Orlebar said, pointedly, to Jason and Emily, ‘The peace of the Lord be always with you.’

Skeet mouthed the response to the couple.

In staggered unison they replied, uncertainly, ‘And also with you.’

The prayers continued for some minutes, culminating in the Lord’s Prayer.

Skeet and Orlebar then took communion. When they had finished their dissolving of the wafers in their mouths, and their sips of wine, Skeet nodded at Orlebar, who tried to continue with the service.

The stomping began again, even louder, drowning his voice out.

Skeet gestured for the Daneses to step forward.

Jason and Emily took communion in turn, then stepped back a couple of paces. As they did so, Jason noticed both clergymen were staring past them, transfixed, with very strange expressions. They made Jason deeply uncomfortable.

He and Emily turned.

Caroline Harcourt was standing right behind them.

61

Wednesday 19 December

The woman looked so solid, and so close, Jason could have reached out and touched her. She was as he had seen her before, with short, dark hair, power-dressed in a black suit, white blouse and court shoes, and staring him, levelly, in the eye. Neither friendly nor hostile.

Jason felt the hairs on his neck rising and the same icy wind as before seemed to be radiating from her.

He glanced at Emily. She looked rooted to the spot, her face white with terror.

For an instant it felt like time had stopped. As if the pause button had been hit on a movie. Jason desperately wanted to say something, but he could not open his mouth. Could not move a limb. He was struggling to breathe. It seemed as if all the oxygen had been sucked from the room.

‘You may go now,’ Orlebar said in his rich, confident voice.

Caroline Harcourt smiled, wryly, in a kind of acknowledgement.

An instant later, as if he was looking at a conjuring trick, Jason saw the woman begin to dissolve in front of his eyes. All the colour bleached out into monochrome. It continued fading, steadily, until there was only a silhouette, formed by a human-shaped cluster of tiny lights.

Then, like grains of sand in an hourglass pouring away, the lights steadily slipped away into the floor.

Within seconds they were gone.

The stomping above them had stopped, Jason realized.

The house felt, suddenly, quite different. Calm. As if some energy that had been there was now dispersed.

He looked at Emily and could see she felt the same thing. The tiniest twitch of a nervous smile on her lips.

Liberated.

They all sat down. Skeet and Orlebar looked shattered.

‘You saw her?’ Skeet asked.

Both of them nodded.

‘She needed to cross over,’ Orlebar said. ‘I think she was trying to attract attention – that’s what all the problems you’ve been experiencing were about. I don’t think you’ll have any more disturbances now.’

‘That was…’ Emily began, then shook her head. ‘I – did I – what did I see?’

‘You will be fine now,’ Skeet said.