“He and Johnny are having lunch with friends at Burford,” Lucy said, “and yes, it was nice of him to drop me off on the way.”

“By friends you mean Lizzie Kingdom and Arthur Robsart, I expect.” Cleo’s celebrity radar was well attuned. “They live in Burford and I read somewhere that Lizzie and Finn had worked together on a couple of charity garden projects. I think Finn might even be godfather to her baby son.”

“I really wouldn’t know,” Lucy said. “Finn’s not the type to talk about his celebrity mates,” she added pointedly. “All I know is that Johnny’s helping him with the excavation at the cottage. He’s an archaeology student and he’s very sweet.”

Cleo looked excited. “Maybe Lizzie will come over too,” she said. “Let me know if she does and I’ll drop by to visit you.”

“About that...” Lucy said. She paused whilst the waiter delivered her pancakes and another coffee for Cleo. “There’s a chance I might go back to London,” she said.

“What? Already?” Cleo put down her coffee cup with a jolt. “But you’ve only been here for ten days! We talked about this and I thought you agreed to give it a bit of time. You were doing absolutely fine when we spoke a couple of days ago,” she added. “In fact you said you were enjoying lying in the sun and reading!” She narrowed her eyes on her sister. “What is this really about, because I know there’s something going on.”

“You have special powers,” Lucy said, smiling. She fiddled with her spoon, avoiding Cleo’s eyes. Now that she’d reached the moment of confiding in her sister she felt a bit nervous. Would Cleo think she was barking mad, like Geoffrey, seeing things that weren’t there? It all felt so outlandish and strange that she wasn’t quite sure how to explain.

“I have been enjoying myself,” she agreed, “but there’s something about the barn, an atmosphere that’s very odd. I’ve had some weird experiences.”

Cleo’s eyebrows shot up. “What do you mean? Is it too quiet? Because I know that can freak people out when they’re used to living in a city.”

“It’s not just that,” Lucy said. “There’s something there, something seriously disturbing.” She took a breath. “I feel really stupid talking about this, but you remember I told you I’d had a strange dream on the first night I was there, about a Tudor woman called Catherine... Well, I’ve dreamed about her several times, not recurring dreams, but she always features in them. And they are so intense, it’s as though I’m in her head, in her emotions even! I find it really disturbing.” She waved a hand to stop Cleo when she would have interrupted. She wanted to get it all out first.

“That’s not the only thing, either,” she said. “Yesterday afternoon, it felt as though there was someone else there in the barn with me, some sort of presence.” She met Cleo’s eyes. “It scared me, to be honest. It felt so real and dangerous.” She rubbed her forehead. “So I went out for a walk, and whilst I was down the valley I had a sort of hallucination that I could see the woods on fire. It only lasted a few minutes, but again it was so real that it was terrifying. I feel haunted.” She swallowed hard and finished unhappily: “And the worst thing is that I’m not sure whether there really is some sort of supernatural presence in the barn, or whether I’m losing my mind.”