Mrs Pettigrew Sees a Ghost by Katherine Hayton

Author:Katherine Hayton [Hayton, Katherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-01-30T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Heat from the sun caused a trickle of sweat to gather at Emily’s side and trickle down her back. She should move. There was shade under the trees to her right, but she couldn’t be bothered.

Crystal pulled a bottle of water out of her bag. Condensation beaded on the outside and left a damp patch when she pressed it against Emily’s arm. “Here you go. You look like you’re getting far too hot.”

Emily sat up, spinning off the cap and closing her eyes to better appreciate the trickle of cold water. After swallowing a few mouthfuls, she put the cap back on and held the bottle against the back of her neck. Bliss.

Earlier that morning, Crystal had shown up out of the blue, claiming she had no work on that day so was taking Emily out to lunch. They’d eaten at the Honeysuckle Café, with Emily ordering a plate of penne carbonara just to fly in the face of Mrs Pettigrew’s hatred of carbs.

Okay, so the real reason was the pasta looked delicious and was crammed full of bacon, chives, and mushrooms, but the expression on the ghost’s face made it all the sweeter.

Afterwards, they’d come along to the park, situated halfway along Pinetar’s main road. The sun was bright overhead, and the grass had already given up its allocation of morning dew.

In a few hours, as the late afternoon settled into night, the public space would fill with teenagers—not wanting to stay at home but unable to afford anywhere better. The only signs of them now were the odd cigarette butt, tobacco or otherwise, and a crumpled can of a ready-to-drink concoction, catching and refracting the sunlight.

“Can you see her now?” Crystal asked, hitching herself up onto her elbows and crossing her ankles. The voluminous skirt she wore had pulled up, exposing half a calf’s worth of unshaven leg.

“If I open my eyes. Do I have to?” Emily squinted, focusing on Mrs Pettigrew just in time to see her stare at the medium and draw a finger over her throat. “Yep. She’s there.”

“And how did you channel her to start with? Was it a sensation you got or a feeling like someone was watching you?”

A laugh burst out of Emily and she covered her mouth with her hand to stop another. “I didn’t have a feeling, she was right there. The first I knew of her was when she shoved herself right up into my face.”

“I’ve never shoved myself anywhere,” the ghost demurred. “I just leaned over to check if you were breathing. When you’re asleep, you look half dead.”

“It must be a real treat to have such easy access,” Crystal said. Her voice sounded wistful. “Often, I have to concentrate and use every trick in the book just to get a few tiny sensations or catch a word.”

“That’s because you’re a fraud, dear,” Mrs Pettigrew said before yawning and rolling onto her belly. “I’ve met people who’ve gone into the wrong occupations for their skill set before, but you take the cake.

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