vomit and a dark ball of smoke retched upwards, dissipating in the light. The muffled sounds of an ambulance rang in the background and Will’s hand squeezed hers tightly. Jennifer closed her eyes and exhaled, releasing herself to what would be.
37 Chapter Thirty-seven
The IV line tugged on Jennifer’s arm as she tried to move. She turned to see Will in the chair next to her bed, his chin touching his crumpled tie as he snored gently.
‘Will?’ she croaked through dry lips, as she peered around the solitary hospital room.
Will snorted as he woke with a start. ‘You’re awake. How are you feeling?’
‘Awful,’ she said, glancing at the flowers crammed on a small table at the side of her bed.
‘They’re from the office, Amy, your aunt. Everyone’s asking after you. Will I get the nurse?’ Will gestured towards the door.
Jennifer leaned back onto her pillows, the sheets rubbing against the plastic mattress cover. ‘Not yet. Tell me what happened first.’
Will rubbed his eyes. ‘You don’t remember?’
Jennifer shook her head, looking down at her satin pyjamas and wondering who had dressed her for bed. ‘All I remember is getting to the boathouse and finding Father Kelly there with Joshua. I know Josh got out safe, but the rest is a blur.’
‘Josh is fine, don’t worry. After we spoke on the phone, I got this nagging feeling that something was wrong. I drove to the boathouse to check you were OK, but everything was really still. I banged on the door but there was no answer, and when I looked in through the window I could see you were in some k
ind of trouble. It all sounds crazy now … ’ Will shook his head. Jennifer gave him an encouraging nod to continue.
‘I kept banging at the door until I got in, but Father Kelly had a knife. I mean, Father Kelly? I’ve known him all my life. I thought maybe he’d abducted Joshua and you were trying to stop him. But when the door opened and I seen ... I don’t know what I seen, it was like a big black shadow coming out of the priest. I was rooted to the floor, I couldn’t move. Josh ran out and I brought him to my car. I thought you were behind me, but when I turned around you weren’t there. I tried to get back in but it was like banging on a glass dome. By the time I got the door open, you were both in a heap on the ground. The paramedics said it was as if your system had just shut down. They were running all kinds of tests, trying to keep you hydrated, because you couldn’t keep anything down. You spoke a lot in your sleep.’ Will blushed.
Jennifer guessed she had mentioned his name a few times. She hoped she hadn’t spoilt things by calling out to Ethan.
‘Am I going to be OK?’ she wriggled her fingers and toes, relieved to feel life, but not knowing why.
‘Yes, the doctors said you’d be fine. They put you on an IV to boost your fluids. You’ve been drifting in and out of consciousness for the last couple of days.’
Jennifer guessed by Will’s stubble that he had stayed in the hospital since she got there. She could not fault his loyalty, and knew that she never wanted to be without him. She thought of Haven, and wondered what Steph and DI Allison were making of it all.
‘What have you told work?’ Jennifer said.
‘As far as everyone else is concerned, Josh went missing, the priest found him, and you drove there to get him. Something went on between you and Father Kelly, then I turned up and called an ambulance for you both. They’re waiting to speak to you. Joshua said he doesn’t remember, but I’ve got a feeling he knows more than he’s letting on. He’s a very special kid, that one.’
Don't Turn Around: A dark, thrilling, page-turner of a crime novel (Detective Jennifer Knight Crime Thriller Series Book 1) Page 27