The Haunting of Highdown Hall (10 page)

At the end of the film, the credits started to roll and dramatic music befitting such an epic production blared out, almost deafening them. Reaching quickly for the remote, Ruby pressed the off button, the ensuing silence almost as loud she noticed.

“Well, that was a bit more heart-wrenching than I thought it was going to be,” Cash admitted, looking really quite shell-shocked. “Bloody good actress, wasn’t she?”

“Phenomenal,” Ruby said, sighing.

Placing his empty glass on the coffee table in front of the sofa, Cash sat in repose for a few moments, as though trying to recover from the traumatic onslaught. Eventually, he started speaking again.

“I’m not sure how it’s supposed to work, but did you feel any sort of psychic connection with Cynthia during the film?”

“No, not psychic,” Ruby replied. “Emotional, well, as you can see...”

Smiling at her comment, Cash continued to look at her. Having relaxed completely during the course of the film, Ruby felt flustered again. Nonetheless, she found it surprisingly hard to look away. It was as though Cash were drawing her into his very being, those molten eyes of his penetrating her. Music, she decided, that was what was needed, something contemporary and frivolous to break the spell between them. Hauling herself up from the sofa, she walked to the CD player, beside which was an alcove filled with shelves, the bottom two not home to more books like the others, but her entire music collection.

“What do you like?” she asked, relieved to be talking about more mundane matters.

“Surprise me,” he called from the sofa.

Strangely, Johnny Cash’s ‘Hurt’ album came to hand. She was about to put it back and then stopped. Turning, she said, “So, you’re named after Johnny Cash, right?”

“Right,” he answered, his gaze still intent.

“Because your mum is a fan of his?”

“Correct.”

“Do you listen to his music too?”

“Sometimes,” he said, rising and moving towards her.

Kneeling down, he ran his fingers along the long lines of CDs, scanning them with his eyes.

“I see we’ve got similar taste in music,” he said at last.

“Have we?” replied Ruby, damning that squeaky note in her voice.

“No
Drive-by Truckers
though or
Richmond Fontaine.
I’ll have to introduce you to them.”

Will you now?
His close proximity was making her feel decidedly clammy. If only Jed would come bounding in, she could use him as an excuse to tear her gaze away. In fact, she’d be grateful for any passing spirit right now, shame her flat was usually bereft of them. Instead, she stared right back, as though caught in a vice.

Suspecting that he would, Cash reached out a hand to touch her hair. As he did so, she couldn’t help it, she started shaking, praying she was the only one to notice.

In the silence, he leaned forward and his lips touched hers. His full, soft lips, lips that if she were honest, she had fantasised about kissing since meeting him in the pub on Monday.
Was it really only four days ago?
To be pressed against them now felt good and she relished the feeling, for a few seconds at least.

Drawing back, she started to speak, but words failed her.

“It’s okay,” he said, gently tilting her face upwards, “it was a bit forward of me I suppose. We have only just met.”

“It’s not that,” she rushed to explain. “It’s just that... I’m not looking for a boyfriend right now. Relationships are often difficult for me.”

“Why?” he asked, genuine curiosity in his voice.

Such a simple question. Not such a simple answer. Where did she start? Yes, he was fascinated with her right now. But how long would it be before fascination turned into something else? Contempt, perhaps? A desire to live only in the ‘real’ world? She had seen it happen too many times; not just with Adam but with other boyfriends too, every boyfriend in fact. And not just boyfriends, men in general, she had never known her father or grandfather either – they had also bailed out from their relationships. It was widely said that celebrities tended only to date fellow celebrities, someone who could perfectly understand the pros and cons of their profession. Well, following their lead, perhaps she should find herself a psychic boyfriend. Trouble was, the only other psychics she knew were women. Psychic men didn’t happen along very often.
Fanciable
psychic men that is.

Desperately she wanted to explain all this to him, felt like she
owed
him an explanation, but the right words simply wouldn’t come.

Attempting to say
something
at least, she said, “Can we take it slowly? Be friends for a while, see how we go.”

Cash looked disappointed but he didn’t let that expression linger.

“Sure,” he said, just stopping himself, she knew, from touching her hair again and then, “Blimey, it’s five past one. I’d better get going. Work tomorrow.”

Checking the clock, she couldn’t believe it either. Where had the last few hours gone?

Cash slipped his boots on and grabbed his jacket en route to the door.

“Haven’t you got a proper coat?” said Ruby, shivering. “It’s freezing out there.”

Good God,
she thought,
now I sound like his mother
.

“I have, but this is fine for now,” he said, looking actually quite touched she was fussing over him.

“Thanks for coming over, for bringing the movie,” she smiled shyly at him.

Standing there in her bare feet, she felt tiny in comparison. If she kissed him now, she’d have to stand on tip toe to do so.

“So, Monday, Highdown Hall. Can I still come?”

“Of course,” Ruby exclaimed. “And my website, can you still help with that?”

“I promised, didn’t I?” he replied, the timbre of his voice mesmerising to her ears. “What time shall I be there, and where?”

“Nine thirty at my office. Is that okay?”

“Nine thirty is perfect,” he said, walking backwards a few steps before turning, devouring her again with his eyes before allowing the night to devour him.

Returning to the living room, Ruby noticed that he had left the DVD behind. She picked it up and considered running after him to return it but decided against it. There was no hurry. She’d see him on Monday, she could return it then. Hopefully, she’d see him a lot more after that, if she hadn’t scared him off entirely. Going through to the bedroom, she let the jeans she hadn’t bothered to change after all fall to the floor and slipped into pyjama bottoms, sighing with relief as she did so. As she was climbing into bed, Jed came hurrying in and barked a couple of times before curling up beside her.

“Oh, so now you show up?” she said, sighing.

Reaching for her eye mask and ear plugs, she turned off the lamp and fell asleep – the memory of Cash’s lips on hers accompanying her deep into dreamless realms.

Chapter Seven

“Everybody ready?”

Three heads nodded whilst Cash simply beamed; reminding her of a little boy who’d just been told it was his birthday. Theo had been simply bemused by his presence. Ness, however, hadn’t looked best pleased. Ness took their ‘work’ very seriously, as they all did, and clearly she didn’t see the need to have some sort of enthusiast tagging along. Normally Ruby would have agreed with Ness, never before had she brought a ‘friend’ along to a cleansing, it was inappropriate. But Cash, he was different. Just as she connected with spirits, she had connected with him. She felt good when he was around, and something else, something she couldn’t quite put her finger on – safe, perhaps? As for Corinna’s reaction to Cash, she too had looked taken aback at first, but then she had started giggling, particularly whenever Cash happened to make a remark. Although she knew it was ridiculous, Ruby couldn’t help feeling slightly irritated by Corinna’s girlish, flirty behaviour. Even more annoyingly, Cash didn’t seem to mind it at all.

Ruby had spent practically the entire weekend researching Cynthia Hart. Born in Brighton in 1927 and from apparently humble beginnings, she had lived with her mother and younger brother in a flat in a street that no longer existed, that had been demolished in the late 1940s, part of an eradication programme to get rid of Brighton’s worst slums. Having famously left home at fourteen, she had climbed on board the non-stop stardom express and ridden it all the way to the stars, becoming the brightest of them all, surpassing even those who had shone in Hollywood – not bad for an ordinary local girl, thought Ruby.
The Phoenix
had been her breakthrough film. Although there had been several theatre and film roles before that, it was the first one she’d bagged a starring role in. Still, the others were good films; her early performances often described as commendable by the critics. From ‘commendable’ to ‘spell-binding’, though, was quite a leap and one that must have stunned her as well as those in the film industry. A well-deserved award had followed for
The Phoenix
and then again for
Intruders.
It was
The Elitists
that had won her an Oscar – a film about a group of high society revellers involved in murder and espionage across several continents; she had co-starred in it with the delicious John Sterling. By 1958, Ms Hart was hot to trot, smokin’ – in demand the world over and then, boom! It was over. Just like that.

The night she had passed, Christmas Eve, which was also her birthday, a party had been held at Highdown Hall. Not an unusual occurrence, it seemed. Ms Hart was quite the socialite, forever in the media, an ever-changing string of admirers on her arm, not least John Sterling. Concentrating particularly on pictures of them together, Ruby thought they made a dynamite couple, the spark between them almost tangible. It was Sterling who had found her the night of the party, collapsed in her bedroom. It was he who had held her body close as she took her last breath. Sterling had been inconsolable afterwards, according to reports in the papers, and had never returned to acting. Retiring to the South of France instead, he had passed in his mid sixties; cirrhosis of the liver.

Throughout her research, Ruby had found absolutely no mention of anyone called Lytton. She was still none the wiser. Who was he and why was he as significant in death as he was in life – to Cynthia anyway? Or maybe his significance would fade? Once they’d explained to her how she had passed, helped her to accept the suddenness of it, maybe the hold he had on her would diminish. Be forgotten about. They’d find out soon enough.

***

“And where should I go whilst you’re conducting this... this cleansing?” Mr Kierney said, looking quite put out about it, despite having engaged them to carry the work out.

“You can either stay downstairs or go to a nearby pub, it’s up to you,” Theo replied, a slight edge to her voice informing Ruby she wasn’t too enamoured of him either.

“The pub? Yes, of course, I’ll go there,” Mr Kierney replied. “Call me when my house is my own again.”

All five of them stared after him as he hurried to his car, all five unimpressed by his brusque manner. Ruby almost felt like leaving Cynthia be, after all, this had been her house first.

“We can’t,” said Ness, tuning into her thoughts, an ability of hers Ruby still found alarming. “She’s been here too long already. It’s time to move on.”

Nodding her head to show that, of course, she agreed, that it hadn’t been a serious thought, Ruby led the way. Climbing the oak staircase, Corinna marvelled at how grand it was.

“I can just imagine Cynthia in all her film star gorgeousness wafting down these stairs,” she giggled.

Unfortunately, all Ruby could imagine was Cash bestowing another indulgent smile on Corinna.

At the door to Cynthia’s bedroom, Ruby turned to face him.

“Are you sure you want to come in?” she asked.

“I’m sure.” There was no hesitation in his voice at all.

Contemplating the wisdom of it for a few moments, Ruby conceded.

“Okay, but if you feel even slightly uncomfortable, let me know and we’ll get you out.”

Cash nodded his understanding.

Before entering, they initiated the protection ritual. Each of them, including Cash, were to visualise themselves surrounded entirely by white light. Ruby had also given Cash her obsidian necklace to wear for extra protection. The black stone, she thought, looked rather good against the smoothness of his throat.

“Ready?” she asked after a few minutes.

“Ready,” the group chorused.

“Cash, you’re absolutely sure?” Ruby double checked.

Before he could reply, however, Corinna piped up.

“Don’t worry, Ruby, I’ll keep an eye on him.” And she took hold of his arm.

I bet you will,
thought Ruby peevishly.

She noticed Ness raising an eyebrow at her. She was quite right; it wouldn’t do to bring negative feelings into the room, it was important to remain in a positive and loving frame of mind when dealing with a spirit, particularly one who was distressed. It helped to redress the balance.