The Ghost House by Phifer Helen

Author:Phifer, Helen [Phifer, Helen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781472018069
Publisher: Carina
Published: 2013-10-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Mary Grieve walked her dog every day at seven in the morning and seven at night, regular as clockwork. She had done for the last five years, since she had been given the puppy as an anniversary present from her late husband. Her grandson had bought her a shiny fuchsia pink iPod shuffle for Christmas and put all of her favourite songs onto it. He even had the words ‘Best Nan xxx’ engraved on the back of it. She didn’t understand how it worked but all the same it was the best piece of modern technology she had ever been bought.

As she passed the old paper mill, dormant for at least forty years, she paused. Spot was acting strange this morning; his hackles rising he began to whine. Pulling her earphones out she looked around. Mary didn’t get scared – well very rarely. She had lived through World War II and a car crash in which her husband had been killed. No, she was a survivor and believed that when your time came that was it and there was nothing you could do about it. She had studied the buildings over the years and had seen it all: smacked up druggies so off their heads that they were asleep in puddles of their own urine; drunken teenagers getting frisky and doing things which made her hair stand on end. And then she saw the girl inside the doorway to one of the buildings and gasped.

‘Hello, lovey, are you OK? I’m going to call an ambulance, you hold on there.’ The lifeless, naked body made Mary sob out loud. As she got nearer to it she knew there was nothing she could do to help this poor girl but she had to keep talking as if there was otherwise for the first time in sixty years she might lose control and that would never do. As she got closer she shuddered at the girl’s open eyes, which stared straight at her. They were locked forever in the nightmare that had ended her life. Her forehead was a mess of grazes and dried blood. Mary took off her jacket and covered the girl as best as she could to give her some dignity. She couldn’t let the poor thing be stared at by every Tom, Dick and Harry. Mary dialled 999. Not sure who to ask for so she asked for all three emergency services.

Will grinned as he squeezed his car into the last free parking space near to the station and then his phone rang. It was a control room operator to tell him that an emergency call had come in from Salthouse Mill’s reporting a dead body.

‘Crap, I’ll be there in a minute.’ He pulled back out and followed the flashing lights of an ambulance and a fire engine to the crime scene, wondering who the hell had phoned the fire service; not much they could do. He parked behind the ambulance and watched the paramedics as they jumped out of it and made their way over to a uniformed officer who must have been first on scene.

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