The Ghost House

by Helen Phifer

  Derek laughed then lay his head back against the chair and shut his eyes.

  Annie stretched and yawned. Tess let out a loud snore. She pushed the diary to one side and got up to check the doors and windows were all secure. Her mind was buzzing. Had that house known anything but sadness? No wonder the atmosphere felt so oppressive in there. She had watched a programme once about past memories imprinting themselves into their surroundings. The old house would be the perfect place to test that theory out: two people had died in the house and gardens and she wondered how many more had suffered the same, if not a worse, fate.

  Washing her face and rubbing some of her niece’s moisturiser all over she then checked each of the bedrooms, making sure they were empty. The huge antique brass bed in the master bedroom looked so inviting: she could imagine collapsing onto it in a heap with Will. She carried on along the hallway to the smallest bedroom, which she had turned into a bombsite: tidiness had never been one of her better traits. Leaving the nightlight on and climbing into the single bed she pulled the duvet up around her head and tucked it tight under her legs. One of her greatest childhood fears had been the thought of invisible hands tugging off her blankets in the night and she still felt that way whenever she slept in a strange place.

  On his way out of the station Will called back into the community office to see if Claire and Sally were still there. As he walked in the pair of them erupted into a fit of giggles.

  ‘Here, Will, what you told us before, well it put me right off my cheese and pickle sarnie.’

  He nodded. ‘Yep, I can see that it would. Sorry about that but it was good gossip I can’t believe you two didn’t know anyway: you’re losing your touch.’ They both nodded in agreement and he coughed into his hand. ‘I, erm, met Annie today. I haven’t really spoken to her before she seems kind of nice.’ He felt his cheeks begin to burn as the words left his lips and they got hotter when he caught the look Sally gave to Claire.

  ‘“Kind of nice”, what’s that supposed to mean? Actually she is very nice, had a bit of a rough time lately though.’

  ‘What happened to her? We haven’t dealt with any assaults against one of our own. Was it an accident?’

  ‘It never went to CID. Kav dealt with it kind of on a need-to-know basis and, basically, we are not supposed to know. Even Jake hasn’t said anything and he is the super grass of the century. I think Kav has either sworn him to secrecy or threatened him with working the town centre.’

  ‘Must be serious if Jake hasn’t blabbed. Oh well, see you ladies tomorrow if you’re in. Goodnight.’

  This time it was Claire who looked at Sally; she shrugged. ‘Will, I don’t know the details, but all I know is that something happened to her at home.’

  ‘Oh God, that’s awful, I had no idea. I thought maybe she’d got into a fight at work or a car accident. Thanks, I promise I won’t say anything.’ He left the station with an overwhelming urge to go back and see her but what could he say? He wasn’t supposed to know and he’d look stupid turning up this late unannounced. His stomach let out a loud growl and he realised the need for food and beer was the greater priority at the moment.

  He sighed after eating a full Chinese and washing it down with two cans of Stella. His stomach felt like it was going to explode. He flicked through the channels until he found a Bruce Willis film: everyone loves a hero. But he couldn’t concentrate. First he was thinking about Jenna White and then it was Annie. He stretched his legs, resting his feet on the pine blanket box he used as a coffee table. The thought occurred to him that Annie was down to earth and normal, she might even eat in front of him if he took her out for a meal. Not like his last girlfriend who would order a chicken salad and spend twenty minutes pushing it around her plate with a fork until he’d finished his steak and chips. He liked the thought of dinner with Annie and it made him want to phone Jake for her number. He lifted a hand to his forehead to check he wasn’t coming down with something because he wasn’t acting himself at all. He looked back at the screen. Kav was the hero in Annie’s story and he felt his admiration for him increase: there weren’t many supervisors who would deal with a crime and keep it so quiet that no one knew about it.

  The woman looked vaguely familiar and, from what little he could see, she was quite attractive. In fact, he liked her a lot. When she had pulled off her hat inside the house he had gasped aloud at the sight of the back of her head. He wondered what had happened to her. He wanted to know exactly how alone this woman was because he felt an instant attraction to her: she looked like an older version of Jenna with her dark hair and pale skin – exactly his type – and he knew all too well what it was like to be lonely. He would keep an eye on her because he fancied her and if she played it right he might even show her his special room.

  He had left the courtyard and made his way through the woods to the house, his mind overflowing with ideas. It would be nice to have a proper girlfriend. The things he could show her if she promised not to tell and if not – well, he had a safe place she could stay forever. As he walked around the mansion he realised just where he knew her from: she was the woman from the spiritualist church last week.

  Satisfied that no one had been into his secret domain he made his way back to the farmhouse and turned the flash off on his phone. He was pleased to see her sitting at the kitchen table reading and he had managed to get close enough to take a couple of pictures; he doubted they would work but it was worth a try. The way she delicately sipped her wine turned him on and he snuck back into the hay barn to watch her a little longer. It didn’t look as if there was a man around to lock up for her and he began to tingle with excitement at the possibilities. He watched as every single light in the house was turned on for a few seconds and then off again. The one that stayed on the longest was a small window at the side of the house and he felt himself go hard thinking about her alone, in the dark. How easy do you scare pretty lady? The urge to try and find a way into the house was overwhelming: he had to begin jogging to stop himself from doing something reckless and stupid. It would spoil his plans if he went in there on a whim. He needed to be practical. She could be his grand finale. If he wanted it to be perfect with her he needed to do a little more practice so it would be just as the voice in his head kept telling him it could be.

  He arrived home out of breath and with ruddy cheeks. The house was still in darkness. Thank God for small mercies. She would be in bed snoring like a trooper so he could indulge in his fantasies without being disturbed by the voice from hell. How had he ended up with a mother who wouldn’t die? She was going to live until she was a hundred. He could always kill her but that depended if he got away with everything else he had planned. If he got caught maybe the shock would give her a heart attack: it would be just his luck for her to drop dead when he was going to prison for the rest of his life. Smiling he checked the computer for an email from his next victim. Four more days and Jenna would no longer be alone: she would have another corpse for company. It was shocking to think of the number of teenage girls who were available at the click of a button and just ripe for the picking.

  Chapter 8

  Annie did not sleep well. Her dreams were filled with dead and dying people. By the time she got out of bed it was early morning and she couldn’t shake the visions her dreams had left behind. They were as clear as photographs and had imprinted themselves onto her mind. Dragging the duvet from the bed she took it downstairs and laid on the sofa.

  In no time, her eyes began to close and she drifted off. This time it was a handsome young man who haunted her dreams. His eyes were black and she had never seen eyes like them. He smiled at her and waved and she smiled back: he obviously knew her but she had no idea who he was. His expression changed to a sneer and he looked menacing. Annie knew that he wanted her to run and hide from him so that he could chase her. One of his arms hung down by his side and he was holding something that was dripping with a dark liquid. Terror took over and she began to run, pumping her short legs as hard as
she could to put some distance between them. He was very fast though and catching up to her. His laughter sounded behind her so close that she felt his warm breath against her ear. His hand reached out to grab hold of her when a loud knocking on the door woke her from the nightmare.

  She looked at the clock on the mantle and was horrified to see it was quarter past nine. Running her fingers over her head and rubbing her eyes she went to the kitchen door and peered through the tiny pane of glass to see Will standing on the other side. He looked even better than yesterday, in a pair of faded jeans and a red Berghaus® jacket. Oh bugger. She unlocked the door and he grinned at her.

  ‘Good morning and a lovely one it is, bit of a nip in the air.’

  Annie squeezed her eyes shut against the bright sunlight. ‘Morning. Sorry, I didn’t sleep too well last night and ended up on the sofa where I finally fell into a coma. Come in, I won’t be long. Do you want to put the kettle on?’

  ‘Of course. You go get dressed and your coffee will be waiting.’

  She ran for the stairs and realised she was wearing odd pyjamas and pink fluffy bed socks. Nice one, Annie. This is certainly not like it is in the movies where you get to be in your best silk pyjamas with not a hair out of place. If this hasn’t freaked him out you may be onto a winner.

  When she came back downstairs Will was putting her empty wine bottle into the recycling box. ‘They are not all mine in case you’re wondering. I only drink rosé, my brother drinks the red. I forgot to put them out for the bin men.’

  ‘Don’t worry. You should see mine, it’s full of empty Stella cans and they are all mine.’

  She laughed and tugged at the blue hat that was firmly back in place.

  ‘You know it’s driving me mad wondering what has happened to Jenna,’ said Will. ‘She couldn’t vanish off the face of the earth with no trace. I’m worried in case she has gone and done something stupid. There are so many horror stories of teenagers falling out with their families then going and killing themselves. It makes me feel sick.’

  Annie agreed with him it wasn’t that long ago she had been first on scene to a teenage girl who had hanged herself because she was being bullied. It had taken her weeks to get that image from her head.

  She took a loaf of bread from the cupboard before turning back to him. ‘Now, I’m warning you: toast I can usually manage but I’m not that good in the kitchen. For some reason I tend to burn everything.’

  ‘That’s OK, I’m used to it. My mum was an awful cook. I had to learn how to cook at school to stop my dad and me getting fatally poisoned. My dad had tears in his eyes the first time he had a roast dinner he didn’t have to use a carving knife to eat the veg with. God bless her. He was more upset than my mum when I moved out. He said there was no way he could go back to the burnt offerings. But then he never had to because she went out shopping one day with her friends and collapsed in the street; she died instantly from a massive heart attack.’

  ‘I’m so sorry. That must have been a terrible shock for you all.’ She watched him fiddle with his mug then passed him a plate of toast.

  His eyes lit up. ‘Is that real butter?’

  ‘Yep, not much point in eating toast covered in margarine: it tastes like plastic.’

  ‘Annie, I’m impressed. I don’t think I’ve ever met a girl who admitted to eating butter. My last girlfriend only bought that lower than low fat rubbish. I used to eat my toast dry it tasted so bad.’

  Annie felt her cheeks turn red. ‘Just don’t tell my slimming club leader. It’s one of the reasons I’ll never be a size ten. I like my comfort food and wine far too much to be able to give it up.’ Now she felt stupid as well as fat. Way to go. You’ve just admitted you eat more than an elephant to a guy who thinks anorexia is in fashion. She turned to the sink so he couldn’t see her face and began to rinse the pots.

  Will carried his plate over and put his hand on her arm. ‘That was really nice, thanks. I’m sorry if I upset you, I didn’t mean to.’

  Annie turned to face him and felt fresh tears threaten to fall. ‘It’s not you, it’s me. Since I hurt my head things have been affecting me in the strangest ways. I keep crying over nothing and talking utter crap.’

  He stepped closer and pulled her towards him, holding her tight. She let her head rest against his chest. Will lifted his hand to stroke her head and she pulled away feeling self-conscious.

  ‘I’m sorry. See what I mean I keep acting weird?’

  He stepped back to give her some space. ‘Well, I’m not sure what my excuse is apart from the possibility the butter went straight to my head.’

  They began to laugh and Annie felt her heart flutter. Damn, she really liked him even though she knew she shouldn’t. ‘Come on, let’s go and check out the house before we get ourselves in trouble

  She led him out to the tiny path she had run along yesterday. She was terrified to be going back into the old house so soon but she wouldn’t tell him that. At least she wasn’t alone this time. He followed behind her until they reached the house.

  ‘Can you imagine living here? It must have been so amazing,’ said Will.

  ‘It is beautiful but I don’t think that having this house and all the money brought them any happiness. From what I can gather they were afflicted by one tragedy after the other.’ She didn’t tell him how she knew this or mention the diary, wanting to keep it to herself.

  They approached the front door and she pulled the key from her pocket, not realising how much her hands were trembling until she tried to insert it into the lock and missed twice. The third one hit home and she shoved against the door but it wouldn’t move.

  ‘The rain must have made it swell.’

  Both of them leant against it and pushed hard. Annie hoped it wouldn’t budge; it would save her the trauma of having to go back in and face her fears. But after a few attempts it gave a little and after a couple more it swung inwards. Her mouth went dry and her heart began to race as she followed Will inside; he was as mesmerised by the place as she had been yesterday.

  They searched every room on the ground floor. All of them were empty, like she had said. The relief they hadn’t found the missing girl lying dead in any of them made her heart slow just a little. The only door to the downstairs they had no key for was the cellar door and for that she was thankful. Thinking about Alice lost down there in the dark made her skin prickle.

  As they reached the stairs her stomach lurched and Will turned to her. ‘Are they safe? I don’t fancy falling through and breaking my leg; I’m far too busy.’ He chuckled but she couldn’t and struggled to smile back.

  ‘No, they’re fine. I was up there yesterday and everything is surprisingly solid. It’s true what they say, they definitely don’t build them like they used to.’ She let him lead the way and she hesitated at the foot of the stairs feeling like a caged bird; her heart was flapping so hard inside her chest. A feeling of dread washed over her and she looked down to see a large dark stain underneath her feet. Surely not. It can’t be after all these years. Would blood still be visible to the naked eye?

  Will had made it to the top and was now watching her. ‘Are you OK? You’ve gone white. You’re not going to pass out on me, are you? Why don’t you wait there and I’ll go check it out.’

  ‘No!’ Her voice was sharper than she intended. ‘I’m fine. Wait for me.’

  He held out his hand towards her. ‘Come on, I’ll pull you up.’

  She ran up the stairs slapping his hand away. ‘You are such a cheeky git, Will. I don’t need your help, thank you. I managed to come up here all by myself yesterday.’ All the same she followed behind him letting him lead the way as he checked every room: still no sign of Jenna.

  At the far end of the hallway they found a narrow staircase tucked behind a partition wall. Annie knew where this led and felt safe walking up them to where the servants’ quarters once were. Instinctively she knew which one belonged to Alice and stepped into the small, cosy room. A warm glow enveloped her. Will w
alked on checking out the other rooms along the small passage. Annie felt as if she was in a different time. Staring out of the window she could see the huge oak tree which towered above the overgrown garden below. The tree where Edward had attacked the girl and where his broken-hearted father had hanged himself.

  Will’s voice broke her trance. ‘There’s nothing up here.’

  Annie whispered, ‘No, not anymore.’

  They went back down to the first floor. As they approached the schoolroom Annie thought she was going to be sick. She leant on the doorframe as he looked around the room.

  Will had walked around the house oblivious to the atmosphere. Annie, on the other hand, was afraid of her own shadow.

  ‘I’m sorry, you were right but I suppose it was worth a try. I can’t believe those mantelpieces have never been stolen. They must be worth a small fortune.’

  ‘Ah, I can tell you why. There are too many scary stories about the woods and the Abbey and I doubt any burglar would be brave enough. Anyway there is no access for vehicles; it’s a totally private road. Only my brother and the council have keys for the gates so no one could get a van up here.’

  Will sighed. ‘It’s such a beautiful old place. I would have loved to have seen it when it was first built.’

  Annie didn’t mention that if she closed her eyes she could describe every room in vivid detail to him. Following him down the stairs she stopped as she felt the sudden change in the air as the temperature plummeted; goose bumps appeared on her arms. Exhaling her breath came out in fine, white wisps. She sensed someone standing behind her on the top step and felt a pair of black eyes burning into the back of her frozen neck. Terrified, she couldn’t have turned around if she wanted to so she continued to walk down the stairs and hurriedly crossed the hall to the front door. As she stepped outside she breathed out. Still afraid to look behind her she waited for Will to close the door and passed him the key to lock it, relieved to be out of the house.