Liz tried to shake off the weird feeling that was edging into her psyche. It made no sense. The reunion with Katie had been wonderful. In all these years, her old college mate was still fun, leaving Liz rejuvenated with Katie’s sparkle and vitality: so why the unease?
Pushing the feeling aside, she embraced the zany gush that still pumped through her veins and hummed sixties music as she unpacked her overnight bag and filled the washer. Her mind flicked to moments of laughter taken from the previous evening. She made coffee and allowed the tempo to quicken her step, and smiled into the steam wafting from the cup when she reminisced over days of backcombed hair, stiletto heels and eyes caked with thick black kohl.
A loud, assertive rap to the front door changed her mood in an instant.
‘Mrs Atherton?’
‘Yes.’
‘My name is Inspector Hughes of Special Branch,’ Her eyes rested on the warrant card held to her face, ‘and this is Professor Klein. May we come in?’
‘Special Branch?’
His smile held no mirth, ‘Rather pompous I’m afraid, but there it is.’ His head nodded towards the inner hall, ‘Is there somewhere we can talk?’
With reluctance, she led them into the warmth of the kitchen. ‘I’ve made coffee, its only instant bu…’
‘That won’t be necessary, thank you.’
‘I er, I would like a coffee, if it isn’t too much trouble.’ Liz craned her head to view the bespectacled man accompanying the Inspector. Liking him instantly, she pulled a mug from the rack and held up the jar.
‘Strong? Weak?’
‘Two spoonsful please, no milk, no sugar.’
Clearing his throat the Inspector brought tension back to the room. ‘Mrs Atherton, did you travel to Manchester yesterday?’
Liz gave the coffee a stir and carried it to the table. ‘Do sit down,’ she gestured to the captain’s chair, placing a coaster under the Professor’s mug thus ensuring he sat next to her. ‘Yes,’ she answered, ‘I visited an old school friend. What’s this about?’
‘You stayed at the Silver Birch spa?’
‘Yes. Like I said, it was a reunion with an old friend.’
‘Have you stayed there before?’
‘No, she’s been out of touch for a long time. Nearly forty years.’ She caught the glint the two men passed to each other, ‘Did I say something wrong?’
‘The hotel management has made a complaint.’
‘What: about Katie and I laughing? Oh come on, the room is huge, we didn’t make that much noise and besides, we know there are no other rooms on that landing, so who complained?’
‘How do you know? You said you’ve never stayed there.’
‘Oh it wasn’t a posh Spa in the sixties, all of us, the gang, had Saturday jobs there. That suite we stayed in last night used to be a hair and beauty salon. That was when it was called The Winchester Arms. In those days, all that wing was taken up with the laundry and domestic storage used by the chambermaids.’ Liz placed her cup onto the coaster, ‘Has something happened to Katie?’
‘Katie Ward has been a mystery for years. Professor Klein and I have been assigned to find out more about her.’
Liz turned her attention to the man by her side. ‘Are you working for Special Branch too?’
He shook his head.
‘Professor Klein will interview you shortly. In the meantime, I must clear up one or two anomalies.’
‘Anomalies, well that’ll be Katie all right; there’s nothing straightforward about our Katie. What’s she done now?’
‘You knew she was an activist yes?’
Liz ran her finger round the rim of her cup, ‘She kicked off now and then about how we weren’t looking after the Earth. She fell out with most of the gang about her strong views.’
‘When did you last see her? I mean before the reunion.’
‘In the seventies.’
‘Did you know she was a member of a terrorist party?’
‘Oh get real Inspector. Katie’s anti pollution, that doesn’t make her a terrorist.’
‘We have proof she broke into laboratories, destroyed research work and caused vats of chemicals to be flushed onto open fields. That doesn’t sound like someone who is protecting the Earth, does it?’
‘Katie would never do that.’
‘She would and she did.’ He turned his mobile for Liz to see. ‘The footage is old but that is unmistakably your friend, is it not?’
Liz stared at the image. Watched in horror as Katie directed others along passages leading them to what looked like brewery vats and after instructing them how to turn the polished valves, Liz heard Katie’s jovial laugh when fluid gushed from pipes and tumbled in a torrent across the spotless tiled floor.
‘Katie wanted us to stop using hairsprays, said they let off a gas which went into the Earth’s atmosphere. We didn’t know what she was talking about, not in the seventies, we didn’t.’ Liz wiped the moisture gathering under her eyes. ‘Last night Katie was her old self. I mean before she banged on about unknown gasses, she was a fun-loving girl.’ Liz pushed the mobile back to the Inspector. ‘What’s Katie done?’
‘Miss Ward is dead.’
‘Oh you’ve got it wrong. She is full of life, y’know, she hasn’t aged a minute since we all split up.’
The Inspector stood up, pocketed his phone and turned towards the hallway door. ‘I will leave the Professor to continue this conversation. For research purposes, he will need to record it. I am sure you will comply with his wishes.’ Liz watched Inspector Hughes close the entrance door with practiced hush. Creep, she thought and turned towards Klein, who bided his time, sipping hot coffee without steaming up his glasses.
After several heartbeats the Professor pushed the mug aside, opened his laptop and set up the recording system. ‘What I’m about to tell you will shock. When you know the truth, you will understand our concern.’
Liz gathered her senses. ‘Was Katie killed for her beliefs?’
‘She died for her beliefs.’
‘You mean she committed suicide?’
‘No.’
‘Then what?’
Klein positioned the laptop on the table, reached for his coffee and sat back in the chair. ‘Would you like to make another coffee before we start?’ Liz shook her head. ‘Okay, answer the questions as best as you can. Describe the suite you stayed in last night?’
‘Oh, luxurious, but the food was uneatable. I complained, told them to collect it.’
‘What was wrong with it?’
‘It was rancid and the room was cold – well in parts.’ She shivered, watched him make notes. ‘But the bubbly was good.’
‘Who else was in the room?’
‘Katie and myself.’
‘Thought it was a reunion of old friends?’
Liz let out breath, it trembled with despair, ‘I tried to persuade them, but they were adamant they wanted nothing to do with Katie.’
‘Why?’
‘She sprayed an aerosol into Mick’s face, now he’s partially sighted because of it.’
‘Nice girl.’
‘I know, but he goaded her. She shouldn’t’ve done it, but we were young, and he was being horrible to her.’
‘But the rest of your gang took his side.’
‘Yeh, we all did. After that Katie faded away, we never saw her again. Who killed her?’
‘No one – she broke into one science lab too far.’
‘Is that why you’re here, was it your lab, you being a professor and all that?’
‘I research fringe sciences, the paranormal.’
Liz stood up. ‘Now you’re freaking me out. First you tell me Katie’s into terrorism, and then you say she’s dead and now your going to say she was into witchcraft. I need a drink.’ Liz took a glass from the drainer and poured wine from the fridge into it. She waved the bottle, ‘Sorry, want one?’
Klein shook his head. ‘Another time, perhaps. Tell me, last night, what did Katie look like?’
‘Not a witch.’
‘Describe your friend.’
‘Bubbly, full of life.’
‘Did she stay in one place?’
Liz took another gulp of the wine, considered her words carefully. ‘Katie sat on the chaise her legs curled under her, glass of Champagne in hand. Except for the hair, I’d say she’d not changed at all.’
‘Her hair was different in colour, though not in style?’
‘Yes, she had raven hair, now its white blonde, no – pure white.’
‘Did you know there are sightings of a ghost in that room?’ The unease that had been edging into Liz’s mind since leaving the Spa crept closer; there was something wrong about the suite, really wrong. But the gaiety of the evening masked it, and besides, her wish to see her friend happy took precedence. Klein prompted an answer. ‘Did you hear my question?’
‘Yes, and no, I didn’t know it was haunted. When did Katie die?’
‘Thirty eight years ago.’
Klein helped Liz clean up the shards of debris and spilled wine. They moved into the lounge, fresh glass for her, and hot black coffee for him.
‘Are you ready?’ She nodded and waited until he set up the recording device once more. ‘Your friend cannot find peace. She died under bizarre circumstances.’ He repositioned the laptop a smidgen and settled back against the sofa’s arm. ‘She’s been trying to contact someone for the past decade, possibly longer, and she’s gaining strength with each attempt.’
‘But she looked great: I mean ghosts are meant to look haggard aren’t they?’
His smile was genuine, he loved ghosts, she could tell. ‘There isn’t a typical ghost Mrs Atherton.’
‘Drop the Mrs title, I prefer Liz, my husband’s long gone, and before you ask, he’s stayed gone.’
‘Okay, Liz, my given name is Otto but everyone calls me Klein – or prof.’
‘I’ll call you Klein.’ She took a sip of wine. ‘So, what you’re saying is that Katie’s building up her haunting skills. Is that right?’
‘She’s powerful, probably because of the way she died – that’s why we’re involved, and Special Branch.’
‘Where did she die?’
Air escaped his lungs. ‘I think I would like that drink, after all.’
Liz braced herself, knowing she wasn’t going to like the answer.
~
In the vaults of the maximum-security wing of Cryogenics for Life or CRYX as it is known, the guard does his round. Donned in protective suit and breathing apparatus, he studies the food suspended in the tanks of green liquid, makes notes on the display screen at the foot of each container and, hissing gently, he moves on. Salad, vegetables, fruit and meat are monitored for lack of decay, their prolonged ‘shelf life’ extending into months without the aid of canning, chilling or freezing.
Hidden behind several electronically sealed doors, is a chamber where the guard can only observe, make notes, but never enter.
Trapped inside this chamber, fully clothed in seventies daywear, lies the body of Katie Ward. Frozen in time, she is ageless, with a crystal-coated crowbar held in her right hand: torch in her left. Her eyes are open, mild surprise fills her expression and unseen, deadly gas fills her lungs. The hissing guard makes a brief note, turns to leave, but turns back. Did he notice something different? He blinked and scanned the chamber once more. Satisfied, he continued with his rounds.
~
The professor held her hand, ‘I’m sorry to be the one to tell you.’
‘Don’t be, I’m okay.’ Liz pulled another tissue from the box and dabbed her eyes. ‘You know, she wasn’t daft, what she was saying proved to be true in the end.’ She threw the tissue into the waste bin, pulled another. ‘I told her so, well, I told the ghost about y’know, those cfc’s or whatever being safely removed from old fridges, and cans replaced with pump sprays and stuff.’ Liz sniffed, ‘come to think of it, she took the news well, like it was what she’d been waiting to hear about: good tidings at last. I’d had so much champagne, she’d gone when I awoke.’ Liz looked up. ‘Why you smiling? Have I said something funny?’
–
(c) 2024 Pat Barnett.
