Lacybourne Manor (Ghosts and Reincarnation #3)(97)
Author: Kristen Ashley

Sibyl had already given the police her account of the evening, of the two masked men who came stealthily into her office, demanding to know where Colin was and for her to take them to him. Neither Sibyl nor her attackers saw Mrs. Griffith who was waiting for her taxi while dozing on the couch, hidden by a precarious pile of Talent Show costumes and props. Sibyl had backed away, telling them Colin had already left and it was then they grabbed her. At that action, Mrs. Griffith rose, like the Eternal Wrath of the Pensioners, wielding her cane and making imperious demands. Moments later, Colin had burst into the room.

As she sat by Marian’s hospital bed, Sibyl struggled to sort through her rampaging thoughts of tranquilliser darts, knives, Mrs. Griffith avenging her and, most terrifyingly, Colin’s savage display of violence. He was like a Warrior God and she could easily transpose him on an ancient battlefield, swinging a broadsword with deadly intent rather than an old lady’s cane.

She could still hear the sickening crunch of bone mingled with splitting wood.

She shuddered at the memory.

She felt a light touch on her hair and her thoughts skittered away as she lifted her head to gaze into the faded, opened eyes of her friend.

“Will you call my daughter?” Marian asked weakly.

Sibyl nodded, her heart breaking at the feeble sound of Marian’s usually strong voice.

Then she took the number down on a scrap of paper from her purse.

“They say you’re going to be all right,” she assured Marian after she’d taken her daughter’s telephone number. “You’ll need to stay here a day or two –”

“It’s the dark soul,” Marian broke in fervently, her eyes growing bright with intensity. “They want to keep you and Colin apart, Sibyl you must listen to me, believe me.”

Her words were fierce, frightened and Sibyl nodded her head even though she didn’t know what the older lady meant.

“Sibyl, you must –” Marian went on.

“Marian, please rest now,” Sibyl interrupted her gently. “Don’t get excited, we’ll talk later.”

“It’s crucial that you know –”

Sibyl squeezed Marian’s hand. “I promise I’ll come back tomorrow. You can tell me all about it then and I’ll listen.”

Mrs. Byrne closed her eyes and there was pain in her expression that had nothing to do with the blow to her head. When she opened them, she nodded.

“Please, my dear, take the utmost care,” she whispered.

“I will.”

Sibyl went to the front of the hospital and stood outside to make the awful call to Marian’s daughter, Angie.

After Angie expressed her shock and horror, she asked, “What did you say your name was again?”

“Sibyl Godwin.”

“Oh my God,” Angie breathed then rushed on, “I’ll leave right away.”

Understanding that likely Marian’s daughter knew the whole story of Royce and Beatrice and even Sibyl and Colin, Sibyl didn’t react to her urgency and quietly ended the call with a promise to meet Angie the next day.

She walked to the A&E and found Colin her family, and a variety of police officers standing in the middle of the bustling department. Colin seemed to be tearing into one of the officers but she could tell it was in his supremely-controlled, still-very-frightening way by how he held his body and the fact that he wasn’t shouting the roof down.

Sibyl noted absently that Colin, surprisingly, was suffering no visible ill-effects to the dart, indeed he seemed fully awake, alert, emanating his usual power with his face a mask of rage.

Then he saw her approaching and he turned blazing eyes on her. “Where the bloody hell have you been?” he barked, his voice cracking like a whip.

She jumped at his tone. “I went to see Mrs. Byrne.”

“Don’t you f**king leave without telling someone where you’re going and taking someone with you, do you understand me?” he demanded angrily.

“Colin,” she murmured soothingly, shaken by his tone and his words.

He was not to be soothed. She knew this when he thundered, “Do you understand me?”

She nodded mutely. She had left without saying anything to anyone; it just hadn’t crossed her mind. Realising he was worried rather than truly angry with her, she sidled up to his side in an additional effort to soothe him. Gently, she pushed under his arm and slid both of hers around his middle. Without hesitation, he lifted his arm to rest tightly around her shoulders and she felt the tension ease slowly out of him.

“I’m sorry, it was thoughtless,” she told him quietly when she’d lifted her head to gaze at him. “I just had to see Mrs. Byrne. I promise, babe, I won’t do it again.”

She saw her family watching this, all with identical expressions of relief mixed and wisely they did not utter a word.

“We’re going home,” Colin announced and didn’t allow her family or the police to protest. He simply guided her out the door with his arm still around her shoulders, one of hers around his waist.

Bertie had driven the BMW to the hospital and, without argument Colin allowed Bertie to slide in the driver’s seat. Colin courteously helped Mags (and for once, at this gallant show, she didn’t utter a feminist quibble) in the front and Sibyl sat between Scarlett and Colin in the back.

“Albert, take us to Brightrose, everyone will pack a bag, we’ll get the animals and we’re all going to Lacybourne,” Colin ordered.

No one made a sound and, as it wasn’t a suggestion that invited discourse, Bertie did as he was told.

Her family was set to leave from Heathrow on Sunday, two days… Sibyl glanced unseeing in the darkness at her watch and suspected it was now only one day away. She hadn’t even approached the topic of this latest misadventure with Colin to her family and she didn’t relish the idea. They knew about Mallory and the vandalism at Brightrose but everyone thought that was relatively harmless.

This was not harmless at all and everyone knew it.

They all trooped into Brightrose, made swift work of packing while Sibyl saw to her own and sorted out her pets. Scarlett loaded Mallory in the MG and followed the BMW to Lacybourne.

Exhausted, bidding goodnight to everyone, Bertie and Mags made their bed in one of the six bedrooms with sheets Sibyl uncovered in a linen closet while Sibyl helped her sister with her bed.

“You okay, Billie?” Scarlett enquired softly as they went about their task.

Sibyl shook her head, as usual, she wasn’t going to lie to her sister. “I was held at knifepoint, Scarlett, and someone shot my boyfriend with a tranquilliser dart.” She lifted her head and her eyes hit her sister before she finished, “I’m scared out of my mind.”