Page 50 of The House of Hopes and Dreams
19
The Screaming Skull
‘How could you possibly forget that there was another Jessie Kaye window above the main staircase?’ I said, not for the first time, as I drove us to the Screaming Skull.
He shrugged. ‘I just did. Anyway, you’ve seen them all now.’
‘Are you quite sure there isn’t another one somewhere that’s slipped your mind?’ I said sarcastically and he laughed.
‘No, that’s the lot. I think I forgot that one because it doesn’t look like the panels in the hall.’
‘It’s a much later window – the rose theme again, but stronger and less stylized.’
He gave me a sideways look and a grin. ‘Come to think of it, thereisa bit more stained glass in the nursery – the small top lights of the windows. But that’s totally different again and I’m sure it was made by someone else.’
‘I’ll see for myself tomorrow. I don’t think I trust your judgement or your memory!’
We’d arrived at the pub and I parked the car near a large information board. It welcomed us to the start of the Halfhidden ghost trail which, according to the map, began at the bottom of a nearby path and led up through the Sweetwell woods to the Lady Spring. A biting wind drove us indoors at this point, past a deserted beer garden that would be lovely in summer.
I was sure Carey would be able to walk there easily by then, andmaybe even up to that spring and on to the other spectral delights of Halfhidden.
Once inside it was surprisingly warm, noisy and crowded, and we pushed our way to the bar to see if we could eat in the restaurant … and came face to face with a grinning, red-stained skull in an alcove between rows of bottles. It was wearing the sort of thin silver cardboard crown you find folded inside a cracker.
‘That’s Howling Hetty, that is,’ explained the plump young woman who came to serve us.
‘So, this must be the Screaming Skull the hotel is named after?’ Carey asked.
‘That’s right, and the rest of her roams the Sweetwell woods at night, trying to find her head.’
The barmaid was now looking at Carey as if she thought she ought to know him from somewhere … or if not, as if she’dliketo.
‘We wondered if we could eat in the restaurant without a booking?’ I asked, and she reluctantly unpeeled her eyes from Carey and shouted round a partition into another bar. ‘Lulu! Can you fit two more people in for dinner?’
There was an indistinguishable reply and the barmaid said, ‘Lulu will come and sort you out in a minute.’
This sounded slightly ominous, but a nearby door opened and a pretty woman of about my own age, with curling dark brown hair, came out. She was wearing a most sumptuously patterned tunic in jewel colours and I immediately wanted to ask her where she got it from.
The barmaid indicated us with a flip of the hand before moving off to serve clamouring customers.
‘Hi, did you want a table in the restaurant?’ Lulu asked us.
Carey gave her his best smile. ‘We haven’t got a booking, but we wondered if you could fit us in for dinner?’
‘I could in about half an hour, if that suits?’ she said. ‘Would you like to follow me through to the lounge? It’s much quieter.’
It was indeed, for the only other occupant was a fair, slight, handsome man who was seated at a small table and totally absorbed in something on the laptop in front of him.
‘That’s better, we can hear ourselves think.’ She gave us a friendly smile. ‘I’m Lulu Tamblyn. My parents own the Screaming Skull and I help out when it’s busy. The rest of the time I run the Haunted Holidays and Haunted Weekends – you may have heard of them?’
‘I was telling Carey about the ghost trail only today,’ I said. ‘I’m Angelique Arrowsmith and this is—’
‘Oh, I know whoyouare, from the telly!’ she said to him. ‘AndI know that you’ve just inherited Mossby.’
‘The local grapevine must have been working overtime,’ he said ruefully.
‘Nothing stays a secret round here for long. And after all, you are a celebrity, so it’s quite exciting.’
‘Minorceleb at most,’ he said modestly.
