A Spectre in the Stones

by John Kitchen

“You could explain that to Dave,” Justin said. “Or you could just say Craig threatened to work you over.”

  “I got to think about it,” Lloyd said suddenly. He pocketed the envelope, but Justin shook his head.

  “You’ve got to go now. You’ve got to stop him before he gets you any more involved.”

  Dave didn’t seem overjoyed to see him. He stared through his rimless glasses and there was no hint of welcome.

  “What is it, Lloyd Lewis?” he said.

  “I got to talk to you about something, haven’t I?” Lloyd said.

  Dave sighed, pointedly closing his eyes. “Not more rubbish about your ghost, I hope,” he said.

  “It hasn’t got nothing to do with the ghost,” Lloyd said. “This is other stuff, and you got to do something about it.”

  “Someone messing with your beloved travel case again?”

  “No way, man.” Dave was really riling him. “It’s about Craig Donovan. There’s stuff going on at school that you got to know about.”

  “And you’re going to tell me, I suppose.” It was said in that semi-sarcastic way.

  “Yeah, right, I’m going to tell you, because the guy’s got me involved, hasn’t he?”

  He pulled the envelope from his pocket and smacked it onto the desk. “This stuff is Craig claiming to do some guy’s homework for him. He’s got me delivering it because he said teachers are on to him – so he can’t deliver it himself. The other kids pay him a tenner for what’s in this envelope and no way is it homework.”

  Dave didn’t touch the envelope and he hardly moved – only to purse his fingers like a praying mantis and rest his elbows on the desk. He had that superior stare on his face and his eyes were blinking.

  “So, you want me to stop Craig Donovan doing kids’ homework for them? You want me to stop him displaying a bit of entrepreneurial initiative – stop him making a few pounds on the side, is that right?” he said.

  “It isn’t homework, man,” Lloyd said. “No way could Craig do these guys’ homework.”

  “Why not? You’ve got special insight into Craig’s IQ, have you? You have special access to his academic records?”

  “You know very well I haven’t,” said Lloyd. “And I don’t need no special access neither. The guy’s brain is less developed than an earthworm’s.”

  “Well, I don’t think it’s that underdeveloped, is it, Lloyd Lewis? After all, he’s managed to make a few pounds using his own initiative and he’s coerced you into assisting him.”

  It was becoming very clear Dave wasn’t going to do anything and he was already homing onto the sticky subject of Lloyd’s involvement.

  “You open the envelope and see what kind of homework he’s doing, then,” he said, but Dave’s steely glare didn’t waver.

  “I most certainly will not,” he said. “That’s a private matter, between the boy concerned and Craig. It’s none of my business and it’s certainly none of yours.” He leaned forward, pushing his mitred hands ahead of him so his face was fairly well filling Lloyd’s face. “Now, understand this,” he said. “Since you’ve been here, you’ve been bent on trouble. You’ve picked quarrels with Martin, you’ve been tormenting Caitlin Jamieson, you’ve come up with this ridiculous story about ghosts and you’ve even duped a professor from London into getting involved, and now you’re having a go at Craig Donovan, to say nothing of your persistent petulance, and I’m warning you, Lloyd Lewis, I’ve just about had it with you. Drop it, okay? And I suggest you keep a very low profile from now on.”

  “So, you aren’t going to do nothing?” Lloyd asked.

  “The boy’s just showing a bit of initiative,” snapped Dave. “Why should I interfere? And, as I’ve told you before, I don’t take instruction on how to run this place from a thirteen-year-old kid. Now get back out there and keep your nose out of trouble, because I’ve just about had my fill, understand?”

  Lloyd got up. He was almost rigid with fury and his hands were itching to smack that smug face, but – he’d got to remember what Justin had said about diplomacy. “Suit yourself,” he said. He did put his hands in his pockets, though, and he did give the most enormous Gallic shrug – and, as he walked out, he had to make one parting shot. “But I’ve told you. You remember that and, if it turns out Craig Donovan is up to something, it isn’t down to me, okay?”

  “Get out,” Dave said, and his face was red from the neck up. On another occasion Lloyd would have felt good about that. This time, though, it was serious. He headed for the garden to see Justin again – but Justin’s van had already gone and that left him abandoned, and his mind was whirling.

  He was dealing with a real concoction of feelings this time and none of them were under his control.

  He’d half-suspected Dave wouldn’t back him, but common sense had persuaded him that he’d have to. This was big stuff, dealing in drugs, and somewhere up the line there would be another guy, even more deeply involved than Craig, and he shuddered, because, as soon as he thought of that, he thought of a whole chain of people, going right up to top-grade criminals. He was in the chain too… and he’d stay that way until he could do something to smash open Craig Donovan’s activities.

  He could hardly cope with the anger he felt for Dave. Either the guy was part of the chain himself or he was the biggest wimp in the universe.

  He was disappointed with Justin, too. With something as big as this, he’d have expected him to hang around. And now he’d got all this stuff in his head and no one to turn to and he had to offload somewhere.

  There was only one guy left, and that was Rudi.

  He found him in the bedroom, reading. He looked up when Lloyd came in. “You okay?” he said and Lloyd threw himself on his bed.

  “Yeah, if being in it up to the top of your head is okay,” he said.

  Rudi put the book to one side and eased himself into a sitting position. “What’s up?”

  “Craig gave me this envelope, didn’t he?” Lloyd said. “I took it to Justin and he said I was to go to Dave.”

  “Yes?” Rudi said.

  “Well that guy’s so wet he’s waterlogged. Either that or he’s in on the whole thing.”

  “Why? Justin never said what he thought Craig was doing.”

  “He reckons he’s dealing. He reckons it’s cannabis in the envelope.”

  “And you told Dave that?”

  “Not exactly. I told him about the homework, though, and all that great lump of gelatine could come up with was, if Craig says he’s doing homework – that’s what he’s doing, and doing kids’ homework for a bit of pocket money is good. The guy tried telling me Craig was some sort of an entrepreneur.”

  Rudi’s face twisted in disbelief. “That’s crazy,” he said. “And he didn’t even look in the envelope?”

  “No way, and I can’t get my head around what drives Dave sometimes. It’s like the guy won’t do nothing about anything.”

  “He just wants an easy life,” Rudi said, lying back on the bed.

  “He don’t like nobody rocking his boat, neither. It’s like – the guy’s hiding from every bit of strife that ever comes up.”

  “Is he afraid of Craig, do you think?” Rudi said. “Craig does just what he likes and no one says anything. He goes off into town, he’s got control over the TV downstairs and the computer room. He’s got scams running in the home and, when Dave goes on about some kid doing all the pranks and stuff in here, I think he’s got Craig down for that too. That’s why he won’t do anything about it.”

  Lloyd fingered the envelope. “I was thinking that,” he said. “But it don’t help with this cannabis stuff, do it?”

  “Let’s have a look,” Rudi said.

  Lloyd passed over the envelope and Rudi ran his finger across it. “I can feel a sort of lump,” he said. “In the corner – like a raised bit. Would that be the cannabis?”

  Lloyd felt it and there was certainly something. It had been concealed – most likely folded into the paper and taped, like Justin had sa
id. He shook his head.

  “What am I meant to do with it?” he said.

  “You have to talk to Justin.”

  “Yeah, but Justin’s gone AWOL and I got to deliver this tomorrow.”

  “You’ll have to deliver it, then” Rudi said. “And tell Justin tomorrow night. If you don’t give it to the guy tomorrow, Craig will know something’s up.”

  Lloyd didn’t want to do it but he couldn’t see any other way. And, the next morning, he found the boy Craig had earmarked and he offloaded the envelope.

  But now he was certain what was inside and that made him really edgy. He was always conscious of the potential for a teacher to be watching, even though he made doubly sure the coast was clear. And even if there wasn’t a teacher, there could be another kid; someone suspicious of what was going on, some hyperactive creep that would report it to Mrs Cherry.

  There wasn’t going to be another delivery. He was certain of that. He’d do something next time – even if he had to go to the police himself.

  It had become top priority. He’d have to talk it over with Justin – and that annoyed him. Time with Justin was precious and there were more important things to do.

  He wanted to get inside that hill, and he wanted to put his theory about the broken ley lines to the test. But events had taken over; getting Craig Donovan sorted was top of the list. Until he’d sorted him, he felt everything else was on hold.

  Chapter 14

  Straight after their mini treats that night, Lloyd and Rudi searched out Justin. He was down by the front entrance, sweeping leaves, and when he saw them, he grinned. But Lloyd wasn’t smiling.

  “You never waited, last night,” he said.

  He leaned on his brush and shook his head. “I couldn’t. I meant to say. I had a videoconference with the professor – on Skype. I had to get home.”

  “Only it didn’t work with Dave. He wouldn’t believe me. He reckons Craig’s some sort of entrepreneur. He said he really is doing kids’ homework and I got to encourage him.”

  “He didn’t look in the envelope?” Justin said.

  Lloyd shook his head.

  “He had to deliver the stuff this break time,” said Rudi.

  “I was really stressed, too,” said Lloyd. “I mean, I knew what was in the envelope this time, didn’t I? And – if I’d got caught, I’d have been right in it.”

  “You’d better bring the next envelope to me,” Justin said. “And we’ll take it to Dave together.”

  He gave them a reassuring smile and straightaway Lloyd felt easier. Just seeing the guy generated a sort of safety zone.

  “You going to tell us about the video conference, then?” he said.

  Justin grinned again. “Later, maybe. So, are we going to look at the mound and do some dowsing, or what?”

  “Find out about force patches coming away from Sarson Hall?” Lloyd said, and Justin nodded.

  “It’s no good having a theory if you don’t do anything to prove it.”

  Rudi and Lloyd laughed. “You sounded just like the professor then,” Lloyd said.

  They headed back to the North Wing and put the gardening tools away. Then they collected the dowsing rod from the van.

  Lloyd felt instinctively that there wouldn’t be any fractured forces around the south and west of the ground, or the east. Brookley Henge ran northwest of Sarson Hall and, if his theory was right, all the patches would follow the line between the hall and Brookley. And around the northwest he found patches straightaway. They were just like the one’s he’d discovered in the field by Brookley Henge, faint at times, hardly raising a flicker in the dowsing rod. Some of them were stronger, but they were all broken, like shards, scattered around the grounds.

  He trawled the front and back of the main wing too, and the west side, but, as he’d suspected, there was nothing there – and Justin looked pleased. “If we can trace patches all the way to Brookley Henge on Saturday, it looks as if your theory’s right,” he said. They sat on the felled log by the mound. “Do you want to do a dig now?”

  Lloyd nodded. “That would be good.”

  “We’ll have to be careful though, and we can only scrape the surface,” Justin said. “If it’s a genuine archaeological site, we’ll have to do a proper dig, with other archaeologists and stuff.”

  They collected spades and trowels from the North Wing. Then Justin showed them how to remove the turfs, cutting squares with the spades and gently levering the sods away, working on a small area at a time.

  “Is that how proper archaeologists do it?” Lloyd said, and Justin grinned.

  “You are a proper archaeologist. I mean, James is seriously impressed with you two.”

  There was an anomaly in Lloyd’s thinking as they set about the mound. In spite of the grief that gripped this place, sometimes he had feelings here that were bigger than anything he’d felt before. Things were happening to him, big things, and he was beginning to feel that no matter what the next three or four years threw at him, he could see a life beyond homes and social-workers. He was starting to know where he was going. And, as he cut away at the turf, he felt good.

  Rudi was working at a piece of turf too, and the guy was puffing like an old steam engine.

  “You’re so unfit, man,” Lloyd said, leaning on his spade and Justin laughed.

  “Never mind – a couple of weeks doing this and he’ll have muscles as big as… bees’ knees.” He laid a couple of pieces of turf together and showed them how to stack them.

  Then he demonstrated removing the topsoil, scraping gently, a layer at a time.

  “You do that so, if there’s some big relic down there, you don’t do no damage to it, is that right?” Lloyd said.

  They worked carefully, removing the soil and mesh of decaying roots until Lloyd’s trowel hit something hard.

  “Gently,” Justin said. “Clean it with your hands now – just the top dirt.”

  But it was only a jagged piece of stone, and there were more, lying together as if they’d been dumped. Justin picked one up and looked at it more closely.

  “It’s sarsen stone,” he said. “Most likely these are the trimmings from when they built the hall.”

  “This pile been here since Tudor times?” Lloyd said.

  “It looks like it. It looks as if this was an old stone dump. It would explain why you sensed it with the hazel twig; but I can’t understand why the ghost would be so interested.”

  “Are you sure it was this hill the ghost got excited about?” Rudi said.

  “Yeah. It was every time I said about it… but, like Justin said, it don’t make no sense – a load of old stones. There must be something else down there.”

  “I doubt it,” said Justin. “That pile was made by the Tudor masons. It’s got nothing to do with the Beaker folk and it would be a crazy coincidence if they just happened to dump their trimmings exactly where there were Bronze Age relics.”

  Lloyd got up and leant his spade against the hill. “If there’s nothing down there except them stones, then the stones got to fit into the pattern somewhere,” he said. “And I don’t see how.”

  There wasn’t any visit from the Beaker man that night, which meant Lloyd was still on his own with his theories and his new discovery.

  He was certain the pile of stones, or something buried beneath them, was important. He tried working through everything he knew, searching for a hint that would link it all, but there was nothing. All he had was a random list of facts and theories.

  The pile of trimmings though… something in his instincts told him they were the key; the Beaker man had reacted so strongly when he talked about the mound.

  It played around his head so much he couldn’t sleep and, that night, he seemed even more aware of the groans around him.

  Caitlin eyed him at breakfast the next morning.

  When he’d steered her back to her bedroom, he’d sort of kissed her lips again. It wasn’t just a light brush this time either. It wasn’t passionate or anything,
but it was a real kiss and, even though she was in her trance, she seemed to respond. It was odd though because when they were both awake they reverted to cautious glances and half smiles.

  It was a strange relationship – more a kind of drifting, as if they were floating towards each other on a tide. But he was happy with that. There was a sort of tranquillity about it that was different from anything else going on at Sarson Hall.

  Miss Webb took him to Mrs Cherry at lunchtime to talk about the fast-tracking and they sorted a timetable. He still couldn’t fathom Mrs Cherry and he had to think hard about what Justin had said – about diplomacy – because, when Miss Webb told her she felt he had a flare for maths, Mrs Cherry just stared and said: “Lloyd Lewis? Are you sure, Miss Webb?” His tongue was itching to tell her where she got off. To appease himself he just sat there glaring at her, imagining himself squashing that mole on her face.

  That evening they went off to find Justin and he was looking pleased with himself.

  “I had a phone call from James last night,” he said. “He and Jenny are coming over this weekend to do the dowsing trail with us. James is really keen; I told him about the stones. He said we were probably right about them being trimmings from building the hall.”

  “Did he say why they was important?” Lloyd said. “Because I’m thinking they’re the key to the whole thing – only I can’t see how.”

  “Ask him on Saturday,” Justin said. “He might have a few ideas. He’s cleared it with Dave for the weekend so we don’t have to go and see him.”

  The ghost still didn’t put in any appearances and, for the next few days, things were fairly quiet. That is until Thursday morning, when Craig caught up with him on the stairs again.

  “I got something for you tomorrow, black boy,” he said. “You meet me, break, and I’ll show you who you got to deliver to.”

  It was almost as if he’d dropped the pretence, and this assumption that Lloyd was totally under his control annoyed him.

  “You telling me or asking me, pink boy?” he said.