The Retreat(41)

I winced, but Max and Suzi hadn’t heard, as far as I could tell.

‘A lot of men are drawn to women with emotional pain,’ she said.

I cut her off. I wasn’t that type of man. ‘No. It’s her inner strength that I like.’

‘Oh, so you do like her.’

She grinned, and I couldn’t help but smile too. ‘I like her. But that doesn’t mean I like her.’

Ursula leaned forward. Her mouth was stained red from the wine. ‘You can’t fool me,’ she said. ‘Remember. I see things.’

‘Is that how you know she’s in pain? Because your spirit guide told you?’

She smiled. ‘Actually, it was a taxi driver.’

Ursula waited until Julia’s footsteps were no longer audible and said, ‘The cabbie who brought me here from the station told me all about what happened to Julia’s husband and daughter.’

The others were tuned in now. Max looked as if he were watching a news bulletin announcing that a UFO had landed in Trafalgar Square.

‘What did he tell you?’ I asked.

Ursula repeated pretty much what Olly, the taxi driver, had told me. ‘And they never found her,’ she said in a theatrical whisper.

‘Oh, poor Julia,’ said Suzi.

‘Hang on,’ said Max to me. ‘You knew about this?’

‘The same taxi driver told me.’

‘And you didn’t share?’

‘Why should I? I don’t think it’s right to gossip about Julia’s pain.’

Ursula flapped a hand. ‘Nonsense. It’s not gossip. As Max says, it’s sharing. People should be more open with one another. How else are we ever supposed to understand our fellows?’

‘Are you quoting from your book?’ I asked.

Suzi was staring into space. ‘Maybe that’s what Karen heard,’ she said. ‘The little girl’s ghost.’

They both looked at Ursula, as if she might know the answer. She was loving it. Before I could interject, she said, ‘It’s possible. Spirits can become trapped in this realm . . . It could be that she is kept here by her mother’s pain, unable to enter Heaven.’

‘Oh my God,’ I said to Max and Suzi. ‘Do you really believe all this?’

‘No, of course not,’ Max said. ‘Sorry, Ursula.’

‘This whole thing is making me sick,’ I said. ‘Can you imagine what Julia’s been through? Watching her husband drown? Not knowing what happened to Lily? That’s why—’ I stopped myself in the nick of time.

‘Why what?’ Max asked.

‘Nothing. But please, can we stop talking about ghosts and spirits?’

‘Want to save it for your books, eh? I understand.’ Max’s smile was condescending.

I stood up and my head span. I must have had more to drink than I realised. ‘I’m going to bed,’ I announced.

‘Watch out for ghosts and ghoulies,’ Max laughed as I exited the room.

I showed him my middle finger.

I went into the kitchen to get a glass of water. When I came out, I could hear Ursula talking, loud and indiscreet.

‘It is possible,’ she said. ‘Perhaps Lily’s spirit is with us. And maybe she doesn’t want us here. She wants to be alone with her mother.’





Chapter 21

I jerked awake. It was pitch-black in the room, the kind of darkness you never get in cities, and my heart was pounding as if I’d awoken from a nightmare I couldn’t remember. I squinted into the blackness, unable to see anything except spots of colour, indeterminate shapes shifting and blurring. But I was convinced someone else was in the room.

‘Hello?’ I said, my voice louder than I’d intended.

Someone was breathing on the far side of the bedroom. I was sure of it. I could smell something too. Dirt, or sweat. Fear.

I groped for my phone, which I was certain I’d left on the bedside table. I couldn’t find it. I tried to locate the lamp, blind in the utter darkness. Finally, my fingers found the plastic switch and I pressed it.

Nothing happened.

For a moment, I was paralysed, willing my useless eyes to adjust. The air around me was dark grey now. And I was certain there was a darker shape across the room.

A person. Watching me.

The bedroom door opened with a click. Oh Jesus, there was someone there. Immediately, it closed again.

I jumped out of bed, found the light switch on the wall. The sudden light dazzled me, burning my retinas. Recovering, I stared at the door. Was the intruder still there, on the other side? I hadn’t heard footsteps moving away. I was dressed in nothing but my underwear. I pulled a T-shirt over my head and opened the door.

The hallway was illuminated by watery moonlight that crept through the window at the far end. There was no one in sight. I hesitated. Which way had they gone? I stood between the two staircases, made a choice and headed down.

A clattering came from the kitchen. I froze for a minute. Did I need a weapon? There was a poker by the fireplace in the Thomas Room. I could go in there, grab that, then . . .

Before I could make my mind up, someone came out of the kitchen.

Suzi. She gasped, slapping a hand against her chest. ‘Lucas. What are you doing? You nearly scared me to death.’

She was fully dressed, holding a mug of tea or coffee in her other hand. Some of it had sloshed over the edge of the mug when she’d seen me. She noticed what had happened and hurried back into the kitchen, returning with a cloth.