“They’re taking it out on Duff because he isn’t a local boy,” Mrs. Reddy whispered.

“We’ve had some behavior problems with him recently. This isn’t the first incident.” I hesitated. Should I tell them what had happened with Stephanie?

“You’re probably just paying more attention to him lately, that’s all,” said Mrs. Reddy. “Probably back East he was on his own a lot and you didn’t know what he was up to.”

“I’m sure my husband and I have tried to be responsible parents,” I said angrily.

“Oh, I didn’t mean you let the boy run loose. I just meant that with all his chums back there and lots of things to do, you probably didn’t see as much of him.”

“Maybe we ought to introduce Duff to some nice boys and girls around here, Ma,” Rose Weber put in.

“I’m sure he could make plenty of friends at the high school, if he wanted to,” I said. “Lately he doesn’t even seem to want to go to school.”

“Cainesville High is probably not as much of a challenge for him as his old school,” said Mrs. Reddy.

“Let me ask you something,” I said. “Do you think living in the Caine farmhouse could have anything to do with Duff’s behavior?”

The two of them stared at me with puzzled expressions.

“Whatever gave you that idea?” Mrs. Reddy asked.

“Stephanie mentioned it. She thought there might be something about the house that was causing Duff to act differently.”

“Our Stephanie said that? She must be losing her mind,” said Mrs. Reddy.

“Steph probably meant the total environment, the isolation, Ma. I can see that. Duff feels strange here. It’ll take him a while to get used to it,” Rose said.

“She didn’t mean the environment, she meant the house itself—or rather something in the house. She was quite definite about it, although she wasn’t very explicit.”

“I can see why,” said Mrs. Reddy. “It would be pretty hard to be explicit about something like that.”

“Then you don’t believe it? You don’t think the house is—?”

“Haunted?”

“Stephanie didn’t use that word. In fact she didn’t seem to be talking about ordinary ghosts.”

Rose Weber laughed. “I should think all ghosts would be extraordinary.”

“Are they to you? I would have thought they might be commonplace to a spiritualist.”

“Is that what Stephanie said about us, that we’re spiritualists?” asked Mrs. Reddy.

“Well, I suppose we are in a way, Ma,” said Rose. “We believe in an afterlife, don’t we? And we believe that sometimes it’s possible to communicate with the departed.”

“That’s right,” said Mrs. Reddy. “See, we have a little study group that meets now and then to discuss those things. That’s what Stephanie was thinking of. But we don’t have séances and things like that.”