The Girl by the River Read Online Free PDF Page B

surface.
    ‘Is that – real rock crystal?’ he asked, speaking for the first time since his arrival.
    ‘Pure as the sun and moon, good sir.’ Madame Eltura wrapped her twig-like hands around the orb of crystal and closed her eyes. Freddie thought fleetingly of Kate. If Kate had been
there she would have giggled. He thought how cold and cheerless his life would be without her bright spirit of fun.
    The eyes flickered open again and fixed him with a gimlet glare. ‘Now don’t interrupt me, sir. It’s a trance, you see. But listen, listen for your life – and remember
– forever.’
    She started to talk in a different voice, a voice beautiful and spellbinding. Freddie sat, mesmerised, his eyes widening, his heart pounding with the revelations that poured from her woody old
lips. How could she know these things? Yet he believed her. Deep in his eternal soul, he knew beyond any shadow of doubt. She was right. It was true. It would be true.
    And he, Freddie Barcussy, would have to deal with it.
    Stunned, he waited until she had finished. Then he asked, ‘Have you got a piece of paper?’ She gave him a page, torn from a red memo notebook. ‘I’m not leaving until
I’ve written this down,’ Freddie said. He took a stub of pencil from his pocket and quickly covered the paper, both sides, with his copperplate script. Then he folded it into four,
tucked it into his breast pocket, and extracted his legs from the cramped space.
    Without another word, he started his lorry, backed it out of the hedge, and drove home. He strode through the kitchen, past the surprised faces of Dykie and Lucy. ‘I got a job to do
upstairs. Won’t be long,’ he said.
    ‘You look shaken, Freddie,’ Dykie called. ‘I’ll put the kettle on.’
    Freddie took an envelope from his bureau and put the folded piece of paper inside. Then he found a stick of red sealing wax and a box of matches, took it into the bathroom and locked the door.
He sat down on the edge of the bath, drew out the piece of paper, and read the gypsy’s prophetic words one more time.
    His heart was heavy as he replaced it in the blue Basildon Bond envelope, lit a match and dropped a blob of melted red sealing was over the flap. He let it cool and wrote his name and the
date.
    He took it back into the bedroom, and sat on the edge of Kate’s side of the bed, tapping the envelope and making a silent vow. Never, never, would he disclose its chilling words, to Kate,
or anyone in his family. He alone would carry in his heart the power of the gypsy’s prophecy – unless – unless . . . Freddie opened a concealed drawer in his bureau and picked out
a small brass key. He unhooked a picture from the wall. It was a watercolour he’d done of Monterose Church. Behind the picture was a little wooden door with a brass keyhole. He unlocked it
and put the sealed envelope in the hidden cubbyhole, rested his hand on it in a moment of silent prayer, and locked it in.
    Never to be opened, he vowed.

Chapter Three
    TESSA
    ‘I wish I could open the window and throw you out!’ Kate gently lowered the screaming baby into the green painted cot. She turned her back and stood at the window,
her hands over her ears to block the extra sound baby Tessa was creating by kicking her tiny red feet, making the shabby old cot rattle like a tambourine. ‘Never in my life have I been so
exasperated,’ Kate said, talking to herself, ‘and so TIRED.’
    Lucy sidled up to her, wide-eyed. ‘Don’t cry, Mummy,’ she said, wrapping her arms around Kate’s legs. ‘Tessa’s a BAD baby. I told Daddy.’
    ‘You’re so sweet, Lucy. Bless you.’ Kate picked the child up, glad of her angelic three-year-old’s hug and her placid temperament. She carried Lucy out of the room, and
shut the door on the screaming baby. That’s what they’d all told her to do. Put her safely in the cot, walk out and shut the door. Leave her to scream. She’ll soon learn, everyone
said. But it didn’t work with