Page 107 of The Psychopath Next Door

‘You took the words right out of my mouth,’ Emma said.

Fiona gritted her teeth, shooting a look of venom at Emma before going over to Rose and saying, ‘But you’re not seeing the potential. Look!’ She marched Rose back into the corridor and along it to a door that led into a huge space, formerly a gymnasium. Weak light entered the room through the windows high up on the walls, combining with the light from their phones to create a grey, watery gloom. She lowered her voice so Emma wouldn’t overhear. ‘We could have a massive indoor swimming pool here. And outside, we can build stables. Horses, Rose! Haven’t you always wanted your own pony?’

‘Horses?’

‘And as many dogs and cats as you want. We could have our own zoo!’

‘Wait,’ Rose said. ‘We?’

‘Yes. As soon as—’

She whirled around. Emma was approaching again, footsteps echoing through the corridor.

‘I can’t tell if you’re winding me up, Fiona. If this is all some big elaborate joke. Even if you could somehow find the money to do this place up, it’s way too big to be anyone’s home, and that’s before we even talk about its past.’ She shuddered. ‘I don’t believe in ghosts but, my God, if anywhere was haunted, it would be this place. It has such ... dark energy.’

Fiona was surprised. ‘You feel it too?’

‘Of course. Even before you told me it was an asylum. Think of all the suffering that happened here. The misery.’ She lowered her voice so Rose wouldn’t overhear. ‘I bet loads of people died here too.’

‘Oh yes. Hundreds. Many of them perished in a fire that swept through the upstairs rooms. A blaze set deliberately by one of the nurses, they say. That was the reason it closed down in the end. They say you can still see scorch marks on the walls, shaped like the bodies of the women who burned to death.’

‘Cool,’ said Rose.

Emma stared at her daughter with horror. ‘Cool?’

Fiona grinned. ‘Do you want to see? Come on.’

She took Rose’s hand, ignoring how the girl flinched, and led her to a staircase at the end of the corridor. They began to climb.

‘Wait.’ Emma was behind them, struggling to keep up. ‘That doesn’t look safe.’

The stairs were rickety and blackened with soot, and their creaks were like horror-movie shrieks as Fiona trod on them on her way up. ‘It’s fine,’ she called back.

‘Rose, get back here.’

Rose ignored her and, within moments, they had reached the first floor, pushing through a door that hung from its hinges and entering another corridor. Fiona heard Emma coming up the steps behind them, just as she’d known she would.

‘This is where the patients lived. Can you see where the fire swept through here?’ Fiona asked. Despite the rain and the gathering storm, there was still a little daylight coming in – but, as she had downstairs, she topped it up with the torch on her phone, shining it up then down. The ceiling was black and the floor was thick with a grey-white dust, like powdered bone.

She and Rose went into one of the rooms, and the heavy door swung shut behind them. There were the remains of a single bed against the wall, so rusted it was almost black, and Fiona set her phone down on it so the torch acted as a makeshift lamp. There were two windows high up on the walls, the glass broken and jagged. A chamber pot which had survived the fire was over in the corner. Fiona watched Rose examine the wall, obviously looking for the charred outline of the room’s former resident. Maybe those dark patterns resembled a human figure. It was hard to tell in the near-dark, but Rose said, in a hushed and gleeful tone, ‘I can see it.’

Moments later, the door opened behind them to reveal Emma, wearing a furious expression.

‘What are you doing?’ she demanded, coming inside, the door slamming behind her.

‘Look, Mum. Can you see the shape on the wall? Someone burned to death right there, where you’re standing.’

Emma looked at her daughter like she’d never seen her before, simultaneously moving away from the spot and shivering like she could feel it. The presence of the dead.

‘Rose, we’re leaving.’ She turned to Fiona. ‘You know, Fiona, I really wasn’t sure about you at first, but I changed my mind, thought you were nice. I’ve had to defend you to Ethan several times recently.’

‘Oh, doesn’t Ethan like me anymore? That’s a shame. But I’m sure I know the way to his heart.’

Emma stared at her. ‘So thereissomething going on?’

‘Oh yes. Ethan paid me a little visit last week. We’ve grown ... close.’

‘Oh my God. You’re not right in the head.’ She reached out a hand. ‘Rose, come on. We’re going home. Fiona can find her own way back.’

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