The House on Widows Hill Page 7

  ‘No one has ever tried to squat here,’ Arthur said flatly. ‘You can draw your own conclusions as to why. And none of the children round here dare get close enough to even throw stones at the windows.’

  I remembered the taxi driver’s story, but said nothing.

  ‘I’ve no doubt there are any number of local residents who would be only too happy to burn the house down, if they could do it from a safe enough distance,’ said Arthur, warming to his theme. ‘If only for their own peace of mind. But the general feeling seems to be that they don’t want to upset whatever’s in here. Or risk doing anything that might let it loose.’

  Lynn shook her head. ‘And yet you still insist …’

  ‘Yes, I do still insist!’ Arthur said loudly. ‘All right, I might have felt … something, when I came in, but I’m fine now. This is just an old house, and the rest is just stories! I’m a reporter; I know all about the stories people make up, to make themselves feel like they’re a part of something important.’

  He looked challengingly round the group.

  ‘It was a bad feeling,’ Freddie said finally. ‘But I’ve felt worse.’

  ‘Same here,’ said Tom.

  We all looked at Lynn, but our resident psychic just stared calmly back at us, saying nothing.

  ‘You’re supposed to be our spiritual advocate,’ I said. ‘What are you feeling right now, Lynn? Anything?’

  ‘We’re not alone in this house,’ Lynn said carefully. ‘I’m getting a definite feeling of being watched, but I can’t say by what. I’m not picking up any sense of an occupying spirit. No surviving personality, no lingering presence from the past … Whatever is in this house with us, it’s like nothing I’ve ever encountered before. The best way I can put it … is that it feels like this house is in a really bad mood.’ She stopped and smiled briefly. ‘Of course, I could be wrong.’

  Penny caught my eye, and we moved away from Team Ghost as they tried to press Lynn to be more specific.

  ‘Ishmael … how are we supposed to prove a house isn’t haunted?’ Penny said quietly. ‘The buyer isn’t going to be satisfied with some vague account of a spooky atmosphere that didn’t last. Can we present a lack of evidence as evidence?’

  ‘There have never been any sightings of actual ghosts in this house, or any paranormal experiences as such,’ I said carefully. ‘What we felt could have been nothing more than everyone reinforcing each other’s mood. So I suppose we take a good look round, stay here till the morning and see what happens.’

  ‘What if nothing happens?’

  ‘Then that’s what we report.’

  ‘Hey!’ Arthur said sharply. ‘No secrets! What are the two of you muttering about now?’

  ‘Just debating whether either of these rooms would serve as a base of operations,’ I said easily.

  Tom shook his head. ‘I’d prefer more space, if possible, to allow proper coverage by my surveillance equipment.’

  ‘There’s one more door, at the end of the hall,’ I said. ‘Though I feel I should point out that if that room turns out to be unsuitable as well, we’ll have to drag some chairs out into the hall and set up camp here.’

  ‘No,’ Tom said immediately. ‘We’d be too open to attack in the hall.’

  ‘Attack?’ said Penny. ‘From what?’

  ‘Isn’t that what we’re here to find out?’ said Lynn.

  ‘I should have brought my old hockey stick,’ said Freddie. She smiled wistfully. ‘I used to be a real devil on the playing field, back in my plucky youth.’

  I went back to turn off the room’s light and shut the door firmly, and then I set off down the hall with Penny striding it out beside me. Team Ghost hurried after us. They seemed to be feeling a bit braver now that nothing bad had happened in either of the other rooms. I walked right up to the final door, opened it with a flourish and threw it back with enough force that the door slammed hard against the inside wall. The noise made everyone else jump, just a bit. I turned on the light and then stepped back so everyone could take a look.

  It was definitely the biggest of the three rooms, with yet more furniture under dust sheets, including what appeared to be a grand piano. Half a dozen paintings hung on the walls, depicting yet more rustic scenes. Most of them looked as if they could use a good clean. A rather striking portrait hung over the empty fireplace … and finally there was a single window, hidden away behind closed curtains. The floor had the usual layer of undisturbed dust. I allowed the others enough time for a good look round and then strolled into the room, with Penny beside me. Team Ghost clustered together outside the door, content to watch and see how we got on.

  I wandered round the room, taking my time. Once I was sure nothing was going to leap out and attack me, I came to a halt before the large portrait above the fireplace. A formidable Victorian patriarch stared back at me with piercing eyes, a grim mouth and massive muttonchop whiskers. Either he really hadn’t enjoyed sitting for his portrait or the painter had perfectly captured his subject’s constant bad mood. He certainly had the look of a man prosperous enough that he didn’t normally have to put up with anything he didn’t want to.

  Tom was the first to follow us in. He dropped his suitcases on the floor and nodded quickly.

  ‘This will do. Only the one entrance to defend, and enough space to get good coverage and clear readings. I can work here.’

  ‘I’m so glad you approve,’ said Arthur, slouching in after him.

  He took in what Penny and I were looking at, and came over to scowl at the portrait.

  ‘That is the man himself: Malcolm Welles. A cut-throat businessman – literally, some said, when he was first starting out – and extremely successful. He was something to do with transportation … canals to begin with, and then the railways. But don’t ask me what he transported. It must have been extremely profitable; Malcolm Welles was famously the richest man in Bath, at a time when that took some doing. He’s supposed to have designed this house personally.’

  ‘I can’t see that any of it did him a lot of good in the long run,’ said Penny.

  ‘Can’t argue with that,’ said Arthur. ‘Handsome devil, isn’t he?’

  ‘Not really,’ said Penny.

  Arthur shrugged. ‘He was rich. Rich trumps handsome.’

  By now Freddie was marching around the room, studying everything with a keen interest, while Lynn had taken up a position in the middle of the room. She stood very still, frowning thoughtfully, as though taking the room’s spiritual temperature. Or perhaps just considering her options. Tom had opened both his suitcases and was rummaging cheerfully through their contents.

  ‘Let’s get these dust sheets off the chairs,’ I said to Penny. ‘So at least we’ll have somewhere to sit.’

  ‘There’s a lot of them, for one room,’ said Penny.

  ‘Must be a sitting room,’ I said.

  She gave me a long-suffering look.

  We set about removing the heavy sheets, raising huge clouds of dust that made everyone cough and sneeze. The chairs turned out to be large over-stuffed things with stiff backs – functional rather than comfortable.

  Arthur threw himself into one and slumped bonelessly, scowling at everything. Lynn curled up in another, her tiny figure in the huge chair making her look like a child who’d overdone the scary makeup for Halloween. Penny went over to the window and looked at the closed curtains thoughtfully. I moved in beside her.

  ‘This is the only window we’ve found so far,’ she said. ‘Could the others have been bricked up?’

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘I checked. The only windows I saw outside were all upstairs.’

  ‘But why design a house with only one window on the ground floor?’

  ‘Maybe Malcolm Welles didn’t want anyone looking in.’

  ‘What was he afraid people might see?’ said Penny.

  ‘Perhaps whatever it was that drove him and his family out.’

  Penny tried to open the curtains, but the heavy drapes didn’t want to coo
perate. I had to force them open with sheer brute strength, and that was when we discovered that the window had been nailed shut. With a hell of a lot of nails.

  ‘Why would anyone want to do that?’ said Penny.

  ‘To keep something out,’ I said. ‘Or possibly in.’

  I peered through the dusty glass, but all I could see was the endless dark of the night. I looked at it for a long moment.

  ‘You’re frowning, Ishmael,’ said Penny. ‘Why are you frowning, and should I be getting ready to run or hit something?’

  ‘I should be able to see something out there,’ I said slowly. ‘I know the grounds are surrounded by high walls, but I can’t even make out the moon or the stars.’

  ‘Maybe it’s an overcast night,’ said Penny.

  ‘Maybe,’ I said.

  I turned away to see what Team Ghost were getting up to. Lynn was still lost in her own thoughts. Arthur looked as though he wanted to start an argument but couldn’t raise the energy. Tom was humming tunelessly as he assembled his scientific equipment. And Freddie was kneeling before a large wooden cabinet, its doors thrown wide open.

  ‘Come and look at this!’ she said loudly. ‘Someone in this house was into taxidermy in a really big way.’

  ‘Am I the only one thinking of the film Psycho?’ Penny murmured.

  We were the only ones interested enough to join Freddie and stare politely at a number of badly stuffed owls, foxes, cats and what I think was meant to be a squirrel. All of their stances were horribly unnatural, the shapes of the bodies were marred by unfortunate bulges, and the glass eyes glared madly.

  ‘Amateur night,’ Freddie said dismissively. ‘Any self-respecting professional would have turned up his nose at results like these and started again. Probably in a whole new occupation.’

  ‘It was probably somebody’s hobby,’ said Penny. ‘They had to do something until television was invented. The Victorians were interested in all kinds of weird things.’

  ‘I suppose it’s always possible it’s these animals’ ghosts that are roaming the house,’ said Freddie, levering herself to her feet. ‘Seeking revenge for this affront to their dignity.’

  I turned away to check out Tom, who was carefully positioning four of his wall cameras so he could be sure he had the whole room covered. He then bustled about setting up microphones and temperature gauges, along with a whole bunch of other stuff I didn’t even recognize, before finally powering up a monitor screen that showed all four camera feeds simultaneously. Tom sat cross-legged before it, tapping quickly at his laptop’s keyboard. Constantly changing readings appeared down one side of the screen.

  ‘All the cameras are on line … We are now covered!’ he said grandly.

  ‘Good for you,’ said Arthur, not stirring from his chair. ‘Anyone want to do their party piece?’

  ‘Nothing can happen in this room now, without us knowing,’ Tom said firmly. ‘My instruments are maintaining a constant watch on sight, sound, temperature … and atmospheric and electromagnetic conditions.’

  ‘Whereas we only have eyes and ears,’ said Arthur.

  ‘They can’t record,’ said Tom, refusing to be put off by Arthur’s lack of appreciation. ‘The whole point of science is being able to prove that what you experienced actually happened.’

  ‘You did say earlier that you’d never been able to record anything substantive,’ said Penny.

  ‘Good word,’ I said.

  ‘I thought so,’ said Penny.

  Tom shrugged, not taking his eyes off the screen. ‘Things have a tendency to happen quickly in places like this. Paranormal phenomena can be very elusive, very hard to pin down.’

  ‘So you’re recording everything that’s here?’ said Penny.

  ‘If it moves, I’ll have a permanent record of it,’ said Tom.

  Penny caught my eye, and we moved away from the others.

  ‘Are you worried about appearing in Tom’s recordings?’ she said quietly.

  ‘Of course,’ I said, just as quietly. ‘The Organization goes to a lot of trouble to hide me from the world’s surveillance systems, and with good reason. So I’ll just have to make sure I wipe all of Tom’s recordings before I leave here.’

  ‘That’s a bit hard on Tom, isn’t it?’

  ‘It would be harder on me, if any of them got out.’

  And then we all looked round sharply as Lynn made a startled sound. She was sitting bolt upright in her chair, her eyes wide in the midst of all the mascara.

  ‘What?’ said Arthur, sitting up straight despite himself.

  ‘Did you see something, Lynn?’ said Tom, quickly turning his attention back to the readings scrolling down his screen.

  ‘I heard something,’ said Lynn. ‘Though I doubt it was anything that would show up on your equipment. I keep telling you: we’re not alone in this house. There is a definite presence here … And I don’t think it’s anything your science can protect us from.’

  ‘I thought you said there weren’t any ghosts here?’ I said.

  ‘Nothing I can recognize as a spirit,’ said Lynn. ‘And the very fact that I can’t tell what it is disturbs the hell out of me.’

  ‘Oh, give me a break,’ said Arthur, settling back in his chair. ‘Save the spooky performance for a paying audience.’

  ‘What exactly did you hear, Lynn?’ said Penny.

  ‘I’m almost sure it was a voice,’ Lynn said slowly. ‘But I couldn’t understand anything it was saying. And, Arthur, whatever’s in this house was frightening enough to drive out an entire family in 1889 and make sure they never came back. Including a man who, from the look of his portrait, didn’t scare easily.’

  ‘Which is why I’ve been busy laying down some decent wards and protections,’ said Freddie.

  She pointed proudly back and forth at the strange markings she’d drawn all around the room, on the walls and on the floor. A whole bunch of weird symbols, in a variety of different coloured chalks.

  ‘Interesting,’ I said. ‘Particularly because I don’t recognize any of them – and I’ve been around.’

  ‘It’s true,’ said Penny. ‘He has.’

  ‘My system is derived from a number of ancient magical traditions,’ Freddie said cheerfully. ‘Egyptian, Sumerian, Babylonian … Go with what’s been proven to work – that’s what I say. I wasn’t given enough time to prepare properly, or I would have brought along some of the artefacts I’ve collected that can really punch their weight.’

  ‘Why would we need them?’ said Penny.

  Freddie stopped smiling and looked round the room as though daring it to start something. ‘Because I don’t trust this house. It has secrets, and quite possibly an agenda of its own.’

  ‘The instruments I’ve set up are perfectly capable of protecting us,’ Tom said stubbornly.

  ‘Science can’t protect anyone from a spiritual attack,’ said Lynn.

  ‘To be fair, there are hardly any accounts of ghosts who want to harm the living,’ said Freddie.

  She was doing her best to sound confident, but it seemed to me that she was trying to convince herself as much as us. She frowned briefly, as though pushing away an unwanted thought, and pressed on.

  ‘Malevolent ghosts are a modern idea, and mostly the fault of bad movies.’

  ‘What about poltergeists?’ said Penny. ‘Or does that come under the heading of bad movies?’

  ‘Oh, no,’ Freddie said immediately. ‘I liked that one. The original, of course, not the sequels. But poltergeists aren’t anything to do with ghosts; they fall under the heading of weird phenomena produced by the living. Usually a troubled teenager. Remove them from the setting, often with a good boot up the backside, and the problems stop. Ghosts are different. It’s important to remember that they’re only people, doing their best to communicate with us.’

  ‘Then why do they scare people so much?’ said Penny.

  Freddie shrugged. ‘Because of what they represent.’

  ‘A ghost is positive proof of th
e mind’s survival after death,’ Tom said firmly. ‘That’s why it’s so important to get our understanding of these phenomena on a proper scientific footing. Think of the possibilities, if we could talk to those who have gone before us. The things they could tell us … What a comfort that could be.’

  ‘Not necessarily,’ said Lynn, and something in her voice turned all our attention back to her. She wasn’t looking at all happy for someone who should have been in her element. ‘It all depends on what happens once we’ve left this world. The afterlife may not be anything like what we’ve been led to believe. And considering some of the things spirits have communicated to me, I have to wonder if we’re capable of understanding what happens after death. It may be that heaven and hell are just limited human concepts.’

  No one had anything to say in response to that, so we all just sat in our chairs and waited for something to happen.

  The room was very still. The only sounds I could hear came from people stirring restlessly. Tom stared unwaveringly at his screen. I kept a watchful eye on the door, and occasionally the window. Time passed.

  ‘I’m starting to think this might be just a wild ghost chase,’ Freddie said finally. ‘If you ask me, Harrow House is rather letting the side down. I mean, no spirits, no moving objects, not even an oppressive atmosphere any more … This is not what I signed on for.’

  ‘I can’t even use my phone,’ Arthur said glumly. ‘The estate agents made a point of telling me that there’s no signal up here. God, I’m bored …’

  ‘Come and join me in my chair,’ said Freddie. ‘I’m sure we can think of something to do to outrage the spirits.’

  Tom made a sudden surprised sound, and we all turned to look at him. He was leaning forward, staring intently at the changing readings on his screen.

  ‘The temperature in this room just dropped four degrees,’ he said sharply. ‘Didn’t any of you feel it?’

  Tom looked quickly round the group, but all he got in return was baffled looks and shaking heads. He went back to concentrating on his readings, as we all got up out of our chairs and stared about us.