Fearful Symmetry Read online

  The Secret of the Journal series

  Mortal Fire

  Death Be Not Proud

  Rope of Sand

  Realm of Darkness

  Fearful Symmetry

  Text copyright © 2016 C. F. Dunn

  This edition copyright © 2016 Lion Hudson

  The right of C. F. Dunn to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  All the characters in this book are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Published by Lion Fiction

  an imprint of

  Lion Hudson plc

  Wilkinson House, Jordan Hill Road

  Oxford OX2 8DR, England

  www.lionhudson.com/fiction

  ISBN 978 1 78264 198 8

  e-ISBN 978 1 78264 199 5

  First edition 2016

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  Cover image: Man © Robert Recker/Getty;

  Background © Arctic-Images/Getty

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Characters

  The Lynes Family Tree

  The D’Eresby Family Tree

  The Lynes Coat of Arms

  The D’Eresby Coat of Arms

  The Story So Far

  PART ONE

  1. Aftermath

  2. Facing Demons

  3. Birthday Boy

  4. Great Expectations

  5. Of Dragons and Giants

  6. Unmasking Monsters

  7. Blood Sinister

  8. Precious Cargo

  9. Meadow Rose

  10. Secrets and Ties

  11. Revelation

  PART TWO

  12. The Gate of the Year

  13. Elementary

  14. Special Delivery

  15. Portland

  16. Exit Strategy

  17. Army of Ghosts

  18. Exodus

  19. Family Matters

  20. Between a Rock and a Hard Place

  21. Father Christmas

  22. Reparation

  23. Break, Blow, Burn

  24. E.V.E.

  25. Rags of Time

  Author’s Notes

  To the Author of all things.

  Acknowledgments

  This is the last Acknowledgment I will write for The Secret of the Journal series. Although I have thanked the many people who have contributed over the years, there are many more – some whose names I never knew – who helped me with tit-bits of information, a historical reference, or words of encouragement. Then there are those on writing forums and book groups, and readers who have contacted me from the other side of the world, who have made writing this series a complete joy.

  I owe much to the cheerful professionalism of the Lion Fiction team, who made editing and production (from an author’s point of view) a doddle: editor Jessica Tinker; Jess Scott, who saw it through to production; Jonathan Roberts (design), and Kylie Ord (production). A special thank you to copy editor Sheila Jacobs (I hope the new orchard bears much fruit) and to Sarah Krueger of Kregel Publishing in the USA.

  As always, I wish to thank Tony Collins, former publisher and editor of Lion Hudson, for taking me on in the first place and for his subsequent support throughout the series, and author Pen Wilcock for her insight and intuition.

  I am indebted to the endorsement of this rookie’s work by author Colin Dexter, whose encouragement and validation made the world of difference when it was needed.

  To the many people who, over the years in their professional capacity, have generously given their time and advice, especially: for her insight into psychological conditions, Consultant Psychiatrist Dr Kiki O’Neil-Byrne, MB BCH. BAO Dip. Clin. Psych. MRCPsych, and R. F. D. – Director of the Royal Engineers’ Museum, Library and Archive – for invaluable access to original documents at the RE Library.

  Thanks, also, to friends and colleagues, author Sue Russell (S.L. Russell), Dee Prewer and Lisa Lewin for their selfless support from the beginning, and the staff at Cobham Hall School for providing an appropriately historic setting in which to hold my launch events. Michelle Jimerson Morris, of Seamlyne Reproductions, and Norm Forgey of Maine Day Trip, who once again supplied regional information in the USA.

  Special mention goes to C.P. – it is for people like you that makes writing worth while.

  Nearly the last (but never the least) my chief marketing and promotion agent – my father – whom I could have hired out countless times to other authors because of his persistent and fearless approach to promoting his daughter’s books to anyone and everyone, with a cheerful, “Do you enjoy a good read?” followed by proffering a card with the current book’s details. How could anyone refuse an offer like that? And my dearest mother – our family’s glue – holding us all together with her love, patience, wisdom and compassion.

  Finally, the last word must go to my husband and daughters, whose unconditional love and tireless encouragement have kept me going from the beginning to the end.

  Thank you, all, for the opportunity to bring this story alive.

  Characters

  ACADEMIC & RESEARCH STAFF AT HOWARD’S LAKE COLLEGE, MAINE

  Emma D’Eresby, Department of History (Medieval & Early Modern)

  Elena Smalova, Department of History (Post-Revolutionary Soviet Society)

  Matias Lidström, Faculty of Bio-medicine (Genetics)

  Matthew Lynes, surgeon, Faculty of Bio-medicine (Mutagenesis)

  Sam Wiesner, Department of Mathematics (Metamathematics)

  Madge Makepeace, Faculty of Social Sciences (Anthropology)

  Siggie Gerhard, Faculty of Social Sciences (Psychology)

  Saul Abrahms, Faculty of Social Sciences (Psychology of Functional Governance)

  Colin Eckhart, Department of History (Renaissance & Reformation Art)

  Kort Staahl, Department of English (Early Modern Literature)

  Megan, research assistant, Bio-medicine

  Sung, research assistant, Bio-medicine

  The Dean, Stephen Shotter

  MA STUDENTS

  Holly Stanhope; Josh Feitel; Hannah Graham; Aydin Yilmaz

  IN CAMBRIDGE

  Guy Hilliard, Emma’s former tutor

  Tom Falconer, Emma’s friend

  Judy Falconer, archivist

  EMMA’S FAMILY

  Hugh D’Eresby, her father

  Penny D’Eresby, her mother

  Beth Marshall, her sister

  Rob Marshall, her brother-in-law

  Alex & Flora, her twin nephew and niece

  Archie, their younger brother

  Nanna, her grandmother

  Douglas, her grandpa

  Joan Seaton, friend of the family

  Roger Seaton, Joan’s son

  MATTHEW’S FAMILY

  Henry Lynes, his son

  Patricia Lynes (Pat), Henry’s wife

  Margaret Lynes (Maggie), his granddaughter

  Daniel Lynes (Dan), his grandson

  Jeanette (Jeannie) Rathbone, Dan’s wife, and their children:

  Ellie Lynes

  Joel Lynes

  Harry Lynes

  Charlie, Ellie’s son

  THE LYNES FAMILY TREE and THE D’ERESBY FAMILY TREE

  THE LYNES COAT OF ARMS

  THE D’ERES
BY COAT OF ARMS

  The Story So Far

  Independent and self-contained British historian Emma D’Eresby has taken up a year-long research post in an exclusive American university in Maine, fulfilling her ambition (and that of her grandfather) to study the Richardson Journal – the diary of a seventeenth-century Englishman – housed in the library there.

  Single-minded and determined, Emma is wary of relationships, but she quickly attracts the unwelcome attention of seductive colleague Sam Weisner, and the disturbing Professor of English, Kort Staahl. Despite her best intentions to remain focused on her work, and encouraged by her vivacious Russian friend, Elena Smalova, Emma becomes increasingly attracted to medical research scientist and surgeon Matthew Lynes, whose old fashioned courtesy she finds both disarming and curious.

  Widowed and living quietly with his family, Matthew is reluctant to let her into his life, despite his clear interest in her, and Emma suspects there is more to his past than the little he tells her. His English-sounding name and the distinctive colour of his hair intrigues her, and Emma believes there is a link between Matthew and the very journal she came to the United States to study. Against her nature, she smuggles the historic document from the library to investigate further.

  Events take a sinister turn as a series of savage assaults on women sends ripples of fear through the campus. Emma is convinced she is being followed and during the prestigious All Saints’ dinner at Halloween is viciously attacked by psychotic Professor Staahl, leaving her on the edge of death. Only Matthew’s timely intervention saves her and, as he cares for her in his college rooms, their relationship deepens and Emma finds herself battling between her growing love and her need to learn more about him.

  A near-fatal encounter with a bear raises questions about Matthew she can no longer ignore.

  Frustrated by the mystery surrounding his past and his refusal to tell her who he really is, Emma reluctantly flees Maine to her claustrophobic family home in England. Hidden from sight, but not her conscience, she has also taken the journal.

  Years of acrimony with her family and a bruising affair a decade before with her tutor, Guy Hilliard – a married man – have left their scars. Now broken both physically and emotionally, and facing an emotional crisis, Emma drifts, until a chance meeting refocuses her attention on the unanswered questions she had left behind. Using her historical training to trace Matthew’s family to an almost extinct hamlet in the tiny county of Rutland, she makes a startling discovery. Her instinct had been right: Matthew is a relic of the past.

  Born in the early years of the seventeenth-century, Matthew had been betrayed during the English Civil War when a clash with his uncle left him fighting for his life. He not only lived, but persisted, growing steadily in strength and surviving events that would have killed any other man. Diary entries by the family steward in the same journal now in Emma’s possession reveal that in the overheated atmosphere of seventeenth-century England – where rumours were rife and accusations of witchcraft frequent – Matthew faced persecution because of his differences, and he fled to the American colonies.

  Coming to terms with Matthew’s past, Emma is all-too aware that she possesses knowledge that could destroy his future and, when she learns he has disappeared from the college, sinks further into desolation. But as winter descends on the old stone walls of her family home, unable to remain separated from her, Matthew comes to find Emma and takes her back to America.

  Looking forwards to the future, Emma believes she has all the answers, but Matthew has one more revelation that could end their relationship once and for all. In a fraught confrontation in a remote snowbound cabin high in the mountains, Matthew tells her that he is still married. Over a harrowing few days with their relationship hanging in the balance, Matthew recounts his story, and Emma learns that his wife, Ellen, is a ninety-six-year-old paraplegic, and the man she thought was his father is in fact his son. Emma is faced with a stark choice: cut all ties with Matthew as she once did with Guy, or face an uncertain future with the only man she has ever really loved. Emma believes that her life is inextricably linked with Matthew’s, and makes the decision to stay with him with all the complications it will entail.

  As she prepares to meet Matthew’s family at Christmas, the last thing on Emma’s mind is college professor Sam Weisner, but it becomes apparent that she has been very much on his. After a brief, but unpleasant, encounter in which Sam acquires a broken jaw, Emma is forced to warn Sam off. But, despite her best efforts to protect Matthew’s identity, wheels have been set in motion that one day could expose him to the world.

  In the third book of The Secret of the Journal series – Rope of Sand – Emma meets Matthew’s family for the first time when she goes to stay with him for Christmas. Here she is introduced to his son, Henry, and learns how unique the family really is. As Christmas approaches, it is clear that Emma is not welcomed by all the Lynes family: what does Matthew’s great-granddaughter – Ellie – have against her, and what might his sinister clinical psychiatrist granddaughter – Maggie – be prepared to do to prevent Matthew and Emma being together?

  When, out of spite one evening, Ellie gives Emma coffee instead of her usual tea, Emma suffers an extreme reaction and her heart stops for a few seconds. In those moments Emma discovers that coffee heightens all her senses, and she can detect the emotions of others around her in colour, revealing their deepest feelings – a form of synesthesia.

  As questions of mortality and faith interweave, the bond between Emma and Matthew grows even stronger, but they accept that they must wait until his wife dies before they can have a life together.

  After Christmas, and very reluctantly, Emma goes to meet Matthew’s wife, Ellen – a frail and disabled elderly woman with a core of steel – and learns how a lifetime spent with Matthew will be one that demands the sacrifice of normality, and be full of obfuscation, concealment, and lies.

  Blaming Emma for coming between Matthew and his wife, and destabilized by her presence over Christmas, Maggie reveals – in a threatening and vitriolic confrontation – that she has been in charge of assessing Kort Staahl’s mental state since his vicious attack in October, and is determined to get rid of Emma. It is only a matter of time before ticking resentment explodes.

  Just as Emma settles down to the new term teaching at Howard’s Lake college, and looking forward to the history conference in the summer, she receives, without warning, a writ of prosecution issued on behalf of Kort Staahl. Emma is accused of defamation per se – a serious offence – and goes to trial worried that the spotlight will fall on Matthew as a key witness, and shocked that Maggie is involved as a witness for the prosecution. But there is more to the trial than at first seems. Part way through, Matthew’s wife dies and, as he buries her a few days later, Henry’s first wife – Monica – appears at the graveside, revealing that she instigated the trial in revenge against Matthew. Her sudden appearance after an absence of forty years drives her daughter, Maggie, ever closer to the borders of madness.

  The following day the trial resumes with Maggie teetering on the edge of sanity while under fierce cross-examination on the witness stand. Emma fears she will reveal who Matthew is and, in one last desperate effort to protect his secret, she doses herself with coffee in an attempt to connect with Maggie emotionally using her newly discovered ability. She succeeds, but suffers a near-fatal heart attack. The trial is cancelled and, as winter turns a corner and Emma recovers in hospital, Matthew puts aside his past with renewed hope.

  Emma has every reason to believe she can look forward to a future with Matthew as he is finally free to ask her to marry him. She in turn reveals the nature of her relationship with Guy Hilliard – her supervisor at Cambridge – and the reason she has found it difficult to forgive him and trust any other.

  In England after the funeral of her beloved Nanna, Emma takes Matthew back to where his story started at Martinsthorpe, enabling him to face his traumatic past. Here he meets Joan Seaton and sees for th
e first time, in the mutilated tomb of his father, the fear and hatred in which he had been held by his community in the seventeenth century.

  While most of Matthew’s family accept the forthcoming marriage, not all are reconciled. Nor can Emma and Matthew be certain how her overprotective parents will react.

  Family feathers settled, the families unite to celebrate the marriage in Maine. On a picnic by the river a few days before the wedding, Emma’s niece and nephew – Flora and Alex – go missing, and only Matthew’s swift intervention saves Flora from drowning. It is a close call: in the attempt to save her, Matthew suffers a severely broken shoulder, but will Emma’s family notice?

  As the couple start their married life together, Emma wants to begin with a clear conscience, and slips the journal – which she took from the library the previous autumn – back where it belongs.

  The history conference, at which Emma is expected to be the keynote speaker, looms. Without the odious Dean’s knowledge, she has prepared her postgraduate students to deliver their research in her place. To her disgust, Emma discovers that Guy Hilliard is visiting the States and means to attend the conference. Although everyone – including her best friend, Elena Smalova – seems charmed by him, Emma doesn’t trust Guy despite his claim that he’s there to seek her forgiveness. Worse still, she discovers that Guy is dating Ellie – Matthew’s great-granddaughter – bringing him within the family fold. She tells Matthew of her fears and tries to warn Ellie, but the young doctor refuses to believe her.

  The conference begins amid a deepening heatwave. Despite the successful presentations of her students, the Dean makes it clear he won’t let the matter lie. Moreover, one of her students has been manipulated by Guy, who gave her Emma’s work to present as her own. Emma is livid, but trying to put her fears aside distracts herself with her grandfather’s academic diaries, which Nanna had recently left to her. She discovers that her grandfather had been close to tracing Matthew’s secret, aided by one of his students. Alarmed, she and Matthew spend a frantic night searching the documents for clues until they decipher the name “Vir” and realize that her grandfather’s protégé all those years ago had been none other than Guy. The implications are clear: Guy had known who she was long before she had met him at Cambridge, and his continued presence at Howard’s Lake college could be no coincidence.