Gay Longworth - The Unquiet Dead

GAY LONGWORTH

To Alicia and Matt Suminski

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Title Page GAY LONGWORTH

Dedication Dedication Contents Cover Title Page Dedication Prologue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Epilogue Keep Reading Acknowledgments About the Author Also by the Author Copyright About the Publisher To Alicia and Matt Suminski

Prologue

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Epilogue

Keep Reading

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Also by the Author

Copyright

About the Publisher

Jessie sensed the impact before she heard it. It was the smell. The smell of hot steel, of friction, of fear. Or was it even before the smell, before she’d seen the train’s headlights emerge from the gloom or heard its lugubrious rattle? She was deep underground at Oxford Circus, waiting for the Bakerloo line that would take her to Paddington and the 11.15 train to Heathrow. As she made her way to the point of impact, she knew from the look on the passengers’ faces that she wasn’t going to make that train and she wasn’t going to be there to welcome her brother home from Africa.

A young woman, about Jessie’s age, was lying on the track facing up; her eyes were open and a thin trickle of blood seeped out of the corner of her mouth. She was alive. Jessie sent for the paramedics, cleared the shocked onlookers and summoned the underground staff to shut down the power and form a barrier before she jumped down on to the track. It wasn’t until she was on the filthy cement floor that she saw what she could not have seen from the height of the platform. The woman stared up at her, but the lower portion of her body was facing down. As the train had rolled her along the track, she’d been twisted around like dough.

‘It’s okay,’ said the woman. ‘I’m okay. It doesn’t hurt.’

Jessie couldn’t move for a moment. Was it a miracle or diabolical that the woman was still alive?

‘The doctors are coming,’ said Jessie finally, knowing it was futile. There was nothing anyone could do.

‘I’m okay,’ the woman said again. ‘It doesn’t hurt.’

‘My name is Jessie Driver, I’m a detective with the CID. Can you tell me your name?’

‘Harriet.’ A blood bubble burst on her lips. Jessie wiped it away.

‘Harriet, I’m not a doctor, but I think you are in serious trouble. Is there anyone I can call for you, anyone you’d like to talk to?’

Harriet closed her eyes.

‘Stay with me,’ said Jessie. ‘The paramedics are here.’

It didn’t take very long for the paramedic team to confirm what Jessie already knew. The woman lying misshapen at her feet was living on borrowed time. Her spine had twisted around itself, snapping in two. That was why there was no pain; she had no feeling at all. Her midriff had been wrung out, her insides with it.

‘The weight of the train is keeping her alive, containing the damage,’ said the paramedic. ‘As soon as we move the train, the sudden haemorrhage from her ruptured organs will cause a massive heart attack. She is going to die. She should be dead already. She’s a jumper, right?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Jessie.

The paramedic glanced down at the tracks. ‘Well, tell her to make her peace, she hasn’t got very long.’

Harriet had long dark hair and startling blue eyes, but the pressure was building inside her and the whites of her eyes were now flecked with blood. Jessie stroked her hair as she delivered the paramedic’s message. Jessie didn’t know what response she was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t a smile.

‘I feel so calm.’

It’s shock, Jessie wanted to say, but all she could do was smile back.

‘I’m sorry to have caused so much trouble.’

‘Let me call someone – your parents?’

‘No.’

Something terrible had happened to this woman, something that made jettisoning herself off a platform into the path of a train easier than stepping back. Something, or someone.

‘I understand,’ said Jessie. ‘It’s okay, we don’t have to call anyone.’

‘I thought I’d be more afraid,’ she said. ‘I’m not afraid any more.’

Definitely shock, thought Jessie, struggling to find suitable words.

‘Please,’ said the girl who was dead already. ‘I need your help.’

‘Anything.’

‘In my bag … letter …’ She paused, her breathing was getting more laboured. ‘Destroy it.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘It was an accident … I fell. Please. Tell. Them. I. Fell.’

‘I …’ Jessie sat back on her heels. It sounded so pathetic in her head. I need to file a report. Paperwork. Take statements.

‘Don’t hurt them …’ She was mumbling some of her words. ‘I fell … The truth … I am calm … happy. Don’t hurt … Okay, I don’t hurt any more. I’m going to a much better place, it’s safe and warm …’

‘Harriet, I can’t do that.’

‘I’ll make amends, for them,’ she said, suddenly lucid. ‘I’ve been forgiven, they need to forgive themselves.’ Her eyes flickered but did not close. Jessie turned her head; she could see the bag lying a few feet away, intact. She shuddered. Unknown feet walking over her unknown grave. She looked around. In all the commotion, no one had noticed it. A dying woman’s wish. Who could say for sure that she jumped? Would it really matter? To London Underground it would – better a suicide than an accident. An accident had legal implications, Health and Safety issues. They shouldn’t have to take the blame.

‘I’m okay,’ Harriet said again, very quietly this time. ‘I don’t hurt any more.’ Jessie squeezed her hand.

‘Detective Inspector,’ said a loud voice above her.

Jessie looked up quickly. ‘Not now …’

‘You can let go now. She’s gone,’ he said.

Jessie looked back at Harriet. ‘But she just …’ Her large eyes were fixed, her lips had parted to form the faint beginnings of a smile. If that split second had been caught by camera and not by death it would have made a beautiful photograph. The paramedic was looking quizzically at Jessie.

‘Sorry, my mistake.’ Jessie removed her jacket and placed it over the face of a girl called Harriet who had just died at her feet.

‘It’s okay now,’ said Jessie quietly. ‘It’s over.’ Death meant nothingness and nothingness couldn’t hurt her any more. The pain would be absorbed by the ones left behind. That’s how it worked. That was the meaning of life after death.

An officer from the transport police approached her with a cup of coffee and her leather jacket.

‘Did the young lady tell you what happened?’

‘Not really,’ said Jessie. ‘I think she was in shock.’

‘She didn’t tell you why she jumped?’

‘You’re certain she jumped then?’ asked Jessie, staring into the concentric rings on the surface of her coffee.

‘No. We’ve been through her things but didn’t find a note. There may be one back at her place of residence, though it’s unusual. What did she say to you?’

I’m okay. I don’t hurt any more .