I swallowed a lump in my throat and carefully descended the steps into
the garden. I could visualise the exact place the shape had hung from. I
approached the tree, my palms sweaty and my skin prickling, and stared up at
the limb.
Rope burns dug into the dark wood. They’d scored a line through the
bark, leaving it raw and ragged. I had to stand on my toes to touch them.
They felt cool—even cooler than the frosty winter air.
“Jo?” Ruby had stopped at the house’s back door. She leaned on the
frame, concern pulling her eyebrows together. “I can hear Lucky talking to
someone. I think the spirit medium has arrived.”
“All right.” I let my fingers linger on the damaged wood for a second then
stepped away. I couldn’t suppress a shudder as I turned back to Marwick
House.
We MADE a good choice with Nick, I decided as I shook his hand.
He was perfectly on time, dressed professionally, and carried a briefcase,
which Lucky approved of, but he was short and tripped over his words. The
man was about as unthreatening as a human could get, which helped Ruby.
He seemed excited about the job, too, which was a good sign. He asked to
discuss our experiences before beginning work.
We gathered around the side of the dinner table that wasn’t cluttered with
computer equipment. Nick took out a notepad and pen.
“Please don’t think I don’t believe you,” he said, pushing his thick-
rimmed glasses farther up his nose. “But oftentimes, seemingly supernatural
events have perfectly natural causes. I try to rule them out first off so that I
don’t waste your time.”
Lucky raised a hand. “I never believed in this kind of stuff, but then I saw
it with my own eyes. I’d be thrilled if you found an alternate explanation, but
I really don’t think you will.”
“No, well… we’ll try, at least.” Nick shuffled his papers. “Start at the
beginning, and tell me everything you can remember.”
We took turns recounting our experiences in the house while Nick jotted
down notes. He became very interested when we got to seeing the woman on
the cameras. “Were you able to record it?”
“Unfortunately not.” Lucky nodded towards the screens. “I didn’t have
the recorder enabled for the first encounter, then, once it was working, the
constant motion triggers burnt through its memory within an hour.”
“That’s a shame. Keep going, please.”I mentioned the feeling of foreboding I felt when stepping onto the
property, the way my cats would avoid it, and how even visitors commented
on its atmosphere. Nick seemed very interested when he heard that the
deliveryman had mentioned a gas leak.
“That’s a possible cause. A leak can cause hallucinations and feelings of
paranoia, without being noticeable to residents. I brought a reader, so I’ll
check through the rooms to see if I find anything. ”
“And, um…” Ruby sat as far away from Nick as she could be but leaned
forward to ask her question. “What if it is a ghost? What do we do then?”
“That’s up to you, miss. I can try to make contact with the spirit to
discern its motives and intentions. Oftentimes, it’s possible to clear ghosts, or
convince them to move on, with a few simple procedures. Or, if we decide
the spirit isn’t malevolent, you may be happy to let it continue living in your
home.”
I thought of the murderous glare Helen had given me through the mirror.
Ruby believed the ghost was friendly, and I dearly wanted her to be right, but
I struggled to believe it.
“First, we’ll have a look around, see what I can sense, and rule out a
couple of natural causes.” Nick unlocked his briefcase. He’d brought a
handful of small contraptions, and took two out. “This is a gas reader”—he
held up the first one—“and this records infrasound pulses. Like gas,
sometimes infrasound can play tricks on our minds. Shall we have a poke
around?”