‘Just get me off here,’ she begged. ‘I’ll do anything you want me to, anything at all, but please get me down.’ 140

He laughed, momentarily easing his grip, and for a moment she thought he was going to leave her there, but then he put his hands under her arms and began to pull her round, and for the first time in as long as she could remember, Rachel was glad of his strength. She drew her knees up and tried to get a purchase on the parapet with her feet, but the ledge was slippery and she felt herself falling back. In that split-second, before he pulled her to safety, she saw a fear in Gerry’s eyes which was every bit as great as her own, and something shifted between them – something that had nothing to do with superstition or St Michael or an ancient piece of stone, but with the sudden realisation that she had the power to hurt him, too.

141

10

‘Your room or mine?’ Marta asked, as they walked down the Long Passage to go to bed. ‘I know I’ve got the Christmas decorations, but there’s something very tempting about the four-poster bed.’

‘Whichever is warmer,’ Josephine said, rubbing her hands together. ‘It was freezing in that drawing room. The only time I’ve been warm since we got here was sitting in front of your fire.’

‘All right. You come to me.’

‘It’s probably better that way round. I’m right next to the Lancasters and the Hartleys, and all you’ve got on your corridor are the missing Mrs Carmichael and two bathrooms.’

‘Just how much noise are you planning to make?’

‘I meant there’ll be less chance of being seen.’ She blushed, and returned Marta’s smile. ‘I hope Mrs Carmichael’s all right.’

‘Yes, so do I. With a bit of luck, she’ll be here tomorrow if the weather calms down.’

‘Have you brought an alarm clock? I need to be back in my room by eight to be woken up.’

‘I don’t even own an alarm clock.’

‘Then I’ll bring one. I’ll go and fetch what I need now, and come back when I’m sure everyone else has stopped moving about.’

‘All right. Don’t be long.’ 142

Back in her room, Josephine found her nightclothes already laid out on the bed. Feeling guilty for wasting Mrs Pendean’s time, she scooped them up into a bag ready to take with her, then waited by the fire until she was sure that the staff had finished their reign of terror for the night. The snow had brought with it a vast, muffled silence, amplifying the noises in the castle’s passageways. She heard people saying goodnight in subdued tones, then a voice that sounded like Hilaria’s calling something down the corridor about the carol service. Footsteps passed repeatedly outside in a flurry of trips to the bathroom, followed by a sequence of closing doors and a man’s loud cough; eventually, the house fell quiet. Josephine left her room, resisting the schoolgirl urge to put a bolster in the bed, and hurried down the dimly lit corridor.