She stopped because he was already gone, running down the hall toward a door at its end. He rattled the doorknob, then rapped loudly.

“Mr. Drake! Let me in!”

The girl looked puzzled, then frightened. Her dark eyes met mine for an instant, and then her high heels clicked on the polished floor as she too ran down the hall. I didn’t wait to be invited. I followed.

The doctor’s knuckles rapped again on the door. “Miss Rhys!” he called. “It’s Dr. Garrett. Unlock the door!” There was no answer.

Garrett tried the doorknob once more, then threw his shoulder against the door. It didn’t move.

“Elinor, do you have a key? We must get in there—quickly!”

She said, “No. Father has the only keys. Why don’t they answer? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know,” Garrett said. “Your father phoned me just now. He was in pain. He said, ‘Hurry! I need you. I’m—’” The doctor hesitated, watching the girl; then he finished “‘—dying.’ After that—no answer.” Garrett turned to me. “You’ve got more weight than I have. Think you can break this door in?”

I looked at it. The door seemed solid enough, but it was an old house and the wood around the screws that held the lock might give. “I don’t know,” I said. “I’ll try.”

Elinor Drake moved to one side and the doctor stepped behind me. I threw myself against the door twice and the second time felt it move a bit. Then I hit it hard. Just as the door gave way I heard the tearing sound of paper.

But before I could discover what caused that, my attention was held by more urgent matters. I found myself staring at a green-shaded desk lamp, the room’s only source of light, at the overturned phone on the desk top, and at the sprawled shape that lay on the floor in front of the desk. A coppery highlight glinted on a letter-opener near the man’s feet. Its blade was discolored with a dark wet stain.

Dr. Garrett said, “Elinor, you stay out,” as he moved past me to the body and bent over it. One of his hands lifted Andrew Drake’s right eyelid, the other felt his wrist.

I have never heard a ghost speak but the sound that came then was exactly what I would expect—a low, quivering moan shot with pain. I jerked around and saw a glimmer of white move in the darkness on my left.