Trying to shrug off the weird feeling gripping her, she picked up the hammer again and thumped the wall with all her strength. The plaster cracked and tore and fell apart. Coughing and spluttering, she swatted her hands around, attempting to clear the air, praying the dust wouldn’t damage the baby growing in her womb.
When the last motes had shimmered away, she stepped forward and squinted into the dark space. A tsunami of dread shook her whole body, her teeth chattered, and bubbles of cold sweat trickled down her spine.
The hole wasn’t empty.
She gasped and leapt backwards as the thing in the wall came crashing out, landing at her feet. Two sightless eyes stared up at her.
Only then did she scream.
Three
Lottie awoke with her grandson fast asleep beside her. When she’d returned from Galway last night, he’d been crying in Katie’s arms.
‘He has me wrecked, Mam,’ Katie had said, her voice as frazzled as the little boy’s whimpers. ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with him.’
‘He could be cutting his back teeth.’ Lottie dropped her overnight bag behind the couch and took Louis from her daughter. ‘What’s the matter, little man? Did you miss your nana?’
She was rewarded with another loud cry.
‘I gave him a spoon of Calpol half an hour ago,’ Katie said, ‘but it made no difference.’
‘You need to have patience with him.’ Lottie cradled the boy on her lap and soothed him with kisses in his soft hair. ‘Go on to bed. I’ll mind him.’
‘You’ve work in the morning. I don’t want you blaming me if he keeps you up half the night.’
‘I won’t blame you,’ Lottie said.
Now she was awake with a headache and she was going to be late for work. She eased out from under the warm duvet and took a quick shower. She pulled on her black jeans and a white long-sleeved T-shirt. It would save her having to apply sun lotion if her work took her outdoors today.
Louis stirred, turned over, and, with his thumb in his mouth, slept on soundly. She would have to wake Katie. Tiptoeing across the landing, she tapped on the door and looked in. Her daughter’s long black hair fanned out over the pillow, which moved with each breath she took.
‘Katie? Hun, you need to wake up.’ She brushed her fingers over the girl’s bare shoulder and shook her gently.
‘Ugh? What? What time is it?’
‘Early, but I’m late for work.’
‘Knew you’d blame me.’
‘I never said a word about you. Louis is asleep in my bed. Go and lie with him. He seems rested. I think he’s just teething.’
‘Yeah, yeah.’ Katie threw back the duvet and stumped across to Lottie’s room.
At Sean’s door, she rapped more loudly. ‘Sean. School time.’
‘Yeah, yeah,’ her sixteen-year-old son said, an imitation of Katie’s words a moment ago. ‘I’m awake.’
She hesitated at the third door. Eighteen-year-old Chloe had dropped out of school. No amount of cajoling, bribery or rows had worked, and what with having to deal with Boyd’s illness and Sean’s bad moods, Lottie had given in. Chloe worked full-time in Fallon’s pub and it seemed to suit her. But come September, Lottie was adamant her daughter was going to finish her education.
She moved away without knocking and went down the stairs to snatch a slice of toast to chew in the car.
She hoped it would be a quiet week.
Four
The drone was great fun. It whizzed along at such speed, the boys found it hard to keep up. Jack Sheridan was delighted with the images displayed on his phone attached to the controller. They were clearer than the Mediterranean Sea in high summer. He knew all about that because he’d been to Majorca last year on his holidays. His friend Gavin Robinson, on the other hand, had only gone to Connemara.
‘Does your mam really believe we’re using the drone for a school project?’ Gavin said.
‘Course she does. My mam believes everything I say. Doesn’t yours?’
‘Are you joking? I get grilled more than the rashers every single morning.’
Jack laughed. ‘As long as you don’t tell her where we go before school, we should be okay.’
‘Well, I’m twelve next month,’ Gavin said, ‘and I’m going to ask her for a drone for my present.’
From the bridge over the railway track, Jack glanced back at the town lying low in a dip behind him, the cathedral spires standing guard like they were protecting Ragmullin from evil monsters. Jack had heard his father talk about evil monsters and he’d had plenty of warnings about not talking to strangers. Did they think he was five years old or something? Monsters were only a figment of the imagination.
The sun was rising quickly in the sky and Jack knew today would be as warm as yesterday. He slipped off his jacket and balled it into his school bag before hefting the rucksack onto his back. Then he turned his attention to the tracks below.
‘Will we do the canal or the railway?’ he said.
Gavin was already climbing down the shallow steps at the side of the bridge. ‘We did the canal the other day. I thought we agreed we’d do the tracks today?’
‘Yeah, but I don’t want the poxy commuter train slamming into Jedi.’ He’d had a competition among their friends to name the drone. Now that he thought about it, he realised it wasn’t really a competition because there was no prize, and anyhow, he’d chosen the name himself.
‘The early train’s long gone,’ Gavin said, ‘and the next one’s not for an hour. Come on.’
Jack made his way down the steps after his friend. He had to admit that for eleven years old, Gavin talked like a grown-up at times. It got on Jack’s nerves and he often thought of finding a new best friend, but Gavin knew about things he didn’t, like the train timetable, so it was good to have him around.
He made sure the camera was working on the drone, checked the SD card was in place to record, steadied the controller, and set Jedi off down the tracks.
‘Don’t let it fly around that bend,’ Gavin roared. ‘Stop it now, dickhead. It’s going to disappear. We’ll never find it.’
‘I’m looking at it on the phone screen, dope.’ Jack ran ahead of his friend, keeping one eye on the screen and the other on Jedi as it skirted a blackberry bush and disappeared out of view.
When Gavin reached him, Jack slowed down and walked a few steps forward, making sure to leave a foot of space between himself and the tracks, just in case Gavin had got the timetable wrong. That wasn’t likely, but you’d never know what could happen. He didn’t want the Ragmullin to Dublin train ploughing into them, mashing them into mincemeat. Yuck.
‘What’s that?’ Gavin said, pointing at the screen.
‘What’s what?’
‘Back Jedi up. Make it go over that piece of track again.’
Jack eyed Gavin and noticed his friend’s eyes dancing frantically in his head.
‘I thought I saw something between two sleepers,’ Gavin squealed. ‘Are you recording?’
‘Of course I am.’ Jack reversed the drone back over the route and studied the screen.