Echoes of the Past (8 page)

Jess
closed her eyes and began to think about her friend. A moment later, the pointer shifted slightly under their touch. The two girls looked at each other.

“Is
someone there?” Gemma said, not sounding half as confident as she had two minutes ago. The pointer gently slid across the polished board to, Yes.

“Are
you doing that?” whispered Jess.

Gemma
shook her head, her eyes huge.

“Is
it you, Olivia?” Jess said. Again, Yes. Jess could feel the hairs on her arms stand on end as the room became just slightly darker.

“I’m
so sorry, Olivia, for making you meet me that day. Do you forgive me?” The pointer did not move. Jess felt a lump in her throat.

“Is
it you that Jess feels in her bedroom, Olivia?” Again, Yes.

“What
happened to you?”

The
pointer began to move across the board. Gemma spelled the letters as she wrote them on her pad.

“S
U E. Did you say Sue?” Gemma said. Back to, Yes. The pointer seemed to be moving almost effortlessly now.

“B
O X.”

“What
does that mean?” Jess whispered.

“Maybe
she doesn’t remember,” Gemma said, who was also speaking in a hushed tone. “Do you know where you are, Olivia?”

“C
L O S E”

“What
dose that mean?” whispered Jess again.

“I
don’t know.”

Again
the same word.

“Are
you here alone?”

The
pointer glided back to, No.

“I
don’t like this, Gemma.”

“Do
you have anything to say to Jess, maybe a message or something?”

The
pointer began moving faster around the board. Gemma spelling the letters as they came.

“R
U N R U N R U N.”

As
the realisation of what was being spelt dawned on them, the girls looked at each other. Jess jumped to her feet and headed for the door, her heart racing in her throat. Gemma immediately followed. Jess grabbed the newel post at the top of the stairs and spun round heading down, Gemma right behind her. At some point in the panic, Gemma’s ridiculously long legs became entangled with Jess. Both girls missing the curve of the staircase hit the balustrade and rolled down the remaining seven steps. Gemma didn’t wait to hit the floor. She was up and out of the front door, not stopping until she made it through the gate at the top of the path.

She
stood bent over with her hands on her thighs trying to catch her breath. “My God, Jess. What just happened?” She turned to see where Jess was. There was no sign of her.

“JESS!
JESS!” Tears began to well up in Gemma’s eyes as she realized that Jess was still in the house. Too afraid to go back inside Gemma called her again. No reply. Gemma looked around her in the hope of seeing someone, anyone. Mustering everything she had she headed back down the path toward the house. Just inside the door lay Jess. Still on the floor, crying.

“I
think I broke my ankle, Gemma.”

“God,
no.” Gemma went over to assess the damage. Jess indeed had an ankle twice its normal size and growing.

“Help
me up and get me out of here.” Gemma helped Jess on to her good foot, with an arm around her shoulders she helped her hobble out the front door and up the path.

“You’ll
have to phone my Aunt.”

“Ugh,
no way, I’m not going back in there, Jess.”

“Don’t
you have your mobile?”

Gemma
felt the pocket of her Jeans and smiled. “Oh thank goodness.” She helped Jess sit down on the grass and handed her the phone.

*****

“I don’t think it was trying to upset you, love, I think it is trying to get a message through to you.” Elsie spooned beans on to the cooked breakfast and handed it over the counter to Lee. “That one’s for Jim, my love.” Lee carried the breakfast over to the older man sitting in his usual seat by the window. Another breakfast followed for his companion.

“Well,
I am upset, Elsie. If you had seen that computer this morning, you would be upset too. I don’t know what’s going on, but there’s a strange atmosphere in the house, I’ve never had that before.”

“Not
just your house. I’ve been picking it up all over town.”

“What
do you mean?” Lee asked.

“Oh,
I don’t know. Can’t quite put my finger on it? Look don’t mind me, I’m just an old witch.”

Lee’s
mobile rang in her bag. “I’ll be a sec, Elsie.” A moment later, she was back at the counter.

“Elsie,
I’m sorry. I’ve got to go. Jess has had an accident.”

“Goodness,
is she all right?”

“I
don’t know. She thinks she may have broken her ankle.”

“Well,
all right, I can manage here. Let me know how she is.”

Lee
grabbed her jacket and ran out the door. She headed up to the lockup at Potters Lane to get her car. Ten minutes later, she arrived at Hill House farm. Jess was sitting on the grass with Gemma beside her. The front door of the house was lying open.

“What
have you done, Jess?”

“I
fell down the stairs.”

Lee
looked at the swollen ankle, there was no bruising, but it was very red.

“Have
you called your Dad?” she asked.

The
girls looked at each other. “No, I didn’t want to disturb him.”

Lee
knew something was going on. “What’s happened, I want the truth.”

“We
were just messing around, aunt Lee, and we fell down the stairs.”

“We?”

“Well, me.”

“Come
on; let’s get you to the doctor. And I am calling your Dad. I’ll drop you off Gemma.” Lee closed the front door and bundled Jess in to the blue mini. Dropping Gemma off on route, she took Jess to the surgery.

Doctor
Styles was well passed retirement. He had lived and worked in Coppersfield for as long as anyone could remember. Rather round, with grey hair and a penchant for boiled sweets, he had run his surgery the same way for nearly fifty years. Very informal. Doctor Styles still would make house calls, he would do his best to ensure you could always get an appointment, and every child got a sugar lump. The old man prodded and pressed at the offending ankle.

“Wiggle
your toes. Does this hurt? Bend your foot forward.” Jess did as he asked. “Well, there’s no bruising. That’s a good sign. I’m pretty sure it’s not broken. I think she has sprained it, if you want to go for an x-ray I can give you a letter to take through to the hospital. But to be honest, I think a tubei grip should do the job. And you will have to stay off it for a day or two. Let me see if I’ve got some crutches through here.” The old Doctor returned with a pair of worn crutches and a bandage. “Now, you should only need these for a couple of days, no more. If you still can’t walk you will have to have an x-ray.”

“Thank
you, Doctor.”

Bandaged
up, Jess made her way back to the car.

“Your
Dad is going to know something happened when you hobble in on crutches, Jess, why didn’t you want him to know?”

Jess
sat for a moment looking down at her bandaged foot. “Aunt Lee. We did something really stupid. Please don’t tell him, he will go ballistic.”

Lee
drove up the lane to the farmhouse. “What have you done?” She knew Jess, and it wouldn’t be that bad, she was a good kid. She pulled the mini into the drive and helped Jess out and up the path. At the front door, Jess hesitated. A feeling of dread washed over her at the thought of going back into the house. “Come on, I’ll get you on to the couch and make you some hot chocolate, then you can tell me what you’ve done.”

Ten
minutes later, Jess was on the couch with a cushion under her foot and a mug of hot chocolate on her lap. Lee was sitting across from her with a cup of coffee.

“I
called Elsie, she’s asking for you and I called your Dad, he’ll be home soon. Now tell me what you’ve done”

“We
used a Ouija board.” Jess blurted out.

“What?”
Lee couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Don’t
tell Dad. We were trying to contact Olivia; I just wanted to tell her I was sorry. I didn’t really think it would work. But Gemma got this board and we asked questions and it started saying things, most of it didn’t make sense until it told us to run. I got such a scare that we did run, and we fell down the stairs. I’m so sorry, Aunt Lee, please don’t tell Dad.”

“Slow
down. I won’t tell your Dad. Do you know how dangerous those things are? You don’t mess about with things like that Jess, believe me, I know. Now promise me you won’t touch one again.” Jess promised feeling a great weight being lifted just sharing this with her aunt.

“Now,
did you say you got a message?” Lee asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

Jess
nodded. “It said something about a box and that she was close.”

“Who
was close? Olivia?”

“I
think so. Then it just spelt out run, over and over again.”

Lee
knelt beside her at the couch. “It scared you, didn’t it?”

Jess
began to cry, nodding her head. Lee cuddled her and stroked the back of her hair.

“What
ever possessed you to do it, Jess, you’re smarter than that.”

Jess
looked up. “Aunt Lee, I haven’t told Dad. But I feel Olivia here. I even think I have seen her out of the corner of my eye. And when I look back, she is gone. I have terrible dreams about her. I feel as though she’s in my room. And I think she’s mad at me for making her meet me that day.”

“Oh
honey, come here. Olivia wouldn’t blame you for any of this. It isn’t your fault. The only person to blame here is the man that took her. The only reason you feel her is because you miss her, and you’re obviously feeling a little guilty, you have nothing to be guilty about, Jess. And I think the bad dreams are because you don’t know what really happened to her.” Lee spoke softly with a confidence she didn’t feel. She had been having bad dreams too. She also felt a presence, although she didn’t believe it was Olivia, she couldn’t help think about what Elsie had said that morning, about the whole village being strange just now.

“Aunt
Lee, you have to get the board out of my room before Dad gets home. If he finds it.”

“Don’t
worry, I’ll get it.” Lee climbed the stairs to get the board. Jess was right. There was an ominous feeling in her bedroom. Lee paused for a second and looked round. This room had been Sarah’s, when they had been growing up here.

If
it
were
Sarah
,
she
wouldn’t
scare
her
own
daughter
, Lee thought. She dismissed the feeling and went down stairs to hide the board in her car, just in time, as Tom pulled into the drive.

“She’s
fine, Tom.”

Tom
went in to the living room, undoing his tie as he went.

“I
knew I should have stayed home this morning. Did you faint? What happened?”

“She
just lost her footing, Tom, that was all.”

“I’m
fine, Dad, it just hurts. Doctor Style has given me some Co-codamol. It’s not broken.”

After
Tom had calmed down, Lee made dinner. It was agreed that Lee would come over the next day and look after Jess while Tom was at work. Relief washed over Jess to know that she wouldn’t be in the house alone after all, especially now that walking was a bit of a challenge.

“Dad,
can I sleep here on the sofa tonight?”

“Its
all right, I can carry you upstairs.”

Lee
could see the fear on Jess’s face. “I would let her sleep on the couch tonight, Tom. If her foot gets sore she can watch some telly to take her mind off it, or hobble in and make a hot drink.”

Tom
gave it some thought, then agreed. Lee brought down her quilt and pillows and helped get her settled. Tom went into the study at the back of the house to try and catch up with work he had left today.

“Do
you want a coffee?” Lee said popping her head around the door.

“Go
ahead, if you’re making one.”

Moments
later Lee returned with the coffee.

“How’s
the case going?” Lee asked.

Tom
had opened files spread across the large desk in front of him.

“Do
you remember P.C south? The officer I replaced?”

“Of
course I do.”

“Did
you know he was looking in to the Susanna Wheeler case? Apparently, he had a photo of her with a man. He believed he was her killer.”

Lee
drew her eyebrows down as she handed Tom his coffee. “Why on earth would he be looking into the Wheeler case, you said it had been left dormant for years? Do you have the photo?”

The box.

“That would be too easy. But not only that, there was nothing on her file. Normally if you’re looking into a cold case, you will put whatever information you find in the file to let other officers know it’s an active case again. It also allows your colleagues to pick up where you left off. But so far, I can find nothing. No one has updated this file since she disappeared in 1968. He was obviously working under the radar, but I don’t know why.”

“So
what can you do about it?” Lee was rubbing her temples as she spoke.

The box.

“Not a lot. I am however going to see Angela Harrison’s mum tomorrow. Is your head sore, Lee?” Tom asked.

“It’s
just starting, I’ll be fine once I take these.” Lee popped two Paracetamol on to her hand.

The box!

“I’ve not been able to find any leads on the girl that disappeared from Edinburgh, but Jenny Phillips, she disappeared after her shift on the London to Glasgow train in 1979. She was serving in the refreshment carriage. She was due to have a sleep over and then catch the same train back the following morning. She never made it to her Glasgow hotel. Now this may be nothing more than a coincidence, but she was last seen one year to the day that Angela Harrison disappeared.”

“I
thought you didn’t do coincidences, Tom?”

“I
don’t. Especially when you take into account this.” He turned the file toward Lee and pointed out a typed note.

“So
an anonymous caller gave a tip, that a passenger on the train had offered Jenny a job. Police suspected the tip came from her co-worker. Is this significant?”

Tom
looked at her for a moment. “When you consider that I was told yesterday by a friend of Susanna Wheeler, that Susanna had been offered a job by a mysterious stranger in the days leading up to her disappearance.”

“You
are joking. This is why they didn’t want to move you up here, Tom. You are really good at what you do. Wait a minute. Did you say you thought the three girls are connected to Angela Harrison?”

Tom
raised his eyebrows. “I’m not ruling anything out at this time. Tomorrow I want to do a Spec search, see if there were any other women reported missing over the years on or around the same time.”

The box.

“A Spec search?”

“Yes,
it will tell me what sort of crimes happened on that day, that is if the intelligence officer has been doing his job.”

“My
head is really starting to bang, Tom, I’m going to head off home.”

The box.

“Sure you’ll be all right?”

Lee
lifted her jacket and car keys. “I’ll be fine, too much excitement.” She smiled. “I’ll be back before you leave for work Tomorrow?”

“That
would be great, Lee, there’s just so much I can’t do from here.”

Lee
laughed. “You know we’re all holding bets as to how long you will last retired. I don’t think you’ll be able to cut it. You only started this to give yourself an excuse to stay on I bet.”

“With
retirement, I don’t have an option, I’ll cut it just fine, you wait and see.”

The box.

But the spectral whispers went unheard in the peaceful study.

Tom
worked in to the early hours after Lee had left. At 3am, he checked in on Jess. She was sound asleep with the television still on. He switched it off and went back to the study. The Christmas decorations still sat in the corner of the room, Tom had been planning to take them back up to the attic for almost three months now. He stretched his arms out to the side and leaned back until he heard the familiar crack in his lower spine. Might as well get some of it up stairs now, he thought. More keen to loosen up the tight muscles by moving than he was in actually putting anything away. He stacked a few of the boxes and carried them to the back of the house and climbed the back staircase to the upstairs hall.

Tom?

The grandmother clock ticked away the seconds as he climbed the second staircase to the attic. He kicked the door open with his foot and walked in to the darkness. He placed the boxes down in the first available space he could find. He looked around the crowded area. He made a mental note to clear it out when he retired. There where three generations of crap stored in it and he knew a lot of it could go.