Page 69 of Secrets and Seashells at Rainbow Bay
I hurry down the spiral staircase as fast as I can in my delicate state. Pleased as I exit from the dimly lit tower into the bright sunshine, that I’ve grabbed a pair of sunglasses on the way down as well as my dressing gown.
‘What’s going on?’ I call as I hurry across the gravel.
‘Ah, about time – the organ grinder and not just the aged monkey,’ Ed says, glaring at Arthur.
I notice Ed’s hands are covered in white plaster, as though he’s simply dropped whatever he was doing to come to talk to Arthur.
‘Yes, thank you, Ed,’ I tell him. ‘Arthur?’ I ask, looking at him now. ‘Would you like to explain?’
‘Ask him,’ Arthur says grumpily. ‘He’s the one spouting all the nonsense.’
‘Well?’ I turn back to Ed.
Ed suddenly looks a tad embarrassed. ‘There’s been an . . . incident,’ he says eventually, ‘that has meant we’ve had to down tools.’
‘What sort of an incident?’ I ask, terrified he’s going to say a severed limb, a nasty fall or worse.
‘We all heard it,’ Ed says, looking shiftily down at the ground.
‘Heard what?’
‘The horse. The horse neighing, and the sound of its hooves across the floor.’ He looks up. ‘Except there was no horse – only the sound of it.’
I’m listening intently now. This is exactly what I’d heard in the stables, the day Bill first came to see us.
‘Don’t talk nonsense, man,’ Arthur says. ‘Are you still hungover? I heard a load of you were down the pub last night.’ He glances at me knowingly, and now it’s my turn to look shamefully at the ground.
‘Not me,’ Ed says, shaking his head. ‘I knew I was working this morning, so I was at home watching Netflix. I was, and still am, stone-cold sober. That’s why I know what I saw.’
I notice for the first time that Ed’s face is almost as white as his hands.
‘Saw?’ I ask. ‘You said youheardthe sound of a horse.’
‘I saidseveralof us heard the horse. But only I saw it.’
‘Saw what exactly?’
Ed takes a deep breath, and I see along with his pale complexion, he’s actually trembling. ‘After the weird sounds, we all went back to work. None of us could explain what had happened so we all thought we’d better try and forget about it. But then I saw a man riding a horse.’ He looks at me. ‘Nothing odd in that, except when the man rides the horse right through the wall you’re plastering, then you start to think something isn’t quite right.’
‘You saw a man ride a horse through a wall?’
‘Yeah, one of the new partition walls we’ve only just put up.’
‘What did this man look like?’
‘Miss Amelia, I really don’t think—’ Arthur begins.
‘Arthur,Ireally do think,’ I warn him. ‘Carry on, Ed. Can you describe him?’
Ed nods. ‘He was wearing a uniform – like the sort you often see on kids’ toy soldiers. You know, like a red jacket and one of them mayor type hats.’ He tries to describe what he means by drawing an invisible triangle over his head.
‘Do you mean a tricorne?’ Arthur asks scornfully.
‘Yes, that’s exactly what they’re called,’ I say, nodding. ‘What else?’ I ask Ed eagerly.
‘He was wearing white, maybe cream-coloured breeches and black boots, and he had long hair – braided long hair,’ Ed is now the one to sound scornful.
‘When would that be the uniform for?’ I ask Arthur.
