Page 48 of The Peculiar Incident at Thistlewick House

Edward again experienced the simple joy of watching Mallory’s domestic routine as she prepared breakfast, before they headed over to the doctor’s house.

As an adolescent, he’d believed love would be dramatic and colourful, and in some ways, his love for Emma had been like that.

A week of theatre shows and fine dining, the buzzing city and the company of smartly dressed, well-educated individuals.

But, here with Mallory, he knew that this cosy feeling of being loved, of existing alongside another human being with no expectations on either side, was what made a bowl of plain porridge taste so inexplicably heavenly, and that being with her in this tiny cottage, for all its smell of cheap tallow and damp walls, was the only place he wanted to be.

Then he smiled to himself as he recalled their activities of the night before and forced himself to be honest. Perhaps it was also the sex.

It was late morning before they stepped from her front door and he reached for her hand, wrapping his wide fingers around hers.

‘Someone might see,’ she said, looking nervously about.

Reluctantly, he let her hand drop.

They walked through the woods, all traces of the heavy fog now gone, and ventured up the lane to Dr Appleby’s house.

Miss Cleyford answered the door, wearing a long white apron, and nodded nervously at the woman she believed to be Maude Grimmer.

She noticed Edward’s bandage. Mallory had reapplied it that morning to incorporate his wig.

‘Mr Blackmore, what on earth’s happened to your head?’

‘Someone wants me dead and I was shot at yesterday. Things are getting serious and we need your help.’

‘The doctor isn’t in.’

‘It’s his father we’ve come to see,’ Edward said. ‘How is he?’

‘I’m surprised he’s still here, to be honest. His breathing seems remarkably improved this morning but he’s more muddled than before.

He’s talking of circles of salt and poisoned wine.

’ Mallory and Edward exchanged a glance.

‘The influenza has really taken hold in the village now. Several of the children from the school have come down with it, and my own mother – who was not in the best of health before. I’m running backwards and forwards between my house and the doctor’s. It’s exhausting.’

‘Can we see him, please?’ Edward asked.

Miss Cleyford threw another anxious look at the woman by his side. ‘You must know that influenza patients are isolated to stop the spread of the disease. I can’t let either of you near him, I’m afraid.’

‘Please?’ Edward begged. ‘We’ll keep our distance. I have questions, and there are things I need to explain to him, and to you. Things you won’t believe. But it’s all connected to the circus that came to Thistlewick when you were a child, and the young woman you befriended.’

‘Mallory?’ Her voice was a whisper. Edward nodded, and felt Mallory stiffen beside him.

‘Has your patient mentioned any names that sound as though they might be from the circus handbill you showed me?’

The older woman frowned and then gave a cautious nod, perhaps now realising the significance of his questions. She pulled back the door to let them in and directed the pair to a room at the back of the house, where the old doctor lay propped up in a small wooden bed.

He turned his face to the visitors, his eyes brighter than Edward remembered.

This was not the confused and frail man of a few short days ago.

Someone else had woken up to find themselves in this worn-out body, and he wondered if they were as scared as Esfir had been.

He needed to break the news as gently as possible, acutely aware that Miss Cleyford was anxiously watching them both and had absolutely no idea what was going on.

‘My name is Edward Blackmore. There’s no need to be alarmed.

I’m a friend and mean you no harm. The year is 1895 and we’re in Thistlewick Tye, a small village on the cliffs of North Norfolk.

If my guess is correct, it will seem only moments ago that you were camped up with the other members of Samson Ballard’s circus, as you stopped here for a couple of weeks to make repairs to your equipment and rest your horses. ’

The old man narrowed his eyes but nodded his head. Sarah couldn’t have looked more astonished if a giraffe had loped into the room.

Mallory took a step forward and continued with the explanation.

‘This happened to me, too. Try not to be frightened but you’ve come back in the body of another.

The troupe was poisoned and later buried at the far edge of the common.

Our bones have fallen into the sea and we’ve risen again, just as Hazibub promised.

Do you remember his curious ritual? We all thought he was talking nonsense as he planted a thumbprint of some bizarre concoction on our foreheads.

I certainly didn’t believe there were any such things as spirits, but he was so worried that we were in danger.

I know what I’m about to say sounds utterly unbelievable but I’m Mallory – the Toad Girl – and I, too, have come back from the dead. ’

There was a thud as Sarah let out a squeal and collapsed into a chair by the wall. The old man nodded and a slow smile crept across his wrinkled face.

‘Goodness me. It worked? Darling child, I am believing every word you say and am so glad to find a friend in this new time.’ He smiled. ‘I was always knowing that spirits could be revived, although it needed a very special kind of magic, for I was the one casting the spell.’

‘Hazibub?’ Mallory’s voice was incredulous.

‘At your service.’ He dipped his head and then stretched his arms out before him and studied the twisted, liver-spotted hands. ‘Although I was hoping for a more youthful vessel,’ he admitted. ‘I appear to have aged considerably overnight.’

Mallory started to walk towards him but Edward grabbed her arm, aware that even if Hazibub’s possession of the old man’s body had seen off the illness, there might still be a lingering miasma in the air.

‘How I’ve missed you. If I could kiss you right now, I would,’ she said. ‘There’s so much to catch up on but, for the moment, trust no one, except Edward and myself. Evil still walks through Thistlewick Tye.’

Hazibub nodded, as Mallory turned her attentions to Sarah, approaching her slowly, head bowed and biting at her lip.

‘I hope we can trust you, also, not to talk about what you’ve heard in this room?

Someone is trying to kill Mr Blackmore; they poisoned his manservant, and are responsible for the death of poor Emma Shaw.

Because it really is me, Sarah; the woman you befriended when you were a child.

The woman you never judged for her unsightly face, and who snuck you into the back of the big tent to watch the circus rehearse.

You gave me a whelk shell, so I could always hear the sea, and I embroidered you a sentiment about friendship, because your acceptance of me meant the world.

I think of you often as I scour the shoreline and cook the bladderwrack or raid the seagull nests for their gamey eggs.

’ She let out a small snort. ‘If only you knew how useful your lessons about scavenging along the foreshore that day have proved to be.’

‘It can’t be…’ Poor Sarah Cleyford looked frightened and hopeful all at once, but Mallory’s words could only be spoken by someone who’d shared those experiences with her.

‘And then that awful night when I returned from the churchyard to find everyone dead. My people were murdered, remember, Sarah? And now, as their bones fall into the sea, they’re rising again.

But, by choosing to bury myself so much nearer to the shore, my grave was exposed four years ago, and I’ve been living as Maude Grimmer ever since. ’

The older woman was deathly white and mouth agape. Edward could see her hands were shaking as she clutched at the arms of the chair she was in. Her eyes started to fill with tears as she looked up at Mallory.

‘Truly?’

‘Truly.’

She got back to her feet and stared at Mallory for a long time, before stretching out her arms so the pair could embrace.

‘Oh, my goodness, I can hardly believe you’re here. My life has been haunted by that week. You opened my eyes to a world of wonder and then the circus was persecuted by people for reasons I couldn’t understand. I grew up overnight and was never quite the same again.’

‘I’m so sorry I asked you to do such a terrible thing. It torments me every waking moment, but I had no one else to ask.’

They pulled back and Edward could see how overjoyed both women were to have found each other again.

‘Don’t apologise. It wasn’t your request that upset me, because I trusted that you’d passed happily and were free of pain.

Instead, I was horrified when you told me that such a wicked crime had been committed – all those people killed – whatever your sins.

And then the following day everyone around me was saying something completely different, and I was so confused.

I went down to your camp, but the circus had gone – not a trace – and I began to wonder if you’d got it wrong.

Perhaps you’d been accidentally left behind and imagined the deaths.

Because, everyone in Thistlewick Tye was so definite, and when adults repeatedly tell you how a thing is, you doubt yourself.

And then forty years later, I heard of the peculiar incident with Emma at Thistlewick House and the consequent arrival of Mr Blackmore, who was asking questions about the bones… ’

‘Oh, Sarah.’

‘So, it was Esfir who came back in Mrs Shaw’s body?’ Miss Cleyford turned to Edward.

‘Esfir? You must be telling me all that has happened,’ Hazibub demanded, his brow wrinkled into a stern frown as he leaned forward.