Underbelly (32 page)

Her words touched him and he stood up and coughed a little before saying, “I can’t disappoint a paying customer. Thank you for coming. Tonight we are going to…” He was confident and surprisingly mellifluous, already adopting a stage persona different from his true self, and he gave her a little over an hour, after which he received a standing ovation. After he was done he embraced her and turned on a radio that he had spotted in the corner and they both kicked off their shoes and danced for a little while.

“
After how it went tonight I know I’m not going to worry too much about my next show,” he said as they danced in each other’s arms. “And at least I’ve made something to cover costs,” he joked, renting the hall unfortunately costing more than a dollar. He had questioned whether he’d overpriced the show, though had still gone ahead, in the hope that only selling a few tickets would recoup his costs.

“
How much did it cost?”

“
That doesn’t matter – it wasn’t much – because I’ve gained something from this – from you.” They kissed passionately, both a little tempted to take it further, but they resisted and went for their meal. Their time in Detroit had been enjoyable, a taste of stability that boded well for when they did eventually settle down when the tour was over, wherever that might be. George was adamant that they should do something with the farm, reiterating this point again and again as he went out with Grey on his last full day in Detroit, Del’s birthday, and they had an all day pub crawl in his honour. Grey agreed with him that the farm was their main asset but he felt it had to be Germaine’s decision – if she couldn’t face living there then they would stay away, yet he didn’t want her to sell it because he feared that she’d regret it. George tried to make him see that it was his decision as head of the household, and while Grey did view himself in this role he preferred his marriage to be a little more democratic than George thought wise. Another important decision was discussed while they were both relatively sober, that of Del. Grey had tried but he couldn’t seem to grant Del peace, which didn’t surprise George (‘he would be an ornery spirit’). Reincarnation appealed to Del, and based on his successes with Conrad Overton and Thomas Hepworth Grey felt that eventually he might be able to make this a reality and asked George for his views. Unsurprisingly, George was in favour of this, understanding that he would likely never meet him and that Del would likely have no recollection of his past life. Grey promised him that he would inform him if he succeeded and George asked Grey a favour, asking him to check on his daughter, Dora, whenever he did make it to New York. He even told him that he could tell her about his gift, as this information was likely to make her more receptive to his visits, Dora the polar opposite of her sister. Saying goodbye to George was hard, especially for Del, and it was only when they had arrived in Toronto (he had messages in Canada too and decided to veer from his intended course) that they found all of the rent they had paid George in an envelope at the bottom of the case, along with an extra $300. Grey was half tempted to post it straight back to him and decided to keep it, only as a safety net, and give it to Dora when they arrived in New York.

Chapter 6 – The Octavius Saga

The tour progressed through Southern Canada, east to west; messages were passed on, temporary jobs and lodgings found. Grey thought back to Conrad Overton’s offer of financial assistance, the appointment he had made with Grey, which he had not kept. If he had gone to see him to take his money the journey that Grey and Germaine were on would have been radically different, and in Grey’s opinion, worse. He and Germaine would prosper and live in comfort eventually, and they would achieve their own success. Until then they were forced to pull together, drawn closer by how they lived. Staying at fancy hotels and not needing to work would mean that they would meet fewer people and not see the true side of each place they visited. The holiday became something else, a learning experience which cemented their commitment to each other. Travelling in rickety sleeper cars, sharing facilities in trailer parks with the lost and disenfranchised (the kind of people both found easy to befriend), or just having his wife help wash him clean after a day down the pits – these minute things bonded them closer than sharing a four poster bed. When the time came for luxury they would both be ready for it and would appreciate it, and each other.

Grey opted to tell the Canadian relatives of the fallen spirits he’d counselled the truth, and while their reactions varied, they were generally negative. He had little choice, as he put on shows in every town he visited and it was better that they heard the truth from him rather than find out by chance what he was. At times he felt like burning his notebooks, wondering if he was just causing misery wherever he went. He knew he wouldn’t make such rash promises to spirits in the future.

While the messages from the soldiers went badly, his performances were proving more successful. He was more open, mentioning casually to workmates that he was a medium, which guaranteed him quite a bit of stick, mostly playful banter, no one taking it seriously enough to be offended, but it got the word out. What tended to happen was that at each of his workplaces he would be approached and invited to perform at one of his workmate’s homes, often for their female relatives. Grey found these performances quite easy and could usually come out with something to convince a couple of them. From there, after the positive feedback and word of mouth, he would build up to small shows for a nominal fee and while the attendance was often less than 10 and the highest was only 35 (generally predominantly female), it was a start. He would get a little nervous before his public performances, the adrenaline proving useful, but he was nowhere near the shaky mess that he was before his first show and he thanked Germaine for that. Because of her insistence that he perform it meant that his first show was behind him, and as he had got through that he would get through the next, and so on, getting progressively easier each time. Another factor that helped him work through his anxiety was his growing sense of certainty that he was doing the right thing for the right reasons. His motives weren’t impure and knowing that helped him a lot.

One thing that annoyed Grey about his planned route was that, while he was following the path dictated by the spirits, entering Canada by Ontario and heading west to British Columbia before entering the United States by Washington meant that Germaine did not get to see French Canada. He promised her she would get the chance to use her mother tongue again and feel like she was back in France, yet everyone they met spoke only English, making a liar of him. She had looked forward to fluid conversations in French (Grey tried but she still had a lot to teach him) and admitted this, but pointed out that speaking the same language didn’t guarantee friendships, and that they were French Canadians while she was French – perhaps they would not take to her because of the difference, some colonies resentful of the mother country. He offered to turn around but she wouldn’t hear of it, insisting that they follow their current course.

After an emotionally draining show in Regina, where he had counselled a fragile woman whose young daughter had been viciously mutilated (he chose to do this privately, asking her to stay behind after his performance and passing their messages back and forward until she found peace) he arrived late back at the small house he and Germaine were staying at. Germaine didn’t attend his private performances in acquaintances’ homes but she attended every public show and she was sad to have missed one, having suffered from a debilitating bug for the last week. She waited up for him, ready with a pack of cigarettes for him, and she could see from his expression that it had been harrowing. He knew he would be poor company and he explained why, without sharing the gruesome details, and she understood, kissing him on the forehead and going to bed, giving him some time to think things over. He needed her support and comfort, and he always had it, but there were times when he needed to brood and she left him alone when he needed to be by himself.

The problem had been solved, the little girl finding peace, her mother glowing like a new person after they were done, overjoyed that her angel had found release and wasn’t in pain anymore. The killer had even been caught and had died in prison (suspiciously, but at present Grey didn’t care about his rights too much), all loose ends resolved. He understood anger, hatred, envy, many of man’s baser emotions, but the capacity for evil that existed in some, the things that man was capable of inflicting on his fellow man, gave a damning indictment of the human soul. Demons were real, and they didn’t always have powers. Germaine was asleep when he entered their bedroom and after changing into his pyjamas he went to brush his teeth. Seeing that Germaine looked sound asleep he had been very quiet and was surprised when he heard her laughing quietly. He went to the doorway and saw that she was writhing about, her eyes still closed, moaning slightly.

“
Impatient man,” she said softly, a lovingly delivered reprimand.

“
Gem, I’m over here,” Grey said and she saw him in the doorway with toothpaste around his mouth and she immediately tensed up and clutched her legs to her body. Grey could see she was distressed and he went to her, sitting on the bed next to her and putting an arm around her as she turned to him, crying on his chest.

“
It must have been a dream, but I could feel it.”

“
Did you dream of anything?” Grey said, already thinking of incubi.

“
No, I just felt what I thought was you.”

“
Did it hurt you?”

She shook her head. “Was it a demon?”

“
If it definitely wasn’t a dream...I’ll sort this out so that it never happens again, don't worry,” he promised, kissing her hair.

“
Perhaps it’s just the room. It wasn’t in me long,” she said, noticing how distressed it made him and trying to make him feel better.

“
Even one second is too long.” He shook his head, inflamed and upset at the transgression. He hugged her tighter to him and said, “I would never do that to you when you were asleep…I know that you’re ill, I would never…”

“
I thought it was unusual, but that seemed the only explanation.” She extricated herself from his grip and put on her underwear and a skirt.

“
I can’t sense anything. Come on, if you’re here, show yourself, take me on,” Grey said, challenging the entity.

“
Don’t! There’s no real harm done, let’s just leave it and get out of here,” she said, passing him some clothes to change into as she put on a blouse hurriedly.

It was too late to leave town, all public transport having stopped running for the night, and after a quick and fruitless search for accommodation they ended up sitting huddled together on a park bench all night. Germaine kept downplaying the incident, suggesting that she was probably delirious and imagined it, having heard him talk of such creatures of the night. He knew that he had never talked of incubi with her and trusted her initial instincts.

“
I’ve seen you shudder when you’ve been half asleep, like something bad has happened to you when nothing has happened,” Germaine said reasonably – she needed to believe that she was mistaken or she would break down.

“
This is beyond that, Germaine. You seemed so convinced.”

“
Nightmares are very real, at first.”

“
I wish I knew where Laura was,” Grey said, hoping that she could help them find out if anything did happen or if it was her imagination.

“
I wish I hadn’t reacted as I did. We should both be in bed.”

“
You say that, Germaine, but if I agreed with you and said let’s go back you wouldn’t, would you?” he said, convinced that she was just lying to make him feel better.

“
No, I wouldn’t,” she said, sobbing loudly. He pulled her head to his chest as he wrapped his arms around her, comforting her. He suggested going to the hospital, but Germaine refused – she was undamaged and she wanted to leave town as soon as possible, on the first bus or train, whichever left first.

“
Don’t think…don’t think that because I’m so upset that something did happen,” she said as dawn drew closer. She’d never seen him cry before, his tears flowing silently, and inspiring more from her, and she hoped that they were crying over nothing.