Ghostwriting (11 page)

They didn't waste any time in getting to their feet. Shannon pulled out the handle on the suitcase, set it on its wheels and started running for the gate at the end of the drive.

‘Go babe,' Billie urged her, she herself taking up the handles of the wheelbarrow and forging ahead with it.

Rain had begun falling and the open gate banged in the wind.

As Shannon neared, a gale blew up that pounded the gate so hard against its foundations that it began to swing closed. ‘Don't even think about it!' she
shouted, picking up her pace and willing herself to beat the gate to its locking. Shannon realised she wasn't going to make it. ‘Help me, Katlin! Fight for your freedom, goddamn it. We're not going to do it all for you.'

Just as the gate was about to slam closed in front of her, a gale blew up and forced it open again.

‘Way to go, girl!' Shannon cheered as she sped out the gate and held it open for Billie to power on through.

‘We're outta here!' Billie cheered on the way down the road.

Before Shannon headed off after her, she pulled out her mobile to check for a signal. ‘All right!' She suspected that Heartley's ghost held no sway beyond the boundaries of his property, but then maybe the signal for her phone was just better at this location? Ghosts had filled up so much of her days lately that she didn't want to start getting overly paranoid — despite how prone she might be to doing so, considering the display she'd just seen. The world without such phenomena seemed a million miles away now. Her view of life, death, the universe and everything had been dramatically altered forever.

As Simon wasn't looking any closer to regaining consciousness, Shannon dialled for an ambulance.

 

The harsh hospital lighting brought Billie and Shannon back to reality, as did their damp, filthy
clothes, soaked through by the time the ambulance had reached them.

Simon had been admitted to hospital with mild concussion. The doctors wanted to keep an eye on him overnight, but Shannon and Billie would be permitted to see their friend once he was settled in his room.

‘What have I done, Bill?' Shannon whispered, although they were alone in the waiting room. ‘I have made Simon an outcast in his own home.'

‘Hey, you weren't to know.' Billie shrugged. ‘No one expects this kind of thing to happen. If I know Simon, he won't blame you … he'll just be happy that his spooks didn't cut loose when he was alone in the house.'

‘Still, I shouldn't mess with powers that I know nothing about.' Shannon sank even further into her slouched position, feeling remorseful and responsible.

‘And how the hell do you learn about haunted houses?' Billie scoffed at Shannon's unfounded guilt trip.

‘I could have read more —'

‘Those books you brought home all stated that every haunting is unique,' Billie argued. ‘At least you had the guts to investigate. And give us a little credit … we've solved a mystery that has been buried for nearly a century. If we've come this far, knowing nothing, then I'm pretty confident that we can find a cure for whatever ails Simon's property.'

Shannon was so impressed by her friend's attitude that she burst into a broad smile.

‘What?' Billie was alarmed by Shannon's sudden amusement.

‘You're really amazing, you know that?' Shannon began and Billie rolled her eyes.

‘F — k off.'

‘No, I mean it,' Shannon persisted, over Billie's denial. ‘You are the stuff that heroes are made of. I never could have done this without you.' She couldn't prevent tears from welling and her emotions choked her, restraining her from further speech.

‘Hey, it's been a blast,' Billie reassured her, guessing that Shannon was going into shock. ‘I'm off all the toxins and I've scored a free trip to Ireland … I'm a happy woman.'

‘If the offer of a free trip still stands,' Shannon mused, realising Simon now had the expense of tidying up the interior of his beautiful house.

‘Are you kidding,' Billie retorted. ‘Simon's going to want a way to get Heartley out of his house.'

‘What if he tells us to put Katlin back in the ground?' Shannon feared their effort might all come to naught. Billie looked rather concerned suddenly. She obviously hadn't considered this turn of events.

‘I'm not taking her back there,' Billie insisted. ‘I'll beat Simon into submission if need be.'

‘You may see Mr Wexford now,' a nurse entered to announce. The nurse regarded Billie warily,
having caught her threat. ‘But you can only see him briefly, as he needs
rest
.'

 

‘My saviours!' Simon held wide his arms to the girls, welcoming their entry into his private room.

‘You've got a tough head.' Billie sat on the bed and gave him a squeeze.

‘We're so sorry about the all the trouble and damage we've caused you,' Shannon added, before Simon had the chance to award her his full attention.

‘How badly was the house damaged?' he thought to inquire from Billie as they parted from their embrace.

‘We didn't go back to find out,' Billie advised him, ‘but Heartley had started throwing things about when we left.'

Simon roused an ironic smirk. ‘With any luck the bastard will burn the place down and then I'll claim the whole thing as an insurance write-off.'

‘If we go to Ireland,' Shannon began to skirt her way around the issue, ‘I feel sure we can —'

‘What do you mean “if”?' Simon protested. ‘I'm counting on you two to go. I'm selling the house,' he informed them, ‘whether or not you solve my little problem. But if you can find a way to rid the house of Heartley, my selling price might be a whole lot higher.'

‘We could try putting Katlin back in the ground … the disturbances might subside.' Shannon was shy of
suggesting this, but she felt, in all fairness to Simon, that she had to.

Simon had a brief think about the proposition. ‘I believe Katlin has suffered long enough for the inhumanity of man. So you're taking her back to Ireland and I'm paying all your expenses, first-class all the way.'

Billie and Shannon's cheering brought the nurse running. ‘I said he needed
rest
,' she reprimanded them and then insisted they both leave.

‘Here, Simon.' Billie tossed him her keys. ‘Stay at my place when they let you out.'

‘My knight in shining armour,' Simon emphasised as he caught the keys. ‘Just keep all your receipts, ladies, and I'll reimburse you.' Simon waved and blew kisses while the girls were ushered out the door by the nurse.

6. A Ghost's Chance

There wasn't much choice but to pack light for Ireland, seeing as the girls had left most of their good warm clothes at the haunted house in the mountains. Shannon, being a bit of a hippie-surfer girl, didn't have a hell of a lot of warm clothes anyway.
What the hell
, she'd decided, viewing her near-empty backpack,
it's a good excuse to go shopping
.

Once packed, Billie and Shannon dropped by the editing studio where Shannon had been working on
her last feature and there they typed up their fake order form.

‘I don't know if this is going to work.' Shannon looked over the printout, fearing that if they were exposed she'd never edit film in this country again.

‘Looks real to me.' Billie snatched it from Shannon's grasp, folded it and placed it in her top pocket. When Billie heard the weeping, she thought Shannon was overreacting. ‘Get over it, babe.'

‘It's not me.' Shannon turned to face Billie, dry-eyed. ‘Katlin?'

Billie and Shannon's ears pricked up, and they looked about the room for the apparition.

On top of the suitcase containing her bones sat Katlin, weeping as quietly as possible as she held her hands over her heart in gratitude.

‘What's the matter, Katlin?' Shannon attempted to get their ghost communicating. ‘Can you tell me?'

As Billie and Shannon stared at the apparition, they could see her desperately trying to convey her views but alas they could not hear a word. Katlin kept pointing to her mouth and shaking her head. In the end, Katlin gave up trying to voice herself and frustrated, she vanished.

‘Why can we hear her crying and yet not hear her speak?' Shannon frowned, perplexed.

From behind her came the sound of keys being tapped on the computer keyboard.

HEARTLEY CUT OUT MY TONGUE. I HOPE I SHALL BE REUNITED WITH MY VOICE ONCE MY SPIRIT IS AT PEACE.

‘What a prick!' Billie's apprehension was swept away by her anger, as they read the words on the screen.

HE DISCOVERED THAT I HAD TOLD SOME CLOSE FRIENDS ABOUT MY TRUE LOVE. I WAS NEVER LET OUT OF THE HOUSE AFTER THAT, NOR WAS I ALLOWED ANY VISITORS. NO ONE KNEW ABOUT MY MUTILATION, EXCEPT THE SERVANTS, WHO WERE PAID WELL TO KEEP QUIET ABOUT ME.

Shannon's hand had come to cover her mouth; the thought of what this woman's life must have been like made her want to be sick.

CLEARLY, I AM DEEPLY INDEBTED TO YOU BRAVE WOMEN, BUT I FEEL I CANNOT ASK YOU TO TAKE ANY MORE RISKS ON MY ACCOUNT. I AM AWAY FROM HEARTLEY'S TORMENT NOW. PLEASE LAY ME TO REST ANYWHERE AND SAVE YOURSELVES ANY FURTHER HARDSHIP.

‘No, no, no, Katlin.' Shannon stood to voice her feelings. ‘You've endured too much to settle for such an anticlimax.'

‘I don't think that we're really Katlin's main concern.' Billie cocked an eye in challenge. ‘If you
ask me she's just shit scared of meeting her old flame again.'

The computer keys began clicking away again.

WHAT IF HE IS BURIED BESIDE HIS WIFE?

‘Do you know if Timothy married?' Shannon asked.

NO

‘Well then, until we go investigate what happened to the man, you'll never know,' Shannon told her. ‘If it turns out he found true love elsewhere … then we'll bury you at some other nice location.'

‘Yeah.' Billie seconded that. ‘If we can be brave enough to get you this far, you can bloody well be brave enough to go the rest of the way.'

THANK YOU

Both women smiled at Katlin's resolution. ‘You're welcome,' they chanted, followed by a mighty ‘Yahoo!'

 

The flight from Sydney to Dublin was long, but uneventful. They would be changing planes here, to catch a domestic airline to a smaller airport in County Kenny.

As they awaited their baggage at the luggage belt, Shannon had the horrid vision of the bag containing Katlin's corpse ending up in Africa or somewhere. But the bag, which Shannon had covered in fragile stickers, with Katlin's comfort in mind, was one of the first pieces out of the gate.

All the stickers were removed before approaching customs, as they did not want to attract any attention to the case. It was good that Shannon's backpack was quite under-loaded, because it looked as if her main luggage was in the bag in question.

The customs man was pleasant enough, asking how long Shannon would be staying. He inquired whether she was in Ireland for business or a holiday. It was all going rather smoothly when he suddenly asked what was in Shannon's suitcase.

If she told him clothes and then he opened the suitcase, she'd be in strife; if she told him the truth, she'd get arrested and possibly locked in an asylum. Thus, their fabrication seemed the best option.

Shannon leaned in close to give her answer. ‘An old rotting skeleton,' she whispered, mysteriously.

The officer smiled, realising Shannon was having a go.

‘Well, that's what we hope it looks like,' Shannon announced cheerfully, as she pulled out her fake order form and handed it to the officer. ‘Do you want to have a look?'

Billie, who was next in line behind Shannon, began biting her nails as her friend made the offer.

‘You could give us your professional opinion?' Shannon urged him to comply.

The officer laughed. ‘I don't get many corpses through here,' he advised sarcastically. ‘And films
are so realistic these days, that it probably wouldn't be much help.'

‘But aren't you curious?' Shannon pushed, feeling that every risk she took made her safer. Then, as the officer was beginning to look interested, she added, ‘You're not planning on eating soon, are you?'

He seemed sceptical about her question.

‘Aw,' she waved off the thought, ‘if you've got a good stomach, it shouldn't put you off your food for too long.'

The officer rolled his eyes and placed the suitcase flat on the counter to open it up and take a look.

Shannon looked back toward Billie, who looked as if she might wet herself at any moment. Shannon said a silent prayer, then looked back to the officer as he closed the bag.

All the colour had drained from his face. ‘Looks pretty real to me.'

Shannon was tempted to bow her head in defeat, for she fully expected his next words to be, Follow me, please.

‘Your art department did a real good job.'

He handed Shannon back her order form and suitcase. ‘Have a great stay. Good luck with the film.'

No sooner was she through customs than Shannon's knees went to jelly. What if the officer had called the production company to confirm the order? She could have been carted off to an Irish prison and stuck with terrorists for the rest of her life.

‘I am never doing anything like that again,' she began mumbling over and over, under her breath.

‘That was so fucking great!' Billie came bouncing over to pat Shannon on the back. ‘Apart from the fact that I nearly pissed myself several times!'

‘Shhh!' Shannon encouraged her friend to keep her enthusiasm down to a low roar. ‘I'm having a panic attack right now. Have a little respect.'

‘But we're home free,' Billie grabbed both Shannon's shoulders and shook hard. ‘You're a total legend!'

 

Billie, Shannon and their bag of bones got a room in the city of Tarlee for the night, and planned to head to the town of Ballyheige on the morrow. Outside of Ballyheige lay the seaside properties where both Katlin and Timothy had grown up.