{"id":19844,"date":"2019-01-28T11:10:16","date_gmt":"2019-01-28T16:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=19844"},"modified":"2025-09-25T15:39:44","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T19:39:44","slug":"dead-ringer-by-inca-aka-tye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=19844","title":{"rendered":"Dead Ringer (by Inca ‘aka Tye’)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary:\u00a0 <\/strong>What is the sinister secret of the mysterious house on the cliff?\u00a0 Adam and Joe are about to find out – the hard way.<\/p>\n

My response to the 2017 Once Upon a Midnight Dreary Edgar Allen Poe Challenge.<\/p>\n

WC: 16,570\u00a0 Rating: T<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dead ringer<\/strong><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

1<\/strong><\/p>\n

Joe barely had time to admire the gleaming black bodywork of the elegant coupe before it drew to a halt in front of him, and a woman in a black veil leaned out of the window and beckoned in his direction.\u00a0 The San Francisco street was busy, and he had to step close to hear when she spoke to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope you don\u2019t think me very forward,\u201d she said, and although he couldn\u2019t see her face, it sounded as if she were smiling, \u201cbut I had to ask my driver to stop when I saw you.\u00a0 You look so very much like someone I know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe, fascinated by the gleaming coach, its door embellished with an emblem of a red and gold clipper in full sail, was instantly even more intrigued by its mysterious female occupant. \u00a0Whipping his hat from his head, he assured her he didn\u2019t mind at all<\/em>.<\/p>\n

She lifted a slim, black-gloved hand and raised the veil from her face, revealing skin as pale as the moon, and bright, unblinking eyes of translucent amber.\u00a0 It was the kind of face any man would remember.\u00a0 Joe\u2019s heart picked up a pace or two.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I saw you last night,\u201d he said, \u201cin the hotel dining room.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s right.\u201d\u00a0 Her lips, darkly red against the milky-white skin of her face, curved into a small, satisfied smile.\u00a0 \u201cThat was when I first marked your likeness to\u2026.\u201d She paused and dropped her gaze, momentarily as demure as she had been brazen only moments before.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s why I had to ask Banks to stop.\u00a0 Such a striking resemblance.\u201d<\/p>\n

He might have asked to whom he bore this remarkable resemblance, but at that moment his mind was otherwise engaged, both with her face and the opulent grandeur of the coach interior behind her.\u00a0 Her black coat, snugly fitted over a well-rounded bosom, contrasted starkly with the paleness of her slim white throat, even as the deep ruby darkness of her lips was complemented by the rich burgundy plush of the pleated satin upholstery.<\/p>\n

She seemed to enjoy the effect she was having on him.\u00a0 Something that might have been amusement flickered in the yellow depths of her eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy name is Catherine Wareham.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m Joseph Cartwright, ma\u2019am.\u00a0 People call me Little Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLittle Joe,\u201d she said, as if trying the name for size and approving it.\u00a0 \u201cHow charming.\u00a0 Well, I\u2019m very pleased to meet you, Little Joe Cartwright.\u00a0 I wonder,\u201d she paused as if considering an idea, \u201cwould you care to take coffee with me?\u00a0 My house is not very far from here and most agreeably situated on the cliffs.\u00a0 On such a glorious morning, we might take our refreshment in the garden and enjoy the view across the harbor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her elaborate manner of speech was almost as fascinating as her striking appearance.\u00a0 He hesitated only for a second.\u00a0 With a whole morning to kill before Adam finished his business meeting, coffee overlooking San Francisco harbor with the enigmatic Miss Wareham, was a whole lot more tempting than a morning in his own company.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be a pleasure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

She nodded in satisfaction, drew the veil back down over the unsettling stare of her piercing eyes, and opened the door so he could climb in and take his place on the sumptuous seat beside her.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2<\/strong><\/p>\n

The house stood atop a rocky promontory, overlooking a small cove of golden sand and tumbled stone upon which the Pacific breakers curled and broke with a restless boom and suck.\u00a0 A towering brick mansion, with ornately carved verandas, and turrets facing out to the wild sea, it was immensely grand from a distance, yet close to, radiated a distinct air of neglect that made Joe wonder if Catherine Wareham was perhaps not as wealthy as she first appeared to be.\u00a0 A rich family fallen on hard times maybe.\u00a0 The sweeping driveway was pitted with holes, and weeds grew from the cracks in the stone steps leading up to the once-imposing front door, black paint now faded and flaking and the brass handle and bell pull tarnished and dull.\u00a0 The windows were grimy, shingles had slipped on the roof, balustrades and pillars were peeling.<\/p>\n

Banks was at the carriage door before Joe had a chance to jump down and offer his hand to the lady.\u00a0 \u00a0It had been a strange journey.\u00a0 Miss Wareham had opened the conversation with questions about how long he had been in San Francisco, whether he had ever visited the city before, how long he intended to stay. Then had followed some small talk about Virginia City and the Ponderosa.\u00a0 All the time he had been longing to ask her of whom it was he reminded her, but by the time she had finished asking her questions, they were already leaving the city behind, and the coastline was opening out beyond the carriage windows.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, no more talking, Little Joe,\u201d she said firmly.\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cI would not have you miss the view.\u00a0 Too many people fail to realize the full majesty of our beautiful city.\u00a0 Is it not delightful?\u201d<\/p>\n

He had been so engrossed in what was happening inside the carriage, he hadn\u2019t paid much attention to the change of scenery without.\u00a0 But, as he followed her bidding and turned his gaze outwards, he could not deny the sweep of the deep green headlands was indeed glorious, rising above the sparkling expanse of the blue ocean; a very different landscape from that of his Nevada home.\u00a0 Under other circumstances, it would have held him captivated, but it was difficult to fully appreciate what was outside the carriage when the woman inside was even more enthralling.\u00a0 Even through the black voile that covered her face he could sense the intensity of those intriguing eyes as they scrutinized him, and as confined as they were on the cushioned seat, each time the coach bounced over a rut in the road, their shoulders would brush and he would thrill at the contact.\u00a0 After a mile or so, he began to suspect the touch of her arm was more than accidental.\u00a0 It would linger against his for several seconds at a time, seconds during which he ceased to breathe entirely.\u00a0 Not that he was complaining.\u00a0 \u00a0If he read the signs aright, maybe\u2014just maybe\u2014Miss Wareham was interested in more than just coffee.\u00a0 \u00a0The mere possibility set his heart beating faster.<\/p>\n

He kept his eyes fixed dutifully on the glittering ocean while she pointed out to him the different seabirds, and the beaches where the elephant seals came to bask, but all the time he was fixated by her closeness and the unnerving scrutiny of those veiled eyes.\u00a0 Only once did he look round and meet her gaze, and that was when\u2014unmistakably\u2014her fingertips brushed his thigh.\u00a0 But by the time he had turned his head, her hand was once again properly in her lap, and she made no sign that anything untoward had occurred, yet he was almost certain he detected the curve of a smile beneath the veil.<\/p>\n

Banks opened the carriage door and handed down his mistress.\u00a0 Joe, following, saw the man properly for the first time.\u00a0 Tall and broad-shouldered, he had a long narrow nose, and shoulder-length hair that was white-blond beneath his black chimney-pot hat.\u00a0 Joe frowned to himself.\u00a0 He was sure he had seen this man somewhere before.<\/p>\n

Miss Wareham held out her arm so that Joe could escort her up the wide stone steps to the house.\u00a0 As they reached the top, the front door opened and an iron-faced woman in black weeds and a linen cap stood aside to let them in.<\/p>\n

\u201cMrs. Rankin,\u201d said Miss Wareham, as she unpinned her black hat and veil, \u201cshow Mr. Cartwright onto the back lawn, and bring out a tray of coffee.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 With her face uncovered, she turned the full intensity of her gaze upon Little Joe, her lips lifting in a small, secret smile that did inexplicable things to his insides.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll be down to join you in just a few minutes, Little Joe.\u201d\u00a0 The way she spoke his name, as though tasting it on her tongue, made his belly quiver.<\/p>\n

They were in a vast, square hallway, dark and cavernous, walls paneled in carved oak.\u00a0 A narrow window of painted glass on either side of the door let in the only meager, light.\u00a0 Dominating one wall was the stuffed head of an elk, glass eyes gleaming eerily in the dimness.\u00a0 Shelves and glass cases lined the walls, from which other lifeless creatures stared with shiny, blank eyes.\u00a0 Those further back in the hall were shrouded in shadow but in the cases nearest to him Joe could make out elaborate scenes painstakingly staged: half a dozen lifeless chicks in tiny straw bonnets tied with strands of colored ribbon, arranged in a ring, little wings outspread and touching, as though frozen in some bizarre dance; four evil-looking crows perched on a prone cat with glaring gold eyes and lips drawn back in a macabre grimace; three brown rats parading in a line, attired in tiny top hats and opera cloaks, miniature canes clutched in their stiff little claws, waiting for a cab that would never come.<\/p>\n

A heavily balustraded stairwell on the far side of the hall rose to a landing, then separated in two directions, both sides sweeping upwards into shadow.\u00a0 Joe had just dragged his eyes from the disturbing scenario of a fox in a tattered black coat dropping a mole into a cauldron, to admire the sway of Miss Wareham\u2019s hips as she ascended the bottom flight of stairs, when Mrs. Rankin interrupted his thoughts with a deliberate clearing of her throat.\u00a0 Her eyes, like little black pebbles, were fixed unblinking on his face.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis way, if you please, Mr. Cartwright.\u201d<\/p>\n

He followed her across the hall and along a windowless corridor where the gathering gloom deepened around him and pressed at his back like a breathing shadow.\u00a0 Twice, he glanced over his shoulder with growing unease, the darkness a tangible presence following on his heels.\u00a0 It was a relief when they reached the end of the corridor and Mrs. Rankin opened a door. \u00a0A shaft of bright sunlight embraced him and pushed back the gloom.<\/p>\n

They were in a garden room, the walls formed half of glass, so powdered with algae it lent the air a greenish tinge, almost as if the light shone through the surface of a lake.\u00a0 The thick, knobbed stems of an old vine, its leaves pocked and yellow, twisted their way up to a glass-paned ceiling. Small, sad skeletons of grapes hung shriveled before ever they\u2019d ripened.\u00a0 A wrought iron table, flanked by two iron benches, paint peeling and metal rusting, stood in the center of the room.\u00a0 Joe wrinkled his nose in the mildewed atmosphere, but Mrs. Rankin was already opening another door that led to the outside and the fresh, salt air of the sea.\u00a0 He followed her down a short set of steps onto an overgrown lawn that stretched to the edge of the cliff, interrupted here and there by a clump of unkempt shrubs and tall, straggling weeds.\u00a0 In the middle of this wilderness, a second table and chairs were arranged. higgledy-piggledy, on a small terrace, where weeds poked their heads between the stone slabs.<\/p>\n

She waved her hand at a chair.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can wait here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her stern gaze measured him from top to toe, as audacious in her examination as her mistress had been. But where he hadn\u2019t minded Miss Wareham\u2019s scrutiny\u2014positively enjoyed it, in fact\u2014this shrew-faced servant\u2019s cold stare made his skin prickle wherever it touched.\u00a0 He was relieved when, without another word, she turned and headed back inside and he was left alone.<\/p>\n

He wandered across the untidy lawn to where the garden fell away at the cliff edge, the warmth of the sun and the freshness of the breeze off the sea doubly welcome after the stale gloom inside the house.\u00a0 To one side a steep path, intersected with uneven steps cut out of the rock, descended the cliff, its base plunging into the swirling waves.\u00a0 Joe, unfamiliar with the sea, was momentarily baffled by a path that led nowhere but into the water, until it occurred to him that the tide must be high.\u00a0 When it receded, no doubt there would be a beach of some kind.<\/p>\n

Gazing down, mesmerized by the waves swirling over the tumbled boulders a hundred feet below, it was as if someone was at his shoulder.\u00a0 \u00a0He spun around, instantly conscious of his vulnerability, standing as he was on the edge of a cliff.\u00a0 There was no one there, yet his heart was racing.\u00a0 \u00a0He frowned, his eyes searching the garden and finding no one.<\/p>\n

Shaking his head at his own folly, he made his way back to the small terrace and sank into one of the chairs, his back to the house.\u00a0 Setting his hat on the seat beside him, he stretched his legs in the sun and rested his eyes on the panorama of sky and ocean before him.\u00a0 Before many moments had passed his mind was once more pleasantly engrossed with recalling the lightness of Miss Wareham\u2019s touch on his thigh.\u00a0 He was certain he had not been mistaken.\u00a0 Boy, was Adam going to be jealous when he heard what Joe had been up to while he was in his boring meeting!\u00a0 Poor old Adam, stuck in a dull office with other cattle breeders, whilst his younger brother\u2026<\/p>\n

He twisted his head to look back at the house, his thoughts interrupted by a disconcerting sensation of being watched.\u00a0 There was no one on the lawn between him and the house, no sign of movement in the garden room.\u00a0 The windows were all darkly blank.\u00a0 His eyes wandered up to the turret and hesitated at the topmost window.\u00a0 Was that paler patch in the window a face looking out, or was it simply the distorted reflection of a passing cloud?<\/p>\n

\u201cLittle Joe, I\u2019m so sorry to keep you waiting.\u201d\u00a0 Miss Wareham\u2019s voice pulled his attention back to earth as she crossed the lawn to join him.\u00a0 He rose hurriedly.\u00a0 She had divested herself of her black coat and gloves, but the dress she wore beneath was just as black, just as snugly fitting, and her hair, as dark as her dress and neatly coiled, framed the pallor of her face.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you think of the view?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPerfect,\u201d said Joe, his eyes fixed firmly on her face.\u00a0 \u201cHave you always lived here?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe house belonged to my guardian, Sir Lester Halliwell.\u00a0 He built it when he first arrived here, about thirty years ago, to remind him of his former home in England.\u201d<\/p>\n

Little Joe contemplated the blackness of her outfit, its sobriety broken only by a jeweled brooch worn on her left breast.\u00a0 Was she in mourning then for her guardian?<\/p>\n

As if she read the question in his mind, she said, \u201cSir Lester died ten years ago, leaving the house to my brother and me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have a brother?\u201d\u00a0 Joe recalled the pale smudge at the window that might or might not have been a face.\u00a0 \u201cIs he here now?\u201d<\/p>\n

She gave him a curious look, like a parent faintly amused by a na\u00efve child.\u00a0 \u201cYes,\u201d she said, \u201csomewhere.\u00a0 In fact, it is Thomas you resemble.\u201d\u00a0 She leaned towards him, the better to study his features and once again his heart raced beneath her scrutiny.\u00a0 \u201cThe similarities are\u2026\u201d she smiled into his eyes, \u201c\u2026uncanny.\u201d<\/p>\n

He had to swallow hard before he could speak coherently.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019d like to meet him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh yes.\u201d\u00a0 She nodded, her eyes still fixed on his, still smiling her knowing smile.\u00a0 \u201cYou will.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was beginning to sweat and finding it difficult to think clearly under her close appraisal.\u00a0 Only the arrival of Mrs. Rankin with a tray of coffee and cake released him from the grip of that hypnotic gaze.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoffee, Little Joe?\u201d said Miss Wareham as Mrs. Rankin once again departed, not without her own penetrating stare in Joe\u2019s direction.\u00a0 She poured thick, black liquid into the cup, added a couple of spoons of sugar, and set it on the table in front of him.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you think we all have a double somewhere in this world?\u201d she asked him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never thought about it,\u201d he admitted.\u00a0 He had certainly never seen anyone quite like Catherine Wareham, that was for sure.\u00a0 He laughed.\u00a0 \u201cI guess we all like to think we\u2019re unique, but probably we\u2019re not.\u00a0 There can be only so many ways to arrange two eyes, a nose and a mouth, after all.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was still watching him with that same semi-amused expression, as though everything he said or did was fascinating to her.\u00a0 \u201cOr maybe not.\u00a0 Consider musical notation: a seemingly infinitesimal number of ways to arrange so few notes.\u201d<\/p>\n

He acknowledged that with a smile.\u00a0 \u201cOr the alphabet.\u00a0 Only twenty-six letters, yet who knows how many words?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPrecisely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe took a sip of his coffee, hardly able to believe the good fortune that had thrown such a catch across his path.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre we really so<\/em> alike then?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than I would ever have believed possible. You are younger than my brother and your hair is a little lighter in color.\u201d\u00a0 She raised a hand as if she would touch his hair, and for a moment he didn\u2019t breathe, but then she withdrew it again as if she remembered herself. \u00a0She studied him closely for a few moments and he hoped she didn\u2019t notice how fast he was breathing. \u201cYour face is slightly broader too.\u00a0 But in all other respects, you might be his twin.\u00a0 Even your height and build are like his.\u00a0 When you\u2019ve drunk your coffee, you must come inside and see a portrait of Tom and judge for yourself whether or not you are his twin.\u201d<\/p>\n

She served cake onto small bone china plates decorated with the clipper emblem he\u2019d seen on her carriage. \u00a0\u00a0The same signature was engraved into the side of the silver coffee pot.\u00a0 When he remarked on it, she smiled and nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u00a0 Sir Lester owned a fleet of traders.\u00a0 It was what brought him here initially.\u00a0 He liked what he saw and settled here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou said he was your guardian?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u00a0 My parents died when Tom and I were seven years old.\u201d\u00a0 She was observing him closely enough to notice the question in his eyes.\u00a0 \u201cMy brother and I are twins.\u00a0 The ship on which my parents had taken passage, sank.\u00a0 Out there.\u201d\u00a0 Her eyes drifted to the vast expanse of ocean in front of them.\u00a0 \u201cRan aground in a gale.\u00a0 Tom and I were the only passengers to survive.\u00a0 Sir Lester took pity on two small children and gave us a home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat must have been tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

She gave a little shrug.\u00a0 \u201cIt was a long time ago.\u00a0 Tom and I had a good upbringing here with Sir Lester.\u00a0 He was a fascinating man.\u00a0 Life was never dull.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe recalled the strange stuffed animals in the hall.\u00a0 Had Sir Lester had been responsible for those, he wondered.\u00a0 Before he could voice the question, however, Miss Wareham was speaking again.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy brother loved the sea.\u201d\u00a0 For a moment, her golden eyes took on a distant expression as though she were seeing beyond the hazy blue horizon, and once again Joe had the eerie feeling someone was standing close behind him.\u00a0 As he shifted in his seat, Miss Wareham\u2019s gaze once again came back to him and the uncomfortable sensation passed. \u201cStill does, in fact.\u00a0 Especially when the wind comes up and the waves grow wild.\u201d Her eyes burned into him with such fierceness, it was a few moments before he could think of anything else to say.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid Sir Lester leave the shipping business to your brother?\u201d<\/p>\n

Again, she smiled as if he had said something amusing.\u00a0 \u201cOh no.\u00a0 My brother doesn\u2019t work.\u00a0 Sir Lester was very wealthy.\u00a0 He left us well provided for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe tried to imagine what it would be like not to work.\u00a0 His father was a wealthy man yet the idea of waking up in the morning with none of the usual ranching chores to be done was so alien to his experience it was hard to comprehend. \u00a0How did the elusive Thomas occupy himself all day?\u00a0 It didn\u2019t seem polite to ask so instead he ate his cake and sipped at the sweet, strong coffee.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you dine out at the hotel often?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Catherine Wareham looked surprised at the question.\u00a0 \u201cOh no, hardly at all.\u201d\u00a0 Her face cleared.\u00a0 \u201cOh, you mean because I was there yesterday evening?\u00a0 That was entirely because of you.\u00a0 Banks observed your resemblance to Tom when he was in town two days ago.\u00a0 He was insistent I see you for myself.\u00a0 I determined there and then that I had to make your acquaintance.\u201d\u00a0 Her voice dropped enticingly low and again her smile sent little shivers all through him.\u00a0 \u201cI do hope you don\u2019t mind indulging me.\u201d<\/p>\n

His reply was more breathless than he\u2019d intended.\u00a0 \u201cOf course not.\u00a0 Not in the least.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Coffee finished, he followed her back to the house.\u00a0 Much as he preferred the fresh air and sunlight to the musty gloom of the interior, he was by now more than a little curious to see if he and Thomas Wareham were indeed so alike.\u00a0 Besides which, by then he\u2019d have followed Catherine Wareham just about anywhere for that seductive smile and those mysterious amber eyes that seemed to see right inside him.\u00a0 Simply being with her was making him lightheaded.<\/p>\n

They retraced the route he\u2019d taken earlier, through the green-tinged sun room and down the dim tunnel of a corridor where the shadows closed in behind him once more.\u00a0 It was as if invisible spiders crawled across the back of his neck, the sensation causing his pulse to race and a light sweat to break out down his back and over his face.\u00a0 The claustrophobic darkness swirled around him like black fog clinging to his skin.<\/p>\n

Crossing the cavernous hall where the lifeless animals kept their bizarre vigil, beady eyes glinting in what little light fought its way through the gloom, he followed Catherine Wareham through a heavy door into another dark-paneled chamber that, judging from the long walnut table stretching its length, was a dining room.\u00a0 The air was close in this room, as though the windows had not been opened in years.\u00a0 Sweat prickled Joe\u2019s eyebrows and beaded his upper lip. \u00a0The lightheadedness he\u2019d felt in the garden was getting worse, his vision blurring and swimming.\u00a0 He blinked hard and shook his head to try and clear it.\u00a0 At least there was some light in this room, slanting in through tall windows framed by faded brocade curtains.\u00a0 On every wall, pale faces stared out from ornate gilt frames, men and women old and young, even a few children, all soberly dressed and formally posed.\u00a0 Some of the frames were no bigger than a book, others were four or five feet high.\u00a0 A haughty gentleman in a naval uniform took pride of place over the ornately carved mantel, but Joe\u2019s attention was immediately caught by the next portrait along, a likeness that might easily have been his own.\u00a0 His heart thudded so fast his breath came in short gasps.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see,\u201d said Miss Wareham, \u201chow alike you are?\u201d<\/p>\n

They were standing together, gazing up at the face that was Joe\u2019s double.\u00a0 Sweat trickled into Joe\u2019s eye.\u00a0 He wiped his arm across his face, the stuffy air thick in his throat.\u00a0 The curly-haired young man in the portrait blurred in front of his eyes.<\/p>\n

He nodded.\u00a0 \u201cYes, you\u2019re right.\u00a0 I\u2026\u201d\u00a0 the room dipped violently. \u00a0It swayed around him, refusing to steady again. \u00a0Nausea rose in his throat. \u00a0\u201cI\u2026 I have to go\u2026outside.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you all right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe some fresh air\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t look very well.\u201d\u00a0 Miss Wareham\u2019s hand took his arm.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll summon Banks.\u00a0 Here, sit down.\u201d<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t resist.\u00a0 He needed her guidance; the room was spinning around him.\u00a0 At her bidding, he sank down onto a cushioned seat.\u00a0 Her arm was around his shoulders, her hand easing his head down to rest against her breast.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t worry.\u201d\u00a0 Her fingers stroked his hair. \u201cWe\u2019ll take care of you.\u00a0 We\u2019ll take very<\/em> good care of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3<\/strong><\/p>\n

Adam reined in his horse and looked hard at the big house, perched atop the green cliffs. \u00a0Close to, it was not nearly as grand as he had first imagined it to be.\u00a0 In fact, it was in urgent need of major renovation.\u00a0 If somebody didn\u2019t do something about that roof in the very near future, there were going to be some serious damp problems inside.\u00a0 Yet it must once have been very imposing; still was, in spite of the obvious signs of neglect and decay.\u00a0 It had been built to impress.\u00a0 Aloof from the town, it dominated the skyline, with its rugged backdrop of wild coast.\u00a0 An enviable position, he thought, if seclusion was the goal.<\/p>\n

It had taken some persistent detective work on his own part to trace Little Joe this far, and it hadn\u2019t been easy.\u00a0 When his tiresome younger brother had failed to return to the hotel the previous evening, Adam had questioned just about every member of the hotel staff\u2014and several guests\u2014as to whether they had seen Little Joe on the day of his disappearance, but no one had.\u00a0 Next, he\u2019d tried the stores and bars on both sides of the street.\u00a0 Finally, a boy who swept the sidewalks, wrinkled his nose at Adam, and nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cReckon I mighta seen \u2019im. Wearing a gun this side.\u201d\u00a0 He patted his left hip.<\/p>\n

Adam\u2019s heart jumped.\u00a0 \u201cWhere did he go?\u00a0 Was he with anyone?\u201d<\/p>\n

The boy measured him up with eyes too knowing for his years.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s it worth?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Adam fished out a silver dollar and the boy\u2019s eyes widened.\u00a0 He reached for the money with a greedy hand, but Adam closed his fist over the coin.\u00a0 \u201cTell me first.\u00a0 Everything you saw.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGot in a carriage, didn\u2019 he?\u00a0 A real smart one.\u00a0 Black.\u00a0 Shiny.\u00a0 An\u2019 two black horses pullin\u2019 it.\u00a0 Feller with white hair an\u2019 a top hat drivin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you know whose carriage it was?\u201d<\/p>\n

The boy shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cNah.\u00a0 Never seen it before.\u00a0 I only been in this part of town a few days.\u00a0 Don\u2019t hardly know no one round here.\u00a0 But it had a ship on the side.\u00a0 Gold an\u2019 red.\u00a0 Gold on the wheels too.\u00a0 Big brass lamps.\u00a0 Didn\u2019 see who was inside it, jus\u2019 saw the feller you described.\u00a0 Spoke to someone inside, then he got in and they drove off down the hill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam relinquished the dollar to him and the boy grinned, with a tug of his battered hat. \u201cThanks, mister.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back at the hotel, Adam sought out the manager and related what the boy had told him.\u00a0 The man\u2019s face grew oddly pale.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one of Sir Lester Halliwell\u2019s carriages,\u201d he said, averting his gaze and glancing past Adam as though he expected some immediate retribution for imparting this piece of information.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd where does Sir Lester live?\u201d asked Adam when the man volunteered nothing further.<\/p>\n

The manager seemed almost to squirm with discomfort at having to answer the question.\u00a0 \u201cA couple of miles out of town.\u00a0 Follow the coast west, and there\u2019s a big place.\u00a0 Bannam House, it\u2019s called.\u201d\u00a0 He struggled with himself for a few seconds and then burst out, \u201cBut you shouldn\u2019t go there, Mr. Cartwright.\u00a0 Don\u2019t even go near it.\u00a0 Bad things happen to people who go there.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was in earnest.\u00a0 His face was white, his eyes darting fearfully between Adam and some unseen terror behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to,\u201d Adam told him.\u00a0 \u201cMy brother was seen getting into that carriage.\u00a0 I have to find Lester Halliwell and find out if he knows where my brother has gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh no.\u201d\u00a0 The manager gave a vehement shake of his head. \u201cNot Sir Lester.\u00a0 Sir Lester\u2019s dead.\u00a0 The Warehams live there now.\u00a0 Thomas Wareham and his sister.\u00a0 But\u2026\u201d he leaned towards Adam and spoke in lowered tones, as if he feared someone might be listening even though there was no one else in the room, \u201cpeople say it\u2019s haunted, and that Miss Wareham\u2026is a witch.\u00a0 They say she poisoned Sir Lester.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam raised an eyebrow.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t believe in ghosts, Mr. Selby, and I don\u2019t believe in witches.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pale-faced manager, affronted that his confidences should be given so little credibility, drew back a pace.\u00a0 \u201cIs that so, Mr. Cartwright?\u00a0 And what about poison?\u00a0 Do you believe in that?\u00a0 Well, don\u2019t say I didn\u2019t warn you.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Surveying the solitary building standing dilapidated and defiant on the cliff top, Adam could understand how stories might well have grown up around it.\u00a0 It was just the kind of place people would imagine was haunted when really it was nothing more than a once-grand house, now shunned and neglected.<\/p>\n

He nudged his horse forward and was soon at the gates, black wrought iron\u2014rusty now\u2014and standing wide.\u00a0 A board on the wall announced \u201cBannam House\u201d in peeling painted letters.\u00a0 There were weeds growing on the driveway and the grass was long.\u00a0 There was no sign of life from the house.\u00a0 No dogs barked, nothing moved in the vicinity.<\/p>\n

He dismounted at the foot of the wide stone steps that led up to the main door, tying his horse to an iron hook in a brick pillar.\u00a0 It took a while for anyone to respond to his tug on the bell-pull, but eventually he heard sounds from behind the shabby door, the rattle of a bolt being drawn.<\/p>\n

A middle-aged woman with a white linen cap and a sour face opened the door, hard eyes taking him in in one cold sweep.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes?\u201d she said, her voice as lacking in warmth as her stare.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy name\u2019s Adam Cartwright.\u00a0 I\u2019m looking for Thomas Wareham.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her eyes narrowed.\u00a0 \u201cThe master is not at home right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you know when he\u2019ll be back?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I don\u2019t.\u00a0 Good day to you, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n

She would have closed the door on him if he had not put out a hand to stop her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to find my brother.\u00a0 I believe he may have come here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYour brother?\u00a0 Why would your brother come here?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was seen getting into a coach bearing Sir Lester Halliwell\u2019s crest.\u201d<\/p>\n

She gave him a look of disdain.\u00a0 \u201cI think you must be mistaken, Mr. Cartwright.\u00a0 We don\u2019t encourage visitors here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the same,\u201d Adam kept his hand firmly on the panels of the door, \u201cI would like to be sure.\u00a0 Perhaps Mr. Wareham\u2019s sister is at home?\u201d<\/p>\n

He could almost sense her bristle at his insistence.\u00a0 She fixed him with a resentful stare, stepping aside grudgingly to let him enter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWait here.\u00a0 My mistress is resting, but I\u2019ll see if she will receive you.\u201d\u00a0 She pushed the door closed behind him.\u00a0 Again the narrowing of the eyes, \u201cAnd don\u2019t touch anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

She headed for a gloomy staircase at the back of the big square hall in which he now found himself, and was quickly swallowed by the shadows as she ascended.\u00a0 After the brightness of the day outside, it seemed doubly dark in the gloomy interior where the air hung musty and heavy.\u00a0 Shelves lined the walls, laden with stuffed animals, some grotesquely posed, frozen and silent, glassy eyes staring at nothing.\u00a0 The head of a huge elk lowered at him from one wall.\u00a0 There were pictures too\u2014 racehorses and ships\u2014barely discernible in the dimness.<\/p>\n

As the minutes ticked past and no one appeared, he took a few steps deeper into the cave-like room, the twilight wrapping itself around him like a murky veil.\u00a0 In a glass case in front of him, three stuffed rats were apparently on their way to an opera.\u00a0 He frowned at the perverse spectacle.\u00a0 His eyes drifted onto the next case where an absurd creature with a cat\u2019s body and a rabbit\u2019s head leered out, ridiculous and yet almost pitiable.<\/p>\n

Morbid fascination drew him from case to case so that he didn\u2019t notice the woman descending the stairwell until she was almost at the bottom.\u00a0 He jumped to attention when he saw her, not least because, his eyes now having adjusted themselves to the gloom of the hall, he recognized her instantly.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Cartwright,\u201d she said in a low, smooth voice that shot an unexpected thrill right through him.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m Catherine Wareham.\u00a0 My housekeeper tells me you\u2019ve come here looking for your brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

He knew he was staring, but he could not pull his gaze away. \u00a0Darkly beautiful, and half-cloaked in shadow, she wore a diaphanous robe of creamy-white chiffon that shimmered around her and sent his imagination racing off in entirely inappropriate directions.\u00a0 It took a determined effort to rein it back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes you think he would be here?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was seen yesterday, getting into a carriage belonging to this house.\u201d\u00a0 Adam took a deep breath.\u00a0 \u201cPardon me, Miss Wareham, but I\u2019ve seen you before, haven\u2019t I?\u00a0 You were at the Grand Hotel three nights ago, weren\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n

She inclined her head in acknowledgement and fixed him with a little smile.\u00a0 \u201cI was indeed, Mr. Cartwright.\u00a0 Now tell me why you think that was your brother getting into my carriage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been missing since that morning and the description of the man seen getting into your carriage fits my brother perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI see.\u201d\u00a0 Her eyes measured him up and seemed to like what they saw.\u00a0 Piercing eyes.\u00a0 Even through the dimness of the twilit hall, he could sense the way they probed his face as she watched him. \u00a0To be examined so boldly by a beautiful woman wearing so little was both unsettling and arousing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe there is an explanation for this misunderstanding.\u00a0 Come this way, Mr. Cartwright.\u00a0 There\u2019s something you must see.\u201d<\/p>\n

He followed her across the vast hall, unable to keep his eyes from the translucent gown that floated about her, barely concealing the soft undulations of the body beneath.\u00a0 She opened a door and went ahead of him into the room beyond. \u00a0He dragged his eyes away from the tempting vision of loveliness and found himself in a spacious dining room.\u00a0 A long table of polished walnut dominated the room, its grandeur diminished by a layer of dust.\u00a0 His gaze took in the tall windows and the heavy paneling and came to a startled halt when it reached a portrait to the right of the fireplace.\u00a0 For a few seconds he stared in silent incredulity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat,\u201d said Catherine Wareham, watching his face as he studied the picture, \u201cis my brother, Thomas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYour<\/em> brother?\u201d repeated Adam.\u00a0 \u201cThat looks like my<\/em> brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI realize that.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I was staring at you both the other evening.\u00a0 I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the man who was with you.\u00a0 For a brief moment, I couldn\u2019t fathom why Thomas would have been meeting someone in the Grand Hotel when I knew he was supposed to be elsewhere.\u00a0 Then, as I looked harder, I realized this man\u2019s coloring was lighter than my brother\u2019s, his face slightly fuller, and that he was attired in clothes I\u2019d never seen.\u00a0 Certainly not any outfit Thomas owns.\u00a0 Still, the similarities were remarkable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam\u2019s brow drew down a fraction.\u00a0 \u201cSo, you\u2019re telling me it wasn\u2019t Joe who got into your carriage that day, but your<\/em> brother?\u201d His gaze swiveled to look at her.\u00a0 In the light from the tall windows, her piercing eyes glowed.\u00a0 His heart did a little jump and for a moment, he almost forgot the reason he was there.\u00a0 Amusement flickered in the golden depths, but her voice betrayed no hint of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can only imagine that\u2019s what happened.\u00a0 It would be a perfectly understandable mistake, under the circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam gave a slow nod, his gaze drawn back to the portrait.\u00a0 \u201cYes, they are very alike.\u201d<\/p>\n

She crossed to the side of the fireplace.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sorry you had a wasted journey, Mr. Cartwright.\u201d\u00a0 She tugged on a tasseled bell pull.\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cI do hope you find your brother.\u00a0 If you wait here a moment, Banks will show you out.\u201d<\/p>\n

She made her way to the door, the flimsy gown floating as if it were made of no more than smoke or mist.\u00a0\u00a0 At the door she paused and looked back at him and once again, it was an effort to drag his eyes back to her face.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood day to you, Mr. Cartwright.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within moments of her departure, a tall servant appeared, white-haired despite the fact he was not old.\u00a0 He was vaguely familiar, although Adam could not recall where or when he had seen him before. \u00a0The man ushered him through the hall to the front door, and watched as he descended the steps, mounted his horse and rode away.\u00a0 It seemed to Adam he was being carefully observed to ensure he was well and truly off the premises.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s gone, Miss Cathy,\u201d said Banks as he closed the door and turned back to the stairwell where the ghostly figure of his mistress descended through the shadows once more.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor now,\u201d she said, fixing the back of the front door with her unblinking stare. \u00a0\u201cHe didn\u2019t strike me as the kind of man to be easily deterred.\u00a0 Should he return, we will have to deal with him once and for all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Banks inclined his head, his face betraying no surprise.\u00a0 \u201cYes indeed, Miss Cathy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her gaze swiveled to the staircase behind her.\u00a0 \u201cA determined family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe boy\u2019s weakening,\u201d Banks assured her. \u00a0\u00a0\u201cHe won\u2019t hold out much longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her lips curved in a satisfied smile.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 I think you\u2019re right.\u00a0 One more night should do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Adam and the police officer faced each other across the desk.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re saying,\u201d said the sergeant, \u201cthat your brother and Thomas Wareham are so alike, they might well be mistaken for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re alike enough they might be brothers.\u201d\u00a0 Adam gave a little frown.\u00a0 \u201cTwins even.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the man your witness saw entering the carriage was definitely your brother?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d\u00a0 Adam hesitated.\u00a0 \u201cI think so.\u00a0 The boy said he saw wore a gun on his left hip and my brother\u2019s left-handed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo we know for certain that Thomas Wareham is not?\u201d<\/p>\n

Again, Adam hesitated.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 Not for certain.\u00a0 But would Thomas Wareham wear a pistol slung at his waist? \u00a0Judging from his portrait, Thomas Wareham dresses as a gentleman, not a cowboy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou haven\u2019t met Mr. Wareham in person then?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d\u00a0 The apparent thinness of his evidence was becoming more apparent to Adam with every sentence he spoke.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight,\u201d said the officer, the single word laden with the weight of his doubt.\u00a0 \u201cMaybe we should question your witness more closely.\u00a0 A boy, you say, working at the saloon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam sighed.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve already tried.\u00a0 He was fired a few hours after I spoke to him.\u00a0 For picking pockets.\u00a0 No one has any idea where to find him.\u201d\u00a0 He drew himself up straight and took a breath.\u00a0 \u201cLook, officer, all I\u2019m asking is that someone with the authority to do so, search Bannam House.\u201d<\/p>\n

The policeman paused and gave him an odd look.\u00a0 \u201cAll<\/em> you\u2019re asking?\u00a0 Mr. Cartwright, have you any idea what goes on in Bannam House?\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam shook his head.<\/p>\n

The officer cleared his throat and looked momentarily awkward. \u201cWell, no one does, if I\u2019m completely honest.\u00a0 But it\u2019s fair to say there are<\/em> strange goings-on.\u00a0 Very strange goings-on.\u00a0 No one wants to go near that place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEven the law?\u201d<\/p>\n

The policeman pursed his lips.\u00a0 \u201cWe had cause to investigate Thomas Wareham and his sister, two years ago, after the death of Sir Lester Halliwell.\u00a0 There were those who said Sir Lester had been poisoned.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t find any tangible evidence to back that claim, but certainly there were things that were\u2026well, not quite right.\u00a0 Reports of funny goings on.\u00a0 Then, Captain Bolton, who was in charge of the investigation, was thrown from his horse, up on the cliff.\u00a0 Never recovered.\u00a0 And another officer was taken sick, very suddenly, the day after he visited the house.\u00a0 A few days later he was dead too.\u201d\u00a0 The man shifted in his chair as if the very memory made him uncomfortable.\u00a0 \u201cThat house is\u2026\u201d he hesitated, embarrassed at his own admission, \u201c\u2026cursed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam frowned.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s a house.\u00a0 A house can\u2019t be cursed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I were you, Mr. Cartwright, I\u2019d steer well of Bannam House.\u00a0 And the Warehams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam\u2019s frown deepened.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re the second person to tell me that.\u00a0 I\u2019m not a superstitious man, sergeant.\u00a0 My primary concern is to find my brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat your witness saw, that sounds like a simple case of mistaken identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe,\u201d said Adam.\u00a0 \u201cBut I would like to be sure.\u00a0 Can you tell me a little more about the Warehams?\u00a0 Are they related to Sir Lester\u2019s family?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot by blood.\u00a0 Sir Lester took them in as small children.\u00a0 There was a wreck.\u00a0 One of his ships.\u00a0 The two children were the only surviving passengers.\u00a0 I was there that day, I remember it well.\u00a0 I was a young man then, working at the docks, loading and unloading cargo.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey brought them ashore, two little waifs with pale faces and big, staring eyes. Twins they were.\u00a0 Brother and sister.\u00a0 Right from the start, no one wanted to go near them.\u00a0 They had this way of giving folks the eye, as if they were wishing them ill. \u00a0What Sir Lester saw in them I\u2019ll never know, but he was an odd fellow himself, and no mistake.\u00a0 Did you see all those stuffed animals in the house, Mr. Cartwright?\u00a0 That was Sir Lester\u2019s passion.\u00a0 Obsessed with death, he was.\u00a0 Always had trouble finding anyone to work for him.\u00a0 That\u2019s why the place is in the state it\u2019s in.\u00a0 There aren\u2019t any sensible folks want to set foot inside those gates.\u00a0 People say there\u2019s more than just the living inhabit that house, Mr. Cartwright.\u00a0 So, unless you\u2019ve got incontrovertible evidence your brother is there, I\u2019d leave well alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6<\/strong><\/p>\n

The man lay unmoving on the bed, eyes closed, waxy skin almost as pale as the lace edging of his white linen nightshirt.\u00a0 Catherine Wareham\u2019s fingers toyed lightly with the loose strands of hair curled around his collar.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re so close,\u201d she whispered. \u00a0\u201cSo close.\u00a0 You must help me, my love. \u00a0This was meant to be.\u00a0 He came to us for this purpose, and it won\u2019t be long now, I know it.\u00a0 We can be together again, Tom, just like old times.\u00a0 You want that too, don\u2019t you? \u00a0You and I together, just as it used to be?\u00a0 Tonight.\u00a0 We will finish it tonight.\u00a0 We\u2019re that close.\u00a0 That close<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n

She lowered her head and her lips lingered softly against the cold, lifeless lips of the dead man.\u00a0 She drew her feet onto the bed and lay down beside him, her arm across his middle, face pressed into his unmoving shoulder.<\/p>\n

Across the room, the other man lay just as unmoving, upon another bed, eyes closed in a deep, unnatural sleep.\u00a0 Catherine Wareham watched him with a cold smile of satisfaction on her red lips.\u00a0 \u201cTonight,\u201d she whispered, her lips relishing the word.\u00a0 \u201cTonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

*<\/strong><\/p>\n

The fog came out of nowhere.\u00a0 One minute the sun was there, a golden ball sliding west, the next, an eerie shroud swept in over the sea, blotting out everything in its path.\u00a0 Adam slowed his horse to a walk, and then to a standstill as the whiteness enveloped him, so dense, he could barely see the road in front of him.<\/p>\n

This was all he needed!\u00a0 He turned his head to look around him, but the cloud surrounding him was complete.\u00a0 The way ahead and the way back were both now as indistinct as each other.\u00a0 He blew out a sigh of exasperation, shrugging off the niggling sense of unease that had descended along with the fog.\u00a0 He had already known it was late in the day to be making a second visit to the house, but his concerns over Joe\u2019s continued absence were more troubling than the risk of riding back along the cliffs in the dark.\u00a0 Besides, the moon was full tonight.\u00a0 There would be light enough to see his way.\u00a0 Except he hadn\u2019t bargained with this sudden change in the weather, even though he knew the swiftness with which the fog could sweep in, here on the coast.\u00a0 To continue on horseback now would be madness, with the swirling whiteness obliterating everything further than a foot ahead.\u00a0 The edge of the cliff was somewhere close to his right.\u00a0 A few false steps and it would be too late.\u00a0 No, he would have to dismount and travel on foot.\u00a0 And with caution.<\/p>\n

It was eerily quiet in the whiteness.\u00a0 No gulls cried overhead, and even the booming roar of the waves far below was deadened by the dense cloud.\u00a0 He walked with his eyes downcast, picking out the way ahead a step at a time.\u00a0 He calculated he still had at least two miles to the house.\u00a0 It was almost the same distance back to town, so no benefit in turning around now.\u00a0 Besides which, the nagging in his gut was pushing him onwards.\u00a0 Ever since he\u2019d ridden away earlier that day, the unease had been growing inside him. He didn\u2019t know what, but something<\/em> wasn\u2019t right.\u00a0 And if the police refused to help, then he had no other option but to return on his own.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t certain what he planned to do when he got there, but doing something\u2014anything\u2014was better than doing nothing.\u00a0 And if he could at least meet the mysterious Thomas Wareham in person, he could see for himself how close the resemblance was to Little Joe, and whether the boy at the saloon might have been mistaken.<\/p>\n

And, although he didn\u2019t like admitting it, even to himself, he hadn\u2019t been able to get Catherine Wareham out of his mind all day.\u00a0 That first moment he had laid eyes on her as she emerged from the shadow of the stairwell, played itself over and over in his mind, sending fresh shivers of excitement through his belly every time he thought about it.\u00a0 That chiffon robe!\u2014he breathed harder simply at the memory\u2014the tone of her voice, the bold stare of her knowing eyes.\u00a0 There was an allure to Catherine Wareham Adam Cartwright could not resist.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s back, Miss Cathy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Banks watched as she roused.\u00a0 Women weren\u2019t his main source of pleasure, but he still enjoyed watching her stretch that nubile body and those elegant shapely limbs, especially when she had on nothing more than that thin silk gown she loved to wear.\u00a0 Master Tom\u2019s favorite.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat time is it?\u201d she asked, as she rose from the bed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlmost seven o\u2019clock.\u00a0 The fog came down an hour ago.\u00a0 He\u2019s on foot, leading his horse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her eyes flitted from the body of her brother, around the room.\u00a0 Banks sensed rather than saw her frown.<\/p>\n

\u201cTom?\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n

He could feel it too.\u00a0 Resentment.\u00a0 Unease.\u00a0 Anger.\u00a0 She should have listened to him.\u00a0 He\u2019d tried to tell her.\u00a0 Two years was too long.\u00a0\u00a0 But she\u2019d wanted her brother back too much to listen.\u00a0 She thought love made all things possible.\u00a0 The truth was it simply made things complicated.<\/p>\n

He jerked his head in the direction of the front of the house. \u00a0\u201cWhat do you want me to do with him?\u201d<\/p>\n

She dragged her attention back to the question in hand, but he could see she was still troubled.\u00a0 As well she might be.\u00a0 Master Tom\u2019s temper might easily ruin everything they\u2019d worked for.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must get rid of him,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s his own fault for coming back.\u00a0 If he\u2019d just stayed away\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 She paused, her brow furrowed.\u00a0 \u201cTell him he can stay.\u00a0 Put him in the Red Room.\u201d\u00a0 She crossed the room to a tall cabinet that stood floor to ceiling against the wall.\u00a0 The doors were paneled with glass, behind which neat rows of bottles, phials and boxes were arranged.\u00a0 \u201cTell Mrs. Rankin to make him some dinner.\u00a0 Something with a sauce.\u00a0 And wine.\u201d\u00a0 She opened one of the cabinet doors and took out a small jar. \u00a0\u201cAnd to season it well.\u201d\u00a0 She smiled as she handed the little bottle to him.\u00a0 He smiled too.\u00a0 \u00a0They understood each other.\u00a0 A small quantity of the contents of this jar and their unwanted visitor would sleep soundly.\u00a0 Very soundly indeed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when he\u2019s asleep?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDrop him over the cliff.\u00a0 Set his horse loose.\u00a0 If his body is ever discovered they\u2019ll think he missed his way in the fog.\u00a0 After all, no one in this house has seen him since he left this morning, have they?\u201d<\/p>\n

Banks grinned.\u00a0 \u201cNo, not a sign of him since then.\u201d<\/p>\n

Across the room, on the far bed, the boy who was Tom Wareham\u2019s double stirred.\u00a0 \u00a0Miss Cathy turned her head to look at him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019ll be waking soon.\u00a0 You must hurry and deal with his brother, then come back here.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to need your help.\u201d<\/p>\n

*<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once again Adam rang the doorbell, and once again it was the sour-faced housekeeper who answered.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou again?\u201d she said, by way of greeting.\u00a0 \u201cWhat do you want this time?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was hoping your master might have returned home.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to speak with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

She peered into the twilight behind him, but there was little to see but the cloud.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s late to come calling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy apologies.\u00a0 The fog caught me out or I\u2019d have been here earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n

She made no attempt to move aside or invite him in.\u00a0 \u201cThe master\u2019s not returned yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam drew a deep breath.\u00a0 It had been a long and trying day, but he forced his voice to remain civil.\u00a0 \u201cYour mistress then.\u00a0 Is she home?\u201d<\/p>\n

Before she could return her answer, a man\u2019s voice spoke from behind her.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all right, Mrs. Rankin.\u00a0 I\u2019ll take care of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

It seemed to Adam the woman relinquished her position reluctantly.\u00a0 The white-haired manservant, Banks, took her place.\u00a0 He stood aside to let Adam enter and closed the heavy front door behind him.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mistress knows you\u2019re here, but she won\u2019t see anyone now until the morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTomorrow?\u201d\u00a0 Adam\u2019s forced patience threatened to crack.\u00a0 \u201cI won\u2019t keep her long.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry, sir.\u00a0 My mistress retires early.\u201d<\/p>\n

It had been a mad idea from the first, returning so late in the day.\u00a0 He had known that all along.\u00a0 The fog had been an unexpected complication.\u00a0 Now his spirits sank at the thought of the return journey.\u00a0 He could not risk riding.\u00a0 Even in the daylight he had barely been able to see more than a pace ahead.\u00a0 He knew only too well the dangers of trying to navigate in fog.\u00a0 Would he even find his way back to town on a night like this?\u00a0 He was just as likely to walk in circles, or worse, straight off the edge of the cliff.<\/p>\n

It was as if Banks read his thoughts.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s a bad night to be traveling back to town, sir.\u00a0 Very dangerous in this fog.\u00a0 My mistress wouldn\u2019t want you to take that risk.\u00a0 You should stay here tonight. \u00a0That way, you can see Miss Catherine in the morning and travel safely back to town when it\u2019s light and the fog\u2019s lifted.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was more than Adam might have hoped for.\u00a0 Maybe the fog had been a blessing after all.\u00a0 A night in this house would hopefully enable him to do a little investigating of his own, to satisfy himself as to whom exactly had climbed into that carriage with Catherine Wareham: her brother or his.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollow me,\u201d said Banks, pausing to light a candle that stood on one of the side tables, beside a glass dome in which several stuffed birds were arranged on a dead branch.<\/p>\n

Adam hesitated.\u00a0 \u201cMy horse\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll take care of your horse, sir.\u00a0 Don\u2019t trouble yourself.\u00a0 This way, if you please.\u201d<\/p>\n

The manservant led him up the grandiose but dimly lit stairwell, where Adam had first seen the delectable Miss Wareham earlier that day.\u00a0 When they reached the hallway at the top, he looked hopefully in both directions in case she should appear, but the corridor was empty, only the shadowy outlines of doorways opening off on either side, and more stuffed animals in display cases peering with their cold, dead eyes into the gloom.<\/p>\n

Banks led him to the end of the hallway and opened a door on the left.<\/p>\n

\u201cMake yourself comfortable, sir.\u201d\u00a0 Crossing to a dressing table that stood in front of the tall window, he lit a candle in a brass candlestick. \u00a0The last vestiges of evening light lent a faint, murky glow to the rectangles of glass behind him. \u00a0\u00a0He reached up and pulled the curtains\u2014heavy, red satin\u2014and the small bright flame of the candle sprang high.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll bring hot water for you and have Mrs. Rankin prepare you dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Banks pulled the door to behind him, Adam took in his gloomy surroundings.\u00a0 The room was generously proportioned.\u00a0 Fancy plasterwork decorated the high ceiling.\u00a0 Portraits of unknown people dotted the walls\u2014Sir Lester\u2019s ancestors, no doubt. \u00a0In front of the window was an ornate writing desk, and in the corner a built-in closet with a fretworked door.\u00a0 A patterned rug, in shades of deep red and purple, enveloped his feet, and there was a sofa, upholstered in the same burgundy satin used at the windows.\u00a0 Dado paneling lined the lower half of the walls, with a block-printed wallpaper above, echoing the dark shades of the rug.\u00a0 Standing centrally against the left-hand wall, and dominating the room, was a massive canopied bed, hung with drapes of red satin brocade, so large and bulky it made Adam wonder if it had been built in situ.\u00a0 Over all hung a pervasive odor of mustiness and disuse, as though no one had slept in this room in a very long time.\u00a0 The invitation to stay over had seemed like a bonus only minutes earlier, but now the oppressive atmosphere of the ugly room was making the long walk back to town seem almost attractive, even through the fog and the darkness.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long for Banks to return with the promised hot water and a towel.\u00a0 Once Adam had washed away the dust of his day in the saddle, he went back to the door.<\/p>\n

The corridor beyond his room was as still and as quiet as it had been earlier.\u00a0 He peered through the gloom.\u00a0 It was Joe he was looking for, yet he could not help but scan the darkness for any sign of the mysterious Catherine Wareham.\u00a0 He retraced his steps to the right, towards the stairs, his eyes peeled for any tell-tale sign of light behind a door, ears pricked for any sound that might hint at Joe\u2019s presence, but there was none.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d just reached the head of the stairs when Mrs. Rankin appeared at the bottom, a large wooden tray in her hands.\u00a0 It was too late to backtrack; she\u2019d already seen him.\u00a0 He could sense her freezing glare even at that distance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs there something you require, Mr. Cartwright?\u201d she asked as she reached the top of the stairwell.<\/p>\n

The hardness of her stare was disquieting, but he kept his composure and reached out to take the tray from her.<\/p>\n

\u201cAllow me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He sensed her resistance but pretended he hadn\u2019t noticed.\u00a0 After a brief, silent battle of wills, she relinquished her hold, but not the stare.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s anything you need,\u201d she told him, pointedly, \u201cyou may ring for it.\u00a0 From your room.\u201d<\/p>\n

He acknowledged her with the smallest dip of his head, turned his back on her and headed back to his room, aware of her gaze, cold and suspicious, following him through the darkness.\u00a0 It was apparent he was not welcome to wander.\u00a0 Any more snooping would have to wait until the servants were tucked up in their beds.<\/p>\n

Back in the privacy of his room, he set down the tray on the writing desk and lifted the cover from the plate.\u00a0 Steam rose from a rich meaty stew and white fluffy potatoes.\u00a0 Accompanying the plate was a glass of deep red claret.\u00a0 His stomach responded with an instant rumble of hunger and it occurred to him he\u2019d had nothing to eat since breakfast.\u00a0 Settling himself on the chair, he shook out the damask napkin and spread it on his lap, picked up the silver fork and dug into the hot meat.<\/p>\n

*<\/strong><\/p>\n

Banks slipped quietly into the room next to Adam Cartwright\u2019s. \u00a0Tonight was an important night.\u00a0 Miss Cathy needed his help, but first he had to be sure their unwanted guest had enjoyed his specially prepared dinner.\u00a0 Banks\u2019s mouth curled at one corner as he carefully eased open the door of the closet in the corner of the room and ducked inside.<\/p>\n

The closet was empty.\u00a0 He reached into the top left-hand corner, his fingers locating the small lever hidden in the shadows.\u00a0 He pulled it downwards and the back of the cupboard swung towards him, revealing the interior of the closet in the neighboring Red Room.<\/p>\n

Candlelight filtered through the fretwork of the door.\u00a0 There was no sign of movement in the room beyond.\u00a0 Banks tilted his head to scan the room through the small holes and saw the Cartwright man prone on the bed, clearly asleep.\u00a0 His eyes traveled to the desk and there was the dinner tray, the plate scraped clean and the wine glass empty.\u00a0 Banks smiled to himself.\u00a0 Hungry, were you?<\/em>\u00a0 His gaze swung back to the bed and scrutinized the sleeping figure.\u00a0 Still the man didn\u2019t stir.<\/p>\n

Backing up silently, he pushed the panel gently back into place. It caught with a light click.\u00a0 He would deal with Adam Cartwright later.\u00a0 First, he had an important appointment with his mistress.<\/p>\n

He still had reservations about Miss Cathy\u2019s plan.\u00a0 Serious reservations.\u00a0 She wouldn\u2019t heed his advice because he didn\u2019t possess the power himself.\u00a0 But he\u2019d been Sir Lester\u2019s right-hand man for almost thirty years.\u00a0\u00a0 Sir Lester had trusted him with his secrets.\u00a0 Banks had wisdom even if he didn\u2019t have power.\u00a0 Miss Cathy was clever and cunning, but she was blinkered by grief, and if the object of her plan had been anyone other than her own brother, she would have acknowledged the danger.\u00a0 Master Tom had been on the other side for two whole years.\u00a0 Yes, they had taken care to preserve his body, to bind him to the earth, but a spirit\u2019s natural inclination was to move on.\u00a0 The dead grew tired of the limitations of the flesh.\u00a0 Master Tom wanted his freedom; Banks could sense it.<\/p>\n

She thinks he still loves her with the same passion she feels for him<\/em>, he thought as he made his way down the stairs.\u00a0 She doesn\u2019t have the experience to know how the other world changes a man\u2019s soul<\/em>.\u00a0 He sighed as he crossed the hall and opened the door to the library.\u00a0 It was all because of that boy and his uncanny likeness to Master Tom.\u00a0 That was what had convinced her.\u00a0 Fate, she\u2019d called it.\u00a0 And if anyone had the power to restore a soul to a living body, it was Miss Cathy.\u00a0 Sir Lester had seen it in her from the first.\u00a0 He\u2019d said the moment he first saw those bedraggled children with the strange staring eyes, he\u2019d known.\u00a0 And he\u2019d taught them well, but it was Miss Cathy whose prowess had shone.<\/p>\n

Banks had reached the library by then, a musty-smelling room lined floor to ceiling with dusty books with faded spines.\u00a0 Passing a table on which sat a silver tray with glasses and decanters, he crossed to the right-hand wall.\u00a0 Putting his hand to an atlas of the world, he pulled it towards him.\u00a0 Instantly, the whole bookshelf moved, opening outwards, revealing the hidden room Sir Lester had named the Crypt.<\/p>\n

Miss Cathy was mixing a potion at the dresser.\u00a0 Candles burned in each corner of the room, the light jumping in different directions as the draft from the door made the flames flicker. \u00a0\u00a0She glanced up as Banks entered and her eyes burned as intensely as the flames of the candles.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh good, you\u2019re here.\u00a0 Is everything all right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust as we planned, mistress.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood.\u201d\u00a0 She gestured her head at the bed where the boy lay.\u00a0 He was awake, his eyes dull, staring blankly at nothing.\u00a0 \u201cGet him into those clothes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The clothes hung over the foot of the iron bedstead.\u00a0 Banks knew them straight away.\u00a0 After all, he had laid them out often enough for young Master Tom, before the accident stole him away.\u00a0 A pair of striped trousers and a linen shirt.\u00a0 He even knew the jacket his master would have chosen to wear with these very trousers, although there was no sign of a jacket here this night.<\/p>\n

The boy made no resistance as Banks manhandled him to a sitting position on the side of the bed, but Miss Cathy\u2019s preparations had rendered him incapable of performing even the simplest tasks, so Banks had to undress him as one would a sleepy child.\u00a0 There were symbols painted on his torso and limbs, and when Banks lifted his unresisting hand, he could see clearly the thin red line where the blade of Miss Cathy\u2019s knife had sliced across his palm.\u00a0 A tingle of excitement shivered through Banks\u2019s middle.<\/p>\n

\u201cRoll back the rug,\u201d said Miss Cathy when the boy was suitably attired.<\/p>\n

Banks, who knew the routine as well as she, did as she instructed, revealing the outline of a circle, scorched into the floorboards.\u00a0 Next, he brought the chair from the corner of the room and set it in the circle\u2019s center.<\/p>\n

The boy was guided to the chair.\u00a0 He sat obediently, head drooping, looking now, for all the world, like Master Thomas.\u00a0 Except, thought Banks, Master Tom would never have sat so quietly, unless under the influence of opium or excessive alcohol.\u00a0 Master Tom had been wild, unpredictable.\u00a0 \u00a0Dangerous.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou must hold him still,\u201d said Miss Cathy.<\/p>\n

Banks moved behind the chair and put his hands on the boy\u2019s shoulders.\u00a0 Despite his misgivings, the old familiar excitement was fizzing inside him.\u00a0 He never tired of witnessing the secret arts of darkness.<\/p>\n

Miss Cathy stepped into the circle.\u00a0 In her hands was the small lead-lined casket that held the heart of her brother.\u00a0 She placed it carefully beneath the chair. \u00a0The boy slumped, unmoving.\u00a0 Miss Cathy straightened, lifted her hands and began to chant in a low voice.\u00a0 Banks didn\u2019t understand the words she spoke, yet they resonated deep inside him; words with power to penetrate a man\u2019s soul.\u00a0 Even though there were no windows, and the door was closed, it was as if a gust of cold wind blew through the room. On the back of Banks\u2019 neck, the hairs rose tingling as the air stirred and the candlelight flickered.<\/p>\n

Miss Cathy stretched out her right hand and placed it on Joe\u2019s head. Banks sensed a shiver pass through the boy\u2019s body at her touch, as though the cold air had pierced his skin. \u00a0Miss Cathy\u2019s voice, strong now, pronounced her strange chant with authority.\u00a0 Another cold breath prickled Banks\u2019 skin, whispering between the walls.\u00a0 The boy\u2019s body jerked in his grip, muscles twitching; his head came up and he shouted in protest.\u00a0 Banks pressed him back into the chair when he would have tilted forward, the cry catching in his throat and becoming a choking sound.<\/p>\n

Miss Cathy ceased chanting, but she kept her hand pressed against the boy\u2019s head.\u00a0 She was close enough for Banks to see how hard and fast her chest rose and fell and how the flush of elation darkened her cheeks and her burning eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s here,\u201d she whispered, her gaze never leaving the anguished face of the boy whose body now jerked and strained in spasms, as though it fought a battle with itself.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s here.\u00a0 Do you hear me, Tom?\u201d<\/p>\n

The boy made a guttural choking sound and lunged forward with such ferocity, it was all Banks could do to restrain him.<\/p>\n

Miss Cathy caught the boy\u2019s face between her hands and leaned in so close, for a moment Banks thought she might kiss him.\u00a0 Her voice cajoling, as though she were addressing a petulant child, she said, \u201cJoe, listen to me.\u00a0 Remember what I told you.\u00a0 Don\u2019t fight, my dear, don\u2019t fight.\u00a0 Just let go.\u00a0 Let go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calm, persuasive, she repeated her bidding.\u00a0 Gradually the boy\u2019s struggling diminished.\u00a0 Miss Cathy caressed his face with her nose and her lips, letting her cheek brush lightly across his features.\u00a0\u00a0 Slowly, the spasms in Joe\u2019s muscles subsided to a tense trembling.<\/p>\n

\u201cTom,\u201d she whispered.\u00a0 \u201cSpeak to me, Tom.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a long moment, nothing happened.\u00a0 It hasn\u2019t worked<\/em>, thought Banks.\u00a0 It\u2019s as I thought; it\u2019s been too long<\/em>.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t certain if he was disappointed or relieved.\u00a0 But even as he wondered, the boy\u2019s body jerked rigid, and a tight voice said, \u201cCathy?\u201d<\/p>\n

It was two years since he\u2019d last heard his master\u2019s voice and even though he should have expected it, it shocked him.\u00a0 He let out a gasp.\u00a0 Miss Cathy\u2019s lips parted in a sigh of exultation.<\/p>\n

\u201cTom!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d Tom\u2019s voice demanded, angrily.<\/p>\n

She still held his face between her palms.\u00a0 \u201cI found you a body, Tom.\u00a0 I brought you back.\u00a0 Just as I promised I would.\u00a0 I said I could do it, didn\u2019t I?\u00a0 Let him go, Banks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Banks hesitated.\u00a0 Beneath his hands, Master Tom\u2019s shoulders quivered like a bowline stretched taut.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you sure, Miss Cathy?\u00a0 It might be dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s my brother, Banks.\u201d<\/p>\n

He wanted to remind her that was no safeguard.\u00a0 Master Tom\u2019s moods, even in life, had always been unpredictable, but the look on her face told him she would brook no argument.\u00a0 Reluctantly he released his grip.\u00a0 \u00a0Tom rocked backwards and forwards, hugging himself awkwardly and making noises like an animal in pain.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook.\u201d\u00a0 Miss Cathy took him by the elbow.\u00a0 \u201cCome over here and see for yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Master Tom rose to his feet, moving jerkily, as if walking were strange to him, as indeed it would be after so long.\u00a0 Miss Cathy held his arm and guided him to the fireplace, where a mirror hung over the chimney.\u00a0 As he caught sight of his reflection, Master Tom grimaced and let out a howl, a sound that was part denial, part despair.\u00a0\u00a0 Lifting his hand to his face as if he needed to be sure the mirror wasn\u2019t lying to him, Banks saw his eyes flick left, to the reflection of his other self, lifeless on the bed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m dead, Cathy.\u201d<\/p>\n

She stood beside him, as intent on his reflection as he was.\u00a0 \u201cNot anymore, my love.\u00a0 I brought you back.\u00a0 See how I found you a new home, so like your old one nobody will ever tell this wasn\u2019t always you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo!\u201d\u00a0 Tom\u2019s fist slammed into the mirror.\u00a0 There was a resounding crack and his reflection vanished in a craze of broken glass. \u00a0\u201cNot my body.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have a body anymore.\u201d\u00a0 His voice rose and there was no mistaking the anguish.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t do this to me, Cathy!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTom!\u201d\u00a0 She caught at his shoulders, turning him to face her. \u00a0Their eyes met.\u00a0 Banks saw again the silent understanding they had always shared, each of what the other was thinking.\u00a0 \u201cSee? \u00a0Do you see, Tom? \u00a0We can be together again, just as we used to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Banks watched blood trickle unheeded from Tom\u2019s knuckles and drip to the floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, you can.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to help you.\u201d\u00a0 Her hands rubbed his arms.\u00a0 She drew him towards her and took his head on her shoulder as if he were a child needing comfort, but Banks saw how his master\u2019s new body twitched and trembled, as though it struggled to contain him.<\/p>\n

Miss Cathy looked at Banks.\u00a0 Her eyes gestured at the door.\u00a0 \u201cYou can go.\u201d<\/p>\n

He hesitated, not because he wanted to be witness to their intimacy, but because his master\u2019s volatility was a tangible presence in the room.\u00a0 Miss Cathy saw only the restoration of her dead brother, but Banks knew it was not that simple.\u00a0 Master Tom\u2019s spirit had always been wild and rebellious.\u00a0\u00a0 There was no telling how much more unpredictable and resentful it had become in two unfettered years.\u00a0 He could sense danger brooding, like a broiling storm cloud waiting to wreak havoc.<\/p>\n

\u201cGo,\u201d she repeated.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll call if I need you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Master Thomas made a high-pitched whimpering sound, like an overwrought hound.\u00a0 Banks made his way to the door and reached for the lever, but as the door opened, the storm broke behind him.\u00a0 Master Thomas let out a blood-curdling howl.\u00a0 In the same instant, Miss Cathy cried out.\u00a0 Something heavy smashed into Banks, slamming his head with full force into the solid edge of the deep doorframe, with an impact that reverberated through the entire house.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6<\/strong><\/p>\n

Adam woke with a jump, instantly alert, instinct snapping his hand straight to the holster on the bed beside him.\u00a0 The angry bellow from below that had awakened him was followed by a loud thud that shook the floorboards.<\/p>\n

He sprang from the bed. The candle on the nightstand told him he had not been asleep long.\u00a0 On the desk was the tray, with his empty plate and glass, reminding him of his empty belly.\u00a0 Even now, he wondered if he had been overly cautious, tipping the food and the wine out of the window into the shrubbery below, but as he\u2019d chewed the first mouthful, the words of the hotel manager and the police officer had come back to haunt him: There are those who say Sir Lester was poisoned<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Under other circumstances, he might have rolled his eyes at gossip and rumor, but there was something about this house\u2014something unwholesome\u2014that lent uncomfortable substance to the speculation.<\/p>\n

He grabbed the candle.\u00a0 The sound had come from somewhere below his room.\u00a0 Swiftly but silently, he crossed to the bedroom door and opened it, carefully checking the corridor for any sign of the servant, Banks, or of his mysterious hostess, but there was no one.\u00a0 He ran for the stairwell, his hand shielding his precious candle flame.\u00a0 Even so, it flickered dangerously.\u00a0 Hurrying down the stairs, he could see light pooling out from an open doorway on the right-hand side of the hallway below him.<\/p>\n

The door opened into what was unmistakably a library, lined floor to ceiling with books.\u00a0 However, the light wasn\u2019t coming from the library itself, but from an opening in the right-hand wall, from a door which, when closed, would have been disguised as a bookshelf.\u00a0\u00a0 Sprawled across the threshold of this hidden entrance was the unmoving body of Banks, eyes sightless, staring at nothing.<\/p>\n

Adam hesitated.\u00a0 Pressing himself out of sight against the shelves on the other side of the doorway, he peered into the lighted room.<\/p>\n

His breath caught in his chest.\u00a0 For several seconds he was frozen in shock.<\/p>\n

There on a bed, propped on pillows, was the body of his brother.\u00a0 Joe\u2019s eyes were closed as if he were sleeping, his face waxen, hands folded like the hands of a corpse, across his chest.<\/p>\n

Apart from the body on the bed, the room was empty.\u00a0 A tall dresser took up most of one wall, filled with jars and bottles.\u00a0 There was another bed, rumpled, but unoccupied.\u00a0 The rug had been pushed back and on the floor was the scorched outline of a circle, in the middle of which stood a single chair, with a casket beneath it.\u00a0 All this Adam took in in a few brief seconds, then he was at the foot of the bed, heart racing, head spinning with shock.<\/p>\n

Something wasn\u2019t right.\u00a0 He held out the candle, the better to see the face of the man on the bed, aware that his hand was shaking.\u00a0 There was no movement from the body, not even the slightest rise and fall of the chest beneath the folded hands, and the waxen skin was tinged a sickly yellow.\u00a0 It was, he realized, a body embalmed.\u00a0 And there was something else, something about the hair, the mouth\u2026.<\/p>\n

A movement behind him made him start but he was too slow to get out of the way.\u00a0 Instead he flinched sideways.\u00a0 The blow that would have hit him square across the back of the head instead caught the left-hand side, still hard enough to send him reeling and the candlestick flying from his hand onto the bed. \u00a0Around him, the room exploded in multi-colored shards of light.<\/p>\n

Through a whirl of confusion and pain, he caught sight of the housekeeper, arm raised, an iron poker in her hand.\u00a0 Instinctively, his arm went up to block the second blow.\u00a0 Just in time.\u00a0 His free hand lashed out.\u00a0 She stumbled backwards.\u00a0 He reached up to the source of the roaring pain over his left ear and his fingers met blood.\u00a0 \u00a0But there was no time to wonder.\u00a0 The woman had regained her balance and was coming at him again, the poker raised for another attack.<\/p>\n

He tensed but the blow never came. \u00a0Instead, she let out a scream of horror, dropped her weapon and threw herself at the lifeless body that for one terrible moment he\u2019d thought was Joe.\u00a0 He spun round to see what had distracted her, smelling the smoke a fraction of a second before he saw the flames.<\/p>\n

The body was alight.\u00a0 The woman shrieked as she grabbed the pillows from beneath the lifeless head and threw them on the burning legs of the torso.<\/p>\n

Foul black smoke rose as the pillow too caught light.\u00a0 Adam lurched back from the bed as the thick cloud caught in his throat.\u00a0 It was apparent that the housekeeper\u2019s attempts were in vain.\u00a0 Whatever had been used to preserve the corpse, when the candle had been knocked from his hand, it had ignited like a torch, flames eating greedily at the lifeless body. \u00a0He grabbed the frantic woman, pulling her away from the burning bed, but she pushed him off, too intent on saving her master\u2019s body.<\/p>\n

A woman appeared in the doorway, her cry of protest preceding her as she saw the flames.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo!\u201d wailed Catherine Wareham.\u00a0 \u201cNo, no, no!\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam, coughing now as the air grew thick with putrid smoke, seized her and pushed her past the prone body of the manservant, back into the library.\u00a0 Behind him, Mrs. Rankin\u2019s screams became shriller as the flames caught at her sleeves and the front of her white linen cap.<\/p>\n

Adam made a last attempt to reach her, but Catherine Wareham caught his arm, holding him back, her pale face whiter than ever.\u00a0 \u201cNo, it\u2019s too late.\u201d<\/p>\n

A moment more and he could no longer see the housekeeper through the billowing plumes of dirty smoke and the tears stinging his eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHelp me!\u00a0 You have to help me!\u201d Miss Wareham was tugging at his arm, trying to drag him out of the library.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s my brother.\u00a0 He\u2019s gone mad.\u00a0 I can\u2019t stop him.\u00a0 He\u2019ll do something terrible, I know he will.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u00a0 What are you talking about?\u201d\u00a0 Adam stared at her in confusion, then back at the burning room.\u00a0\u00a0 His head pounded as he coughed.\u00a0 Blood trickled down the side of his face and dripped from his jaw.\u00a0 \u201cYour brother?\u00a0 That\u2019s your brother there, isn\u2019t it?\u201d And he pointed back at the burning room.\u00a0 \u201cYour brother\u2019s dead, isn\u2019t he?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t understand.\u201d\u00a0 Still she tugged at him to follow her.\u00a0 \u201cMy brother is alive again.\u00a0 In your brother\u2019s body.\u00a0 If you want to save your brother, you have to save mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was dragging him along a dark passageway towards the back of the house.\u00a0 Through a door and they were in a musty-smelling glass room, dark now apart from what little moonlight could pierce the murky roof and windows.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you talking about?\u00a0 Where is<\/em> my brother?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s outside.\u00a0 This way.\u00a0 Hurry, please.\u00a0 My brother\u2019s rash and\u2026unpredictable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ignoring his protests, she dragged him into the garden.\u00a0 A breeze had sprung up, scattering the fog, although the sky was still torn by straggly drifts of cloud, stretched like ragged shrouds across the creamy-white face of the moon.\u00a0 What little he could see of the garden in the intermittent moonlight, looked unkempt and half-wild.\u00a0 From somewhere close by, he could hear waves beating on rock.\u00a0 Stumbling on the unfamiliar terrain, he hurried after her.<\/p>\n

\u201cTom!\u201d she yelled, as she ran, her ethereal gown transforming her into a billowing ghost in the moonlight. \u00a0The hiss and roar of the waves grew louder.\u00a0 And there, where the shadow of the earth ended in a dark line against the silvery sea, was the silhouette of a man.<\/p>\n

He was kneeling with his back to them.\u00a0 Something glinted in his right hand.\u00a0 Adam, squinting through the gloom, discerned the shape of a decanter.<\/p>\n

\u201cTom!\u201d called Catherine Wareham in the same instant Adam yelled, \u201cJoe!\u201d<\/p>\n

The figure rose from his knees, turned in their direction.\u00a0 Adam had his night sight now. Even in the midnight blackness, there was no mistaking the face of his brother.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want this, Cathy,\u201d said the man on the cliff in a shaky voice that was not Joe\u2019s, as they came to a halt a few feet from where he stood, only a short distance from the dark line of the cliff edge.\u00a0 He raised the decanter to his mouth and took several deep gulps of the contents.\u00a0 Brandy.\u00a0 Adam could smell it, drifting on the night wind.\u00a0 \u201cI didn\u2019t want to come back.\u00a0 \u00a0It\u2019s not right.\u00a0 Why didn\u2019t you leave me as I was?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted you back,\u201d she told him. \u201cI wanted us to be together again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can<\/em> be together.\u201d\u00a0 He gestured with the bottle at the ocean behind him, forced to take a step sideways to steady his balance.\u00a0 \u201cWe can be together.\u00a0 Forever.\u00a0 Come with me this time, Cathy.\u201d<\/p>\n

She shook her head and held out her hand to him.\u00a0 \u201cGive me the brandy, Tom.\u00a0 You shouldn\u2019t be drinking.\u00a0 Not with everything else.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWho\u2019s he?\u201d\u00a0 Tom jerked his head in Adam\u2019s direction.\u00a0 Joe\u2019s face, Joe\u2019s eyes, yet not a hint of recognition, only suspicion and cold disdain.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s no one,\u201d she said. \u00a0\u201cNow give me the brandy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom gave a bitter laugh.\u00a0 \u201cYou always did love me too much, sister dear.\u201d\u00a0 He didn\u2019t give her the decanter but took the proffered hand instead and pulled her to him.\u00a0 Catching her around the waist so that she was pressed against his body, he lifted his other hand, the one that held the decanter, and ran his finger down her cheek.\u00a0 \u201cSo beautiful,\u201d he said, \u201cbut you and I, Cathy, we were never meant for this world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThings will be different now,\u201d she insisted, a note of desperation clearly discernible in her voice, \u201cnow you\u2019re properly alive again.\u00a0 We can leave this place.\u00a0 Move away.\u00a0 We can start afresh.\u00a0 Be whomsoever we wish to be.\u00a0 No one will know us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe<\/em> knows.\u201d\u00a0 Tom cast an accusing glance at Adam.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not important.\u00a0 We can deal with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d said Adam, trying to ignore the pounding in his head and a rising nausea in his middle.\u00a0 \u201cNobody\u2019s going anywhere.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what ridiculous game you\u2019re playing, Miss Wareham, but Joe\u2019s coming back with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man who should have been his brother frowned.\u00a0 \u201cJoe?\u201d<\/p>\n

Catherine Wareham lifted her hand and turned her brother\u2019s face\u2014his<\/em> brother\u2019s face\u2014to look at her again.\u00a0 \u201cHe might have been your twin, Tom.\u00a0 That\u2019s why he was the perfect match.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a moment, Tom and said nothing, just stared at her.\u00a0 Then he looked back at Adam and his face twisted.\u00a0 \u201cYour brother\u2014you\u2014me\u2014all outsmarted by my sister.\u00a0 My clever, clever sister.\u00a0 She has this way with men, you see.\u00a0 She bewitches them.\u201d\u00a0 He turned back to his sister, his finger once again caressing her cheek.\u00a0 \u201cSo, so beautiful.\u00a0 Even now, she tempts me to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d said his sister.\u00a0 \u201cStay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom looked to Adam once again.\u00a0 \u201cBut the pleasures of the body are nothing to the unfettered freedom of a soul no longer tied to the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Catherine Wareham shook her head and tightened her grip on her brother.\u00a0 \u201cNo, Tom.\u00a0 I bound you to this place, don\u2019t you see?\u00a0 Now the enchantments I used are broken.\u00a0 If you leave me now we may lose each other forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u00a0 You and I, we know the shadowlands too well.\u00a0 We will find each other, wherever we are.\u00a0 We will be together always.\u201d<\/p>\n

He took a step backwards.\u00a0 She tensed in his arms, resisting, but he had the advantage.\u00a0 Her voice rose, sharp and urgent.<\/p>\n

\u201cTom!\u00a0 Don\u2019t!\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam, seeing Tom\u2019s intention in the same instant, lunged forward, right hand grabbing the back of the other man’s waistband.\u00a0 The edge of the cliff was inches away.\u00a0 The relentless boom of the waves as they pounded the rock, a hundred feet below, grew suddenly loud.\u00a0 Small flecks of whiteness, half seen, flickered like will-of-the-wisps in the empty blackness beneath him.\u00a0 Further out, the water shimmered like a waiting ghost beneath the pale face of the silent moon, as they teetered on the edge of the land.<\/p>\n

Tom laughed and threw his weight backwards. \u00a0Catherine gasped.\u00a0 Adam\u2019s clenched fingers tightened on the band around Tom\u2019s middle.\u00a0 Glass glinted in the moonlight as the decanter flew from Tom\u2019s hand, disappearing into the darkness beneath them.\u00a0 With his free hand, Adam made a grab at Catherine Wareham but Tom\u2019s momentum swung her out of reach.\u00a0 Adam saw her face, pale as the moon, her eyes and mouth dark stains of horror in the whiteness, as the grass and earth at the edge of the cliff crumbled beneath her feet.<\/p>\n

Tom\u2019s weight went with her and for a split second it seemed to Adam he had either to let go his hold and watch his brother plummet to his death along with the woman, or hang on and topple with them, but in that same instant, Tom\u2019s footing gave way too and with it, his balance.\u00a0 He lunged sideways.\u00a0 Instinctively, Adam held on, hauling with all his strength, and the two of them tumbled, sprawling together on the top of the cliff.\u00a0 It was only then Adam saw that Catherine Wareham was gone.<\/p>\n

Tom let out a dismal howl and tried to scramble onto his hands and knees, but Adam pushed him back to the ground, rolling on top of him to pin him down.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh no you don\u2019t,\u201d he muttered through gritted teeth.\u00a0 \u201cI want my brother back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me go!\u201d\u00a0 Tom wrenched free, lunging at Adam\u2019s face with his hand and forcing him aside.\u00a0 Once more, Tom tried to get to his feet and once more Adam dragged him down.\u00a0 Grunting and panting, they rolled in the damp grass, struggling for supremacy.\u00a0 Adam had the advantage of size and weight, but the blow to his head had weakened him, and the imposter in his brother\u2019s body fought like a wild animal, tooth and claw.\u00a0\u00a0 There was no time to raise his gaze and take stock of how close they were to the edge.\u00a0 With every squirm and roll, he expected the ground to disappear from under him, to find himself hurtling through the darkness onto the black teeth below.<\/p>\n

Then, somehow, he had Tom face down in the grass.\u00a0 Straddling him, he grabbed the other man\u2019s left arm and twisted it up behind his back, at the same time pinning his opponent\u2019s flailing right hand to the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cTalk to me, Joe,\u201d he said, panting for breath.<\/p>\n

Beneath him, Tom struggled.\u00a0 \u201cCathy!\u201d he bellowed.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re my brother!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m Thomas Wareham.\u00a0 Let me go!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d said Adam.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m not going to let you go until you talk sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom let out a cry of frustrated fury.\u00a0 \u201cCathy!\u201d he yelled again.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo!\u201d\u00a0 Tom\u2019s wail of despair shook the night around them.\u00a0 \u201cLet me go.\u00a0 I have to find her.\u00a0 Please, let me go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not letting you go.\u00a0 You\u2019re my brother and I\u2019m not<\/em> letting you go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Desperation cracked in Adam\u2019s voice.\u00a0 He could not hold down the wild creature beneath him for much longer.\u00a0 Not with his head spinning and his stomach rolling.\u00a0 His gun was at his waist.\u00a0 A blow to the side of the head with the butt of his pistol might render the other man senseless\u2026but it might just kill him too.<\/p>\n

The body beneath him arched and went rigid.\u00a0 Tom let out an unearthly cry. Unnerved, Adam almost released his hold without meaning to.\u00a0 An icy blast of air drove the breath from his lungs as something formless and blacker than the night rose out of the pinioned body and seemed to pass right through him, colder than death.\u00a0 Then it was gone, vanishing out to sea with a sound like the grating sigh of a retreating wave.<\/p>\n

The night was suddenly still.\u00a0 Adam drew breath on a sharp gasp.\u00a0 It was several seconds before the world reassembled itself around him.\u00a0 He was shaking, every part of his body trembling violently.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoe?\u201d\u00a0 The word emerged as a shaky whisper from his throat.\u00a0 He dropped his gaze in sudden dread, all too aware now of the lack of resistance from the body beneath him.\u00a0 Joe lay still.\u00a0 Too still.\u00a0 Dark smudges of blood broke the pallor of his skin.\u00a0 Moonlight glinted on eyes as blank and unseeing as the eyes of the dead creatures in the hall of Bannam House.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoe!\u201d\u00a0 Grabbing his brother\u2019s shoulders, Adam shook him.\u00a0 \u201cJoe, wake up!\u00a0 Wake up!\u201d\u00a0 He lowered his ear to his brother\u2019s chest in a vain attempt to discern a heartbeat, but all he could hear was the pounding of the blood inside his own throbbing head\u2026or was it the pounding of the waves on the rocks below?\u00a0 His body sagged, his brother\u2019s name on his lips fading into a dying moan of despair.\u00a0 \u201cNo, Joe.\u00a0 No, no, no\u2026..\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

7<\/strong><\/p>\n

The stink of smoke still hung in the air, drifting towards him on the breeze from the sea as he made his way once more along the pitted driveway, towards the blackened ruin of the house.<\/p>\n

The roof had gone, and the wooden verandah with it, but the brick walls remained.\u00a0 Empty holes gaped where once windows had been, and the last remnants of the front door clung drunkenly to the iron hinges.\u00a0\u00a0 Adam stopped below it and peered up at the somber remains of the once-grand fa\u00e7ade, a shiver prickling the hairs of his back.\u00a0 There could be no one still alive, could there?\u00a0 His eyes scanned the empty blanks of the windows, but nothing moved, no one stirred.\u00a0 The stone steps that led up to the door were still intact.\u00a0 Adam Cartwright was a pragmatic man, but even so he could not bring himself to climb them and peer inside the gutted remains of the hall.\u00a0 Instead, he turned right and followed a path around the side of the building, to the back of the house.<\/p>\n

He was in an overgrown garden that ran down to the edge of the cliff.\u00a0 He knew it, of course.\u00a0 There, where the grass fell away to the sea was where he had wrestled with his brother in the darkness and felt the ghost of Thomas Wareham pass through him with the coldness of death, and where he had looked down on his brother\u2019s lifeless body, eyes as blank and unseeing as the burned-out windows of Bannam House.\u00a0 And where Catherine Wareham had fallen to her death.\u00a0 Despite the warmth of the day, he shivered as he recalled her face, frozen in the horror.<\/p>\n

Men\u2019s voices had roused him in the grey light of that early dawn; the police sergeant and the firemen, alerted by the dancing redness in the night sky.\u00a0 He\u2019d come round, head pounding, nausea accompanying every movement. \u00a0But worse than all the pain and sickness in the world was the sight of Joe\u2019s lifeless form beside him.\u00a0\u00a0 What followed was still muddled and disjointed in his memory.\u00a0 To begin with, the police had thought Joe was Thomas Wareham. \u00a0It had taken Adam all the strength he could muster to explain coherently all that had happened and persuade them the body in the grass was not Thomas Wareham\u2019s but Joseph Cartwright\u2019s.<\/p>\n

The wagon ride back to town was a blur, his mind too numb to accept that Joe was gone.\u00a0 Only when the cart had pulled up in front of the undertakers and two policemen made to lift Joe\u2019s body out of the wagon and up the steps into the building did the stark reality of the situation hit him like a physical blow.\u00a0 Jumping down from the cart, he\u2019d tried to grab hold of Joe so they could not take him, but he\u2019d lost more blood than he\u2019d reckoned and the world dipped away into a dark, buzzing mist.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t lose consciousness entirely.\u00a0 He recalled arms helping to lift him back into the wagon, and even though he wanted to go with Joe, he didn\u2019t have the strength to resist.\u00a0 Someone gave him whiskey to drink.\u00a0 The world around him swam back into focus.\u00a0 The sergeant\u2019s face was peering into his own.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry about your brother, Mr. Cartwright, but he\u2019s in good hands now.\u00a0 Josiah Emberton is the best undertaker in town.\u00a0 Now, do you want the doctor to look you over?\u00a0 That\u2019s a nasty cut on your head there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d\u00a0 Adam gave a small shake of his head.\u00a0 \u201cJust take me back to the Palace Hotel.\u00a0 I\u2019ll get cleaned up there and I\u2019ll be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam\u2019s appearance turned some heads as he made his way through the hotel lobby and climbed the stairs, as painfully slowly as an old man, to the sanctuary of his room.\u00a0 There he leaned on the washstand and stared blankly at the bruised and bloodied face peering back at him, pale as a ravaged ghost.\u00a0 But neither the state of his face, nor his ruined clothing, stained with mud and grass and stiff with dried blood, seemed of import.\u00a0\u00a0 All that mattered was that Joe was dead.\u00a0 His mind could absorb nothing else.\u00a0 Even as he stood staring at his own shattered reflection, the undertaker would no doubt be measuring his brother for a coffin.\u00a0 And then he\u2014Adam\u2014would have to bury his brother.<\/p>\n

And he would have to wire Pa and Hoss.\u00a0 They had to know.\u00a0 Thinking about them, he almost crumbled. He swallowed the sob of despair as it rose in his throat, forced himself upright and squared his shoulders.\u00a0 This wouldn\u2019t do.\u00a0 Not while there was Joe to take care of.\u00a0 He must pull himself together, clean himself up and get back to the undertakers.\u00a0 And then the telegraph office.\u00a0 What should he say?\u00a0 How could a few short words ever convey the terrible enormity of what had happened?<\/p>\n

It took him a long time to clean the blood from his face and hair and even that small task exhausted him so that he slumped in a chair to gather the strength to put on clean clothes.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t aware he\u2019d fallen asleep until the knock at the door roused him again.\u00a0 Even then he didn\u2019t move; the effort seemed too great.\u00a0 But whoever was outside the room was persistent, repeating the knock and accompanying the summons with an urgent plea.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Cartwright?\u00a0 Are you there?\u00a0 It\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n

He might have continued to ignore the bidding, but it was a child\u2019s voice and that piqued his otherwise numbed curiosity.\u00a0 He rose laboriously, pausing to let the sluggish blood reach his brain and steady the spinning there, and opened the door.<\/p>\n

A dark-headed boy with flushed cheeks met his own dulled gaze with earnest brown eyes, breathing hard, as if he had run fast to be there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m Mr. Emberton\u2019s boy.\u00a0 Mr. Emberton, the undertaker,\u201d he added, seeing the blankness in Adam\u2019s expression.\u00a0 \u201cHe needs you over at the office.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam nodded, frowning. \u00a0\u201cYes, I meant\u2026I\u2026fell asleep.\u201d Out of habit, he looked round for his hat, but it wasn\u2019t there. Of course it wasn\u2019t.\u00a0 It was now no more than a small pile of ashes in what remained of Bannam House.\u00a0 \u201cAll right.\u00a0 Show me the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

When they reached the stairwell, the boy paused, looking back at Adam and furrowing his brow.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you all right, sir?\u00a0 You can lean on me if you need to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m fine,\u201d said Adam, even though he knew he wasn\u2019t.\u00a0 Little more than stubborn pride was holding him upright and propelling him forward.\u00a0 Fortunately, the undertaker\u2019s office was not far, and he made it without crumpling in an undignified heap in the middle of the street.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn there,\u201d said the boy, pointing at a door opening off the main office.<\/p>\n

A smell of sawdust, laced with a faint trace of alcohol hung in the air. Adam knocked on the door the boy had pointed out, and braced himself, not sure what would be behind the door, but knowing this was a place of death.<\/p>\n

Mr. Emberton was there, and another man.\u00a0 On a slab in front of them, Joe\u2019s prone body lay unmoving.\u00a0 Adam knew very little about the procedures employed by an undertaker, but it seemed odd that Mr. Emberton had bothered to cover a dead body with woolen blankets.\u00a0 His mind still numb, he stared blankly until the undertaker said, \u201cMr. Cartwright, this is Doctor Simmons.\u00a0 I called him over because\u2026well, it seems your brother is, in fact, still alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then Adam passed out.<\/p>\n

*<\/strong><\/p>\n

There was in the middle of the overgrown garden a battered table and some garden chairs.\u00a0 Here he sat down, his gaze fixed on the far horizon, but his thoughts all on what had happened here in this place.\u00a0 For several minutes he sat unmoving, then a small tremor, like a shudder, went through him and he leaned forward on the table, dropping his face into his hands.\u00a0 A moment later, he shivered again as if a cold wind had whispered through the garden.\u00a0 Yet nothing stirred the long grass.\u00a0 Frowning, he raised his face and turned his head to look back at the ruined house behind him.\u00a0 That was silent too.\u00a0 Hunching his shoulders, he let his gaze wander back to the sea, his eyes moving intently along the edge of the cliff as if they searched for something only he could see.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam.\u201d<\/p>\n

He jumped and spun instantly in his seat.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoe!\u00a0 You gave me the fright of my life!\u00a0 What are you doing here?\u00a0 You\u2019re supposed to be resting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo are you, remember?\u201d\u00a0 Joe sat down on the chair to the right of his brother.\u00a0 \u201cAre you all right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m fine.\u00a0 You startled me, that\u2019s all.\u00a0 Why did you follow me?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was worried about you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam laughed at that, but there was no humor in the sound.<\/p>\n

Joe was watching him from eyes that were at once puzzled and anxious.\u00a0 The bruises Adam had inflicted on him as they\u2019d wrestled on this very cliff were fading now and he looked almost back to his old self.\u00a0 \u201cWhat are you doing here?\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam turned his eyes back to the horizon, let them rove over the glimmering blueness of the ocean, then back across the overgrown garden.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just needed to come back, see this place one more time.\u00a0 Make sure it really is\u2026empty.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a moment, Joe said nothing, then he too turned his gaze to the sea and back towards the blackened shell of the house.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t really talked much about what happened, have we?\u201d<\/p>\n

Something went tight in Adam\u2019s chest.\u00a0 A lump formed behind his breastbone.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam?\u201d\u00a0 Joe\u2019s hand was on his arm.\u00a0 \u201cAre you sure you\u2019re all right?\u00a0 You don\u2019t look so good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m fine.\u201d\u00a0 Adam\u2019s voice sounded strained, even to himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where we had coffee,\u201d said Joe after a pause.\u00a0 \u201cAnd cake.\u00a0 Here in the garden.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a broken snail shell by the foot of the rusted table leg.\u00a0 Chickweed and tufts of grass sprouted in the cracks of the stone.\u00a0 Adam had time to scrutinize them in detail before Joe spoke again, his voice flat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI shouldn\u2019t have gone with her.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lump in Adam\u2019s chest shrank a little.\u00a0 He raised his head and looked at his brother.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019ll be the day, when Little Joe Cartwright says no to a pretty woman.\u201d \u00a0Seeing the protest formulating in Joe\u2019s face, he forced a smile to his own.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s all right.\u00a0 I found her attractive too.\u00a0 If she\u2019d invited me for coffee, I\u2019d definitely have gone with her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe looked relieved.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t your fault.\u00a0 She drugged you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe nodded, as if to himself.\u00a0 \u201cYeah. I wasn\u2019t expecting that.\u201d\u00a0 He frowned at the table.\u00a0 \u201cI just wish I could remember.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam though about the body of Thomas Wareham, the strange room with the circle on the floor and the candles in each corner, the screams of the housekeeper as she burned, and wished he didn\u2019t remember.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I was ill and that she was just looking after me.\u00a0 Being kind to me.\u201d\u00a0 Joe\u2019s eyes followed his brother\u2019s to where his forearm rested on the chair.\u00a0 Where his wrist emerged from his sleeve, a faded mark\u2014a triangle with a line through it\u2014was still faintly distinguishable.\u00a0 No amount of scrubbing had removed the strange marks from his body entirely; it seemed only time would do that.\u00a0 He tugged his sleeve lower to cover it, but another shiver had already gone through Adam\u2019s body.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you sure you\u2019re feeling all right?\u201d Joe asked him.<\/p>\n

Adam got up from his chair.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s just this place,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cWe should get away from here.\u201d<\/p>\n

He could tell by the way Joe looked at him that the unease was visible in his face.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing here anymore.\u00a0 Everyone\u2019s gone,\u201d Joe said, as if to reassure him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know.\u201d\u00a0 Adam made a feeble attempt at a smile.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s just a house, and a house can\u2019t be evil.\u00a0 Even so, let\u2019s get away.\u201d<\/p>\n

He started back along the path to the front of the building.\u00a0 There, by the rusted gate, was his horse, and Joe\u2019s beside it.\u00a0 Normality seeped like warmth through his body.\u00a0 Joe\u2019s right<\/em>, he thought, there\u2019s nothing here anymore.\u00a0 Everyone\u2019s gone.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

Joe, a few paces behind, halted suddenly.\u00a0 \u201cHey!\u201d he called.<\/p>\n

In spite of himself, Adam jumped.\u00a0 His heart pounded in his chest.\u00a0 \u201cWhat?\u201d he said, spinning round.<\/p>\n

Joe had stopped below the overgrown steps to the front door.\u00a0 \u201cNothing,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cJust kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKids?\u201d\u00a0 The lump was back in Adam\u2019s chest.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, just kids.\u201d\u00a0 Joe turned and caught up with his brother. \u201cStrange-looking kids.\u00a0 Must be playing.\u00a0 Run off now.\u00a0 Just saw them looking out at us from that window over there.\u00a0 A couple of kids with pale faces and big, staring eyes.\u00a0 What is it, Adam?\u201d\u00a0 His hand came out and gripped Adam\u2019s arm as if he thought his brother might faint.\u00a0 \u201cYou look as if you\u2019d seen a ghost.\u201d<\/p>\n

The End<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thanks for reading.\u00a0 If you enjoyed this story. please consider leaving a short review to let the author know what you thought.\u00a0 Comments welcome via PM too.<\/em><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

Tags:<\/strong> \u00a0Adam Cartwright, brothers, ghost, Gothic Horror, Joe \/ Little Joe Cartwright, Poison, SAS, SJS, Suspense<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary:\u00a0 What is the sinister secret of the mysterious house on the cliff?\u00a0 Adam and Joe are about to find out – the hard way.<\/p>\n

WC: 16,570\u00a0 Rating: T<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":19868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-full-width-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[23,41,32,29,40],"tags":[673],"class_list":["post-19844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drama","category-hurtcomfort","category-mystery","category-halloween","category-challenges","tag-ouamdc","wpcat-23-id","wpcat-41-id","wpcat-32-id","wpcat-29-id","wpcat-40-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/house.jpg?fit=300%2C168&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}