‘Another body was found today in what police now believe to be the work of a serial killer.’ The radio echoed through the small bedroom that had once belonged to Mrs Brightman. So much for it being fun background noise.
Maggie had offered to help me clear my old friend’s wardrobes and take stuff to the charity shop, since she had a bigger car. While the garage had dropped off my courtesy car, it was barely big enough to fit Tilly in the boot, let alone all the bags we needed to sort through.
Maggie was also incredibly organised, so would make both my life and the charity shop employees’ lives easier. And she took payment in coffee, so I wasn’t going to turn down the help.
I hadn’t told Maggie, but part of our plan to take down Goodfellow involved summoning him to Mrs Brightman’s house, since it was old and vacant. If we removed anything of value first, it wouldn’t matter if he damaged anything.
But first, we had to organise almost nine decades of someone’s life into boxes. It was sad, really.
‘Oh my god,’ said Maggie. ‘Did you just hear that?’
I nodded, pushing my sunglasses up my face. Even though I really didn’t want to think about what our Victorian friend had been up to, it was hard to avoid it. I couldn’t even buy groceries without people talking about the murders, worried they’d be next, caught walking back to their car in broad daylight. And it wasn’t like I could reassure them by explaining that Goodfellow didn’t work that way. Especially when we didn’t know for certain that he didn’t, we were just going based on what little evidence we had.
‘Have you found out any more about who’s behind it yet?’
I hesitated, taking more time than was necessary folding a handmade wool cardigan. I wasn’t sure if Mrs Brightman had made it herself, but I’d seen her wear it before. It had really suited her. I sighed, placing it into the bag. It wasn’t something any of us would wear, so it was better off at the charity shop, where hopefully someone would buy and appreciate it.
Maggie frowned. ‘What aren’t you telling me?’
I was as transparent to her as ever. How couldn’t I be? She’d known me long enough. But I really didn’t want to worry her by telling her the full story.
‘Neevie,’ she said in her stern Mum voice. It caused the hairs on the back of my neck to prick up. I couldn’t ignore that tone. No one could.
I turned around and leaned against the built-in wardrobe. ‘The police aren’t going to find who’s responsible.’
Maggie gasped.
‘It’s a particularly nasty ghost. I mean obviously he’s nasty. But what he’s capable of is on a scale like we’ve never seen before.’
‘So…are we at risk? Is my family?’ Her voice went up at the end of that last bit. I didn’t blame her. Her family had been through enough.
Um…think. What could I say? What could I do? I couldn’t lie to her. Could I offer her some sort of protection?
Noticing my hesitation, her eyes went wide. ‘Is there anything you can do?’
‘I could put the wards back on your house?’
Maggie tensed.
‘What?’
‘That…might make things awkward with Harry. I really don’t want to do anything to upset him right now.’
Her husband Harry had always been a sceptic. On some occasions he’d been downright antagonistic. But how could I protect her family if I couldn’t do something as basic as preventing spirits from entering her house?
Maggie lowered her head. I couldn’t protect everyone in her house, but there was a way I could at least protect her. ‘What about the amulet? Would you wear that again?’
‘Harry found it last time and told me to stop believing in “woo-woo nonsense” and almost broke it trying to take it off me.’
That was quite the overreaction to a piece of jewellery if I ever heard of one. Suspicious. But not entirely out of character. He was a mardy git and he really didn’t like Edie or me.
‘You could hide it. I mean, the two of you aren’t exactly…close, lately, right?’
‘No, we’re not. He comes to bed late, after I’m asleep, and leaves the house before I’m awake. He’s like a totally different person.’ She frowned. ‘I thought he’d be more attentive after what Josh and I have been through, but it seems to have spooked him and made him more distant instead.’
I reached over and held her hands. ‘I’m sorry, Mags.’
‘It’s not your fault,’ she said, wiping at the tears forming in her eyes. ‘He doesn’t deal well with emotions, you know that.’
There was not dealing well with emotions, then there was letting that dissociation hurt people, but I didn’t think pointing that out would be helpful. ‘A little protection never hurt anyone.’
Blinking back tears, she nodded. ‘All right. I’ll wear it. I always did think it complimented my colouring.’
‘Exactly. If he asks, you can just say you think it’s pretty and it suits you, but you don’t believe what I say it can do. Whether you do or not.’
‘I do, for the record. But thanks. That’s a plausible excuse. It’s better to be safe than sorry these days, right?’
‘Right.’ I nodded. ‘Abigail is probably too young to be a target, and we can’t help Josh and Harry if they don’t want to be helped. And it won’t be for long, anyway,’ I added, feigning more confidence than I felt.
Maggie narrowed her eyes at me, but didn’t say anything.
Still faking confidence, I continued: ‘We’re trying to find a way to take him down, but he’s hard to find. We’re not sure if a seance will even work. Javi tried to track him the other day but couldn’t tell where the whistling was coming from.’
‘Whistling?’
‘That’s what he does right before he kills someone. He whistles. And only ghosts and his next victim can hear him. And me.’
Maggie waved her arms in the air. ‘Does that mean you’re on his radar? Niamh, you have to be careful. There are rumours he dismembers victims while they’re alive!’
‘It’s not a rumour. He does do that.’
Maggie gasped. ‘But I thought ghosts couldn’t…interact for that long?’
I shook my head. ‘So did we. But then, a year ago, I never would’ve believed my daughter could bring me back from the dead.’
Maggie stopped mid-trouser fold. ‘Wait a minute. You died?’
Oops. Forgot I hadn’t told her that. And that probably hadn’t been the best way to introduce the topic. It was getting hard for me to keep track of who knew what. I was so used to telling Maggie everything I forgot she’d missed just a few weeks in which everything had changed.
I filled her in on how Dominic had stabbed me and Edie had brought me back, then on how she was no longer as powerful because she’d chosen to help Fadil.
After I’d finished my story, Maggie paused for a moment, clearly digesting everything she’d missed. So much had happened in such a short space of time, I was still processing it myself. I couldn’t blame Maggie for needing a moment, too.
She shook her head. ‘It never stops with your family, does it?’
‘Wish it did,’ I said, sinking on to the floor.
Maggie sat next to me. ‘It’s not your fault.’
‘It’s not not my fault, though. This is all because of things I can’t control, sure, but I always wonder if I could’ve protected Edie more. Or educated her more. Or just done more.’
She patted my shoulder. ‘You’re a great mum, you know that? You need to stop blaming yourself every time something goes wrong. Things go wrong all the time. That’s life.’
‘Life sucks,’ I grumbled.
‘Come on now. You don’t mean that.’ She turned to look at me. My expression must’ve been pretty bad, because she added: ‘Do you?’
I shrugged. ‘Sorry. This is all so small and stupid compared to what you went through.’
‘Are you kidding me? You died. That’s no small thing.’
‘And you were tortured by a demon. That’s not small either.’
Maggie gazed into the distance, her eyes glazing over. Fiddlesticks. I hadn’t meant to cause that. While she’d been going to counselling with Alanis to process what she’d been through, it was still a lot. She’d only been out of the coma and away from demons for just under two months. It wasn’t long enough to deal with that level of evil being in her face for ten days with no break.
She shook her head, as if trying to shake herself out of something. ‘Sorry.’
I rubbed her hand. ‘You all right?’
‘I will be.’
She wiped at her eyes with the back of her other hand. We knew Dominic had had something to do with the demons that’d tortured her and Josh, but we didn’t know how to find them, or even if they were on this plane. If I ever did find them, I’d introduce them to my own form of torture. Being raised by a narcissist had taught me a thing or two.
‘What do you think Mrs Brightman is up to on the Other Side?’ Maggie asked. Interesting change of subject. If it took her mind off demonic torture, I was going to go with it, even if it pained me.
‘Javi said she’s doing good. He wouldn’t elaborate, but if she’s happy, I’m at least happy about that. But it doesn’t undo what Edie did.’
Oh no. I hadn’t meant to mention that part. Stupid big mouth.
Maggie frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
I shifted in my spot. Maggie sort of knew what Edie was capable of. But she didn’t know the full story of what had happened. I’d tried to not tell her things, but I kept putting my foot in it. Well done me.
‘What did she do?’
I sighed. I couldn’t back out of telling her now. Wiping my sweaty palms on my jeans, I filled her in on how Mrs Brightman had been dying, and how Dominic had tricked Edie into taking the last of her life essence so that she could cross over.
‘Oh my god,’ said Maggie.
‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I just didn’t want you to judge Edie or me or hold it against us. Dominic was…a horrible person. And he used every tool he could to get what he wanted.’
Maggie put her arm around my shoulders. ‘I’m glad you told me. You’re not Edie’s actions any more than I am Josh’s. They’re adults now. And even when they were children we could only do so much. They’re people, not puppets. We can do our best, but we can’t control them. And we shouldn’t be punished for their actions, either.’
I pulled her into a proper hug. ‘Thank you for understanding.’
‘Of course. I’ve been around you long enough now. I mean, we had a brief snafu, but I think that’s understandable. Javi fixed things, like he always does.’
‘Damn, I miss him,’ I said with a sigh.
Maggie nodded. ‘Me too. His optimism was infectious without being irritating.’
‘I dunno, it got pretty annoying at times,’ I laughed. It still did sometimes, like when he woke me up in the middle of the night.
‘That’s true. I suppose I didn’t live with it.’
I lowered my head. ‘And I didn’t get to live with it for long enough.’
She squeezed my shoulder. ‘But you have Ben now, right? Things are good with you two?’
I rested my head on her shoulder. ‘Yeah, they’re good. But it’s hard to let go of the what ifs, you know? Especially after what happened with Edie.’
‘Yeah, I get it,’ said Maggie as she stroked my hair. It was soothing. ‘I sometimes wonder how Abigail and Harry would be different if she hadn’t been possessed.’
I sat upright. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Abigail’s been pretty withdrawn lately, even with Josh and me. She always seems ill lately, too. Germs after germs. And Harry is like a totally different person. Wait. You don’t think he’s possessed, do you?’ She met my eye, a glimmer of fear in it. Then, we both started laughing. ‘Who am I kidding? He’s always been a mardy git, I was just in denial about it.’
‘What changed?’
‘I was tortured by demons who used his attitude against me. Even though I see him every day, I still find it hard to look at him.’
‘Well. That’ll do it.’
I felt bad for her. The demons and Dominic had taken so much from her already. Had they ruined her marriage, too?
She laughed again. ‘If you don’t laugh you’ll cry, right?’
I nodded. ‘And sometimes you have to do both.’
Maggie stood up and held her hand out to help me stand. I took it and she pulled me upright. ‘I’ll have a lunchtime drink to that. What do you say?’
‘Where are we going?’ I asked as I brushed some dust from my jeans.
‘Mrs Brightman’s liquor cabinet. I saw an expensive wine in there. This seems as good a reason as any.’
‘The dark horse! I didn’t even know she drank.’
Maggie smirked. ‘Everyone has their vices.’