The Sister(215)

‘Carla, stop messing around and just tell me.’

A low whistle came down the line. ‘Okay. You will come with me to devils pond.’

‘You’re wrong about that,’ he said.

‘For my book, I have to solve the mystery of those clooties that appear every year. I have a theory and only one chance to prove or disprove it for another year. August the 27th, ghost day.’

‘You’ve got the date wrong, it’s the 15th July.’

‘No, that’s St Swithun’s day. The anniversary of the mine disaster, the day the locals believe the pond releases those ghosts to walk again. I’m talking about the Chinese; they celebrate ghost day more or less a month later.’

‘All very interesting Carla, but I’ve laid my ghosts to rest. I won’t be coming with you. Find someone else.’

Stella appeared in his doorway, watching him, cool eyes gauging his reactions. He shrugged his shoulders at her and mouthed, I’m not going.

‘Miller, I’ve dug up a lot of stuff for the book we didn’t know about Boyle before,’ Carla allowed a stream of air to escape her lips. ‘The night Josie disappeared...’ she trailed into silence.

He stood upright, curiosity lining his face. ‘What about it?’

‘Boyle was on the same ferry.’ Her voice softened. ‘If we can find out who puts those silken rags up every year, we will have another piece of the jigsaw. We might get closer to finding out—’

‘When are we going?’

‘Today.’

He listened as she told him the plan.





Stella shook her head in dismay. ‘Tell me you haven’t agreed to do something with that woman. She’s bad news.’

‘Look, Stella, it’s just one night—’

‘I don’t care, I’m coming with you. When is it?’

‘Tonight, I have to go. She’s doing a book about Boyle. Do you remember me telling you about Josie, my first love, how she vanished at sea, and they never recovered her body?’

‘I do, but aren’t we all supposed to be moving on?’

‘If what she just said is true, it will help me to do that. She told me Boyle was on the boat when Josie disappeared that night.’ A faraway look was in his eyes.

‘And you’re going after him?’

He stared into the depths of her crystal blue eyes and registered the concern there. ‘Stella, if I knew where he was, I'd go in a heartbeat,’ he said, through clenched teeth. ‘For what he did to her and what he did to Kennedy. I'd kill him.’

Stella’s hand sought his, to reassure, provide comfort. Her touch electrified him. A solar wind blew through his senses, and he saw something he hadn’t realised before. When The Sister had given Stella the stone, part of him was contained within it. She’d known it would pass into Stella. Now he had it back. Not as strong as it had been, just like an echo. Closing his eyes for a moment, he rested his other hand on top of hers. Something else came through. She felt it too.

He pulled away.

‘I don’t want you to go,’ she said.

An awkward silence followed.

‘Miller, what happened just now? I know you felt it. The same thing happened when I held the stone at the Sister’s house; something was taken from me.’ Her voice seemed disoriented. ‘And now I feel strange, as if I’ve known you for years.’

‘I'd love to be able to explain it, but I wouldn’t know where to begin.’

The Sister. All this was meant to be, according to her vision. She’d stripped him of his extra-sensory abilities so he wouldn’t see through her plans for infiltrating the Resurrectionists and through Stella, she’d given a part of that back and in doing so had created a bond between them.

I see three women. Only one is good for you.

‘I’ve got to go,’ he said.

She stepped into the doorway and barred his exit.

Getting closer to her, he said, ‘Okay, I’ll squeeze past.’ She did not attempt to move. A look passed between them as he crossed the invisible line into her personal space. Clear, crystal blue eyes, larger than he’d ever seen them before locked with his. Her arms found their way around his neck. Hesitant at first, they kissed with a passion that threatened to engulf them with its flames. She felt for him, and gasped as he nibbled her neck.

‘Stella,’ he whispered. ‘What are we doing?’

‘I want to be sure you’ll come back to me.’





Miller knew that to get safely close to the pond in the dark; he’d need a four-wheeled drive vehicle. He hired a Land Rover and picked Carla up just before four in the afternoon. A fresh and lovely fragrance preceded her as she got into the car with an overnight bag.

‘Ready?’ he said.

‘I’m always ready,’ she breathed.

His right eyebrow rose, out of her line of sight. ‘You were going to tell me how you found out about Josie.’

‘It was quite a simple exercise to trawl the records. To be honest, the connection came out of the blue. I knew Boyle had joined the Foreign Legion, and I knew he had French connections, among others dating back to those times. To cut a long one short, I went to France to see if I could track any of them down and I did. Tanner came with me.’