Chapter 4
FOUR
Morgan was glad to step out of the cold, damp mist and into the ancient wooden building despite the gaps in the roof and the cold draughts that seeped throughout the entire structure.
Amber was talking to a huge guy with a bit of a stooped back which made him look as if he was looming over her.
His eyes were wide, glaring at Amber as she asked him questions.
Sitting on the floor next to his feet was a Labrador that was going grey around the mouth.
It looked at Morgan with its big brown eyes, and its tail began to swish on the floor.
She couldn’t help herself, she walked straight over to it and began to pat its head, scratching gently behind its ears.
‘You’re honoured; he likes you.’
She smiled at the man. ‘I like him, he’s adorable.’
The man shrugged. ‘He’s good company and loyal, well most of the time. He’s been in to see the girl and then came back out to check on me.’
She held out her hand. ‘Morgan Brookes, I’m a detective.’
‘Amos Watson, caretaker of this godforsaken place, and that’s Shep.
’ He smiled at her and suddenly he didn’t look quite as scary as her first impression had been now that he wasn’t glaring.
Morgan wondered if Amber had wound him up the wrong way as she so often did with people; her social skills were somewhat lacking at times.
Ben nodded at him. ‘Could you tell us what happened?’
Amos arched an eyebrow at Morgan, as if to say not again, but he nodded.
‘As I told this police lady here, I thought I heard a girl scream. It was loud enough that even Shep heard it and he’s deaf most of the time, well except for when I open the cheese packet and then he’s not.
I phoned you guys and then I came out to have a look.
It was Shep who found her. He led me straight here, gave me the fright of my life, and she screamed again when she saw me.
Shep managed to calm her down. He sat next to her, almost in front of her, to let her know he would protect her.
I waited outside for the officers to get here; I didn’t want to scare her any more than she already was. ’
Morgan felt tears prick at the corner of her eyes and she leaned down and stroked Shep’s head. ‘You’re a good boy.’
Amos nodded. ‘He is, always has been. I told her the police were on the way. She was almost blue she was shivering so bad, so I took off my coat and placed it over her. She was terrified. I don’t know what she was doing out here, but something bad happened.’
‘Did you see anyone else out here?’
Amos shook his head. ‘Shep didn’t sense anyone else either, and he usually does. I don’t know if she was confused because of the cold, or what the heck is happening.’
‘Do you think you could show us around the site, so we can search?’ Morgan asked gently.
‘I wouldn’t recommend it in this weather, but yeah, I can show you. Although, I’m not the fastest.’
‘That’s okay, we can go at your pace.’ She smiled at him, and he nodded.
He turned towards the door, dragging his left leg behind him slightly.
She had a torch that she’d grabbed out of the glove compartment of Ben’s car, and Ben followed.
Morgan wasn’t surprised that Amber and Brett stayed behind, although she didn’t blame them.
She wasn’t annoyed though; her priority was checking to see if Tori’s friends were out here and needed their help.
‘What do you think they were doing out here in this?’ she asked Amos.
‘Same as the rest of all those daft teenagers. Hunting for ghosts, they all do it and have done for years. Those stories about this place being haunted have been doing the rounds for as long as I can remember.’
‘Is it haunted?’
He stopped walking and turned to look her straight in the eyes. ‘Everywhere is haunted by someone or something. It’s usually memories of unhappy times that cause the memories that haunt us all.’
Morgan had not, would never have, expected an answer so deep from the guy who looked as spiritual as Ben on first glance.
Amos chuckled and carried on walking. ‘That’s not what you meant though, was it?’
‘No, but that’s a poignant answer and a good way to explain it.’
‘You think so, hmm, I’ll take that. You mean is it haunted by the ghosts of the girls who drowned in the lake, don’t you?
That age-old urban legend that gets passed down through families.
This place back in the day was the UK’s very first holiday camp, it was thriving back when it first opened in the late 1900s.
Then those poor girls, well they were young women, came here as part of their Sunday school trip, went out on a boat on the lake.
They were inexperienced and the weather turned in the blink of an eye, as it so often does around here.
The fog rolled in a bit like tonight and they panicked, crashed the wooden rowing boat they were in, and it capsized.
All five of them fell into the water. Not one of them could swim, and they all drowned, weighted down by their heavy dresses. ’
‘Oh, that’s so sad. I had no idea it was a true story, I mean I used to hear the tales in school about the ghost girls in the lake that haunted this place, but I just assumed it was made up.’
‘No, unfortunately it’s a true story. I suppose at least their memory is kept alive even if it is in some stupid urban legend.’
‘You’ve never seen their ghostly apparitions then?’
He stopped, turned back to look at her and nodded.
‘I’ve seen things, but I don’t talk about them.
There is no point in adding fuel to the fire.
This place would be inundated with teenagers doing even more stupid stuff in weather like this, causing us all problems we don’t need.
The lake is just over there’ – he pointed in the distance – ‘be careful, it creeps up on you and after the first few feet it drops down deep, too deep. If any of them fell into it I don’t think they’d get out alive, the cold would take them soon enough. ’
Morgan realised she could hear the lapping of the water once they’d stopped talking.
She looked out onto the lake, it was barely visible, but what she could see of the water looked ethereal with the white mist lingering over it.
Then she saw something out of place that should not have been there. She shouted, ‘Someone is in the water.’
Ben jumped at the panic in her voice. She began to kick off her boots, not caring about the danger she was about to put herself in. Ben reached out to stop her, but his fingers just missed the sleeve of her jacket. She ran towards the lake, shrugging off her jacket.
‘Morgan, don’t.’ His voice was deep, tainted with fear. She ignored him and ran into the water.
‘Hey, it’s too dangerous. You can’t see where the shoreline is and it drops off after a couple of feet,’ Amos called after her. ‘You’re going to get yourself in trouble.’
Her feet were already seeped in the icy water and immediately her teeth began to chatter it was so cold, but she could see the figure bobbing on top of the water, just ahead of her.
‘Use your voices to guide me back in.’ Then she was wading out, and as the freezing water reached her hips, her feet suddenly had nothing below them and she stumbled into the deepness that Amos had just warned about.
She had no choice but to swim. The water numbed her entire body, but she carried on.
Even though Ben was shouting her name, she had to focus if she didn’t want to succumb to the blackness below her.
She daren’t even think about how deep it was below.
She reached out to the person she’d seen from the shoreline, and grabbing hold of their coat, she began to drag them back to the shore.
Ben’s voice was calling to her. ‘Keep coming, you’re not too far away. Twenty feet. Follow my voice.’
Morgan’s arms were practically frozen, her body began to slow down and she felt sluggish, as every stroke she made was getting harder. Her fingertips were numb, but she wouldn’t let go of whoever this was.
‘Come on, lass, you’re almost there.’ Amos’s deep voice called out, and she heard splashing as someone came into the water. Strong, rough hands grabbed her, dragging not just her but the body she was barely clutching hold of towards the shore.
‘Jesus, Brookes, what the fuck!’ Madds’s voice shouted into her ear, and she realised he had dragged her out, shocking her out of the almost frozen stupor.
Then she was out, and Ben wrapped his jacket around her, hands around her shoulders, and was dragging her to the dilapidated wooden shack to get her out of the freezing air.
Her legs could barely hold her weight, but he didn’t give up and dragged her inside, stripping her wet clothes off her and bundling her into her own coat, then his.
She felt something heavy drape across her legs and realised it was Shep.
She nodded her thanks at the dog and closed her eyes.