The Horror of the Crowford Empire Read online

  ***

  A little over an hour later, standing next to the ticket booth, Susan watched as the customers began to leave the auditorium. As the film's closing credit music played, the two men were first to exit, and they each nodded to Susan as they headed outside.

  After another couple of minutes, Angie and Charlie also emerged, laughing and giggling.

  “I hope you enjoyed the film,” Susan said, forcing herself to smile.

  “Yeah, it was great,” Charlie replied, obviously lying. “What was it, Flash Gordon or something like that?”

  “Actually,” Susan said, “it was -”

  “You look so cute in that uniform,” Angie told her. “It really suits you. Doesn't it suit her, Charlie?”

  “It suits her,” he replied, before leading Angie toward the door. “Come on, the film's over, let's get out of here.”

  “Charlie's taking me to this little pad he has down the road,” Angie called back to Susan. “Isn't that amazing? His dad bought him a flat and we're going to listen to some music. He's got all the latest records!”

  “Have fun,” Susan replied, with all the enthusiasm she could muster, before turning to wait for the fifth person to leave the auditorium. She'd resolved to very politely ask the woman if she could see her ticket, and she'd told herself that no reasonable person could possibly take affront at such a request.

  As the minutes passed, however, Susan began to wonder whether the woman was going to emerge at all. Finally she made her way through to the auditorium and switched the lights on, but there was no sign of anyone. She looked around, before realizing that the woman must have headed out through the fire exit. That, after all, was the only possible explanation.

  Chapter Nine

  “Thank you for all your help today,” Harry said a little while after 11pm, as he closed the main door. “I'm sorry it was such a long one for you, but that couldn't be helped seeing as how I had to train you up. Starting tomorrow, you don't have to be here until eleven in the morning. I hope that's more convenient.”

  “I really don't mind long hours,” Susan replied. “I want to work.”

  “Are you saving up for anything in particular?” he asked as he shuffled past her, heading to the ticket booth. “A car, perhaps? A trip somewhere?”

  “Actually, I'm planning to -”

  Stopping herself just in time, she realized that perhaps she shouldn't tell him about her plan to move away from Crowford. Somehow, telling him something like that would feel ungrateful, especially since she'd only just started at the cinema, so she decided that discretion would be a more appropriate response.

  “I'm just saving for a little nest egg,” she told him. “I don't really know exactly what I'm going to use it for.”

  “You seem like a smart girl,” he replied, “whose has her head very much screwed on. Dare I ask whether you're seeing a young man in your spare time?”

  “No!” she blurted out, and once again she felt as if she'd begun to blush. “I mean... no, I don't have time for anything like that.”

  She looked down at her shoes and tried not to fidget with her hands.

  “Shall we say eleven tomorrow, then?” Harry continued.

  Glancing back at him, she nodded.

  “Off you go, then,” he told her. “I've got a few things to finish up here. And no, before you ask, I don't require your assistance, thank you very much. You've already done more than enough.”

  “I'll see you tomorrow,” she replied, grabbing her bag and heading to the door. “And thank you again, Mr. Gough, for this wonderful opportunity. I know it's only been one day, but already I can't imagine working anywhere else.”

  As she pulled the door open, she looked back over at Harry, only to find that he was making his way into the office. He seemed to be muttering something under his breath, but Susan reasoned that what he was saying was in no way directed at her. Nor was it any of her business. She felt a pang of sadness at the thought of the old man shuffling around in his beloved cinema, and then she stepped outside and pulled the door shut before starting to make her way home along the empty road.

  Reaching the corner before Crowford Castle, she stopped and looked up at the lights in one of the nearby flats. Evidently some kind of party had erupted, and she figured that Angie was probably in the middle of all the excitement, dancing to the latest records and getting drunk and perhaps doing all sorts of awful things that Susan told herself she couldn't possibly imagine. A tiny part of Susan actually felt a little envious, but only a tiny part; the rest of her pitied the poor souls who felt the need to party the nights away, so she quickly turned and hurried off into the night, leaving the music and the happy shouting voices far behind.

  ***

  Or so she thought.

  As she reached home, on a dark little street up near the old mill end of town, Susan slowed her pace. The lights were on in the living room, and to her dismay she realized that here too a party seemed to have broken out. Whereas the rest of the houses were shrouded in darkness, her parents' place was throbbing with music and she could already hear her mother's drunken laughter.

  “Please no,” Susan whispered, stopping at the garden gate and checking her watch. “It's almost midnight.”

  “I've got half a mind to call the police!” a voice shouted, and she turned to see Mrs. Tiverton standing at the door to one of the neighboring houses. “The only reason I haven't is that I know they won't bother showing up. This kind of noise is a disgrace, though. Your parents should know better.”

  “I know, Mrs. Tiverton,” Susan replied. “I'm sorry.”

  “It's the same every other night,” the neighbor continued. “They go down to that pub on the corner and then at chucking out time they bring a bunch of new best friends home to keep the party going. They don't care about anyone else. Most of the people round here have got to be up early for work. My Eddie's got to be out at the pit first thing. How's he supposed to function properly when he has to deal with this cacophony all night?”

  “I'm sorry,” Susan said again. “I'll ask them to turn it down.”

  Even as she opened the gate and made her way along the path, and as Mrs. Tiverton headed back inside, Susan knew that she had absolutely no chance of persuading her parents to turn the music down. In fact, she wasn't even going to try, because she knew that her father would most likely respond by turning it up even higher. As she opened the front door and stepped into the wall of sound, she realized that the whole house actually seemed to be shuddering, and she told herself that her best bet might be to simply sneak to her room and hope that nobody noticed she was back.

  “Hey, Susie!” a voice shouted from the top of the stairs, and she looked up just in time to see her father's friend Gordon stumbling down, holding a glass of wine. “We were wondering where you were hiding. Do you fancy joining the rest of us old fogeys for some fun?”

  “I actually have to be up quite early,” she told him. “Thank you, though.”

  “You can spare half an hour, can't you?” he continued, grabbing her arm as he reached her and trying to steer her into the living room, where her mother was shrieking with laughter once more. “We could use someone young to tell us which records we should be listening to.”

  “Really, no,” Susan said, pulling free from his grip. “Thanks.”

  “Where are you working these days, anyway?” he continued, leaning against the wall. “I heard you'd got a job up at that stuffy old golf club.”

  “No, I only did that for one night,” she explained. “I work at the Empire now.”

  “The cinema?”

  She nodded.

  “I'm surprised that place is still going,” he muttered, rolling his eyes. “The old duffer who runs the place should've been pensioned off years ago. Why don't you ask him to shake the place up and modernize it a bit?”

  “I think it's lovely the way it is,” she told him.

  “They ought to rip it down and build one of those new cinemas,” he told her. “
Haven't you seen the one that just opened in Morford? Three screens, big comfy chairs, an actual popcorn counter... It's like visiting the future, Susie, really it is. Then you come back to Crowford and take a trip to that dump on the seafront, and it's like going back in time twenty years. Really, if you think about it, the Empire's a disgrace.”

  “I don't agree,” she replied, although she took care to hold her tongue and not tell him what she really thought of his opinion.

  “Well, you've always been a bit like that, haven't you?” he continued, slapping her on the back. “Now, last chance, why don't you come through and unwind? Your dad's got a bottle of gin that'll -”

  “No,” she said firmly, turning and heading to the stairs, “I'm sorry, but I really need to get to sleep.”

  Gordon called after her, but she didn't hear a word as she ran up to her room. As she reached her door, however, she found that it was open, and a moment later she realized that somebody was on her bed. She was about to turn the light on, but then she hesitated as she heard a kind of soft, passionate moaning.

  “Oh Eric,” a woman's voice was saying, “come on, don't go too fast. That's right, Eric, be gentle with me. Treat me like you care.”

  Staring into her room, Susan was horrified by the sight of a pair of legs spread wide on her bed. A moment later, spotting a bare bottom rising and falling in the gloom, she turned and stepped away, and she put a hand over her mouth to keep herself from crying out. As the legs of her bed bumped against the wall, and the springs of the mattress creaked, Susan could only stand out on the landing and try to keep from completely losing her temper.

  “I hate you,” she whispered finally, with tears in her eyes as she heard her mother once again cackling down in the living room, and her father shouting for more drinks. “I hate all of you. When I finally get out of Crowford, I won't ever look back. I'm going to leave all of you behind forever.”

  Chapter Ten

  One week later, Susan smiled as she took a sip from her drink.

  “You know,” Angie said, sitting opposite her at a table by the cafe's window, “old Chalfont still asks about you. Are you sure you don't want to do some more shifts at the club?”

  “Thanks,” Susan replied, checking her watch as she set her glass down, “but it's really not my thing.”

  “Suit yourself. I suppose now you've got that job at the cinema, you're pretty pleased with yourself.”

  Susan furrowed her brow.

  “Relax, I'm just being silly,” Angie continued. “You can be so serious sometimes, Susie. Don't you ever feel like maybe, just maybe, you should... I don't know... let your hair down a little? There's more to life than working all day every day, and sleeping.”

  “I have to be at work soon.”

  Angie sighed.

  “I enjoy working at the cinema,” Susan continued, although she felt it was a little unfair that she was having to defend herself. “Not everyone likes the same thing. I happen to like helping people, and dealing with people, and trying to keep the place running smoothly. And I like helping Mr. Gough, too.”

  “I might see you there in a few days,” Angie told her. “Charlie's going to take me to the pictures again. We were supposed to go this week, but he's too busy with work. He's going to take on more responsibilities at his dad's store. In fact, one day, he's going to inherit the whole thing! Can you believe that? He's going to be rich!”

  “That's great.”

  “And of course he'll need a Mrs. Evans,” Angie continued, with a twinkle in her eye. “Obviously we're not at that stage yet, but I'm certainly hoping to play my cards right.”

  “Are you sure that it's wise to...”

  Susan thought for a moment about how to make her point without being insulting.

  “Are you sure it's a good idea to give him everything upfront?” she continued finally, with as much tact as she could muster. “Some things are maybe best saved for later, if you catch my drift.”

  “You mean sex before marriage?” Angie chuckled. “This is the sixties, Susie, I think we can be a bit more modern. Look at you! All I did was mention the word sex and you started blushing!”

  “I did not!”

  “You totally are,” Angie said, before sipping through her straw again. “You need to live a little, Susie, instead of acting like an old maid. You never know. If you put yourself out there a little more, you might catch your very own Charlie Evans!”

  “Who says I want one?”

  “Please,” Angie replied, rolling her eyes, “everyone wants a good man. Charlie takes care of me, and that's the best feeling in the whole wide world. I just worry that you're going to get to the end of your life one day and realize that you never actually had any fun.”

  “I have plenty of fun,” Susan said calmly, trying to hide her sense of irritation. “Honestly, Angie, I'm fine. You really don't have to worry about me.”

  ***

  Susan smiled as she held the ticket out for the man at the booth.

  “And there you go,” she said with the polite, friendly tone she'd managed to develop since starting her new job. “I hope you enjoy the film.”

  As the man headed through to the auditorium, Susan took a deep breath and realized that for the first time she didn't feel nervous. Having worked every day of the week since starting at the cinema, she'd learned very quickly, and she was starting to think that perhaps – at last – she was getting the hang of things. For the first time in her life, she felt that she was genuinely good at a job.

  Hearing a loud roaring noise approaching, she looked toward the open door, just as several guys on bikes raced past along the seafront. The sound continued, and sure enough a couple more bikes zoomed past in pursuit.

  “Idiots,” she muttered, and then she forced the smile back onto her face as a girl stepped into the foyer.

  A moment later, the girl was followed by a man, and Susan felt a shudder run through her bones as she realized that it was Angie's supposed squeeze Charlie Evans. She watched as Charlie grabbed the girl and gave her a kiss, and she instantly realized that he was playing the field.

  “Two for whatever's on,” Charlie said as he approached the booth, and then he hesitated as he looked at Susan. “Have we met somewhere before?” he asked. “You seem familiar.”

  “Two for the film,” she replied, as she took a couple of tickets from the tin.

  “Did you used to work at the golf club?” he continued. “I'm really good with faces, and I know I've seen yours before. I'm just struggling to figure out exactly where.”

  He tilted his head slightly, staring at her with unusual intensity, and then slowly he began to look down toward her chest.

  “You must have worked at the golf club,” he said, sounding genuinely mystified. “It's the only explanation.”

  “Maybe,” she said through gritted teeth, somehow managing to resist the urge to ask him whether he was still supposed to be seeing Angie.

  “Do you like parties?” he asked.

  “No.”

  He hesitated, clearly a little taken aback by her response.

  “Keep the change,” he said finally, sliding some cash over to her and taking the tickets, then putting his arm around the girl as they made their way toward the auditorium.

  “Thanks,” Susan said stiffly.

  Charlie glanced back at her, but he and the girl quickly disappeared along the corridor, leaving Susan seething in the booth. She thought back to her meeting with Angie just a few hours earlier; Angie had seemed so excited about her burgeoning relationship with Charlie, and Susan – despite her misgivings – had genuinely hoped that her friend might be in for some good luck. Now it was clear that Charlie was seeing other girls around town, and Susan knew that Angie would be devastated. She felt that she should try to break the news to her gently, but she wasn't quite sure how to begin.

  Suddenly hearing a bumping sound coming from nearby, she turned and looked along the corridor that led through to the rear of the cinema, to the sto
rage rooms and a few other areas. She knew that customers weren't supposed to go back there, and she also knew that Harry was up in the projection room, but a moment later she heard the bump again and she realized that somebody was definitely there.

  She glanced around for a moment, and then – figuring that nobody else would turn up for a ticket – she set the BACK SOON note on the counter and stepped out from the booth.

  “Hello?” she called out as she reached the corridor.

  Looking toward the far end, she saw several doors, but there was still no sign of anyone.

  “Hello?” she said again. “I'm sorry, but this is a private area, I'm afraid members of the public aren't allowed down there.”

  She waited.

  The only sound was a faint rumble from the auditorium, where the film was already playing.

  Figuring that she might have made a mistake, she turned to go back to the booth, only to look round again when the bumping sound briefly returned. This time she was certain that somebody was in one of the rooms near the back, so she glanced around one more time and then she began to head to the doors so she could investigate. She found it hard to believe that someone could have become lost while trying to find the auditorium, but at the same time that seemed to be by far the most obvious explanation.

  Reaching the storage area where she'd first helped Harry with the pallets, she looked down and half expected to see somebody, but the place was empty. She felt more and more certain that she was close to the source of the noise, and that no-one could possibly have slipped past her, but she couldn't quite figure out where any miscreants might be hiding.

  “Hello?” she said one more time, just to be safe. “If anyone's in here, you need to leave, okay? You're trespassing in a private part of the building and you need to...”

  Her voice trailed off as she realized she was talking to thin air. Whatever had caused the strange noise, she was probably never going to resolve the mystery, so she turned to go back through to the foyer.