Whispers (12 page)

‘And what about nightmares?’

Jess frowned. ‘I haven’t had any personally, but Mel has, and so has Jo. She said that someone was standing at the side of her bed watching her one night. In fact, she was so upset she came and got in with me and her dad.’

‘I see.’ Laura tapped the table thoughtfully. ‘Anything else?’

Jess thought hard before nodding. ‘Come to think of it, there’s the smell. Well, not a smell exactly, it’s more a scent of roses. The first time I noticed it was when I was up in the old servants’ quarters in the attic. You really should come up and see it, Laura. It’s like stepping back in time up there. One room still has old clothes hanging in the wardrobe and I discovered that they once belonged to a young girl who lived here.’

‘How?’ Laura was leaning forward in her seat, all ears now.

‘I found her journal in the attic. It’s quite fascinating, although I haven’t read much of it up to now. The girl’s name was Martha Reid. She and her family were servants here and they referred to the man who owned the place at the time as Master Fenton. He was a cruel bugger, if what I’ve read up to now is anything to go by, and the poor sods lived in fear of him turning them out and ending up in the workhouse. The first entry in the journal goes right back to 1837.’

Laura had gone quite pale. ‘I knew it,’ she said softly, more to herself than Jess. ‘There
is
a restless spirit here.’

‘Oh, come on! Don’t let your imagination get running away with you. This is a very old house, Laura. I’m sure a lot of what we’ve experienced has been down to it settling at night. You know – floorboards creaking, et cetera.’

Laura shook her head. ‘It’s nothing to do with settling. I’m telling you there
is
a spirit here, and it’s here for a reason.’

Jess sighed. ‘And what makes you think that?’

‘I don’t
think
it, I
know
it. You see, I’ve seen her.’

A shiver ran up Jess’s spine despite the fact that she was trying desperately hard to be logical. ‘Oh yes, and what does she look like?’

‘She is slim and dressed in an old brown skirt covered by a large white apron and a white blouse with very full sleeves. She has long dark hair and is quite pretty. About eighteen years old or so, I should imagine.’

‘Come with me,’ Jess said, and without giving Laura a chance to refuse she quickly left the kitchen and headed for the stairs. Laura followed reluctantly and once on the landing, Jess led her towards her bedroom where the sketches she had had reframed were now hanging on the wall.

She pointed towards them and as Laura followed her finger she gasped. ‘That’s her,’ she croaked. ‘I swear it is.’

Jess was seriously spooked now.

‘Come on,’ Laura said with a new determination. ‘Show me the room where this girl slept.’

Jess led her to the narrow staircase that went up to the attics and as she pushed open the door to Martha’s room, the overwhelming scent of roses greeted them.

‘See!’ she exclaimed triumphantly. ‘Didn’t I tell you there was the scent of roses in here? Can you smell it too?’

‘Yes, I can,’ Laura said, as she gazed around.

‘But what do you think it all means?’ Jess was fiddling nervously with the buttons on her cardigan. ‘Not that I’m saying I believe she
is
actually still here,’ she added hastily.

‘I really don’t know,’ Laura admitted. ‘But I know she
is
still here and that she’s very unhappy, which is why she hasn’t passed on to the other side. She wanted you to come, but I don’t know why yet. Didn’t you once tell me that you felt as if you belonged here, the first time you set foot in the place?’

‘Now just hold on a minute,’ Jess said quickly, not wanting to believe what Laura was telling her. ‘That was just because I fell in love with the character of the house.’

Laura shook her head. ‘I don’t think it was. I think you were meant to come here.’

Jess groaned. ‘So what are you suggesting I do then? Stick a For Sale board up.’

‘Of course not,’ Laura retaliated. ‘Eventually it will become clear why Martha wants you here.’

Jess shuddered as she headed back towards the door. ‘I don’t know about you but I could do with another cup of coffee,’ she said, eager to get away from the cloying smell and back into the warmth of the kitchen. ‘It’s damn cold in here, isn’t it? Or is that just me imagining it?’

‘No, it is cold,’ Laura agreed as she followed her out onto the landing.

The two women hurried back downstairs where Jess quickly changed the subject to other things, mainly Mel’s worsening moods.

‘I’m getting seriously concerned about her,’ she confided to her neighbour. ‘She snaps her dad’s head off every time he so much as looks at her, and she spends hours locked away in her room when she isn’t at school. It can’t be healthy for her, can it?’

‘I can’t really be a judge of that, with Beth being the way she is. I never got to have the teenage mood swings,’ Laura said regretfully. ‘In her head Beth is still a little girl and she always will be.’

Jess instantly felt ashamed. Poor Laura. Perhaps it was time to stop feeling so sorry for herself and start to count her blessings. After all, she could still clearly remember what a bad time she herself had put her gran through when she was Mel’s age. In fact, looking back now she wondered how the dear soul had put up with her.

Reaching across the table she squeezed Laura’s hand comfortingly. Laura squeezed hers back but then glancing at the clock she stood up. ‘I should be going. Den really isn’t well and Beth will be driving him to distraction by now.’

Jess saw her to the door where she asked, ‘Will you pop in again soon?’

Laura nodded. ‘If you want me to.’ And then she was gone and as Jess closed the door behind her she stood there chewing on her lip. Laura was such a level-headed person that it was hard to imagine that she really believed in spirits and all that malarkey. But then, everyone was entitled to their own opinion and Jess set about her chores and tried not to think any more about it.

When she got in the car to pick the girls up from school later that afternoon she was not in the happiest frame of mind. They normally walked home alone now, but the rain that had poured down for two solid days had slowed to a drizzle and everywhere looked dark and miserable, so she had arranged to give them a lift.

She sat outside of Jo’s school first and soon the girl flew out of the gates with a wide smile on her face like a little ray of sunshine.

‘Had a good day, have you, love?’ Jess asked as she clambered into the car all arms and legs.

‘Yes,’ Jo told her happily as she fastened her seat belt. ‘I got a star in English and Matilda asked me if I can go to her house for tea on Saturday. May I, Mum?’

‘I don’t see why not, so long as her mum doesn’t mind.’ Jess smiled indulgently as she started the car and steered it out into the road. At least she could always rely on Jo to be cheerful. Well, for most of the time anyway. She drove the short way to Mel’s school next to find the first of the pupils already emerging. She parked the car, keeping her eye on the gate but after fifteen minutes Mel still hadn’t appeared and the flow of youngsters had steadied to a trickle now.

‘That’s strange,’ she commented. ‘I wonder if she’d already left when we got here.’

‘I shouldn’t think so,’ Jo replied in her usual forthright way. ‘If she’d come out we would have passed her up the road.’

Jess waited a further five minutes then opened the car door. ‘You wait there,’ she told Jo. ‘I’ll just pop into the school and see if I can find her. Perhaps she’s got a detention she forgot to tell me about.’

She hurried across the now almost deserted playground and once inside headed for the reception desk.

‘I wonder if you could tell me if Melanie Beddows has left yet?’ she said to the woman behind the desk. ‘She’s in Mrs Congrave’s class.’

‘I’ll just go and find out for you,’ the young woman told her pleasantly before hurrying away through the swing doors.

A couple of minutes later she reappeared with Mrs Congrave at her side.

‘Ah, Mrs Beddows.’ The teacher smiled at her. ‘I was actually going to ring you before I left school today. There seems to be some sort of a mix-up. Miss Holden here says you’re looking for Melanie but she hasn’t been in school today. I assumed that she was off sick.’

‘But she
must
have been here,’ Jess told her indignantly. ‘I dropped her off myself at the school gates this morning, so . . .’ As a thought suddenly occurred to her, her voice trailed away and she flushed with embarrassment. Mel must have waited until she had pulled away and then done a bunk for the day.

‘Perhaps she felt unwell and decided to go home,’ she said lamely, knowing full well that Mel hadn’t put in an appearance back at the house. ‘I’m so sorry, Mrs Congrave. Leave it with me and I’ll get to the bottom of it.’

The teacher smiled at her sadly, guessing exactly what had happened. She had certainly seen it enough times before.

‘Of course,’ she said kindly, not wishing to cause Jess yet more embarrassment. ‘And then perhaps you could call into school to see me one day next week? I’m quite concerned about Melanie as it happens. She doesn’t seem to be settling in here at all well.’

‘I’ll do that.’ Jess turned hastily, wishing that the ground would just open up and swallow her. One thing was for sure, Mel would feel the length of her tongue when she did catch up with her. She scuttled away like a scalded cat and once outside she climbed into the car and slammed the door resoundingly. Jo had been humming merrily along to Britney Spears on the car radio but she fell silent after one glance at her mother’s face. That look usually meant trouble.

‘Where’s Mel?’ she asked tentatively.

‘Ah, now
that
seems to be the leading question at the moment,’ Jess
ground
out as she jammed the car into gear and roared away from the kerb. ‘I should think by now she’s either slunk into her room at home or she’s holed up at a friend’s house somewhere.’

Jo frowned. ‘But Mel doesn’t have any friends.’ One more glance at her mother’s set face made her clamp her mouth shut and she kept it that way for the rest of the drive home, glad that she wasn’t in Mel’s shoes right now.

‘Mel, where are you?’ Jess roared as she stormed into the kitchen a short time later and flung her bag onto the table.

Jo wisely kept her head down as she hurried over to Alfie’s basket to fuss him. It was not often that her mum lost her temper but on the rare occasions when she did, Jo had learned to keep well out of her way until she calmed down.

Jess thundered up the stairs then marched along the landing and flung Mel’s bedroom door open ready to blow her top, but the words died on her lips when she was confronted with an empty room. It was just as Mel had left it that morning. The duvet was kicked to the end of the bed and various items of clothing and CDs were scattered across the floor. Sighing heavily, Jess closed the door again before going back downstairs. No doubt Mel would turn up soon and the little madam would have some explaining to do when she did decide to put in an appearance.

The second she set foot back in the kitchen, Jo scooted out of the door with Alfie and Jess felt a pang of guilt. I must calm down, it isn’t Jo’s fault, she told herself and then set about preparing the dinner. Jo came back in half an hour later to the smell of bubbling cabbage and pork chops cooking under the grill. She immediately began to set the table to help her mum, who was obviously still very upset.

Some time later they ate their meal, then Jess covered Mel and Simon’s portions with kitchen foil. They could be microwaved later when they came in.

As the hand of the clock crept towards six o’clock, Jess’s anger was replaced by a niggling feeling of fear. Mel hadn’t even bothered to phone to tell her where she was, and now for the first time Jess began to wonder if she was safe.

By the time Simon arrived home shortly before seven she was chewing her nails and smoking like a chimney, which instantly told him that something was wrong. Jess had given up months ago.

‘What’s up?’ he asked.

‘It’s Mel. I dropped her off at school today but she never went in according to her teacher and she still isn’t home.’

He could feel the tension in the air but shrugged. ‘She’s probably bunked off with one of her mates.’

Jess shook her head. ‘You know she’s hardly made any friends since we moved here and she hasn’t even phoned. I can’t reach her on her mobile either. It just keeps going to the answer machine. I’ve hardly been able to pry her out of the house just lately, so why would she suddenly do this?’ As she was speaking she was putting his meal into the microwave.

‘Didn’t you ever bunk off when you were her age?’ Simon asked, washing his hands before sitting at the table.

‘Well, yes I did, but I wasn’t the same temperament as Mel,’ she told him, grinding her cigarette out in an ashtray. ‘It’s just so out of character for her to do something like this. Should I call the police?’

‘No!’ Simon said hastily. ‘They’d laugh you under the table if you did. They must spend half their time looking for kids Mel’s age who pull this stunt. Just wait a while longer. She’ll be back when she gets hungry. She isn’t stupid and she knows where her bread’s buttered.’

As the microwave began to beep, Jess carried his meal to him and switched on the news on the small portable television set they kept in the kitchen. She supposed that Simon was right, but she still couldn’t help worrying.

As soon as Simon had finished eating he shot away upstairs to get changed for his darts match.

‘Surely you’re not still going out tonight with Mel missing,’ Jess said accusingly when he reappeared some short time later all showered and changed. His hair was still damp and he looked so handsome that she could understand why women were attracted to him like a magnet.

‘Of course I am. You know I always drop Beth off at the youth club and I wouldn’t want to let her down. The poor kid goes out little enough as it is. And anyway, by the time I get home Mel will be back with her tail between her legs. I bet she won’t think of doing this again when I’ve finished with her.’