The Dream Weavers by Barbara Erskine (books you have to read txt) 📕

had to get her out of there. I tried to wake her, and I managed to get her back to the car and pushed her into the passenger seat, then I realised I would have to get the keys off her to drive. I assumed they were in her bag and opened it. She’d been clutching it on her knees and she let out a shriek and I thought she was trying to stop me looking inside it, but she started rummaging around in it frantically and she pulled out a little make-up mirror. She held it out in front of her, pointing away from herself at something, someone I couldn’t see.’ He took a deep, shuddering breath. ‘Someone screamed, someone else, Mark, someone who wasn’t there, couldn’t see, the most awful agonised sound, and then Bea fainted.’

It was two hours before Bea awoke. She stretched and groaned. ‘Mark? What time is it?’ She was looking around her in a panic, completely disorientated. And then she remembered. The drive up through the Welsh Marches, the search for Eliseg’s Pillar and for Mathrafal and finally the church at Meifod. ‘Simon? Where’s Simon?’

‘He had a text from Felix.’ Mark knelt by the sofa and brushed her hair back from her forehead with a gentle hand. ‘He’s driven back to Meifod. Emma’s phone has been switched back on and Felix tracked it down to a farm a mile or so outside the village.’

‘He’ll be exhausted. We’ve been driving all day.’

‘I tried to dissuade him, but he insisted. He’s a good man.’

She pushed away the rug he had tucked over her and sat up groggily. ‘Thank God Emma’s all right. Sandra was there, Mark, at Meifod. In the church. Somehow she was there in the past with Eadburh. She was vicious. Like nothing I’ve ever seen. I didn’t know what to do. I had to think of something to ward her off.’

‘And that was why you held up the mirror. Simon told me.’

‘I did? A real mirror?’

‘A real mirror. It was in your bag. He told me he was looking for your car keys and you grabbed it and held it up. He said someone screamed.’

‘And he heard it? It was Sandra. Sandra screamed. The mirror reflected her evil back at her, like some awful basilisk.’ She lay back, exhausted. ‘Oh Mark, it’s all such a muddle.’

‘I didn’t try to wake you when Simon left,’ he said firmly. ‘I thought it better if you slept.’ He grabbed his phone as it rang again. ‘Heather. She’s rung several times.’

‘Did she leave a message?’ Bea held out her hand. ‘Let me speak to her.’

Mark stood up and, passing over the phone, walked over to the fireplace. He leaned his elbow on the mantelpiece, staring down into the empty hearth.

Bea listened for a few seconds. ‘Come over, Heather. Now. Please.’

She lay back, exhausted. ‘She went to see Sandra again. We need to hear what she has to say.’

Mark went through to the living room and over to the front window. Outside the Close was dark save for the street lamps dotted between the trees. The cathedral was closed. The scent of new-mown grass drifted in through the window. He turned round to find Bea had followed him. ‘I hope Simon finds Emma soon. The poor man is beside himself with worry.’

When Simon drew up outside the farmhouse he saw every light in the place was on. Climbing out of the car he walked towards the front door. It flew open and an elderly woman appeared. She stared at him in confusion. ‘Who are you?’

‘I’m sorry. I am looking for my daughter, Emma. I understood she was here earlier this afternoon.’

‘Well she’s not here now!’ the woman cried, shaking her head. ‘Why won’t anyone believe us? We told the police all we knew. Why on earth would we hurt her? Dai has gone with them to show them where he dropped her. That was hours ago, and he hasn’t come home.’ The woman broke down in tears. ‘They searched the house and the barns. Everything.’

Simon stared at her, aghast. ‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t realise the police had been called.’ He followed her indoors. ‘My son told us he had tracked Emma’s mobile signal here, which was why I came as soon as I could.’

He stood where he was as the woman turned away and went to sit down at the kitchen table, her head in her hands. ‘We would never hurt her. Why would we?’ she repeated brokenly. ‘I gave her a cup of tea and some of my Welsh cakes.’

Simon followed her, reaching for his phone. ‘You said your husband – is it your husband? – dropped her off somewhere?’

‘Llangynog. She wanted to go to Pennant Melangell to see the shrine. He thought it was a bit late to drive her up to the church, so he dropped her outside a B & B. He couldn’t remember the name of it one, so the police said they would drive him there to talk to the owner. That was hours ago.’

‘A shrine?’ Simon was perplexed. ‘What shrine?’

‘She said she had arranged to meet her boyfriend there.’ The woman looked up at him pleadingly. ‘We were trying to help. We didn’t think she should be wandering around on her own, a pretty girl like that. Dai would never lay a finger on her.’ Suddenly she was angry. ‘I could see what that police sergeant was thinking, but we’ve got granddaughters her age!’

The word boyfriend was echoing round Simon’s brain. Did she have a real boyfriend, or were they talking about Elisedd? ‘I’m so sorry.’ He knew he kept repeating himself. ‘I suppose it’s the police’s job to believe the worst of people. Perhaps I’d better follow them and see what’s happening. Where is this shrine?’

She repeated the instructions and he typed them into his phone. ‘I’ll make sure someone gets in touch with you and lets you know what’s happening,’ he said as he walked out to the