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

‘A family in mourning,’ Beverly said. ‘It was awful what had happened, to James’ wife. And I really wanted to help, you have to believe that! But I nearly didn’t go, when I realised, you know, which house it was.’

‘What about the house?’ Matt asked.

‘The stories,’ Beverly said. ‘Everyone knows them. I mean, there’s not much on the Internet about it, but there are enough rumours about it for some of it to be true. And I wasn’t really sure about mixing up the two, something for the family, which is really personal, but in a house like that. I mean, it had a part of it knocked down because it was so haunted! That’s something you can’t ignore, not doing what I do.’

Harry was having trouble taking Beverly seriously, but there was no doubt in his mind that she fully believed everything she was saying.

‘So, you had this consultation and then you visited once again.’

‘Yes,’ Beverly nodded. ‘For the séance.’

‘You’ve done a lot of these, yes?’ Harry asked.

‘Quite a few,’ Beverly said. ‘Gran’s been doing them all her life.’

‘Grace?’ Matt said.

‘Yeah, she’s amazing!’ Beverly said, her eyes lighting up. ‘It was her who said I had the gift and helped me explore it.’

‘And how did this séance go?’ Harry asked. ‘The one at the house?’

‘It was okay, to begin with,’ Beverly said. ‘There’s always some resistance to what I do, but they all seemed okay with it. But then it all went a bit, well, wrong, I suppose.’

‘How do you mean?’ Harry asked. ‘And you’ll forgive me here, because I know nothing about what a séance involves.’

Beverly then explained what had happened, how she had arrived at the house, set the room up, then had everyone sitting around the table.

‘This knocking you mention,’ Harry said. ‘Is that normal?’

‘It depends,’ Beverly said. ‘On how strong the spiritual energies are, that kind of thing.’

‘So, how did it go wrong?’

Harry saw that at this question, Beverly looked uneasy.

‘There was a feeling to the place,’ she said, shifting in her chair. ‘I can’t really explain it. I’ve done this enough times before to know if someone’s trying to get through, from the other side, but nothing like this.’

‘How do you mean?’ Matt asked.

Beverly went to speak, then fell quiet.

‘Just take your time,’ Harry said.

‘There was something else in that room, that house,’ Beverly said.

‘Another person?’ Harry asked.

Beverly nodded. ‘Yes and no. Helen came through, I could feel it, feel her, but there was something else, too, something or someone trying to take control.’

‘You’ll have to explain it a little more,’ Harry said.

Beverly took a slow deep breath, then exhaled.

‘We were in the circle,’ she said. ‘There was the knocking, we all heard it. Then I could feel Helen coming through, but she was finding it difficult, I think. I don’t know. Maybe that doesn’t make sense. But it’s like a door, you see? And sometimes doors are too heavy or they get stuck and you need help to open them. I think that’s what this was like.’

‘Someone helped Helen?’ Harry asked, trying to ignore that he was now questioning someone about communicating with ghosts.

‘Yes,’ Beverly said. ‘Another presence, older, it helped Helen, because she seemed weak, I think because she had only just crossed over, so she probably doesn’t know what she was doing, might even have been a little scared. But then there she was, but there were two of them, this other one helping Helen, channelling her through me, and then there was that voice, and it was my voice, but it wasn’t, and there was this bright light—’

‘What bright light?’ Matt asked.

‘I saw it,’ Beverly said. ‘It blinded me, but I think it’s because Helen was showing me, what happened to her I mean, in the accident? At least, that’s all I can think it was. I couldn’t see! It was just this light, and a road, and then the sound of a crash and—’

Beverly stopped talking and a choked cry broke from her mouth.

Harry pulled out a couple of evidence bags from his pocket and placed them on the table between himself and Beverly.

‘Do you recognise these?’

Harry watched as the colour drained from Beverly’s face, her voice visibly stuck in her throat.

‘Well?’

‘Yes,’ Beverly said. ‘Yes, I do.’

‘And can you tell me why?’

Beverly was quiet again.

‘These were found in the room where you conducted the séance,’ Harry said.

‘I know,’ Beverly replied.

‘And why would that be?’

‘Because I put them there.’ Beverly sighed, slumping forward, her head in her hands.

‘I think I know why,’ Harry said, ‘but perhaps you would be so kind as to explain.’

Beverly dropped her hands to the table then looked up at Harry.

‘First time I did it,’ Beverly said, ‘I was nine-years-old . . .’

Chapter Twenty-Seven

‘I don’t know where I got the idea from,’ Beverly said, her voice clear and firm for the first time since Harry and Matt had pulled her over on the M6. ‘I probably read it in a book or a comic I think, but then maybe I came up with it myself.’

‘Came up with what, exactly?’ Harry asked.

‘Dad’s always fished,’ Beverly explained. ‘Still does. So getting hold of the materials was easy, you see? Just a length of fishing wire and two or three small fishing weights, the little round ones which just snap onto the line.’

‘So, what is it that you did, then?’ Matt asked, and Harry could see the confusion in the DS’s face because he hadn’t told him how he suspected the wire and weights had been used.

‘I went up to bed,’ Beverly said. ‘Read for a bit, just to make sure that Mum and Dad were all settled downstairs and not about to come up and check on me. Then I pulled out this spool of fishing line I’d taken, and the weights, and went across the landing to their bedroom.’

‘Then what?’ Harry asked.

‘I tied the end to the latch on the window,’ Beverly explained. ‘Then a few inches down, I attached some of the