Chapter 29 #2
His lips on her skin, tracing a cold line down her neck and along the back of her shoulder. Making her shiver.
The smile in the painting was wider now, the mouth parting to reveal his teeth, and his eyes flashed with desire. As she watched he leaned forward, pushing his way out of the frame, hands closing on its edge… This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening.
Not here and now. And definitely not without any way to record any bastard evidence.
Alex flinched back with a cry of alarm, unable to stop herself closing her eyes, and when she looked again it was just the portrait, the same as it ever was. She had to take a moment, staring at it, forcing herself to calm.
This is why we don’t investigate alone, she thought bleakly. Ed was right. At least you should have another human being to corroborate any experiences. It wasn’t just a safety issue.
Except that right now it really did feel very much like a safety issue.
So when Nick appeared in the doorway, she could have cried with relief.
‘Are you… are you all right?’ Nick asked, his tone wary. She didn’t blame him. She’d been shouting at the top of her voice. She had to look like a madwoman.
‘Not really.’
‘Are they messing with you?’
No, she was not just accepting this. Especially not to him. She couldn’t. She refused. ‘We still haven’t established that there’s anything here to be messing with me.’
And yes, she knew that was stupid. Because of everything that had just happened to her only moments earlier. But she needed to say it all the same. For her own sake. Just to cling to that last shred of sanity a little longer.
He nodded slowly, clearly unconvinced. Alex scowled at him and went to check the other camera. Completely dead too. Of course.
‘There’s a bag out there in the hall,’ she said to Nick. ‘Pass it in to me, will you?’
He bent to fetch it and handed over the black duffel bag.
She rooted around in it to get the fully charged batteries.
She’d found at times like this simply keeping them in another room, or in this case the hallways outside, seemed to keep them safe from whatever drained them.
All the more reason to believe it was some kind of naturally occurring electromagnetic event they couldn’t track just yet.
One day, she promised herself. She definitely believed in Eduardo’s ability to solve a technical issue. And right now, falling back into the realm of science and logic was the only comfort she could find.
With the cameras at full power again, she checked the footage. It was hard to see on the tiny internal screen, but there did seem to be some kind of movement by the doorway as she’d been listening back to the recorder. Alex squinted at it, frowning.
‘What is it?’ Nick asked.
‘I don’t know yet. I’ll have to get it up on the laptop and have a proper look. Something is playing merry hell with the power though.’
He nodded as if that was only to be expected but didn’t seem to have a reply. Well, he lived here. He was entirely used to all the weird shit. He was a believer, she reminded herself.
‘Are there often fluctuations in power here?’
Nick shrugged. ‘Well, it’s an old house.’
‘What about batteries? Do they drain quickly all the time?’
‘A lot of my stuff is quite old. Sally’s laptop and the phone… But… yeah, I guess…’
Alex fixed him with a glare. Why was he being so evasive all of a sudden? He was the one who had been talking about ghosts and stuff.
‘What’s wrong?’
Nick’s mouth tightened and then he held out a large notebook. It was black leather, a good quality, and had clearly been much used.
‘What’s this?’
‘It belonged to your grandfather. I found it in among the account books.’
The urge to drop it flared up and Alex couldn’t hide the scowl that spread over her face. ‘Right,’ she said, dubiously.
Now? He’d only brought this to her now? Had he really just found it or had he only just decided to give it to her? And if so why?
‘It’s got notes in it about the house, its history, his research and about… about people’s experiences here. I thought… I thought it might help.’
She made herself open it. The handwriting was spidery and small. It would be a bugger to read. Great. She turned a page, the thick paper whispering as she did so, and a word caught her eye.
Chambers.
The chill that passed over her wasn’t supernatural this time. She read the rest of the line, and couldn’t help carrying on to those after it.
Chambers has his eye on the girl. He wants her for Crom.
I have tried to warn Edward but he remains steadfast in his conviction that this is all superstition and nonsense and has warned me not to involve his children in my ‘delusions’.
He insists on bringing her, despite my warnings.
But now he will not heed me at all. I fear the worst, that the influence on him is already too strong.
Young Theodore promises me that he will allow no harm to come to his sister, or the estate, that he will keep her away from the areas of danger.
Edward, her father’s name. Theodore, her brother’s.
The girl.
Her grandfather was writing about her? The date at the top of the page matched up with that last, dreadful visit here all those years ago. Twenty years ago.
The argument in the study. The raised voices. Blaise’s arms folding around her…
A tear slid down her face and spattered on the page. She wiped it off hurriedly and shut the book with a snap.
Nick had moved towards her, a look of concern on his handsome face, his hand already reaching out to her.
Alex took a step back and he let his arm drop back to his side. Taking anything, even the simplest form of comfort, seemed like a bad idea right now. And something she desperately wanted.
But again, she recalled sitting on the stairs with those formless arms closing around her, pulling her in, and that voice whispering comfort and promises. So many promises…
She curled her arms around the notebook, holding it against her chest. She couldn’t think of anything to say. She had never felt quite so alone.
‘I’ll be downstairs,’ he said, awkwardly, so crestfallen that she felt a pang of something she didn’t want to examine too closely.
‘No, wait.’ God, this was horrible. Painfully awkward. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. The other night. Well, and the other day. I didn’t… I’m sorry, okay?’
Nick gave her a tentative smile. ‘I probably shouldn’t have told you all that stuff about Sally. It was… look, it just feels like she’s here and sometimes I think she is, that’s all. And I can’t leave knowing that. Not that I could leave anyway. And stuff does happen here.’
Well, she knew that, didn’t she? It couldn’t all be her imagination.
Because if it was, she definitely needed to see a psychiatrist and get a prescription for some serious medication.
No, this was not in her imagination. Not the batteries anyway.
That was quantifiable. Evidence. And not the voice. Hopefully.
‘Thank you,’ Alex said, indicating the notebook. ‘It’s definitely a help.’
‘It looked personal.’
She tried to smile. The expression didn’t sit comfortably on her face. ‘I think so, yes. He was writing about my father, around the time he died. And about Theo and I.’
Chambers has his eye on the girl.
She shuddered. She couldn’t help it. Had Nick read that? Did he know what her grandfather thought?
Chambers had his eye on her now all right. He’d told her that himself.
Nick took another step, as if something pulled him to her unwillingly.
Or shoved him from behind perhaps. But his face said he wanted to comfort her, that he felt sorry for her.
He lifted his hands to her again and Alex swayed towards him, needing to feel his touch, to bury her face in his chest, to let him hold her and keep her safe.
If only for a moment.
The recorder burst into life, and a voice, a horribly familiar voice, blared out of the speaker on its side.
‘Don’t touch her!’ Theo’s voice roared at them. ‘Don’t you dare touch her!’