Underbelly (18 page)

“
There’s usually something happening with my son or his friends. They’re a fine bunch of young men who just like to enjoy themselves like we did at their age. I trust you have no problem with that, Grey,” he said, warning him aggressively that it would be a bad idea for him to criticise his son’s wayward behaviour. It was the wayward son he loved, not this zombie replacement that actually requested less money but lacked the charm.

“
No,” Grey said, shaking his head.

“
His friends tell me that he won’t see them. He is definitely not acting like himself. It’s probably better his mother doesn’t know about this. I want you to keep me informed as to his progress,” Overton said as he reached for his chequebook and began to write.

“
No, I don’t need money,” Grey said quickly.

“
Everyone needs money,” he said, handing him a cheque for a thousand dollars. “Bring him back to me fixed and you’ll receive a lot more than that. Good day to you, Grey.”

Grey was loath to accept the cheque and discussed it with Conrad who told him that his father would be affronted if he didn't and Grey took his advice, thanking Overton gratefully, who mumbled something back, now wanting Grey out of his office as quickly as possible. Clifford Overton’s words confirmed what Grey already believed – an interloper overran Conrad Overton’s body and the real Conrad was his spirit visitor. He considered going to Nebraska to ask similar questions of the Hepworths about Thomas, a trip he decided was unnecessary, Grey joining the dots and deducing that Thomas Hepworth had suffered the same fate as Conrad.

While Delgado and Otilio decided to see the sights while they were in Los Angeles, Grey decided to put off any sightseeing until he was back with Germaine, occupied enough with trying to solve problems he didn’t understand. As Laura looked increasingly like the only avenue left for him to call on, another woman appeared with the potential to help, a spirit. She quickly introduced herself as Agnes Whirry and told him that her heart went out to him as she had been a medium herself in life, born of Irish parents in San Francisco at the turn of the last century.

This is an honour and a privilege
, Grey said.
I’ve met others who are gifted but I’ve never met another medium before.

Yes you have. Cecil Winston – I didn’t know him, but I know that he is a very powerful clairvoyant. He’s comforted more souls than either you or I. By all accounts he was a noble man, until this heinous act.

So he is responsible for supplanting them from their bodies?

So it would seem.

Then who are the spirits in the bodies?

If he’s anything like me they will be people he cares about. My great love died in the Great War, the war that blighted my generation, a shadow that never lifted
.
From birth to death I never had one female friend, and as well as my love the war took every friend of mine away. I was bereft, unhinged. I had been able to cope with being a counsellor to the dead since my tenth birthday, but losing him was too much for me. He cried out to me and I responded. I gave him life anew. My landlord was an unscrupulous deviant who abused some of his female tenants, though never me – you hide your differences better than I did; many guessed that there was something uncanny about me. I invited him round and I tried to restore my lover in his body – it’s easier than you think, James.

Even if I can do it there is the question of ethics.

Of course. I never took ethics into account and that is why I remain, that is what has made me damned. It was not my place to judge him. Grief took my level head from me. We were never happy after that. He had suffered in the war and his mind was fragile and being implanted in a new body was too much for him. I did all that I could for him for three years before he was placed in a bedlam where he died.

I’m sorry, Agnes. I think you were wrong but I can see that you acted out of love, not hate, and at least you acknowledge your mistake.

The situation with Conrad and Thomas is different. They’re the rightful inhabitants of their bodies and I think that will make restoring them easier and should make it easier for them to readjust. Many forget their time on the spirit plane and hopefully that will be the case with them. I’ll be with you, helping you through it.

I don’t feel I’m gifted in that way.

You’ve never tried. Clairvoyance has many facets, my friend.

I’ll try – please tell me we can do it from a distance.

If your power levels are beyond past precedent, yes. Otherwise, I’m afraid you’ve got to be near them.

I don’t see them making it easy for me.

It’s up to you, James. You can turn your back on them and I won’t think any less of you – how can I after what I did? The question is what would you think of yourself if you did that?

I guess I don’t have a choice.

You do. Conrad and Thomas didn’t have a choice.

Let’s get this out of the way
, Grey said, dreading the confrontation. Cecil Winston possessed the power that he had to learn himself swiftly, that of transference, making him a dangerous foe. He briefed Delgado and Otilio of his plan, such as it was – returning to the Winston manor and attempting to restore the rightful spirits in their bodies. He told them that it was potentially dangerous and did not expect them to accompany him, instead merely asking for a lift back to Fresno. They talked for some time on the matter, both Delgado and Otilio keen to offer their support but querying the wisdom of his plan – if Winston could supplant spirits from their bodies with such ease, what was to stop him doing the same to all three of them? Delgado drove them back to Fresno, where they managed to get rooms at the same motel they had stayed at two days previously and Grey and Delgado began to argue, Delgado accusing Grey of having fantastic powers and terrible judgement, bringing up Colin Irwin.

“
This isn’t the same – I’m going into this not trusting Winston.”

“
We may as well shove apples in our mouths because we’d be going in as offerings to him,” Delgado said in frustration. He was as eager as Grey to find a solution and was unfazed by physical danger – spiritual danger was another matter altogether.

“
I don’t expect you to come, Isdel. I don’t understand why you’re stopping me from going.”

“
Would you let a friend walk to their certain doom?”

“
It’s not certain doom. It’s dangerous, but no more than the war was, probably a lot less.”

Otilio stayed out of the arguments, which lasted for two days. With only one day left before they were to drive back Grey tried to come up with a solution to appease Delgado.

“
Agnes said I had to be close – maybe that doesn’t mean inside. I’ll try at the gates. If that doesn’t work then you two head back to Phoenix and I’ll stay here and find a way, catch them when they pop out.”

Delgado was prepared to try it, Grey conferencing with Agnes as Delgado and Otilio kept an eye out for anyone approaching from the manor. Her instructions were vague, telling him to reach out and feel them, Grey trying in vain, closing his eyes as he concentrated harder until finally he felt something. Otilio shook him and said, “We’re making a move, someone’s wanting to be in.”

Grey looked and saw that a car had pulled up and the driver had got out, looking cross that his entrance to the manor was blocked. He remonstrated with Delgado, who said he’d reverse out if he moved his car back, and as they quarrelled Grey felt the pull and went with it. There was no way he could describe the sensation, like giving birth with his brain, as he strained to expel the visitor in his head into its rightful body. By the time he was done he had passed out and when he revived himself he saw Delgado giving mouth to mouth resuscitation to the driver of the car – Thomas Hepworth. Grey staggered out of the car, praying that he hadn’t killed him, asking Delgado repeatedly if he was all right. Thomas Hepworth began coughing and Grey breathed a sigh of relief and talked to him as Delgado positioned him on his side.

“
Thomas, are you all right?”

Grey asked the question many times in different forms before Thomas said, “What’s happening?” His disorientation was understandable and Grey was careful in how he answered, remembering what Agnes had said, that he might not recall what transpired on the spirit plane. Grey told him he’d had a seizure and that he was going to be fine, answering his questions as to where he was, unable to tell him how he’d got there. Eventually he sat up and looked at the car that they said was his and shook his head repeatedly, telling them that it wasn’t his car.

“
Otilio, keep an eye on him a second,” Delgado said, wanting to talk to Grey privately. They walked a few metres away and Delgado said, “You’ve proved you can restore them – let’s just go for it and get the other one.”

“
You don’t have to.”

“
It’s better to do it now, otherwise he’ll find you’ve freed Thomas and there might be hell to pay for that anyway.”

“
I’ll bet you won’t want me to stay again for a while,” Grey joked, though he did feel bad at dragging Delgado into matters of the occult again. Delgado didn’t respond. They managed to talk Thomas into getting into their car and Delgado drove to the front of the house. Grey took a deep breath and got out of the car followed by Delgado and Otilio. Before he had chance to knock on the door Cecil Winston had already opened it and stared right through him before looking past him to the man sitting in the car in front of him, Thomas Hepworth – just by looking at him he could see he was restored. Winston kept his composure and invited Grey and his friends in, the three men following him through to the sitting room where they all remained standing. The atmosphere was frosty, and while they had been invited in, Winston clearly regarded them as enemies in how he cautiously viewed them.

“
I think you know why I’m here,” Grey said.

“
Unfortunately, yes,” he sighed. He seemed morose and he said, “Excuse my ill temper, but you have taken my brother, Milton, away from me.”

“
I’m afraid that I have to take someone else away from you too. Where’s Conrad?”

“
He’s safe. You’ll have to convince me that I’m wrong before I let you see him.”

“
Who is it really?”

“
Reginald Cooper. We’ve been best friends for forty years. People like you and I – our powers can cause us problems, and he was always there for me. I wanted to give something back to him.”

“
By taking everything from Conrad? Can you truly justify that?” Grey said, trying to reason with him.

“
Yes. I didn’t pick Conrad at random. He’s held up as a paragon of virtue by the local press, who know what he is, but because of who he is, the golden boy, his indiscretions are swept under the carpet. You have values, Grey, I’ve observed you on the plane. A man such as that is not worthy of your, or my, time.”

“
That’s a huge judgement call to make, too big,” Grey said, refusing to be swayed by Winston’s argument.

“
And it strikes me as convenient that both of these men you call devils happen to be obscenely wealthy,” Delgado interjected.

“
Thomas Hepworth is not a devil and I have not implied that he was. He was an ungrateful young man, born into privilege and determined to throw it all away. His frequent suicide attempts are always denied but the rumours don’t subside and his body, as well as the obvious wrist scars, show evidence of bloodletting over a prolonged period. His suicide was inevitable before I intervened – why let a perfectly healthy body go to waste?”

“
You’ve let your power corrupt you. Why?” Grey said, wanting to know what made him able to turn his back on a life of good deeds, to ensure that he never fell into the same traps.

“
Loneliness. It is harder being alone than I could have imagined. I’ve given so much I thought it was time to take something for myself. I’m not saying my actions are just but I know as a fact that Milton and Reginald will do more good than Overton or Hepworth would have.”