‘Thacker knew everything,’ Elle says. ‘That people become
ghosts, that they can appear to the living, oh and there’s a great beyond we
can move on to.’
‘Spiffing,’
Graham says. ‘So what next?’
‘Well I
don’t know about Teague,’ Yates says. Being visible to the living world seems
to have calmed him. We’ve given proof to his delusions. ‘But I do know where
I’d like to go.’
‘We’re all
ears,’ I say.
‘I’d like
to visit my stepfather,’ he says after a deep breath. ‘All these years, I’ve
been waiting for him to visit. Sitting here waiting for him. I wanted to show
him some of what he showed me in life.’
Graham and
Elle don’t ask what happened to Yates. I’m sure they can guess.
‘What do
you have planned?’ I ask.
‘I’ve been
thinking about it for years,’ he replies. ‘How I’d scare him, make him feel
small. But I’m a coward. I don’t think I ever could.’
‘That’s
where we come in,’ says Elle. ‘I’ve always wanted to do some haunting.’
Graham’s
been fiddling at the back of the room. ‘There!’ he says.
He’s
holding something in his hands. Cobbled together from spare bits of electrical
equipment and what looks like a video game controller, he presents it like a
prize.
‘I call it
the de-ghostifier,’ he says, triumphantly. ‘Means you can be visible all the
time.’
‘If you
ever have a kid, let hubby do the naming,’ Elle remarks with a blank face.
Yates
raises his head at her words, but doesn’t say anything. Graham just looks
sheepish.
‘So where
does your stepfather live?’ I ask to break the tension.
‘If he’s
never moved, he’ll be in London still,’ he says. ‘He always had this place, and
a penthouse in the city.’
‘Penthouse?’
Elle says.
‘Oh he’s
very rich,’ Yates says. ‘He always has been. But it took something from him. It’s
all he ever cared about.’
‘Then let’s
go show him who’s boss,’ Elle says standing up. ‘We need a battleplan.’
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