Read Online Harvest by Steve Merrifield - Free Book Online Page B

ultimately offer you little comfort.” She watched them
both wilt guiltily, as if uncovered in some crime.
    After the weight of the
expectations had lifted, the three chatted for a quarter of an hour
about Rachel’s beliefs, the twins, life in the flats and did a
complete circle back to how they still had no leads towards finding
little Emily, and how the Chambers’ prayed that she was alive. The
conversation ran out as the emotions took hold of Claire and Brian.
To escape the awkwardness, Rachel asked where Emily was last known
to be before she went missing. Claire stood up and led the way to
the bedroom while Brian remained on the sofa, his head in his
hands.
    Rachel stood with Claire before
the children’s bedroom door. With no window to provide natural
light, it was dark at that end of the hall. Claire put her hand on
the door handle, but turned hesitantly to Rachel and chewed at her
bottom lip.
    “ There’s something I
haven’t told anyone. Only Brian, and he says it’s silly. Some funny
things have happened lately. We used to have fish in our tank in
the lounge. The night Emily went missing they all went crazy,
flitting erratically, flinging themselves around the tank. I could
hear the fish hitting the glass. The fluorescent light was
flickering too. That’s the moment I heard one of the girls scream
and I found Emily had gone. Afterwards, when the police had gone
and we were alone again, that was when I noticed… The fish. They
were all dead, floating on the surface.”
    Rachel then listened to Claire
explain how Amy had been stuck in her room. Claire nudged the door
to the bedroom and it drifted off its catch and opened effortlessly
without the need for the handle to be turned. “It was as if Amy had
been holding it shut; but she wouldn’t have been able to stop me
opening it. I’m sure there was light in here – not from the light
bulb. It was green. I got Amy out and she was terrified. What
should she be terrified of?
    “ There is something else
we hadn’t told the police,” she whispered
conspiratorially.
    “ Go on,” Rachel urged as
the hairs on her neck tingled.
    “ The night Emily went
missing, me and Brian had settled for the evening...”
    “ Don’t, Claire,” Brian
interrupted pleadingly, announcing his presence in the
hall.
    “ The
front door was locked.” Claire looked at Rachel for a reaction. “We
are nine floors
up.”
    Rachel looked from Claire to
Brian who couldn’t hold her gaze, then to the children’s room
before returning to Claire, giving herself time to absorb this new
information. Claire was putting voice to something she had only
dared to share with her husband, and it was clear that even in that
limited audience it created conflict. Brian was obviously uneasy
that Claire had told Rachel, knowing how outlandish it sounded.
“You believe Emily just vanished: into thin air?”
    Brian withdrew to the lounge
and she heard him drop heavily on to the sofa in resignation.
Claire shied away from Rachel’s searching gaze.
    “ I don’t know what to
believe any more,” Claire said, not really giving the definite
answer Rachel wanted.
    “ I’m
hardly going to criticise what you believe, Claire: I’m the one that talks with those that have passed on.” She
half-laughed trying to lighten the situation but stepping round the
dreaded catchphrase “I see dead
people”. The Sixth Sense film had a lot to answer for. “Some
of what you have described could be related to poltergeist
activity. I’m sure you know about those, thanks to the movies. You
have young children, and poltergeist activity tends to centre on
them. They are hypothesised to be manifestations of psychic energy,
or mischievous spirits drawn to a child, depends on your beliefs as
it’s hardly a science that can be empirically tested either way.
What doesn’t fit is what you haven’t said, but only hinted at and I
have never heard of that outside of books and films. However, your
daughter is missing and