‘Are you nervous? I’m not criticizing, just asking.’

‘I’m wittering, aren’t I? We’re not going to hear any ghosts if I keep spewing out nonsense.’

‘I wasn’t going to put it that way, exactly.’ She could hear the smile in his voice.

‘Right. Quiet, then. Let’s listen for Anna or the fisherman – except, should we ask questions, like Audrey told us to do at her briefing?’

‘Sure. You go.’

‘All right.’ Hannah cleared her throat. ‘Anna Purser, are you here with us? Did you lose your life inside the Clifftop Hotel, or outside, on the rocks? Why are you still here?’

The silence seemed to thicken as they listened for a response. Hannah wondered how long to wait before saying something else. Audrey had told them it would come naturally once they were in their locations, but it didn’t feel natural at all.

‘Have you started the recorder Audrey gave us?’ she asked in a loud whisper.

‘As soon as we sat down,’ Noah replied.

‘Yay!’ Hannah said lamely. And then, after a moment, ‘Do you want to have a go?’

‘OK. Mr Medlin, do you still mourn Anna’s loss, all these years later? Did you try to see justice done for her murder? Do you regret falling for a married woman?’

Hannah sucked in a breath at that last question. It seemed to echo around her as the silence persisted.

She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. The room was warm, comfortable and entirely unthreatening. Audrey had talked about cold spots, the sensation of being watched or someone standing behind you, lights flickering, strange smells – lavender, unexpected perfume or burning – which were all apparently signs of a presence. Hannah felt nothing. The only charge was inside her and, specifically, where her knee touched Noah’s.

‘Did you think,’ Noah said, his voice making her jump, ‘at the end of last week, when you arrived at the station and got into my car, that we’d end up doing this?’

‘Are you asking me if I have premonitions? The answer is definitely no. I thought I’d work hard on preparing a report for the hotel and maybe, in my spare time, visit the Cornish Cream Tea Bus. I did not anticipate storms or ghost hunts or stray dogs or any of this, but I am glad it’s happened. How about you?’

‘You don’t mind being stuck here, not making it back to Edinburgh when you’d planned to?’

Hannah shrugged. ‘I was worried at first, but now I’m embracing it. Gerald is far more relaxed about it than I thought he’d be, and that was my main concern. My friends and family – and Christmas – will all be waiting for me when I get back.’

‘Your mum’s show-home Christmas?’

‘That’s the one. It’s lovely, though, despite – I mean, it’s not chaotic at all, and sometimes that’s what you want, isn’t it? Except if my dad turns up, and then it will be the wrong kind of chaos.’