Mean Spirit

‘Alice …’ Kurt raised a forefinger, fixed Grayle with that relaxed, pellucid blue gaze. ‘I really don’t want to talk about this guy any more, if that’s all right with you. He’s having a hard time and I don’t want to compound that. I think it’s ridiculous to suggest that he’s been using some kind of black magic to darken the image of the National Lottery.’

‘I don’t think anyone’s actually …’

‘The only point I’m interested in making is that the so-called Way of the Shaman was a primitive way, in that it was a smokescreen designed to prevent ordinary people discovering the truth about life and death and what may lie beyond. The shaman was saying, “Listen, ordinary people, this is my secret world and you’d better stay out of it for your own good.” Now I’m a mesmerist, a hypnotist, and what I do is scientifically proven, and I’m anxious to sweep aside all this mystic nonsense in favour of a more scientific approach … and that’s really what the Festival of the Spirit is about.’

‘But you know you’re gonna attract the New Age crowd.’

‘Absolutely. And maybe they’ll learn something. Yes, sure we’re going to have a few fortune tellers and alternative healers and people selling crystals. But I’m interested in finding the scientific truths behind all this. Which is how it all began at Overcross, with Barnaby Crole, who rebuilt the castle, and Anthony Abblow. The whole point about Victorian spirituality is that it was science-based.’

‘So perhaps you could explain how hypnotism ties in with spiritualism?’

‘Yeah. Right. Absolutely. That’s a very good question, Alice. You know, it’s really great to be interviewed by someone who knows enough about these things to ask the right questions.’

‘Well, thank you,’ Grayle said and Bobby Maiden, down on the floor with the Nikon, decided his initial dislike of Kurt had been far from misplaced.

Kurt dropped his ankle from his knee, leaned forward. ‘Hey, Alice, you are coming to the festival, aren’t you?’

‘Well, I hadn’t…’

‘Alice, you’ve just got to. You’d find it so enlightening. You’d be able to see for yourself that… You’ve got press tickets, yeah?’

‘Well, not yet, but-’

‘And you’d like to come to the first Victorian seance tomorrow night?’

‘Oh, gee,’ Grayle said.

‘You would. You would like to come.’

Kurt’s head very still. Like he had her in a trance, Maiden thought, quietly impressing his enormous will on her. Kurt was young and confident of his powers.

Grayle said, ‘Well, uh … I’m not sure The Vision is gonna be able to run to five hundred pounds.’

Kurt waved a boyish hand. ‘Hey, that’s not what I meant. You can come as my guest,’ he smiled, ‘Alice.’

Which was when Bobby Maiden realized there was more to this than spreading the charm like soft honey.

Kurt Campbell actively fancied Grayle.

Which was … understandable. Grayle was extremely fanciable. In her little red dress. With her hair up, fastened by one of those Indian-type things with a stick through it. With her small face and the sparkle in her eyes and that loose, easy smile, the quick, nervous gestures, the animation of her.

Maiden concentrated on altering the exposure on his camera. He changed lenses and took a picture of Kurt from floor level, all groin and his head reduced.

‘I, uh …’ Grayle turned over her tape, clicked it into the machine, set it running again. ‘What I have to do at this point, Kurt, is get some nuts and bolts stuff, OK?’ Kurt’s PR woman appeared in the doorway. Severe, business-suited, clutching a mobile phone. Probably no older than Kurt, Maiden thought, except in attitude.

‘Kurt, you have another appointment at-’

Kurt looked up only briefly. ‘Delay them, Francine.’

Francine nodded, scowled at Grayle, disappeared.

‘Sure,’ Kurt said. ‘What do you need?’

‘Well, about the organization of the festival. Like, is it just you putting up the finance, or do you have backers?’

‘I’ve been able to raise most of the finance myself, but sure, there are some people with a strong interest in the subject who’ve given us some … padding.’

‘Anyone we’ve heard of? Like anyone famous?’

‘Shouldn’t think so, Alice. I mean … look, this is not a political movement collecting supportive celebrities. This is in the nature of a serious inquiry.’

‘Right. Uh, the medium you’ve got for the seance. Who’s she … or he … gonna be? I’ve heard a few names on the grapevine … Betty Shine, Eileen Drewery, Persephone Callard …’

Kurt sat back. ‘What I should say here, Alice, is that the name of the medium is not important. It’s the event itself. And the location. We believe there’s a resonance at Overcross because of its history and its actual situation — whether you’re talking about the juxtaposition of so-called leylines or the geophysical properties of the site itself, the rocks the castle’s built on-’

‘But this is not the actual castle, is it?’

‘It’s a Victorian house built in the castle grounds, in the neo-Gothic style. Built on the site of a medieval chapel, we understand.’

‘So, the house itself doesn’t have what you’d call an extensive history.’

‘It has what you’d call a concentrated history.’

‘It’s haunted?’

‘There’s evidence of that, certainly. For instance, a gamekeeper accidentally shot himself with his own gun and his ghost is said to prowl the grounds.’

‘John Hodge, right? I, uh, read the booklet. Is your medium gonna try to contact him?’

‘He’s one of our projects, yes.’

‘Cool,’ Grayle said. ‘You worked a lot with mediums before, Kurt?’

‘To an extent.’

‘Which brings me back to my question of a few moments ago … which, uh, kind of got lost … What is the connection between hypnotism and mediumship?’

‘Well, trance, Alice. They have trance in common. Mediums operate in trance, and the huge interest in hypnotism — which began in your own country, of course — happened to coincide with the Victorian spiritualist boom. Hypnotism was also used for healing, as Mesmer himself did back in the eighteenth century, and this began to be tied in with spiritual healing. What it comes down to is that, at the time, these were two fields of study approached in the same spirit of adventure, and I think the fusion of psychology and spirituality is a good, solid base from which to explore the human condition.’

‘So, do you possess mediumistic powers yourself?’

Kurt smiled. ‘Sadly not. Obviously, I’ve practised self-hypnosis but I’ve never been approached, while in trance, by … outside influences.’

‘You’ve been a … friend of Persephone Callard. I think that’s widely known.’

Kurt shifted.

‘Not so widely,’ he said.

‘Yeah, well, we — the magazine — have connections.’

‘Evidently. Sure, yeah, Seffi and I were close for a while and we still have a professional liaison going from time to time, but that’s all.’

‘But she’s not one of the festival’s backers?’

‘Certainly not. You’re pushing here, aren’t you, Alice? Look, the backers are entitled to their anonymity. There’s still, unfortunately, a stigma attached to spiritualism.’

‘But you’re clearly not afraid of that yourself.’

‘I’m not afraid of anything,’ Kurt said. He glanced down at Maiden, like he’d noticed a bluebottle on his trousers. ‘That’s enough pictures, OK, matey?’