Do you want to know?

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW?

The room buzzed, although only I seemed to notice, energy spots rained through my vision like snow falling. I felt a jolt go through my spine, my neck snapped back and darkness rolled in.  From a distance, a deep male voice echoed.

"....At peace now, don't mourn." It sighed.

"Why did you do it? Have you left us a note?" a female voice asked.

"Reason lies in Rebecca's bedside table....second drawer.....her diary. Can't stay here much longer... Have to leave you....I forgive you Anne." The voice chuckled away into the distance.

As consciousness slowly returned, I lifted my head off the black satin covered table and rolled my shoulders easing the tension.  When, finally I opened my eyes, three people stared back at me from around the table.  Eyes wide, they waited for me to speak.

“Did you receive the answers to your questions?” I asked.

In front of me sat a mother, Anne and her two daughters, the eldest, a tall slender woman of about twenty-two with a mane of velvety smooth blonde hair, spoke first.

“I don’t believe it was him.”  She snapped.

“Rebecca” Anne chided “This lady has not been in your bedroom, how would she know where you keep your diary?”

“Where every girl keeps her diary, Mum.” Ruby, the youngest, whispered.

I took a deep breath and began my well-rehearsed speech for non-believers.

“Sceptics you may be, however, you should not have chosen to come here unless you were prepared to believe, which I think you are.  With this in mind, you can choose to ignore the messages you have received and clear them from your minds or, use the information you have been given to put an end to this spirit’s suffering”

“He didn’t sound like he was suffering to me.  He laughed at us.” Anne muttered as she stared down at the table.

“So,” Rebecca spat, “If we are to believe it was Dad we were speaking to, we are to assume that the answer to the question of why he committed suicide is currently inside my diary?”  Rebecca’s eyes challenged me.

“My purpose here is done, if he has provided you with more riddles than answers, this in itself, is a journey that only you can decide to take, ultimately, his message to you will become clear.”  I answered diplomatically.

Anne’s eyes were bright with unshed tears.  I reached across and covered her cold hand with my own.  Looking into her eyes I saw deep pain and something else.

“Take heart” I whispered as I felt the familiar tingle return to my skin.
“He sends his love and bears no grudge at you having an affair”

“Mum!” Both girls turned on their mother in shock.  Anne’s eyes grew wide and scared at my words.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean – 

“It’s too late now isn’t it, now you’ve gone and blurted it out!” Anne cried.  Her shoulders heaved as she put her head in her hands. 

“So, it’s true?” Ruby asked, finally taking an iota of interest in the proceedings.

“No,” Rebecca whispered.  “This is all just hocus pocus rubbish.  Mum?”

“I would say that it is in fact true.  I feel your father has known for some time.” I said gently.

“Shut up, Shut up!” Anne wailed.  “It’s nothing.  It’s just some company from time to time.  Mathew was never home, he never gave a thought to me on my own.  I didn’t expect to fall in love, I –

“When I asked you if you were having an affair you lied to me Mum?” Ruby stated angrily.

“You said I was being silly.  Don’t you understand?  Dad had asked me if I’d seen you with anyone else.  He must have suspected Mum.  Oh God, please don’t say this is why he committed suicide – you killed him Mum!”

“That’s not fair Ruby!” Rebecca shouted.  “She didn’t kill Dad, Dad made his own decision –

“Yeah”  Ruby stood, pointing a finger at Rebecca. “ Based on the fact that his wife was having an affair!” 

“Stop it both of you” Anne snapped. She rummaged in her handbag; glaring at me while she did so, finding a tissue she blew her nose dramatically.

“There could have been a number of reasons why your father did this.”  She sniffed. “Firstly, due to cutbacks at your father’s company, he was being put on part time, we thought we may have to sell the house, we had talked of a lot of financial problems that you girls are unaware of.  That’s still none of your business.  He didn’t leave a note, so we will never know why.”

“But,” Rebecca began, “When we asked him now if he’d left a note somewhere, he
said, it’s in my dairy.  It doesn’t make sense.”

“He said, the reason, is in your diary.” I cut in.

“How can the reason be in my diary?” Rebecca threw her hands apart exasperated.

“Well, do you write in your diary?” I asked.  I was becoming a little annoyed myself.  Surely it couldn’t take much power of deduction for the girl to understand she should read her diary. I was used to having twenty minutes peace between appointments.  Working out peoples messages from the other side was not part of my job.  I had another appointment in half an hour and no longer felt that these three should be arguing in front of me.

“Two entries?”  She replied. “He died on January fourth, I only wrote in it on the first and second of January.

Slightly more interested, I digested this information.

“Why did you not write in it on the third?” I asked.

“Because I was out on a date. I was going to write it all down on the fourth, when all this happened, I haven’t written in it since.”

“And what did you write about on the first and second?” I asked, leaning forward slightly.

“Well, just stuff about this new guy, he’s been phoning me, said he knows me from the library, I wrote how we seemed to enjoy the same books and, Oh yes, he’s a doctor, so he’s loaded y’know, just all that kind of stuff.”

“Did you meet him at the library?” Anne asked softly without looking up from the table.

“Yeah, on the third, when we went on our date.”

“How was the date?” Ruby asked.

“Mmm, he’s a bit old for me.  He took me to Luigi’s for pasta, kept going on about how easy it is to disguise poison in food so you should always eat at reputable restaurants, then he went on about how he’d love a family and he’s got all this money to spend on one.  He put me off actually, something a bit odd about him. But this is all irrelevant, how is this anything to do with Dad?”

“Did this man know your father?” I asked, feeling the familiar tingle for the third time.

“Is his name James?” Anne asked, her face white, her skin slack.

“Yes, I – Why Mum?” Rebecca asked grabbing her mother’s hands.

“He’s poisoned your father” She replied vaguely. “We have to let the police know.”

“What?” Ruby yelled.  “Why would he poison Dad?”

“James is my lover.” Anne whispered.