Ruby’s kitchen window overlooked the backyard. I couldn’t stop myself
from staring at the big oak tree at the back of the property. I tried to visualise
Rohit Marwick hanging from it, his head tilted at an angle, limbs limp, as a
rope cinched around his neck.
Had Shreya really made him do it, or had he just been plagued by guilt?
“I think I know who the ghost is,” I said. “I asked around town. The lady
over the street knew the Marwick family.”
“Oh, that’s good.” Ruby lifted the teabags out of our cups and carefully
added milk. I waited for her to ask for details. She stayed vexingly silent.
“Her name’s Shreya,” I said, more for my own satisfaction than Ruby’s.
She smiled and passed me my cup. “That’s a pretty name. Shreya. I like
it.”
I ran my thumb over the teacup’s edge. I didn’t fully understand her
attitude. If my house were haunted, I would want to know everything I
possibly could about it… but then, I wouldn’t have bought Marwick House in
the first place. Maybe Ruby really was more comfortable with this sort of
thing than I was.
“You said Lucky was a film director, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.”
She made a face. “Seems like an awfully important person to be spending
their afternoon installing cameras at my house. He must be very fond of you.”
I laughed. “Wrong on both counts. He’s out of a job right now. This sort
of stuff is good for him; a distraction might stop him from being so cranky all
the time.”
“I heard that,” Lucky yelled from the foyer.
“Seriously, though.” I watched my reflection in my tea. “Raul wascircling around your house for hours last night. I hope this will make things a
bit safer.”
Ruby was quiet. In the background, Lucky’s drill roared for a moment
then fell silent.
“I saw her in the mirror,” Ruby said.
I looked up. “What?”
“The ghost. Shreya.” Ruby took a sip of her tea. She didn’t expound, and I
was forced to ask.
“When? What did she look like?”
“Earlier today. I was brushing my teeth and looked up at my reflection.
She stood in the corner of the room, beside the shower curtain. She was
watching me.”
I wanted to shake her but kept myself firmly in my chair. “Why didn’t
you call me?”
“Oh, no, it wasn’t like that. I don’t think she was trying to scare me.”
Ruby looked nervous, apparently afraid I would disagree. “She disappeared
as soon as I looked at her. I think she was just… saying hello.”
It was a miracle she hadn’t screamed. I would have. “She had black hair,
didn’t she?”
“Yeah. ”
“And a grey dress.”
“Same shade as the bedroom curtains.” Ruby smiled at her tea. “I know
you’ll think I’m strange for saying this—and I can recognise how strange it
is, too—but it’s almost nice to have her here. I feel like she’s keeping an eye
out for me.”
I looked around the room. Ruby might not care, but I didn’t like being
watched. Night had fallen while we’d talked, and I glanced towards the
window. A hint of motion drew my attention to the space just beyond the
glass. I locked my eyes on it, but there wasn’t anything there.
“Well, I hope she’s nice, like you think,” I said. “Maybe she’ll wave to
the cameras.”
As if on cue, Lucky appeared in the doorway. “I’ve got that all installed.
Now I just need to set up the monitoring system. I’d appreciate some help, if
anyone feels up to it.” He pointed to me as I stood. “Not you, Jo, your hand’s
a mess.”
“My hand’s fine,” I grumbled as I followed Ruby out of the room.
Lucky explained how the monitoring systems worked while he installedthem. He’d run cables to all of the cameras that fed back to the same
computer. When the motion sensors tripped, the cameras would turn on and
their feed would appear on the computer screen. At the same time, the system
would beep to alert us to activity. Lucky had a separate device that looked
like a walkie-talkie. He said Ruby could take it with her to the bathroom and
keep it next to her bed at night so she wouldn’t miss the alarm.