Page 64 of A Good Heart is Hard to Find
‘Like he wants to murder me?’
‘Actually I was going to say, like he wants to eat you.’
I had a sudden vision of Vlad, in immaculate dinner jacket, approachingKeturah with his knife and fork held threateningly before him and a hungry look in his eyes, but instantly discarded it because of its risibility potential.
‘Are you listening?’ demanded Orla. ‘I was saying that Dante explained – or rather, I winkled out of him—’
‘You’re good at winkling,’ I conceded.
‘Thank you. I winkled out of him that he’d been brought to the Hall once when he was a littleboy, and never forgotten it, so when he inherited he wanted to live here. He’s been commissioned to write a book about his experiences as a hostage, which he thinks will be good for him, but he took almost a year out to tour the USA, finishing up in Alaska where the widow of that other hostage who was killed lives.’
‘How did you get all that out of him?’ I demanded, astonished. ‘With an oysterknife?’
‘No, but it was slow work. And apparently his sister has just come out of a long, violent relationship – with a chef! Nowthat’sscary, all those big choppers. She was in the hotel management business. She refuses to live off him, or accept an allowance, so when she suggested the ghostly weekends he didn’t like to refuse. She’s called Rosetta, isn’t that pretty?’
‘What happened to Gabriel?Or Gabrielle?’ I interrupted.
‘Don’t be sarky. Dante says she’s got the weekend worked out already, pretty well. She’s only offering B&B, but her visitors can come here and eat in the restaurant like mine do. Dante’s writing a ghost guide to the Hall to give to them. He’s very thorough for a sceptic.’
‘And you’re very sanguine about this rival guesthouse.’
‘I don’t think it will really makeany difference to me after all, since theirs isn’t a regular thing. My guests are usually on their way somewhere else, not ghost-hunting, though they do love the Haunted Well. The compulsion people feel to throw money into water must hark back to some ancient god-propitiating rite, inbred in some of us, mustn’t it? Me, I’m more concerned with taking the money out again. It’s a nice little earner.’
…the coin bounced, and the depths of the pond shifted and gleamed like the golden scales of a great, stirring monster…
‘Speaking of great, stirring monsters, when’s Kedge Hall going to open for business?’
She looked puzzled: ‘Were we speaking of great, stirring monsters?’
‘I was … maybe. In my head: sorry.’
‘Right. They’re opening at Easter, would you believe it? They’ve ordered a wholeheap ofHaunted Walks Through Westery, too, so their guests can take themselves off in search of extra ghosts.’
‘It still seems strange behaviour for a man who seems to have an absolute antipathy for the supernatural.’
‘Oh, he thinks it’s a load of nonsense, but he’s prepared to go along with it if it helps his sister.’
‘Did he say so?’
‘Yes, and also that he didn’t mind ghost-hunters, buthe wouldn’t permit seances, planchettes or any other dangerous nonsense in his house.’
‘That’s because his mother-in-law’s some kind of medium, and when his wife died she made him try and contact her from beyond the grave, though it didn’t work. But why has he banned them if he doesn’t believe in them?’
‘He thinks they’re harmful to weak-minded people.’
‘Of whom he isn’t one?’
‘Apparentlynot.’
She looked down at her neglected copy ofPrivate Eye, and read out an advert: ‘“Strictlyfor fun: guy seeks doll, North West/Wales/would travel.” What do you think?’
‘Oh come on, Orla! He’s looking for a cross between Miss Whiplash and Barbie.’ I reconsidered. ‘On second thoughts, maybe you’re just what he’s looking for.’
‘No, honestly, Cass: tell me if you think he sounds interesting.’
‘He sounds like one of those red-faced sex-maniac types with long-suffering wives: is that interesting?’
‘Well, I like the sound of everything except the red face.’
