Page 115 of A Good Heart is Hard to Find
‘Oh God, more trays!’ Rosetta muttered.
Mrs Bream protested weakly at being removed: ‘No, no, Leo! The haunting tonight … we must stay up to record and film. The manifestations are the strongest we have come across!’
‘I think the spirits have been disturbed enough for one night,’ Dante said, raising his head to show eyes like glacier melt-water. ‘I doubt that anything more will happen after this commotion, so I should call it a dayand try again tomorrow.’
‘I suppose he’s right,’ Mr Shakespeare said reluctantly. ‘Things have been stirred up, and it might be better to leave it for now.’
‘Much better,’ I agreed thankfully, smiling at him. ‘How sensible of you, Mr Shakespeare.’
‘Call me Frank,’ he said. ‘I don’t think any of us need to be on formal terms after that experience.’
‘You won’t leave me alone tonight, Leo, willyou?’ pleaded Mrs Bream.
‘Of course not, Nancy.’
‘Perhaps I’ll just spend the rest of the evening writing my notes up on last night’s manifestations,’ Frank conceded. ‘It’s all been pretty tiring, so if we are to make an attempt to record the spirits tomorrow, an early night for us all would be in order. Perhaps I might take some of these leftover sandwiches up with me?’ he added plaintively.
‘Of course: let me get you a fresh plate,’ Rosetta said. ‘And I’ll bring a tray up for Mrs Bream and Madame Duval shortly,’ she added wearily.
Slowly they dispersed, and Rosetta and Eddie went into the kitchen.
Left among the incongruous birthday debris Dante heaved a sigh, got to his feet, and said abruptly: ‘I’m going back to the west wing.’
‘I’ll come with you,’ I said. ‘I don’t know aboutyou butIdon’t feel like being alone tonight.’
‘Are you afraid?’ he asked, looking at me searchingly. ‘But all our ghosts seem to have been laid to rest today, haven’t they, Cass? Though how or why Emma …’ He shook his head. ‘I still don’t believe it was her … But then, how would Mrs Bream know about the baby? Or that Paul always called me Dan?’
‘Telepathy?’ I suggested. ‘Madame Duval knewabout Emma’s baby, and I knew from reading your diaries that Paul called you Dan, and I suppose other people might have had a sneaky look at them. But who knows? And the truth is out now, for both of us, and I’m not really afraid any more, I just feel terribly empty and insecure and sort of adrift.’ (And a bit puzzled, too, actually: why on earth didn’t Rosemary put her four penn’orth in, while theopportunity was there?)
‘We’ve both undergone a sort of catharsis today,’ he agreed, ‘I think that’s it. Come on.’ He held out his hand and I took it.
The west wing was starting to feel like home.
We spent the night together, but neither took advantage of the other, we just held each other close, and it was good.
At some time in the night I got up, switched on the little desk light Dante hadfound for me, and wrote furiously for a couple of hours.
He half opened his eyes when I got out of bed, but closed them again and slept on until I climbed back in again and snuggled up for warmth some time just before dawn.
I do love a heavy sleeper.
Dante’d gone when I woke up next morning, rather earlier than usual, although that was probably due to the sound of loud voices under my window.
Looking out I saw him talking to Jason and Orla (she was dressed in Jason’s jeans and shirt with the sleeves and legs rolled up), who carried various digging implements and last night’s map.
After a few minutes conferring they all set out in the direction of the lake, and I began rather languorously to wash and dress, still feeling strangely detached and, truth to tell, a smidgeon anticlimaxed.
By the time I finally got to the excavation they had been joined by Leo and Frank and were down below the rockery into loose earth, digging carefully.
Then there was the clink of metal on something hard, and they all stopped and stared into the hole.
‘There’s something there,’ Jason said unnecessarily.
