Page 16 (1/2)

Sarah uers were going to stop her on the street to ask about the bones

But no one did

She reached the house and was pleased to see that no one was there Not a car remained She hurried up the steps to the porch, fitted her key in the lock, turned it and entered

The house greeted her with an eerie silence

"Hello? Anyone here?" she called, even though she already knew everyone was gone Her voice sounded far too soft and tentative, she thought, so she cleared her voice and called out again "Hello? Is anyone here?"

Unsurprisingly, there was no answer She walked through to the back and saw that the library was indeed empty

Tentatively, she h of relief No bones They had been removed

She walked on into the kitchen On the counter there was a note fro with the different experts and agencies He also said they would probably be in and out over the next few days, just towithold guy, despite holding a job many people considered to be ator, discovering clues in the bodies of the deceased, just as detectives sought them on the streets

She walked back down the hallway toward the front door and froze The door was open, and an oldthere

He was so thin he was practically skeletal

Just like the bones in the walls

Was he real?

He walked closer to her She could see that his cheeks were hollow There were only a few silver tufts of hair on his head, and his nose looked like a narrow perch

To her astonished

What on earth was going on? Could he actually be a ghost? But she didn’t believe in ghosts

Did she?

5

T he man had to be real

He also had to be ninety if he was a day

"Young lady," he said, taking another step forward, supporting hi lady, I am Terrence Griffin the Third How do you do?"

He was real, she thought in silent gratitude, and he couldn’t possibly offer her any hared to respond, her voice sounding like a croak She was angry with herself She’d left the door open The discovery of the bones in her walls was bound to bring out the sightseers, and it was likely that a serial killer was at work in the city, and like an idiot, she had left the door open

"I’ve come to talk to you," he said His voice was dry and low, like the rustle of leaves

"Okay," she said

"Because you have to know the truth about your house It’s evil"

"A house can’t be evil," she said, staring firmly at him

"Think whatever you want, but people do evil here because evil was done here before," he told her gravely

She didn’t knohat to do He was so old and looked so frail that she didn’t want to upset him, but his intensity and the craziness of his words were disturbing She fought the urge to scream, push hi the police

In the end she just kept standing there, still staring at him