Hannah stepped back and, with her heart in her throat, peered around the opening door. Her pulse was racing, as if already trying to escape whatever was beyond it: a shadowy figure; a woman in white, ethereal and wispy; a hellhound like the one she’d seen in a Netflix drama not that long ago. What she found was an empty corridor.

‘Fuck,’ Noah said under his breath.

‘You can’t see anything either?’

‘Nope, just a corridor.’

‘Just a corridor,’ Hannah repeated, but it felt as though something had changed. The light and the sudden cold meant that, despite its neutral carpet and unadorned walls stretching towards the main body of the hotel, it didn’t quite seem the straightforward, unassuming space it had when they’d walked down it.

‘You OK?’ Noah squeezed her shoulder, concern in his blue eyes. ‘Still cold?’

‘I’m fine. I’m sure the light’s just one of the others: Charlie or Daniel coming to check on things, or one of the dogs has escaped from the office and triggered the sensor.’

‘Charlie and Daniel know we’re here and would have called out, and we would have heard Spirit or Marmite haring down the corridor. Neither of those dogs have it in them to be stealthy.’

‘No.’ Hannah chewed her lip. ‘So, something else set off the sensor.’

‘And dropped the temperature, but only around you. Let’s sit back down and start concentrating.’

He gestured towards the bench and only let the door close once she was seated. Then he pushed it firmly, so the latch hit home. He came to join her and, apart from the thin sliver of light still showing under the door, reminding her that they had already experienced something they couldn’t quite account for, they were in darkness once more.

Chapter Eight

‘Is there something keeping you here?’

Pause, to listen to the silence.

‘Do you need to tell us something?’

Pause, followed by another achingly long period of nothing at all.

‘We want to communicate with you,’ Noah said. ‘Are you in here with us?’

‘One knock for yes, two for no,’ Hannah added.

‘What?’ Noah whispered.

‘That’s what they do on Most Haunted. You know: are you here, knock once on the floor for yes and twice for no.’

‘If the ghost isn’t there, then how are they supposed to knock twice on the floor?’

‘Don’t be such a smart-ass,’ Hannah said, her cheeks burning.

Noah’s teeth were white in the dark as he grinned at her. ‘At least the light’s gone off now.’ It had flicked off five minutes after it had come on, and hadn’t bothered them again since. Hannah was disappointed. She wanted something else to happen. She wanted to return to the snug with Noah as triumphant ghost hunters, with tales of bravery and intense paranormal activity to recount.

She wondered how Audrey and Reenie – who, despite all her cynicism, had turned out to be an eager would-be investigator – were getting on in reception, where the footsteps had been heard, or how Charlie and Daniel were faring down by the indoor swimming pool. She thought it would be creepy, being in such a big room with the still, silent pool and the storm raging outside. But Audrey had said that was where the Clifftop Hotel’s grand dining room had been, so it might well be a good place to capture activity.