Chapter 21: Twenty-One - A London Haunting: A Christmas Ghost Story

“Just a moment, Cam,” Lottie said, holding up a hand as he stood in front of her. “My phone’s ringing. Come in, come in, out of the cold, I’ve just got to answer it.”

“Lottie? Hello, Lottie? Is that you?”

“Yeah, hi, it’s me. Who’s this? Sarah? Oh wow, it is Sarah, isn’t it?”

It was indeed Sarah from the agency – the one with the ‘couldn’t care less’ voice, that bored monotone only ever brightening when she’d told Lottie she was sacked.

What did she want?

“Sarah, I––”

“It’s about Reggie. Reggie Lord, remember?”

“Yes,” Lottie said, frowning as she met Cam’s eyes and repeated the name. “Yes, of course I remember.”

“Something’s happened.”

“What?”

“Well, despite what Reggie said after he dismissed you, he did get back in touch with us again. We’ve sent a few carers in since – well, companions really, since there’s not much actual caring to do. An easy number, I suppose, so plenty seemed up for it, but…” She paused. “But they don’t last, that’s the thing. Nowhere near as long as you did. They don’t…like it there. Some say he’s impossible to deal with, that he keeps the room too hot or ignores them. Others give no reason at all. Just refuse to go back.”

Cam had moved closer, listening as Lottie switched her phone to loudspeaker.

“Okay,” Lottie said slowly. “I see. And what does this have to do with me?”

“Did you…did you ever experience anything…weird there?”

“Weird? How do you mean?”

“Things flying off shelves. Like…randomly.”

“Well––”

“Because that’s what happened this morning. Doors rattling too, windows, the whole house apparently, like there was an earthquake. Our most recent carer got the hell out of there, of course, but she’s…um…demanding we do something about it.”

“Right…so why don’t you?”

“I’m off soon – back home, you know, for Christmas – so I can’t. Did you experience anything strange, Lottie?” she asked again. “We know Mr Lord’s physically capable, but…is it safe to leave him? Should we get involved?”

“We? Why is it ‘we’ now? You sacked me!”

“Lottie, just answer the bloody question! Was anything strange going on when you were there? Should I call the police or something?”

“No!” Lottie all but shouted. “Don’t do that. Look, I can go round there and check up on him, okay? If you’ve got a key. And yes – strange things happened.”

A gasp came from the other end of the line. “Is he…being haunted?”

“Kind of…I think.”

“Kind of? What does that mean?”

“Look, as I’ve said, I can go now, seeing as you’re so busy.” No way she could keep the sarcasm out of her voice. “The key––”

“We don’t have a key. The carer left it behind in her haste to get out of there.”

“Surely you have a spare?”

Was bored Sarah sounding sheepish now? “We don’t. Well…we did, but I can’t seem to find it. It’s not where we usually keep the spares, which is odd in itself, because it was there, I was certain of it. The one you used to have.”

Lottie sighed, frustration bubbling up. “How am I supposed to get in without a key? There’s a law against breaking and entering, you know!”

“So you’ll definitely go round?”

“I’ve just said, haven’t I? Someone has to check on him.”

“Oh good, good.” Relief in her tone now, that someone, at least, was doing something. Her job, basically. “You could just…bang on the door.”

“What if he doesn’t open it?”

“At least we can say we tried.”

Not good enough. Lottie almost said it, but refrained. Because really, her own behaviour hadn’t been good enough lately either. She’d thought she was different in that respect – that she wouldn’t get so easily side-tracked. By love. By Christmas.

Christmas, which was an anniversary for Reggie.

She was surer of it now than ever.

“I need a key, Sarah,” she said, with Cam nodding beside her. They did. Because if she went there, she wasn’t going alone – she knew that too.

He’d been side-tracked as well, as much as her, but they were back on course now. Both of them. Picking up the pieces they’d let fall from their hands.

Christmas could go to hell.

“I’ve told you! I don’t have a spare. You’ll have to find some other––”

Lottie wasn’t listening to Sarah anymore as her mum had appeared in the hallway, dangling something in the air.

“This what you’re looking for?” Jenny asked.

It was a key – a silvery key – glittering as much as any bauble.

“Mum…? Is that…?”

“A key to Reggie’s house?”

“Yes!”

“It is,” Jenny replied.

“But…how?”

“I took it back to the agency, remember? They wanted it straightaway, and you were too ill to go, so I did the honours. And on my way there…I had a hunch.”

“What kind of hunch?”

Jenny motioned for Lottie to cover the phone’s earpiece.

“To stop off and make a copy,” she mouthed, “though that stays strictly between ourselves, of course. We don’t want the police hearing about it now, do we?”

“Why did you do it?”

“In case you needed it, Lottie. That’s why!”

“So why didn’t you tell me?”

“Well…to be honest with you, Lottie, I was embarrassed by what I’d done, actually. Wondering if it was illegal too, so…I hid it away. Tried to forget about it.”

“You should have told me!”

“I’m telling you now, aren’t I?”

She was, and at exactly the right time. Nothing short of a Christmas miracle.

Lottie smiled as she reached for it. “Mum – whatever. You’re a star. Honestly.”

Jenny giggled, clearly relieved. “I am rather, aren’t I? A Christmas star!”

A frown from Lottie this time. Had she been at the sherry again?

“Hang on,” Jenny continued. “I’ll get my coat and come with you.”

“Mum, no! It’s fine. Cam will come.”

“But it could be dangerous there, Lottie! Remember what happened last time?”

“I do, yes. But I think I now know why.”

Cam turned to her. “Wait, what? You’ve found out something?”

“Yeah. Well…maybe. Mum, if we need your help, we’ll call, okay? But you know what, I might just have it all under control. Trust me on this, okay? Both of you.”

Jenny nodded, as did Cam. “Always, love,” she said. “You know that.”

The front door opened, and Tony appeared.

“Let the fun begin!” he cried. “That was my last ride until the 27th.”

“Not quite,” Lottie said, eyeing him.

“No, pet?” he asked, a little taken aback. “Need a lift, do you?”

“We do,” she answered, grabbing her coat and Cam’s hand. “Right now.”

It was no use.

London traffic was at a standstill, everyone needing to be somewhere, and determined to get there. They’d barely gone a few streets before grinding to a halt.

“We have to get out,” Lottie decided. “Find another way.”

“The Tube?” Cam suggested.

“That’ll be packed too at this hour, on this day,” Tony said.

“Then we run,” Lottie declared. “It’s our only option.”

“Pet––” Tony began, but Cam was already nodding.

“She’s right,” he said.

Before Tony could argue further, Lottie leaned across the seat and planted a quick kiss on his cheek. It did the trick – he was instantly disarmed.

“What’s that for?” he said, unable to suppress a grin.

“For being you,” Lottie replied.

He might not have been in quite the pickle Reggie was in when she’d first met him, but Tony had known loneliness too in his life – longing for a family, somewhere he could belong. A kind and thoughtful man who’d been taken advantage of more than once. But whoever had hurt him before, it was their loss, and the Beck family’s gain. He was a part of their story now.

After a flustered goodbye, with Tony swearing he’d be on standby if needed, Lottie and Cam climbed out of the cab and continued their journey on foot.

It took ages – dodging crowds, breath misting in the cold air, both of them panting and doubling over – but finally, just as evening settled, they reached Reggie’s road.

“At long bloody last,” Lottie managed.

Cam nodded, just as breathless. “Back again.”

She turned to him. “I haven’t had a chance to ask yet, but when you turned up at my house earlier, you looked…serious. Haunted, actually. Ironically. Why?” And then a thought occurred. “Shit! Has Aunt Dot sensed something again?”

Cam shook his head. “No, no, nothing like that. I just woke up this morning with this huge sense of…guilt.” His dark eyes held both pain and confusion. “With everything going so well between us lately, I kind of lost sight of everyone else. Well…Reggie. I lost sight of him. After being so worried too. That stuff we saw was like something out of a horror film. He was at the forefront of my mind, and then I shoved him to the back, just like that. This morning, the guilt felt like a boulder.”

“And now?” Lottie began. “How is it now that we’re here?”

He smiled. “It’s not as bad. I just knew we couldn’t leave it any longer, that we had to do something. Then, when I got to yours, fate was clearly thinking along the same lines, what with that woman from the agency on the phone and your mum dangling a spare key to Reggie’s place in her hand, like she’d had a sixth sense too.”

“A sixth sense,” Lottie mused. “Yeah, I agree. As I’ve said, maybe we all have it.”

“A superpower,” Cam said.

“Maybe. But sadly we’re not superhuman because of it. It wasn’t just you who let go of Reggie, I did too, even though I told myself I wouldn’t, that I was…better than that. Someone said it: to err is human. We’ve erred, Cam, but we’re here now.”

“To err is human,” he repeated. “Alexander Pope.”

Lottie frowned. “Sorry?”

“It was Pope – I remember it from English lessons.”

“Oh, right. Clever you!” she teased.

He kissed the tip of her nose. “You’re the clever one. And that isn’t the whole line.”

“No?”

“Nope. ‘To err is human; to forgive, divine.’”

“To forgive, divine? Wow. That’s cool.”

“So here’s the plan,” Cam continued. “We forgive ourselves for what we did, get inside No.142, and try to get Rebecca to forgive Reggie too.”

“Rebecca?”

Cam pulled a face. “Yeah, of course Rebecca. The one who haunts him.”

Lottie thought for a second, then nodded. “Yes, yes, Rebecca. Okay then – let’s do it. Let’s get in there and finish this once and for all, whoever’s responsible.”