The Forgotten Cottage (30 page)

‘She’s there and she’s choking, Annie… We have to help her. We can’t leave her hanging like that.’

‘She’s not real, Jake. Well, she’s not alive, and we can’t help her—she’s dead and has been dead for a very long time. It’s all a trick; she knows that she can’t stay and she’s doing everything she can to stop us.’

Annie pulled him back towards the hole and he looked back over his shoulder but she’d gone. He looked down and saw that a ribcage and legs had been uncovered.

‘Open the box, Jake.’

Annie knelt down and began to scrape the last of the soil away with her fingers until she was faced with the whole of Betsy Baker’s skeleton; there was a broken cross next to her hand. Apart from that, she was complete; her long black hair was still attached to her skull. Annie couldn’t help but notice how long her fingernails were. No wonder she liked scraping them along things; they were lethal weapons. The storm began to rage above their heads and the rain began to lash them both. Annie leant in to try and lift her out and felt the skeletal fingers gripping her arm. Those sharp nails began to dig into her flesh, dragging her down. Annie lost her balance and tumbled into the shallow grave on top of Betsy’s skeleton. Annie opened her mouth to scream and the bony fingers wrapped themselves around her neck, sharp nails digging into the soft flesh and drawing blood.

Jake watched in horror as Annie began to thrash around on top of the skeleton. He couldn’t see the bony fingers that were wrapped around her neck and didn’t know what to do. He knew something was wrong; the only thing he could think of was to take the bottle of holy water out of the box to throw it all over Annie and that scary bag of bones. He emptied the bottle then threw it to one side and leant down, taking hold of Annie by her armpits. With one almighty tug he yanked her with all his force out of the hole, bleeding and covered in mud, and they landed in a heap on the ground.

‘Fucking hell, Annie, what was that about?’

Annie couldn’t speak she was so shocked, and pointed to the skeleton and the box. Jake grimaced but knew what she meant and leant down into the hole and began to scoop up the now broken bits of skeleton and put them into the plastic box; he picked up her arms first then her skull. Once they were inside the box Annie leant in and began to help him scoop up the rest of it, whilst the rain kept on pouring and the thunder kept rolling. Eventually they had every piece of her and the broken cross. Annie picked up the almost empty bottle and sprinkled the rest of the holy water all over the remains and then Jake slammed the plastic lid down onto them. They carried it towards the car and put it into the boot, where Jake took the tow rope and wound it around the box as many times as it would go before knotting it and slamming the boot down. Annie got into the car, not realising how much her hands were trembling until she tried to slide the cover back on the sun visor to look in the mirror at her face. Jake clambered in and started the engine.

‘Oh, my God…how? I mean, just how? It’s not even possible, is it? And you’re bleeding; Jesus Christ, that thing has scratched all your neck. You’re going to need a tetanus injection, when’s the last time you had one? I can’t believe it.’

Annie opened the glove compartment and took some tissues out to wipe away some of the blood and soil from her face.

Jake put his foot down; he didn’t want that thing in his car for any longer than it had to be. ‘What if she haunts my car? Alex will go mental if every time he gets in it there’s a dead woman sitting in the back, trying to choke us all to death.’

Finally Annie smiled, snapping herself out of the shock that had been trying to take over. She still couldn’t speak but inside her head she kept reciting the Lord’s Prayer over and over again. She didn’t even complain about the speed Jake was driving through the country lanes to get to Father John. Annie wondered if she’d ever speak again, to be honest. There was a loud thump from the boot of the car and Jake looked into the rear-view mirror.

‘Please tell me I just ran a dog over and it’s not the dead woman in the box trying to escape.’

He put his foot down and drove, in his own words, like a maniac to get to the church, glad the roads were quiet, with no slow-moving traffic to hold him up or any buses to run into and kill them all instantly. Finally, the church spire loomed in sight and both of them let out a sigh of relief. There was no more banging from the boot and Jake screeched the car to a halt, almost crashing through the church gates.

Father John came running over, took one look at Annie and crossed himself. ‘Come on, no time to lose; let’s get her buried.’

Jake got out of the car and put his hand on the boot. It was freezing-cold to his touch and he withdrew his fingers, leaving fingerprints on the paintwork.

Annie shook her head. ‘No way; we’ve come this far. We have to finish it.’

She opened the boot and reached in to get hold of the box, which was frozen. Jake took the other side and they followed Father John, carrying Betsy Baker to her final resting place. The box got heavier with every step they took and Jake, who was not the smallest of guys, began to sweat with the exertion. Annie wanted to drop the box and forget about the whole thing, forget she’d ever heard of Betsy bloody Baker, but then she thought about Will and how he’d looked to find them the perfect family home and she decided that she wouldn’t let some jealous murdering ghost stop them from living there.

She heaved the box up and smiled at Jake. ‘Come on; we can do this.’

Father John stopped in front of them at the back of the church next to the deep hole that he’d dug last night. With one last effort they heaved the box over the hole and let it fall into it. It landed on its lid, which was perfect. It would make it even harder for her to escape from her consecrated grave. Father John wasted no time and began to recite the burial prayers that she should have had when she’d been buried two hundred and thirty-two years ago, then he dropped a rosary onto the box for good measure and nodded at Jake to begin filling in the hole. It was all done in record time and Jake had never worked so hard or so fast in all his life. Annie, who was leaning against the church wall, prayed the whole time for Betsy’s soul, relieved it was finally over.

Jake spoke first. ‘Is that it—do you think we’re safe now because she was one angry woman for a dead bird?’

‘I don’t know… I hope so – what do you think, John?’

‘Let’s see, shall we? I believe so, but I’m not the expert here. If things don’t improve we might have to call the Bishop and request an exorcist from the Vatican, Annie, but I think we may have done the trick.’

The setting sun broke through the clouds and the warmth of it felt good on Jake and Annie’s wet faces. Father John wrapped his arms around both of their shoulders and led them away from the grave towards the presbytery.

‘Come on, my little ghostbusters, I have a pan of hot chocolate ready to warm up and a huge Victoria sponge cake that needs eating. You both look like you need an energy boost, and we can get you cleaned up, Annie.’

Jake nodded his approval. ‘Good, I’m glad you can get her cleaned up because she looks as scary as poor old Betsy Baker.’

Annie leant her arm around John to dig Jake in the ribs.

‘Ouch.’

Chapter Twenty-Four

Henry had a plan. It had taken him all day to figure out where he could find Megan the kind of victim she longed for and it had come to him when he was reading the local paper. He had thought about it long and hard. He came out of his bedroom to see Megan absorbed in reading the paper that had inspired him to commit a murder and that she had become so addicted to.

‘I can’t believe this; for a small town, there sure is a lot of shit happens here.’

‘Why, what’s happened now?’

‘Some copper was kidnapped and held hostage, taken from the hospital after coming out from visiting his girlfriend who’d been in an accident. Talk about bad luck.’

He sat opposite her and she pushed the newspaper towards him. He picked it up and smiled at the grainy photo in the corner that caught his eye. If it wasn’t his fallen angel, Annie Graham, staring back at him with concern etched across her face. There was also a picture of her boyfriend on crutches. This was a turn-up for the books; those two were bad luck magnets, if ever such a thing existed.

‘What are you smiling at?’

‘Nothing, Megan; it’s just an old friend.’

‘Who, the copper that was kidnapped—was he the one that caught you, Henry?’

‘Not really, he’s more of an acquaintance. No, it’s the woman in the corner, his girlfriend. She’s also a policewoman; we go back a long way.’

‘Really? Henry, you dark horse. You never told me you went out with a copper. I bet she was mortified when you flipped and started killing everyone.’

Henry nodded and pushed the paper away; he didn’t want to tell Megan too much. ‘I’ve spent a lot of time thinking today about what you want to do.’

‘And?’

‘I want you to show me this barn later, just before it gets dark. If it’s as secluded as you say we could maybe use it once, just to satisfy your needs. But then we don’t do anything else for months; I don’t want to get caught.’

Megan stood up and launched herself at him, landing on his lap.

‘Thank you, Henry! I’m so excited. I promise I won’t mess this up. What are we going to do?’

‘Well, that depends on you, Megan. Man or woman? Do you want a quick kill or torture?’

‘Can I think about it? I mean, I’ve thought about it but I want to make sure it’s right, that my first is everything that I’ve been dreaming about.’

‘Take as long as you want and when you’re ready we’ll do it.’

‘I think I’d like to get a woman, you know, the ones who always think they’re better than everyone else. Wear smart dresses and designer shoes for work but can’t actually walk around in them. Someone like that. Oh, and they definitely have to have long hair that they really love and are always flicking it around and running their fingers through it.’

‘Why?’

‘Because I told you—I hated the girls like that at school; they used to think they were so much better than me and they made my life a misery. I want to gag whoever it is and cut all their hair off whilst they are watching.’

‘I’m glad that you didn’t need a long time to think about it then; I’d have hated for you to dither around for weeks wondering if you should do it or not.’

Megan began to grind her hips against Henry’s thighs. She bent down and kissed him full on the lips. Henry tried to resist but years of pent-up passion bubbled inside him and he pulled her as close to him as he could. He muttered, ‘Just this once.’

‘Yes, Henry, just this once.’

Before she silenced him with her mouth once again.

***

Annie came down from the bathroom wearing John’s faded Rolling Stones T-shirt and a pair of his jogging bottoms. She’d thrown her clothes into the bin. They were tattered and torn and would forever remind her of her fight with Betsy Baker. Her neck was a mess of scratches and bruises which she had cleaned up, but it was smarting. She sat down and tucked into a slice of cake and began to sip her huge mug of hot chocolate, too tired and still in shock to make polite conversation. She listened to John as he chatted about the latest gossip in the parish and was grateful to him for trying to lighten their mood. Grateful for anything that would help to block out the memories of that cold, muddy grave that had now embedded itself into her mind.

When she’d finished, Annie stood up and Jake followed both of them, anxious to get home. ‘Thank you John; it’s me who is now in your debt. Please let me know if you have any problems with her.’

‘Bless you, but I’m pretty sure she’ll stay buried this time. What about the cottage? Are you going back to check on it tonight? If not, I would very much like to come and bless the whole house tomorrow, if I may.’

‘I don’t know about going back right now. I think I’ve had enough for one night. If we do and she’s still hanging there from my front porch I think I’ll end up getting sectioned.’

‘Fuck that, Annie. Pardon me, Father. I’m not going anywhere near your house unless it’s daylight. I’ve seen enough of ghosts to last me a lifetime. Let’s go home. Why don’t you sleep at mine tonight then you can go collect Will in the morning? I’m at work but Alex isn’t; he’ll drop you off and then you can drive Will’s car home and you know what your first job is when you get home.’

‘What?’

‘Sort your car insurance out because being your chauffeur is almost as dangerous as signing up to be a CIA assassin. It’s far too stressful for a man my age.’

John laughed. ‘You do make me laugh; now, you two take care of each other, you’re both very special.’

They left. Annie hugged John before she walked down the steps past the beautiful roses which bordered the path to the gate. He waved and shut the door.

Annie pushed her arm through Jake’s. ‘You know, one day we’ll be able to write a book about our adventures and then we’ll both be millionaires.’

‘I think you’re right, the only problem is: will we live long enough to get it published, with your bad luck?’

‘Of course we will; we were destined for great things, you and me, Jake Simpson. We just haven’t figured out what they are.’

‘I think you’ve found your calling, Annie, but I’d rather you kept me out of it. At this rate I’ll be totally grey by the end of the year or maybe dead. I want to settle down and live a nice quiet life with my little family. I’ll tell you what I do need, though—an ice-cold glass of something expensive and strong to help me sleep, otherwise I’ll have nightmares.’

They got into Jake’s car and he drove away, this time much slower and sticking to the speed limit. He didn’t want to push his luck twice in one night; he didn’t know how many lives he had left.

Annie laid her head back against the seat, closing her eyes. Her neck was smarting from the scratches and she would ring the doctor tomorrow for a tetanus injection. Then she would be picking Will up and taking him home to bed, where the pair of them could do nothing but order pizza and sleep for a couple of days. It seemed like forever since they’d slept in the same bed. Annie dozed off and was surprised when Jake shook her.