Larry let out a breath. ‘Wow, we’re talking vintage here. The vaults are on the other side of the park, down Kirchin Road. There’s a bunch of old bomb shelters from the war, which are still there today. A few tunnels and old stone rooms. Up until the late 70s there was an old children’s home next door to them.’
‘Something happened there?’
‘A big scandal in ’78 or ’79. Can’t recall the year, exactly. Anyway, it turns out that a few of the staff were using the vaults to abuse little kids.’ He finally looked up from the sheet. ‘They’d invite rings from uptown to come over and watch it all. It made the national press but I guess you’d have been a little kid then.’
‘I wasn’t even born then.’
His lips flapped a breath. ‘Yeah, thanks for that. Anyway. It happened ages ago. The home was shut down soon after and was turned into the council offices. But the vaults are still there. It’s just a patch of grass now, to be honest. There’s a major issue with subsidence, so nobody dares build on it. But then, nobody wants to build on it. ’Course, the locals say the place is haunted with all the ghosts of the children.’
‘Kids died down there?’ Matt said. ‘It wasn’t just abuse?’
‘Just abuse? You really just said that?’
‘You know what I mean.’
‘Nobody died, officially,’ Bob said. ‘But of course there’s always rumours. Suspicions.’
Matt sat, thinking quietly.
‘So has Rachel told you why the vaults are mentioned on this sheet?’
He shook his head, ‘She didn’t mention this at all.’
‘Well, the abuse case happened way before any of those girls were born, so I don’t see how—’
Matt was on his feet and walking toward the lift already.
‘We’re going?’ Larry pushed himself up.
‘She’s on Ward 12.’ He reached the lift and started jabbing at the button.
The hospital had given her a private room, but when Matt and Larry arrived they found she wasn’t alone. In fact, they were all there. All the big names.
Bob and Joyce Hodges were sitting closest. They were right by Rachel’s bedside, holding her hand and talking to her about something. Mary Wasson was in the corner, sitting in a tub chair and quietly stroking the arm of it, like a cat. And Kassy West was up at the window, leaning against the frame and gazing out. They all turned their heads when Matt and Larry tapped on the door.
He saw Rachel attempt a smile as they came inside. ‘Hi. Thanks for bringing my mum last night.’
‘No problem.’
Mary Wasson put her hand up. ‘If you don’t mind, I’d like some air.’
Larry looked at Matt. They both nodded at the same time.
‘That’d be fine, Mrs Wasson. Go ahead.’ Larry waited till she toddled out, then he turned back to Rachel. ‘So how are you feeling?’
‘My throat hurts, but they’re letting me out this afternoon.’
‘Well, I’m glad to hear—’
‘Rachel?’ Matt cut him off completely.
‘Yes?’
‘What did you do to Holly?’
A shocked whisper, a long pause. ‘… what do you mean?’
He glanced up at Kassy. She’d lost colour. The Hodges were looking at one another, confused. Larry said nothing, just waited.
‘You and the girls …’ He pulled out the seance sheet and dropped it on her lap. ‘What happened at the vaults?’
She stared at it for a very long time and when she looked at Bob and Joyce, her eyes glistened with tears. ‘Please don’t hate me.’
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
‘Holly didn’t really fit in. She wasn’t like us …’ Rachel finally said, as Larry sat into Mary’s tub chair and Matt sat onto the end of the bed. ‘She wasn’t just nine but she was like a young nine. She still talked about Disney and angels and fairies …’
‘Holly was a space cadet,’ Kassy said, her back pressed against the window. ‘But me and the girls were fourteen and already getting drunk and smoking in the park at that stage. But Holly was still obsessed with The Faraway Tree and shit like that.’
Bob frowned at her. At the swearing, but Kassy went on.
‘She actually believed that magic stuff, so she was gullible too,’ Kassy said. ‘We told her there was an angel at the bottom of her garden once and we said that it loved Britney Spears songs, so Holly sat there warbling “Lucky” for an hour, waiting for it to come. An hour. I’m not even making that up.’
‘While we watched her from my bedroom, laughing …’ Rachel pulled her gaze from Kassy. ‘Though when it was just me and Holly it was fine. I mean really good. I played games with her, we talked. We went on walks in the park and sat under …’ she paused. ‘The tree that Jo …’ The sudden memory of that burning hanging corpse turned the fear in her face to something closer to shock. She gripped her elbow. ‘Jesus. Holly always said that tree was special to her. That particular tree.’
Bob made a note of that. ‘Interesting.’
‘So, hang on, Rachel,’ Kassy said. ‘You were nice to her when she was alone, but as soon as we all turn up you treat her like a little dweeb? Great sister you are,’ she tutted to herself. ‘Were.’
‘Dammit, Kassy!’ Matt glared at her. ‘Do you have any sort of filter?’
A tear rolled down Rachel’s cheek.
Larry pulled out a small blue notebook and pencil. He cracked the spine back. ‘Carry on, please.’
‘No. Kassy’s right. She’s absolutely right cos that’s how it was.’
‘Listen.’ Matt leant forward. ‘Siblings get at each other, that’s what they do. I’ve got a sister and we used to give each other hassle all the time. It’s not great but it’s not weird either.’
‘You don’t get it …’ Her lips turned a little thinner, shoulders creeping higher. She was opening up like a door and letting the light in. But he could tell that with this
