Jacob. ‘Keep me posted. I’ll see you both later.’ She wanted to call him back, tell him that she needed to speak to him about the letter, but Jacob was waiting.
Gina grabbed her coat from the back of her chair. She popped her phone in her pocket along with all the other rubbish that was building up inside it. ‘That’s all we need. All thanks to Lyndsey. I suppose at least with the public being panicked like this, everyone should be on their guard. It won’t hurt them to be vigilant. Let’s go and find out what our witness has to say. I want to know who Al was arguing with.’
Chapter Sixteen
I ring the bell that dangles from the wall of my cupboard. I stare at the photos on my wall and hit the bell. The ringing takes me back to a time I remember fondly. I fall into my seat and close my eyes as I think back to a time less complicated. I’m there. I can smell and hear everything, just as it was.
As I walk through the workshop, treading in wood shavings, sawdust and random screws, I feel a sense of peace. The click, click, clicking of a staple gun fills my head and the smell of varnish hits the back of my nostrils and throat. I can almost taste it.
I watch as my mother staples the lining into the casket, a deep red satin – like shiny blood. Bespoke and beautiful, she always says.
My mother thinks that the dead have souls and that they watch her while she works on their final resting place. She believes that these souls enter their coffins way before their bodies do. I shiver. I’ve never seen a soul, but you don’t see souls – at least I don’t think you do.
I stare up at the ceiling, imagining that the old man whose coffin my mum is working on is floating above. I trace a shadow with my finger, wondering if that’s him or if it’s just a shadow. It’s nothing. My mother is wrong, I’m sure of it.
I look out of the window and hope that darkness falls quickly. Once it falls, we go home.
The staple gun comes to a stop. ‘Beautiful. Dear Lord, bless this soul.’ She makes the sign of the cross and smiles as she knocks one of the bells that are suspended from a frame behind her.
I’m not sure how I feel about God, about anything spiritual but I copy her and make the sign of the cross. There must be something. There can’t be nothing. I don’t know how I feel about there being nothing. It scares me. My mother always repeats something from the Bible when she’s attempting to ward off evil. ‘Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.’ She smiles at the casket. ‘The devil won’t be devouring you, Mr Appleton.’
I lean back in my chair and stare at the photo in front of me. It’s time to go. I snatch the clapper from the bell, breaking it clean off with my gloved hands. It is now prepared. What do I believe? Like my mother, I believe the devil always prowls and he’s in us all, just waiting to be let out. I never thought I would open the door to the devil but there’s no going back now. I close my eyes and channel my inner roaring lion. I need strength. We are one and the same.
Chapter Seventeen
Gina walked slightly ahead of Jacob on the thin path along the bottom end of George Street. She’d only just managed to slot the car into a space on the road. The old-style lamps flickered as the trees swayed in the wind.
‘Here it is. Number ten.’ A chip wrapper blew past and settled in the gutter next to them.
The three-storey house looked like one from Amityville with its protruding dormer style window coming from the roof. Everything about the house looked rickety and a torn net covered the front window. Gina peered in. There was a light coming from the back of the house.
Jacob knocked the gargoyle tapper. ‘Creepy.’
She had to agree. Ever since they’d found the body, everything felt creepy. A door banged, followed by another as a gust whipped up behind them. The neighbour’s gate continued to creak and crash against the post.
A woman with short, ginger hair and a wide smile answered the door – not what Gina expected. She’d half-expected Lily Munster to answer.
Gina