Beyond Death (The Afterlife Series Book 1) Read online

  Beyond Death (Book 1)

  By Deb McEwan

  The right of Deb McEwan to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

  Copyright Deb McEwan 2014

  Chapter 1

  It shouldn’t have happened, it wasn’t her time. But they were busy and weren’t paying attention, so she died.

  *****

  Ken parked outside Big Ed’s shop and waited. He could see the three girls through the window, two playing on the fruit machines and the other waiting with a look on her face that screamed attitude that only teenagers were capable of displaying. He saw the door open at the back of the shop and the good-looking big man appeared from behind the counter. He said something to the girls and waited for the two to finish playing. They obviously thought that they were calling the shots but Ken knew differently. A few minutes later they approached the car.

  ‘All right, Ken?’ asked Big Ed and Ken nodded. He looked at his tattooed arms and biceps, bulging out of his t-shirt, and his chest that was on a par with the average silver back and Ken smiled and nodded again. Even if he weren’t all right he wouldn’t argue with this man.

  ‘Usual place, Ed?’ Big Ed nodded and hustled the girls into the back seat.

  ‘Come on girls. You’re going to love this party.’

  About halfway there and Ken had switched off to the chatter and giggles of the two girls. The third seemed to be unusually quiet and as he wondered why, she spoke.

  ‘Stop the car please. I want to get out.’

  Ken looked at Big Ed in the mirror and he gave a little shake of his head so Ken carried on driving.

  The girl wasn’t happy that she’d been ignored. ‘Stop the car now!’ She got her phone out of her pocket. ‘I’ll call someone if you don’t let me out.’

  ‘Okay, okay,’ said Big Ed. ‘Calm down, darling. Nobody’s going to force you to go to a party, have lots of fun, free drink and food and drive you back so your teachers won’t know where you’ve been,’ he winked at the other two, ‘instead of pretending you’re visiting a friend’s house and doing your homework.’

  The other girls sniggered and Mel wondered if she was doing the right thing by not going.

  ‘Come on, Mel,’ said one of her friends. ‘We won’t get caught so don’t be such a nerd.’

  Never one to go with the flow, Mel was feeling uneasy about the outing and decided to trust her gut instinct. ‘I’ve changed my mind. Let me out.’

  Big Ed didn’t like the look of this one and thought she could be trouble. All the other girls had been compliant until getting there at the very least. He’d had a bit of trouble from one or two after the initial visit but had soon put them in the picture. He’d totally bent the returners to his will and put the fear of the devil in the one that had refused to return. After a little slapping and a few threats he was confident that she’d keep her mouth shut. It was a shame about this one, though as she was a proper looker but Big Ed decided to cut his losses. He put on his most charming smile.

  ‘What about you girls? Are you going with Mel or staying with me?’

  ‘You’re having a laugh, Ed aren’t you?’ Drew squeezed his thigh and gave him a seductive smile. ‘I wouldn’t miss this party for the world.’

  ‘Free booze and partying on a school night. Are you mad, Mel?’ said Alice as she wondered what planet her friend was on.

  Big Ed indicated for Ken to pull up to the kerb and Mel tried to give her friends a warning look before getting out of the car but they chose to ignore her. Her dad had always said that you don’t get anything for nothing and she wondered what her friends would have to do in return for the free booze and other stuff. She hoped her father was right otherwise she’d be mad that she’d missed a good party.

  Ken watched the youngster cross the road and head for the bus stop. He could tell she’d turn into a right one when she was older and no doubt give some poor mug the run around. It would never happen to him though and he was looking forward to seeing Val later on. Uncomplicated sex then send her back home. Her unsuspecting husband would be none the wiser because she’d still be asleep when he came home off night shift. Ken didn’t feel guilty about putting his mate on nights; he’d send Val back to him when he got bored with her and good old Ron would be none the wiser.

  Mel took the bus back to the stop near Alice’s house. Alice’s parents were working and she walked round the back and retrieved the key from underneath the plant pot, letting herself in the back door after checking that no one was looking. Their school uniforms were hanging in Alice’s wardrobe. Mel changed and removed her make up before making her way back into school without anyone knowing that she’d been further than her friend’s. They had the excuse of going to Alice’s to do their homework. Alice was spoilt rotten and her parents would cover for her, no matter the situation. They were happy for her to go to boarding school so they didn’t have to take time out from their busy jobs during the week and Alice was happy to spend time with her friends and get up to so much that her parents didn’t have a clue about.

  *****

  Enjoying some down time between shifts Ken was in his underpants and had been looking out of his bedroom window into the garden next door for a little while. The line was half-full and Mrs Wallace was hobbling around touching items, checking how dry they were, Ken assumed. She rubbed her hands on her old-fashioned pinafore and picked up her basket as she slowly made her way back towards her kitchen door. Before she reached it she stopped and looked skyward. Ken noticed the spots on the pathway and before long they were all joined together. He laughed as the widow hobbled as fast as she could back to the washing line, trying in vain to stop the clothes and bedding from getting wet. She was as wet as her washing by the time she struggled back into her house with an overflowing basket. Stupid old woman. He laughed out loud and turned as he heard the bedroom door open.

  Ken felt a jolt in his gut when he looked at her. She wasn’t stunningly beautiful but had something about her and if he’d been the type to hook up with a woman, this is the one he would have chosen. He crossed the room and grabbed her roughly. Loosening her dressing gown he grabbed one of her nipples and gave it a squeeze.

  ‘Come on then, Val let’s have some dinner. Ken’s hungry, and maybe after,’ he smacked her behind, ‘we’ll go again and have some more fun.’

  Val looked at the man she’d been seeing behind her husband’s back and realisation dawned. He wasn’t a particularly nice person on the inside or out and she felt shame and guilt. She did love her husband but they’d taken each other for granted and were drifting apart. She’d fallen for Ken when he’d paid her attention at a time she was feeling particularly unloved and unwanted. Val now realised that she didn’t want the deceit and lies anymore. She still loved Ron and wanted to save her marriage and the sooner this stupid affair was over the better.

  ‘I’m not staying for dinner, Ken. It’s been a huge mistake and it’s over.’ It was almost a whisper but shocking in its intensity. He hadn’t expected it and looked totally bewildered. For once he didn’t have a smart arse comment and Val felt a little sorry for him.

  ‘Look, Ken. I love Ron and want our marriage to work.’

  ‘I’m going to tell him what you’ve done.’ Ken was obviously smarting from her comments and Val wasn’t in the mood for an argument. She knew he’d never confront her husband. She also knew that he’d soon find another weak, vulnerable woman to share his bed.

  ‘You know you won’t do th
at,’ she said, getting dressed. ‘I’ll get my stuff together and leave and we can forget this ever happened.’

  ‘But, Val. I don’t want to...’ Decision made she went to the bathroom to collect her belongings and closed the door not wanting to listen to him. She leaned against the door for a few seconds and took a few deep breaths. Val could hear him banging about the bedroom. She splashed cold water onto her face and left the tap running to blot out some of the noise coming from the bedroom. She knew he had a temper so decided to take her time and give him time to calm down a bit. It hadn’t been pleasant but Val felt calm and in control again. Hopefully she could make it up to Ron. Despite his shortcomings he didn’t deserve to be deceived by his wife and so called best mate. She gave it a few more minutes, double-checked that she’d collected all her toiletries and other paraphernalia, and psyched herself up for departure. Determined not to get into an argument or discussion Val took a deep breath then opened the en-suite door to enter the bedroom. The scene before her took her breath away and Val yelped. She put her hand over her open mouth and chewed on the fleshy part of her palm, trying to control the panic that was welling up inside.

  ‘Ken! Ken!’ He was half-lying on the floor and leaning against the bed, the quilt at his side. Val shook him but his body slumped onto the floor. Trying to remember what to do, Val vaguely recalled seeing adverts about how to resuscitate heart attack victims. Shaking, she laid him flat and held his nose while trying to breathe air into his lungs, the Stayin’ Alive song on repeat in her head. No reaction so Val kneeled over him and started the chess presses. After 10 minutes of trying both, she sat back exhausted.

  ‘Oh My God. Oh My God.’ She muttered to no one in particular. She reached for her mobile changed her mind and picked up Ken’s phone instead and dialled 999.

  ‘Ambulance please.’ The operator had to concentrate to understand the caller who sounded as if she had a speech impediment. She made a note of the address and the caller’s name, Jane Smith, before the caller hung up. Val put on a pair of gloves and got a cloth from the kitchen. Feeling like a criminal she wiped all the surfaces that she thought might contain her fingertips then dressed quickly. She checked to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything and left the flat as quietly as she could, convinced that her heart would burst out of her chest. It was drizzling and windy and the street was deserted. Val decided to walk home. Although she hadn’t committed any crime she felt frightened and guilty and didn’t want to be seen. It was a relatively safe neighbourhood and she hoped that the walk would calm her and enable her to collect her thoughts.

  *****

  Ken thought he was having a nightmare. He felt fingers prodding him and he couldn’t breathe. The fingers turned to fully formed hands and they multiplied as he watched in fascination as their prodding became more urgent and they started to pull and poke his body. It took him a while to realise he wasn’t sleeping.

  The cold realisation that the pain in his chest had killed him hit like a punch in the guts. He would have been furious had he not been so frightened. Ken tried to compose himself and wait for the beckoning white light that he knew must surely come. But the scabby, gnarled and bloody hands started dragging him downwards. To add to his fear he looked around and saw a number of faces closing in, some tortuous, some smiling, but all gruesome. The hands pulled him further down and the faces taunted him. He screamed but nobody came to help.

  *****

  Claire stormed into the living room to confront Tash.

  ‘Right, what’s going on?’

  Used to her best friend’s drama queen outbursts, Tash didn’t take her eyes off the telly.

  ‘Don’t know what you’re on about, Claire.’ She said.

  Claire turned off the TV and went to stand right in front of her.

  ‘Now I’ve got your attention, I need to know what’s going on. Jay’s been acting funny for the last week or so and you…’ Claire frowned as Tash smiled innocently. ‘See, that’s what I mean. You’re all sweetness and light and smugness,’ said Claire, ‘and I’ve heard the whispering in the office stop whenever I walk into a room. It’s making me paranoid.’

  Tash folded her arms and continued smiling and Claire could see that her current tactics were getting her nowhere, so decided to appeal to her best friend’s better side.

  ‘Please, Tash. Tell me what’s going on. Jay’s not going to dump me is he?’

  Claire knew very well that Jay was as mad about her as she was about him and no way was he going to dump her. She also knew this was unfair but could see Tash waiver. She was still recovering from her last relationship, which had ended a few months previously when she’d discovered that the love of her life had also called two other women the love of his life. As Claire suspected, this did the trick.

  ‘What date is it?’

  ‘5th of August,’ Claire replied and Tash raised her eyebrows.

  ‘The second anniversary of when we met, of course I haven’t forgotten. Ah.’

  The penny dropped.

  ‘So he’s doing a special dinner or something to celebrate our anniversary tonight, even though it’s a work day tomorrow?’ She took a moment, trying to work it all out and her best friend decided to put her out of her misery, even though she’d promised Jay she’d keep his secret. What the hell, she’d already told half the office staff.

  ‘You can be extremely stupid at times, Claire, even by your standards. Jay wants to make your second anniversary even more special by proposing to you, you Muppet!’

  Claire fell onto the sofa, shocked into silence. Her smile spread slowly across her face and she jumped up and started skipping around the room, clapping her hands and laughing. Tash shook her head. She was over the moon for her but regretted her own indiscretion. She also regretted telling the girls at work but Claire was her current priority. She’d done so well keeping the truth from her for this long and she’d fallen at the last hurdle. Now she had to convince her to act as if she knew nothing.

  Tash waited for the initial euphoria to wear off and Claire sat down next to her, still giggling and breathless.

  ‘I take it you’re going to say yes then?’ and Claire nodded.

  ‘The thing is, I promised Jay that I’d keep it a secret so you’re going to have to act as if it’s a complete surprise otherwise you’ll spoil all his preparations.’

  ‘I can do that,’ said Claire, ‘but why did he need to tell you?’

  Tash knew what was coming and decided to be patient. She hoped Claire didn’t suspect anything; she still felt guilty even though it had happened ages ago.

  ‘Tash?’

  Tash returned to the present. ‘Simple, Claire. Jay wanted to prepare a special menu full of your favourites. He knows that you change your mind about what you like almost on a daily basis so he told me so that he could keep up-to-date and make it soooo special.’

  She could see that Claire wasn’t totally convinced so carried on.

  ‘He wants to make this evening really special for you so he asked for my help. You know what a brill cook and a perfectionist he is and he wanted everything to be just right. You’re having orange and melon for starters, your favourite chicken for main and some sort of strawberry and chocolate concoction for dessert.’

  ‘I would have preferred one of his legendary soups for starters.’ Claire tried to keep a straight face.

  ‘You ungrateful...’

  ‘Got you. Only joking.’ She clapped and laughed. They were always trying to wind each other up and Claire was pleased to have got one over on Tash. She put her minor triumph to one side and turned serious.

  ‘You guys have gone to all this trouble for me?’ Before she answered Claire hugged her friend and flatmate, silently thanking the gods of fate for her lovely friends and family, but mostly for sending Jay her way.

  They stopped hugging and Claire held her at arms length. ‘I promise I won’t let on until we’ve been married for a few years and we can all have a good laugh about it then.’ Both girls had
tears in their eyes and Claire got up from the sofa, wiping hers away.

  ‘I’m going to ruin my mascara if I’m not careful,’ she said, running to the bathroom. She went to her room after leaving the bathroom and stared at her reflection in the dressing table mirror. Her chat with Tash and the fact that she’d worked late meant that she didn’t have enough time to sort herself out. She hastily put on another coat of mascara and pinned back her fringe with a slide. She usually straightened her fringe and let the rest of her hair do its own thing. Jay loved her curls and whenever she told him that her hair was driving her nuts he ran his fingers through it and said that she was beautiful.

  ‘Love is blind.’ She said out loud and smiled at her reflection, knowing she looked good in her skinny jeans and bustier top. She grabbed her bag and shouted goodbye to her flatmate.

  ‘I won’t expect to see you later tonight then.’

  Claire popped her head around the door and hurriedly said that she’d be back but probably early in the morning as usual for a Friday. It was so much easier in the rush hour to get to work from their flat instead of Jay’s and she often took a taxi home early morning and showered at her own place before leaving for work.

  ‘I can’t afford to take another sickie and I need to save my days off for Christmas, so I’ll definitely be back. Anyway, if I took extra stuff with me on a Thursday, Jay would know the secret was out,’ she shouted before leaving.

  Fair point agreed Tash as she watched her friend disappear through the front door, unaware that this would be the last conversation they’d ever have.

  *****

  Claire left the train 50 minutes later and made her way out of the station. She usually ignored everyone and everything on the ten-minute walk to Jay’s flat but this evening she wanted to share her happiness and smiled at everyone and everything. She looked around her. Nature seemed to be putting on a special private show just for her and she listened to the birdsong and looked at the beautiful flowers as she passed gardens. Her senses seemed to be heightened and she stopped to look at bees buzzing around lavender bushes at the border of the park. She sniffed and the scent reminded her of her late grandmother’s garden. If it hadn’t been for the money left to her by her grandmother she wouldn’t have been able to afford to move to London and train as a Legal Secretary. Although the company was sponsoring her it had still been a big step to move from her home and retail job to the capital. Her twin brothers had helped her find a place and had introduced her to Tash, who worked for the same company as Jim and had advertised for a flatmate. If she hadn’t made the move she would never have met Jay. Claire looked up to the late summer sky and muttered a thank you, imagining her grandmother could hear her – she wanted to thank everyone this evening. A few youngsters playing football in the park stopped to look at the mad woman who was talking to the sky and Claire laughed self-consciously and carried on her way, thoughts turning to her future. Her evening classes would be completed the following month and her five-year plan was to get promoted within the next year and to start a family when they’d been married for about a year. She would like two or three children within that five-year period but knew that Jay wasn’t a lover of big families. She was sure she could get him to see things her way and continued smiling to herself as she reached the house. She looked up at it before approaching the door. Jay’s flat on the third floor wouldn’t be big enough when they married, especially when they started a family, so they would need to move. It should be sooner rather than later thought Claire, because she wanted to stamp her individuality on their own place wherever that might be. She knew she was getting ahead of herself so tried to contain her excitement. Plenty of time for that later she thought as she pressed the buzzer.