Black Cathedral

and there was a terrible buzzing in my head, like a fly was rumbling around behind my eyes. I couldn’t think straight; I certainly couldn’t get up off the floor.

‘And then I started having these visions. Flashes, pictures; like watching a DVD on fast-forward. I saw my grandmother walk from the bathroom and head towards the stairs. At the top she seemed to stumble and trip. And then she fell. She tumbled down the stairs like a rag doll, arms flailing, her head smacking on the wall, on the risers. She landed at the bottom, and I could see from the way her head was positioned that her neck was broken. And I was so pleased. Absolutely triumphant, even though I knew it had only happened in my own imagination.

‘A few moments later I heard them, my mother and my grandmother, talking outside my room. Mother wanted to come and see if I was all right, but my grandmother wouldn’t let her. “Let her stew, Brenda. The little bitch needs to see the error of her ways. You’re too soft on her.” They stopped talking and I listened to the silence for a while. Then I heard the toilet flush.

‘I knew what was about to happen. I could have run out of the room and intercepted her, but I didn’t. I just lay there on the floor and listened. I wanted to know what would happen. I remember it made so much noise. First there was the cry as she tripped and lost her balance, and then there was this clattering and crunching as she fell down the stairs. I could picture every sound. I knew when her head hit the wall, and when her leg caught against the banister and snapped. Finally the noise stopped and I knew it was over and that my grandmother was dead.

‘My mother never got over it. She’s been punishing herself ever since for the fact that her mother died whilst in her care. And she’s been punishing me too, for years.’

Carter came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. ‘Jane, what you’re describing is a premonition. There’s nothing in what you’ve told me that leads me to think that it could be anything more than that.’

‘Even if you’re right, and I’m not sure you are, with this…gift, this curse, comes responsibility. I could have stopped it from happening. I didn’t. I just lay there waiting, wishing for it to happen. You were talking to me earlier about guilt. Well I’ve lived with guilt, Rob, and it’s been informing my life ever since that day. It’s the reason I got into psychology, in order to understand what my motivations were…are. I came to work for the Department so I could study psychic phenomena firsthand. That guilt has driven me forward.’

‘And at the same time, totally repressed you.’

‘Yes.’ She said the word quietly and calmly but her body tremored. When she turned to face him, tears were trickling down her cheeks. Carter wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She let herself be held. She needed to be held. ‘Sometimes, it gets too much,’ she said, her voice muffled by his shirt.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I know.’

‘Do you feel up to telling me what you experienced during the seance?’ Carter said.

They were sitting on the bed. Jane had dried her tears and was feeling stronger. Although she hated to admit it, just having him by her side was giving her that strength. ‘Just random images. Nothing really coherent.’

‘Tell me anyway.’ He had lit two more cigarettes.

She listed what she had seen in her mind’s eye.

‘Have you checked that Gemma’s all right?’ he said when she’d finished.

‘First thing I did when I came upstairs. I phoned my mother. Both the girls are fine.’

‘Good. The helicopter. You saw it sinking into the earth?’

She closed her eyes and recalled instantly what she had seen. ‘Bizarrely, yes.’

He rubbed at the stubble on his chin, thinking.

‘Do you think that’s significant?’ Jane asked.

‘I think so, yes. It was never found, the helicopter. No wreckage out at sea; no sign it crashed anywhere. To all intents and purposes it just disappeared, along with the pilot.’

‘You think it really happened then? It landed here, then just sunk through solid ground?’ She tried to keep the incredulity out of her voice.

Carter nodded. ‘It’s one scenario.’

‘An unlikely one.’

‘Unlikely, but not impossible. We have to consider everything that happens as possible, even if it can’t be real; not in the normal world anyway.’

Jane sucked on her cigarette and held on to the smoke in her lungs. Finally she exhaled. ‘Do you think it’s worth trying another seance?’

Carter shook his head. ‘No, I don’t think you’re up to it.’

She bridled slightly. ‘I’ll be more prepared next time.’

‘I don’t think any of us are prepared sufficiently to handle what’s happening here.’

‘Still, I’d like to try,’ she said.

‘Okay. It’s your call. Let’s compromise. After breakfast tomorrow?’

Jane smiled. ‘Fine. Can you let the others know?’

‘I’ll tell them.’ He kissed her on the cheek and left the room. She lay back on the bed, took another pull on the cigarette, then ground it out in the ashtray. She picked up her phone and punched in a number.

‘Hi, it’s me again.’ Her voice had changed from her conversation with Carter. She was more reserved now, holding back.

‘I’ve just put the girls to bed, Jane,’ her mother said tetchily.

‘I just wanted to wish them good night.’

‘Phone them in the morning and do it then.’

Jane smiled. Only her mother could conjure up such an absurdity. ‘Yes, okay. I’ll call tomorrow.’

‘Good night, Jane.’

The line went dead.

She dropped the phone on the bed beside her, then stood up and started to peel off her clothes. She felt desperately tired. She crawled under the covers and closed her eyes. Within seconds she was asleep. But it was a fitful sleep filled with nightmarish dreams of snatched children and sinking helicopters.

She awoke feeling wretched with the thought of another attempt at another seance sitting in her stomach like a lead weight. She showered quickly, skipped breakfast and went for a walk on the grounds to try to clear her head. By the time she got back to the Manse the others had already assembled in the library. She took her place at the table. ‘Right,’ she said. ‘Let’s start.’

‘Are you sure, Jane?’ Carter said.

‘Let’s get it over with,’ she said. However she thought their relationship was developing she couldn’t have him question her in front of the others.

Carter nodded, but was watching her closely. ‘Okay. Everybody link hands.’

Jane joined hands again with Kirby and McKinley, worried they would feel the sweat on her palms.

‘Now,’ Carter said. ‘Everybody breathe deeply, close your eyes and try to relax.’

Jane took one, long, deep breath and shut her eyes.

At that point the doorbell rang.

John McKinley got to his feet. ‘Weren’t we supposed to be the only ones on this island?’ he said.

Jane looked puzzled. ‘So I was told.’

‘Well obviously we’re not,’ McKinley said and went to answer the door.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

McKinley came back to the library followed by a young man, fairly scruffy, looking like he could do with a shave and a good night’s sleep. Kirby’s first impression was that when he was cleaned up he might look a little like Brad Pitt in the movie Troy. Not bad at all.

‘This is Nick Bayliss,’ McKinley said to the others. His shrug indicated his bemusement at the casual entrance. They had all believed access to the island was strictly controlled while they were here.