So they all stood like that in the hall, while Larry and Matt laid out their witch theory. He mentioned that the hat she was holding might be an obvious link and he kept an eye on Rachel at regular intervals, her face moving between confusion and dread and back again, like a horrid dance was taking place in her psyche. The note he’d found on his windscreen seemed especially to put her on edge.
It took a long time before Bob said anything. ‘Well, that’s a fascinating hypothesis.’
Matt tried not to sound as jumpy as he actually was. ‘And of course we might be wrong, but the evidence is pointing that way.’
‘At least at the moment,’ Larry added. ‘And we need to find Kassy West too, to make sure she’s okay. Do you know her whereabouts?’
He said it to Rachel but she shook her head.
‘And you really think the seance might put these girls in danger?’ Bob said.
‘Don’t you? Bob, the first time I saw you … outside the school that first morning,’ Matt said. ‘The Phoenix Club were there, remember?’
‘What a name …’ Bob laughed and shook his head. ‘You mean the church group? Those prayer fellas?’
‘Yes … and do you remember what they shouted at you? They shouted witch at you, right across the street. I mean, come on.’
Joyce waved veiny fingers in the air. ‘Bob and I have had to put up with that sort of medieval prejudice for years, but it’s a side issue. We can deal with it.’
‘Oh, you reckon?’
Bob suddenly clapped his hands together, and he saw Rachel blink at the sudden snap. ‘You’ve got to appreciate the irony here,’ he said. ‘You’re so convinced that the cause of this is not paranormal and yet the theory you come up with is waaaay wilder and – if you don’t mind me saying – not a little preposterous. So I’m sorry, but I can’t call the seance off.’
‘Oh, for crying out loud, Bob. Be reasonable.’
Larry raised a cautious hand. ‘Matt …’
‘Just give the police a few days at least—’
Bob took a step forward. ‘I’ve been married to Joyce for forty years and I trust her judgment completely. Do you understand the word completely? She’s convinced there’s negative energies at work here – architects behind human agents, perhaps – but only she and I can stop it.’
‘By apologising to Holly Wasson? By telling her to call off her big black bunny rabbit. So … do you think Holly’s a malignant spirit now?’
‘How dare you!’ Rachel’s voice.
He looked at her, apologetically. ‘Just think about this. Use your logic.’
‘Matt?’ Joyce said.
He ignored her. ‘You’re a rational person, so don’t fall for this stuff.’
‘Matt?’ Joyce again.
‘What?’
Her voice was a nanny putting a silly child to bed. It made him want to strangle her. ‘Holly’s an innocent little girl who’s become the fixation of a dark energy. I think her forgiveness of these girls is going to unlock us from all of this. It’ll help her spirit move into peace and bring this—’
‘Stop the seance, Rachel.’ He took a step toward the stairs. ‘We don’t want to provoke whoever’s—’
‘Spirits walk among us,’ Joyce said, stepping between him and the stairs. Not angry, just maddeningly calm. ‘Don’t you even hear her calling to you at night? To your family?’
‘Who? Holly?’
She shook her head. ‘Your mother.’
Silence followed that. A tense, ticking quiet.
Joyce tilted her head. ‘She’s called Elizabeth. Isn’t she?’
‘How do you know her name?’
‘She died horribly, didn’t she? Don’t you see her reaching out to you? To your daughters?’
‘How do you know her name?’
‘Don’t you see her standing in the corner of your room?’
‘No, I do not.’
‘And why is she so angry?’
He snapped, right into her face. ‘Did you just Google her, you fucking charlatan?’
‘Whoa,’ Larry stepped in. ‘We’re leaving.’
‘I’m genuinely sorry you feel this way. But your mother wants to communicate but there’s something wrong with her mouth—’
Fffffft – crack.
A picture frame fell from the wall.
It slid down the wallpaper and snapped itself on the skirting board, tipping onto the carpet face down. Just a loose nail, obviously, but in the hysteria of this place everybody stared at it, even Larry took a worried step toward it.
Joyce glanced at it once then smiled before she carried on. ‘There are living, thinking shadows in this world, Matt, behind every evil deed. Call them demons, call them negative energies, it doesn’t really matter in the end. And that horrendous vault’s created a sea of them. All violence does. And sometimes when these entities smell a troubled person like Holly …’
‘You’re an actual insane person.’
‘… or when they smell even you, Matt …’
‘I’m not troubled.’
Larry’s hand on his shoulder. ‘I think we’ll head off.’
‘… they’re drawn to that soul. Like a shark gets drawn through the ocean by a trail of blood. The demons long for people like you. But when we show love and forgiveness, the negative spirits lose power and so you ought to let us end this.’
‘People are being killed, Joyce. They’re being murdered.’
Larry dropped to his haunches, lifting the broken picture up and turning it. It wasn’t a photograph of Holly looking strange or malevolent, it was a print of a tree in the middle of a field filled with birds. A single crack from one corner ran to the other. Larry got to his feet, and checked the nail.
‘Then let me attend, like before,’ Matt said.
‘No way, Josè,’ Bob said.
‘I’ll sit in the corner. I’ll just observe.’
‘Your pessimism is going to poison it. It’ll give the rabbit power,’ Joyce said.
– A mad sudden image of the
