by Amy Cross
“Is your husband being an idiot again?” a female voice asked finally.
A faint shiver passed up Jane’s spine.
“Well?” the voice continued. “Is he?”
She nodded.
“Causing endless, needless drama?”
She nodded again.
“And is he going to listen to your advice, or will he just carry on making everything difficult?”
Jane paused for a moment, before turning to see Caitlin Somers sitting on another part of the tree, with all her injuries fresh and visible in the cold evening air.
“I can understand why you’d rather be out here,” Caitlin continued with a faint smile. “I’m not sure your husband would, though. Choosing a dead girl’s company over a mini family reunion? Jack’s just insecure enough to find that a problem, isn’t he?”
“Another girl died,” Jane replied.
“I know,” Caitlin said, as her smile grew.
“Mel Armitage,” Jane continued. “Barmaid, twenties, not too many connections in town. Kind of an unassuming woman who kept herself to herself, not an obvious target. Doesn’t seem to have been promiscuous.”
“I wasn’t promiscuous,” Caitlin pointed out.
“No, but you were young.”
“Is that a crime now?”
“Not yet.”
“But it can be a provocation to some people?”
Jane nodded.
“I take it that there are certain similarities?” Caitlin continued, reaching up and running her fingers around the edges of her chest wound. A gaping hole revealed the cavity where her heart should have been. “You didn’t come out here for shits and giggles, did you?”
Jane shook her head.
“So do you think it’s him again?”
“Who’s he?”
“The man who killed me.”
“What’s his name?”
Caitlin smiled. “Nice try.”
“There are differences,” Jane told her. “For one thing, he broke your neck. Mel’s neck wasn’t broken.”
“Meaning?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Well, why do you think he broke my neck?” Caitlin asked. As if to make her point, she tilted her head slightly, causing a faint crunching sound as a jagged piece of bone pushed against the inside of her lower jaw. “Did it happen in the struggle, or had he planned things out a little more?”
Making her way around the tree, Jane stopped as she got closer to the dead girl.
“Are you real?”
“Am I real?” Caitlin replied with a smile.
“Are you?”
“A real ghost, you mean?”
“Tell me the truth.”
“What else could I be?”
“A figment of my imagination. A way for me to talk things through. For all I know, you could be a symptom of a brain tumor.”
“Huh.” Caitlin paused. “Yeah, I guess that’s possible.”
“Well?”
Another pause. “I’m real. Really here, anyway. A real ghost.”
“Prove it.”
“How?”
“Tell me how you died. Tell me about the man who did this to you. Tell me something I don’t already know!”
Caitlin shook her head.
“Why not?”
Caitlin shrugged.
“Because you’re just part of me?” Jane asked, with a hint of desperation. “It’s true, isn’t it? You’re just my subconscious mind acting up. You’re like a way for me to talk to myself, so I can work through things.”
“Would that make you feel better?”
Jane paused, feeling as if she was on the verge of losing her mind.
“Isn’t there another question you want to ask?” Caitlin asked.
“Such as?”
“How’s Jack?”
“Wound up and tense as ever.”
“Why?”
At this, Jane paused. “Okay, I see where you’re going with this. The man who did this to you. Was it my brother-in-law? Was it Ben Freeman?” She waited for an answer. “Well? Was it?”
Caitlin smiled. “No.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“But are you sure because you’re really here, or are you sure because you’re a reflection of what I think?”
At that, Caitlin simply shrugged.
“The killer broke your neck on purpose,” Jane continued. “I don’t know why, not yet, but I’m sure of it. He did the same to the other girls, too. I think it was the first thing he did to each of you.”
“Maybe.”
“Because he wanted to immobilize you.”
“Interesting idea.”
“But he didn’t do it to Mel Armitage. He didn’t do it this time.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know.”
“And what about her heart? He took it out, but didn’t you notice the blood on the other bin?”
Jane paused. “What blood on the other bin?”
“There was a patch of blood on the other bin,” Caitlin continued. “You saw it, you just haven’t processed it in your thoughts yet.”
Thinking back to the crime scene, Jane realized she was right. There had been a faint patch of blood on the second bin’s lid. “The heart,” she whispered finally. “He set the heart on the other bin, while he was maneuvering Mel’s body into the first.”
“Sounds good,” Caitlin replied.
“But that’s not respectful,” Jane continued. “He respected their bodies. He respected your body. Once you were dead, at least. He treated your heart like it was something important, not something to pop on top of a bin for a few minutes while he got on with other things.”
“So what’s different this time?” Caitlin asked.
“I don’t know. Tell me.”
“I can’t.”
“Because you’re not really here,” Jane replied. “I’m just imagining you. All these conversations over the years, they’ve all just been a way for me to process my thoughts. I need to stop.” Turning, she began to make her way back to the car.
“You’re running out of time,” Caitlin said suddenly.
Stopping, Jane looked back at her.
“He’s going to kill again,” Caitlin continued, lowering her head for a moment. “It wasn’t enough the other night. He’s already feeling the urge again.”
“That doesn’t fit the pattern,” Laura said cautiously.
Slowly, Caitlin looked at her again, but this time most of her skin had rotted away, leaving just her tattered bones sitting in the nook of the tree. She tilted her head slightly, as her dead, hollow eyes watched Jane for a moment.
“He’s out there,” Caitlin explained. “He’s in Bowley right now, trying to pick his next victim. I don’t know how long he’ll wait. Maybe a day, maybe two at most. But if you don’t find him soon, there’ll be another body, and if you want me to tell you something you don’t already know, then fine, I will. The killer’s closer than you think, and his next victim is going to be a little different to all the rest.”
***
“Uncle Ben!” Lucy shouted, running in from the garden and grabbing Ben’s hand, almost spilling his beer in the process. “Come and look what we’ve made in the sandpit!”
“Looks like I’m needed outside,” Ben said with a faint smile, setting his beer down before following Lucy out into the cold evening air.
NEXT
The Border
Part Three
Figuring that he has to at least make an effort to patch things up, Ben decides to pay his father a visit. Unfortunately, he soon finds himself dredging up painful memories of a day long ago when his father made a terrible mistake. Meanwhile, Jane and Alex find more disturbing clues that suggest something dark and cruel is hiding in Bowley.
Available now to pre-order. Release date: July 9th 2015
OTHER BOOKS
BY AMY CROSS INCLUDE
Horror
3AM
The Scream
Tenderling
The Girl Clay
The Haunting of Emily Stone
The Prison
Asylum
American Coven
The Night Girl
Devil’s Briar
Ward Z
Ward Z: Revelation
The Devil’s Photographer
Fantasy / Horror
Dark Season series 1, 2 & 3
The Hollow Church (Abby Hart 1)
Vampire Asylum (Abby Hart 2)
Dead Souls volumes 1, 2 & 3
Lupine Howl series 1 to 4
Grave Girl
Graver Girl (Grave Girl 2)
Ghosts
The Library
Journey to the Library (The Library Saga 2)
The Ghosts of London
Archangel (The Ghosts of London 2)
Thriller
Ophelia
The Dead City (Ophelia 2)
Fallen Heroes (Ophelia 3)
The Girl Who Never Came Back
The Dead and the Dying (Joanna Mason 1)
The House of Broken Backs (Joanna Mason 2)
The Pornographer’s Wife
Other People’s Bodies
Dystopia / Science Fiction
The Shades
Mass Extinction Event series 1 to 4
Table of Contents
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six