The Secret Place (75 page)

I said, ‘We need a confession.’

‘Yeah, that’d be great. You go pick us up one of those. Get next week’s Lotto numbers, while you’re at it.’

I ignored that. ‘Here’s what I’ve spotted about Rebecca: she’s not scared. And she should be. Her situation, anyone but an idiot would be petrified, and she’s no idiot. But she’s still not scared of us.’

‘So?’

‘So she must think she’s safe.’

Conway shoved a branch out of her face. ‘She fucking is, unless we come up with something amazing.’

I said, ‘Tell you the one time I’ve seen her scared. In the common room, when everyone was losing the head about the ghost. We were so busy with Alison, we paid no attention to Rebecca, but she was terrified. We don’t scare her; doesn’t matter what we throw at her, evidence, witnesses, it won’t shake her. Chris’s ghost does.’

‘So what? You wanna dress up in a sheet and wave your arms at her from behind a tree? Because I swear to God, I’m almost that desperate.’

I said, ‘I just want to talk to her about the ghost. Just talk to her. See where it goes.’

It had hit me while I was on the grass with Joanne’s lot: every girl in that common room had thought Chris was there specially for her. Rebecca had known it.

That made Conway glance my way. She said, ‘Thin ice.’

If the ghost got something out of Rebecca, we were in for a fight, down the line. The defence would scream coercion, intimidation, scream about no appropriate adult present, try to get whatever she said ruled inadmissible. We would argue exigent circumstances: we needed to get Rebecca out of there, that night. Might work, might not.

If we didn’t get something now, we were getting nothing, ever.

I said, ‘I’ll be careful.’

‘OK,’ Conway said. ‘Go for it. Fuck knows I’ve got nothing better.’

I knew the raw-scraped sound in her voice by now. Knew better than to try and soothe it. ‘Thanks,’ I said.

‘Yeah.’

Around the bend in the path, in under the trees – it felt like a drop into nothing, that step into the streaked black – and I smelled smoke. Could’ve been schoolgirl boldness, but I knew.

Mackey, leaning against a tree, all shoulder-slope and crossed ankles. ‘Nice night for it,’ he said.

We braked like kids caught snogging. I went red. Felt him see it through the dark, amused.

‘Good to see you two crazy kids sorted out your problems. I wondered if you might. Been having fun?’

Behind his shoulder, the hyacinth bed. The flowers glowed blue-white like they were lit from inside. Behind that, up the slope, Selena and Rebecca had their heads bent close. Mackey was guarding them.

Conway said, ‘We’d like you to go inside and stay with your daughter. We’ll be with you as soon as we can.’

Cigarette caught between his knuckles, looked like the ember was blooming deep inside his black fist. He said, ‘It’s been a long day. And these girls, in fairness to them, they’re only kids. They’re shattered, stressed out, all the rest. Not trying to teach you two your job – God forbid – but I’m just saying: I wouldn’t put too much stock in anything you get out of them at this point. A jury wouldn’t.’

I said, ‘We don’t suspect Holly of the murder.’

‘No? That’s nice to know.’

Smoke curling through the stripes of moonlight. He didn’t believe me.

‘We’ve got new information,’ Conway said. ‘It points away from Holly.’

‘Well done. And in the morning, you can go galloping off wherever that information takes you. Now it’s time to go home. Stop in the pub on the way, get yourselves a nice pint to celebrate the beginning of a beautiful friendship.’

Behind him, a shadow slipped out of the trees, fitted itself into place beside Selena. Julia.

Conway said, ‘We’re not done here yet.’

‘Yes, Detective. You are.’

Gentle voice, but the glint of his eyes. Mackey meant it. ‘I’ve been picking up some information of my own. Three lovely girls saw me wandering around looking for you two, and they called me over.’ That dark hand with the burning core, lifting to point at me. ‘Detective Moran. You’ve been a bad boy.’

Conway said, ‘If anyone’s got a problem with Detective Moran, they need to take it to his superintendent. Not to you.’

‘Ah, but they’ve come to me now. I think I can convince them that Detective Moran didn’t actually try to seduce their irresistible selves, and that one of them – blond, skinny, no eyebrows? – didn’t actually feel her virtue was in imminent danger. But you’re going to need to get out of my way and let me do it in peace. Is that clear?’

I said, ‘I can look after myself. Thanks all the same.’

‘I wish I agreed with you, kid. I really do.’

‘If I’m wrong, it’s not your problem. And who we talk to isn’t your call.’

The words felt strange and strong, rising out of me, strong as trees. Conway’s shoulder was against mine, level and solid.

Lift of Mackey’s eyebrow, in a stripe of light. ‘Oo, get you. Did you grow those yourself, or did you borrow them off your new pal?’

‘Mr Mackey,’ Conway said. ‘Let me explain to you what’s going to happen now. Detective Moran’s going to talk to these three girls. I’m going to observe, with my mouth shut. If you think you can manage the same, feel free. If you can’t, then fuck off and leave us to it.’

The eyebrow stayed up. To me: ‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you.’

About Conway, about what Joanne could do, about what he would do. He was right, on every one of them. And – what a guy – he was giving me one last chance, for old times’ sake, to play nice.

‘I won’t,’ I said. ‘Word of honour, man: I’d never claim that.’

Quick sniff of laughter from Conway. Then the two of us turned our backs on Mackey and moved through the miasma of hyacinths, up the slope towards the glade.

Under the cypresses Conway stopped. I heard Mackey’s long leisurely stride catch up with her, felt her stretch out an arm: far enough.

He stopped because he’d been going to anyway. If anything led even an inch towards Holly, Conway wouldn’t be able to hold him back.

I stepped out into the clearing and stood in front of those three girls.

The moon stripped my face bare to them. It turned them black-invisible, blazed their outline like a great white rune written on the air. Joanne and her lot were danger, bad danger. They were nothing compared to this.

I cleared my throat. They didn’t move.

I said, ‘Do yous not have to head indoors for lights-out, no?’

My voice came out weak, a limp thread. One of them said, ‘We’ll go in a minute.’

‘Right. Grand. I just wanted to say
.
.
.’ Foot to foot, rustling in the long grass. ‘Thanks for all your help. It’s been great. Really made a difference.’

A voice asked, ‘Where’s Holly?’

‘She’s inside.’

‘Why?’

I twisted. ‘She’s a bit shaken up. I mean, she’s grand, but that thing back in the common room, with the
.
.
. you know. Chris’s ghost.’

Julia’s voice said, ‘There wasn’t any ghost. That was just people looking for attention.’

A shift, under the curves of that rune sign. Selena’s voice said softly, ‘I saw him.’

Another movement, quicker and cut off. Julia had elbowed Selena, kicked her, something.

I asked, ‘Rebecca? How about you?’

After a moment, from inside the dark: ‘I saw him.’

‘Yeah? What was he doing?’

Another ripple through that rune, changed the meaning in subtle ways I couldn’t read.

‘He was talking. Fast, like jabbering; like, he never stopped to breathe. I guess he doesn’t need to.’

‘What was he saying?’

‘I couldn’t tell. I was trying to read his lips, but he was going too fast. One time he
.
.
.’ Rebecca’s voice split on a shiver. ‘He laughed.’

‘Could you tell who he was talking to?’

Silence. Then – so soft, I would’ve missed it, only my ears were wide open as an animal’s – ‘To me.’

A tiny catch of breath, almost a gasp, from somewhere else in that condensation of darkness.

I asked, ‘Why you?’

‘I told you. I couldn’t hear.’

‘This morning you said you and Chris weren’t close.’

‘We weren’t.’

‘So it’s not like he misses you so much, he had to come back and tell you that.’

Nothing.

‘Rebecca.’

‘Probably not. I guess. I don’t know.’

‘Not like he was secretly in love with you, no?’

‘No!’

I said, ‘You know how you looked, in there? Scared. Like, really scared.’

‘I saw a
ghost
. You’d be scared too.’

The raw flick of defiance: she didn’t sound like a mystery now, not like a danger. Sounded like a kid, just a teenage kid. The power was seeping out of her; fear was seeping in.

Julia said, ‘Don’t talk to him any more.’

I said, ‘Did you think he was going to hurt you?’

‘How would I know?’

‘Becs.
Shut up
.’

No way to tell if Julia was just wary, or if she was starting to understand. ‘But,’ I said, fast, ‘but Rebecca, I thought you liked Chris. You told us he was sound. Was that a lie? He was actually a dickhead?’

‘No. He wasn’t. He was
kind
.’

That flare of defiance again, hotter. This mattered to her.

I shrugged. ‘Everything we’ve learned, he sounds like a dickhead. He used girls for whatever he could get, dumped them as soon as he wasn’t getting it. A real prize.’

‘
No.
Colm’s is full of those – they don’t care what they wreck, they’ll do anything to anyone as long as they get what they want. I know the difference. Chris wasn’t like that.’

The white outline moved. Things rising up underneath it, bubbling.

Rebecca felt them. She said, ‘I know the stuff he did.
Obviously
I know he wasn’t perfect. But he wasn’t like the rest of them.’

A raw choke that could have been a laugh, out of Julia.

‘Lenie. He wasn’t. Was he?’

Selena moved. She said, ‘He was a lot of things.’

‘
Lenie.
’

They had forgotten me. Selena said, ‘He wanted not to be like them. He tried really hard. I don’t know how much it worked.’

‘It did.’ Rebecca’s voice was spiralling towards panic. ‘It worked.’

That ugly twist of sound again, from Julia.

‘It did. It
did
.’

Something crunched behind me, a branch whipped. Something was happening. I couldn’t tell what, couldn’t afford to turn. Had to trust Conway and keep going.

I said, ‘So how come you were scared of his ghost? Why would it want to hurt you, if Chris never would’ve?’

Julia said, ‘Specially since it’s
not fucking real
. Becca? Hello? They made you imagine it like some
Omen
thing. If you decide to imagine it as a purple turtle instead, then that’s what you’ll see. Hello?’

‘Hello yourself, I
saw
him—’

‘Rebecca. Why would it want to hurt you?’

‘Because ghosts are angry. You guys said that, remember? This afternoon.’ But the panic was taking up more and more of Rebecca’s voice. ‘And anyway, he
didn’t
hurt me.’

I said, ‘This time he didn’t. What about next time?’

‘Who says there’ll be a next time?’

‘I do. Chris had something to say to you, something he wants from you, and he didn’t get through. He’ll be back. Again and again, till he gets what he wants.’

‘He won’t. It was because you were here, you got him all—’

‘Selena,’ I said. ‘You know he was there. You want to tell us whether you think he’ll be back?’

In the slow fall of silence, I heard something. Murmur of voices, away down at the bottom of the slope. A man. A girl.

Closer, in the cypresses behind me: a sound like the muted first breath of a roar. Conway, moving among the braches to cover the voices. ‘Selena,’ I said. ‘Is Chris going to be back?’

Selena said, ‘He’s there the whole time. Even when I don’t see him, I can feel him. I
hear
him, like this humming noise right inside the backs of my ears, like when the telly’s on mute. All the time.’

I believed her. Believed every word. I said, heard the hoarse note in my voice, ‘What does he want?’

‘At first I was sure he was looking for me. Oh God I tried so hard but I could never make him see me, he never heard me, I was begging him
Chris I’m here I’m right here
but he just looked right past me and kept doing whatever he was doing, I tried to hold him but he just dissolved before I could—’