Bridge To Eternity

CHAPTER THREE-1

CHAPTER THREE

Audrey Willatt opened the VW’s passenger door as Tina hurried around to the boot to retrieve her cases.

‘It’s bigger than it looked in the photos,’ Audrey said. And bigger than she remembered, aged fifteen, sitting in her parents’ car waiting for them to return. She looked up at the imposing building and felt doubt creeping in as her bones caught the first chill of winter.

Tina hauled the two large suitcases out of the Golf’s boot and placed them by the entrance to the driveway. ‘I’ll be off,’ she said.

‘Aren’t you going to show me around?’

‘It’s bought and paid for, Mrs Willatt. It’s all yours. My job is done.’ Tina jumped into her car, but Audrey held the driver’s door open.

‘I think you’re forgetting something.’

Tina dropped her head. ‘Okay, I should’ve told you but it’s not a legal requirement.’

Audrey waited for Tina to explain but the young woman seemed unable to find the right words.

‘Relax,’ Audrey said. ‘It was up to me to have the building surveyed, but I chose not to. Unless the house is regularly flooded by the River Hawk or is about to be demolished by a new railway line or trunk road, I cannot imagine what it is you haven’t told me.’

Tina licked her lips and looked beyond Audrey to the red-bricked pile with its dark windows and neglected garden. She gasped.

Audrey turned around to see what had caught her attention.

‘Can you see it?’ Tina asked.

‘See what?’

Tina looked away from the building. ‘Nothing. It was just a passing cloud reflected in the Victorian window.’

Audrey waited for Tina to continue, her patience wearing thin with the increasing cold. ‘I’m getting chilled. Either tell me what’s bothering you or come inside and show me around.’

Tina took a deep breath and looked down at her immaculate nails.

‘You’re going to tell me,’ Audrey continued, ‘so, you may as well get on with it.’

Tina looked up, resignation written across her blushing face. ‘It’s haunted. I was going to mention it, but – ’

‘You didn’t want to scare me away.’ Audrey looked at the exceptionally pretty young woman sitting in the driver’s seat and wanted to give her a hug. She liked the way Tina presented herself. The pride she took in her groomed appearance and pristine German car. She didn’t blame her for keeping quiet about something that Audrey knew didn’t exist. On a more realistic level, even if the property was riddled with wood rot and rising damp, the house was still a steal at the price Audrey had paid.

‘Terrible things happened in that house a long time ago,’ Tina said, in little more than a whisper. ‘I should have been honest. I should have told you its history.’

‘I see. Well, as it was a school boarding house, I expect there were plenty of crimes committed in the name of education.’

‘I should have said something. I’m so sorry.’

‘It’s an old house with a sad past. That’s all there is to it,’ Audrey said. ‘Nothing to feel bad about.’

‘I’ve got to go.’ Tina closed her door and fired up the engine. She slipped the gear lever into first and was about to pull away when Audrey banged on the roof.

Tina lowered her window. ‘What’s the matter?’ She looked desperate.

‘Excuse me, am I a ghost?’

Tina stared up at Audrey, doubt in her eyes. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘Do you think I’m a ghost, too?’

Tina did not respond, puzzlement creasing her brow. Audrey held out her hand which Tina touched with her fingertips. ‘You’re not a ghost.’

‘Correct. And, as I am not a ghost and cannot walk through walls, perhaps you would kindly give me the door keys?’

‘I’m so sorry. I’m not thinking straight.’ She scrambled for her bag and pulled out the large bunch of antiquated keys. ‘There are quite a few internal doors and they all have locks.’

‘Why don’t you come in and show me?’ Audrey felt the weight of the keys in her hand.

Tina looked up at the top window, and Audrey saw the fear in her eyes.

‘It’s okay, Tina. Your job is done.’

‘Let me take you back to the station,’ Tina blurted. ‘I’ll put the house back on the market. No commission. You don’t want to live there, Mrs Willatt. Believe me, you don’t.’

‘Goodbye, Tina. Please call in whenever you’re passing.’

Audrey watched Tina drive off, spinning her front wheels as she accelerated way too fast. For a few brief moments, she contemplated reaching for her phone and booking a taxi to take her back to the station. Now she was finally standing by her new home, the enormity of her situation hit her, coupled with an almost overwhelming wave of loneliness.

She was a widow, sixty-five, slim, stylish, awash with life insurance cash and shivering, not from the chill moorland breeze or the threatening clouds, but from the enormity of the task she had set herself. What had seemed a good idea at her home in Kent now felt entirely foolhardy as she stood alone, by the imposing house with its tragic past, missing her wonderful husband. But it had been her decision; her choice to rip up the inevitable future that had lain before her in Sevenoaks and strive to lure out the truth that lay within the walls of the old school boarding house.

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