Page 34 of A Good Heart is Hard to Find
‘How very Daphne du Maurier. What’s the matter with birds?’
‘Cruel eyes.’
‘They haven’t got enough brain to be cruel. And I don’t see why you should panicabout being shut up with a bird, but right as rain with a bat.’
‘Yes, but bats are lovely. They have sweet little faces with crinkly noses. I had a rubber vampire one called Clive, but something nasty happened to it at a stag night.’
The bed was wide and short, like it was designed for the Seven Dwarfs. I cautiously swung my legs to the floor and got up a little unsteadily, but I think thatwas the brandy. ‘Perhaps you wouldn’t mind if I had a quick look round the house before I go?’ I asked hopefully. ‘Only it seems a pity to waste the opportunity, because I don’t suppose you’d let me come back another night. And I’d be very quiet and just let myself out afterwards. I wouldn’t disturb you.’
‘Actually, I intend finishing the inventory of what’s missing,’ Dante said. ‘While lookingout for the rest of these so-called ghosts. Do you want to spend the night with me?’
‘Excuse me?’
‘That didn’t come out quite how I meant it to,’ he said sardonically.
‘I’m glad to hear it. In that case, I’d certainly like to stay until morning, though I’m pretty sure that if there are any ghosts they won’t appear tonight.’
They’d probably be too scared to.
He shrugged. ‘They won’t appearany night, since I’m neither gullible nor susceptible to suggestion. But no one cansay I didn’t give them the opportunity to show themselves before I open the house up again.’
‘You’re going to live here?’ I asked, surprised.
‘In the lonely west wing, mostly. My sister’s going to run part of the main house as a sort of guesthouse, doing weekend ghost-hunting breaks. I said I’d suss it out. Seewhat sort of special effects we could use.’
‘Special effects?’
‘Well, you can’t book ghosts to appear, can you? Although,’ he added, looking at me in a measuring way that I didn’t quite like, ‘I could book you as Something From the Crypt. That should scare the punters.’
‘No thank you, I only do the Crypt-ograms when I’m strapped for cash.’ I shivered suddenly. ‘I think I’ll put my cloak backon. It’s cold even with that fire.’
‘Sorry – I told Craig to leave the electricity and gas on, but they’ve all been cut off. They’re supposed to be reconnecting everything tomorrow, although maybe the phone will be a bit longer. The police are coming back then too, for the definitive list of what’s missing.’
He looked down at the sheets of paper. ‘I was about to do the ground floor and cellarsuntil you disturbed me.’
‘I think you were pretty disturbed already,’ I told him icily. I mean, who was the one with the bumped head and the crushed wrist?
‘Then perhaps you’d better help me finish it, as compensation for breaking and entering?’ he suggested.
‘I only entered,’ I said with dignity. ‘You left the door open. But I’ll help if it gets me a look at the rest of the place before itgoes all hotely.’
‘I’m keeping the ambience, it’s just the lights I’d like back – and the heating. We could have candle-type sconces on the walls, for that spooky look,’ he said distastefully.
‘If you’re so revolted by anything to do with thesupernatural, I can’t imagine why you’re letting your sister run ghost-hunting weekends!’ I said tartly.
He shrugged and looked at me like it was noneof my business. (Which it wasn’t – just call me nosy.)
‘She needs something to occupy her, and it won’t do any harm – I’ll see to that,’ he said firmly. Subject closed.
So I spent the night with Dante Chase, although I expected to see nothing more scary than him, because any self-respecting wraith would have given up and gone away by now.
(And from Dante’s fancy dress I suspected that theywould soon have some competition, since I thought he intended to appear on guesthouse weekends as First Ghost: the Most Haunted Manor in Britain, featuring Britain’s Most Haunted Man.)
I was dying to ask about his relationship with Emma, and what she died of, because he was practically guilt-edged. I didn’t even need to look into his mind to feel it, and it was so like the Keturah/Sylvanus situationthat it would be really useful stuff to know … but better not.
Checking the inventory took ages, Miss Kedge having been devoted to expensive knick-knacks, but I do not think she was devoted to brandy, so the bottle (or was that perhapsbottles?) Dante produced must have been lying forgotten in the cellars.
He carried it round with us, though a cuddly St Bernard he was not, and I got so coldafter a while that I had another little nip … though I was positive it was Dante who finished it.
