‘There’s a demon in that cellar, isn’t there?’ said Portia, looking up at Rob with her mascara all smudged. ‘A real, actual, genuine demon. It’s like something out of The Exorcist, only worse.’
‘Francis didn’t actually call it a demon. He said it was a “malevolent force”, but I suppose that could mean anything, including a demon. He shouted out its name, though. You heard him. And he addressed it as if it could hear him. So I don’t think you’re entirely wrong. And if it is a demon, maybe that’s how Father Salter can help us. He’s a trained exorcist, after all, and he told us that he’d recently exorcised a woman who was possessed.’
Grace said, ‘Yes, but when he came here he was so frightened he almost had a heart attack.’
‘Who else are we going to turn to, Gracey? I’ll just have to persuade him that he’s the only person who can help us to get rid of this thing. Maybe he can pray to God to give him a bit more bottle.’
Rob suddenly caught sight of himself in the tall, narrow mirror next to the drawing-room door. His dark curly hair was unkempt and his face was white, with plum-coloured circles under his eyes. Vicky had always said that he looked like Lord Byron, but this morning he thought he looked like Lord Byron when the poet was suffering from the fever that had eventually killed him.
Right, he thought, I can’t go on like this, and he took out his phone. He found the number for Our Lady of the Assumption in Tavistock and tapped it out. Father Salter answered almost at once, as if he had been holding his phone in his hand and waiting for Rob to call.
‘Hello. Maurice Salter speaking. How can I help you?’
‘Father Salter, this is Rob Russell. We met when you came to Sampford Spiney to visit Allhallows Hall.’
There was a lengthy pause. Then Father Salter said, ‘Yes… Allhallows Hall. Have things settled down there now? Francis called me last night and told me he was coming to carry out his decontamination this morning. Has it been successful?’
‘He came to do it this morning, father. But there’s no easy way to tell you this. He’s dead.’
‘He’s passed away? Oh dear Lord, I’m totally shocked. How did he die? I had no idea that he was ill.’
‘He wasn’t ill. He was halfway through his ritual when he woke up the force that’s possessing this house and it killed him. You may not believe this, but it pulled him through the wall. All his bones first and then the rest of him.’
Another long silence. Then Father Salter said, ‘Sorry. I’m still here. I was saying a small prayer for Francis. Commending his soul to the Lord, that he may be eternally happy in heaven.’
‘We need more than that, father. We’re in desperate trouble here. We still believe that our son, Timmy, is trapped here somewhere, as well as my brother, Martin, and Ada Grey. Francis brought along everything he needed for the ritual, but this force – this demon, if you want to call it that – it didn’t seem to be deterred in the slightest by anything he said or anything he did. In fact, he only made it even more violent.’
‘I don’t know what I can say to you, Rob, except to offer you my deepest condolences.’
‘Father – it’s not your condolences we’re asking for. It’s your help. We need you to come here and exorcise this demon for us. We even know its name, or at least we’re pretty sure that we do. I won’t say it out loud. That’s what seemed to rouse it into killing Francis.’
Yet another silence. Then, ‘I know its name, too, Rob. Francis told me. I know exactly what it is, and it is not the Devil. I sensed that when I came to visit Allhallows Hall, and that is why I was so reluctant to confront it… and why I am exceedingly hesitant to confront it now.’
‘I understand that, father. I fully understand. But we can’t think of anybody else who can get rid of it for us. At some point we’ll have to report Francis’s death to the police, but the police don’t carry out exorcisms. Neither will the local rector. He’s an Anglican, and Anglicans don’t do exorcisms, do they?’
‘It’s not unheard of. There have been a few occasions when an Anglican clergyman has been given the authority to cleanse a home of suspected demons. First of all, though, he must be given permission by his diocesan bishop, and the possession will be thoroughly investigated by the deliverance ministry. They usually send along a qualified psychiatrist to interview the people concerned, and also a medical doctor.’
Rob looked across at Vicky, and then at Portia and Katharine. Grace still had her back turned, staring at the painting.
‘We can’t wait to go through all that rigmarole, father. This is urgent. As far as Francis explained it to us, Timmy and Martin and Ada are trapped in the very second when they disappeared, which means that with every minute that passes they’re further and further behind us in time. It’s like we’ve dropped them off by the side of the road somewhere and driven away and left them there. If we delay it any longer, I’m really worried that
