Haunted by Herbert James

Author:Herbert, James [Herbert, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780330468961
Publisher: Macmillan Publishers UK
Published: 2011-05-10T22:00:00+00:00

17

Cigarette smoke poisoned the air, curling in the shafts of light from the bedroom window. Ash read through his notes, his face grimly angry, then laid the felt-tip down. He stubbed out the last half-inch of the cigarette into a brass ashtray. He reached for the vodka bottle, whose level was now well below the halfway mark, and was stopped from drinking by a sharp knock on the door.

Simon Mariell looked in, not bothering to wait for a reply. ‘Have you got a few minutes?’ he asked, wearing the supercilious grin that was beginning to irritate Ash more each time he saw it. ‘Robert would like to see you in the drawing room.’

Ash bit on his anger. ‘Yeah, and I think I’d like to see him.’

He pulled on his jacket, which had been draped over the back of his chair, and went to the door. Simon was already some way down the corridor and Ash followed, disliking the sunless gloom in that part of the house, the smell of dust and old wood particularly unpleasant there.

He descended the wide staircase, tired from the brandy so early in the day, the nips of vodka afterwards in his room. He noticed for the first time how worn the stair carpet was at its edges.

In the drawing room, Robert, Christina and Nanny Tess were waiting for him. Simon closed the door behind Ash, then took a seat next to Christina on a long sofa.

Robert, who had been standing by one of the spacious room’s deep windows, came forward, his smile cool. ‘I wondered if we might have some sort of progress report, Mr Ash,’ he said.

‘Just what stupid kind of game d’you think you’re playing?’ replied the investigator.

Christina jerked in her seat, startled by his response.

But Robert’s tone was mild, and his smile remained. ‘I’m not sure I understand . . .’

‘The incident last night. And today, Christina leading me to the family mausoleum where that bloody dog was waiting for me again.’

‘But I didn’t—’ Christina protested.

He rounded on her. ‘You just happened to run off in that direction, is that it? And the voices I heard in the woods – they were only in my imagination?’ He faced Robert once more. ‘A little while ago, your aunt told me a cock and bull story about another sister of yours, Christina’s twin, who drowned here at Edbrook years ago.’ He shot an angry look at Nanny Tess, who was perched on the edge of an armchair, her frail body rigid. ‘She almost had me convinced. It fits in so snugly with the haunting you’ve asked me to investigate, doesn’t it?’

‘I’m afraid your recent experiences have made you somewhat overwrought,’ Robert said smoothly. ‘Why on earth should we go to such lengths?’

‘That’s what I’d like you to tell me. Is it some nasty little plot you and certain others have hatched to discredit me? Retribution for all the fake hauntings and phoney spiritualists I’ve exposed over the years? Don’t tell me you’ve all got together in a pathetic attempt to undermine those past investigations.

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