Restless Dead (Harry Grimm Book 5) by David Gatward (english reading book TXT) 📗

a point, Ruth. This does seem a little off. We all know that your dad’s going through it, but this, well, I can’t see how it’s going to do him any good at all, can you? It’s not healthy.’

Ruth said nothing to Dan. Like her father, she’d never really found him that easy to get on with, as though there was always something going on behind the words he was saying.

‘You’re a medium, then,’ Ruth said.

‘Yes,’ the woman nodded, then held out her hand. ‘Beverly Sanford.’

Ruth ignored the hand. ‘And what is that exactly? A medium, I mean?’

‘I’ll tell you what it is,’ Patricia said, interrupting. ‘It’s criminal, that’s what!’

‘Patricia, you need to calm down,’ Dan said, and Ruth was sure that the voice was just a little condescending, though she wasn’t sure that the tone was actually aimed at his wife.

‘It’s preying on people’s grief,’ Patricia continued. ‘A con, hocus pocus nonsense! You should be arrested, you know! They used to burn people like you and I’m beginning to see why!’

‘Perhaps I should go,’ Beverly said and turned to leave.

‘No,’ Ruth said, then looked at Patricia, and taking a deep breath, said, ‘I think Dad’s out in his shed. If not, he’ll be in his study.’

‘Well, I’m not getting him,’ Patricia said. ‘I’m having nothing to do with any of this! And if this is the sign of things to come, then we will be heading back home, that’s for sure!’

Ruth watched as her sister stormed off, not exactly unhappy to see her go. ‘Dan?’

‘I’ll get him,’ Dan said.

Ruth turned back to Beverly, noticing how her age was a little difficult to place, with young eyes set in a warm face that wore laughter lines with pride. If she had to guess, she would’ve put her at around her mid-thirties, but it was hard to say for sure. ‘So, mediumship, then,’ she said.

‘Are you sure?’ Beverly said. ‘I can go. Honestly, the last thing I want to do is cause any trouble. That’s not what I’m about, it’s not why I do what I do. Never has been either.’

Ruth managed a smile. ‘Probably best that you come in, I think.’

Beverly hesitated and Ruth saw a flicker of something in the woman’s eyes.

‘Something wrong?’

The smile which slipped onto Beverly’s face wasn’t very convincing.

‘No,’ Beverly said. ‘Well, it’s just, this house, you know? Black Moss? I’ve heard about it before.’

‘Well, whatever you’ve heard, can I just ask that we get this done as quickly as possible, please?’

Beverly gave a short nod. ‘Of course.’

In the lounge, Ruth offered Beverly a drink.

‘No, I avoid alcohol if I’m doing this,’ she said. ‘Prefer to keep my wits about me as it were. Safer that way.’

‘Safer?’ Ruth repeated, sitting down. ‘Surely it’s hardly dangerous? And by doing this, what do you actually mean?’

Beverly sat down opposite Ruth. ‘No, it’s not dangerous, just so long as I stay in control. Have you seen programmes on TV where people go ghost hunting?’

Ruth laughed. ‘What, all that walking around a creepy house in the dark stuff, lots of screaming, someone pretending they can talk to ghosts and make tables move, that kind of thing?’

‘Yes, exactly that,’ Beverly said. ‘What I do, well, it isn’t anything like that at all. And I hope that’s reassuring.’

‘So, what is it, then?’ Ruth asked, not really reassured at all.

‘Like I said, I’m a medium, which means that I sort of act like an intermediary between our world, which is the world of the living, and the world we then move to after death.’

‘You mean Heaven?’

‘I mean the spirit world,’ Beverly said. ‘You could call it Heaven, I suppose, but I think it’s more complicated than that.’

‘How?’

Beverly leaned back. ‘Honestly, I don’t really know,’ she said. ‘Which probably isn’t what you want to hear.’

‘Not really, no,’ Ruth said.

‘My view is that humanity has been searching for answers about what lies beyond death for all of time,’ Beverly explained. ‘Religion, spirituality, whatever you want to call it, it’s all about trying to find that answer. I don’t think we have and I don’t think we ever will, either. Just got to keep on searching, I guess.’

‘And you can talk to the dead? I mean, that’s what you do, isn’t it? You go into a trance or something, or have a spiritual guide, is that right?’

Beverly’s smile was warm and genuine Ruth thought.

‘I do and I don’t,’ she said. ‘By which I mean, I don’t sit here and have conversations with ghosts. Though I think that would be pretty awesome, don’t you?’

‘So, what do you do, then?’ Ruth asked. ‘If you communicate with the dead, but you also don’t talk to them, then how does it work?’

‘I sense things,’ Beverly said. ‘Sometimes I see faces, hear voices or words. I can smell things sometimes, then maybe I’ll get a picture of something, a person or a place. It’s never the same.’

‘And you do this, why?’ Ruth asked. She was intrigued now. Not because she thought there was anything in what the woman did, but because she couldn’t help but warm to her. She was certainly dressed the part, yes, but she also struck Ruth as genuine.

‘Good question,’ Beverly answered. ‘It’s certainly not because I want to, or because I make money from it.’

Ruth was surprised by this and was about to ask what Beverly meant, when in walked her dad.

‘Mr Fletcher?’ Beverly said, standing up.

‘Thank you so much for coming,’ James said, walking over to clasp Beverly’s outstretched hand. ‘Honestly, this isn’t something I would usually do.’

‘And why would it be?’ Beverly said. ‘All you need to know is that if I can help, then I will.’

Dan came in then.

‘Do you need me or . . .?’

‘No, we’re fine, I think,’ James said.

Ruth stood up.

‘You can stay if you want,’ Beverly said to both Dan and Ruth. ‘It may help anyway, to have someone else here, another member of the family.’

Ruth hesitated. ‘Oh, well, I’m not sure, I mean . . .’

‘I’d prefer it if