The Haunting of Highdown Hall

by Shani Struthers

  “When you kiss him at night, Mary, kiss him for me too.

  Olivia Aston.”

  After he had finished reading, there was a resounding silence as everyone in the room, without exception, tried to fit together this latest piece of the puzzle.

  At last Ruby spoke, her voice barely above a whisper.

  “Can you help me up?”

  As Cash rushed to her side, Corinna reached for the box, turning it over and over in her hands as though it weren’t so nondescript after all, as though it were a thing of wonder.

  “Aston,” Ruby repeated. “That name, it’s familiar.”

  “It’s one of the families Mary used to work for,” Cash hurried to explain. “Don’t you remember Esme saying?”

  Did she? Ruby winced as she tried to recall. The fog surrounding her brain took a few moments to clear. Yes, that’s right; Mary had worked for both the Astons and the Carrs.

  As though sensing her confusion, Cash continued, “Olivia must have been a daughter of the Astons. Obviously she got pregnant out of wedlock – a big deal in those days, especially if you’re, as Esme put it, ‘from the upper echelons’ – and she gave the child away – to Mary. And that child, it was Jack, or David as he later called himself.”

  Corinna stopped looking at the box and looked at Ruby instead.

  “So, Jack was no blood relation at all?” she said. “Do you think he knew?”

  “Only one way to find out,” Ruby replied.

  Leaning slightly on Cash, she steeled herself for what was to come.

  “Jack, were you aware that Mary was not your natural mother?”

  No answer.

  “What do we do now?” said Cash, still supporting Ruby. But before she could answer their attention was captured by a light shining through the windows. At first Ruby thought it might be car headlights, perhaps Mr Kierney and his guests returning home early for the Christmas festivities. Quickly, and with relief, she realised it wasn’t.

  Cash squinted. “Is it my imagination, or has it just got brighter in here?”

  The room was indeed taking on an unearthly hue, the light more intense than she had ever seen it before. Unable to help herself, Ruby took an almost involuntary step towards it. It was so warm, so enticing – so familiar. She wondered briefly if she were actually dead, perhaps that blow to the head had been far more serious than she’d thought?

  She glanced around the room, Theo, Ness and Corinna looked amazed too. But Jed, clever Jed, who had somehow known which piece of paper to seize upon, was wagging his tale frantically.

  Ruby sensed movement and turned her head. Just a few feet away from her, facing each other at last, stood Cynthia and Jack. Not demons. Far from it. Just two people.

  Cynthia asked the same question Ruby had.

  Did you know?

  Jack hung his head.

  Jack!

  Ruby was glad to see fire in her sapphire eyes. Reluctantly, Jack answered.

  I... Mother was delirious at the end. She said things. I couldn’t be sure.

  Looking up, he almost spat his next words at her.

  I never had any intention of touching you. What I wanted was to destroy you.

  A pause between them.

  You didn’t know about the letter?

  Jack shook his head violently.

  That box, why would I look in it? It was all about you.

  There was still such bitterness in his voice.

  Ruby came forward. “It was about you too, Jack,” she pointed out, “you and Olivia. Her treasure box, that’s what you said Mary called it, clearly she treasured all three of you.”

  Ruby wondered briefly whether to mention Mason. After all, he had been in amongst Mary’s treasures too. But she decided against it. For whatever reason he was there, Cynthia would find out soon enough.

  Jack’s eyes locked onto Ruby’s – a fire of a different kind burning fiercely in them.

  Mary wasn’t mine. She was Cynthia’s. EVERYTHING was Cynthia’s!

  “You had everything too. You just couldn’t see it.”

  The cuttings on the floor fluttered ominously. But before his rage could build again, Ruby stepped forward, holding her hand out towards him, trying to reach him, not just physically but emotionally too.

  “Mary loved you, Jack. Olivia loved you. Love is everything.”

  Mary should have told me! The truth might have set me free.

  “Why, Jack?” Ruby could guess but wanted him to say it anyway.

  He looked lost. He was lost.

  I might not have felt so... so useless.

  The despair in his voice moved her.

  “She had promised not to. And from what I gather, Mary was a woman of her word. And you weren’t useless, Jack. What you did for your mother at the end was noble.”

  Ruby’s words hit home. The newspaper scraps lay still once more.

  There was another pause before he spoke again, subdued.

  I’m sorry.

  It was Cynthia who stepped closer this time.

  I’m sorry too.

  Jack reached out to her. Cynthia reached out to him. Their hands connected.

  A lifetime wasted.

  Ruby was about to interrupt, to try and console Jack further, to tell him nothing in life was wasted, no experience, no emotion, no thought, whether good or bad, that it all had some purpose even if that purpose was never made clear here on earth. But she was stopped in her tracks. A voice, one she hadn’t heard before was calling.

  Jack.

  In the room, those who heard it turned to it.

  Who are you? Jack looked frightened as a figure emerged from the light.

  The woman smiled at him – a dazzling smile, a smile to lose yourself in.

  Jack’s face transformed entirely, it wasn’t possible to hold onto pain in the presence of such beauty.

  Mother?

  The woman nodded.

  Without hesitation, Jack walked towards her, his image growing stronger as he did so, allowing Ruby a glimpse of the young man he had once been. Pleasant to look at, if a little understated; a fount of hope and promise before anger had stopped him from truly blossoming. As Jack reached the light, Ruby realised it wasn’t Mary who had come to reclaim her son but Olivia, reuniting herself with the child that she’d had torn from her.

  As Olivia took Jack in her arms, the room glistened as though it were filled with diamonds.

  Cash shielded his eyes and Ruby wondered what he could see. She’d have to ask him later. Theo, Ness and even Corinna were rooted to the spot, as if in a trance.

  As the two figures faded, Ruby turned to Cynthia.

  “There’s no one waiting for you in the shadows anymore, Cynthia, it’s your turn now.”

  Cynthia looked downcast.

  There’s no one waiting for me in the light either.

  Turning back to the light, Ruby smiled.

  “Oh, I think there is. Look again.”

  It was John Sterling, striding towards them, faint at first and then much stronger. He was as handsome as Ruby had ever seen him look on the screen or in photographs; his dark hair was neatly greased back, his white shirt open slightly, tantalisingly at the throat.

  John... Cynthia whispered, half in disbelief, half in awe.

  About to rush towards him, she stopped. Looking down at the news articles Mary had saved, she then looked up at Ruby.

  She didn’t forget me.

  “Nobody could forget you.”

  She was proud.

  “Of you,” Ruby clarified. “Yes.”

  Cynthia’s eyes clouded briefly but Ruby was not concerned – all earthly sadness, she knew, would soon be resolved. Turning from Ruby, Cynthia looked at John again. A girlish laugh escaped her as she ran across the divide that separated them, hurling herself into the sanctuary of his arms. John was laughing too, a sound as sweet to her as birdsong.

  You waited for me, Ruby heard Cynthia say.

  I’d wait forever if I had to, replied John.<
br />
  No more games, said Cynthia earnestly.

  Not where we’re going, answered John, sweeping her off her feet.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  “Mr Kierney?” Ruby waited until she was downstairs in the Grand Hall before phoning her client. “It’s Ruby. I think I can safely say you’ll encounter no more spiritual upheaval at Highdown Hall.”

  “She’s gone? Cynthia? You’ve rid me of her?”

  And the other one, thought Ruby, but held her tongue. The less Mr Kierney knew the better.

  “Cynthia has passed successfully; the house is yours now and yours alone.”

  “At last,” there was a sigh of relief. “You’d better be right though. If I go back... if there’s any more nonsense, you and your company, you’ll regret it.”

  “There’ll be no more nonsense,” Ruby replied wearily.

  “We’ll see,” was his less than generous response.

  “Happy Christmas, Mr Kierney,” Ruby offered after a moment.

  “To you too,” he muttered before ending the call.

  She turned to the rest of the team, standing waiting for her, all except Jed who was languishing at Cash’s feet, and tried to keep the sarcasm out of her voice as she declared, “Another satisfied customer.”

  “Bastard!” said Ness, surprising them all with the venom in her voice.

  “Well it’s true,” Ness continued, obviously feeling the need to defend herself against their raised eyebrows and opened mouths. “I bet he didn’t even say thank you.”

  “He didn’t,” admitted Ruby. “But we didn’t do it for him, not really. We did it for Cynthia and, as it turned out, for Jack.”

  With Ness still looking disgruntled, Theo piped up, “Come on, it’s Christmas Eve, a time to rejoice or so they say. And I don’t know about you lot, but I’ve got a date with a rather large glass of sweet sherry – and a mince pie with brandy butter too, I should think.”

  Her words spurring the others into action, they shuffled their way towards the entrance and out into the night – the stars twinkling merrily in the sky – as if they too were somehow rejoicing. Before closing the door on Highdown Hall, for good this time she hoped, Ruby couldn’t resist taking one last lingering look. Tunes were playing, people were laughing – the party was in full swing and this time, everyone appeared to be having a good time.

  ***

  Outside on the gravel pathway, the conversation turned to their plans for Christmas.

  “I’m off to my mum’s,” said Corinna, grimacing.

  “And why is that so bad, young lady?” quizzed Theo.

  “Because all my brothers are going too and, I don’t know, when we’re all under the same roof as Mum and Dad, we start regressing, behaving like children again. The bickering starts almost straightway.”

  “Sounds comforting,” suggested Theo.

  “I suppose,” conceded Corinna, before breaking into a wide and excited smile.

  “What about you, Ness?” said Ruby, hoping she wasn’t spending it on her own again like last year, She was pleasantly surprised when a smile lit up Ness’s face too.

  “Ness?” probed Ruby, intrigued.

  “I’m, er, I’m going to spend it at a friend’s,” she replied, somewhat enigmatically.

  “A friend?” butted in Theo. “Of the male persuasion you mean?”

  “Yes, I do mean,” replied Ness, reddening.

  Incredibly for Theo, she refrained from teasing her further, the benevolence of the season rubbing off on her perhaps? Instead, they all wished each other a very happy Christmas and exchanged hugs and kisses. Ruby and Cash waited whilst the other three climbed back into Ness’s car and then waved at them as they sped off.

  “Just the three of us again,” said Cash, turning to look at Ruby.

  “Yep, you, me and a dog named Jed.”

  “I think in the song it’s ‘Me and You and A Dog Named Boo’ – a far more appropriate name for a ghost dog in my opinion. But I’ll settle for Jed. I just wish I could see him.”

  “You can smell him,” Ruby offered.

  “It’s not quite the same thing.”

  “So, what are you doing for Christmas?” asked Ruby, as they walked back to his car.

  “Spending it with Mum and Presley,” he replied, opening the passenger door for her. “My aunt and uncle are coming down too, from London. The usual houseful. What are you doing?”

  “Going back to Hastings,” replied Ruby, climbing in and buckling up.

  “I thought so. I’ll drive you there in the morning.”

  “Oh no, you don’t have to...” she started.

  “I’ll be at yours, so it’s not a hardship. After breakfast, we’ll hop in the car and, if you want, I’ll come and get you in the evening, or whenever it is you want to come back.”

  “You’ll be at mine?” she said, taken aback.

  “Yes, well, that’s where we’re going now, isn’t it?”

  “We are?”

  Starting the engine, he turned to her and said, “To finish off what we started on Saturday. You’ve no objections, have you?”

  “No,” she spluttered, “none at all. In fact, the quicker we get there the better.”

  “My thoughts exactly,” said Cash, switching into gear.

  “How fast can you go in this thing?”

  “Faster than a speeding bullet, just watch me.”

  As he sped off, Ruby sat happily back in her seat. In the wing mirror she could see Highdown Hall retreating, getting smaller and smaller. It looked silent and lonely – lonely being a very good thing in this instance. Quickly they reached the spot where Cynthia’s brother had died. Ruby wondered if residual feelings still lingered – if they did, they were faint, no shudder coursed through her. Turning her attention to the view in the car’s headlamps, excitement was the only emotion that registered. Not just at the thought of having Cash to herself in roughly forty-five minutes time, but the thrilling realisation that she’d finished another successful year in business and also had the prospect of a very promising one to come. She had never felt so happy. She had never felt so proud. She was fulfilling her purpose in life, being who she was born to be. She was Ruby Davis, Psychic Crusader, Believer in Light and Love. With no reason to believe otherwise. Yet.

  THE END

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