‘You check the gardens and I’ll check the house.’ But as he turned back to the door, it slammed in his face. He grabbed the handle, yanking hard, but it wasn’t budging, stuck fast.
Wildewood Hall had just shut him out.
CHAPTER 36
ALEX
Patricia was no sooner out the door when Alex’s phone started to ring like there was no tomorrow.
Gabe. Of course it was Gabe.
‘Are youfreakingkidding me?’ he yelled the moment she answered.
‘How are you awake?’ she asked.
‘How could I beasleepwhen you send that? Incredible, Alex. Just incredible. Eduardo’s already analysing it. And Arnold says he’s cross-checking pictures in that online database thing to identify?—’
‘Margaret and Rosalind de Wilde,’ she said calmly. ‘I don’t know their exact dates but I’ll get them. Margaret died in 1806, and Rose in…the twenties maybe. They’re friends with Nick’s daughter. Although I’m not sure friends is the right word. More like parasitic little?—’
‘Wait, you know all of this already?’
She sank down into the chair, staring at the bookshelves and praying for patience. ‘It all still has to be cross-checked and confirmed. And it’s a very blurry picture. They knocked me over before?—’
‘Theywhat? Physical contact? Are you okay?’
Damn, she should have explained better than this. ‘Yes. No, just…a pile of boxes and magazines fell on me. Nothing serious. I think they were just warning me off.’
At least she hoped that was all. Had she been standing somewhere else, like at the top of a staircase, it could have been a very different story. They’d tried that already. Had they killed Sally as well? Her breath caught in her throat. There were too many coincidences all of a sudden. She thought of the exploding recorder. Not to mention the attack on Daphne.
The sooner Patricia took Maeve home the better.
‘Do you think the little kid is a catalyst for poltergeist activity?’ Gabe asked.
‘Maeve? Yeah, maybe. She’s very young though. Or maybe the ghosts just didn’t want to have their photos taken. I didn’t ask permission or anything. Do I need their consent?’
She said it before she thought better, her smart mouth landing her in it yet again. But there she was, admitting to Gabe that ghosts were real. That she might need to ask permission from them. Was data protection still a thing in the afterlife?
Gabe sucked in a breath. ‘Are you…are yousureyou’re okay, Alex?’
‘Yes, why?’
‘Because Daphne’s right. You really do sound like a believer all of a sudden.’
Did she? Maybe. It was kind of hard to keep up the denial here. Mostly she was just tired. Sick and tired.
‘I know,’ she murmured, really wishing she didn’t have to admit it. ‘Look, I need some advice. From you or from Daphne, I don’t know. But I don’t want to pull her in any further, not after – well, you know.’
‘What do you need?’ He wasn’t arguing. Or crowing in triumph. That was probably a bad sign. Or at least a glimmer of how serious this really was.
‘I have to find a way to lay a dark spirit to rest. Like, really dark.’ God, even as she said it, it sounded ridiculous. How often had she scoffed at people talking just like this? No wonder so many people online called her a bitch. ‘There was a man, Blaise Chambers. He lived here in the late 1700s, early 1800s.’
‘Yeah, I remember. Same time as the dead kid?’
Shit, yes, probably. She hadn’t thought of that. ‘I guess so. He was the land agent or steward or something. Would have worked for her dad but basically ran the whole place. Arnold has all the details. But he’s key to the darkness in this house, Gabe. He ran the Hellfire Club here. He was a terrible person, by all accounts. And he probably still is. You get me?’
‘Yeah.’ It came out like a sigh, a long breath of understanding.
‘So how do I cut him off? How do I lay him to rest? Or exorcise him? How do I get rid of him?’
