Ghosts Be Gone: An Olivia Darling Novel

One

Chapter One

Owwww! Trev yelled.

Ssssshhhhhhh! Pandora and I hissed simultaneously.

It really hurt, he whined.

Ok, suck on it then, but be quiet. If we get caught in here again we're screwed. We barely got away with it last time. Here, let me have a try. I took the bolt cutters from Trev. He sucked on the finger he had just caught in between the handles while I had a go. Pandora illuminated the chain with her torch while I cut through one of the links. Got it, I stage whispered triumphantly and grabbed the chain before it could fall to the ground.

I put the bolt cutters back in the boot of the car and picked my torch up off the ground. Pandora handed me her torch and I shone both of them on the gate while she oiled all of the hinges using a bottle of oil that had a long thin nozzle. She put that in the boot and closed it and we all stood at the previously locked gate of the Ocean Breeze Cemetery and let the oil have a couple of minutes to work its magic.

Whadiddinwedodisdurrngthaday?

What? Me and Pandora looked at Trev in confusion.

He took his finger out of his mouth. I said… why didn't we do this during the day? Why do we always have to come to graveyards in the middle of the night?

Pandora shrugged her shoulders and looked to me for the answer. I thought about it. And thought about it. I shrugged my shoulders. I dunno. I guess it never entered my head to do this during the day. We could have, now that I think about it, there's absolutely no reason for us whatsoever to be here at this time of night. Both Trev and Pandora looked completely flummoxed. Since we are here though I guess we should just get this done? I smiled beguilingly. They looked at me for a moment longer and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt they were thinking about ways to get me back for this.

Pandora sighed and put her hand out. I returned her torch to her and she tentatively pushed on the gate. Last time we had broken into the cemetery, the gate had squealed loud enough to wake the dead. This time we'd come prepared and the gate slid open without so much as a squeak.

You know, we're actually getting quite good at this, she sounded pleased with herself.

Great, said Trev. When we finally get arrested and I lose my business while I serve my jail time, I'll be sure to put 'really good at breaking and entering' on the resume I'm going to have to send out in order to get a job.

Oh stop being so dramatic, I told him. Clive would keep the salon going for you so you still had it when you got out. You wouldn't need to find a new job. I'll get the gates. Pandora and Trev got into the car and Pandora eased it through the open gates.

I closed the gates behind the sleek Mercedes and linked the chain through again so they appeared to all intents and purposes to be closed and locked. It was like we'd never been here. I jumped in the car and Pandora slowly drove up the driveway that led us deeper into the Ocean Breeze Cemetery.

About here? she queried, coming to a stop at the spot where we thought we had encountered the ghosts who had asked for our help the last time we'd been here. That had been almost two weeks ago, when we had come here looking for the decomposing, headless and handless corpse of Suzanne Blackthorpe so we could help her move on. Her killer, who had turned out to be a serial killer, and also someone I'd gone out with on a date the night before, had attempted to murder me, Pandora and Trev. However justice had prevailed in the form of hunky DI Angus McAlister, and smoothlover69 was now in prison awaiting trial for the murders of five women. All of whom he'd met on the dating site I belonged to and slain on their first date.

I looked around at the headstones on either side of the driveway. I think so. It looks about right. We can go for a stroll around until they find us anyway.

We left the warmth of the car for the cool night air and directed the beams of our torches around the headstones in the immediate vicinity.

Anything? Trev wanted to know.

Nope, I told him. Let's head up this way. We started walking further up the driveway.

I'm surprised you lot are back! I heard someone call out.

I swung my torch in the direction the voice had come from.

Is it them? Pandora asked as they followed my lead and stopped walking.

I looked at the elderly gentleman. He was dressed in a black suit and fedora and was leaning against a tombstone. No, I answered.

We haven't been entertained like that in years! the man said. People here are still talking about it. When the police told you to get on the ground and you argued with them we started taking wagers about whether or not you'd get shot with one of them automatic weapons they had. I lost. Ahhhhhhhh well….good times. he nodded to himself while he cackled and slapped his thigh with his hand in his mirth. What are you going to do for us tonight?

So you were rooting for me to get shot? The miserable old git. You done laughing? I asked him. I wouldn't want you to choke on that laughter and die. Oh, too late, my bad. I'm looking for the twin boys and the lady with the baby. Do you know where they are?

He narrowed his eyes while he considered whether or not to give me this information. Show me your tits and I'll tell you where to find them.

Leave off you lecherous old git! A woman's voice yelled from behind me. I turned around and the lady with the baby was standing there. Come with me and we'll get the boys, she told me.

I told Pandora and Trev what we were going to do and using our torches to light the way we followed her through the maze of tombstones and mausoleums deeper into the graveyard. I could hear the old man as he continued to cackle to himself behind us.

Chapter Two

We hadn't gone far when I could hear what sounded like little boys playing. Here we are, the woman stopped. Charles! Clifford! Come on out. That lady has come back to help us! She yelled into the dark night.

I shone my torch in the direction she was yelling in and it came to rest on a large mausoleum. I think it was the one Pandora had knocked herself out on. I saw a little boy's head peer cautiously around the corner of the tomb. A second later an identical head peered around next to his brothers. I told Pandora and Trev that everyone was present and accounted for. Pandora pulled her phone out of her pocket so she could record the information we might need in order to assist the four of them.

Thank you all for coming back, the woman said. I wasn't sure that you would after what happened last time. Is your friend alright? The last time we saw her she was being rushed out of here in an ambulance.

Oh she's fine. I told her as I turned to Pandora and tapped my forehead so she knew what I was talking about. She had a mild concussion for a couple of days. She's over it now. Can you show us where you and the boys are buried?

Right here, she pointed at a headstone just in front of where she was standing.

I walked around to the front of it, shone the beam of my torch onto it and looked at the inscription. Pandora and Trev came and stood on either side of me.

Trev read aloud

'She was but as a smile, which glistens in a tear,

Seen but a little while, but oh! How loved, How dear!'

'Beloved wife Abigail Elizabeth Dickins, died 17th April 1852 aged 27.

Loved daughter Minnie Clara Dickins, born and died 17th April 1852.

Oh my gosh that's so sad.

I died in childbirth, Abigail explained. And Minnie died not long after. I stayed here because I wanted to wait for my husband and find out what happened to my other children. I've never seen any of them again though, and I need to know.

Pandora took a photo of the inscription.

Did you live around here? I asked Abigail. She nodded. You could have gone looking for them you know, I told her.

She nodded again. I stayed here for a long time because I didn't want to leave the boys alone, they don't have anyone. And then when I realised I could go and look for my family it was too late. Everything had changed so much I was afraid, so I came back here to what I knew and where I felt safe.

So if I can find out what happened to your husband and your other children you'll be at peace? Able to move on?

Well… yes, but now I worry about the boys too. I want them to move on with me and Minnie.

Ok we'll do all we can, I told her.

I'd promised Pandora I'd help them all move on. She'd been worried about the woman and baby and twins ever since she'd heard the baby cry and I'd told her they'd asked me to help them. Show me where the boys are buried.

She indicated the mausoleum the boys were standing next to. Yes…it was definitely the one that had taken Pandora out.

This one guys. Me, Pandora and Trev went and stood next to the boys in front of the large white marble tomb. Clifford and Charles had clearly come from money. Again our torches sought out the inscribed information.

'Alderdyce,' read Pandora. There's four names on here but none of them are Charles or Clifford. Are they sure this is their one?

I looked at the boys. Is this where you boys are buried?

Our bodies are in there, one of them told me.

What's your family name?

Alderdyce, the other one said.

I walked around the outside of the mausoleum and ran my torch over every surface. Abigail, are they interred in here? I questioned.

As far as I know, she replied.

We looked at the details on the tomb one more time. The last Alderdyce family member had been placed in there in 1716. What year were you boys born? I asked them.

In the year of our lord seventeen hundred and eleven, I'm pretty sure it was Clifford who answered me.

And what's the last birthday you remember having?

Eleven, Charles said.

Hmmmmmm. How many coffins are in the tomb?

There's four, Charles again.

This isn't their tomb, I told Pandora and Trev. It can't be.

We are in there, I'd turned away from the boys for a minute and now I didn't know which was which again. We've been waiting for a terribly long time.

Waiting for what? I was starting to get a squeamish feeling in the pit of my stomach.

For Uncle Theodore to come and find us. We were playing hide and seek.

Fuck!

What's wrong? Trev asked me.

We need the bolt cutters, I told him.

NO! Both him and Pandora exclaimed.

We can't break into a tomb! Pandora said.

We are not breaking into a tomb! Trev added.

I looked at them both and sighed. I think we have to. I want to do this about as much as I want a hole in the head….but I really think we have to. They eyeballed me for a minute, both of them knew me well enough to realise something was amiss.

We'll go and get them, Pandora said. Come on Trev, we'll be back in a minute. Their torches lit the way as they skirted the headstones and made their way back to the car.

What's wrong? Abigail asked me.

I'm not gonna say cause I hope I'm wrong, I told her.

I could see lights bobbing through the cemetery as Pandora and Trev made their way back. I gave Trev my torch and took the bolt cutters from him. The mausoleum had solid double wooden doors. In front of these were elaborately scrolled iron latticed doors. They had a keyhole but I had no key. The doors had however been exposed to the elements for over three hundred years and nature had taken its toll. Using the bolt cutters, I cut through the lattice work surrounding the lock and had the lock free within a minute. I tried to pull them open and they wouldn't budge. Trev and Pandora pitched in and with a bit of grunting and a whole lot of squeaking we eventually managed to pull the doors open. The hairs on the back of my neck had been going crazy during the whole exercise and I turned around. There had to be twenty ghosts standing behind us watching