She’d been reading for a half hour or so before she came across a description of Elder House – the book made it sound as though the house had been important once, that the people who lived in it had been important too, rich enough to have had servants.

The house acquired an odd reputation early in its history. There are accounts from the 1600s which refer to a mysterious spirit who would knock on the doors once the household was in bed, waking family and servants alike from their rest.

‘Strange knockings and noises did plague the household, and several times did the mistress of the house discover all the plate in disarray.’

She had the idea that plate meant metal stuff, cups and plates and candlesticks.

She wondered if the patterns in the beams above her had been there when that happened, if they’d been there right from the very beginning, hidden away when the spirit – whatever it was – was roaming the house.

She put the book to one side and grabbed her sketch pad. She had thought she might write about their day trip, stick in the postcards her dad insisted she buy, but as she turned the pages, looking at the designs she’d copied from the beam, that idea seemed a bit childish. There was still enough light to draw by, even if the shadows were thickening in the corner of the room. She thought about the noises, the disturbances in the house, and shivered. She didn’t much like the shadows up here, but there was no way she was going to give in and move into one of the kids’ rooms. She didn’t much like the drying ground either – the idea popped into her head, and she found she didn’t want to think about that. She switched on her lamp, and ran her fingers over the most elaborate of the designs, flowers interlocking and spiralling across the page, so beautiful, so safe. It was almost as if her hand needed to copy the marks, as if the action might soothe her, save her.

She picked up her pencil and began to draw some more.

As she worked she could hear Nell walking across the landing towards the big bedroom – no, the bathroom; and she smiled as she worked, thinking about the smashed-up phone, because after everything Nell had said and done, didn’t that really serve her right.

*

Nell slipped inside the bathroom and opened the cabinet; she should definitely move the testing kit just in case Maude stumbled across it, because the last thing they needed was another confrontation, not before they were sure. Everything was stacked neatly inside, just as she’d left it; cotton buds and painkillers and dental floss and deodorant, but she was too late. The tall white box was gone.

Chapter 11

11