“Shit,” Lucy said. “No wonder Finn’s so angry. What a stupid thing for Persis to say.”

Johnny nodded. “I’d better give Finn a bit of time to cool down,” he said. “I think I’ll go and take a swim.”

“And I’ll go and take a look for that book,” Lucy said, “but I won’t give it to Finn yet.”

“Best not,” Johnny agreed. He raised a hand. “It was great to meet you, Lucy. I’ll see you around.”

He loped off toward the house and Lucy took the path in the opposite direction from the way that Persis had gone, down past Clarabelle’s paddock to the barn. All other sounds were lost in the noise of rushing water that tumbled down the stream into the duck pond and Lucy relaxed a little. She’d found Persis friendly enough in the café, so her sly attempts to cause trouble had come as a surprise. Lucy wondered whether Persis had raised the issue of hauntings to scare her away—perhaps she had transferred her affections from Charlie to Finn, and saw Lucy as a threat—but then it was odd that she had been so thoughtless to hurt Finn with references to the place his brother had died. And what on earth had the loaded comments about Johnny “being in touch with his paranormal side” meant? After a moment Lucy shrugged the thoughts away. It was too beautiful a day to feel haunted even if Persis’s comments about the barn had struck a nerve.

Her shopping bags were waiting for her outside the door. Persis had put them in the shade and wrapped the flowers in a damp kitchen roll, which made Lucy feel slightly kinder toward her, but not much. She let herself into the barn and carried the bags inside. The first thing she saw was another bouquet sitting neatly on the worktop. Unlike the freesias and sweet peas, this one was very far from fresh. Composed of rotting flowers and dead grasses, it looked as though it had been taken from the compost heap at a cemetery.

Lucy recoiled at the smell of dying vegetation. It was gross, and someone had put it there deliberately; someone who had a key to the building or knew where a spare was kept. She felt shocked and repulsed, as though she was being stalked. Evidently someone didn’t want her there and was making the point in a horrible way. The memory of Persis saying that Finn should have left Knightstone after Charlie had died rushed back to her, along with Gabriel’s hostility to Verity’s archaeological project. Perhaps there were others who felt the same way in the village, people who didn’t like to see the old buildings and grounds disturbed?

With an exclamation of disgust, Lucy took the dead stalks outside and thrust them into the bin, slamming the lid down on them.

“Lucy?”

She spun round at the sound of Finn’s voice. She hadn’t seen him coming down the hill and now felt rather foolish for her violence to the compost bin.