The Patchwork House (13 page)

“What good is that going to do?” I asked.

“It makes me feel better.” He headed for the door.

“We can’t go back yet,” I said.

“I’m not going to sit around chatting with you. I’ve wasted enough time as it is.”

“We searched the whole house, Derek,” Beth said. It was a relief that she seemed to be taking my side on this one.

“There’s that other locked door in the ballroom. There might be another basement under the hall that isn’t connected to the wine cellar. We didn’t try to get into the attic…”

I shuddered at that thought. The wine cellar had been creepy enough. For some reason, attics terrified me even more.

“Beth’s right,” I said. “You might find her but chances are she’s somewhere we can’t get to.”

“What? Like a secret room or something?”

“Maybe,” Beth said. “Or, I was thinking something else.”

She had Derek’s attention, and mine.

“Go on,” he prompted.

“I’m thinking it’s connected to that clock,” she said. “There were five faces, right? Maybe each clock represents one of us. Maybe there’s one for each of us and one for the ghost.”

I frowned. “That clock is probably two hundred years old. How could it be connected to us?”

“I’ve no idea, but it’s weird how three of the clocks were moving forward and the other two were stopped. The top one started moving backwards and moments later we saw the… thing.” She shivered. I did too. “Maybe the fourth clock relates somehow to Chloe.”

“So what does it mean that it was stopped?” I asked.

“I don’t know, but if we could get Chloe’s clock to move, maybe she’d come back into synch with us and we’d be able to see her.”

“You want to go back into that basement?” I felt slightly panicked at that prospect.

“I think we may have to.”

“So we start her clock, and then what? She slips back into our time zone?”

“This is ridiculous,” Derek spluttered. “This isn’t Doctor-fucking-Who! This is my wife and I have to find her.”

“We’re trying to help,” Beth insisted.

“No, you’re wasting time while she’s stuck in there. I thought you might be on to something important but talking about mystery clocks and time travel isn’t going to bring Chloe back.”

I reached out to put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, we know you’re worried.”

“Don’t you fucking touch me,” Derek spat, raising the poker. I took a step back and raised my hands.

“Okay, sorry.”

“I’m not listening to any more of this. I’m going back now.”

“Without a game plan we’re just going to be wasting time once we get there,” Beth said, throwing up her arms in frustration. “Think about what you’ve seen tonight, Derek. You saw the thing in the cellar. You can see what time my cell phone shows after resynching with the network. You saw the clock in the cellar move backwards until it matched the three going forwards, and then all hell broke loose. I don’t have all the answers, I’m just guessing, but it strikes me we have a much better chance of beating this thing and getting Chloe back if we have a single clue about what it wants and what it’s capable of.”

I wanted to applaud her speech. Instead I kept my mouth shut and watched Derek’s face for any indication that he was about to murder the two of us with the iron poker.

Instead his features softened and he slumped down into one of the wooden chairs at the dining table.

“I just can’t do it alone, you know? I can’t lose her. If I lose her I have to raise them on my own and I just don’t have a fucking clue. It’s so easy for her, she always knows what to say and what to dress them in and when to be strict and I love my kids but sometimes I get so… frustrated and I just want to scream.”

Beth and I watched him silently, unsure of how to respond to the sudden admission. What was telling, at least to me, was that he didn’t seem to be worried about losing Chloe because he loved her, but instead was worried about how he would cope in her absence. It confirmed what I had suspected since I first heard they were getting married.

“Sorry,” he said after a moment. “I don’t know why I’m telling you all this.”

“We’re the only ones here,” I said.

There was a loud crash from somewhere behind the interior door. We all turned. Derek stood up, clicked on his torch and came with us to the far side of the room. Derek hefted the poker and I lifted the latch.

“Do you think it’s followed us?” Beth hissed.

I raised a finger to my lips and swung open the door. The corridor beyond was empty, but another crash came from the far end.

The three of us rushed to the kitchen to find the kettle on the floor, several cupboard doors open and the tap running.

I immediately assumed the ghost had followed us down here. Fear gnawed at my nerve-endings and I envied Derek for having a solid, iron poker to wave around. Any kind of weapon would have made me feel an awful lot braver right now.

Derek used the poker to close the cupboards while Beth picked up the kettle.

“Is that the best you’ve got?” Derek yelled, much to my surprise.

Silence.

“I want my wife back. Give her back, you fucker!”

The entity, whatever it was, clearly didn’t like being called names. A drawer to Derek’s right flew open with such force that its contents jumped in the air, a few odds and ends spilling out onto the floor. The drawer stopped about five inches from Derek’s right hip. If he’d been standing any closer it might have crippled him.

Derek slammed the drawer closed with the poker.

“Come on, you bastard.”

“Derek, calm down, I don’t think this is helping,” Beth said.

I disagreed. “You tell him, Derek!”

Beth was staring daggers at me but I pretended I couldn’t see her in the gloom.

Derek didn’t seem to care what either of us thought. He slammed the poker down on the counter, putting a sizeable dent in it.

“You can’t hurt me, you’ve got nothing that can hurt me!” he screamed. I thought he was acting mad to get a rise out of the entity, but maybe I was wrong. I saw the look on his face, his fury accentuated by the torchlight. It looked real to me. Derek was never much of an actor, it had to be said. I could hardly blame him. If someone laid a finger on Beth I’d be ready to drive a poker through a few skulls to vent my anger too.

There was a loud, distinct cough from the corner of the room behind the door. Immediately all three of us snapped our torches round to cover the area. There was nothing there, but obviously we’d all heard it and it wasn’t one of us.

We stood stock still, listening. Waiting for the next occurrence.

“Ask it something!” I urged Derek.

“How is it going to answer?”

“One cough for yes, two coughs for no!”

“That’s crazy,” Beth said. “This isn’t that damn ghost hunting show.”

“Any other suggestions?”

“Shut up both of you,” Derek snapped. Beth and I dutifully fell silent.

“All right, you cock-sucking wanker, let’s talk. One knock or cough or whatever for yes and two for no, okay?”

No.

We all heard it. It came from the same corner of the room as the cough. Everyone took a step backwards.

“Fucking hell!” I said. “It talks.”

Even Derek seemed cowed by this revelation. It was the weirdest thing I’d ever heard. It wasn’t spoken aloud; we didn’t hear it with our ears. Instead we were aware of the word, like having a memory of a recent event without actually experiencing it. If the others hadn’t reacted I would swear it was simply my imagination.

“Do you have my wife? Do you have Chloe?” Derek asked, regaining some of his lost courage.

No.

“Where is she?”

In the. House.

Something about that voice, even though I wasn’t hearing it directly, made my teeth vibrate unbearably and caused beads of cold sweat to form on my brow.

“Did you follow us from the house?” I asked.

No.

Now Beth spoke up. “Do you… live in the house?”

Yeees.

“Why are you here in the lodge?” she asked.

Pushed. Out.

The sound, if you could call it that, was like skinning my eyes with a vegetable peeler. It was profoundly uncomfortable. It seemed to resonate on the same frequency as unease, setting every nerve in my body on edge. I had to fight the urge to break down the back door and run screaming into the night.

Whatever it was we were talking to, it wasn’t the black mass from the house. I was certain of that. As certain as I could be. Unless it was just playing games with us.

“Did you destroy the car?” I asked.

No.

“Do you want your house back?”

The entity didn’t answer directly. Instead, the room began to shake, almost imperceptibly at first. Then a pencil in a glass jar up on a shelf began to clink. The drawers and cupboard doors bumped gently against the woodwork. The water pipes groaned ever so slightly. The metal latch on the back door rattled. It wasn’t violent but it was everywhere, like a mini-earthquake.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Beth asked, “Are you Percy’s grandfather?”

The room shook again.

Disappointing… Boneidle… Littleshit…

I shivered. I didn’t think I could take much more of this. Beth moved to my side and slipped her hand into mine. I guessed she felt much the same way.

Derek looked shaken too, but he did what Beth and I couldn’t do and pressed on with the questions.

“Did Percy push you out of the house?”

No. Trapped. Me. Littleshit.

“He tried to trap you in the house?”

Yeees.

“The clock!” Beth said, so suddenly it made us jump. “Did he try to use the clock?”

Yeeeeeeees.

There was an audible sigh, like a wounded animal moaning in pain. It lasted just a few seconds. Again we felt it more than heard it.

We smelled the lavender again. For a moment it was so strong that it was hard to breathe. We all coughed and choked, drowning in the overpowering scent.

And as fast as it came, it was gone. The air was still, the room was quiet, and all we could hear, far off in the distance, was the muted sound of someone beating a toy drum.

CHAPTER 8

I suggested to Beth
that she stay at the lodge to see if she could get a signal long enough to call for help. She was having none of it of course. I assured her it wasn’t because I was being sexist. I acknowledged she was more capable than me. Honestly, I didn’t want to put her in harm’s way. Is that love? Perhaps. Is it telling that I was more worried about her well-being than my own? I could have elected to stay at the lodge instead, but I doubted I could ever face her again if I acted like such a coward. Besides, her battery was so low now it would struggle to send a text message, never mind make a phone call.

Derek was eager to get back to the house of course. I’d lost track of time, it was kind of irrelevant anyway, but Chloe had been gone for hours now. I hardly knew her but I felt desperately sorry for the poor woman. Guiltily, I also felt damn glad it wasn’t me or Beth trapped alone in the house.

I managed to persuade Derek to give Beth and me a moment alone before we set out. He stomped off to the kitchen while I took Beth to the furthest corner of the living room, by the windows that during the day would have afforded us a view of the gate and the lower driveway.

Once I was sure he was not listening in, I pulled her close and whispered in her ear.

“This is our chance. Let’s just go.”

Beth pulled away from me like I’d slapped her.

“That’s pretty low, Jim. You’d leave Derek to find Chloe alone?”

“It’s not about being heroes. We could lose each other forever in that house. We could even die!”

“Yeah we could, but an innocent woman is trapped in that house and we can’t just leave her. And don’t forget she’s here because we invited her. I’m kind of shocked at you, I’ve got to say it. I thought you were made of stronger stuff.”

“Oh please, can you blame me for being scared? I worry about your safety. Do you really think if the roles were reversed, if you were trapped in there and I was alone with Derek and Chloe, that they wouldn’t take the first opportunity to get as far away from here as possible?”

“Chloe wouldn’t. Derek might I guess. I don’t know him well enough to say. But you? I expected more from you.”

“I don’t want to go back in that house, Beth. I don’t want you to either.”

“Then stay here and try to get a signal. Keep Percy’s grandfather company. I’m going to look for Chloe.”

“You barely know her!”

“What difference does that make? She’s stuck in a terrifying situation. We have no idea what state she’s in. And you’re okay to just abandon her to save yourself?”

“Ourselves, you and me.”

“Well now I know why Derek called you an asshole.”

I blinked. “He did? When?”

“He said it behind your back in the drawing room. I don’t remember what you were talking about, but he said ‘asshole’ behind your back and you didn’t hear. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to kick up a shitstorm.”

“Good to know.”

“So what did you do to him, Jim? Did you abandon him to die when you were kids? Did you push his mother over a cliff?”

“No of course not!”

“Then what? Derek’s known you much longer than I have. Maybe he’s seen more sides to you. Maybe he’s right and you
are
an asshole. Right now I kind of see where he’s coming from. And don’t think I’ve forgotten about that photo of Anna.”

“It wasn’t my photo! Please don’t do this, not now. We need to be united.”

“We’ll be united, don’t worry. I need you as much as you need me. After this is over we need to have a talk. I’m going to get Derek and we’re all going back, the three of us, and we’re not leaving without Chloe, okay?”

“Okay, I get it.”

She left the room. For the first time since dusk I was glad to be alone. I was angry that Beth couldn’t see that I had both our best interests at heart, that I wasn’t just being a coward. I suddenly felt very tired and disoriented. I hated not knowing what time it was. Maybe if I curled up on the sofa and fell asleep, I’d wake up the next morning with sunlight flooding through the windows to find Derek, Beth and Chloe all packed and ready to leave. We’d laugh, we’d reminisce, then we’d put as much distance between ourselves and this hateful fucking place as humanly possible.

The return of Derek and Beth interrupted my dreaming.

“Let’s go,” she said. End of discussion.

And before my better judgment could stop me, I was outside again in the crushing darkness. This time I had a torch, spare batteries, matches and a candle. It didn’t make me feel much more confident.

“You want to hear my theory?” Beth said as we trudged up the gravel pathway.

“Sure,” said Derek. I kept quiet, afraid that I might not be able to keep sarcasm from my response, which would only land me in more trouble. She would come around, she always did after I’d done or said something stupid. But I knew there was a cooling period where it wasn’t wise to push, and right now I was mayor of the cooling period.

“I reckon Percy was haunted by his grandfather. You heard what the ghost said, Percy was a disappointment. What if Grandpa haunts Percy’s every waking moment, and a good number of the sleeping ones? What if Percy gets sick of this and decides to do something about it?”

“Like what?” I asked, keeping my tone even. Christ it was cold out here now. Focusing on Beth’s words was helping me keep my teeth from chattering.

“What if he decides to trap the spirits somehow?”

“So he’s a fucking Ghostbuster now, is he?” I was glad Derek said that and not me. I may have been persona non grata but Derek got a free pass.

“No but what if he sets a trap for the ghost and snags all three of our long term tenants plus something else, something much more dangerous. So dangerous that the other three ghosts abandoned the house and took refuge in the lodge?”

Derek scoffed. “Well then they’re not trapped, are they? If they can leave the house.”

“Maybe they’re not trapped in space, they’re trapped in time.”

“More Doctor Who crap,” said Derek, clearly done with the talking and eager to introduce his poker to the phantom wife-stealer.

I kept quiet. I knew what was coming. I dreaded those words more than I’d ever dreaded any words before. Worse even than,
I’m leaving you
. Even worse in some cases than,
I love you.
Here they came…

“I want to get another look at that clock,” Beth said.

Derek agreed with her. “I want to see what was under that second pile of dust sheets.”

I couldn’t stay quiet any longer. I halted and shone my torch at the backs of their heads. A moment later they stopped and turned.

“Are you forgetting what happened in the wine cellar?”

Derek shrugged. “This time I’m ready.”

“Oh, because you have a poker? Whoop-di-doo!”

“This time I’m not going to panic and run away,” he insisted. I’d believe it when I saw it.

The air of foreboding seemed to return at that moment. Despite our encounters in the lodge, it had almost been possible to forget the events in the house, or at least to put them out of mind for a short while. But now we were heading back into the lion’s den. As we started walking again it was almost like wading through deep water. I would have given anything at that moment to see Chloe coming down the path towards us, so we could all just turn around and go back to the relative peace of the lodge.

As we rounded the bend, the side of the dreaded house became visible at the extreme edge of our torch beams. I halted again. Beth stopped too but this time Derek kept walking.

“If you’re too scared then go back to the lodge,” he said. “I’ll go in there alone if I have to.”

“I’m not running away,” I insisted. “I just want to know what the game plan is.”

Derek sounded about ready to hit me. “We go back to the basement. We can go back in by the side door if you like. Beth wants to see the clock and I want to make sure there’s nothing underneath that pile of covers. We’ve been through this. Quit stalling and let’s go.”

“Do you want to go back to the lodge?” Beth asked me in a warning tone.

“I guess not.”

“Glad to hear it. Get your keys ready.”

I pulled out the small ring of keys and used my torch to find the one for the side door. Beth and Derek had already reached the wreck of the car. I hurried to keep up, shoes crunching loudly on the gravel. As I passed the remains of our escape, I shone the torch into the back seat, which was more or less intact. The engine, windscreen and front seats had taken most of the impact. I pressed my face and the torch up to the glass, looking for any equipment we’d missed lying in the foot well. I was suddenly aware that this was what characters in horror films do right before a face suddenly appears behind the glass. I backed off hurriedly. I hadn’t seen anything, but I was so on edge by this point that every shadow cast by my torch beam made me nervous.

The others were well ahead now.

“Come on, Jim! Either give me the keys and fuck off, or get a bloody move on!”

“Shhh!” I hissed at Derek.

“Oh, you don’t think it knows we’re coming?”

If I’d been holding the poker, Derek would have met with a pointy reckoning at that moment. I didn’t say a word as I trudged onwards, eventually catching up with them as they reached the side door opposite the garage. I slotted the key into the lock and turned it.

Derek opened the door and aimed his torch inside. Beth’s beam joined Derek’s. The corridor seemed empty. Both beams converged on the door to the wine cellar, now closed. I was pretty sure we’d left it open in our rush to escape. We crept inside and I closed the outside door behind us. I didn’t lock it. If we needed to beat a hasty retreat I didn’t want to be fumbling for keys again.

Derek opened the door to the wine cellar, which creaked appropriately, doing its best to add to the creepy atmosphere. The offbeat ticking greeted us, just as understated as before and no less unsettling. It was cold again in this part of the house. The air outside was pretty chilly, but in here it wasn’t refreshing or bracing. It was a stifling cold, like being inside a tomb of ice.

Derek was already descending by the time I reached the doorway. Beth was at the top of the stairs, about to follow. I hesitated, struggling to cope with going down there again. I tried to think happy, comforting thoughts as I followed Beth. It didn’t work. I wanted to sit down on the steps and close my eyes. Fuck that, I wanted to run out into the fresh night air. I guessed Beth was feeling the same way. She may not show it, but I suspected she drew strength from her anger at my willingness to abandon Chloe. So be it.

The wine cellar was just as it was when we’d first come down, except for the broken lamp on the floor and the single pile of dust covers instead of two. The uncovered clock stood in the centre of the space still ticking away. As we approached it I could see that the three faces in synch with each other all said it was nearly midnight. Beth switched on her phone and checked the time, showing it to me. I could see that they did indeed match.

“So I think these three are us,” said Beth, pointing to the three clocks running at normal speed. She indicated the top face, currently showing a time of 3.30 AM. “That one is our murky friend, given that it ran backwards.”

“So the fourth one must be Chloe,” said Derek. The last clock still wasn’t moving but was now showing 1.15 AM.

Beth nodded. “So all we have to do is wait for an hour or so and we’ll catch up to her.”

“No way am I just going to sit here and wait. What if she moves again?”

That was a good point and Beth didn’t have an answer. Perhaps the entity was moving Chloe back and forth in time to keep her away from us. That’s assuming we weren’t all insane for even contemplating a time-travelling ghost in the first place.

Maybe this was all a drug-induced hallucination.

Derek was prodding the pile of dust covers with his foot. Eventually he plucked up the courage to lift them. There was nothing of note underneath, just more covers. I didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed.

“Look at this!” Beth said. She was behind the clock now and had opened a hatch at the back so she could access the inner workings. The wooden backing swung on little brass hinges. The ticking was louder with the mechanism exposed. The letters
AW
were clearly etched into the brass frame of the uppermost clock.

We peered inside. There was a piece of paper tucked in between the outer casing and the brass frame of the clock itself. Beth used her nails to tease the edge of the paper, slowly working it free until she held it in her hand. It was a neatly folded piece of notepaper. When she opened it out, one side revealed handwriting in neat rows.

The writing was in English, but much of it didn’t make any sense. It seemed to be instructions for using the clock, but for what purpose it was hard to tell. There was no context to the writing, so if you didn’t know what you were trying to achieve it was impossible to tell from these instructions.

Beth read them aloud. “
Ensure the clock base is connected directly to the foundations of the building. Wind the clock, set all five faces to the same time, some five minutes hence. Then wait for that time to arrive. Just remember, only the last in has mastery over the others.”