The Truth Healer: A Riveting Spiritual Psychic Thriller

by J Gabriel-Smith

  Just as she was zipping the pocket back up, the receptionist returned, ‘Are you ok in there madam?’ she asked, concerned as to what was taking her so long.

  ‘Yes thank you!’ Chloe replied swiftly, shuffling out of the room, just as she caught a glimpse of Lucy and Tom heading back towards the storeroom.

  After her narrow escape, Chloe let herself into her room, collapsed on the bed and surveyed the antique décor. She hoped she wouldn’t be staying long, as she was keen to get this mission solved now, for all parties.

  She savoured her ten minute’s of peace, before switching on her tablet to see if she could pick up the listening device she had planted. After a crackly couple of seconds, to her relief, she could hear Lucy and Tom clearly. They were both discussing the fact that they didn’t know where they were heading in Vienna, apart from the Golden Dreams Casino and the Child’s Crisis Centre. They eventually made the decision to go out and explore the area, so Chloe hastily donned her sunhat and sunglasses, in the hope that she’d blend in with the many ambling tourists.

  After heading along the Ringstrasse, Chloe followed them around some narrow streets, until they arrived at the Golden Dreams Casino. She waited patiently outside for them, frustrated that she had no idea what was going on. After a nail biting thirty-five minutes, Lucy and Tom rushed out and appeared to be a bit rattled by something that had happened. Lucy was gesturing that she needed a drink, so Chloe followed them to one of the canopied restaurants for lunch.

  Feeling peckish herself, Chloe decided to risk sitting two tables down from them in the same restaurant. With her hat brim pulled down, Lucy and Tom were completely oblivious to her, and were both looking lost in their own contemplation.

  Chloe watched as the waiter brought over their toasted sandwiches and coffees, and as she started to tuck into her own baguette, she noticed a young girl walking around the tables presenting flowers to the customers for money. Just as Lucy turned to acknowledge the young flower girl, Chloe’s eye was drawn to another young child crawling along the outside of Lucy and Tom’s table.

  In one quick swipe the child had pulled Lucy’s bag off of the table and was about to make a run for it.

  ‘Your bag, your bag!’ Chloe shouted, leaping up and knocking her chair backwards. ‘Quick, that child’s just stolen your bag!’ she added, pointing at Lucy’s table.

  Lucy quickly turned and gasped in panic as she realised what had happened.

  ‘No no!, come back!’ Lucy yelled, before scrambling to her feet and running out of the restaurant after them, while Tom shouted out for her to be careful.

  ‘Hey Mister, you haven’t paid!’ the waiter called out, rushing over to their table.

  Chloe waved at the waiter. ‘Sorry …excuse me…a child just stole their bag. I am not sure if they are going to come back but I will settle their bill.’

  ‘Do you know them then?’ he asked, slightly confused, walking towards her.

  ‘Err no… but I have had that happen to me, so I know how they feel.’ Chloe fibbed.

  After paying both bills, she made her way out of the restaurant, putting her half eaten baguette into her bag. As she was fastening it shut, she could see the little girl that had been selling the flowers, sitting by a nearby monument. She was being reprimanded by a boy in his late teens, who had a firm grip on her tiny arm.

  Just as Chloe decided to intervene, the boy dragged the little girl off the step and led her away. She knew she ought to go and find Lucy and Tom, but she was intrigued to know where the boy was taking the young girl, so she put her sunglasses back on, and slowly followed behind them.

  They weaved in and out of alleyways, crossed a main road and seemed to head to an area of old buildings. Chloe started to feel uncomfortable and didn’t know whether to turn back. Her confused state must have been evident, as she suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder.

  ‘Sie vermissen verloren?’

  ‘Sorry?’ she replied, turning to see a floppy haired man sporting some trendy spectacles and a suit.

  ‘Ah English…are you lost miss?’

  ‘Oh err yes I think I am.’ Chloe replied, not sure what to say.

  ‘You do not want to go over there… it’s where a lot of the begging families reside.’ he said, gesturing towards the buildings that Chloe had seen the boy and girl walk towards.

  ‘Oh right ok, I’ll avoid that area then. Thanks for the warning.’ Chloe nodded gratefully.

  ‘If you take that street there, it will take you back to the main square.’ he advised, before smiling and heading off.

  ‘Ok, thank you!’

  Chloe felt it best to take his advice, so she walked back to the hotel, praying that Lucy and Tom were safely back there. She hoped that Lucy had got her bag back, as she knew the distress of losing it with everything else going on would be too much for her to take. She wondered whether the ‘someone’ that they were supposed to meet was the child who stole Lucy’s bag. She guessed she would find out very soon.

  After getting back to the hotel and listening to what had happened, Chloe sat in disbelief, before telephoning Tatiana.

  ‘Did you know?’ Chloe demanded.

  ‘Know what?’ Tatiana asked confused.

  ‘That they were going to find Katrina….who happens to be called Sadie?’

  She couldn’t believe the feral bag thief was Katrina…or Sadie, as she was now known. Chloe had asked Tatiana a few times if she was with Rosie, but she said she didn’t know.

  ‘I didn’t know until after I spoke to you. Truth Master Benedict only informed me of this, in preparation for your next stage.’ Tatiana replied defensively.

  ‘The poor girl was from a care home. No-one cared that she had gone missing.’ Chloe said angrily, pacing around her hotel room.

  ‘The situation is a very tragic one, but she will be safe now with Lucy and Tom, and her knowledge of her captors will be invaluable to them.’

  Chloe paused while she took a few deep breaths to calm down. ‘So, I guess I am off to Hungary, now that Lucy and Tom are heading there and to Jozsef Halasz’s house. Please tell me this will be our last stop before finding out what happened to Rosie.’ Chloe pleaded, now missing Josh terribly and feeling emotionally drained by not knowing what was going to happen next.

  ‘Truth Master Benedict has promised me you are getting close.’ Tatiana reassured her, walking over to her desk and pulling out Chloe’s file.

  ‘I hope so, I’m getting quite homesick now.’

  ‘As you have quite rightly said, yes, Hungary is your next port of call, and then onto Jozsef Halasz’s house in Briskolc, which is only half an hour away from Budapest. Again this house will hold key evidence, but I must stress again you must be careful Chloe, so keep your wits about you.’

  ‘I’m not sure my nerves can take much more.’ Chloe admitted, feeling her new found confidence waning.

  ‘You are doing extremely well Chloe. You will be home very shortly, and you will have helped get this poor family’s life back on track….one way or another.’

  ‘Ok…I suppose so. I will ring you when I get to Budapest then.’

  ‘Ok Chloe….speak then.’

  Chloe slumped back against her pillow, feeling very overwhelmed. She desperately wanted to speak to Josh, to hear the comfort of his voice, but she also needed to speak to him, to reassure him that she would be home soon. He was already starting to sound a bit impatient in his texts, asking her when she was coming home. If only she knew herself! She’d been putting it off, as it involved feeding him another string of lies, but she knew she didn’t have a choice.

  She memorised her story one last time before dialling his number.

  ‘Finally!.. I thought you’d fallen off the edge of a cliff! Why haven’t you called me all day?! I’ve been worried.’ Josh answered.

  As she anticipated, he wasn’t happy. ‘I’m sorry darling I’ve been at the hospital all day and the reception’s not very good. Christy’s doing a lot better though, so I should be back by F
riday.’ Chloe lied, praying for his understanding response.

  She was met by a huge sigh, before he continued ‘Ok, Ok…it’s just I miss you, I need you back here with me.’

  ‘I know, I miss you too. I promise I’ll book for us to go for a special weekend when I’m back.’ Chloe said, longing for that moment. ‘Anyway, how have you been…how’s work?’ she added, keen to hear some other news.

  ‘Not bad, I went to see Jim yesterday. He’s doing better. He’s going to try and come back to work next week for a few days.’

  Chloe knew Jim was still suffering with stress from not solving the Rosie Parker case. She really felt for him and wished she could channel what she knew to him.

  ‘That’s good. He was a good officer….he just had a very difficult case to deal with.’

  ‘Yes, it definitely broke him. Hopefully he’ll get his confidence back again soon.’ Josh said.

  ‘Well, I’d better go darling as the call charges are extortionate. I’ll text you later.’

  ‘Ok sweetheart…yes you’d better.’ he responded, thankfully with a lot more warmth to his tone than when he started out.

  Feeling calmer now she had spoken to Josh, Chloe waited for Lucy and Tom to book into their next hotel, before following suit and booking into the Hotel Oasis in Budapest city centre.

  Please let this three hour drive be my last, she thought. At least for this mission anyway.

  Chapter 27

  The days were ticking by and the 21st August was looming. Each day that passed was like living in a nightmare. Marianne hadn’t done anything to prevent this supposed abduction from happening yet. She had no-one to consult with and no-one to share her fear with.

  Her life was now stuck between an earth shattering rock and a devastating hard place, as by going straight to the police without confronting Gerard about his involvement, she could be risking everything, when it could just be a misunderstanding. But if she discussed it with him first, and he was involved, she was scared at what he might do.

  She never knew him to be violent, but then again, she never knew he could be part of a paedophile ring either. His once gentle green eyes, now seemed fox like to her, with their sly tinges of warped red. Even his short wavy caramel coloured hair appeared more of an unruly sludge colour, giving him the look of a mad scientist as he peered over his reading glasses.

  Marianne had always loved and relied on his dependable nature. He had been her indomitable support during her three failed pregnancies, and he always made her feel that she was all he needed. Now that security was gone. Instead she just had a bubble of emotions simmering away inside of her, ready to boil over if she didn’t get answers. She needed to know if her husband was one of them. One of these merciless gang members. If he was, she knew her life was about to be washed up, turned upside down and hung out to dry. That was before eventually being spat out alone….which scared her…..a lot.

  Marianne was standing at the reception desk, straining to smile at some new guests perusing the activities leaflets, when Eleanor interrupted her. ‘Penny for them.’

  ‘Sorry?’ Marianne replied.

  ‘You were miles away then, what were you thinking about?’

  ‘Oh, I’ve just got a few things on my mind at the moment…nothing to worry about.’ Marianne lied.

  ‘That looks sore.’ Eleanor commented, pointing at Marianne’s bleeding thumb cuticle that she had bitten red raw. Every nail was now painfully short, since she’d taken out her frustration and angst on each and every one of them.

  Marianne turned to look at it, before quickly whisking it away dismissively. ‘It’s nothing…it always gets like that.’

  ‘Are you feeling ok?’ Eleanor asked, starting to get concerned by the nervous disposition she’d developed over the last few days.

  ‘Yes, I’m fine, don’t worry.’ Marianne reassured her, ‘Now, do you think you could take this over to Antoine at the boating lake…it’s his schedule of events for tomorrow?’

  ‘Yes, of course.’ Eleanor replied brightly.

  Marianne needed a reprieve from her questioning. She thought she was a sweet girl and very hard working, but Marianne needed time to think. She watched Eleanor stroll off in her cut off denim shorts, tight vest top and white converse trainers, with her dark blonde ponytail merrily swinging in the breeze.

  Marianne found it amusing how she frequently topped up her lip gloss, especially if she had to venture out around the campsite. She remembered when the excitement of meeting new boys was one of her main priorities when she was in her late teens. Oh, how she wished she could be back there right now. Unfortunately for her though, she wasn’t back there right now. She was in the here and now, coping with this very dark secret…..alone.

  She had spent a week hovering around Gerard, trying to catch him out, but to no avail. Her gut instinct that Lucy would find something linking Gerard to those men was right….not that Lucy was aware of it. She had rung Marianne with three telephone numbers for her to track down their surnames and addresses.

  Marianne had managed to find details for Emil Jonas, who strangely happened to have the same address as Laurenz Felbiger, and Jozsef Halasz in Hungary.

  She told Lucy that the third number didn’t exist….but of course that was a lie. She knew it all too well. Gerard’s familiar digits. She just hoped Lucy didn’t think she was in on it when the truth finally came out.

  When Lucy told her about the numerous photos of young girl’s and girl’s clothes found at Laurenz’s house, she felt sickened to the core. Even more so, as she had spent the last ten year’s trying so desperately to have children. The fact that these tyrants could harm such precious gifts was beyond her comprehension. They obviously didn’t possess hearts. If they did, they would think twice before tearing out the hearts of the child’s parents whilst doing it.

  Marianne hadn’t heard from Lucy for a couple of days, but she was too frightened to call her in case she revealed any further shocking news about Gerard.

  As Marianne walked through to the back office, she knew her main mission for the day was to finally get hold of Gerard’s phone password, as reading his messages might help her piece together the dark and deceitful jigsaw she was faced with. She’d been trying all week to get it, but each time she leant over his shoulder to ‘retrieve something’, he quickly moved it out of the way.

  ‘Coffee?’ Marianne asked, putting her bag down onto her desk.

  ‘Ah, yes, thank you.’ Gerard replied, looking up over his glasses.

  As Marianne stirred in two spoonfuls of coffee into each mug of boiling hot water, she psyched herself up for the task at hand. She needed that password now, and would have to make up an excuse to sit with him until she got it.

  After a few deep breaths, she sauntered over to his desk, placed the mug of coffee in front of him and cleared her throat, before casually asking… ‘Do you have Fabien and Camille’s number…I seemed to have deleted it by mistake? I want to check their new address now they have moved.’

  Without thinking, he plunged straight in, without displaying his customary shielding technique. Boom!… 4345. She had it! He must have used their ages.

  ‘Yes, here it is….04 35 94 62 17.’

  ‘Great, thank you darling!’ she chirpily replied, carefully writing down their friend’s number on a post it and tagging the password onto the end.

  He looked up grinning as she shuffled back to her desk, totally unaware she was on to him.

  Marianne spent the afternoon trying to check Gerard’s phone, but it was firmly placed by his side all day. She noticed he was receiving a lot of text messages throughout the day, which he seemed to read with apprehension.

  As she watched him uncomfortably shifting paperwork around his desk, she caught him taking a sneaky swig from a whisky bottle. He had conveniently stashed it away in his drawer. That was the final tell tale sign for Marianne. A sign that the tension of what he had become involved with, was building up inside of him.

  Gerard
hadn’t seen her witness his fall from grace, of course, and she wasn’t ready to confront him with it. She was slowly building her case against him, bit by bit, and needed to discover the whole story behind his sordid betrayal, before she approached him with it.

  He had promised her he had quit his destructive habit, and had been teetotal for three years. In the past he had only drunk in times of stress. Their life now, she thought, was calmer since giving up on trying for a baby. They had got over the aftermath of the Anna Gerber case being linked to the campsite, and although she knew it would never be forgotten, they were behind the worse of it.

  Marianne knew she needed to take action that afternoon, as with only three days to go to until 21st August, she didn’t have time to wait. She therefore plotted to sit with Gerard and go through the week’s camp activities.

  Just as they were about to start, Eleanor suddenly burst in. ‘Quick hurry!’

  ‘What is it?’ Gerard replied, looking up alarmed.

  ‘Quick, one of the motor boats has got stuck out in the middle of the lake with some children aboard!’

  Gerard leapt up and ran out of the office following Eleanor, but as Marianne got up to follow them, she suddenly stopped herself. She knew this might be her only chance….she was finally alone with his phone. She felt torn about whether to stay and go through it, or join Gerard out on the lake. He did have help from the lifeguards, she reasoned with herself, and somebody had to man the office.

  After a moment of pondering, she took a quick look outside to check the coast was clear, before keying in his password. She was shaking, frightened at what she was going to find.

  Marianne scrolled through messages from his mother, his friend Jean and many junk texts, until she came across the first cryptic and dreaded text. ‘all set, thurs 20th Aug - 2pm’.

  She didn’t know if that meant that was when the child was going to arrive, or just the campervan. She flicked through to another one which said ‘blue transit van - package aboard, fri 21st Aug -5pm’.