There won’t be a second chance, not for Lisa at any rate, and the moment Sarah realised what she was about to do, Judy had no doubt that she would put a stop to it.
In the bedroom, the two bodies were as they’d left them. It was difficult to look at Adrian. The skin was ghastly and pale and contrasted with the rich dark red from the wound on his neck. As she approached him, she tried not to think of the smell from the butcher’s counter at Tesco after new trays of meat had been brought on display.
She found what she was looking for in Adrian’s trouser pocket. The silver lighter, a gift from his father. She wondered if the lighter was the reason he’d never tried to give up smoking. Giving up smoking would give him precious little opportunity to use the one gift his father had given him. It was a connection to his past that he wasn’t ready to let go. Now that she had it in her hand, she saw on the flip side to the initials, a message had been engraved.
Endurance
The shadows moved and Sarah was standing at the far end of the room. Judy darted for the cot and snatched up both the teddy bears. They were dry to the touch, and lumpy in her hands as the remaining stuffing shifted. The mice had done a grand old job on these.
Sarah’s reaction was instantaneous. She strode from the shadows; her face twisted in rage.
Judy flicked open the lighter and spun the flint wheel. Sparks came but no light. She tried again, her heart sinking as she remembered the trouble Adrian had had with it that night at the restaurant. But she wasn’t about to give up now. On her third attempt, a flame appeared. Sarah froze. Judy positioned the flame under the teddy bears, her intention clear.
“I’ll do it. Don’t think I won’t.”
Sarah didn’t speak, her twisted features revealed all that needed saying.
“Let Lisa go,” Judy demanded.
A noise from below, falling, closely followed by a cry for help.
You can do this, Judy told herself. You’ve got the power. Don’t screw up.
Judy backed slowly from the room. “Don’t follow me or these go up in flames. I know you don’t want that to happen.”
No, because that would end your fantasy about having your children back with you, wouldn’t it?
It was like slipping on ice. Judy fell to the floor, her feet dragging behind her. Sarah would not let her go without making her pay for her interference.
But Judy still had her trump card in her hands, and she flicked the flint wheel on the lighter again, delighted when an inch-high flame ignited. Without warning this time, she brought the bears to the flames and watched as the flame quickly caught.
“You could have let me go,” she said, then tossed the flaming bears back into the cot where the flames accelerated.
“NO!” Sarah raced to the cot where she uselessly tried to put the flames out.
Judy turned to run and almost collided with Lisa entering the room. Lisa’s expression was determined. Whatever feelings she’d had for her mother upon finding out what had happened to her, had surely changed.
The vibrations started again through the floor, riding up through Judy’s legs. Something was happening. A crack appeared in the wall to Judy’s right. She flinched as pieces of plasterboard fell from the ceiling. A larger chunk fell on Lisa’s head, fragmenting into dust.
“We’ve got to go,” Judy said, griping Lisa’s arm.
The bedroom door slammed shut. Sarah looked up from the burning cot. Her face thunderous. She was shaking her head. “I’m not losing you again.”
Judy tried the door. The heat from the fire was raising the room’s temperature uncomfortably. If they couldn’t get out of the room, they would have to put out the fire before it got out of control. The flames were already higher than the sides of the cot. It had grown faster than Judy would have thought possible. The crackling as it bit into the wooden slats of the cot made Judy wince and amid the flames, she could barely distinguish the remnants of the children’s bears.
“Stop it, Mum. Let us go.”
Suddenly, with the same invisible force that Sarah had utilised before, Lisa was flung sideways into the wall. She cried in pain. Judy noticed Lisa’s hands reaching for her stomach, then before she could rush to help, pressure grew around Judy’s throat. Invisible fingers squeezed the life from her.
“Stop, Sarah,” Judy gasped. “What about my daughter? Your granddaughter needs me.” It was a desperate plea from one mother to another, but there was nothing on Sarah’s face other than plain acceptance that this was how things would be. It was getting difficult to breathe. Each gasp of air became a struggle, and the light faded from the edge of her vision, creeping in like the shadows. She wondered whether an Almost Door would appear for her, but she wasn’t about to pass over to the other side without a fight.
Lisa was sitting on the floor, one hand on her neck, the other touching her stomach. Judy thought she was trying to say something.
Smoke from the fire was rising and spreading across the room making Judy’s eyes water. Lisa pushed herself up from the floor.
The hand was back to her stomach and Judy realised there was more going on there than indigestion.
“Mum, I’m pregnant. Don’t do this. You don’t want to kill us both.”
Sarah paused.
The pressure around Judy’s throat vanished and Judy hurried to stand beside Lisa.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s true. I went for a scan last week. I’m thirteen weeks pregnant,” she said, looking at Judy, glancing across at her dead mother to see her reaction. “It’s Ellis’s.”
“Ellis’s?”
“We got drunk and stupid. Swore we wouldn’t mention it again. I haven’t told him about this yet.” She patted her stomach.
Judy embraced Lisa, her heart beating so fast, she could feel it as their bodies pressed together. When they separated, Sarah seemed different. Her face had softened, the rage subsided.
“I won’t stay, Mum. I need to be here for my baby. You know what it’s like to lose your children. Mine isn’t even born yet. You’ve got to give me a chance to give it a good life. A life you’d want it to have. I know you just want me to be with you, as if that will somehow make up for the life together we never had, but despite what Dad did, I had a good life. It’s not something to be ashamed of. But taking my life now, just so we can be together, means sacrificing the life of your grandchild. You don’t want to do that.”
In her head, Judy commended the speech, but she didn’t know whether there was enough left of Sarah’s mind to rationalise Lisa’s argument.
“You don’t have to be alone,” Lisa said. “You have Phil with you. I promise I won’t try to shut you out of my life. I’ve spent all my life wondering who you were and I hate that I will never get to know you, but perhaps it’s enough that I can now find out about you.”
The cold expression on Sarah’s face evaporated and whilst a smile didn’t materialise, there was a look of calm that hadn’t been there before. Perhaps after what they’d been through, that would be enough.
Like rainwater fading after the sun comes out, Sarah melted away, leaving nothing behind.
For a moment, Lisa and Judy stood there, watching the space where the ghost had been, not quite believing she had gone.
Judy coughed at the smoke. The whole cot was ablaze now, the flames were licking the ceiling.
“We need to get out of here,” Judy said and ran for the bedroom door. It clicked and swung open on her approach and she thought she glimpsed Phil across the landing before his image too vanished.
Was that the end of it? Judy dared to hope that it would be.
Outside, Judy took one last look back at the house, the flames now visible through the windows, and thought she saw two figures standing in the bedroom window, surrounded by the fire that was quickly taking hold of the house.
She turned to Lisa. “We will need help. There are two dead bodies inside. I don’t think the police will believe that a ghost did that. I need to make a phone call.
”
46
Judy’s phone call had been to the Vigilance group. The paranormal investigation society that had existed for over a century, keeping the world safe from those that would seek to use the paranormal against humanity.
But the fire engines arrived first. By the time they did, the house was in the final throes of its descent into a burnt-out shell. Judy had watched alongside Lisa as the fire fighters contained the fire, making sure the flames didn’t spread into the surrounding woodland.
It took the fire fighters less than an hour to dampen the flames and that was enough time for the first of the Vigilance vans to arrive. Judy had hoped that Seth would show his face, but the figure that stepped from the lead vehicle was unexpected.
Olivia Gwinn approached as two of her entourage headed to intercept the fire chief that was getting ready to wave the vans back down the dirt track.
“Good to see you again, Mrs Doyle,” Olivia said. The woman looked sterner than she’d remembered, if that was even possible, and Judy felt her back twinge as she straightened.
“I wasn’t expecting you to turn up.”
Olivia frowned. “You asked for our help. Who were you expecting?”
Judy had hoped that Malc would have been able to pass a message onto Seth and get him to meet them here, or failing that, for Malc to show up himself. The last person she expected was the mysterious leader of the Vigilance Society. What did it imply that neither of her friends were here?
“I had hoped that Seth might—”
“He’s indisposed. And even if he wasn’t, he’s not experienced enough to handle this.”
“Excuse me, but who the hell are you?” Lisa stood looking exasperated at the newcomer. She and Judy had both been encouraged to move further away from the burning building, but Lisa had only begrudgingly allowed the fire fighters to move her at all, and the moment they were left to their own devices, Lisa had been the first of the pair to lead the way back.
If Olivia was bothered by Lisa’s abruptness, she didn’t show it, her implacably calm exterior remained cool as she introduced herself. “And what the hell is this?” Lisa continued. “Where are the police? My dad’s been killed inside that house.”
“The police will be attending shortly, after we’re finished here. I take it you are Lisa Doyle, daughter of Adrian.”
Lisa nodded. “How do you know that?”
“It was all in Mrs Doyle’s report.” Olivia regarded her like she was a child needing everything explaining to them slowly and carefully. “And I’m not sure it’s a good idea that you remain here.” She directed her attention to Judy. “Is the entity handled?”
“I think so. It vanished.” Judy brought Olivia up to speed with the events of the last few days, taking care to talk respectfully about Adrian, aware that his daughter still hadn’t fallen into full shock.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Olivia said to Lisa. Two men came over from one of the Vigilance vans. They conferred in private with Olivia before hurrying back over to their van, phones in hands.
“What’s going on?” Judy asked.
“We need to ensure that the area is secure. We’ve held back the police, but there are reporters on the way. We’re laying down a cover story for what’s happened here.”
“And that would be?”
“Mr Doyle and Mr Hodgson came to view this house on the premise that it would become Mr Hodgson’s retirement property. He’d come to view the house when he noticed a gas leak from a badly installed gas fire. Unfortunately, in attempting to repair the damage himself, he accidentally caused a gas explosion that led to the house going up in flames. Both men were killed instantly in the initial explosion.”
“But there hasn’t been an explosion, and their throats have been cut,” Judy began, then realised how insensitive she’d sounded, she lowered her voice. “How will the police explain that?”
“There hasn’t been an explosion yet… and afterwards we’ll be removing the bodies, taking them to our facility for the post-mortem. The police won’t get the opportunity to view anything that would contradict our story. Trust me, it’s better this way.”
Lisa looked like she was about to start a fight, but Judy put her hand on her arm and nodded. “She’s right. It sucks, but what good will ever come from allowing the truth to come out now? The police can’t arrest a ghost.”
Lisa shook her head and wandered away from Judy, heading back towards the dirt track. Judy wanted to hurry after her, but she held back. What else could she say to her that would take any of the pain away? The poor woman had just discovered that the ghosts that had been tormenting her had been her brother and the biological mother she’d been so desperate to track down. Add into the mix her father had allowed her mother to die in the hours after giving birth and that was enough to keep her in therapy for decades.
“Thank you for coming,” Judy said. “I don’t know what I’d have done if the police had showed up.”
“This is what we do. You don’t need to thank me.”
“I feel I do.”
“What was it like in there?”
“Intense,” Judy resisted the urge to shiver. “I didn’t think we would get out alive. Sarah wanted us both dead.”
“Well, good work in getting out.”
“I had something else to ask. It’s about Seth.”
Olivia’s eyes narrowed. “I’m afraid Seth’s been working very hard for us.”
“But I’ve not heard from him since he went to work with you. It’s not like him.”
“You haven’t known him very long have you?”
“I guess not.”
“You met him at Ravenmeols. Then after letting you think he was dead, you were together during the Adam Cowl business with the painting.”
Judy didn’t care for Olivia’s tone.
“You know this.”
“My point is, it’s not a long time is it? You’re more acquaintances than friends, aren’t you?”
“That’s not how I see it.”
“But that’s how Seth sees it. He’s got a lot of important cases to work on and to be honest, I’d prefer it if you didn’t continue to press the issue. I’m sure when he becomes free again, he’ll reach out.”
“The collection?”
“His uncle’s collection is being well taken care of. Don’t worry about that. Now, if there’s nothing else, I’d suggest you run along after your friend. The police will be here soon, and it might be easier for everyone if you give us the time to lay down our story.”
Judy looked up the dirt track after Lisa’s departing figure, then back again at Olivia. Nothing about this felt right, but the moment she’d brought Vigilance into this, it was out of her hands.
“I’m sure we’ll meet again,” she said to Olivia, and Olivia smiled.
Yes, this was far from over, Judy thought.
47
Judy was sitting on a bench outside the hospital, watching patients come and go through the main entrance. The sun was out for the first time that week after a stretch of miserable rain and Judy closed her eyes, soaking up every last ray of warmth.
It had been three months since the fire at the caravan park and there hadn’t been a sign that Sarah or Phil were haunting her own house. Lisa said that occasionally, she’d glimpse her mother in the mirror at her own home, but the presence was always accompanied by a warm feeling of peace. Sarah had done trying to pull Lisa into her realm and was content to watch Lisa’s small family develop naturally.
Olivia had kept to her word and Vigilance had protected Judy and Lisa from the fallout of the fire. Their cover story about the gas explosion had held and there was never any police questioning regarding the fake adoption nor the true manner of the men’s deaths. She’d asked Malc about how they could do that, influence the police investigation in such a way. She’d always assumed that the Vigilance Society were truly secret, treading around the outskirts of the establishment. But perhaps that was an erroneous assumption to make. Vigilanc
e were more influential than Olivia Gwinn had suggested and Judy didn’t know how she should feel about that. Malc had been little help when she’d questioned him about it. In fact, he’d looked apprehensive and tired, and suggested that it would be better if she tried to keep away from the society and let them do their own thing.
As for Richard, Judy had sent flowers to his funeral but didn’t attend, figuring that his widow would be keeping an eye out for any single females in attendance. She’d had to change her mobile number as his wife did not let up with the harassing text messages and phone calls. She didn’t blame her for acting that way, and the Judy didn’t think the guilt surrounding Richard’s death would ever leave her. His death was her fault. She was certain of it. If she hadn’t been so quick to jump into bed with him, Phil wouldn’t have done whatever it was he’d done to scare the man into a heart attack.
After Adrian’s funeral, Judy had attended a private interment with Malc and Lisa. Sarah’s remains had been found by the Vigilance team buried under the patio behind the holiday house at the caravan site. Adrian must have gone back to the house shortly after taking the twins away to clean up the evidence and sow the seeds for the story of her disappearance. During the service, Lisa had spoken to Sarah, her hands on the growing bump in front of her, telling her mother that she was expecting a baby boy and that she was undecided on the name.
“Hey,” Lisa’s voice startled Judy. Her sister-in-law sat down beside her on the bench, a smile on her face.
“How did it go?”
“Baby’s fine. More than fine. They say he’s going to be a big’un. Not sure I’m quite ready for that challenge at this time of life, but I’ll take healthy any day of the week.”
“That’s excellent. I’m so pleased.” Judy reached for Lisa’s hand and squeezed it. “You will be an awesome mum.”
“I’ll have to be. I’m not going to lie, it’s not panning out how I’d expected it to be. Ellis is still being a dick.”
Ellis had moved out of the house and was no longer working at the same marketing firm. He’d taken the news that he would be a dad pretty well considering, but he would not take an active part in the baby’s life.
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