A House of Ghosts by W. C. Ryan

Author:W. C. Ryan [W. C. Ryan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bonnier Publishing Fiction
Published: 2018-09-09T16:00:00+00:00

32. KATE

Lighthouses, like fishing ports, were a gathering spot for that most despondent company of apparitions – the drowned. And people, it would seem, had been drowning off Blackwater Island for a very long time.

‘Can you really see them?’ Donovan asked, noticing her gaze.

‘Who?’ she said, stepping around a young girl clutching a sodden teddy bear.

‘Ghosts.’

‘Oh. Well, sometimes.’ She really must try to maintain a better front, she thought, as Donovan turned to look at her speculatively.

‘Can you see them now?’

‘Well …’ she began.

‘How many?’

‘A few. Lighthouses are one of those places, you see. Marble Arch is the same. They used to execute people there. And Sloane Square. I’ve no idea why in the case of Sloane Square.’

‘How many?’

She looked around her, making a rough count. ‘Do you really want to know?’

‘You shouldn’t be embarrassed. I think it’s an extraordinary thing.’

He appeared sincere and, against her better judgement, she decided to tell him.

‘Close to a hundred.’

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘I knew you’d think it strange.’

‘Who are they?’

‘The drowned,’ she said, and was annoyed her voice sounded small. ‘I don’t often see them during the day. But it’s the solstice, and this island has always been teeming with them. I suspect there is a reason. I know people were brought here to be buried long before even the Romans came.’

They were at the beginning of the walkway now. Steadying herself against the wind buffeting her, Kate looked down at the black sea, rolling in the promontory’s lee like molten metal. As she watched, a wave surged and spray blasted over them.

‘Perhaps you should stay here, while I go on ahead,’ Donovan said.

‘Certainly not,’ she heard herself say.

‘Well, go first then, so I can keep an eye on you.’

She gripped the railing with both hands and tried not to think about Donovan being behind her, watching.

She saw the wave when it was several hundred yards off shore. It was no more than a swell at that stage, but very large and, with each second, becoming larger. She did her best to keep moving, but it was no use. It was approaching her far faster than she was approaching the lighthouse.

‘Pardon me,’ she heard Donovan shout just before he picked her up and threw her over his left shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

‘Put me down!’ she demanded as he raced briskly and sure-footedly to the lighthouse. He placed her down in its lee and they stood and watched as the wave broke where she would have been. The noise was tremendous, and even though they were protected from its force by the building, the mist thrown up by the spray was enough to leave her face streaming with salt water.

‘Perhaps we could have held on,’ she said in a quiet voice.

‘Perhaps.’ He held up the key to the lighthouse. ‘In the meantime …’

Inside, Donovan paused and held up a hand to stop her coming in further. He removed a pistol from the pocket of his jacket. It was a cold grey and glinted in the half-light of the lighthouse’s interior.

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