Page 8 of Kindred Spirits at Harling Hall (Ghosts of Rowan Vale #1)

8

I didn’t get much sleep that night either.

After breakfast the following day, we trudged around the supermarket, Immi putting things in the trolley that normally I would have taken straight back out again. She was clearly taking advantage of my distracted manner, as I only realised when the woman at the checkout announced the total price, which was a good fifteen pounds more than usual.

Mind you, a bit later in the day, I was quite glad she’d tricked me, as I sat at the table drinking endless mugs of coffee and munching my way through a multipack of salt and vinegar crisps.

Comfort food. That was my excuse anyway, and lord knows I needed comfort. I had to say something. I couldn’t stand the not knowing any longer.

‘Is it okay if I go round to Violet’s?’

I blinked, realising Immi had entered the kitchen without me even noticing. Her gaze fell on the empty crisp packets, and she gave me a hard stare worthy of Paddington Bear.

‘You’ve eaten all those?’

‘I was hungry,’ I said, embarrassed. Bloody hell, I’d eaten six bags of crisps! How had that happened?

‘They were supposed to be for both of us,’ she said accusingly.

‘I’m sure you won’t starve,’ I reassured her. ‘Especially given the number of biscuits and bars of chocolate you must have added to the trolley when I wasn’t looking, though how they came to fifteen pounds, I don’t know.’

‘Check your receipt,’ she said.

‘I would, but funnily enough, it’s gone missing. And don’t think I didn’t notice the comic you sneaked in that added another four quid to the bill.’

‘I didn’t sneak it in,’ she said indignantly. ‘I asked you and you said it was okay.’

‘I’m sure I didn’t.’

‘You said, “Whatever”,’ she told me. ‘If that doesn’t mean it’s okay, I don’t know what does.’

‘Immi,’ I said tentatively, ‘we need to talk.’

‘Uh-oh.’ She plopped onto the chair opposite me and folded her arms. ‘What have I done now? If it’s the sticker book?—’

‘What sticker book?’

She puffed out her cheeks. ‘Nothing.’

Even when she was fibbing to me, she was adorable. A little cherub with two auburn pigtails, rosy cheeks, and big, hazel eyes which everyone said were just like mine. I knew she was the double of me when I was little because I had a photo of myself, aged five, with my mum that proved it. I’d always been secretly relieved that Immi had taken after me, rather than her feckless so-called father. Now, though, I wondered if it would have been better if she’d inherited more of his genes. She might have been spared this curse.

‘Is there – is there anything you want to tell me?’ I asked hopefully, thinking how marvellous it would be if she just admitted it all, meaning I wouldn’t have to make my own confession that I was nothing more than a despicable spy.

She frowned. ‘Like what?’

‘Like – I don’t know.’ I shrugged. ‘You just seem a bit odd lately. Ever since we got back from Rowan Vale, in fact. Did something happen there?’ I hesitated. ‘Something – unusual?’

‘Nope.’ She gave me an innocent look.

‘Are you sure?’ I asked. ‘Really sure? You know you can tell me anything, don’t you? I mean, you can trust me. You do know that?’

‘I think,’ she said shrewdly, ‘that it’s you who’s got something to say, so why don’t you just say it?’

If only it were that easy! How did I put this to her calmly, gently, in a non-judgemental way, without scaring her to death or making her feel abnormal?

‘Did you see a ghost at Rowan Vale?’

Oh, well done, Callie! You couldn’t have been more tactful, could you?

Immi gaped at me. ‘Why would you ask me that?’

‘Lucky guess?’ I ventured hopefully. ‘Okay, okay. I heard you and Violet talking yesterday. I heard what you said about the American woman who turned black and white, and that you knew how she’d died.’

‘You were spying on me?’ she gasped.

‘Not really,’ I began, but the protest died on my lips. ‘Yes. Yes, I was. I’m shameless. But that’s not the point.’

‘Mum, that’s so wrong!’ she cried. ‘You just said I could trust you, but you listen to my private conversations. You’d kill me if I did that to you.’

‘You do do that to me,’ I reminded her wryly. How many times had Mel and I caught her and Violet trying to listen in on our talks? I couldn’t even count them.

‘When I was a kid,’ she said dismissively.

‘You’re still a kid,’ I said.

‘I’m eleven!’

‘You’re ten.’

‘Eleven in June! I’m going up to high school in September. You have to start treating me like an adult.’

‘Okay,’ I said, humouring her. ‘If that’s the case then you should start acting like one, and that means being honest with me. Did you or did you not see a ghost at Rowan Vale? Just tell me.’

‘I’m not sure you could handle it if I did,’ she said. ‘Violet reckons you’d lose the plot if you found out that?—’

‘Never mind what Violet says,’ I told her firmly. ‘She doesn’t know me anyway, and you can’t keep something as huge as this from your own mother. It’s – it’s mental cruelty.’

Immi considered the matter, her teeth nipping at her lower lip as she obviously tried to decide if it was safe to confide in me.

‘Okay,’ she said at last. ‘But don’t go off on one, okay? Yes, I did see a ghost at Rowan Vale. She spoke to me.’ Her eyes shone with sudden excitement. ‘She’s the first American I’ve ever met! She was well cool.’

I noticed that she hadn’t said the American was the first ghost she’d ever met.

‘Have you – I mean, is that the first time…’ My voice trailed off. I couldn’t bring myself to ask her.

‘The first time I’ve seen a ghost?’ Immi looked at me with some concern. ‘You’re not going to be weird about this, are you, Mum? I know it must be scary for you, but the truth is, I’ve seen quite a few. Always have done, ever since I can remember. But it’s okay,’ she added hastily as she grabbed my hand and squeezed it reassuringly. ‘They never hurt me. They just want to talk, that’s all. It’s not like you’d see on a horror film.’

‘How would you know what you’d see on a horror film?’ I asked automatically. My mind was reeling, not only from the fact that my little girl had been seeing ghosts all these years without me even knowing, but that she was so matter-of-fact about it. She wasn’t worried at all. In fact, judging by the gleam in her eye she was quite proud of it.

‘Oh pur-lease.’ Immi rolled her eyes. ‘Anyway, at least you’re not freaking out, which is something. Violet’s mum said you would.’

‘Violet’s mum ?’ I squeaked. I couldn’t deny that hurt. ‘Why did you tell her and not me?’

And just who had Violet’s mum told? Did this entire town think my daughter was insane?

Immi held up her hands. ‘I didn’t! It happened by accident. I think I was about six at the time, though I can’t really remember. I saw one at the park. A ghost, I mean. An old man with holes in his boots and a dirty old coat. I felt sorry for him, and I asked Violet’s mum if we could give him some of the sandwiches we’d brought for our picnic, but she gave me a proper funny look and said it was time to go home. She said I was a weird little thing.’

‘Did she indeed?’ I said tightly. ‘Nice of her to tell you that.’

‘ Well .’ Immi fidgeted a little. ‘She said it to Violet’s dad really, but I heard her.’

‘You heard her?’ I eyed her suspiciously. ‘Were you spying on them?’

Her rosy cheeks turned a darker shade of pink. ‘I wanted to know what had bothered her so much, but as it turned out she was laughing. She wasn’t horrible or anything. She just didn’t believe me. He said it was like something from a Netflix film and was she going to tell you about it, but Violet’s mum said no because it might freak you out and why do that to you? I obviously just had a vivid imagination.’

‘Are you sure?’ I felt weak with relief.

‘Positive. She told Violet’s dad I had my head in the clouds, and he said not to worry, and that I’d grow out of it. Most weird little kids did. Mum, I’m not weird,’ she added urgently. ‘Honest, I’m not. And I don’t usually tell people about it because they only say I’m lying when I do, but I did tell Violet, and she believes me. She thinks it’s great that I can see ghosts. She wishes she could see them too. Sometimes,’ she added, ‘we go looking for them, just for something to do. Violet wanted us to go to the graveyard, but I told her that’s just daft. There aren’t any ghosts there. People don’t usually die in graveyards, do they, and everyone knows ghosts are stuck where they died.’

I could barely see for tears. ‘Not everyone knows that, sweetheart, but I know you’re not weird. The truth is—’ I swallowed, aware that she might look at me very differently from now on, but that I couldn’t leave her thinking she was the only one this had ever happened to. ‘The truth is, when I was a little girl, I saw ghosts, too, and your grandparents couldn’t deal with that. They made me stay quiet about it, and over time, I stopped seeing them…’

Until I’d gone to Rowan Vale, and something had reawakened the ability in me.

‘You saw ghosts?’ she asked incredulously. ‘Really?’

‘Really.’ I smiled, seeing the amazement in her eyes. ‘The first one I ever remember was a little boy called David.’

For the next half hour, we sat together, munching on Jammie Dodgers and telling each other about some of the ghosts we’d seen over the years.

‘It’s so sad,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘Why did you stop seeing them? I won’t stop seeing them, will I?’

‘Don’t you want to?’ I asked, surprised.

She raised her eyebrows. ‘Why would I want to? It’s great! Not many people get to talk to ghosts, do they? I love it.’

‘But some people wouldn’t…’ I paused, not sure how to phrase it.

‘I know. I get it. They’re just jealous, you know.’

I almost laughed. ‘Jealous?’

‘Of course! They’d love to see ghosts and they can’t. It must suck.’ She put a hand to her mouth and stared at me in horror. ‘Sorry, Mum! I totes forgot that you can’t see them any more. Oh, I hope that doesn’t happen to me!’

Unfortunately, I didn’t think it would. Immi had embraced her ability to see the ghosts, not pushed it away and pretended it wasn’t real. I’d crushed my ‘gift’, whereas she’d allowed hers to flourish. She wouldn’t go the way I had. Not unless she felt forced to.

‘Rowan Vale,’ I said slowly.

‘Isn’t it a great place?’ She sighed. ‘Honest, Mum, the place is full of ghosts! I mean, I only spoke to the American lady, but I could see others. There were even some mingling with the staff on the station platform. I knew as soon as I got off the train that I was in for a treat.’

‘You knew even then?’ I asked, amazed. ‘But you looked so – so…’ I’d been about to say normal, but how would that sound?

Luckily, she understood what I meant. ‘I’ve learned to put on an act,’ she confessed. ‘How else was I going to keep it from you? I’m good at it. Violet says it’s called a poker face. It’s something her dad’s always wishing he had, apparently.’

‘You are good at it,’ I told her. ‘Worryingly so. But how can you tell which ones are ghosts?’

She shrugged. ‘I just can. There’s a feeling you get when you look at them. Don’t you remember?’

‘Like ice running up your arms and along your shoulders and neck,’ I said.

She grinned. ‘Yes, exactly!’

‘And you get that feeling straight away?’

‘Pretty much. Oh, Mum, I’m so sad you can’t see them any more!’

I wasn’t sure what to do. Should I admit that my so-called gift seemed to have returned? Or was it better to stay quiet? But then, would it be fair to leave Immi feeling so isolated in all this? She needed a friend and ally. However I felt about the ghosts, I didn’t want my daughter to feel she couldn’t talk to anyone about them, and having someone in the same position she was in must surely help her.

I took a steadying breath. ‘Thing is, Immi – thing is, I seem to have got the sight back.’

She gave a squeal of joy. ‘When? How? Tell me!’

Reluctantly, I told her what had happened to me when we’d visited Rowan Vale, and when it came to the part about Sir Lawrence and his offer, she nearly fell off her chair in excitement.

‘We can move to Rowan Vale? To live in that big house? When? OMG, this is brilliant ! I can’t wait!’

I felt a pang of guilt, seeing the shine in her hazel eyes and the wide smile on her face, knowing that we wouldn’t be moving anywhere.

I did it for the best. She deserves a normal life.

‘You’d have to leave your school,’ I reminded her hopefully. Maybe that would put her off.

She didn’t miss a beat. ‘So what? I’m leaving anyway in July, aren’t I? There’ll be loads of people at my secondary school that I won’t know, so what’s the difference if I start a new one somewhere else?’

‘But you wouldn’t see Violet,’ I pointed out. ‘She’s your best friend.’

‘Mum, there’s Snapchat,’ she said, with all the patience of a young person talking to someone in their dotage. ‘I’ll message her every day. And she can visit, can’t she? She’d love it there. And it’s not like there won’t be room!’ She gave a yelp of excitement. ‘Harling Hall! It’s massive, isn’t it? We saw it on the website at school. Oh, it’s going to be awesome! When are we going?’

I stared at her in dread. How on earth did I break the news to her that I’d turned down the opportunity, and that we wouldn’t be moving anywhere?

There was a knock on the door, and I was so relieved to have some extra time to think of a way to break it to her gently that I leapt up and practically ran down the hall.

All thoughts of Immi flew from my mind, though, as I opened the door and saw who was standing on the outside landing.

Brodie gave me what, in his mind, probably passed for a smile.

‘Miss Chase.’

I stepped back in shock. ‘Bro— I mean, Mr Davenport.’

‘May I come in?’

I looked wildly round, wondering if Immi had followed me. The last thing I needed was for her to hear about me declining the job from him. I needed to find a way to tell her gently.

‘It’s not convenient,’ I said. ‘And how did you know where I lived anyway?’ I added, as the thought suddenly occurred to me.

‘With surprisingly little effort,’ he said ruefully. ‘You really need to have a word with that teacher, Mr Gaskill. But – look, are you sure I can’t come in? Just for ten minutes.’

I closed my eyes as I heard Immi say, ‘Who is it, Mum?’

Slowly, I turned around and saw her standing behind me, her gaze fixed on Brodie. I turned to him, hoping to give him some sort of signal to push off as now really wasn’t the time, but he wasn’t looking at me. To my amazement, he smiled at Immi. A proper, warm smile that made his blue eyes twinkle. Not the forced rictus grin he’d given me.

‘Hello,’ Immi said.

‘Hello.’ Brodie gave me an enquiring look and I cleared my throat.

‘Mr Davenport, this is my daughter, Imogen. Immi, this is Mr Davenport.’

‘From Rowan Vale?’ Immi cried, clearly excited. ‘Are you here about the job? When are we moving there?’

Brodie, unsurprisingly, looked baffled.

I sighed. ‘You’d better come in then,’ I said, realising the jig was up. I stepped aside and let him in, blushing fiercely as Immi led him through to the kitchen, instead of the living room, which meant the first thing he saw was six crumpled crisp bags and an empty Jammie Dodgers packet lying on the table.

‘Take a seat,’ I said, hastily gathering up the evidence and dumping it in the bin.

‘Are we really moving into Harling Hall?’ Immi asked, before the poor man had even settled himself. She plonked herself into the chair next to his, her eyes shining.

Brodie glanced up at me. ‘You’ve changed your mind? You’ve decided to take up Grandpa’s offer after all?’

Immi stared at me. ‘You turned it down?’

‘I was coming to that bit,’ I said weakly. ‘I just hadn’t had the chance before Mr Davenport knocked on the door.’

‘Mum, why would you do that?’ she demanded, the anguish in her face almost too much to bear.

‘Because of the ghosts,’ I mumbled. ‘Because I wanted you to live a normal life. Because I didn’t want you to know I was… strange.’

‘You think I’m strange?’ she asked, sounding hurt.

‘Of course not! That’s different.’

‘I don’t see how,’ she said, and to be honest, she had a point.

I turned to Brodie, eager to halt that line of conversation. ‘What are you doing here, Mr Davenport?’

‘Well, what do you think? I came here to ask you if there was any possibility of you changing your mind.’ He looked doubtfully from me to Immi. ‘Is there?’

‘Yes!’ she squealed, then turned to me. ‘Mum, please . Please say yes.’

‘It’s out of the question,’ I said wearily. ‘We’d have to find you a new school for starters, and what would we tell everyone?’

‘You wouldn’t have to tell them anything,’ Immi said.

‘I think people would notice if we moved to the Cotswolds,’ I pointed out. ‘What am I supposed to say to Violet’s mum for a start? “You won’t have to look after Immi any more because I’m giving up my flat and my job and dragging her to the countryside so I can talk to ghosts for a living.” You must be joking.’

‘Tell her you’ve got a different job then,’ Immi pleaded. She turned to Brodie. ‘Tell her, Mr Davenport!’

‘Well…’ Brodie seemed nonplussed by the situation, and clearly wasn’t sure how to handle it. ‘The thing is, Miss Chase?—’

‘Callie,’ I said. ‘Just call me Callie.’

‘Okay, Callie it is. Well, the thing is, you’re very much needed at Rowan Vale.’

‘You’ve changed your tune,’ I said suspiciously. ‘You couldn’t have made it more obvious last week that you didn’t want me there.’

‘No, well.’ He looked embarrassed. ‘Look, I’m not going to pretend I’m thrilled about the situation, but can you blame me? Rowan Vale is my home, and my inheritance, but thanks to a twist of fate, it’s all going to be taken away from me and given to a perfect stranger.’

I couldn’t deny he had good reason to want me gone. ‘So why are you here then?’

‘I love my grandpa,’ he said heavily. ‘He’s everything to me, and it’s awful to see him so worried and stressed about the future of the village. I’d do anything to put his mind at rest, including tracking you down to beg you to change your mind, even though it sticks in my throat.’

‘Wow,’ I said. ‘Charming. How could I refuse an offer like that?’

‘I’m sorry. It’s nothing personal.’

‘Mum, how would you feel if it happened to you?’ Immi demanded. ‘Give the guy a break.’

I made a mental note to stop her watching so many precocious children on YouTube.

‘That might be true,’ I said, ‘but he ought to bear in mind that if it wasn’t for a similar twist of fate, the Davenports wouldn’t have owned the estate in the first place.’

Brodie hesitated. ‘You’re right,’ he said at last. ‘I never thought of it that way before.’

‘Yes, well.’ I folded my arms, not sure how to react to his almost instant capitulation. ‘Now you have, so think on.’

‘The fact is,’ he continued, ‘you were the only person we’d found who could see all the ghosts, and believe me, we’ve been looking for long enough.’

Immi waved her hand in the air as if he were her teacher and she knew the answer to a particularly difficult question. ‘ I can see them!’ she whooped. ‘I’ll buy the estate if Mum doesn’t want it. It’s my birthday in June and I’m bound to get a tenner off Violet’s mum. I always do.’

Brodie laughed, and I marvelled at how much nicer he looked when he wasn’t being all sullen and miserable. The change didn’t last long, though, as he looked at me through narrowed eyes.

‘I thought you told Grandpa she didn’t have the gift,’ he said, a note of accusation in his voice.

‘She didn’t know,’ Immi told him immediately. ‘We only found out about each other just before you arrived.’

‘Seriously?’ He looked from one to the other of us as if he wasn’t quite sure whether to believe her or not. ‘Well, er… I can see why you said now wasn’t convenient.’

‘It is convenient,’ Immi told him. ‘It means Mum can say yes with me as a witness.’ She folded her arms and gave me a smug look. ‘Doesn’t it, Mum?’

‘You’re supposed to be back at school in a week,’ I said faintly. ‘And I’d have to give notice on the flat, and at my job.’

‘All perfectly simple, I’d have thought,’ Brodie said. ‘There are schools near Rowan Vale, you know. In fact, there’s a primary school in a nearby village called Kingsford Wold, and a secondary school just a few miles away in Chipping Royston.’

‘I haven’t got a car. How am I supposed to get her there?’

‘Can you drive?’

‘Well, yes, but?—’

‘Then we’ll get you a car,’ Brodie promised.

‘I thought cars were banned?’

‘Not for locals. I’ll explain how it works if you say yes.’

‘Wow, you’re not making this easy, are you?’

‘It’s meant to be,’ Immi said. ‘Please, please say yes!’

‘I must say,’ Brodie admitted, ‘I’m amazed you haven’t jumped at the chance.’ He glanced around my little kitchen and my hackles rose.

‘You mean because I obviously live in such squalor?’

‘I never said that,’ he replied mildly. ‘I just know from experience that Harling Hall’s an amazing place to grow up. There isn’t a garden here, is there? At the Hall, she’d have acres of space to run around in.’

‘And all those ghosts to talk to,’ I said sharply.

‘Oh, not this again. I thought we’d got past all that,’ Immi said, talking to me like I was the child and she the parent. ‘They need us. How can we turn our backs on them? Besides, I like talking to ghosts. Didn’t you used to like it once? What about David?’

‘I can barely remember him,’ I said, but it wasn’t quite true. Now that I’d started to think about him again, I could remember him a bit more clearly. Not that I could recall any of the conversations we’d had, but I knew we’d had some, and I remembered how happy I used to be to see him. I’d never once felt scared of him. He was my friend. Is that how Immi saw all ghosts?

‘What if it doesn’t work out?’ I asked desperately. ‘What if I mess it all up and then you find someone else who’d be much better at the job? I don’t want to turn our lives upside down then get the sack. Where would we go? I’ve my daughter’s security to think of.’

‘Miss Chase – Callie.’ Brodie rubbed his forehead. ‘This isn’t a job you’re being offered. My grandfather made it very clear. You would own the estate, lock, stock and barrel. No one could kick you out. And with Immi here having the gift, it seems your daughter’s future would be secure, too, as it would pass directly to her.’

‘You mean I’d own the estate and village one day?’ Immi’s eyes widened in excitement.

‘Don’t sound too pleased. I’d have to die first,’ I reminded her.

‘I don’t want that to happen,’ she said solemnly, ‘but it does mean I could help the ghosts too. They’d have someone to talk to for a long time with the two of us there, wouldn’t they? That’s the important thing.’

She put me to shame. I had to admit, if only to myself, that I hadn’t given the plight of the ghosts much thought. If – when – Lawrie’s time came, they’d have no one who could communicate with them. No anchor in the living world. No one to make sure there was a place for them where they could be comfortable and make their voices heard. It had all been about me and Immi. Maybe, at a push, I’d considered Sir Lawrence, but the ghosts themselves… They must be worried, too, even if Agnes had a funny way of showing it. Agnes!

‘Lord, I’d have to share a house with Agnes,’ I said, thinking aloud.

Brodie laughed again. ‘She can’t be that bad,’ he said. ‘Grandpa adores her. Anyway, she’s got a soft spot for children, so I think Immi might be your way to her heart.’

‘And she’s got a daughter,’ I remembered in dismay. ‘I don’t want Immi talking to Florrie. She’s a little minx.’

‘Oh, Mum!’ Immi said scornfully.

‘Are you thinking about it?’ Brodie asked hopefully.

Was I? The thought of committing myself to Rowan Vale terrified me. This would be for the rest of my life, and what did I know about running an estate? Let alone a living history village complete with ghosts. Funnily enough, there hadn’t been a course on that sort of thing at the local college.

‘Mum?’ Immi asked hopefully.

‘Your life will all be about… them, ’ I murmured. ‘It’s not fair on you. I just want you to have a?—’

‘Don’t say normal again,’ she begged. ‘I am normal. This is normal. For us anyway.’

‘I don’t think you appreciate what you’ve got,’ Brodie said roughly. ‘I’d give anything to be able to see the ghosts. Anything.’ He shook his head, as if dismissing that clearly painful train of thought. ‘Look, do you really think I’d be here begging you to take my inheritance for a measly ten pounds if I wasn’t seriously worried? Rowan Vale needs you, Callie. I hate to admit it, but it’s true.’

I had no idea what to say to such a heartfelt plea.

‘And—’ Brodie took a deep breath. ‘If it helps, I’m sorry. Really sorry for the way I behaved when you were at the house. I was petulant and childish, and I truly apologise.’

Oh crikey! Don’t look at me like that. How am I supposed to think straight with you looking at me with those puppy-dog eyes?

But he sounded genuine, and as Immi held her breath waiting for my answer, I simply didn’t have any more ammunition.

‘Well…’ I ran a hand through my hair and gave a half-laugh, born as much from panic as joy. ‘Then I guess I’ll transfer that ten pounds to Sir Lawrence.’

Immi squealed with joy and Brodie got to his feet and held out his hand.

‘Thank you, Callie,’ he said as I shook it. ‘I’m sure you won’t regret it.’

Yet his expression told me he was already half regretting it himself. He was smiling at an ecstatic Immi, but I could tell he was feeling pretty low about having to say goodbye to the family estate, and how could I blame him for that? I just hoped he was right that I wouldn’t regret it. For all our sakes.