‘It is, it is at that. I’m Bert, by the way – it’ll be nice to have some company this morning. Linda, bless her heart, likes to tell me all the cleaning-lady gossip but half the time I don’t know what she’s harpin’ on about.’

They both introduced themselves, and Heather felt a little flurry of unreality, standing in a stranger’s home, her mother’s house – and her ghosts – far behind her. The feeling was compounded when she turned to sit on the nearest sofa and spotted an enormous black dog in the corner of the room. He was huge and shaggy, with a long wolfish face like an Alsatian, and he was sprawled on top of a dog bed that was much too small for him. Heather looked back to Bert to ask about the dog – what sort was he, what was his name, would he be likely to eat them both – but the old man had pottered down the corridor. Instead, she looked at Nikki, who was peering at the prints on the walls.

‘Isn’t that a photo of the house?’

Heather looked where Nikki was nodding, and saw it: a very similar image to the ones whytewitch had had in her album, only this looked much older. A long row of men and women in a variety of servants’ uniforms stood outside, lined up on the gravel path, and standing slightly awkwardly next to them, a handful of people dressed in old-fashioned clothes. Heather guessed it was from the Twenties or Thirties, judging by the fashions and the rear end of an extremely antiquated car peeking into shot.

‘Before it was invaded by the great unwashed,’ murmured Heather. A moment later, Bert reappeared at the door carrying a tea tray loaded with a teapot and cups. Nikki jumped up and helped him to wrestle it onto the low coffee table. When they were settled, with cups of tea warming up chilled hands, Bert leaned forward, his voice suddenly much more direct.

‘What is it you wanted to know?’

Heather sipped her tea and shrugged. ‘There was a commune here in the Seventies, wasn’t there? Did you know the place then?’

The old man nodded slowly, not looking at them, as if confirming something to himself.

‘Oh aye, yes, I knew it. It was lively, very lively. I remember when it was at its peak, when things were really jumping.’ He smiled again, baring his long teeth.

‘Do you know who was living in the big house at the time?’ Nikki smiled to lessen the baldness of her question. ‘It’s just interesting to think of the history of the place, you know, while we’re staying there.’