Halton Cray (Shadows of the World Book 1) (6 page)

Seven

‘See and keep silent.’

– Sir Francis Walsingham

I reminded myself of those
thoughts the next time I saw Thom at the Cray, passing from one corridor to
another in no obvious mood. Mrs Evans had been with me and I caught her scowl
in his direction. If looks had language, the word antipathy would certainly
have cropped up.

It was a Saturday in early October. The Cray
wasn’t foggy for the first time since I’d started the job. Mrs Evans regularly
put me at the front desk since that time a leaky tap had petrified Stacey.

During the morning Stacey text me from the shop. She
desperately wanted to talk to me about something, but I was happy to let the
hallway separate us until lunch. I had a slight headache and wanted some peace,
so while the coast was clear, I went upstairs into the Solomon Gallery for
contemporary art; a modern room situated in the South East Wing. Some loud
barking outside caught my attention. I looked out the window and saw a large
German shepherd dog heading for the house. It was fierce in pursuit of a white
and tabby tomcat. Both disappeared beneath my view, though I had pressed my
forehead flat to the cold glass. They’d entered the alley and got inside. The
dog growled and barked loudly. I heard panic downstairs before its noise
abruptly ceased. As though afraid, I heard it whimper and whine a high-pitched
cry. I glanced out the window and saw that dog, or one that looked exactly like
it, come trotting out from the alley, panting and wagging its tail, before
bounding off to some expert whistling in the distance.

On my way downstairs I stopped halfway on the
landing, noticing through the window that cat in the courtyard. It was sitting
on a barrel looking particularly smug. As I gained the entrance hall, I could
hear Mrs Evans down the corridor talking to Frances.

‘Animals like that should be gotten rid of!’ she
exclaimed. ‘It might have killed someone!’ Her voice dropped an octave.
‘Perhaps it does come in handy to have that ghoul aroun–’ She stopped talking
having caught sight of me as I reached my desk.

‘You can go to lunch with Stacey today,’ she said,
raising her voice to reach me. ‘In about half an hour.’ She attempted a smile.

Stacey and I met in the staffroom to retrieve our
lunches and put on our jackets. Presently she was moaning about a difficult
customer that she’d had to deal with. We left by the alley, walking round the
south of the house towards the Rose Garden where the air was heavily scented
with floral delights. I wanted to walk along the Shockers River, against its
flow, where geese littered its sloping banks.

‘Let’s walk up this way,’ Stacey demanded, interrupting
herself mid-sentence.

‘Why?’

‘Just because!’ she snapped, leading the way.

I then noticed Thom at quite a distance from us,
crossing Westleigh Bridge to walk back towards the house. The river was wider
and more stagnant beyond the bridge, which connected the various gardens to the
meadows. Thom kept to the banks, where their steep earthy ledges exposed the
roots of the weeping willows that lined them.

I wasn’t surprised to hear that Stacey had wormed
something out of someone about him. Clearly she’d already spotted him, before
referencing him to me as ‘Thom,
the ghost
.’

Absurd.

‘The other day,’ she began, ‘when I was upstairs
on the Minstrels’ Gallery, he was in the North East Wing putting out some
old-fashioned clothes. I went to the stairs, because who’d want to be stuck in
a room with him and his scary eyes! But when I got to the bottom, who do I see down
there? Only
the ghost
! He was upstairs one minute, and the next he’s in
the Great Hall heading for the door. He definitely didn’t walk past me, and
that’s the only way out. There’s no way! Unless the obvious.’

‘The obvious being that he knows and uses all the
secret passageways in that house? After all, Stace, he’s been here for years.
He must have an intimate knowledge of them. Do you remember the tapping noise
at the front desk a few weeks back? I told you what it was, remember?’

‘Umm. A dripping tap?’

‘Yes. And where’s the tap?’

‘In a cupboard somewhere nearby.’

‘Stacey, I told you about the hidden cupboard
opposite the desk. What I neglected to mention, because I
never
thought
this conversation would arise, is that it was Thom who revealed it and turned
the thing off.’

‘So, a hidden cupboard, like a secret room?’

‘Exactly. So you can imagine there might be others–’

‘Do you know any more?’ She got excited.

‘I’ve found one in this house before, years ago.’

‘Oh my God! Where is it?’

‘I don’t actually remember,’ I lied through my
teeth, for no other reason than if I were to tell her it wouldn’t remain a
secret. But for those who can keep a secret, it is near the window on the
right-hand side in that small chamber, the De Morgan Gallery. Hidden within the
wooden panels is an iron door, which opens on to a slender passageway. This
leads to a narrow but steep staircase, which runs down to the cellars. I went
down there only once and saw nothing except an endlessly dark enclosure with a
low ceiling.

‘It was such a long time ago, Stace, and all those
walls look the same. Besides, I’m sure there are more,
that’s
my point.
Perhaps one of them hides a staircase and goes down to the Tudor kitchen from
that gallery. It would make more sense than what you’re saying about Thom,
wouldn’t it?’

She shook her head. ‘There’s more–’

I asked her to lower her voice, since her
excitement increased. I should have told her to mute it. She was clearly
exaggerating.

‘I told Mrs Evans, for a joke really, that I
thought he was a ghost,’ she said in a creepy whisper, ‘because he’s always
here, isn’t he, like he’s bound to the grounds, the place he died! He so
reminds me of that Jack the Ripper guy–’

‘Don’t be so mean, Stacey! Look, if Mrs Evans has
been suggesting all this, you have to take on board that without a dependable memory
the woman most probably relies on her imagination. You have to remember that he
lives here.’

I knew she didn’t really believe any of this. If
she did, she of all people wouldn’t stick around.

She went on regardless, ‘And he never speaks to
anyone, or touches them. He’s always looking so pale with those big dark eyes,
like a ghost. Anyway, Mrs Evans was telling me that Tess is practically
bedbound with some nervous disorder. Something must have happened here the
night she disappeared. She’s warned me, Alex, to take care around the ghost. She
said there’s something different about him.’

I cleared my throat to disguise the laugh I was
suppressing. It answered everything if different was synonymous with facetious,
or haughty, or irritating!

‘She said he was dangerous, Alex!
That’s
why the dog got so scared of him earlier.’

‘I saw that dog run off, Stace, and it looked
happy enough to me. And for your information I once hit Thom with the jeep.
There. Besides it being ridiculous I don’t think it would be possible to do
that to a ghost.’

We came round the walkway under the looming
octagonal turret and took the uphill path lined with mythical topiary. The
scent on the air changed. I noticed the so-called ghost glance our way. He’d
reached the edge of the Rose Garden, which was all that separated us from him.
Keeping an even pace he headed towards the house, passing people on the lower
path uninterestedly. A few of them, I observed, gave him a wide berth. The
slanting rays of the sun were gilding the ground and casting our shadows out
over it, stretching them to lengths nearly twice our heights. But for the life
of me I couldn’t see Thom’s shadow. I searched, and searched again, but there
could be no mistake! He overtook a couple with their children in tow, and
glided along the path next to them, their black shadows racing ahead. His
shadow was nowhere in sight as if he weren’t of any substance. I couldn’t believe
it. And
did
he glide? – Once a seed’s been planted it’s only natural for
it to grow, ideas to form. Our eyes will hunt for evidence to prove its
existence.

I noticed how I was staring with my mouth ajar,
when I saw Stacey following my gaze with incisive eyes. I quickly looked away
and pretended not to have seen anything, which was true unless I was mad. She
looked ready to interrogate me.

Thom vanished around the southwest corner of the
house. Before Stacey could say a word, I threw in a change of topic, though the
missing shadow was bothering me all the while.

‘What was it you wanted to talk to me about
earlier?’

‘Oh, yeah! Well, just stupid Ben.’ She grimaced at
pronouncing the name of her ex. ‘Well, not him exactly. I saw him yesterday
with some new girlfriend – a right minger! I think he was trying to make me
jealous. Fat chance! I wish Darren had been with me though. Anyway, Mark was
with him. I mentioned you, you know, just in passing, but he pretended he
didn’t know what I was on about. So I said that I’d seen you together in Carnelian’s
and he was like “Yeah, well, she’s a nice girl and stuff, but it turns out
she’s got a history I’m not all that impressed with.”’

‘History?’ I questioned in surprise. ‘What sort of
history?’

‘I asked him that, but he tried to brush it off, saying
it was just something he’d heard, and where there’s smoke there’s bound to be
fire. I told him you were a good friend and whatever he’d heard was probably
bull. That’s when he admitted that after a date with you in some café, a friend
of his who’d seen you together phoned Mark the next day to warn him off.’

‘What! Warn him off–?’ as I said this, I had a
vague idea of who it might be.

‘Someone called Owen.’

‘Owen,’ I muttered, setting my teeth. ‘That idiot!
And I think I can guess what’s been said.’

‘Well,’ she began, licking her lips, ‘he told Mark
you were a liar and deceitful, and that you slept around, was a bit of a head
case and even got him into a fight or something.’

‘Is that all?’ I laughed scornfully.

‘To be honest, Alex, I don’t even remember you
going out with anyone called Owen.’

‘It felt longer than it was.’ I rolled my eyes. ‘I’d
like to forget it myself, Stace. – Okay look, he was dating a girl at our
school and used to meet her there. I didn’t know that at the time, but he told
so many lies. He became possessive and controlling. Anyway, I had to dump him
and he didn’t like it. He accused me of all sorts when I told him it was over. After
about a week he turned into my stalker. He followed me like a shadow wherever I
went, and met me like a reflection at every turn. Remembering that I ever dated
him still disturbs me.’ (It got the better of me now and I shuddered at the
thought of him.) ‘And if Mark wants to believe his crap he’s welcome to. I
won’t have anything to do with it.’

‘I don’t even think Mark knows him that well, from
what he said.’

‘Then more fool him. He could’ve just asked me
about Owen. I can’t believe this is why he was so rude to me.’

She grinned. ‘He was so shocked when I told him
how well I knew you. Ben even said that he knew Owen and thought he told loads
of lies. Mark was all like “Do you know she’s a nice girl then, really?” and I
was like “Duh! I went to school with her. I think I would know!”’

‘Well, thanks, Stace, for sticking up for me. But I’m
glad it panned out this way. Now I know what he’s really like. Imagine getting
involved with someone like that, who treats people like crap because of
something someone said.’

‘I did feel a bit bad for him though,’ she sighed.
‘I always thought he was alright.’

‘He probably is to a degree, but to be so
feeble-minded.’

Stacey nodded before sucking noisily on a chunk of
her hair. We reached the secluded Sunken Garden, entering from a set of narrow
stone steps hidden by hedgerows. Stiff grey cumuli now daubed the bright sky. I
was surprised to see spectres of mist floating through the garden up ahead. I
mentioned nothing to Stacey, who hadn’t noticed, and wouldn’t stay long if she
did. We found a bench and sat down to eat.

‘Well, anyway,’ she picked the subject back up. ‘I
told Mark that you weren’t like that at all – and I should know. He asked me
some stuff about you.’ (Which meant she’d volunteered it along with my vital
statistics and blood group.) ‘He really was feeling bad about it. He asked me
if I thought you’d forgive him, which I said I thought you would, and so I
think he’s going to call you.’

I said nothing, remembering how the man with the
goatee had looked at me outside The Grapevine.

With her excitement over Mark and myself bled dry,
Stacey went off on another topic. I was still mulling things over in my head,
naturally. I became aware of Stacey still talking between mouthfuls of sandwich,
when I heard her mention Frances and how much she adored her.

‘But that other guy,’ she said, nodding towards
the house, ‘the one who works with
the
ghost
– I can’t remember
his name – he’s a nightmare! Can’t stand him!’

‘You mean Daniel? He’s really nice! Stacey, you
didn’t go saying things to Dan about Thom, did you?’

‘I only asked if he thought Thom was strange, too.
I said it like a joke anyway!’

‘Oh, God, what did he say?’

‘He goes, “Why don’t you ask him yourself?” and pointed
behind me. I thought he was pulling my leg, but when I turned around
the
ghost
was standing right there. He must’ve come through a wall or
something! I got this big shiver down my spine, like someone put ice cubes down
my back.’

‘So how did you get out of that one, Stace?’ I
couldn’t hide my smirk, as much as she couldn’t hide a blush.