The Ghost House (8 page)

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 walked 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.

‘Are you sure you’re OK?’

She nodded her head, trying to compose herself so that her voice didn’t betray the fear that had taken over. Annie wanted to sound normal but she couldn’t remember how being normal felt. ‘I’m fine, really.’

They walked back to the farmhouse in silence. As they reached the gate she turned to him. ‘Do you want a lift to your car? I need to go into town so I can drop you off.’

‘That would be brilliant. You’re a little star, do you know that?’

She laughed and felt her heart tug as she wondered if this was it now, that she had served her purpose.

‘You know, if you fancy something nice to eat for a change I could come up and cook you a meal,’ said Will. ‘You provide the wine and I’ll provide the ingredients and the personal chef. Don’t think I’m being pushy but judging by the contents of your fridge I think a good home-cooked meal wouldn’t go amiss. The food will do you a world of good, not to mention my excellent company.’

Annie paused for effect. ‘I’ll have to check my diary.’ Then she giggled. ‘If you’re willing to cook that’s an offer I can’t refuse. I would really like that.’

‘How about tomorrow? It’s my day off. I could come up then.’

She tried to contain the excitement that was bubbling under her cool exterior. ‘Tomorrow it is then.’ She winked at him. Even though she knew it was a hopeless situation it wouldn’t hurt to just enjoy it for the moment. She needed cheering up and had never realised that underneath the reputation and the cool, calm exterior there was a man who was funny, kind and a bit of a gentleman.
Better stick a lucky dip on the lottery, maybe your luck is about to change
.

The traffic was awful on the way back into town and getting parked was going to be a total nightmare. Next to the police station were the Social Services offices: they had a lovely big car park. Will drove in as if he worked there and parked in the last empty space, feeling momentarily guilty. He got out of the car and walked briskly along the narrow alley between the two buildings that led to the rear yard of the station. A van came whizzing out of the open gates, lights flashing; it almost took him out. He waved at the driver who mouthed ‘sorry’ then sped off, sirens wailing into the distance. The rear yard was pitiful compared to the one next door. There was just enough room to park roughly twelve assorted vans and cars depending on who parked them. Outside the back door two uniformed coppers were trying various door codes to get into the building.

‘For Christ’s sake, why do they change the code on a Monday morning when nobody has a clue what it is?’

Will stepped forward and typed in the four-digit code, releasing the lock and opening the door.

‘Cheers, Will. We’ve been here five minutes and no one has got off their lazy arses to open the door.’

‘Busy people, you know how it is. How many times have you bothered to open the door when someone has been knocking?’

Smithy looked at Will as if trying to work it out. ‘Err, none.’

‘See. Busy people or so I’ve heard.’ Will left them to it and headed down to the CID office. As he walked in four heads turned to look at him and they chorused, ‘Morning, Sarge.’

‘Yeah right, less of the “Sarge” and one of you get the kettle on. Any news on Jenna?’ Four blank faces stared back at him. He walked across to the huge whiteboard. Jenna’s picture stared defiantly back at him. He wondered why she needed to wear all that crap on her face. What was she hiding? Or who was she hiding from? He’d seen a picture of her two years before she discovered a love of pop stars that looked like corpses. She had been a pretty girl.

Underneath her picture was a list of all her family, friends and tutors. All of them had been spoken to except one. The rest had big red ticks next to them. Not one person on the list thought that Jenna was capable of running away, not that kind of girl. The name that was unchecked was that of her best friend who had been to Manchester all weekend. She needed speaking to this morning, sooner rather than later.

Laura handed him a chipped mug of coffee. He took it and sat down at his desk. He opened his emails. Scrolling through them he found one about a collection for Annie. It said that she was off ill and there was a card and collection in the community office. Before yesterday he wouldn’t have even realised who she was. It was amazing how much your life could change in twenty-four hours. He finished his drink and stood up.

‘Laura, are you on with anything?’

‘No, I’ve just finished going through the list of Jenna’s friends.’

‘Good, you can come with me then.’

She grabbed her jacket off the back of the chair, grateful to get out of the office for a bit. Stu blew her a kiss and she stuck two fingers up behind her back. Will grabbed a set of keys from the whiteboard. He called into the patrol sergeant’s office, where Kav was eating his way through a giant bacon and egg bun. He nodded at Will and gave him the thumbs-up. Will wanted to talk to him but not where there was an audience.

‘Fancy a pint later?’ asked Will.

‘If you’re buying, I’d love one.’

‘I am, but only the first. You could drink a well dry.’

‘I finish at six. Anything on our missing girl?’

‘Stu is chasing up a mobile number with no registered owner. I’m hoping she might be hiding out with this mystery associate.’

‘I hope so, mate, because Jake is convinced she’s been abducted by little green men,’ said Kav.

‘Sounds like Jake. I’m off to speak to her best friend now.’

‘Good luck. I’ll see you in the The Black Dog about quarter past for that pint.’

Will went back into the corridor and threw the car keys to Laura, who was leaning against the wall chewing on her thumbnail.

‘You drive.’

They went in search of the car which, judging by the smudged numbers on the key ring, could be any one of the hundreds of cars parked on the massive public car park opposite the station.

‘These bloody cars should have central locking. At least when you pressed the key fob you would see the lights flash.’ She squinted trying to make out some of the numbers that had rubbed off. ‘And how hard would it be to rewrite the call sign back on?’

‘Found it.’ Will was halfway across the car park and Laura had to jog to catch up with him. He got into the passenger seat, pulling the small blue file from the side pocket. ‘There better be some petrol in it. I haven’t got time to mess around.’

Laura turned the ignition key; relieved the gauge showed the tank was three quarters full. ‘That’s another thing which does my head in, filling out those books every time we use a car, it’s like they don’t trust us.’

‘I hate to be the one to break it to you, Laura, but they don’t.’

They drove to Lesh Lane in silence. Laura couldn’t stop looking at Will and he wondered if he had something on his face or suit: she was freaking him out. She parked up outside the ex-council house. It had a neat garden and the windows were gleaming; he always noticed the small details. As they got out of the car he pulled his notebook from his pocket to check the girl’s name. She was seventeen so it wouldn’t matter if her parents weren’t present.. As Laura unlatched the gate the front door opened and a teary, red eyed teenager stood waiting for them.

‘Erin, my name is Will Ashworth. I’m a detective with the police.’ He stepped forward and shook her hand. ‘This is Laura Collins and she is a colleague of mine. We need to speak with you about Jenna, is it OK to come in?’

She stepped to one side to let them pass, pointing towards the kitchen at the back of the house. ‘My mum told me this morning when I got back that Jenna is missing. I don’t understand. It’s really not like her.’

Laura glanced at Will. He continued to lead the questioning. ‘Erin, I’m really worried about her. She didn’t take any money or clothes with her and the only thing we can’t find is her phone, which hasn’t been used since she disappeared. Did she have any plans to go somewhere, maybe meet up with a boyfriend?’

Erin sniffed, rubbing her red eyes with the back of her hand. ‘I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone. Jenna will kill me.’

‘Jenna hasn’t spoken to anyone or been seen since Friday night, you’re not grassing her up. What if she needs our help? Whatever it is you need to tell us, Jenna will thank you for it in the end?’

Erin paused and then the words that Will had been dreading came tumbling out. ‘She met some guy off the internet.’

Both Will and Laura sat up straight. Laura flipped open her notebook ready to write every detail down.

‘He’s a lot older than her but Jenna said that he was cool and loaded.’

‘Did you ever see him?’

She shook her head. ‘No, Jenna was going to meet him for the first time on Friday. They’d only ever spoken on webcam before but she kept saying how he was so like her and he really got where she was coming from. She even said they were a match made in heaven, can you believe that?’

‘Did she tell you his name, where he lived? Anything at all that may give us a clue where to find her.’

‘No, she wouldn’t tell me anything about him, said it was her little secret. He sent her two tickets for a Marilyn Manson concert in Manchester; he was going to take her there for the weekend. God, she was so happy when they arrived in the post and I was so mad with her. We always said we would go to our first Manson concert together and some old dude was going to take her while I sat at home twiddling my thumbs. That’s why I went to see my brother this weekend, we had a big argument and I wanted to be as far away from here as possible.’

Tears were flowing freely down her cheeks and Will felt bad for her, he patted her hand. ‘It’s not your fault, Erin, Jenna would have gone to meet this man whether you were here or not and I’m sure she wouldn’t have wanted you tagging along on a first date. Did she tell you where she was meeting him?’

‘Something about a haunted house and ghost stories but I don’t know where, she wouldn’t tell me.’

She began sobbing again and Will knew he wouldn’t get anything more out of her so he pulled a business card out of his pocket and handed it to her. ‘That’s my contact card. If you remember anything or you’re worried and need to speak to someone my mobile number is on there. You can ring me anytime.’

‘Do you think she’s dead?’

Will decided it was best to be honest. He didn’t want to give her false hope when he didn’t have a clue. ‘I don’t know, Erin. I hope that she is staying somewhere with him and she is OK but the truth is we just don’t know.’

Leaving Erin to her tears they walked back to the car.

‘We need to find those tickets and trace who bought them. Even if they came off eBay we can trace the seller. I need you to get onto headquarters and tell them to hurry up with her computer; it’s top priority now. If she met him on the internet it should be a goldmine full of clues. He could be anyone but he sounds like some fucking perv if you ask me,’ snarled Will.

‘I’ll get it sorted as soon as we get back, boss.’

Will dropped Laura off at the station and drove back to Jenna White’s house: he wouldn’t leave until he found those tickets.

Annie couldn’t remember the last time she’d visited a library, which was most likely something to do with the fact that she owed hundreds of pounds in overdue book fines from when she was younger. As a child she had spent hours in there, curled up reading everything she could get her hands on. Upstairs had been the reference library and the coolest museum she had ever been to, not that she had been to many. This one had stuffed birds and a huge moose head with big brown eyes that looked so sad. She’d probably look sad if someone had shot her, cut off her head and put it on public display for everyone to see. She used to make up scary stories about the flesh-eating moose that roamed the streets after dark looking for its body – it’s no wonder she used to have terrible nightmares.

As she walked through the main doors she expected an alarm to sound and alert everyone she was here but all that greeted her were the hushed tones of the staff and the few people in there. For the first time in a couple of days she felt relaxed, childhood memories soothing her anxious mind and reminding her of the time her life was far less complicated. Following the signs she found the records office tucked away at the back of the huge building. Annie was mystified when the assistant told her she had to put her bag into a locker and could only makes notes with a pencil.

The woman picked up on her expression. ‘You wouldn’t believe how many of our documents have been damaged or stolen. We have to take these precautions to make sure we have some left.’

‘Oh that’s awful. I only have a pen do you have a pencil I could use?’

‘Yes, of course, dear, that’s fifty pence please.’

Annie fished in her pocket for some change and handed it over.

The woman gave her a pencil. ‘Do you have a reader’s card dear?’

For the second time Annie’s face went blank.

‘It’s a membership card so you can look at the documents. You will need something with your address on to prove who you are.’ The woman had the smuggest look on her face, clearly expecting Annie to have nothing with her.

Annie had to keep smiling to stop herself from grabbing hold of the woman and shaking her. ‘I’ll just look in my bag which you told me to put in the locker five minutes ago, I won’t be a minute.’ Inside her bag she found a crumpled bank statement and her police warrant card. She slammed the metal door shut and locked it, turning around to see the woman was now helping some man who wanted to trace his mother’s parents. Annie thought she might actually scream in frustration when a voice from behind came to her rescue.

‘Can I help you?’

She turned to see a young man in his late teens smiling at her. ‘Yes please, that would be wonderful. I’m trying to look for some information on the old house in the woods behind the Abbey. But I needed a pencil and a reader’s card and to be honest I haven’t got a clue what she’s on about: I’m confused.’

His name badge said Declan. Annie was relieved when he laughed. ‘Hmn Hilda tends to have that effect on everyone. Come on, I’ll sort you out.’

She followed him to the desk and within two minutes had filled out a form which Declan took from her along with her ID to photocopy. She was now the proud owner of a brand new, blue and white reader’s card.

‘You take a seat and I’ll bring over all the stuff we have on the manor house in Abbey Wood, that’s the one you’re talking about, isn’t it?’

‘Thank you. My brother is the caretaker for it and I’m interested in the history of the place.’

‘Wow really, that is so cool. It’s a big old scary place. You know he could make a fortune doing those ghost tours. I have loads of mates in college who would be interested.’

‘That’s not a bad idea, I’ll tell him about it. Between you and me, though, I think he’s too scared to even go in there.’

They both laughed too loud for Hilda’s liking and she threw them a death stare. Declan disappeared and Annie made her way to a huge oak desk in the corner, which could easily fit four people around it working comfortably.

He returned with two large boxes. ‘This is the best one. It has photo albums of the house when it was first built and the family who lived there; it really was a beautiful house. The other box has family letters in from the son to his mum, he must have been sent to boarding school or something. I was reading them a while back until Hilda caught me and made me start filing all the newspaper clippings from the beginning of time into alphabetical order. There is also a ledger with a list of staff for the house when it was running at full capacity. That should keep you busy for a while. If you need anything else give me a shout.’

He walked away and Annie felt her faith in human nature restored. Hilda walked past she was still glaring so Annie gave her the biggest smile she could muster. Picking up the heavy box with the photos the butterflies in her stomach began to flutter again. Normally such an easygoing person the last few days were turning her into a nervous wreck.