She swooned and Eve held her tight.
'I must… must sit down. They're draining me. So strong, so strong. But they don't have enough power yet. They're waiting…'
'Let me take you into the sitting room,' Eve urged. 'You can rest there.'
She began to lead the psychic across the stone floor, supporting her as much as she could, but as they neared the cellar door, Lili drew back, horror on her face.
Eve had gone out of her way to close and lock the cellar door, but now it was half open again. The darkness inside seemed almost solid, a physical thing. Lili backed away and Eve clung to her, moved with her.
'That's where the children were found,' the psychic murmured almost to herself. She began to take sharp, rapid breaths as though hyperventilating and Eve, concerned for her, led her in a semicircular route towards the sitting room. For such a petite person, Lili was surprisingly heavy; it was as if something more than her own body was weighing her down.
At last Eve got her to the couch in the sitting room and gently lowered her on to it.
'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry,' Lili said between short breaths. Eve sat next to her and watched the psychic's drawn features anxiously, not knowing quite what she could do to help. But gradually Lili's breathing calmed and a smidgeon of colour returned to her pale face. She closed her eyes and rested her head back against the couch.
Eve fretted. 'Can I get you anything? Tea, coffee, something stronger?'
The faintest, drained smile appeared on the psychic's face and she opened her eyes again. She turned her head to look at Eve. 'No, thank you,' she said. 'I think I'm okay now. It was just the… the oppression inside this house. It's overwhelming. I think I can deal with it now. I hope so.'
For want of anything better to say, Eve ventured: 'Before you spoke of a boy who was in a coma; you said you were able to communicate with him. Will you tell me what happened?'
Lili took in a long, deep breath, perhaps to chase away the smaller breaths, and it seemed to work. Her green eyes studied Eve's for a few moments, searching for some kind of empathy. Many people thought psychics were a little mad, but there was no suspicion, no challenge and no distrust in Eve's expression; only hope.
There was a fire blazing in the room's hearth, but Lili felt chilled; she often did when there was a strong sense of spirit. Incorporeal energies tended to sap warmth from the atmosphere. Nevertheless, she asked Eve if she could take off her coat.
When Eve nodded and said, 'Of course,' Lili stood and removed her brown suede jacket. Underneath, she wore a tight, beige, long-sleeved sweater that emphasized her small breasts, and a loose wine-coloured skirt that ended just below the top of her knee-length burgundy boots. A pretty pink coral necklace adorned her neck and Eve noticed she still wore the wide wristbands from yesterday.
Lili folded her arms but it seemed more like a defensive gesture than a 'don't mess with me' one, because her hands clutched her upper arms. Today she did not wear the thin leather headband; her hair fell over her forehead in a natural fringe. Her light green eyes checked Eve's before she began.
'The parents of the boy who was in a coma didn't know me personally—I was seventeen at the time—but they had heard of my ability through a neighbour of ours.'
Now she unfolded her arms and leaned forward on the couch, wrists resting on her knees, her hands clasped together.
'The boy—Howard was his name—was only eleven years old and he'd been knocked down by a car that failed to stop. It was found later, abandoned; police thought kids had stolen it for a joyride.'
She was gazing at the fire, tiny flames reflected in her eyes.
'Howard was on life-support and the doctors didn't think he'd pull through. They thought his brain might have been too severely damaged, although they detected some signs of activity through their machines. They advised his parents it would be more merciful to turn off the systems keeping him alive so that he could go without more suffering. That's when Howard's parents contacted me on the chance I could reach him telepathically. They weren't true believers, but they'd heard about my psychic gift and they were desperate. They came to my house and asked me—no, they begged me—to try and make contact with their son. They weren't convinced Howard was all but brain-dead.'
She paused and looked away from the fire as if the flames were burning her pupils.
'Please go on,' Eve urged quietly.
'I agreed willingly. I have this thing about children even though I've never been a parent myself.' Lili did not relate the story of the first ghost she had ever seen, Agnes, whom she'd befriended and helped to move on; how that early experience had encouraged Lili to develop her extrasensory powers.
'I went to the hospital with the parents and was allowed into the intensive care unit. As soon as I saw Howard I felt he was far from death. Our minds made contact almost immediately. Inside his body was a lively, mischievous little boy, who missed his mother and father and wondered where they were and why they hadn't come to take him home.
'The mother broke down when I told her I was talking to her son, but the father, quite naturally, wanted to test me. He asked me questions that only Howard and his parents could know the answer to, and I put the questions to Howard. He thought it was a brilliant game because he was bored lying in the same place day after day with no one to talk or play with. He gave me all the answers, which I passed on to the parents. They were shocked, amazed. And so happy that even the father broke down in tears. They wouldn't allow the hospital to stop the life-support and eventually they were proved to be right. I visited Howard every few days and talked with him telepathically. It took another two months for Howard to regain consciousness.'
'He recovered?' Eve asked in awe. If the psychic could do this, contact a boy who was nearly dead and in a coma, then surely she could reach Cam.
'Completely,' Lili replied. 'Within another six months Howard was running around like any other healthy boy of his age. Could I have a glass of water?'
'Yes, of course. Are you sure you don't want something stronger?' Eve rose to her feet.
'No thank you. I had too much wine last night. Besides, I never drink alcohol when I use my psychic sense. For some reason it interferes with the process.'
'Then you will help us find our son?'
'I'll try. I'm not always successful. I'm also out of practice.'
'Surely it's a gift that's with you all the time.'
Lili shook her head, a single movement. 'Like any other ability, you have to keep at it. You have to develop the skill. We'll see how it goes—just don't expect too much.'
Eve hurried out to the kitchen, excited, more hopeful then ever before, already convinced the psychic would succeed. She took a glass from the cupboard and filled it with tap water, eager to get back to her visitor.
When she returned to the sitting room, Lili Peel was standing next to the round occasional table by the armchair. In her hands she held the photograph of Cam.
41: CONTACT
'This is Cameron, your missing son,' Lili said as Eve proffered the glass of water.
'Yes. We always called him Cam. That picture was taken on his fifth birthday.'
Eve's eyes fell upon the small silver-framed photograph of her beloved son. A rush of unbound love swept over her and, of course, with it came unrelenting anguish.
'Does… does the picture tell you anything?' she asked tentatively, her hopes rising because Lili was staring at the photograph so intently. To Eve's regret the interruption seemed to break the psychic's concentration.
'Only that he was a beautiful-looking boy,' Lili replied, her attention now on Eve. 'D'you have anything that belonged to him, a favourite toy, an old jumper or shirt? Anything he was familiar with, or close to.'
'I kept everything of his, I didn't throw anything away. I felt it would have been wrong to, even if he's grown out of his old clothes by now. But we left his clothes and toys behind when we came here to Devon.'
'This photo will have to do, then.' Still holding onto the silver-framed picture, she took the glass of water from Eve.
The psychic sat down in the high-backed armchair next to the round table, keeping Cam's photograph with her. Eve sat on the edge of the couch opposite and leaned forward anxiously.
'Mrs Caleigh—' Lili began to say.
