They didn’t talk much because they were both pleasantly tired, so when they saw a figure slip across the drive heading towards Saffron Lane, they stopped dead and she sighed in annoyance.

‘Shh!’ He leant closer to whisper, ‘I’m going to see what that person is doing on my land.’

‘We’re both going.’

‘All right, but stay back if there’s any fighting. I’m going to try to catch whoever it is. Get your phone out. We’ll both stay back and call the police if there’s more than one intruder.’

They walked along the soft edge of the path, staying out of sight.

He squeezed her arm suddenly and pointed, but she’d seen it too. A faint light in Number 1. It bobbed about a bit on the ground floor, then vanished into the rear.

‘I wonder if someone’s after the stuff in that room, and if so, how they found out about it. This is what you get from such slow responses to a situation. People hear about the find and figure they can rob you.’

But before they got to the front door of the house, there was a strangled yell from inside at the rear and a man’s voice yelled, ‘Get away from me!’

Nell heard a woman’s voice but couldn’t make out the words.

The man shouted, ‘You can stop that. I don’t believe in ghosts. This is a trick. I’ve seen it done on the stage with mirrors.’ Then he yelped suddenly and shouted, ‘Keep away!’

They were close enough now to see a light shining from the rear of the house.

‘What’s that?’ she whispered. ‘It’s too bright for a torch.’

‘I don’t know. Let’s see what happens.’ Angus put an arm round her and they stood just outside Number 1, able to see what was going on through the large shop window.

‘It’s got to be a trick,’ the intruder repeated, as if trying to psych himself up but he backed out of the rear into the front room.

Nell saw a transparent figure follow him, stopping for a few moments in the doorway. It was a woman dressed in 1930s clothing. Light seemed to be flickering around her, sending shadows dancing along the walls.

‘What’s going on?’ Angus asked.

‘Can’t you see the figure?’

‘No.’

She watched as the woman began to drift slowly across the floor, hovering at least a foot above it and saying, ‘Go away, Brendon Simcox, and never return.’

‘How the hell did you know my name?’ The man edged away, looking shaken.

A piece of wood lifted from the floor and whizzed through the air towards him. Another followed it almost immediately, taking him by surprise and hitting him on the side of the head.

‘How the hell did that happen?’ Angus asked.

‘Ghostly magic.’ Nell couldn’t help smiling at how simple a thing it was to terrify the intruder.

With a strangled yelp, the man turned tail and pushed out of the front door, upon which Angus grabbed him.