Echoes of the Past (26 page)

“Who
were you visiting?”

“My
Aunt Martha.”

Tom
realized what he found so familiar. She looked like her aunt, the same hypnotic green eyes.

“Martha
Ingles?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

Eva
nodded silently.

“The
man in the barn? Was that a member of the stable staff?”

Eva
closed her eyes tight trying to shut out the memories of what she had seen.

“You
have to remember, Tom. I was only six years old, I was not sure of what I was seeing, and even less sure that I should tell anyone. I haven’t spoken about this in over forty-five years.” Her voice had become a husky whisper.

“Eva
you witnessed the murder of a young woman called Susanna Wheeling. Her family deserve to know what happened to her.”

“Yes,
I know.” She wiped the corner of her eye. “I should have spoken up a long time ago, I have just spent my whole life afraid of what would happen if I said the words.” She took a deep breath in. “It was my uncle. It was Duncan Ingles that I saw in the barn that night.”

Tom’s
head was swimming. He had spent a lot of time at Ingaldean estate when he was growing up. His father-in-law, Jimmy, had been close friends with Duncan, could he possibly have known.

“Duncan
Ingles? And you’re sure?”

Eva
let out a short ironic laugh. “And you wonder why I never told. Yes Duncan Ingles, pillar of the community, owned half of Coppersfield at one time, yes, I am sure.”

Tom
leaned back in his chair.

Jill
Patterson
disappeared
in
1984
and
Duncan
Ingles
was
hospitalized
with
stroke
in
1985
,
so
he
could
have
killed
her
.
But
Chloe
Davis
,
unless
he
had
a
partner
there
was
no
way
he
could
have
taken
her
.
So
who
was
his
partner
forty
-
five
years
ago
? Tom thought.

*****

Lee folded the covers away from the living room. It was a true saying that everything would seem better in the morning. The night before, seemed nothing more than a bad dream to her now.

“How
you feeling this morning,” she asked Jess when she went through to the kitchen.

“I’m
fine. I know this might sound bad, but I feel better now that you have seen her too.”

“I
still don’t believe what I saw,” Lee answered. Her head tilted to one side as she thought about the implications of what had happened. Could it be at all possible that she really did see a ghost?

“I
thought I was crazy the first time I saw her, especially when you and Dad couldn’t see her.”

Lee
sat at the table across from her and shuddered at the thought that she had been sitting in that room completely oblivious to something watching her.

“Think
about this, Jess, you seem very accepting of it. Do you really believe that a ghost stands in the corner of your room each night in the hope of scaring you.”

Jess
thought about what Lee was saying. “Aunt Lee, I can’t explain it any more than you can, I just know that I feel a lot better this morning now that I know you can see her too. I have been telling both you and Dad that this place was creepy.”

Lee
shook her head. She couldn’t deny what she had seen, but she couldn’t accept it either. She was racking her brain for any other explanation for what she thought she saw. In addition, she was certainly not looking forward to having this conversation with Tom.

Jess
finished her breakfast and got ready for Gemma. At 10am, the two girls left the house and headed up to Ingaldean Estate.

As
they turned up School Wynd Jess took the keys her uncle had given her from her pocket, when they got to the estate the gates where locked.

“Uncle
Matt must not be back yet,” she said to Gemma as she unlocked the gate and pushed them both open.

Jess
had been telling Gemma about how validated she felt now that Lee was feeling like a crazy person after her encounter with the girl in the bedroom. Gemma failed to see the funny side of it. She was horrified that Jess had been putting up with it for so long. She was also a bit mad that she hadn’t told her she had seen her before they used the Ouija board in her bedroom.

The
two girls thought about all the other explanations there could be for what Jess and Lee had seen and decided it was a fully-fledged ghost sighting.

Half
an hour later both girls had saddled up their horses and were riding around the fields on the Ingaldean estate. Jess had a sense of relief; she hadn’t felt this at ease for a long time. Just knowing that she wasn’t the only one that could see the girl in her room made a huge difference to her, but still, she would be swapping rooms when she got home tonight.

Gemma
and Jess had been riding for almost an hour when the sky became a dark grey, storm clouds rolled across the sky in a grey streak blocking out the sun.

“We
better head back, Gemma, I don’t know how the horses will be if we get thunder.” They steered the horses back in the direction they had come. The heavens opened and the rain came down in streaks, soaked to the skin, the water running into their eyes the girls arrived back at the house. They took the horses around to the stable house to dry them off.

As
the thunder began to clap overhead, the horses began to shuffle in their stalls. Becoming more and more restless, Rain turned in circles.

“I
can’t muck out with her in there.”

“Move
her.” Gemma said.

Jess
looked around. “I’ll put her in the stall on the other side till I clean out, give me a hand.”

“Won’t
Matt mind, he said not to use that side.”

“It’s
only for ten minutes; I think he meant not to stable them in there.” The girls cautiously led Rain across the barn to the adjacent stall. Jess began to muck out while Gemma went for the wheelbarrow containing the sawdust. Rain began to stomp and kick in the stall behind them they could hear the sound of cracking wood as the horse became more and more afraid.

“It’s
all right, Rain, it’s only thunder, and we’ll be done in a minute.”

“Well,
I am not going in there to get her out, she’s going mad,” remarked Gemma. The girls rushed the cleaning of the stall and then turned to get her out. Jess stroked her nose, soothed her as she gently opened the stall door, and led her through to the freshly cleaned one. The animal jerked her head and dug her hoofs into the soft ground.

Jess
finally got her in and closed the stall door.

“You
ready to do yours, Gemma?” Jess turned to see Gemma bending down in the stall behind her. “What are you looking at?”

“Come
here and see this, Jess.” Jess walked over to were Gemma was crouching against the back wall. “I think there is another room back there.”

“What?
Let me see.”

Gemma
moved away revealing two planks of wood that Rain had dislodged during her tantrum. Jess pulled on them and the rest of the wood moved forward.

“It’s
a door,” said Jess.

“Cool,”
said Gemma. Jess pulled the door opened and looked inside. A light string hung in front of her face, she pulled it and illuminated a dirt staircase to one side leading down in to another room. A chill ran through her. She stepped back to close the door.

“What
are you doing, are you not going to have a look.”

“No,
I don’t think we should, I get a bad feeling about it, Gemma.”

Gemma peered inside. “No wonder your uncle doesn’t use these stalls. Do you think he knows its here?”

“I
don’t know. You better come out of there, Gemma.”

“Oh
come on, Jess, let’s just have a look, we might have discovered something that your uncle doesn’t know about, he might be really pleased we found it. Anyway, there’s no one up here.” Gemma looked at her pleadingly. Jess could feel panic rising from somewhere deep down inside of her.

“I
don’t think it’s a good idea, Gem, anyway we have to muck out.” Rain was still restless behind them, each clap of thunder made the animal worse. The loud noise of it unsettled Jess making her feel jumpy.

“I’m
sorry, Jess, but I have got to see where this staircase goes; I have never found a secret room before. God, my house isn’t even big enough to hide a secret cupboard. Look, it goes under ground,” she said pointing out the obvious at the downward stairs.

Jess looked around her. She rolled a stack of hay from the corner of the stall and placed it in front of the door. Gemma looked at her.

“Well,
I don’t want the door to close while we’re in there.”

“There’s
a great big gaping hole in it anyway.”

Reluctantly
Jess followed Gemma down the dimly lit stairs. The stench of damp soil filled her nostrils. At the bottom of the wood and dirt makeshift staircase, there stood a large wooden door. Gemma pushed it open and a narrow stream of light spilled in from the hallway to the black room.

“I
can’t see a thing, Jess.”

“Feel
about for a light switch.”

Gemma
slid her hands along the wall. “I can’t find one.”

“Try
above your head, feel for a pull string.” A slight click and the room was swathed in a hard yellowish light.

Gemma
gasped as she entered the room. “Look at it, Jess, it’s big.”

Filled
with trepidation Jess followed close at her heels. A sense of danger creeping up inside her. The smells of the area had given her a familiar, yet unsettled feeling.

“I
don’t think we should be down here, Gemma.”

“It
truly is a secret room. I bet your uncle doesn’t even know it’s here.”

Gemma
began looking round her. Jess walked further into the room. Her eyes scanned the area. In the centre of the room there sat a large wooden chair. A set of handcuffs hung lifelessly from the arms, their metal glinting in the dim light. In the far corner of the room, an old metal bed was pushed against the wall. What looked like leather shackles lay still across the mattress. A large rectangular box, made of wood, with a closed lid sat over at one side of the room. A tripod stand stood in the corner with a camera mounted on it focused in the centre of the room at the old chair. Each item was innocuous on its own, yet they had come together to create a far more sinister picture.

Jess
stood frozen in horror at what she was seeing. The damp earthy ground beneath her feet was something she had felt before.

“Look
at this, Jess.” Gemma’s voice had lowered to a whisper. She was standing in front of an old desk pushed up against the wall. Jess looked over. She knew what Gemma had found before her eyes came to rest on them. An old cloth covered the desk; on top of it lay a selection of tools and instruments, most of which were alien to the girls. Gemma lifted one of the metal tools from the desk and turned it around in her hand.

“This
looks like the thing my dentist used to take my tooth out.”

Jess’s
voice had become trapped in her throat; she could almost hear her own heart beat.

“Look,
a bracelet,” said Gemma holding a piece of jewellery up to the harsh light. Jess could see the silver angel bracelet hanging from Gemma’s hand. She instantly recognised it as the one she had given Olivia the Christmas before she disappeared. Nothing made sense, except the urgency to leave.

“I
don’t think anyone has been down here for some time, Jess.” Gemma drew her hand across the thick layer of dust and dirt that lay still on the desktop.

“Gemma!
We have to get out of here.” Jess’s voice was a husky whisper, she couldn’t take her eyes from the bracelet that Gemma had placed on the desk.

“What?”

“We have to go now!” Jess had realized why it was all so familiar to her. “This is the place, the place from my dreams, we have to leave.”