Jail Bird

Si stared at him with that flat gaze. Then he sat back in his chair and stared some more.

‘Yeah,’ he said at last. ‘I’d say you done good, Jase.’

‘Then why the change, Mr King? The boys told me about Brendan being moved in, the new shift arrangement. Me on for a fortnight, then him…well, it can’t work that way. That’s my door.’

Si stared blankly at Jase until he started to fidget. ‘Sorry,’ Jase added, aware that he had raised his voice to Si King, and you didn’t do that. Not if you were fond of living. But he was pumped up on steroids, bursting with aggression. Right now, he felt he could kill Si King with his bare hands–fucking around with his door, for God’s sake–and enjoy doing it too. Still, he tried to swallow his rage. Tried to hold it down.

‘It’s just a thought,’ said Si, with an easy shrug. ‘We like to try new things, adjust the system now and then.’

‘But I…’

‘Brendan’s a good man,’ said Si.

‘I don’t know him. I know of him, everyone does,’ said Jase, feeling his temper building to dangerous levels. ‘But look, Mr King. Straight up. The door’s mine. The boys I got working it are my team.’

‘Correction,’ said Si, ‘they’re my team. They are in my employ. Just like you are.’

Jase clenched his fists. He’d worked like a slave to get that door operating smoothly. He knew what this was about. Bloody Si. All his hopes and dreams, everything he’d planned for, was crashing around his ears, he just knew it. Si was shutting him out. Out of the firm, out of Oli’s life, out of the family.

‘This is about Oli, ain’t that right?’ he blurted out.

‘Oli?’ Si’s expression didn’t change.

‘Yeah, you’re slapping me down ‘cos you don’t want me and her together.’

‘Jase, Jase,’ said Si, gently shaking his head. ‘Whatever makes you think such a thing?’

But Jase was right. He knew it.

He unpinned his security tag and threw it onto the desk.

‘Fuck this then,’ he said. ‘I’m gone. I resign.’

Now Si King would weaken. Jase knew it. He was a good worker, the best.

‘No, you ain’t resigning,’ said Si. ‘Because I’ve just fired you. Clear off out of it, you little shit.’

33

Next morning the builder was in, repairing the damage Lily had done to the wall behind the bed in the master suite. Lily made him a cup of tea and took it in to him. Oli watched from the door and, as Lily turned back towards her, she could see that Oli’s eyes were all over the place, darting around the room as if it might contain some horrible gremlin that might pounce on her in an instant.

‘All right, Ols?’ she asked her as the hammering and banging commenced.

Oli straightened. ‘Yeah. Sure. I’ve just…never been in here, not since before it all happened…’ Her voice tailed away. She wrapped her arms around herself, her face clouding.

Lily nodded. She was standing by the bed, over which the builder had thoughtfully draped a dustsheet. ‘You can come in, Ols,’ she told her gently.

Oli shook her head. ‘Nah.’ Her tone was light, there was a smile playing around her mouth, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She looked as if she was going to burst into tears.

‘It’s just a room, Oli. That’s all.’

‘It’s not just a room,’ said Oli, shaking her head firmly.

‘There’s nothing in here. Truly.’ Even as she said it, Lily was remembering her first foray back into the master suite since she had last seen it over twelve years ago. She’d been shit-scared, too. She joined Oli in the open doorway and Oli stepped gratefully back, out into the hall, and moved away, towards the head of the stairs.

‘Oli, you all right?’ asked Lily, hurrying after her.

‘Fine!’

Lily caught her arm at the top of the stairs. ‘No you’re not. What’s going on?’

‘I hate going anywhere near that room,’ gulped Oli. Now Lily could see that she was near to tears, genuinely upset. ‘I thought I’d try it, but…I hate it. It’s creepy’

‘There’s nothing there, Oli,’ repeated Lily firmly. ‘What, you think your dad would frighten you, hurt you? He never would, not while he was alive, and not now either.’

‘But I’ve…’ Oli bit her lip and turned away again, made to hurry off downstairs.

‘Yeah, what?’ Lily prompted.

‘Nothing, it’s nothing.’

‘Yeah it is. Go on. What were you going to say?’

Now Oli turned back towards her mother. Her face was distraught.

‘You’re going to think I’m mental.’

‘Oli.’

‘All right, all right. I’ve…heard things. Okay?’ And Oli was off, haring down the stairs and into the sitting room.

Lily hurried after her. Shut the door behind them to give them some peace from the noise.

Oli was sitting on the sofa, arms crossed over her middle, staring at the floor.

Lily sat down beside her, prised loose a hand and held it tight.

‘Oli? You’ve heard things? What the hell…?’ Lily was staring at her and starting to feel very worried, very spooked. ‘What have you heard?’

‘Noises.’

‘Noises? What noises?’

‘Um–well…’ Oli let loose a little bubble of laughter. There was more than a note of hysteria to it. ‘Voices.’

Lily sat back, her eyes fixed on Oli. She was aware of her heart, beating very fast, and that her stomach was rolling over like a fairground ride.

Voices?

What the…?

‘But the room’s kept locked, Oli,’ she reminded her daughter.

‘I know. So it don’t make sense, does it?’ Oli glanced at her, a glance full of desperation and puzzlement. ‘Unless…’

‘What, unless what? Unless there’s a ghost in the room? Come on, Oli. Get real.’

‘I know what I’ve heard.’ Oli was speaking through gritted teeth.

‘All right. So you’ve heard it. Or you think you have.’

‘I have.’

‘Recently?’

‘No. Not recently’

‘When was the last time then? Tell me.’

Oli shook her hand free and jumped to her feet. ‘God, can we just stop this?’

‘Just tell me the last time.’

‘Oh…about three weeks ago, I was coming in late, coming along the hall, and I heard it then. It was horrible.’ Oli shivered. ‘Frightening.’

‘More than one voice?’

‘No. Just one. It was like…like a child’s voice. Oh, look, can we drop this now? It really freaks me out.’ She glanced quickly at her watch. ‘Look, I’ve got to go. Got a busy day’

Lily reluctantly let it go. For now, anyway. ‘What’s on the agenda, then?’ she asked, trying to keep it light when Oli had in fact scared her.

A child’s voice in that room? For God’s sake, what was that all about? She looked