Urban Myth, page 13
26
‘Now that’s my idea of a haunted house,’ Angel said when she saw King’s Manor. ‘You can scream till the cows come home and nobody will hear you.’
‘Don’t tell me you believe in all that rubbish,’ Temple said.
‘I’ll have you know that my Great Aunt Edith is a medium. I’m serious. She’s been talking to ghosts for years.’
‘And conning gullible people out of their hard-earned cash at the same time, I don’t doubt.’
‘She’s the genuine article. Even performs before an audience.’
‘Yeah, and I bet she makes a tidy packet from it.’
‘That’s not why she does it.’
‘Of course not. She does it because out of the goodness of her heart she wants to reunite people with their dear departed.’
‘Exactly.’
Temple rolled his eyes. ‘Please tell me this is a wind-up.’
‘Absolutely not,’ Angel said. ‘I’ve believed in the spirit world since I had a paranormal experience at the age of twelve.’
Temple gave her a look. ‘Now I know you’re getting me at it.’
She shook her head. ‘It’s true. I swear. I was sleeping at a friend’s house. I woke up and saw the figure of a woman standing next to the bed. I was too terrified to scream. So I stared at it. After a couple of seconds it faded away.’
‘Ever thought you might have been dreaming?’
‘No, because I wasn’t. I know what I saw and I’ll never let anyone persuade me otherwise.’
‘So I’m going to be sharing my home with a woman who thinks she sees dead people,’ Temple said.
Angel chuckled. ‘That’s right, boss. Aren’t you the lucky one?’
An attractive middle-aged woman was standing in front of the house, holding the hand of a small boy.
‘That must be Nicole Keaton and her son, Michael,’ Angel said as their car drew to a halt on the gravel driveway.
Temple’s first impression of Mrs Keaton was that she was pretty, but not in the way of a beauty parade contestant or model. She had a pleasant, open face with full lips and high cheekbones. But as he stepped from the car and walked up to her, Temple was struck by how stressed out she looked. Her eyes were wide and solemn, her complexion almost grey. He showed her his warrant card and introduced himself and Angel.
‘You must be Mrs Keaton,’ he said.
She nodded. ‘We’ve been expecting you. This is Michael, my son.’
Temple smiled at the boy, who did not smile back. He looked forlorn. His eyes were dull and opaque, as though someone had switched off the light.
‘Has your daughter turned up yet, Mrs Keaton?’ Temple asked.
‘I’m afraid not. And please, call me Nicole.’ Her words sounded pained and filled with anguish.
‘Jack’s in the kitchen,’ she said. ‘Come in.’
In the hallway she bent towards her son and whispered something to him. He responded by disappearing through an open doorway on the right. Temple peered in and saw that it was the living room.
The bright, modern decor of the house surprised Temple. He had been expecting the interior to be old and gloomy – like any stereotypical ‘haunted house’. But the walls looked as though they had recently been painted and the rooms smelled of lemon air freshener.
Jack Keaton was sitting at the kitchen table. He was hunched over a mug of tea or coffee. It looked to Temple as though he had been crying. His eyes were bloodshot, the skin beneath them red and puffy.
‘Hello, Mr Keaton. I’m DCI Jeff Temple. This is my colleague, DI Metcalfe.’
Keaton was tall and lean, with a tanned face and stooped shoulders. He had light brown hair cut short, the grey just finding its way around his ears.
‘Tina’s still missing,’ he said.
Without being asked, Temple pulled out a chair from under the table and sat opposite him. Angel remained standing, her back against the worktop.
‘Actually we didn’t come here to talk about your daughter, Mr Keaton,’ he said. ‘The uniformed officers who were here last night told us she had been in contact with you. That’s why they didn’t feel it necessary to launch an immediate search of the forest.’
‘But I think it is,’ Keaton snapped. ‘My daughter is only fourteen. She’s not safe out there.’
‘Well she probably hasn’t gone far,’ Temple said. ‘I’m sure she’ll be back soon.’
Keaton shook his head. ‘It’s not that simple. She wouldn’t have gone off like that. Not alone and in the dark.’
‘She’s a teenager, Mr Keaton. They can be unpredictable.’
‘This is different. I’m sure it has something to do with all the other crazy things that have happened.’
‘Are you talking about the poltergeist activity you mentioned to the other officers?’
‘I didn’t actually use that word,’ Keaton said. ‘And you’re making us sound like head cases. Some weird shit has happened here.’
Temple did not know what to think. Keaton’s distress seemed genuine enough and he didn’t appear to be on drugs.
‘Why don’t you start by telling me what’s been going on then?’ Temple said. ‘Maybe I can help you make sense of it.’
27
I started at the beginning and told them everything. How we found the dead snake in the bed. The open doors. The bad smell. The voices. The lights. The mess in the kitchen. The text message from Tina. The conversation with Nathan Slade. The fact that my daughter had somehow got out of the house even though the doors had remained locked on the inside.
It took about fifteen minutes, but putting into words everything that had happened served only to increase the sense of despair that was bearing down on me.
The two detectives listened attentively, but I sensed that DCI Temple remained unconvinced. It was the way he looked at me. And the way he asked his questions; his tone conveyed the scepticism he felt, I was sure of it. But the female detective appeared enthralled. She leaned across the table, her eyes dilated, hanging on to my every word.
‘That really is strange,’ she said. ‘I can understand why you’re so upset.’
I watched her boss sit back and clear his throat. I could tell from his eyes that he wasn’t so sympathetic.
‘I agree that what you’ve told us is very odd, Mr Keaton,’ he said. ‘But I’m sure there must be a rational explanation for what’s been happening. There always is.’
‘Don’t you think we’ve racked our brains trying to figure it out?’ I said sharply. ‘My wife and I have never believed in the paranormal. But how else can you explain the lights and the voices?’
Temple shrugged. ‘I can’t explain it, I’m afraid.’
‘Exactly. But what you can do is mount a search of the forest. We need to know what’s happened to Tina.’
‘Is it possible she’s still in the house somewhere?’ he asked. ‘You said the doors and windows were all locked on the inside. Could she be hiding?’
I shook my head. ‘We’ve checked all over. Even the loft. But she’s gone. There’s no trace of her.’
‘Has she ever done this before back home in Texas?’
‘Never.’
‘Has she threatened to?’
I hesitated and he seized on it.
‘So she has threatened to,’ he said.
‘She’s like any teenager, Inspector,’ I said. ‘She can be moody. A couple of times she told us she was going to leave. But of course she never did.’
Temple paused before continuing and I could see that he was choosing his words carefully.
‘Very well, Mr Keaton,’ he said. ‘In view of your concern I’ll arrange for some officers to come and take a formal statement. They can then decide what action to take in respect of your daughter.’
I glared at him. ‘Are you serious? Isn’t that why you’re here?’
‘No it isn’t,’ Temple said. ‘We came to ask you about a separate matter. I did point that out to you when we arrived. But understandably you were anxious to tell us about Tina.’
Now I was even more confused. I drew in a sharp breath. ‘So what the hell did you come to see us about?’
Temple reached into his pocket for his notebook and placed it on the table in front of him. ‘We’d like you to tell us what you know about Genna Boyd,’ he said.
I gave him a blank stare.
‘Who is Genna Boyd?’ I asked.
‘Are you saying that you have never heard of her?’
‘Should I have?’
Nicole reached over and placed a hand on my arm.
‘Isn’t that the name of the girl found murdered on the moor?’ she said.
I felt a prickle of unease. I suddenly recalled seeing Temple on the TV news talking about the murder.
‘That’s right,’ he said. ‘Her body was discovered not two miles from here.’
‘So what’s it got to do with us?’ I asked.
‘We believe Miss Boyd was murdered four days ago,’ he said. ‘Her mobile phone records reveal that the last call she made was to your home phone number in Houston.’
I stared at the detective, slack-jawed, unable to move.
You have to stay away from this place … Your family will not be safe here … Please cancel your plans and go on holiday somewhere else …
The girl’s voice boomed inside my head. I felt a sheen of sweat accumulate on my face.
‘Do either of you remember taking the call?’ Temple asked. ‘It was about midday Texas time. It lasted less than a minute.’
After several long beats I nodded slowly and felt Nicole’s gaze snap on to me.
‘I answered a call from a girl – or young woman,’ I said. ‘Nicole was out at the time. The girl didn’t give her name. The line was pretty bad so she said she would ring back and hung up. But she didn’t call back. I decided not to tell anyone because I thought it was probably a prank. So I pushed it from my mind.’
Temple scowled at me, his lips pursed together.
‘Did you not wonder how she knew you were coming here?’
‘A lot of people knew we were coming here,’ I said. ‘Colleagues at the office and our neighbours. It wasn’t a secret.’
‘So what did she want?’
I glanced at Nicole and a shudder of guilt ran through me.
‘She told me that we should cancel our holiday,’ I said. ‘She said we should stay away from this house. That if we came here my family would not be safe.’
Nicole’s head reared back. ‘My God, why didn’t you tell me? I don’t believe it. You were actually warned that something would happen if we came here?’
I blinked uncomfortably. ‘But I thought it was a practical joke. That maybe someone at the office was trying to be funny. The girl didn’t elaborate before hanging up and when she didn’t ring back I decided not to take it seriously.’
My wife’s body trembled, her eyes watered and she seemed poised to explode. I reached for her hand but she snatched it away from me.
‘You lied to me, Jack. Again. You said you’d told me everything.’
‘I’m sorry. I thought it would worry you unnecessarily.’
‘That’s a feeble excuse. I might have decided we should heed her warning, however vague it was. Then we wouldn’t have come here and been plunged into this awful fucking nightmare.’
I felt my heart slump, tried to hold down my emotions. She was right, of course, and the litany of guilt was gnawing at my gut. Tina was missing because of me. Our lives had been ravaged because I had made a terrible mistake. If only I had tried to find out who the caller was. If only I’d told Nicole. If, if, if …
‘I’d like to know exactly what Genna Boyd told you, Mr Keaton,’ Temple said. ‘I realize it was a brief conversation and so it’s important that you try to remember as much as possible.’
It was hard to concentrate. I closed my eyes, tried to empty my mind and focus on the call. But Tina’s face kept intruding, causing me to falter.
‘I asked her who she was and she told me that her name was not important,’ I said. ‘She then said I should take my family on holiday somewhere else. That it wouldn’t be safe in this house. She said I would regret it if I didn’t do it. But the signal was awful so she told me she would ring back. But I heard no more.’
‘This might sound like a silly question, but have you any idea what she meant?’ Temple asked.
‘Not at all. Like I said, I thought it was someone’s idea of a joke.’
‘It’s strange that her body was found not far from the house she warned you not to come to.’
I nodded. ‘And stranger still that she knew that bad things were going to happen to us.’
‘How much do you know about Miss Boyd?’
I shrugged. ‘Absolutely nothing – except what we heard on the news.’
‘So you weren’t aware that she appeared in pornographic films?’
‘Of course not,’ I said, shocked. ‘Why would I know something like that?’
‘Her films and photos are on the internet and we suspect they’ve been seen by millions of men around the world.’
‘And you think I’m one of them?’
‘Are you?’
‘Of course not. I haven’t looked at porn on the web since I was at college.’
Temple made a note. ‘So you have no idea why she called or even how she knew you were coming to this house on your holiday?’
‘I wish I did, but I don’t.’
Temple fell silent as he thought about everything I had told him, his face inscrutable.
I looked at Nicole. She was now standing over by the sink, her hip against the counter, watching me. I could tell she was still furious but she was managing to control it.
Temple then asked if they could look around the house. I escorted them. They checked all the exterior doors and windows. They found nothing untoward. I showed them the spare bedroom where we found the dead snake and the en-suite bathroom where I heard the toilet flush. Finally, back downstairs, Temple asked us some more general questions about ourselves and made notes. He wanted to know about Nicole’s life in the area before she moved to the States. He wanted details about my law firm and about Tina and Michael.
Temple then explained that they would talk to the uniform division about Tina. They would also be tracking down Nathan Slade and they agreed to keep us informed of any progress.
‘We will probably want to talk to you both again,’ Temple said. ‘If you decide to move to a hotel then contact me.’ He placed his card on the table.
The next thing that happened I didn’t see coming. As I walked towards the front door with the two detectives, my cell phone bleeped with an incoming message. I whipped it out of my pocket, looked at it, said, ‘Sweet Jesus. It’s from Tina.’
All four of us stood in a huddle in the hallway as I opened up the message. It read:
Don’t involve the friggin’ police, Pops. I’ll come back when I’m ready.
28
Temple studied the couple’s reaction to the text message. It seemed to him to be a mixture of relief and bewilderment.
‘I don’t get it,’ Keaton said, his brow knitted. ‘This is beyond weird.’
‘But at least we now know that she’s OK,’ his wife said. ‘Thank God.’
Keaton immediately tried to phone his daughter, but the call did not go through.
‘She’s already switched the damn phone off,’ he said.
Temple asked to look at the message so Keaton handed over his phone.
‘Is this the sort of language your daughter would use?’ Temple asked.
Keaton nodded. ‘She calls me Pops. And the word “friggin” has become part of her vocabulary this past year. We pick her up on it but she insists it’s not a swear word.’
‘Sounds to me like she’s in a huff. Are you sure she wasn’t upset over something?’
‘We’re positive,’ Keaton said. ‘She was fine when she went to bed. In fact we were all so tired I’m surprised she woke up at all during the night.’
Temple handed the phone back.
‘She might have gone outside to work off steam,’ he said. ‘In all probability she didn’t go far and is watching the house. Maybe from the woods at the back. That might be how she knows we’re here.’
Keaton did not seem convinced. ‘It doesn’t explain how she got out of the house when the doors were still locked.’
‘Well maybe there’s a hidden door or window somewhere.’
‘I don’t think so, Inspector. Even if there were I don’t see how Tina would have known about it.’
Temple glanced at his watch, said, ‘Look, the text you just received should ease your mind somewhat. Hopefully Tina will turn up soon and she’ll be able to explain how she got out and why she went.’
He made a note of their contact numbers and took the number Keaton had for Nathan Slade.
‘We’ll be in touch,’ he said. ‘And be sure to let us know when your daughter comes back.’
The two detectives then showed themselves out. They left the Keatons standing in the hallway looking tired and shell-shocked.
‘This is turning into one of the strangest cases I’ve ever worked on,’ Temple said when he and Angel were in the car and driving away from King’s Manor. They had sparked up cigarettes and were blowing smoke out of the open windows. ‘I mean, what are we supposed to make of all that?’
‘I know one thing,’ Angel said. ‘You couldn’t pay me to spend a night in that place. Not after hearing about all those eerie things that have happened.’
‘So you don’t think they’re making all or some of it up?’ Temple said.
‘No I don’t. Why would they?’
‘Who knows? But I do know we’ve spent nearly an hour inside and nothing seemed to be out of kilter. No doors flew open and the lights didn’t keep going on and off.’
Temple, who was driving, slowed the car to let a couple of New Forest ponies cross the track in front of them.
