A few minutes later she hung up. When she turned to face Luke she was smiling. ‘Janet saw them all in the shop this morning. She says they’re fine. The phone must be out of order or I’ve rung each time when Lyn has been out. She saw them on their way home too.’
‘Good.’ Luke stooped to swing their cases up and he began to walk towards the doors. ‘Then perhaps you can stop worrying while we find the car and sort ourselves out.’ He was heading towards the bus which would take them out to the distant car park. Outside the huge ever-circling door he stopped and waited for her. ‘Joss. You’re going to be sensible from now on; no overdoing it. No arguing with Lyn. No worrying about ghosts and noises and silliness where there is no need for it. Remember, you’ve got to see that doctor again.’
Joss stared at him. ‘I haven’t been making any of it up, Luke. Why do you think we’ve come stampeding back like this! For goodness sake. Paul believed me. He knew. He had seen my mother go through it – ’
‘Your mother was being persecuted by a real woman, Joss. Not a ghost. A real flesh and blood woman.’ He swung the cases onto the bus and they found some seats. ‘Her Katherine wasn’t a ghost.’
‘Wasn’t she?’ Joss seemed to be looking right through him. ‘We’ll see.’
Pulling the car up in the courtyard next to Lyn’s Mini Janet peered through the windscreen at the house.
For a moment she didn’t move, then, almost reluctantly she opened the door and climbed out.
The back door of the house was unlocked. After a couple of knocks she pushed it open and walked through the lobby into the kitchen. It was empty. The buggy stood near the window, and the neatly folded blankets were hanging on the rail in front of the range. She touched them; they were completely dry and warm. There was no sign of anything cooking. In the corner the rocking horse stood abandoned, its rein hanging to the floor. She frowned. For a moment she had thought it was rocking gently by itself as though pushed by an unseen hand. She stared at it. It was her imagination of course. It had to be. Walking to the door she peered through.
‘Lyn? Where are you?’
Her voice echoed in the silence.
‘Lyn? It’s Janet. Are you there?’
She took a few steps into the great hall and looked around. The place was in shadow, the remains of a fire smouldering in the hearth. Although the room was quite warm she found she was shivering as she walked through towards the study. It was empty, so she went back and peered up the staircase. ‘Lyn?’ she called softly. If the boys were asleep she didn’t want to wake them. ‘Lyn, where are you?’
Tiptoeing up she paused on the landing outside Lyn’s room. The door was shut and she tapped on it gently. ‘Lyn? Can I come in?’
There was no answer. She hesitated a moment, not liking to open it in case Lyn was asleep, then she took her courage in both hands and pushed it. The room was empty and somehow very bare. There was no sign that Lyn had been there recently at all.
She was on her way to the boys’ bedrooms when she heard a faint knocking in the distance. She stopped, listening. There it was again – a distinct hammering sound from somewhere upstairs. She eyed the ceiling suspiciously, then she turned and went out to the stairs again.
The attics were very cold. Nervously she peered into the first. It was furnished as a spare bedroom, but there was no sign of anyone there. Beyond it the rest of the top floor was empty – a long string of low-ceilinged rooms leading out of each other the length of the house. ‘Lyn?’ she shouted. ‘Are you up here?’ The sound of her voice was somehow shocking in the intense silence. It was as she was standing listening for a response that she heard the knocking once again, louder this time, and more frenzied. ‘Lyn? Are you there?’ Ducking through the door she made her way into the next room. That too was empty, dusty and smelling of cold and damp. ‘Lyn, where are you?’
The door at the furthest end of the line of attics was closed. The banging was coming from behind it. ‘Lyn, is that you?’ Janet put her ear to the wood panelling. ‘Lyn?’ She put her hand on the latch and rattled it. The door appeared to be locked.
‘Let me out. For God’s sake let me out!’ Lyn’s voice from behind the door was completely hysterical. ‘I’ve been here for hours. Are the boys all right?’
Janet grimaced. ‘I haven’t seen the boys. Hold on. I’ll try and find the key.’ She looked round frantically. The room in which she was standing was empty. There was nowhere a key could be hidden.
‘Feel on the beam over the door,’ Lyn instructed, her voice muffled by the thickness of the wood. ‘That’s where it was last time.’
Janet looked up. Cautiously she put her hand above her head and ran her fingers over the studs and cross beams which made the partition wall. It was several seconds before she connected with cold metal. ‘Here it is. Found it!’ She grabbed it and inserted it into the large key hole.
A second later the door swung open. Lyn was white faced, her hair dishevelled, her clothes filthy. ‘Thank God you came. I was afraid I’d be there forever.’
‘Who locked you in?’ Janet was running after her back towards the stairs.
‘Tom. It must have been. The little devil.’
‘It can’t have been. That beam was far too high for Tom.’
‘He must have fetched a chair or something.’ Lyn brushed the tears out of her eyes with the back of her hand. ‘For pity’s sake hurry. There’s no knowing what he may have done.’
She hurtled down the staircase and through towards his bedroom. It was empty. ‘Tom? Tom where are you? Don’t hide from me.’ She pushed open the door to Ned’s little bedroom. That too was empty.
‘Oh God!’ It was a sob. ‘Janet, where is he?’
Janet bit her lip. ‘Where were they when you last saw them? Tom presumably upstairs and Ned? Where was Ned?’
‘Ned should be in his buggy in the kitchen.’