The Haunting of Thores-Cross

by Karen Perkins

  ‘Just tired. I’ve been up all night typing the manuscript up.’

  ‘Well, now that it’s done, life should get back to normal.’

  ‘God, I hope so.’ I tried and failed to stifle a yawn.

  ‘I’ll have to send Mark down. I’m up to my elbows in bread dough. If I leave it now, it’ll be ruined.’

  ‘Oh, ok,’ I said, feeling awkward. I didn’t want to see Mark, especially not with Dave away. But if Kathy trusted us . . .

  ‘Are you sure?’ Kathy asked.

  ‘Yes, yes, it’s fine,’ I said. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘What for?’

  ‘Well, you know.’ Silence again.

  ‘Yes. Let’s hope this is it now and she can rest in peace.’

  ‘Amen to that!’ I said, put the phone down then pushed myself up to go upstairs and start the printer going.

  The doorbell rang as I was on my way back down, and I opened it to Mark.

  ‘Hi.’

  ‘Hi.’

  ‘Come through, there’s a copy on the kitchen table.’

  ‘Have you printed it off already?’

  ‘No, this is the first copy. Take it, I’m printing another off for myself.’

  I staggered and grabbed the table.

  ‘Emma! Are you alright? Let me help you.’ Mark grabbed my arm then put an arm around my waist and led me to a chair. ‘Sit down. What’s wrong?’

  ‘I’m ok, just tired. I’ve been up all night typing, and, come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve eaten anything since yesterday lunch.’

  ‘Bloody hell, Emma, you’re pregnant for God’s sake!’

  ‘I bloody well know that!’ I screamed, and he took a step back. ‘Sorry, Mark. I’m not myself at the moment.’ I managed a small laugh.

  ‘No, neither of us have been that for some time.’

  ‘Kathy told me, about seeing Richard Ramsgill in you.’

  I waited until he made the coffees and sat down. ‘Do you think it’s over now?’

  He sighed. ‘I don’t know, Emma, I really don’t.’ He glanced at my belly.

  ‘They could be Dave’s.’

  ‘They?’

  I nodded.

  He took a deep breath, then said, ‘Hope so, for all our sakes.’

  I sipped my coffee.

  ‘So what happens now?’ Mark asked.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘With that.’ He nodded at the pile of A4 pages. ‘It’s not a book yet is it?’

  ‘No, not quite. Normally I’d send it to my agent, but that way it would take nearly a year before it’s published.’

  ‘That’s too long!’

  ‘I know. I’ll go over it tomorrow when I’ve had a rest, make any corrections—’

  ‘Corrections? Careful Emma, don’t provoke Jennet by changing her story!’

  I put my hand to my head and rubbed my forehead. ‘No, you’re right, I won’t change anything, just format it.’

  ‘Aye, ok. Then what?’

  ‘I’ll upload it to Amazon and Smashwords. It’ll be published within the week.’

  He sighed, ‘That sounds grand. Can you not do it any quicker?’

  ‘Not really, they have to review it and then it takes a day or two to go live, but it’ll be out there as soon as possible, I give you my word.’

  He nodded and looked relieved.

  ‘My agent and publisher aren’t going to be happy, but to be honest, I’m more scared of Jennet.’

  ‘You’ll sort them – tell them you had a nervous breakdown, or somebody stole the manuscript or something. Do you have to publish it under your own name?’

  I stared at him, ‘No, of course I don’t!’ I laughed. ‘It’s not my book, anyway, it didn’t come from me, it came through me – from Jennet. I’ll publish it under her name.’ I grabbed a pen, crossed out my name and scribbled “Jennet Scot” on the title page.

  ‘There you are then.’ He gulped his coffee. ‘What’ll you do with the money?’

  ‘Spoken like a true Yorkshireman!’ I was starting to cheer up. ‘I’ll put the book on for free or as cheaply as I can, at least at first – try and get as many copies out there as possible. Then, I don’t know, we can always find a charity to donate any proceeds to. Maybe that counselling service Kathy’s part of? Something that would help people today who are in a similar situation to Jennet then.’

  ‘I suppose so.’

  ‘I can’t make money from this, Mark. None of us can. We can’t exploit her – it might be enough to bring her back!’

  He opened his mouth, presumably to argue, but was stopped by a deep rumbling noise.

  ‘What the hell was that?’ I screamed, panicking.

  Mark’s face turned white and he jumped up and ran to the door shouting, ‘Kathy!’

  Chapter 60 - Emma

  ‘What is it? What was that noise?’ I hurried after Mark and stopped in the open front doorway. Thick black smoke poured out of the Ramsgills’ house. Mark was running towards the house, then he climbed the wall into the field.

  I dashed back inside to the phone and called 999.

  ‘Fire engine and ambulance! Wolf Farm has exploded! They’re inside! Hurry!’

  By the time I had answered all the operator’s questions and made it back outside, Mark had reached the high wall surrounding his house and was trying to climb it. I shook my head. It was too high – it had been built to keep people out.

  I grabbed the keys to the Discovery, jumped in and roared up the lane. I turned in a big arc at the road so I was facing the entrance to Wolf Farm, then floored the accelerator. I screamed at the impact with the gate, but made it through, slammed on the brakes and pulled the car to one side so the fire engine would be able to get in.

  I got out of the car and screamed, ‘Mark!’ He had managed to get over the wall and was at the front door, fumbling with his keys.

  ‘Stop, Mark! You can’t! Wait for the fire brigade!’

  ‘Kathy!’ he screamed again. ‘Alex, Hannah!’

  I had been moving towards him to try and prevent him running inside, but stopped. His wife and kids were in there; he would not stay out here. At last, he got the door open. Thick smoke poured out into the fresh air and he ran in. I stared at the house in disbelief, not knowing what to do.

  *

  ‘Emma! Are you alright? What’s happening?’

  I turned and fell into Dave’s arms. I spotted his car abandoned down the road, and realised he’d just arrived home.

  ‘Oh Dave,’ I sobbed. ‘The house exploded! Mark ran up here and has gone in – they’re all in there!’

  ‘What you mean, Mark ran up here? Where was he?’

  ‘At our place – picking up the manuscript.’

  ‘Is that all he was doing?’

  ‘Yes! Kathy was baking or something and couldn’t come herself, she sent Mark to get the book.’

  ‘It’s finished?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And then the house exploded?’

  I nodded, mute, and we stared at the house for a moment. There was no sign of life.

  ‘Oh, thank God.’ Sirens and flashing blue lights heralded a fire engine, which pulled to a stop in front of the house. Firefighters swarmed from it pulling hoses and ladders from the machine, and one crossed to us. He held his arm out in a shepherding gesture. ‘Please move back from the house.’

  We took a couple of steps and stopped when he added. ‘Can you tell me what happened?’

  ‘It just exploded!’ I said, still in shock.

  ‘How long ago?’

  ‘Uh, I don’t know, fifteen minutes? I rang 999 straight away.’

  ‘Is anyone inside?’

  ‘Yes – all of them.’

  ‘Two adults, two teenagers,’ Dave added.

  I screamed as another explosion tore through the house, and was thrown to the ground. Dave landed on top of me and the firefighter alongside. Debris rained aroun
d us and the air was filled with noise and heat.

  After a moment, Dave’s weight lifted from me and I saw his mouth moving. I couldn’t hear him. His mouth moved again, I squinted, trying to lipread then nodded, yes, I was ok.

  We got to our feet and stared at the house. There was no roof, only flame – and jets of water from the fire engine. I screamed. They were still in there.

  ‘You have to get them!’ I shouted at the firefighter. I could just about hear my words now.

  ‘We have to make sure it’s safe first, I can’t risk my crew in another explosion. And you need to move back.’

  ‘But Kathy! The kids! Mark!’

  ‘We’ll get them as soon as we can.’

  I struggled to hear, it felt as if I were listening underwater or had been standing by a speaker in a nightclub for hours, but realised what he was saying.

  ‘No! No, you have to get them out!’ I screamed, and stepped towards him.

  ‘Emma,’ Dave’s arms were around me. ‘Hush, he knows what he’s doing. Are you alright? The baby?’

  I sagged against him, then doubled up in a scream as a pain ripped through me. Please no, not again!

  The ambulance is here, they’ll get her to hospital,’ the firefighter said. ‘I need to go and talk to my crew.’

  Dave half pushed, half carried me towards the ambulance, but the paramedics met us halfway with a gurney and I was bundled on to it. I screamed at them to help Kathy and the others.

  ‘She’s had a hell of a shock, she was knocked down by the explosion and she’s five months pregnant.’ I heard Dave tell the paramedics. ‘She’s had a miscarriage before, please, save her baby.’

  I tried to correct him – they were Jennet’s babies, Jennet’s, but I felt a prick in my arm and everything went black.

  Chapter 61 - Emma

  3rd March 2013

  I blinked my eyes open and looked around in bewilderment. I was in a white room, with horrible green and blue checked curtains round the bed. No, not a proper bed, one of those hospital trolley things.

  ‘Emma! Oh thank God!’ Dave leaned over and hugged me. I gripped hold of him – hard.

  ‘What . . . what happened?’

  ‘Do you remember anything?’

  ‘I remember an explosion and Mark ran out to get Kathy.’

  Dave nodded. ‘There were two explosions at Wolf Farm – they think there was a leak from the gas cylinders. Apparently they kept them in a small alcove off the kitchen instead of outside like they’re supposed to. You know what a stubborn bugger Mark— Anyway, all it would have taken was a spark . . . Mark ran in to try and get the family out—’ He stopped speaking.

  ‘Are they ok, Dave?’

  He shook his head. ‘They think Kathy and the kids were in the kitchen when the first tank blew, they didn’t stand a chance.’

  ‘And Mark?’

  ‘They found him cradling Kathy’s body. The second explosion . . . well . . .’

  ‘Tell me.’

  Dave looked at me, his expression concerned, and held my hand. ‘They’re saying at the Stone House that he was blown apart, Emma. I’m sorry.’

  ‘No!’ I gasped. ‘But, but you said he was cradling Kathy?’

  ‘Yes, his arms . . . were around her.’

  I stared at him in confusion, then realised what he meant, ‘Oh! Oh! Oh!’ I covered my face with my hands in horror and Dave hugged me again, then pulled me close to his chest as I sobbed.

  When I quietened, he eased me back on to the bed and said, ‘Emma, there’s something else.’

  I raised my eyebrows at him.

  ‘The baby . . .’

  ‘The baby? Oh no! No, not again!’ My arm dropped to my belly.

  ‘We think the fall from the second explosion . . . I’m so sorry, Emma, the babies are gone.’

  ‘Babies?’ So he knew, then.

  ‘Yes.’ He took my hand. ‘Twins.’

  We stared at each other for a moment, then I nodded, feeling numb. I didn’t know how to react. They hadn’t been my babies, they were Jennet’s, but my body had let them down – killed them. At twenty three weeks. Again. Would I ever be able to give birth to a living child?

  ‘So she’s taken them all. Writing her story wasn’t enough. She killed all the Ramsgills.’ I started to cry again. ‘Those poor, doomed babies. None of this was their fault, and they didn’t even get a chance to live. When we thought we could break Jennet’s curse, I never imagined that this would happen. The babies. Poor Kathy, Alex, Hannah, Mark . . .’ I broke off in sobs.

  ‘I know, I know,’ Dave said, his voice soft. ‘None of us guessed that this might happen.’ He held me and stroked my back and head until I calmed.

  ‘I know there’s not much point now, but . . .’ He pulled away, reached down and handed me a plastic bag. I looked inside and pulled out a book, wiping moisture off my face. It had a picture of Thruscross on the cover. ‘Thores-Cross by Jennet Scot,’ I read aloud, then looked at him.

  ‘You published it?’

  He nodded. ‘To be honest, after everything that’s happened, I was terrified she’d come back for you. I’m not taking any chances.’

  Tears pricked my eyes again and I hugged him. Then I pulled back. ‘Is it over?’

  ‘I don’t know, Emma. I hope so, I really hope so.’

  I nodded. That was all we could do. Hope and pray it was over. There was nothing left for her to take. The Ramsgills were gone. Wolf Farm was gone. Her story was published.

  I picked up the book again. ‘Hang on a minute, it takes days to get a proper book, how long have I been here?’

  ‘Just over a week.’ I glanced at Dave in surprise. ‘You had to have an operation because of the babies, and then you wouldn’t wake up.’ He nodded at the book. ‘It was all I could think of to do. It’s a bit rough, you might want to redo it properly later, but I did my best.’

  I nodded. ‘You did well – it worked, thank you.’ I leaned forward to wrap my arms around him and held him tightly, fighting tears. He had saved my life.

  After a couple of minutes, I sat back and ran my hands over my belly once more. The babies had been Jennet’s and Richard Ramsgill’s. They had never been mine, yet I still felt their loss. Damn Jennet for making me go through this again.

  ‘Emma?’

  I looked up at Dave. ‘I was starting to believe I could finally be a mother, that it would actually happen.’

  He smiled. ‘You still can be. The doctors still say there’s no reason you can’t give birth. We can try for a baby if you want to.’ His voice sounded tentative, as if he hardly dared to make the suggestion.

  I regarded him a moment, then nodded. ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Jennet lived in fear and isolation, and look what it led to. It’s time to live in hope.’

  ‘Oh, Emma.’ Tears ran down Dave’s face and I hugged him as a nurse bustled into the room.

  ‘Well now, look who’s awake!’

  Epilogue – Emma

  9th June 2014

  ‘Here we are – home!’ Dave said as he pulled the Discovery on to the drive. He twisted in his seat. ‘Her first car ride. How is she?’

  ‘Took it like a pro.’ I grinned, then tickled our daughter’s chin. ‘Didn’t you, Louise?’ She was beautiful. Only three days old, she had Dave’s blue eyes and my smile. I could hardly believe it, we were a family at last. I gazed into my husband’s eyes and we grinned at each other.

  He got out of the driver’s seat and opened the back door. I loosened the seatbelt holding Louise’s carrier, and Dave picked it up to lift her out of the car. I glanced past him at Mark and Kathy’s house.

  ‘It looks like a haunted house again,’ I said.

  Dave turned to stare at it. Derelict once more; no roof, no glass in the windows or doors in their frames, only the garden wall was still sound. ‘But it isn’t,’ he said. ‘No ghosts here, they’re all at rest.’

  ‘I hope so.’

  *r />
  Louise burped and I lifted her down from my shoulder.

  ‘Was that good?’

  She gave another small burp and I giggled at her, then stood and carried her over to the cot.

  ‘Your first night at home, I hope it’s a good one, darling,’ I whispered, laid her down, then pulled her blanket up to her chin and froze.

  I heard it again and ran, screaming for Dave. Louise matched my screams with her own and I picked her back up, holding her close as I ran from the room.

  ‘She’s still here! Jennet! I heard the bells! Dave, she’s still here, I heard them again! The church bells!’

  Dave charged up the stairs and I ran into him in the office. ‘She’s not having Louise, Dave, she’s not! I don’t care what I have to do, Jennet is not taking Louise!’

  He grabbed hold of me and held us tightly. ‘Shh, Ems, shh. She’s not here, she can’t be.’

  I stiffened in his arms. ‘Did you hear that? Church bells! I’m telling you she’s back!’

  Dave said nothing.

  ‘Dave! Did you hear them?’

  He nodded slowly, and my blood ran cold. Part of me had hoped I’d imagined the sound. I pulled away from him and looked into his eyes. He looked as scared as I felt.

  ‘You didn’t hear them before. If you can hear them now, then she’s definitely coming for us!’

  ‘Ems.’

  ‘Dave, what are we going to do?’

  ‘Ems!’

  I stared at him, then realised. ‘You could hear them before, couldn’t you?’

  He nodded.

  ‘But you made out I was mad!’

  ‘I’m sorry, Ems, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.’

  I had already pulled out of his embrace; now I stood before the windows, watching the darkness. I turned to speak, then spotted something on the coffee table.

  ‘The inkpot!’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Jennet’s inkpot!’ I rushed over and grabbed it, still holding Louise close. ‘It’s this thing! This is why she’s still here!’

  ‘Then we need to get rid of it.’

  ‘No, we have to give it back to her. Bury it in the ruins of Wolf Farm.’