The House of Secrets. Terry Lynn Thomas

tell me. I give you my solemn word that I will not send you to an asylum. I won’t breathe a word of what you say to anyone. I will treat our communication as sacrosanct. I know you experience things.

      ‘Zeke knows there’s no way you could have shot Jack Bennett. He’s worried about you. In fact, he approached me about your psychic ability. He thinks you may be a medium. I know that you took a terrible fall off the second-storey landing at Bennett House. Did you know an incident like that can trigger latent psychic abilities?’

      ‘I didn’t,’ I said. ‘Does Zeke believe your theory?’

      ‘Zeke is an educated, open-minded man, with a healthy dose of scepticism that will keep me honest. You need to talk to him. He wants to know why you experience these things. You can’t blame him for that, can you? If you were in his shoes, wouldn’t you want as much information as possible?’

      I didn’t get a chance to answer. The door burst open and Minna rushed in, her hands clenched into fists, her eyes wild, her breathing hard and fast.

      ‘What’s happened?’

      ‘Matthew, I swear I’m going mad.’

      Matthew got up and went to Minna. He put his arm around her, and led her to the small love seat in the corner of his office.

      ‘I’ve seen him, Matthew. I swear on my life that your brother is alive.’ Minna sat down in the chair and buried her hands in her face. ‘He’s going to kill you. He’s coming after us.’

      ‘Minna, Gregory’s dead.’ Dr Geisler met my eyes. I motioned towards the door. He nodded his head. I flung the door open, ready to flee to the safety of my own room, but I collided with Bethany. We almost toppled over, but Bethany remained upright and held me fast.

      ‘I’m so sorry,’ I said. ‘I didn’t realize—’ I didn’t realize you were eavesdropping.

      ‘I wanted to see my husband, but Minna—’ The skin on her cheeks blossomed into an unbecoming shade of red.

      ‘She’s quite shaken.’

      ‘That woman is going to be the end of us.’ She shivered and rubbed her arms. ‘She’s clearly worked herself into a frenzy. Do you know what’s wrong?’

      ‘She mentioned someone named Gregory. I thought it best I leave.’

      ‘Good thinking. I need to speak to them. I’m sorry you had to witness that, Sarah. My sitting room is just a few doors down from your room. I’ve got shelves of books in there. Help yourself. Borrow anything you like. Lunch will be served in half an hour. I’ll see you then.’

      She rapped twice on the door and let herself in.