Cherringham--Ghost of a Chance Read online

  When she saw Jack, she quickly walked over to the door to shut it. But as she did Jack saw a woman in a bright red skirt and jacket storm out of the office, pushing her to one side in her hurry.

  “Mind me asking — who was that?” he said to the receptionist, though he had a pretty good idea himself.

  “Mandy Myrtle,” said Suzie. “Crispin’s sister.”

  Looks like the Myrtle family reunion is going well, thought Jack.

  He moved on out of the lobby, through the dining room and then into the private dining room where a different kind of racket was going on.

  The room had turned into a building site.

  Todd was up a ladder, pulling cabling out of the ceiling. Two other guys stood on a portable scaffold, hacking away at the ceiling and pulling old plaster down. Everyone wearing face masks.

  Jack walked over, holding his hand against his mouth to protect against the billowing dust.

  “Hey, Todd,” he called as he reached the foot of the ladder.

  Todd stopped working and raised his face mask.

  “Jack. What’s up?”

  “Wanted to check a couple of things with you.”

  “Sure,” said Todd, climbing down the ladder.

  “You guys working late?”

  “Should be done by sixish. The cabling’s had it, so we’re cutting out some of the plaster to put new cable in. Right messy job it is, too.”

  “Looks like it,” said Jack. He paused …

  “Got a favor to ask.”

  “Sure, fire away.”

  “I’d like to use this room tonight for something — special event, you might say. And it would be great if you guys could leave it clean and tidy. That possible?”

  “Don’t see why not. Surprise party is it?”

  “Something like that,” said Jack, laughing.

  “No problem, Jack. We’ll sweep up when we’re done, give it a hoover. Long as nobody looks up at the ceiling, room’ll be fine.”

  “Appreciate that Todd. There’ll be a drink in it for you fellas, I’ll make sure.”

  “Sounds good to me,” said Todd.

  Jack turned to go, then–

  “Oh Jack, before I forget, we had Lawrence in here, got us to go through all that crap that came down from the ceiling. He had it all bagged up outside.”

  “Oh yeah?” said Jack.

  “Found quite a few crystal drops we can re-use, so worth doing in the end. But — also a couple of things you might be … interested in.”

  Jack watched as Todd went over to the folding table and grabbed an old plastic shopping bag. He came back and handed it over.

  Jack took it and peered in.

  “History in the making,” said Todd.

  Jack reached in and took out some torn and tattered newspaper, an old key, some faded prayer cards.

  “Often get odds and ends like this — dropped down through the floorboards. Old toys, even money sometimes.”

  Jack nodded. “I was hoping to find some clue how the chandelier fell down …”

  “Well, this stuff’s not going to answer that question I’m afraid. But the museum’ll take it, usually does. Looks like some old letters in there, too.”

  “Well, thanks Todd,” said Jack. “I’ll take a look at it when I get home.”

  He stuffed the bag in his jacket pocket.

  Right now Jack knew he had some organising to do — if his little ‘surprise party’ was going to be organised in time.

  “Maybe see you tomorrow,” he said and headed for the door.

  “Yep, see you later, Jack.”

  First things first, thought Jack.

  And he took out his mobile and hit Sarah’s number as he headed for the exit.

  *

  “Sarah.”

  “Hi Jack. Were we right? Is our Mr. Eiss really the Ghostbuster?”

  “He certainly is — hold on …”

  He crossed the lobby, went through the double doors and hit the main gravel path, which led to the gate and the High Street. Already getting dark outside, he pulled his jacket tight against the cold wind.

  “Sarah, you still at the office?”

  “Yep. Where are you?”

  “At the hotel. Question: what are you doing tonight — after dinner?”

  “Getting the kids in front of their homework, mainly …”

  “Great. Could you be free to come to the hotel — say, around eleven o’clock?”

  “Well, yes. Kinda late though — what’s going on?”

  “I’m cooking up a little plan. You stay where you are — I’m coming right over. We’ll go for that walk and I’ll explain the whole thing.”

  Jack clicked his phone off.

  In spite of the damp grey sky, he felt almost a skip in his step as he turned through the iron gates of The Bell Hotel and onto Cherringham High Street.

  This is going to be one fun night, he thought.

  14. Is There Anybody There?

  Sarah pushed through the double doors of The Bell Hotel and walked across the deserted lobby to the bar.

  She heard a clock from somewhere deep in the hotel chiming the hour — eleven.

  She couldn’t see anybody serving behind the bar and the place was almost empty.

  Not surprising — the few guests who were staying would probably find more comfort in their rooms on a chilly autumn night than down here in the dusty lounge bar.

  Jack sat at a table in a corner sipping what looked like a coffee.

  “Sarah.”

  She went over, took off her winter coat, and sat at the table next to him.

  “You want a coffee?” he said. “Our pal Paddy Stover is somewhere — there’s a little bell you can ring to summon him. Like in an old haunted house movie.”

  “Very appropriate,” said Sarah. “But if I drink coffee I’ll never sleep — and it’s a school night, you know. I’m normally tucked up in bed by this time.”

  “Doubt you’re going to get much sleep tonight.”

  “Sounds ominous. So you really managed to persuade them?”

  Jack’s idea … seemed crazy.

  A séance!

  Could that make all the secrets come out?

  But she knew better than to doubt him.

  Jack nodded.

  “All of them?”

  “Yep.”

  “How?”

  “I just said it was the only way they’d ever uncover the real truth.”

  “Amazing. How gullible can people be?”

  “Don’t forget — Lawrence believes all this ghost stuff. And his kids grew up in that kind of atmosphere. I think — deep down — they believe too.”

  “What about Basil — and Karl Eiss?”

  “They’ve agreed to help out. Got their own reasons, I’m sure.”

  “Money?”

  “Yep, you could say that.”

  “So what’s the plan?” she said.”

  “Well,” said Jack. “Here’s how I thought we’d play it …”

  And she listened while Jack went through the details, like a coach before a big game.

  *

  Jack walked into the private dining room with Sarah at his side and closed the door behind them. He looked around.

  Perfect.

  The room was brightly lit — all the electric wall lights blazing.

  A circular dining table had been set up in the middle of the room.

  Around it, the seven seats, just as he had instructed. Suzie the receptionist had been happy to help: “Anything if it means I might keep my job,” she’d said.

  On the table, he saw an upturned glass and four heavy white candles. Otherwise, the dark oak surface was empty.

  As was the rest of the room.

  Apart from a single professional looking video camera, set up on a tripod, some feet away from the table.

  No sign of the builders or their rubbish from earlier in the afternoon.

  Todd, as always, good as his word.

  Only the hole in
the ceiling directly above the table, and the gutted channel which extended towards one wall, showed the work they’d been doing.

  “Not exactly spooky,” said Sarah.

  Jack turned to her. “No,” he said. “Not yet. I thought we should both take one proper look around the room before we start. I asked the others to wait for my say-so.”

  “Anything special I should be looking for?”

  “Wires. Small speakers. Lights. Mirrors.”

  “I didn’t think it would be so obvious,” said Sarah.

  “You’d be surprised,” said Jack. “Magicians rely on very low light — most tricks can be uncovered just by flicking on the light switch.”

  “You think Basil might try and set something up tonight?”

  “It’s not Basil I’m worried about,” said Jack. “I think there’s more than one … how shall we call it … ‘ghost’ at work in this place.”

  He worked his way carefully around the room, running his hands over the wall panels and cornices while Sarah crouched and checked the underside of the table.

  He could see that the shutters were latched. The walls were clear, the fire burning — so no way anything could be hidden in the chimney breast.

  He checked behind the large, gilt mirror. Below it, on the mantelpiece, the old carriage clock showed quarter to midnight.

  Jack completed his tour of the room and joined Sarah by the table.

  “Anything?”

  “No,” she said. “Though if I were Lawrence I’d have words with his cleaning staff — the underside of that table’s worse than the one in my kitchen.”

  Jack laughed. “Okay,” he said. “Let the show begin.”

  And he walked over to the door and opened it. On the other side, in the main dining area, he could see his guests for tonight’s little “soirée” as Basil had called it.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” Jack said, and stepped to one side. “Please come through and take a seat at the table.”

  He watched them enter, one by one.

  First — Lawrence Myrtle.

  “Jolly good,” said the old man with a grin, giving Jack a surprising wallop on the back. “What larks, eh, Jack?”

  Behind Lawrence — Crispin. He passed with barely a nod. Mandy Myrtle followed. Jack saw her scowl at Sarah.

  Paddy Stover slouched in next. He gave Jack a weary sigh.

  “I’ve got better things to do than take part in this bloody charade,” he said in a low hiss as he shuffled past.

  “Sure you have, Paddy,” said Jack with a smile. “But we couldn’t hold the party without you.”

  Next came Karl Eiss who gave Jack a sly wink before heading straight over to the video camera.

  Jack watched him as he flicked switches and swung the lens round to face the table.

  Finally — Basil Whistlethwaite himself, looking deathly serious and carrying a leather briefcase.

  “That’s everybody, Mr. Brennan,” said Suzie, who stood alone at the door to the main dining room.

  Then she leaned in and whispered: “Good luck!”

  “Thanks Suzie,” said Jack. “I’m going to close the door now. So if you could just do as we said — make sure the door stays shut — no matter what — and wait until I knock before you open it?”

  “Yeah, no worries. Will do!”

  He nodded at her, then shut the door firmly and turned to check the room one last time.

  The cast members were all in their places, sitting quietly.

  He waited, his hand on the light switch, while Basil opened his briefcase and took out a notebook and pen. He placed the items on the table in front of his seat.

  Then Jack watched him remove a folded board which he opened and carefully laid in the centre of the table.

  A Ouija Board!

  “Ms. Edwards,” said Basil, taking a step back from the table. “If you could light the candles please, I shall explain the board to our fellow truth-seekers.”

  Jack saw Sarah get up, and walk around the table. One by one, she lit the four candles, then returned to her seat.

  “I am your medium tonight,” said Basil. “If a spirit is willing to talk with us, I shall introduce him — or her. Then we shall all talk together, using the board. The glass will move to ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ and from letter to letter as appropriate to spell out our spirit’s words. Is that clear?”

  Jack watched the group closely. Paddy, Crispin, and Mandy grunted their answers — but all three looked edgy. Lawrence still looked excited. Sarah kept her eye on the others, alert.

  “Mr. Brennan, you may extinguish the lights,” said Basil, taking his seat.

  Jack flicked the switch.

  It took a second for his eyes to adjust. When they did and he looked across the room, he felt as if he’d been dropped into the nineteenth century.

  The table was a low dome of light in the blackness of the room. The four candles seemed to pull the group tight together, the light playing on their faces.

  On the four walls, their shadows loomed and swayed like monsters. At a stroke, the atmosphere had become sinister and threatening.

  To one side, Jack could still just see a tiny red light glowing on Eiss’s camera.

  He walked over to the table and sat in the vacant seat opposite Sarah.

  He caught her eye — a half smile forming on her face — then a deliberate solemn expression.

  He put on his most serious face and breathed deeply.

  The clock on the mantelpiece began to chime.

  The midnight hour …

  *

  “Ladies. Gentlemen. Please place your hands on the table,” said Basil after a pause.

  Jack did so — and watched the others comply, their eyes wide in the low light.

  “Now, please join hands to make a circle around the table.”

  Jack moved his hand in the flickering candlelight. On his left, his hand joined Mandy’s — elegant, manicured.

  He caught her roll her eyes at the gesture.

  On his right — the thin, veined hand of Lawrence Myrtle.

  Getting nice and ghostly, Jack thought.

  “We come together tonight in peace. To talk to any spirits who are troubled or who may wish to communicate with us,” said Basil to the wider room, his voice echoing back from the darkness.

  Jack could see in the half-light that Basil’s eyes were shut.

  “Sprits!” Basil said, suddenly raising his voice. “We mean no harm, and we understand that we are entirely within your power!”

  The room now — totally quiet. Jack could hear the low breathing of Lawrence at his side, a steady rasp. Opposite, between Crispin and Paddy, he saw Sarah’s eyes flitting around the table, taking everything in.

  Nothing’s going to get past her, thought Jack.

  Good.

  “And now …” said Basil softly, opening his eyes, removing his hands from the circle, and placing the upturned glass in the centre of the Ouija Board.

  “Crispin and Mandy — please place your fingers lightly upon the glass. Everyone else — I ask that you keep your hands upon the table.”

  Where we can see them, nice and easy, thought Jack.

  Crispin and Mandy both reached out and placed the first two fingers of their right hands on the top of the glass.

  “Ready?” said Basil, fixing the brother and sister with a steady stare.

  Jack saw them both nod.

  Whatever doubts the two had, the siblings definitely seemed edgy now.

  “Then we shall begin,” said Basil, closing his eyes again.

  Then Jack watched Basil tilt his face up so the candlelight made the shadow monsters loom again on the wall behind him, and he called out, his voice hoarse:

  “Is there anybody there …?”

  15. Truth Will Out

  Sarah looked around at her fellow séancers, their eyes fixed on the glass and the Ouija Board.

  A long time ago, when she’d been at Cherringham Comprehensive School, she’d taken part in a very
drunken séance where the glass moved.

  But only because she’d been moving it as the questions ranged around the secret love lives of all at the table — and she got the answers she was looking for.

  She’d never been persuaded that paranormal activity was anything other than auto-suggestion or trickery.

  And she didn’t expect to see anything but that tonight.

  But when the glass began to move rapidly in a figure of eight around the board she couldn’t help feeling a jolt.

  Could just their fingers be doing that?

  “What the—” said Crispin. “Mandy you’re moving it!”

  “I am not,” said Mandy. “You are!”

  “Well, it’s not moving itself,” said Crispin. “This is ridiculous.”

  Sarah looked at him — and at Mandy. Both brother and sister appeared surprised — and scared.

  “There’s a spirit moving it,” Lawrence said quietly.

  “Give us a break,” said Paddy Stover under his breath.

  “Quiet!” Then: “Is there anybody there?” repeated Basil, his eyes now fixed on the glass as it swept from side to side of the board.

  Sarah saw the glass swerve rapidly across and around the board.

  Then it stopped dead: directly above the word “Yes”.

  There was a gasp from the Myrtles.

  Effective little trick, she thought.

  And: It has to be a trick.

  Sarah looked across at Jack. He gave her a smile and raised his eyebrows — as if to say “well, who’d have believed it?”

  “Spirit, do you wish to communicate with us?” said Basil.

  There was a pause before the glass took off again on its wild spiralling. Sarah saw Crispin and Myrtle look at each other in disbelief.

  Then the glass stopped abruptly again — on the “Yes”.

  “Good,” said Basil. “Spirit, may we ask your name?”

  Almost before he’d finished the question, the glass was off again. But now its movement was direct — straight, fast lines. Sarah watched it shoot across to the letters and stop.

  “The letter — please?” said Basil, reaching for his notepad and pen.

  “‘F’,” said Sarah.

  The glass shot off again then stopped.

  “‘R’,” said Lawrence. The glass moved again.

  “‘E’,” said Sarah.

  “Let me guess,” said Paddy Stover as they all watched the glass zig-zag across the board. “‘D’ — ‘D’ — ‘Y’.”