by K E O'Connor
Annie looked at me and shrugged.
“Is there anything you can tell me about how you died?”
Annie glanced behind her and then back to me.
“Were you running away from somebody the last time we met?”
Annie chewed on a fingernail before nodding.
“Who has frightened you so much?” I asked. “Was it one of your parents, Gwen or Saul?”
At the mention of her parents’ names, Annie visibly shrunk away and clutched her arms around her middle.
“They aren’t here now, and you’re safe in this room. We’ll protect you. And I have my trusty dog, who is great at looking after people.” I looked down at Flipper, who had been edging his way closer to Annie on his belly, his head still down and his posture submissive.
Annie’s gaze went to Flipper and a hesitant smile crossed her face.
“You can pet him if you want to,” I said. “He’s very friendly.”
Annie knelt down and held her hand out to Flipper. He slowly raised his head, and Annie placed her fingers on his paws.
“He likes you,” I said to Annie.
Annie smiled and inched closer to Flipper. She spent several minutes running her hands over his fur. I wasn’t sure what either of them were experiencing by her doing that. I imagined it felt cold to Flipper, but he didn’t object and allowed Annie to stroke him.
“You see, we’re here to help you,” I said. “And Mirabel and Michael are happy playing with my friend, Helen.”
Annie looked over to the other two children, who were now running around the room, spinning toys in the air and laughing at the look of confusion on Helen’s face as she attempted to roll toy cars in the right direction.
“What happened to you in this house?” I asked Annie.
Her gaze went to the large chimney breast on the wall. She pointed to it.
“You were hurt in a fire?”
Annie shook her head and her finger shook as she continued to point at the chimney breast.
“How’s everything going?” asked Helen quietly.
“We’re getting somewhere,” I said. “Keep the other two occupied. I’m going to see if I can help Annie.”
Helen nodded. “Who’d have thought playing with ghost children would be such fun?”
I smiled but kept my attention on Annie. “Is there anything you can show me about how you died?”
Annie ran her hand slowly along Flipper’s back before nodding. She pointed at the chimney breast again and then vanished.
Flipper jumped to his feet and barked.
“What just happened?” asked Helen.
“Annie’s gone,” I said.
“Did you scare her?”
Flipper headed to the door and looked back at me.
“I don’t think so,” I said to Helen. “Let’s see where Flipper leads me. Looks like he knows where Annie’s gone.”
“I’ll stay with Mirabel and Michael,” said Helen.
“Yes, they’re enjoying themselves with you.” I hurried after Flipper along the corridor and down the stairs into the main living room. Annie was standing by the fireplace waiting for us.
“Did you die in here?” I asked her.
Annie nodded and stepped backwards into the fireplace.
I looked at the old chimney breast. It must be an original feature, built to heat the whole house. If you were small enough, you’d be able to step into the fireplace and look straight up the chimney. But what did it have to do with the way Annie died? She said she didn’t die in a fire, so why is she connected to the fireplace?
I walked over and pulled the large fire grate out. It took all my strength; it was an iron grate that could easily fit half a dozen logs inside or one massive tree trunk.
I knelt down and peered upwards, seeing sky at the top of the chimney. As my eyes adjusted to the gloom, I could see small shelves built into the ancient brickwork inside the fireplace. They must have been used for storing pots and pans when the fire was used as the main place to cook.
Annie appeared in front of me, making me jump, and I hit my head on the bricks.
“Give me a bit of warning before you do that the next time.” I rubbed the back of my head.
She gave a nervous looking smile and pointed behind me.
“Did you keep something in here when you were alive?” I imagined it would be a good place to hide childhood treasures. “A book or a piece of jewelry?”
Annie shook her head. She gave me a gentle shove and jabbed her finger over my shoulder again.
“There’s no need to push. You want me to look on the shelf. I get it.” I shifted to look at the other side of the fireplace. Several of the bricks looked loose, and a couple had chunks missing out of them.
Annie vanished through the bricks and returned instantly, her eyes wide and a frown on her face.
I felt around the bricks and managed to pry one loose a couple of inches. “What have you been hiding in here?”
Annie drifted beside me, her gaze intent on the bricks.
I pulled the entire brick out and placed it on the ground. The one next to it was also loose, and after jiggling it a few times, I was able to shift it out of the way. “There had better not be spiders in this hole,” I said to Annie. “I don’t mind them, but when they run across my hand when I’m not expecting it, it’s not something I enjoy.”
Annie nodded and then blinked out of sight again.
“This had better be worth it.” I eased my hand into the space I’d made. There were a lot of cobwebs, but I couldn’t find anything else. I pushed my arm in up to the elbow and felt around the brickwork for whatever treasure Annie had hidden.
My hand hit something hard and smooth; it was not stone or a part of the fireplace. I took a firm grip of the object and gently pulled it out. In my hand was a bone.
Chapter 23
I stared at the bone in my hand. It was not the bone of a bird who had been trapped in the fireplace after falling down the chimney. I struggled to breathe, the horror of what I’d discovered robbing the air from my lungs and filling my veins with an icy chill.
Flipper whined and pawed the ground, his gaze on the bone.
“It’s just Annie you’re sensing,” I managed to say. “And as horrible as this is, I think I’ve just discovered one of her bones in the chimney breast.”
Flipper whined again and looked at the fireplace. Gwen appeared to one side of the fire, her gaze also on the bone.
“Is this Annie?” my shaking hand held up the bone to Gwen.
Gwen nodded, her face sorrowful as she looked at the bone.
“Why is your daughter in the fireplace?”
Gwen closed her eyes and rested her head against her hands, before pointing to the bone.
“Did Annie die in her sleep?”
Gwen nodded again.
“Was she sick before she died?”
Gwen floated over and her fingers ran along the bone, touching my skin as she did so, and chilling me instantly.
“If she was ill and died, why didn’t you tell anybody about it?” I asked.
“Lorna, the children have disappeared.” Helen walked into the room and stopped as she saw what I was holding.
“Annie showed me to this fireplace,” I said to Helen. “I think she was buried inside the wall.”
Helen grabbed hold of the arm of the chair before sitting down swiftly. “Why would anybody want to do that?”
“Annie’s disappeared, so I can’t ask her, but Gwen is here. She confirmed this is Annie’s bone, but she’s telling me Annie just died in her sleep.”
“So why not tell people?” asked Helen. “Why conceal her daughter’s body?”
“That’s what I was trying to find out.” I looked at Gwen. “Are you sure she died in her sleep?”
A swirl of cold air shot around me, and Saul appeared next to his wife. Gwen grabbed hold of his arm and shoved him away from her.
Saul glared at Gwen before his angry expression turned to me.
“Did you have anything to do with this?” I held the bone up to Saul.
Saul shot towards me, but before he could get close, Gwen grabbed hold of him and spun him around the room and away from me.
“What’s happening?” asked Helen. “I keep getting the chills, and Flipper is whining.”
“Annie’s parents are fighting,” I said. “Saul’s arrived, and he’s not happy. But Gwen is protecting us and keeping him out of the way.”
“Good for Gwen,” said Helen. “Sounds like her husband’s a thug.”
I looked at the bone in my hand again. “And maybe he had something to do with what happened to Annie. That could be why he’s so angry because I’ve discovered where her body was hidden.”
“You think Saul put Annie inside the wall?” asked Helen.
I looked over to where Gwen was struggling with Saul, pushing him backwards and standing in front of him every time he made a move towards me. “Like you said, he’s a thug. And from what Reverend Davies told us about the family, he was the one who lost their business because of his gambling problem and forced them into a life of farm work. If Saul continued to gamble away any money they made, and wasn’t able to feed his children, maybe he decided to get rid of one of the weak ones.”
“If that’s true, I hope Gwen is pounding the life out of him,” said Helen.
“It’s a bit late for that,” I said. Gwen and Saul shot up to the ceiling and vanished straight through. “They’ve gone.”
“What should we do about the bone you found?” asked Helen.
“Tell the police?”
“How are you going to explain that you knew where the bone was and who it belongs to?” asked Helen. “The police aren’t going to believe that the ghost of the child buried in the wall told you where to find her.”
“Could I ring in an anonymous tip off?”
“They might trace the call,” said Helen.
“We can’t just leave her here,” I said. “This must be the reason Annie won’t rest, because she’s been hidden like this, and her murder has been concealed.”
Helen stared at the fireplace. “Then we’ll do the next best thing. We’ll take her remains and bury them ourselves.”
“Bury them where?”
“Wherever Annie chooses,” said Helen. “Sounds like she had a horrible, short life. The least we can do is give her a decent place to rest.”
I looked down at the bone. “You’re right. Annie didn’t have much of a life. Let’s make sure she can at least rest easily now we’ve discovered what happened to her.”
Gwen appeared in front of me, this time without Saul.
“Gwen’s come back,” I said to Helen. I looked at Gwen, who was floating by the chimney breast. “Can you tell me anything more about your daughter?”
Gwen drifted over to the sofa. She lifted a cushion and pressed it on her face.
“What's she doing?” asked Helen. “It must be bad. You’ve gone very pale.”
I swallowed the horror I felt. “Gwen is showing me that Annie was smothered to death.”
Helen gasped in shock, and her hand flew to her mouth.
Gwen dropped the cushion and nodded at me.
“Did you do it?” I asked Gwen.
She shook her head violently.
“Your husband?”
Gwen nodded.
“I understand that things were difficult for you when you were all alive, but he had no right to do that,” I said.
Gwen nodded again. Her expression turned sorrowful as she looked at the bone in my hands.
“We’re going to help Annie,” I said. “I’ll get the rest of the bones out, and we’ll lay her to rest somewhere nice.”
Gwen’s expression brightened, and she mouthed the words thank you to me.
I carefully placed the bone down and shuffled back into the fireplace. “Helen, I’m going to need a few tools to get more of these bricks out. I want to make sure I don’t miss any of Annie’s remains.”
“What do you need?” asked Helen.
“A small chisel and a hammer should do it,” I said. “Several of these bricks are loose, so I can pull them out without too much trouble.”
“Just make sure you don’t knock the whole house down,” said Helen.
“I’ll do my best not to,” I said. “And we need to hurry before Jasmine and Chris return from their meal. If they find us doing this, we won’t have jobs in the morning.”
The door to the living room was pushed open, and Francis walked in. She blinked in surprise as she saw me wedged halfway inside the fireplace. “What’s going on here?”
Chapter 24
“We can explain.” Helen jumped to her feet and tried to block Francis’s view.
“Get out of my way.” Francis pushed Helen to one side and stomped towards me. “What are you doing inside the fireplace?”
I thought about lying to Francis, and telling her I was doing some DIY, or had an obsession with ancient chimney breasts. But I knew she’d seen some of the things the ghost children did in the house. I’d been in the nursery with Francis when she’d seen toys move on their own. And I was certain she’d heard the children’s laughter just as I had. It was time for the truth. She may think I was mad, but there was nothing else I could do.
“This house is haunted,” I said.
“You’re hunting for ghosts in the fireplace?” asked Francis. “What nonsense.”
I shuffled out of the fireplace and picked up the bone. “I found this. And I think there will be plenty more when I look in the wall.”
Francis looked at the bone. “It’s most likely from an animal.”
“We don’t think it is,” said Helen quietly.
“Francis, you’ve been here ever since Mirabel and Michael were born,” I said. “Has anything strange ever happened to you?”
“What do you mean by strange?”
“Have you ever heard children’s laughter or running footsteps?” I asked. “Have you ever seen things move on their own?”
“Of course not.” Francis’s hands fluttered against her chest. “I don’t believe in things like that.”
“So, nothing strange has ever happened to you?”
“It may have, but things like that always have a rational explanation,” said Francis.
“I agree with you,” I said. “And the explanation is this house is haunted. There are the ghosts of three children and their parents living here.”
“How do you know that?” Francis peered at me like a miserable mole, who’d just been dragged from her favorite hole.
I looked at Helen, and she nodded at me. “I have this... ability. Call it a sixth sense, if you like, but I can sense when ghosts are around.”
“I don’t believe that for a second.” Francis snorted and folded her arms over her chest. “You may think you can see things, but it’s just an overactive imagination. You city types are all the same.”
I looked over to where Gwen hovered. “Can you help me out here?”
Gwen shrugged and then floated over to stand in front of Francis. She blew into her face, and I saw Francis’s expression change as she felt the air shift.
“What was that?” I asked Francis.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Francis took a few steps back, and her gaze darted round the room.
“Don’t leave,” I said. “You have to believe me. This house is being haunted by the ghost of a child who was killed and hidden in the walls. And I think she’s looking after the ghosts of Mirabel and Michael.”
Francis froze to the spot as I said the children’s names. “You think Mirabel and Michael are still here?”
“I’ve seen them,” I said. “They were dressed in jeans and checked shirts. They have sandy brown hair and dimples.”
“You could have seen pictures of them dressed like that,” said Francis. “That doesn’t mean you’ve seen their ghosts just because you can describe them to me.”
“And I’ve seen th
em playing in the nursery with Annie.”
“Who is Annie?” asked Francis.
“She’s the child I believe was killed by her father and hidden in the walls.”
Francis shook her head. “I don’t believe this. You’re up to no good, faking your abilities to get money out of the family most likely.”
“Gwen, Francis needs some more encouragement,” I said. “Help her to believe you’re real.”
Gwen placed her hands on either side of Francis’s face and squeezed her cheeks.
Francis jumped backwards. “What was that?”
“It was a ghost,” I said. “They exist and they need our help.”
“Was it one of the children who just touched me?” Francis’s trembling fingers brushed across her cheeks.
“Well, no. Annie’s parents are here as well. The whole family has some unfinished business they need to resolve.”
“That being Annie’s murder,” said Helen. “We think her father, Saul, smothered her and hid her body in the chimney breast so he wouldn’t get found out.”
“How can you possibly know this?” asked Francis.
“Because Lorna can see ghosts,” said Helen. “I know, when I first found out, I thought she was making it up as well. But it’s real. I’ve been her best friend long enough to know that.”
“And Annie’s mother, Gwen, indicated that’s what happened to her daughter.” I brushed cobwebs from my sleeve. “Annie’s ghost won’t rest until she’s taken from here and laid to rest.”
“How can you be so sure?”
I looked at Helen and shrugged. “I’m not entirely sure. But wouldn’t you be restless if you were killed and your body was hidden? It’s too late for Annie’s father to pay for what he’s done, but we can help Annie find some peace by removing her remains from here and giving her a proper burial.”
“You’re going to bury the bones?” Francis stared hard at me. “Shouldn’t you tell the police?”
“Tell them I see ghosts?” I shook my head. “You think I’m crazy. They will too.”
Francis looked around the room. “Maybe I have experienced some odd things in the house.”
“Like what?” asked Helen.
“I hear children’s laughter and the sound of running feet,” said Francis. “And when the children first died, it sometimes felt as if a tiny cold hand was holding mine. I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me. I so desperately wanted the children back. It took me a while to accept they really had gone.”