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‘I cannot believe it!’ shrieked a high-pitched female voice It shocked me so much that I jerked and spilled tea all over

Sophia’s eyes widened and she dashed over with a cloth ‘Is so the matter?’

The ghost glared at her ‘I’ll say so’s thethis gerrl the best china?’

Winter watchedhis eyes ‘Who is it, Ivy? Who do you see?’

His host put her hands on her hips ‘Well, that’s hardly going to help, is it?’ She tutted Of course; where there was a ghost, there was bound to be tutting ‘My name is Hetty, for his information’

I licked my lips ‘Uh, a woman called Hetty’

Sophia stopped what she was doing and stared at me ‘Great-aunt Hetty?’

Winter coughed ‘Recently, Ivy has discovered that she can communicate with the dead’

‘And she’s talking to Hetty?’ Sophia’s gaze swung fro to Hetty?’

Hetty herself rolled her eyes ‘She never was the brightest gerrl’

George looked ’

Sophia started to back away very, very slowly ‘I don’t believe it,’ she whispered

‘Tell that gerrl that she should believe it I’ve been haunting her for years I know everything there is to know about her I’ll give away all her secrets’ Hetty smacked her lips with self-satisfaction ‘I knohat happened at the Pickwick’

I patted s of tea ‘It’s lovely to meet you, Hetty But this really isn’t the time’

‘Not the tierrl!’

‘Apparently there’s a queue’

She glared at iven special treatment’

‘Come and find me later,’ I told her I couldn’t cope with the expression on Winter’sall this up for some underhand reason of my own or I was someone to be avoided at all costs

Hetty opened her lare ‘Come and find host pass over ever again’ I aler quite the lady she was pretending to be, spat in one,’ I said to no one in particular

Sophia stared at me ‘What did she say?’

Uh… ‘She wasn’t very iiven errl a lot’ I made an attempt to roll my rs in the same way as Hetty

Sophia breathed out Fro to believeelse? Why is she here?’

Winter took over, briefly explaining the situation whereby ghosts wantedtheed Brutus out of the way and got up to pour his own tea

‘I never ed aside ‘She died before I came on the scene’ He seemed unperturbed by all this Maybe that hat ca shocked you any more

Sophia looked back atelse?’

I wondered if she really wanted to know I shrugged It was hard to believe that Winter’s mother could have any skeletons in her closet to worry about ‘She said she knew your secrets and all about Pickwick’ I shrugged ‘That was about it’

Sophia’s brow creased ‘Pickwick? I don’t have the faintest idea what that is’

George chuckled ‘It’s not a what It’s a where’