It sounded like he was trying to convince Tony that my presence was justified.
‘You can’t seriously think that the serial killer is a myth?’ said Tony.
‘Oh no, I don’t. I know he’s out there,’ said Matt. ‘I just don’t think he killed Kayla Edwards.’
‘I certainly wouldn’t trust that Calum guy,’ said Ray. ‘I don’t like him at all. And Andrew Hogan is a right creep.’
‘What do you mean?’ I asked.
‘He has a record,’ said Ray. ‘Aggravated assault.’
‘I’d prefer not to influence Jacki,’ said Matt. ‘Let’s see what she comes up with herself.’ It looked like Matt hadn’t told me everything, but I suppose that didn’t matter. Like he said, too much information might cloud my judgement. I was wary of jumping to conclusions, and also of ruling anybody out, for that matter.
‘I better get going,’ said Tony. ‘Nice to meet you, Jacki,’ he added, but his tone was still harsh. He put on his jacket and left.
‘Sorry about that,’ said Matt. ‘He’s a bit sceptical.’ That still wasn’t an excuse to be rude, but I didn’t care. I knew better than to let people like him upset me. Matt believed in me; that was enough. And I was sure that when I came up with answers for Tony he wouldn’t be so dismissive.
‘Can I ask you something?’ said Ray.
‘Yeah, go ahead,’ I said.
‘Aren’t you… afraid of the ghosts?’ His voice turned to a whisper.
‘I’ve learned it’s the people you need to be more scared of,’ I said flatly.
‘Well,’ said Matt, ‘there’s no arguing with that.’
Chapter 9
The next day Hannah and I and my two other best friends from Dublin, Sophie and Ross, sat on the grass in a circle in St Stephen’s Green, enjoying the evening sunshine.
Hannah, Ross and I had been friends since primary school. And then in first year we’d tacked a poster to the noticeboard saying BAND MEMBERS WANTED. I sang and played guitar, Ross played lead and Hannah played saxophone, but we needed a drummer and a bassist. Ross had insisted on putting the poster up on the very first day of secondary school. ‘What’s the rush?’ I’d said.
‘Jacki, we can’t let any Travis Barkers or Cliff Burtons slip through our fingers.’ Funnily enough, ours was the only band notice up there. We’d held auditions in the auditorium at lunch.
After a half-hour of us sitting there, staring at the door, a short girl with a purple streak in her hair walked in. She was wearing black patent Doc Martens with her grey uniform, the sleeves of her jumper were rolled up and she was carrying two battered drumsticks.
‘Hey, I’m Sophie,’ she said.‘I hear you need a drummer?’
‘Yeah, but you’ll need to audition,’ said Ross, eyeing her suspiciously. She then played an awesome drum solo, and we offered her the position on the spot. It turned out she’d done a ‘Drum Skills for Beginners’ class when she was seven, then taught herself the rest. We’d all been friends ever since.
Electric had been fairly uneventful that day – Dillon and I had been split up and given different tasks. I’d stuffed lots of envelopes with invitations for the Electric Unsigned gig, and Dillon had helped with the album reviews. The sun had shone all day and the office, with its huge windows, was unbearably warm. I was happy to be outside now. While we chatted, Sophie laid back with the sun on her face, Hannah made a daisy chain and Ross checked out any girl who walked by in shorts. Luckily his and Hannah’s brief romance last year hadn’t affected their friendship – they sort of acted like it had never happened, which Sophie and I were happy to go along with.
The Green was packed. Some people sat by themselves, reading or relaxing; others sat in twos or lay side by side, their fingers intertwined, and the rest sat in groups like ours – pockets of people dotted across the grass. Kids ran past carrying ice pops, and tourists examined maps, trying to decide on their next stop. The super-prepared had packed sandwiches and picnic blankets; Ross let us sit on his jacket as the grass was still damp from yesterday’s rain. It was perfect, but I wished Nick could have been there. I really missed him and wanted to see him, especially now that everything was all right between us.
‘All I’m saying,’ said Ross, ‘is that you’d probably be the first to go.’ Sophie had made the mistake, on this fine evening, of posing the question, ‘Which one of us do you think would be most likely to survive a zombie apocalypse?’
‘I would not be the first to go,’ said Hannah, abandoning her daisy chain and dropping it on to her lap. ‘And why the hell does everyone think Ross would be the last one standing?’
‘He can run pretty fast,’ I said, batting away a wasp that was buzzing dangerously close to Ross’s head.
‘And he has the whole height thing going on,’ added Sophie. Ross is six feet tall, although at one point in primary school I actually towered above him. I like to remind him of that sometimes.
‘Right, who do you think would be the second last to die?’ asked Hannah.
‘Sophie,’ said Ross and I in unison.
‘She’s got the whole brain thing going on,’ I said. Sophie was always getting top marks in school. I was good at maths and pretty good at music too, but Sophie was good at everything.
‘Then Jacki,’ said Ross, ‘because you know there’s something tough beneath that cute exterior. Sorry, Hannah, but you just don’t have the street smarts.’ I didn’t mind them thinking I’d be third; the idea of wandering round the world with hardly anybody to share it with didn’t appeal to me much anyway.
‘I would too survive a zombie apocalypse!’ whined Hannah. Ross looked back at her blankly.
‘Say I’d survive a zombie apocalypse!’ she said sulkily. ‘SAY IT!’
‘I’m not gonna lie…’
‘Say iii-t,’ she said, adding in some fake crying for effect.
‘Fine,’ said Ross, in the most unconvincing tone ever. ‘You’d survive a zombie apocalypse.’
‘Why, thank you,’ said Hannah. ‘I’d have to agree.’
I could see him in the distance, walking alone in our direction. I sat up straighter and pushed my shades on top of my head. The others hadn’t seen him yet, but he’d spotted me, and he was smiling.
‘I’ve taken a stage-combat class, you know,’ said Hannah.
‘Yeah, that zombie won’t know what to do when you fake drop-kick him,’ said Ross with a snort.
‘I’m just sayin’,’ said Hannah.
‘Please, Hannah,’ said Ross. ‘Don’t fake karate-chop me, pleeeease.’ He and Sophie burst into giggles. They were still giggling when Dillon arrived at our side.
‘Hey,’ I said.
‘Oh, hey, Dillon,’ said Hannah, throwing Ross one final glare.
‘Hey, guys,’ he said, taking off his glasses and cleaning them with his white T-shirt, exposing his bare stomach for a second. I looked away quickly, realizing I’d been staring. I don’t think anyone had noticed.
‘What you up to?’ said Hannah.
‘I was just picking some stuff up for my mum. I’m heading home now.’
‘Wanna hang out for a while?’ said Ross.
‘Nah, I can’t, I told Mum I’d clean the car. I better go.’ I plucked at the grass, trying not to think about the fact that I would actually have quite liked him to stay. Honestly, I don’t know what was wrong with me. I must have been missing Nick too much.
‘See ya tomorrow, Jacki,’ Dillon said.
‘Yep.’ I looked up to see him smiling. ‘Tomorrow.’
I watched him walk away, across the grass and down the path, until he was out of sight.