“You arrogant little bitch,” he sneered, reaching out to grab her arm. “Get -”

  “No!” she yelled, turning and running to the doorway, then stopping for a moment to look back at him. “You don't get to do anything to me ever again! Have luck ranting to yourself in an empty room. If you're lucky, maybe the other ghosts will listen for a while.”

  “Grace, you and I were always different,” he replied frantically. “You know that. How can you ever expect me to walk away from you now?”

  “I'm stuck here forever,” she stammered breathlessly, before turning and hurrying away. “You don't have a choice in the matter!”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “Get her away from me!” Judy screamed as a member of the pub's security team pulled her toward the door and held her wrists tight behind her back. “Can't you see her? She's right there!”

  “I think she's hallucinating,” the other security guy said, holding the door open just as a couple of police officers hurried across the road. “She seems to think that someone's following her!”

  “She's there!” Judy shouted, suddenly pulling free and trying to run back into the pub, only for the security team to grab her again and manhandle her out onto the step. “You have to make her fix this! Tell her she has to put it all right!”

  “What's going on?” one of the officers asked.

  “Apparently she lost her mind in the bathroom,” one of the women from behind the bar explained, clearly shocked as she watched Judy still struggling. “I saw her going in and thought something was up, and then when she came out she started falling on tables. I think she might be using, but she didn't do that here. She must have taken something outside before she came in.”

  “Her arms are wet,” the other officer pointed out. “Do we know what -”

  “Can't you see them?” Judy sobbed, pulling back against the door as she saw two pale, thin men walking slowly past the building. “They're everywhere! They're dead and they -”

  Before she could finish, she spotted another figure heading along the road, heading in the opposite direction. Covered in mud and limping heavily, this figure looked exactly like the creatures she'd seen earlier emerging from the Thames. Unable to process the horrific sight, she stared for a moment before starting to cry uncontrollably, and finally she began to stammer something unintelligible as she slowly slid down and sat on the step with the security team and the police officers towering over her.

  “Get them away from me!” she bawled, holding her trembling hands up to try to cover her face. “I don't want to see them!”

  She squeezed her eyes shut and turned away, while sobbing more frantically than ever and trying to curl into a ball.

  “Is she on something?” one of the women from behind the bar asked.

  “Could be,” the second officer said as he tapped at his radio, “but I'm not sure. Either way, I'll call it in and get someone out here to pick her up. Are you sure she hasn't been using anything on your premises tonight?”

  “Absolutely not,” the woman said firmly. “Like I told you, I saw her coming in and she went straight to the loos. Whatever happened to her, it started well before she came in here.”

  “Can you tell me your name?” the officer asked, looking down at Judy. “Miss, excuse me, can you hear me? Can you tell me your name and where you live? Do you remember those details?”

  “Make it stop!” Judy screamed, rolling onto her side and starting to shake wildly. “Get Heidi and tell her to make it all stop!”

  “Heidi?” the first officer said as his colleague began to call for assistance. He looked round at the others. “Does anyone know who this Heidi person is? Is she someone who's in the pub right now?”

  “I don't think so,” the woman replied with a shrug. “I mean... she definitely came in alone. I'd have seen if there'd been anyone with her.”

  ***

  “Again, I'm so sorry,” one of the barmen said as he set another large roll of blue paper on the table. “I'm afraid things like this happen around here occasionally. Usually our security guys stop them but...”

  “She was on drugs, right?” the man replied, ripping some of the blue paper away and trying in vain to mop more spilled beer from the front of his jeans. “There's no way she was just drunk. She has to be on something as well.”

  “Look at us!” his wife stammered, stepping out to reveal the massive wet spot all over her shirt and trousers. “Look at me! I'm completely drenched! I hope you don't think we'll be paying a penny for anything tonight. You need to comp our entire order and give us some kind of voucher or compensation. Our entire evening is ruined thanks to your establishment!”

  “I'll call my manager and see what we can sort out,” the man said, clearly trying to be diplomatic. “In the meantime, can I get you some fresh drinks on the house?”

  “Wine,” the woman snarled. “Merlot. A bottle.”

  “Sure,” he replied, turning and hurrying away.

  “Each!” she called after him. “Did you hear me? We want a bottle each! And something for the kids!”

  “Are you wet too?” her husband asked, turning to their two young sons. “Andy? Hamish?”

  Having somehow escaped the worst of the spillage, the boys both shook their heads, although after a moment Hamish looked down and saw that one leg of his trousers was slightly damp.

  “Come on, let's go and dry that in the bathroom,” their father said, taking the boy by the hand and leading him away. “Andy, stay with your mum, okay? And don't worry, they're taking that crazy woman away. She won't bother us again.”

  Left standing at the end of the table, Andy turned to his mother just as she began to mutter a series of curse words. He didn't really know what most of the words meant, although he had an inkling that they were very bad and that he'd certainly be grounded if he dared to utter even one of them, so after a few seconds he looked away and tried to pretend that he wasn't hearing anything.

  Spotting a mirror next to a table of ketchup and vinegar bottles, he made his way over and stood on tiptoes so that he could see his own reflection. He saw his mother in the mirror, and a moment later he flinched as the barman returned with a tray of drinks. As far as he could tell, the pub's staff were doing their best to make everything right even though the crazy woman wasn't their fault; his mother, however, was – as usual – yelling at everyone and demanding more and more free things as compensation. Andy always hated it when she went off on one of her rants like this, but he knew there was nothing he could do.

  Looking at his own reflection again, he reached up and took a moment to fix his hair. He'd been slightly splashed when all the glasses had gone flying, but he knew that he'd definitely not suffered nearly as badly as his parents or his brother, so he figured that he had to count his blessings. And then, as he adjusted his hair again, he blinked and suddenly realized that someone was now standing directly behind him.

  He glanced up, and to his surprise he saw the reflection of a youngish woman standing just over his shoulder. She looked a little wet too, but he was more struck by the fact that her skin was so very pale and her eyes seemed almost to have sunk into their sockets. In fact, the more he stared at the woman, the more he felt convinced that something about her was very 'off', that she seemed almost like she wasn't quite right in the head, and that impression was only strengthened a fraction of a second later as she slowly smiled and – at the same time – revealed bloodied, glistening teeth.

  “Hey,” Heidi said, tilting her head to one side, revealing the thick cut on one side of her throat, “sorry about the mess. I think some people just lose their minds when they're forced to see the world as it really is.”

  Horrified, Andy spun around and let out a shocked cry, only to find in that moment that the woman had vanished. He stared up at the spot where he'd expected to see her, then he looked over at his mother and saw her puzzled expression as she poured herself an almost overflowing glass of wine, then he looked at the mirror again and saw to his immense relief that the woman really wasn't anywhere to be seen.

  “What's wrong now?” his mother asked, sounding distinctly annoyed. “I'm getting a headache, Andy, I really can't handle another -”

  “Mummy!” he cried out, racing over to her and putting his arms around her waist, hugging her so tight that she spilled some of her wine onto the table. “There was a horrible woman and she smelled really bad and she had a cut on her neck and I think she might have been dead!”

  “Not you too,” she sighed, trying to slip away from him before rolling her eyes and taking another sip of wine. “I knew this trip was going to be a disaster. I never like coming up to London with the whole family. I much prefer popping up by myself to see people now and again.” She took another, longer sip of wine as Andy continued to hug her tight. “Can you let go of Mummy now? Mummy's tired, Andy. Andy? Can you please just let go so that Mummy can drink her wine in peace? Damn it, when I tell Tina and the other girls about this, they're going to have a field day.”

  Andy looked back toward the spot where the strange woman had been standing. He was so focused on that part of the bar that he failed to notice a shadowy figure watching from the far corner, extending partway out – but only partway – from the wall's wooden panelling.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “Get back here, Grace!” Patrick shouted, and now – as he reached the top of the stairs again and stopped to get his breath back – he felt as if he was running around in circles.

  How many times had he run up those stairs?

  How many times had he run down them?

  How many times had he yelled his daughter's name?

  “You're really trying my patience,” he continued, stepping away from the stairs and heading toward a nearby doorway, only to stop and look over his shoulder as he once again heard a bump coming from beyond the black door in the corner.

  He stared at the door for a few seconds, and sure enough the bump returned. This was the third time his attention had been drawn to that place now; although he wasn't generally the kind of guy to believe in intuition or sixth senses or anything like that, on some deep level he couldn't help but feel as if something in that old office was trying to attract him. And as much as he was determined to find Grace again and talk some sense into her, after a few seconds he turned and began to head toward the door so that he could take another look in the office.

  Something in there seemed almost to be -

  Suddenly he heard footsteps racing across another room nearby. He turned and looked toward one of the other doorways just in time to spot Grace racing past, and he immediately set off after her with a renewed spring in his step.

  “Grace, get back here,” he muttered, rushing from room to room, never quite able to catch up to footsteps that seemed almost to hang in the air while the girl herself remained invisible. “How much longer are we going to spend playing this stupid, futile little game? Do you have any idea how much you're trying my patience?”

  Almost tripping, he ran from room to room, quickly losing any sense of his whereabouts until finally he reached another doorway. He was about to run through, but something stopped him at the last second and he found himself staring at the thirty-foot drop leading down to Grace's broken body.

  Taking yet another moment to get his breath back, he stared down at the corpse far below and felt pure anger and rage returning to his chest. How had the girl not learned by now that she should never disobey him? How had she come to the conclusion that running away was going to solve anything?

  “If you're thinking that it was quick,” Grace said suddenly, causing him to turn and see her watching him from further back along the corridor, “then think again. It wasn't quick at all, Dad. Falling felt like it took forever, and then when I hit the ground...”

  She paused.

  “I actually landed with my feet first. I felt my legs break in about ten places within half a second, and then my pelvis shattered. The force of the impact knocked all the air out of my lungs, or at least that's how it felt. Frankly, I'm surprised that I ended up as intact as I did. I was still just about conscious as the side of my head smashed against the concrete, though. I felt my skull break and then an immense loss of pressure, and then everything went dark. The next thing I knew, I was like this.”

  She paused again, clearly wanting to make him understand every word.

  “A ghost,” she added.

  “There has to be a way to undo it,” he replied, and now tears were returning to his eyes. “Grace...”

  “You can't undo death,” she told him firmly. “The funny thing is... I almost do regret what happened. I hate myself for it, but I catch myself wondering what life would have been like if I'd listened to you. If I'd done what you wanted. If I'd trusted you more, I guess.”

  “Everything would have been perfect,” he told her firmly. “I was going to find a way to get rid of your mum, I swear. Then it would have just been you and me. Together forever. The way it was always supposed to be.”

  “Maybe,” she murmured.

  “No, not maybe,” he continued, before gritting his teeth briefly. “I had it all worked out. You just needed to be more patient, Grace. Why couldn't you have been more patient?”

  “I suppose it's too late for regrets now,” she pointed out with a hint of sadness in her voice. “I know I was kinda flippant earlier, but I'm not sure how I feel about being doomed to haunt this place forever. Even if I manage to make friends with the other ghosts, I think it's still gonna get pretty repetitive.”

  She waited for him to reply, and then she took a step forward.

  “But I'll have to get used to it,” she went on, struggling to hold back tears now as she reached out and put her right hand on the wall. “I don't have any choice, do I? I'm just gonna have to get used to being alone here, and to having only ghosts as friends. I could have made different moves, but now I'm dead so I'm really out of options. Try not to be too sad about that, Dad, okay? Just... go home and do whatever it takes to move on with your life.”

  Again she waited, but the anger was draining from his tear-filled eyes as he continued to stare at her. His mouth was hanging open as if he couldn't quite bring himself to speak, until finally he furrowed his brow a little and began to smile.

  “Dad?” she continued. “I mean it. Just leave me here to rot.”

  “I could never do that to my special little princess,” he replied, shaking his head slowly. “Don't you understand that by now? Never in a million years.”

  “Well, you don't have a choice,” she told him. “It's over and -”

  “No!” he shouted, pointing at her so suddenly that she let out a shocked gasp. “Never tell me that it's over! Never tell me that I don't have options! I love you, Grace, and I'm damn well not going to let something as puny and insignificant as death keep us apart! In fact, you might have done us both a favour by showing me a new option that I'd never considered before!”

  Lowering his finger, he stared at her breathlessly for a moment before taking a step back to the very edge of the open doorway, leaving him teetering just inches in front of the thirty-foot drop. At the same time, his smile grew even as tears ran all the way down to his lips.

  “When I arrived in London,” he went on, “I thought I was just making sure you were gone forever. Now I realize that I was lying to myself. I came to find you, and to make sure that we're together forever. That's why I followed you all the way into this place, and it's why now I can't just leave you here to haunt it alone.”

  “Dad -”

  “So I'm going to stay with you.”

  “And just live in this old warehouse?” she replied. “Are you crazy?”

  “Maybe I am,” he told her as his smile grew. “But that's alright. Sometimes the crazy ones are the only people who truly get what they want. In the end.”

  She opened her mouth to reply, and then she watched as he held his arms out to the sides.

  “See you in a few minutes, I guess,” he added, before offering her a wink. “This might actually be fun. And the reward will be us. Together. Forever.”

  With that, he toppled back, quickly disappearing from view. Grace watched with her mouth hanging open, and then she winced as she heard a cracking thud coming from the concrete floor far below.

  For the next couple of minutes she could only stand in silence, staring at the empty doorway where her father had been standing. Finally, however, she forced herself to step forward; each of those steps felt so heavy, but when she reached the doorway she reached out with her left hand to grab the sides and steady herself, and then she peered over the edge. In the low light, with just a smudge of sunset reaching through a few windows, she struggled at first to work out what she was seeing. After a few more seconds, however, she was just about able to make out the two crumpled, broken bodies far below, and she watched as a pool of blood slowly spread from beneath her father's head.

  Somewhere outside, a police siren raced past the building.

  Grace waited, as if she wasn't quite sure what to do next. She kept her eyes fixed on her father's body below, as if she half expected him to sit up and claim that the whole situation was one big joke, and then she took a step back. Trembling slightly, she swallowed hard, and then she turned and raced away toward the stairwell.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “This is utterly insane,” Judy said, standing at the kitchen sink and setting some plates on the side. She looked out for a moment at the garden, just in time to see Mrs. Potterman cycling past along the sunny country lane. “I can't believe I have to drive all the way into Bruton just to pick up some documents she could just as easily email to me.”

  She paused, watching the field opposite, before turning to see that her husband was simply tapping away at his phone as he sat at the kitchen table.