Chapter Twenty-Three
Ulysses was so engrossed in his film that he didn’t notice Pixie opening her eyes.
She blinked in confusion, taking in the room and her old friend in front of his laptop.
It would take a while to comprehend where she was, and what she’d put herself through.
It would take longer to shed the anguish that she had brought with her – the only thing she’d brought with her.
Anguish and a heart torn to pieces; everything else was gone.
She took a deep but gentle breath, aware of the pain in her chest and treating it with care, as if she’d just come out of surgery.
She felt as if she had awoken from a nightmare and yet was still halfway inside it; one foot in the old Aphrodite, one foot in the new.
It was taking longer than usual to orientate herself.
For her heartbeat to slow down. For her torment to diminish in the tranquillity of the present and the comforting sight of her dear friend on the armchair.
‘Ulysses.’
He lifted his eyes off the screen, smiled in surprise, and took out his AirPods. ‘You’re back,’ he said.
She could not return his smile. ‘How long was I gone for?’
He glanced at the clock on his screen. ‘Nearly three hours.’
‘Five days,’ she returned.
‘And how was it?’ He might as well have been asking about a party.
She shrugged and sighed pitifully. ‘Not good.’
‘You didn’t find out what happened to Nessa Blunt?’
‘I found out what happened to her. But I told Cavill the truth.’
Ulysses grimaced. ‘How did he take it?’ He registered her miserable expression. ‘Oh dear. Did you fuck up?’
She nodded. Then burst into tears.
Ulysses went to put his arms around her. He crouched down and drew her into his embrace. She was small and wretched enough to be swallowed by it. ‘What would you do without me, eh?’ he asked, nuzzling her pink hair. ‘Always here to pick up the pieces. Dependable old moi!’
He chuckled, but Pixie, usually roused out of sorrow by her funny friend, was inconsolable.
He gave her time. Grief was not something to be rushed. It needed to work its way through her at its own pace. When, eventually, the howling diminished to soft whimpering, he released her. ‘Do you want to tell me about it?’ he asked.
She nodded and wiped her eyes. He took the chair beside her, crossed his legs and folded his hands in his lap. His compassionate face made her want to cry all over again.
‘It was dreadful,’ she said. ‘I told him who I am, that I was Hermione and Constance, and that I had started something that I had to end. And ending it meant telling him the truth.’
‘I don’t imagine he believed you.’
‘Of course not.’
‘If someone told me they came from the future I’d laugh in their face. Except I wouldn’t laugh, because I know you. But if I didn’t know you, I’d laugh.’
‘Why did I ever think he’d believe me.’ She shook her head and took a staggered breath before letting it out in a loud sigh.
‘So, who were you?’
‘Eddie Skipton. Widow. Pretty. Husband died in the war. He had owned the theatre. Cavill bought it for his young wife, Gilda Garrett.’
‘He married again?’
‘He did.’
‘What was she like?’
‘Gorgeous. Beautiful. Sweet. But not talented. In fact, she had no talent at all. Nessa was talented. She could have become a great actress. But her father wanted her to be conventional, marry, have kids. He didn’t want her on the stage.
God, women had it bad in those days. Gilda was having an affair with Taran Bentley, the director.
Nessa was in love with Bentley. I mean, obsessed with him.
I read her diary. She was crazy about him.
Then she spied him and Gilda having sex in the theatre and was absolutely heartbroken. They were to perform Macbeth …’
‘Get out of here!’ Ulysses exclaimed in astonishment, slapping his thigh.
‘The plot thickens,’ said Pixie, finding a path out of her misery and taking it.
She proceeded to tell him in detail about that fateful night.
About Nessa being the understudy and Gilda the leading lady.
About Gilda and Nessa having a fight, Nessa threatening to tell Cavill about her affair, Gilda locking Nessa in her dressing room and Nessa throwing the lamp at the door in fury.
‘I think it must have been the lamp,’ said Pixie.
‘It was the only flame in the room. Gilda lit it for luck.’
‘It didn’t bring her much luck that night, did it?’ Ulysses could find the funny in the situation because he was so far removed from it. To him it happened ninety-one years ago. To Pixie it was merely minutes and her whole being still reverberated from the shock.
‘My theory is that Nessa has been drawn out of wherever she was lingering, to seek revenge on Gilda by tormenting Isadora, who is American, like Gilda was, and the leading lady in Macbeth.’
Ulysses nodded thoughtfully and grinned. ‘Very good, detective inspector Tate.’
Pixie laughed. Ulysses’ smile was impossible to resist for long.
‘So, what happens now?’ he asked, getting up.
‘I confront Nessa.’
‘And she trips off into the light, as they all eventually do.’
‘That’s the idea.’
‘Great. I’ll go and tell Emma what you’ve found out and meet you in the foyer when you’re done.’
‘Good.’
When Ulysses stepped into the foyer, Emma, Leila, Lezli and Isadora were just coming through the big doors. Isadora’s face lit up when she saw him. ‘Ulysses!’ she exclaimed, striding towards him with a dazzling smile especially designed to bewitch him. ‘Are you done?’
‘Pixie’s back,’ he replied. ‘And she’s found out some fascinating things.’
‘So have we,’ said Leila.
They gathered on the crimson and gold carpet to compare notes. ‘So, what does Pixie say happened.’
Ulysses put his hands on his hips, finding amusement in the four eager faces staring at him expectantly.
They resembled baby birds in a nest when the mother arrives to feed them.
‘Well,’ he began slowly to make the most impact, ‘Nessa Blunt was an actress. Pixie said she had the talent to be a really good actress, but her father didn’t want her to have a career on the stage – I imagine he didn’t want her to have a career at all.
He wanted her to marry well and have kids.
Cavill Pengower owned the theatre and Gilda Garrett was his young wife … ’
Isadora made to speak but Leila jabbed her with her elbow. ‘Not yet, Isadora,’ she said. ‘Let’s hear what Ulysses has to say before you add anything.’
Isadora pursed her lips crossly. She wasn’t used to being overruled.
‘Gilda Garrett was a beautiful but talentless actress. Nessa was her understudy. Nessa was in love with the director, called Taran Bentley, who was having an affair with Gilda. Goodness, you couldn’t make it up,’ he added with a chuckle.
‘Nessa and Gilda were having a fight in Gilda’s dressing room on the opening night of …
wait for it … Macbeth.’ The women didn’t seem surprised to hear that.
Ulysses was disappointed. ‘Well, I thought that was an astonishing coincidence, although, if you knew Pixie like I do, you would know that there is no such thing as coincidence. Anyway, they had a fight. Nessa said that if Gilda didn’t let her play the lead then she would tell Cavill that his wife was having an affair with the director.
Gilda left the room and locked it behind her.
Nessa, in fury, threw something at the door.
Pixie thinks it was Gilda’s lucky lamp. Not very lucky, as it turned out.
’ He laughed at his joke, but none of the women laughed with him.
They were staring at him with wide, incredulous eyes.
‘Oh my God!’ Isadora exclaimed. ‘Can we just process this a moment?’
Emma smiled, relieved. ‘This is momentous.’
‘Is it?’ said Ulysses.
‘Emma and I went to the Seacombe Gazette,’ said Leila. ‘We read the newspapers and discovered that Nessa’s body was found in Gilda Garrett’s dressing room. They later discovered that the fire had been started by a lamp.’
‘Gilda’s lucky lamp,’ said Lezli and grinned at Ulysses.
‘And Gilda was my great-grandmother,’ Isadora announced triumphantly.
‘What the actual f—?’ Ulysses gasped, frowning at Isadora.
‘Exactly what we said,’ Emma laughed at Ulysses’ successful stifling of the swearword.
Isadora continued, loving being the centre of attention again. ‘Gilda married Taran Bentley, my great-grandfather, and they had my grandmother Judy in nineteen twenty-four.’
‘The year after the fire,’ said Leila ponderously.
‘That makes sense,’ said Ulysses. ‘Gilda gets pregnant, leaves her husband and runs off to America with Bentley.’
‘Wow!’ Isadora exclaimed. ‘That’s awesome. Wait till I tell my mother.’
‘So Nessa is sabotaging Isadora because she’s Gilda’s great-granddaughter?’ said Emma.
‘How would she know that?’ asked Lezli.
‘Maybe spirits know stuff,’ said Ulysses. ‘We’ll have to ask Pixie.’
‘Pixie!’ said Emma. ‘When will she be done?’
They all looked to the door at the back of the foyer. ‘As soon as she’s moved Nessa on,’ said Ulysses. ‘Shouldn’t be long. I imagine this is an easy job. Trust me, she’s had harder ones. This one’s a piece of cake!’
Pixie sat in the upholstered chair once again and stretched out her arms. She moved her hands, turning them this way and that, releasing the ache in her joints from having been in the same position for almost three hours.
She pushed the vision of Cavill’s stricken face out of her mind and closed her eyes.
She had a job to finish. She would think of Cavill and lick her wounds when she was done.
Right now, she had to show Nessa the way home.
Pixie took three deep breaths, right into the bottom of her lungs.
She focused her attention on her heart and imagined her chest filling with light.
Gradually, the light grew, expanding around her torso and slowly building about her entire body.
From there it extended out into the room, until the entire space was filled with a radiant, dazzling light.
Into that light Pixie invited Nessa to step.