The Secrets Of Ghosts

Max looked over his shoulder, affronted. ‘I’m no thief. It’s my money I’m after.’

‘But he’s dead. He can’t pay you now.’

Max shook his head. ‘It’s my money. It’s a point of honour to pay your debts in poker. It’s the worst thing not to. I’m saving him from ignominy.’

Katie ignored the shiver that a good-looking guy using words like ‘ignominy’ gave her. She was going to keep her head. He was dodgy. And arrogant. And annoying. ‘It’s not right,’ she said.

‘Neither is not paying your gambling debt,’ Max said. ‘You play, you pay.’

‘But the man has passed away.’ Katie felt she was dangerously close to sounding like a Monty Python sketch, but she couldn’t stop herself. ‘He can’t give you the money because he is no longer with us. He’s dead.’ She managed not to add that he was an ‘ex-person’.

Max shrugged. ‘Some things transcend death.’

‘I can’t believe you,’ Katie said, revelling in the moral high ground. ‘A man has died.’

He was on tiptoe, now, running his hands along the picture rail. His T-shirt rode up and there was a glimpse of bare skin.

Katie looked away.

I didn’t say I didn’t care. I hardly knew the guy but I’m sorry and all that. I just want to conclude my business with him and be on my way.’

‘Well, you can’t.’ Katie was suddenly very glad of Patrick’s efficiency. ‘You’ll have to speak to his family or something. Maybe they’ll honour his debt. You never know.’

Max finished with the picture rail but was still looking around in a distracted manner. Katie thought that he’d zoned out of their conversation and was about to say something when he looked at her in a disconcertingly direct way. ‘I didn’t get the impression that his wife was all that forgiving of his gambling habit. I’m not sure she even knew.’

‘And you’re squeamish about that? Rifle through a dead man’s things, fine. Talk to his wife, no thanks.’

‘Widow. And, no, I don’t see the point in upsetting her. Upsetting her more, I mean. And it was his secret to keep or reveal, not mine.’

‘I think your moral compass is a bit off.’

‘I think you’re money-obsessed.’

‘What?’

‘You’re the one putting a man’s money over his feelings.’

‘How d’you know he didn’t have very strong feelings about his money?’ Katie shot back.

Max grinned. ‘Fun as this is, I’ve got to go. Don’t suppose you know of any poker games going on around here? Or blackjack?’

‘In Pendleford? Not likely.’

‘Oh, well. Something will turn up.’

‘What will you do?’

Max shrugged. ‘I have no idea. That’s half the fun, though.’

‘Funny kind of holiday.’

A strange expression crossed his face. At the door, he stopped and turned around. ‘What are you doing in here, anyway? Don’t tell me he owed you money too?’

Katie wasn’t about to explain that she’d seen Mr Cole in her dreams last night and then a magpie had asked her to find his watch. ‘Just checking that the room’s ready,’ Katie said, not able to meet his eyes. She’d always had a policy of being as honest as possible, partly because she was completely useless at lying. She felt a blush begin on her neck, travelling up towards her cheeks.

‘Right.’ Max was looking at her intently, as if he knew full well that she wasn’t telling the truth. Which he probably did.

He took a step towards her. ‘Did you know Oliver? Mr Cole?’

‘I didn’t even know his name was Oliver,’ Katie said, glad to be back on honest ground.

‘You were at the wedding. Did you see him give anybody anything?’

‘Like what?’

Max was still staring at her in an unnervingly calculating manner. Then his face cleared and he gave her a charming smile. ‘Never mind. Don’t worry about it.’

‘I won’t,’ Katie said, irritated. The voile was moving again. Then the mustard velvet twitched. It billowed outwards as if there was something behind it, a figure hiding. Which was daft. Her eyes were playing tricks. Perhaps her blood sugar was low or something.

‘Okay, then,’ Max said. ‘See you around.’

He left the room but Katie was distracted by the change in temperature. The room had been cool but now it was freezing cold, the skin on her arms goose-pimpling. She walked to the window but there was no breeze. The fabric of the curtain was moulding, funnelling into a solid column. There was definitely somebody hiding inside. Somebody moving.

‘Hello?’ Katie forced herself to speak, her voice coming out reedy and thin. Her insides went liquid with fear, but she stamped down on the urge to run. She certainly didn’t mean to scream, but the curtains had billowed inwards, all towering thick cloth, which had suddenly seemed full of malicious intent.

Now, with Max back in the room and saying, ‘What?’ they were lying flat. Playing dead. She backed away from the window.

‘I think there’s someone in here, but I can’t see them.’

Max didn’t laugh, as she expected. He stepped up to the curtains and, before Katie could stop him, pulled them away from the window. Then he checked the bathroom, inside the wardrobe and under the bed. ‘You’re just a bit freaked out. After finding Cole like that.’

‘No.’ Katie shook her head. ‘Look at the curtains.’ The floor-length curtains had gone lumpy again, in the shape of a column or a person. She blinked and they fell slack.

‘Did you see that?’ Katie moved closer to Max. She looked around the room. ‘Where’d they go?’

‘Just some air or something,’ Max said. ‘I’ll close the window.’ He stepped forwards but Katie grabbed his arm.

‘Don’t!’ Katie sounded properly panicked. ‘Stop mucking about,’ she said to the curtains. ‘It’s not funny.’

‘It’s okay,’ Max said soothingly. ‘There’s nobody here.’

‘I think there is. And it’s really cold.’ She was shivering and now her teeth clattered together. She felt Max’s arm go around her shoulder and she wanted to lean into his warmth. But he was a stranger and a thief, so she stepped away.

‘Let’s go outside,’ Max said. ‘You’ll feel better in the sunshine. Warm up a bit.’

‘Something’s wrong,’ Katie said quietly. She turned her head, sniffed the air. ‘Can you smell burning? And—’ She broke off. Shook her head.

‘There’s nothing in here,’ he began. Then a chair tipped over. ‘Fuck!’ He swore in surprise and moved to the door, Katie already a step ahead of him.