The House on Cold Hill

17

The heatwave was over and the morning sky was grey and laden with rain. A light drizzle was falling and the wipers, on intermittent, swept it away every thirty seconds or so. He glanced at his daughter, proudly and with deep affection. In her smart uniform, with her hair neatly pulled back into a ponytail, he could see that in a few years’ time she would blossom into a beautiful young woman. And he wondered what kind of boyfriend trouble would then lie in store for him. Her relationship with Ruari amused him; it seemed a kind of innocent puppy-love. But this wasn’t a world where innocence lasted long. He hoped he and Caro could get her childhood to last as long as possible. And she was, at least, a very sensible girl. They’d always talked openly with her, and encouraged her to be open back to them. He tried never to shirk from any question she lobbed at them.

‘Do you believe in ghosts, Dad?’ Jade said suddenly, shaking Ollie out of his troubled thoughts, as they waited in a long line of traffic at roadworks for a temporary traffic light to change. He looked at the car clock, anxious that she would be late.

‘Why?’

She shrugged.

‘Something on your mind?’ He reached out and stroked her hair.

Almost instantly she shook her head, brushing his hand away. ‘Daaaaddd!’

The light changed to green and the traffic began to move. Ollie put the Range Rover into ‘drive’ and they inched forward. ‘Why did you ask about ghosts? Do you believe in them?’

She looked down at her phone for some moments, then stared ahead, through the windscreen, playing with the strap on her bag. ‘Phoebe was pranking with me last night, she really freaked me out.’

‘How come?’

‘I was on FaceTime chatting to her, she was just being silly.’

‘What was she doing?’

‘She told me she could see Gran standing behind me, in my room.’

‘Gran?’

‘She wasn’t here last night, was she?’

He thought for some moments before replying. Wondering, remembering the first Sunday night when Jade had asked if her grandmother had come up to her room. ‘No, she wasn’t.’

‘She said she saw this creepy-looking old lady in blue.’

‘I don’t think your gran wears blue much, does she?’

Jade shook her head. Then she said, ‘Have you ever seen a ghost?’

‘No.’

‘Would you be scared if you saw one?’

‘I’m not sure how I’d feel,’ he replied, openly.

‘Can ghosts hurt people?’

‘I think it’s the living who hurt people, lovely. Not ghosts. If ghosts exist.’

‘I think Phoebe was just being mean.’

‘It sounds like it. She’s coming on Saturday for a sleepover, right?’

Jade nodded.

‘We could play a trick on her, if you like? Scare her? I could put a sheet over my head and appear out of a cupboard — what do you think?’

A huge smile appeared on her face. ‘Yes! Will you, Dad? Will you? Then I could put it in our video!’

‘Great! Are you looking forward to your birthday party — it’s not long now. Will you invite anyone from St Paul’s?’

‘There were so many annoying people yesterday. They all kept coming up to me wanting to be friends with me. Except one gang of four boys, I don’t think they’re very nice.’

‘There’s nothing wrong with people wanting to be friends with you, lovely. That’s a nice thing, isn’t it?’

‘Just so embarrassing. I want my friends.’

‘You still have your friends. But it would be nice to make some new ones at the school. Was there anyone you particularly liked?’

She thought for a moment. ‘Well, there’s a possible one called Niamh. I don’t know yet.’ She was silent again for some moments, then suddenly, looking worried, she asked, ‘I know I’m going to have to wait till the Saturday for my party, but I will still get my presents on the Thursday, won’t I?’

‘Of course! From all the family, anyway. You might get some more from your friends on Saturday — so that’ll be like having two birthdays.’

‘Brilliant! Hey, maybe next year we could have a pool party for my birthday? That would be epic!’

He smiled. ‘Maybe!’

Then his thoughts returned to his strange and disturbing dream last night.

Ask someone to tell you about the digger.

No one leaves your house. They all stay.

Cholmondley rang Ollie as he drove back from the school to say he was happy with everything, and could he now get the website live as soon as possible. Ollie told him he would upload the site to his server and it would be live within the next hour.

Then his thoughts returned yet again to the weird dream, and the words of the old man, and the photograph that had appeared on his phone overnight. Then his daughter’s question in the car a short while ago. Coincidence?

He wished it was as simple as dismissing it that way. But he couldn’t. There was one burning question in his mind right now: was he going crazy?

People said that moving house was the most stressful thing a human being could do. Was the stress of this, the stress of his financial worries and the stress of trying to build his new business getting to him? Had he forgotten he’d taken a photograph of the strange old man when he’d met him last week? Or was it some weird thing that had happened through the Cloud? Ever since synching his iPhone, iPad and laptop to the Cloud there had been the occasional oddity. Was this just one of them?

It had to be.

There was one possible way, he realized, of finding out.