Voices from Beyond (Ghost Finders, Band 5) - Softcover

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Simon R. Green is also the author of the Nightside series (The Bride Wore Black Leather) and The Secret Histories (Casino Infernale). His previous Ghost Finders novels include Spirits from Beyond, Ghost of a Chance, Ghost of a Smile, and Ghost of a Dream. He has also written the Adventures of Hawk and Fisher and the Deathstalker novels. He appears in the anthology Weird Detectives along with Jim Butcher, Neil Gaiman, and Patricia Briggs, among others.

Simon R. Green is also the author of the Nightside series (The Bride Wore Black Leather) and The Secret Histories (Casino Infernale). His previous Ghost Finders novels includeSpirits from Beyond, Ghost of a Chance, Ghost of a Smile, andGhost of a Dream. He has also written the Adventures of Hawk and Fisher and the Deathstalker novels. He appears in the anthologyWeird Detectives along with Jim Butcher, Neil Gaiman, and Patricia Briggs, among others.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Ghosts exist for a purpose. Unfinished business, delayed revenge, or to carry a message. Sometimes the dead can go to a lot of trouble to bring a desperate warning of some terrible thing that’s coming.

Whatever the reason, don’t blame the messenger for the message.

ONE

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

From the outside, it looked like any other house. An everyday, semi-detached property, half-way down a side street, on a perfectly ordinary South London estate. On a perfectly ordinary evening in late autumn. Except, lights were blazing in every window. As though whoever was inside this particular house was afraid of the dark. Or something in the dark.

A Land Rover came screeching down the street at speed, sometimes on one side of the road and sometimes on the other, before finally slamming to a halt outside the house. The car rocked back and forth a few times, as though getting used to being suddenly at rest, then the engine shut down. No-one got out. The three people inside sat where they were, so they could take a good look at the house and its surroundings from a safe distance. The last of the light was going out of the evening, and the house stood half-silhouetted against a dark and lowering sky. The windows all blazed very brightly, but there was no sign of movement inside the house. The street-lamps burned orange and amber, illuminating an empty scene. It was all very quiet; nobody about. The house had the feeling of a brightly lit stage, with the action yet to begin. After a while, the Land Rover’s driver turned around in her seat to address her two companions.

“It all looks normal enough to me,” said Melody Chambers.

“I never trust normal,” said JC Chance. “It usually means the universe is trying to hide something from me. And rarely in a good way.”

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this place,” said Happy Jack Palmer.

“You’ve always got a bad feeling,” said Melody, crushingly.

“And I’m always right!”

“That’s as may be,” said JC. “I still want to know what in God’s name made you choose a Land Rover as our team transport? Were they all out of tractors and combine harvesters?”

Melody heaved a deep, put-upon sigh. She was very good at it. She’d had a lot of practice. “I chose this marvellous example of reliable engineering because I got fed up with my scientific equipment always being left behind, or turning up too late to be of any use. How can I be the Ghost Finder girl science geek if I don’t have any investigative equipment to work with? So I went down to the Carnacki Institute car pool and chose this. Because it’s a real work-horse of a vehicle; and because it was the only thing they had big enough to hold all my marvellous machines.”

JC nodded slowly. “Not exactly the most inconspicuous thing to turn up in, though, is it?” he murmured. “We are supposed to do our good deeds on the quiet, with no-one’s ever knowing. On the grounds that if the general public ever finds out why the Ghost Finders exist, and what we have to do, there will be a mass panic and general pants-wetting of biblical proportions.”

Melody sniffed loudly. “I get the job done. I put ghosts in their place and kick supernatural arse, in a strictly scientific way. And look good doing it. You can worry about public perception.”

“Oh, I do,” said JC. “Really. You have no idea.”

Melody kicked open the driver’s door and got out. She glared at the semi-detached house waiting for them, as though daring it to give her any problems. The lights in every window stared unflinchingly back; with not a trace of anyone’s moving behind them. JC pushed open his door and got out of the back seat, slowly and carefully, then took his time stretching his long limbs. They made clear cracking and creaking sounds on the quiet of the empty street. When he was ready, he moved in beside Melody and studied the house dubiously.

JC was tall and lean and too handsome for his own good, or anyone else’s. Thirty years old now, and loudly protesting he didn’t give a damn, JC Chance had pale, striking features under a rock star’s mane of long, wavy, black hair. He had a prominent nose, an easy smile, and wore dark sunglasses all the time for a very good reason. He also wore a rich, ice-cream white three-piece suit of quite devastating style and elegance, along with an old school tie he stole. JC was team leader because he was the only one brave and arrogant enough to always lead from the front, striding into danger with a careless smile and far more confidence than was safe for him or his companions.

Melody Chambers was advancing into her thirties, and fighting it every step of the way. Conventionally good-looking, in a threatening sort of way, she was short and gamine thin, forever burning with raw nervous energy. She wore her auburn hair scraped back in a severe bow, couldn’t be bothered with even the most basic make-up, and scowled at the world through serious glasses with dull, functional frames. Her clothes had never even heard of style or fashion; and Melody had once shocked and scandalised an entire roomful of women by loudly declaring she didn’t give a damn about shoes. Or any kind of accessory you couldn’t use as a weapon.

“Odd . . .” JC said finally. “I know it’s evening, but there ought to be someone out and about. Hurrying home late from work, or out jogging, or simply walking the dog . . . It’s as though all the people here have sensed it’s not safe to be outside at the moment.”

“Good,” said Melody. “I hate innocent bystanders. Always getting in the way, and underfoot, and dying horribly from collateral damage.”

“Except for when you use them to hide behind,” said JC.

“Except for then,” Melody agreed. She shot the house one last warning glance then marched round to the back of the Land Rover to unload her precious equipment.

“Don’t anyone feel obliged to help me with all the hard work and heavy lifting!” she said loudly.

“Don’t worry,” said JC. “We won’t.”

He banged ruthlessly on the door to the Land Rover’s passenger seat until it finally swung open, and Happy Jack Palmer half fell out. He got his feet under him with something of an effort and pushed the car door shut with an irritated scowl. He then leaned back against the door until he recovered his balance and his thoughts. He looked vaguely up and down the street, as though hoping it might provide him with some idea as to why he was there; and then he produced a small silver pill box from inside his jacket. He popped open the lid and stirred the multi-coloured contents with a finger before selecting two dark green pills decorated with muddy yellow lightning bolts. He knocked them back, dry-swallowing with the ease of long practice, then hiccoughed loudly a few times. He straightened up, pushing himself away from the car door, and made the pill box disappear about his person. His eyes were suddenly a lot brighter, and he smiled a smile with far too many teeth in it. JC looked at him expressionlessly.

“Are you still on the mother’s little helpers? The mental medication? We haven’t even started the investigation yet.”

“It’s the only way I can cope with Melody’s driving,” said Happy.

“I heard that!” said a loud voice from the rear of the Land...