The Grotto's Secret: A Historical Conspiracy Mystery Thriller (12 page)

42

Kelby settled into a seat beside Annie and looked at her frail body. As she slept Annie looked peaceful and calm. As well as regular acute asthma attacks that led to hospitalisation, Annie had eczema which had flared up soon after Gary passed away.

Overnight, Annie’s pearly skin had become itchy red patches with thick scales. She’d been a happy little girl, full of jumping beans and always wanting to be outside playing with her menagerie of insects. Now she was self-conscious about being smothered in creams and not able to participate in school sports because her skin was always itchy and sore.

When her asthma flared up and had her choking for breath, she had to be admitted to hospital. Each time the attacks were worse and led to different treatments that hadn’t worked. It annoyed Kelby when the doctors didn’t take it seriously enough.

After insisting on paying for private care for Annie, Kelby had expected to see more visible signs of her health improving, but her hopes had dropped. She’d have to speak to the doctors again and boot their asses to get that new treatment from the States. Stacie wouldn’t have any experimental drugs used on her daughter, but Kelby took it upon herself to get the doctors to convince her sister-in-law to try anything new.

Annie stirred, her eyelids fluttered open and she turned to face her. Kelby gave her a little wave. Annie beamed, despite the horrid plastic tube stuck up her nose and taped across her translucent cheeks. Her thin
hand reached out and her voice croak
ed, ‘Aunt Kel! I’ve been waiting all day for you to come.’

Kelby refused to let her voice crack. ‘And I’ve been waiting for you to wake up to chat to me.’ As her heart pumped, Kelby savoured a rush of happiness radiating through her. But the rush soon faded and guilt took over. Jimmy was right; she worked too hard. She should have come earlier; Annie needed her more than the hunting pack.

Annie lifted a sheet of paper off her bedside table and handed Kelby a drawing. With a pink, scaly finger, she pointed at a pool of water with two figures splashing about. ‘That’s where May-ree swims.’ She picked at a patch of red and tender skin on her arm. ‘And that’s me with her.’

Kelby reached out and stopped her scratching. ‘Is this May-ree who told you about her waterfall?’

Annie whispered, ‘Her waterfall is a special place no-one has ever seen. It’s inside a cave. Her secret treasure is hidden in the cave. She found a bull painted on the rocks. He’s called Toro.’ Her nose screwed up. ‘She hid her secrets near his horns.’

Kelby leaned in, pretending to be intrigued.

‘She has another secret too.’

‘Ooh, and what’s that.’

Annie’s voice dropped to barely a whisper, ‘She drew a map and hid it inside her book bag, like my school bag, only hers is old-fashioned.’

Kelby nodded.

Annie’s energy bounced around as she changed the subject, asking ‘Aunt Kel, tell me about the time Daddy’s friend jumped on you.’

‘You mean in the pool?’

‘Yes.’

‘When your daddy and I were small —’ her voice cracked, ‘we were on holiday and one of his friends jumped onto my back when I was swimming across the deep end. He hung on my back like a monkey, but he was so heavy I nearly drowned.’

‘Could Daddy swim?’

‘Yes, when he joined the army, he swam across the English Channel. He was training to cycle across England.’

‘You mean with his new leg.’

Kelby nodded, struggling to hold back the tears.

‘I wish he would come back from heaven to teach me, but May-ree’s going to teach me to swim.’

‘Daddy wanted you to be a fish like him.’ Kelby made a mental note to get Jimmy to find a private swimming tutor when Annie was discharged.

‘Can you swim, Aunt Kel?’

Kelby swallowed hard. ‘No, I can’t.’

‘But you’re grown up. Grown-ups know how to swim.’

‘Not all. Thousands are too scared.’

‘Are you scared?’

Kelby nodded.

‘Why? Because of the boy who jumped on you?’ Annie patted Kelby’s hand. ‘Don’t worry Aunt Kel, we’ll learn together. I’ll do it if you will. And I won’t jump on your back, neither.’

Kelby leaned over and hugged Annie. ‘Okay, deal. But you better get out of here quick!’ She couldn’t tell Annie she had no intention of keeping her promise.

‘My new friend can swim.’

‘May-ree?’

‘No, Corinna.’

Kelby tried to recall if this was another pretend friend or a real one. ‘Is she that little girl next door?’

Annie shifted her jaw side to side and nibbled on her lips with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Kelby nodded. ‘Ah,
that
friend.’ Annie had a school-yard of invisible friends.

‘I told Daddy about her. And he’s been talking to her too.’

Kelby nodded and let out a silent
phew
. To help Annie come to terms with Gary’s death, Kelby had encouraged Annie to talk to him.

‘How old is Corinna?’

‘She’s ten. I can’t wait to be ten.’

Kelby fluffed Annie’s head. ‘You’re nearly there.’

‘Who’s your best friend, Aunt Kel?’

‘You.’

‘Mum says you’re Becky-no-mates.’

‘Sometimes being Becky-no-mates is best.’ A seven year-old couldn’t be expected to understand being friendless helped avoid hurt and disappointment.

Annie glanced over Kelby’s shoulder and dropped her voice to
a whisper. The look on her face was of a child spy about to reveal a global conspiracy.

‘Aunt Kel, can you keep a secret?’

43

Once again Padre’s hand-carved door rattled under the weight of a man’s fist. Still testing out her book, María gulped and bit her lip. A deep sense of foreboding clutched at her stomach.

With her stomach churning, she jabbed the quill lying on the table into an old cotton chemise. She rolled up
The Grotto’s Secret
and ran across the cobbled floor. Leaning into one of the stone alcoves, she tucked her writing materials at the back of a blackened pot.

Madre appeared in the kitchen, rubbing her eyes.

María had always been proud to watch Madre deliver a baby onto its mother’s breast. Over the past few weeks of learning the
medicina
secrets, her love for her mother had swelled.

The door shook under the persistent fist.

‘Ana-María, the door!’

María scrambled to open it and a shaft of moonlight crept in. A man shoved past her into the kitchen and demanded, ‘Where is your mother?’

Madre stepped into the candlelight and asked, ‘Fernando, your wife is ready so early?’

‘She is in much pain; I could not bring her to you. You must come quickly.’

Without hesitation, Madre pulled a gown over her chemise, grabbed a shawl, threw it around her shoulders, and said, ‘Ana-María fetch me some mugwort from my baking room.’ She turned to Fernando and explained, ‘It induces labour. It will assist the birth and afterbirth. And it will help to ease your wife’s labour pains.’

When María returned a few minutes later with a pile of dried mugwort, Madre kissed the top of her head. ‘Throw that jasmine you crushed into my basket, Ana-María, it will help to calm the new mother.’

With haste, María did as she was told.

Madre picked up her basket, which she kept prepared for an emergency. ‘Feed the animals and follow me in the morning. I will need you to help clean up.’

‘Of course, Mama.’

At the door she gave María a pointed look. María didn’t follow her mother’s gaze but just nodded curtly to assure her the journal had been hidden.

When the noise outside had subsided, and the night had calmed back into silence, María poured water from the bucket into a pot and set it over the fire to boil. She prepared a vegetable and chicken stew for Madre and fed the animals. It would be a long night and day. Delivering babies had long ago bored her. She preferred to spend her time writing, or with the animals in the fields, but Madre needed her.

By the time she left their Finca, and started walking through the night to help Madre, a deep sensation that something terrible was about to happen chilled her.

A cool breeze had whipped up the valley from the direction of the sea. María pulled her shawl closer to her neck, enjoying the roughly woven warmth of the wool. Clumps of clay from the recent rain stuck to her boots.

And then something rustled in the trees ahead.

44

Barker dumped his overnight bag and briefcase on the kitchen island and flicked the kettle on. His flight had arrived late and he’d had to tackle heavy traffic on the M25 to get to his London home.

Living in London, he loved. Fighting its impossible traffic, he hated.

He sifted through a row of teabag tins and chose camomile to calm his mind. He dropped the teabag into his teacup, lifted his briefcase and ambled down the hall.

Passing his sitting room, he glanced at the leather lounge suite, as white as virginal daisies. The curtains draping elegantly to the sides were as white and looked pearlescent with the uplighter shining on them. He’d decorated it to prove his clean sexual tastes. Only to himself, of course. Teresina hadn’t put a foot in this new home.

In his study, he placed his briefcase on the desk, opened it and switched on a lamp. In the corner, he lifted a gift box and spun back to face his desk. He knelt down to a safe hidden under his desk and removed a wad of money. Next, he swathed the pound notes into tissue paper and tucked it into the box.

Inside the lid of the briefcase, a letter opener gleamed. Its decorative handle showed off an angel with expanded wings. Barker grabbed a roll of red twine and sliced through a long strand.

He carefully wrapped the money bundle into the box, closed the lid, and tied a bow with the red twine. Zelda’s find had become an important cog in the mechanical process. It hadn’t taken him long to notice that after his last payout, Zelda had been away from work for a week, returning with a brand new set of ripe, fleshy breasts. She must have paid handsomely for them.

Barker placed the parcel into his briefcase ready for posting and ambled back to the kitchen. The kettle whistled. He poured boiling water onto the teabag and hummed. As the brew steeped, he carried the china tea cup across the marbled floor and set it down before settling into a leather sofa.

Barker reached for his phone, dialled a number and asked to speak to Matt Gorden. When the chairman of Mata Gorda International hollered down the line, Barker cut to the chase. ‘Gorden, have you heard of something called rizado?’

A long silence on the other end.

‘Gorden? You there?’

‘I’m here.’

‘So you know about the
Herbal de Carbonela
being dug up in the Madrid archives and opened to the public.’

‘Of course, we’ve known for years. We received a sample of it ages ago and we’ve been trying to replicate rizado ever since. Why are you asking?’

Without giving his game away, Barker filled Gorden in and ended by saying, ‘I’ll get my hands on it soon. What did the results show?’

‘It was only a small sample so we couldn’t do much. But it’s amazing. Rizado heals burns and cuts in hours. Our scientists added it to some antibiotics and it made them ten times more effective. If you can get your hands on more, we’ll do more tests. Why don’t you come in and discuss it?’

After arranging a meeting for the following day, Barker cut the call. He lifted a magazine from his coffee table and it fell open to the centre spread. He rubbed a finger along the page. As before, it slit his finger. Staring at the blood made him smile and swelled his Johnson.

He smeared the blood across the two she-devils. Each incited a different fire into his belly: Teresina made him pulsate with revenge and churned up anger, and Kelby, with her secret potion, gave him an exciting new project.

‘You will give up your new secret, Kelby. I have lots of ways to make you spit it out.’

Barker released Johnson, straining inside his trouser zipper. Above the magazine faces, Barker’s engorged penis turned purple.

Like his next victim would soon be.

45

Kelby leaned close so Annie could reveal her secret.

‘Promise you won’t tell Mum.’

‘Tell her what?’

‘Promise properly.’

Kelby dropped her voice to match Annie’s scheming tone, ‘I do solemnly swear, Miss Annie Wade, I will not tell Mum your secret.’

‘You’re not allowed to swear. You’ll get me into big trouble.’

‘I solemnly swear I will not swear.’

Annie giggled and tapped the tip of her finger on Kelby’s nose as if it were a magical wand granting special powers. ‘Okay, you pass the test.’

‘Soooo? What’s the big secret?’

Annie equalled Kelby’s lean-in and came nose to nose with her. ‘I lied to Mum.’

Kelby’s eyebrows shot up, and she tried to stop her jaw from dropping. ‘Annie!’

‘But it was a small little lie, not a big bad porky pie.’

‘Fess up, girl, or I’ll have to start swearing again.’

Annie’s face creased into a delightful mixture of conspiracy and mischief. ‘Everyone is allowed to bring their pets to school for show and tell, but I’m not allowed hairy pets.’

‘Pumpkin, you know that’s because you’ll have a bad attack from a puppy or kitten.’

Annie nodded, clearly resigned to her fate. ‘I told Mum I had to have a pet.’

‘But what about the goldfish I bought you?’

‘They don’t count.’ She consoled Kelby by patting her hand. ‘I couldn’t take a goldfish bowl filled with water to school the way Mum drives!’

‘Ah, I see your point.’

‘And imagine Mrs Greenwood’s face when Marcus tips up the bowl and Emily starts crying and won’t stop.
So
, I told Mum I needed to start an ant farm for a school project.’ Annie gripped Kelby’s index finger and yanked on it, ‘Remember your promise.’

‘Brownie’s honour.’ Kelby saluted Annie.

‘No!’ Annie’s eyes grew large in horror. ‘It’s like this, Aunt Kel.’

Kelby smiled as Annie tapped three fingers of her right hand up. Her thumb and little finger bent and touching as her hand rose to an imaginary cap. Inside her palms, white scaly flakes stood out on the pink tender skin.

‘All my friends have got normal pets, but no-one’s got an ant farm. When I show and tell they think I’m cool.’ Annie’s face lit up. ‘Marcus stopped calling me “sniffer”. And Kathy won’t stop hanging around me. She wants to know about my ants, even though she normally flicks my nose and calls me Rudolf. And guess what …’

‘What?’ Kelby waited in anticipation.

‘Sam has stopped calling me a leper!’

Kelby flinched. She hated how cruel the kids were to Annie. In particular, her hands had caused a fuss at school. None of the other kids wanted to touch her. It took constant reassurance from the teachers Annie’s skin wouldn’t harm them, but that still didn’t help. Even simple actions such as washing her hands, picking up her school bag or pulling on her jumper to go into the playground distressed Annie.

‘Everyone wants to be my friend and even Emily thinks I’m an
ant hero.’

‘You know something, Annie? You’re starting to sound like an entrepreneur.’

‘What’s that?’

‘A crafty, little so and so who thinks up clever plans that will give them what they want. And they take big risks to go for it. Like you. Many of them will lie too.’

Annie chuckled behind her hand clamped over her mouth. ‘I only lied cos Mum said she hates ants. Says they give her the creepy crawlies.’

‘I’m with Mum on that one.’

‘I think she’ll starve them while I’m in here. You know Mum doesn’t bother much about food.’

‘Then you better get your bum out of bed pretty fast.’

‘I’m better.
Please
tell the doctor to let me go home.’

‘I’ll do that.’

‘Can you keep another secret?’

‘Are you the chief of the secret service?’

Annie giggled behind her hand.

Kelby loved the way her eyes twinkled with mischief.

‘Spit it out.’

‘Corinna told me she saw a man killing her mummy.’

Kelby gasped. ‘Annie!’

‘It’s not me, Aunt Kel, it’s Corinna. And she’s not lying neither.’

‘Annie, where do you hear these things?’ Kelby glanced at the TV on the wall. She’d have to tell the nursing staff to curb Annie’s viewing. She must be watching things Stacie would never allow her to watch at home. The child had an active imagination, but this was getting out of hand.

‘Annie, you must be —’

Annie rolled her head over on the pillow. ‘I won’t tell you any more if you won’t believe me.’

Kelby stood and marched around to the other side of the bed and pulled a face at Annie. ‘Okay, secret service, how does Corinna know these things?’

‘She said before they went shopping she heard someone singing outside so she peeked out. She saw a strange man with something that looked like a tiny iPod in his hand. He stuck it onto their car.’

Kelby almost dared not ask, but did anyway. ‘And then what happened?’

‘She said the car went bang.’