Marie put her head back and closed her eyes. Laura’s voice was almost hypnotic.
‘So here you are, Marie Evans, with all her worries, sitting in this chair, in this room, in this house, on this road. Now, imagine yourself floating effortlessly upwards, away from your body and towards that satellite spinning around the earth. Keep looking down at yourself, but allow yourself to pass through the ceiling, through the floors above, through the roof and up into the sky. Go up through the clouds, higher and higher into space. See the town become little more than a spot on the map, the countryside a hazy tapestry of green and brown, until you see the clear outline of the island we live on. Are you with me?’
Marie gazed down from above the clouds. She nodded.
‘Can you see yourself? Can you see your problems?’
‘No. I’m too far away. They are too small.’
‘Exactly. Every house in every street has people with problems, and they all seem insurmountable, but seen from where you are now, those problems are very small indeed.’
Marie exhaled and reluctantly floated back down to earth.
‘It’s a way to escape your pressure cooker, if only for a short while.’
‘Mmm! Do you have any more of those?’ Marie drew in a long breath. ‘Just for a moment there, I felt really good, so apart from all the crap.’
Laura nodded. ‘Sure. I’ve got a few relaxation exercises that might help. And by the way, you may not think so, but you’re very receptive to this sort of thing.’
‘Comes from having a Welsh Witch for a mother, I guess.’
‘Have you ever been hypnotised?’
‘No.’
‘You’d be a brilliant subject.’ Laura smiled. ‘Unlike Carter.’
Marie understood at once why that would be.
‘But I’m digressing. I want to know what your particular worry is.’
Marie stretched, and took a deep breath. She told Laura about Carter and his evening soirees with his dead friends.
‘Don’t get me wrong, I could completely understand his believing that he sees their faces in a crowd. I can even imagine him holding conversations with them. It’s natural. I did that when my Bill died. I still do sometimes, but I’m fully aware that I’m talking to myself, or to a mental image. And I don’t get answers. Ever.’
‘And Carter does?’
‘Oh yes. And I don’t know how to handle it, Laura. He talks about them so casually, as if he were going down to the pub for a drink with them. Next thing, he’s telling me he watched them fry.’ She gave a long shaky sigh. ‘If I didn’t know him better, I’d think he was either psychotic, or messing with my mind.’
‘But you do know him, don’t you? And you know it’s not his fault,’ said Laura gently. ‘The shock and the grief have changed everything for him. It’s a bit like someone doing a really bad job of rewiring the circuit board in his head. He’s working his way through the components of his grief, but they are all getting jumbled up. I think he’s trying desperately to move on to resolution, to acceptance, but he gets sidetracked by his denial and guilt.’
‘Will he ever get his life back?’ Marie blurted out. ‘Okay, he’s working, and doing a damn good job, but I’m afraid that it’s all an elaborate facade.’
‘His life was not ruined, you know, just terribly altered. He will get through this, I’m certain of it. He is very much like you. You are both strong-willed, comfortable in your own bodies, aware of who you are. He’ll survive, Marie, but when I said get through, that is exactly what he has to do, go through the whole horrible process. There are no short cuts and no slipping around the outside. He has to walk across those hot coals until he reaches the other side.’
‘So I just go along with these bizarre ideas?’
‘The idea of doing a good turn for each of them is actually not so bizarre. And if at the completion of each goal he “releases” that particular friend, then I’d say he’s found a mechanism for moving out of his nightmare and back into the real world. Wouldn’t you?’
‘Maybe. Well, that’s what I hope. And the things he’s doing, these targets, as you call them? They are things he already knows about? Things his friends talked about when they were alive, and now Carter is remembering them subconsciously and using them to try to make amends?’
‘Oh yes, most definitely. Carter is recalling old conversations that he had with his friends, and transposing them into new ones. It’s possible that after the accident he really did forget, and now it’s all coming back to him.’
‘So these “chats” with his dead friends are simply memories. It all sounds very plausible sitting here. It’s just so damned spooky when it’s Carter talking.’ Marie shivered.
‘Just listen to him, Marie, and don’t argue with him, but do try to be the voice of reason. Help him keep his feet on the ground.’ Laura looked at her intently. ‘But not at your expense, okay?’
‘I’ll try. I hope you didn’t mind me offloading on you like this, but his last call at three in the morning and then that panic attack when he smelt burning really freaked me out.’ She shook her head. ‘I’ve been terrified of doing the wrong thing. You know, like feeding his delusions.’
‘I honestly think he has hit on a very good way of cutting the ties that bind him to his dead friends. And the sooner he can complete his targets, the sooner he will be able to move forward.’
Marie stood up and held out her hand. ‘Thanks, Laura. I really appreciate this.’
‘Any time.’ Laura Archer looked at her shrewdly. ‘And I mean that, Marie. Don’t let yourself be pulled back and forth. Be there for your friend, do the job that you love, but do both on your own terms. Don’t be bullied by your own emotions, or by guilt. Okay?’
Marie nodded. Easier said than done.
‘And don’t forget Google Earth.’
*
Back in the office, Carter looked at Marie quizzically. ‘Get everything done?’
‘More or less, thanks.’ She hung her jacket over the back of her chair. ‘Anything helpful turn up regarding Leah?’
Carter shook his head. ‘Sorry, nothing definite yet. Max found you a street CCTV camera though, just a little way from her home. He’s taken a quick run through it and he’s isolated someone he described as looking “dead shifty.” He’s sent it to IT to get it cleaned up a bit. It’s pretty grainy, so don’t hang by your eyelashes on it.’ He grimaced. ‘To be honest, I’m finding it hard to get my thoughts off Ray and his money.’
‘Then try harder, Carter. The super is getting greyer with every moment that passes.’
‘Maybe I don’t have the same bad feeling about Leah Kingfield that you do. Blokes get the hots for girls all the time. Just because they are total arseholes in the way they show it, doesn’t make them actually dangerous, does it?’
‘And you’re prepared to take the risk, are you?’
‘Of course not. Anyway, you’re the one with the sure-fire gut instinct. You know I’ll go along with you whatever.’