“Yeah, something to do with the size of the vocal cords and the higher pitch. People generally find the female voice more pleasing and because of this disembodied voices always tend to be females. But maybe things are changing slowly.” 

Continue on this road. 

Disembodied voices. What did demons sound like—a voice of authority? Menacing? And what about his own thoughts? What voice did he hear them in? Were they gender neutral? He tried a quick google search on his phone, and all he found was information on gender neutral bathrooms—and hadn’t that caused problems. He’d thought it was common sense, about not upsetting people’s feelings, but the opposite was happening. Best to get focused on earthly things, the here and now. Jack tuned his thoughts to the countryside outside the vehicle. The trees swaying and the birds were flying. He thought of Erica. She had a lovely sweet voice. He must bring her out here for a drive.

In five hundred metres, turn left.

Jack came out of thoughtful mode and returned to reading a report summary on his phone. This lady had a background in health care. 

Your destination is ahead.

Jack turned to Catherine and raised his eyebrows. There was no house, only an empty block of land. 

<°)))><

Sometimes Jill Winter and her partner would cruise around the bay waters in their runabout. Returning from a brief excursion, and entering the channel leading up to their house, they saw two people standing out the front of their vacant block of land. It was a few blocks from their house and served as a good decoy.

“Looks like they’re on to us, dear,” Jill said.

“Yes, but they have nothing on us. No proof,” her partner said, steering the boat into a break in the mangroves.

“We were at the island, dear.”

“We were, but they have no proof.”

“Wish I was as confident as you.”

“Well you better find some confidence because they’re getting close and will be asking questions.”

Jill leaned back on the boat’s seat and felt the coldness of the fibreglass. She stared at her partner looking up at the blocks of land. His voice tone was different. She hadn’t noticed it before. It was almost like someone else was speaking. 

<°)))><

Jack watched a boat glide into the mangroves. A good view, a good life. “At least you get a good view of the bay from here.” 

Catherine stared out over the bay. “How did she get away with a false address?”

“Someone hasn’t done their job properly.”

“She may not be that easy to find,” Catherine said. “Her place of employment had also changed, as she was on stress leave at the time of the court hearings. Her last work contact was spoken to and said she left not long after the court hearing but was sure she would’ve got another job by now. She was well qualified.”

“I’m sure that qualification included spiking drinks. We will find her.”

29 – A visit to the doctor

IT WAS MID-WEEK, and Ruby wanted to get back to work, to be around people. But first she needed to get the appropriate medical certificates and permission from her doctor.

She sat in the waiting room, her attention drawn to a television mounted on a ceiling bracket. A talkback show was on, but it didn’t hold on to her attention. Another patient came in and walked up to the service desk, coughing and spluttering. Ruby subconsciously raised her hand to her mouth to prevent breathing in infectious air particles.

The receptionist confirmed his appointment and gestured to the new patient to take a seat. She watched him walk off and raised her eyebrows to her colleague behind the counter. What those poor people must be assaulted with each day. A lady wearing light blue scrubs walked into the area behind reception. Ruby had seen her before and believed she was some kind of doctor’s assistant.

The lady stared at Ruby to the point where Ruby had to look away. Had the news people located a picture of Ruby and splattered it across the airwaves? She thought not, but why else was the woman staring at her?

Ruby took a quick peek at the lady again. She recognised her from somewhere but couldn’t place where. 

“Ruby Fisher.”

She looked towards the voice to see her doctor smiling at her. The doctor waved her up, and led her down the corridor to her office. Ruby walked in and sat down.

The doctor gave her a smile. “And what brings Ruby in to see her favourite doctor?”

And the tears started flowing.

The doctor placed her hand on Ruby’s leg. “What’s the matter, love?”

Ruby tried to compose herself. “Sorry.” She let out a cough. “Been a tough few days.”

“You want to tell me?”

Ruby looked at the older woman, her doctor since she was a little one, probably the only person she really trusted—not that she ever thought about that. Yes, it would be easy to tell her.

“I got caught up in—”

“Before you go on, Ruby, the doctor on the island did send me a report. It said you experienced a traumatic event and she had you under observation for the night. The report indicated you were drugged with a date rape drug and didn’t have clear memories of the event, but there was no sexual element.” The doctor picked up the blood pressure cuff. “That’s about all I know. Let’s check your blood pressure. Best to take off your coat and roll up your sleeve, please.”

“They buried me alive. In a box.”

The doctor stopped what she was doing and sat back. “What? They didn’t tell me that. How?”

“I went to a good-feelings type festival, attended a group activity and that’s when it happened.”

“What type of group activity?”

Ruby’s cheeks warmed up. She was embarrassed by it all but needed to talk to the doctor. She wanted to flee, but she needed to talk to somebody. “It’s called a Wicca circle.”

“Witchcraft.”

“No, it’s not witchcraft.”

“Sorry, Ruby, but it is.”

“But—“

“Stay away from such things. We have a lady here that’s into Wicca. She invites us to some of their get-togethers but we decline. She does everything possible to disassociate what she does with witchcraft. But I tell her it’s witchcraft.”

“You seem to have strong views.”

“I do, Ruby, and that lady stays away from me now. I’ve seen what witchcraft can do to families back in India, where I grew up. My district had a great fear of witchcraft and sorcery. It caused many disputes. I don’t know whether it’s true or not, but I do know there is a darkness associated with Wicca which does strange, sometimes unexplained, things to people.”