The Smile of a Ghost

said, You go to heaven. And I said, What’s heaven like? And she said, Heaven’s like the most beautiful place you’ve ever seen. So there you are…’

She lifted the mandolin case and folded her coat over her dress and began to swing backwards and forwards in the air, with the case across her knees, and all Lol could hope for was that somebody down there would see her and…

And what?

‘I got to know the undertaker. We had a big, phoney funeral. The undertaker was a fan — a Nico fan, actually. Do you remember Nico? She was with the Velvet Underground.’

‘Gothic… Teutonic. Played the harmonium.’

‘Deliciously doomy. That’s how it happens, you know. You move on from nursery rhymes to Grimm’s Fairy Tales… and they have the same kind of pictures: ancient, moonlit towns with spiky churches and towers and cobbled streets. Only it grows darker. And all the children who love the Wee Willy Winkie picture rather than the Jack and Jill picture with the green fields and the big sun, they’re the ones who become goths. They’re the ones who grow to love death.’

‘Willie Winkie had a candle in a lantern.’

‘And his nightgown was like a shroud. You’re right, of course. Willie Winkie was death… a ghostly presence. I recorded the song once.’

‘I remember. This heavy, bombastic, thunder-and-lightning rock and suddenly it all stops, and there are these little, light footsteps, and…’

‘Wee Willie Winkie, running through the town…’ Bell giggled, her face upturned. And then she frowned. ‘Some soulless philistine in the NME wrote that it was sexual. A song about a sexual predator. They spit on innocence.’

‘The undertaker…’

‘It’s not really illegal. Some health regulations might have been infringed, that’s all. He squared it with some guy at the crem, and they burned a coffin with a doll inside. And the baby was embalmed and sealed in the mandolin case, and I kept him in yew trees. Nobody could understand why I’d buy particular houses — ugly houses in unsuitable locations — but there was always an ancient yew tree with a hollow big enough for a mandolin case, and I’d seal him there and know his spirit was being kept alive. He’d have been buried here, though. I thought we’d both found a home.’

‘Robbie had his spirit… is that what you’re saying?’

‘It seemed so right. If I died, it didn’t matter any more. The spirit would go on. And he’d keep seeing me. Just like he saw the others. Robbie Walsh saw life in four dimensions. The thought of Robbie Walsh seeing me, growing up to administer the trust, with the money to conserve the environment in which we both…’

‘This heart condition,’ Lol said.

‘I don’t know. Haven’t seen a doctor in years. I don’t want to know.’

‘Why did you take the baby with you? On your walk through the town. Last night. You don’t normally do that, do you?’

Bell smiled. ‘It was his birthday.’

‘Yesterday?’

‘Today. The early hours. Caesarean. They wanted to do it in the daytime, I said no, this is a night baby. Cost extra.’

She looked down. The cluster of candles was about a foot below her feet.

‘Bell,’ Lol said. ‘Should I move the candles?’

She laughed at him. Then she was serious. ‘I don’t want you to see this, Lol. You are sensitive. You’ll never forget it. Please go down. Go down now.’

‘No.’

‘It’ll be very quick, I promise you.’

‘Bell—’

‘The Beacon of the Marches — did you know they called it that?’

‘I… possibly.’

‘I’m going to make it a beacon again. Bright light and no pain. When it kicks in I’ll smile and I’ll wave… and flip over. Like a fireball. And become, in that one climactic moment, a brilliant part of history.’ Her voice softened. ‘And fly like Marion.’

‘You can’t.’

‘There’s nothing left now, but this.’

When he moved towards her, she put up both hands.

‘You wouldn’t make it, Lol. Can’t you smell it?’

‘Bell—’

‘The bottom of my dress is soaked in lighter fuel,’ Belladonna said.

49 An Intimate Eternity

Merrily said, ‘Lord, you gave your Church authority to act in your name. We ask you therefore to visit tonight what we visit and bless whatever we bless… and grant that all power of evil may be put to flight and the Angel of Peace enter in. Defend from harm all who enter and leave this door… doorway. And give us protection in our coming in and our going out.’

People had come in and people had gone out, using the two narrow openings. There was so little room in here. Sandy Gee, hands together as if concentrating on prayer, had moved next to the scaffolding, within just a few feet of Sam. One of the paramedics was a Christian and he’d joined them, and so had Steve Britton, holding up a hurricane lamp.

No harsh light, if possible, Merrily had said. No criss-crossing beams.

Quiet light.

The kid had her eyes wide open, her back to the window. She was calm, and looked a little shell-shocked and vacant. She’d refused to have her parents in, said she’d tried to tell them about it and had been accused of making it all up to get out of school.

It would be necessary to talk to the parents afterwards — preferably with Sandy Gee present, because people were suspicious of religion and you could easily be accused of indoctrination and mind-bending. If Sam needed personal attention… this was usually a long-term process, with repeated sessions.

‘In the faith of Christ Jesus, we claim this place for God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit.’

A minor exorcism of place was not enough. Merrily looked around for Sian, but she must have stepped out of the tower. It was already crowded in here. And perhaps she was still doubtful about this: exorcism would never be Sian’s thing.

Her gaze met Sandy Gee’s and Sandy’s was saying hurry it up.

Heightened pressure now, Sandy getting some hassle from CID. Before they began in here, she’d said the DCI was on his way from Shrewsbury in connection with… something else? Did Merrily just happen to know anything about something else? Well… yes, she did. Had they spoken to Lol?

Lol?

Martin Longbeach, Merrily had said. At the church.

And the word had gone out.

‘Amen,’ Merrily said, and the people in the tower repeated it; not much echo, as if the voices had been sucked out like smoke.

Merrily prayed for help. Praying for a foothold on this. Where should it be directed? What needed to be brought to peace? Ideally there should be a Requiem for Jemmie Pegler, but without the cooperation of her family this was not an option. Anyway, no time.

Robbie?