Helen Phifer - The Secrets Of The Shadows

Chapter 1

Annie Graham downed the tequila then shuddered. She hated the stuff it but you got you drunk fast. Jake – fellow police officer and best friend – whose house they were in, laughed at the grimace on her face. ‘You are such a girl, you know that don’t you?’

She squeezed her eyes shut. ‘Yes I’m a total girl and I’m not ashamed of it either, this stuff is bloody awful. I don’t understand how you could even begin to actually enjoy it.’

Jake spluttered, managing to spit his tequila all over the black marble of the breakfast bar. ‘Because I quite like the taste now I’ve got used to it and it does the job in half the time of six cans of lager. One more and then we’ll be brave enough to go ghost hunting.’

Annie giggled. ‘I’ve had enough of that to last me a lifetime thank you. After discovering I could see ghosts in a haunted house and being stalked by a serial killer six months ago I’m quite happy not to go ghost hunting. I can’t believe you want to drag me to a cemetery when we’re drunk. You’ll be screaming at every shadow you see and then what actually happens if we do see something?’

‘You’re a wimp. I’m not going to be the one screaming and anyway don’t you want to see if you can still see dead people or if it was all just a figment of your twisted imagination?’ He managed to dodge the piece of chewed up lime that she threw at his head. ‘Sorry.’

Annie began to laugh so hard that she slid off the stool. ‘I’m drunk and I don’t think going to the cemetery in this state is going to be too productive. What if someone reports us and we end up getting arrested, there have been loads of metal thefts up there this month. Can you imagine the gossip that would spread around the station if we got caught in there?’ Tears were rolling down her cheeks, smudging her mascara and leaving black trails.

Jake bent down; putting both of his hands under her armpits he dragged her up from the floor. ‘Nah bollocks, we’ll just tell them the truth. That we were ghost hunting.’

‘Your call, but if you insist – who am I to argue?’

He shrugged his huge shoulders and took hold of her hand. ‘What the hell, come on if we get caught we’ll say we were looking for vampires. I want to go now before I chicken out, I’ve always wanted to do this but never had anyone drunk or stupid enough to go with.’

They looked each other in the eye and nodded. Jake helped her into her coat and wrapped her scarf around her neck. His fingers brushed her thick, black curls, which had grown back and now covered the scar that had once been on show. She looked so much happier and healthier now she didn’t have Mike in her life. He bent down and planted a big, wet kiss on her forehead and held her close. Annie wrapped her arms around him and whispered. ‘Don’t you go getting all soft on me Jake, I’m okay now and I’ve never been happier. Everything that happened six months ago is done, life is getting better.’

Jake squeezed his friend even tighter. ‘I’m not; I just hate what happened to you.’ They pulled apart; Jake took hold of her hand and dragged her to the front door. ‘Come on, there’s no time like the present and besides your dream man Will might turn up soon and you know what a spoilsport he is. He’d never let you loose in a cemetery with your track record.’

They left the house holding hands and began the short walk to the cemetery gates.

‘How are we going to get in if they’re locked?’ Annie asked.

‘Sometimes you amaze me, you can climb walls can’t you? I’ll give you a bunk up if you can’t get those short legs up high enough.’

She slapped his hand in a half-hearted gesture; Jake squeezed her’s back, a silent apology. Annie couldn’t walk straight; her legs were wobbling as they approached the tall, black, cast iron gates which loomed in the distance. Behind them was a blanket of pitch black which made her heart beat faster.

***

Will shivered. He hated cemeteries when the sun was shining and he could see everything around him, but to be here in the dark with no moonlight gave him the creeps. It didn’t help that he was sitting in a car with Twit and Twat, the two specials who were very nice blokes but far too keen to get a piece of the action. They couldn’t sit still and were talking utter crap. Every time a shout came over the radio the one sitting next to him would sit up, his body taut and his fists clenched, raring to get going. Will smiled to himself, at least he was getting a bit of fun out of it by torturing the pair of them; they needed to learn that police work wasn’t all rescuing damsels in distress and blue light jobs. As bored as he was he really hoped that nothing would happen tonight with these two in tow because it was all bound to go tits up in a big way. Two of his best detectives Stu and Laura were hiding behind some mausoleum near to the Crematorium. He would rather have been with one of those two but after the head injury and broken knee cap he got whilst trying to save Annie six months ago and the fact that it was freezing he’d decided to pull rank for once and sit in the car.

He switched off from the two chattering voices and began to think about Annie. He was parked not too far away from her husband Mike’s grave. He looked out of the side window and squinted; he could just make out the hilly mound of soil. Will would have loved to have given him what he deserved, but the town’s first serial killer had beaten him to it. He had to admit that Annie was by far the best thing that had happened to him and he loved her more than he’d loved anyone, but he was still afraid of committing and, to be honest, she was still a mess. He hated the nightmares she had almost every night. She would brush them off as if nothing was wrong but he had seen her pale face and eyes wide in horror as she crept out of the bed and into the bathroom. The first time he’d heard her stifling her sobs it had broken his heart and he had lain there dithering about whether to go and comfort her or give her some space. He opted to stay where he was, feeling useless. When she had finally come back to bed he’d turned and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight and stroking her hair until her breathing slowed and she fell back asleep. Tonight he’d left her at Jake and Alex’s house; if his grave robbers didn’t turn up he might go round for a coffee and see what they were up to.

***

Jake threaded his arm through Annie’s and the pair of them weaved along the tree-lined road towards the cemetery. The blackness behind the gates looked ominous; she didn’t want to do this. Why did she let Jake talk her into these things? She hadn’t been here since Mike’s funeral.

‘We can’t get in, it’s all locked up.’

Jake looked at her in disbelief, ‘Are you serious? You’re a copper, you should know how to scale a fence.’

‘Of course I know how to scale a fence, just not when I’m drunk. I don’t want to land head first in someone’s grave. I have a bit more respect than you do.’

‘Wimp. Come on, I’ll give you a bunk up.’

Annie ignored his offer of help and wobbled on ahead of him, scaling the gates before Jake could offer her his hand. She jumped off the other side and slipped. Jake bent over laughing.

‘Come on then big man, let’s see if you can do any better.’

Jake took a run for the gate. For his size he was surprisingly nimble and he managed to climb over it and land on his feet next to her. Annie tutted and began to walk away in the opposite direction to Mike’s grave and Jake followed. She let out a loud scream at a statue in the distance and he started to laugh again. Her elbow landed sharply in his side and he stopped. She decided to walk up towards the old chapel, which was now boarded up and fenced off. Annie had been drawn towards it last year when she had come looking for Alice’s grave – she had seen Alice’s ghost in that area of the cemetery so it was the logical place to go. Jake, who had finally stopped laughing, whispered in her ear, ‘Come on, you’re right this is stupid, let’s go and order a Chinese.’