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Chapter One

FROM THE FRONT, it was easy to see that the house had once been handsoht stand inside a barrier of weeds and its blank, shuttered s lect could be reversed There was hope for the place, and the hope was sy the panels of the door

Despite the paint-spattered overalls it was clear to see that thestrong, tanned foreared about the front gate certainly thought he ood snap

So a casual observeraverted by new and enthusiastic owners ould restore the house to glory

Approach the rear of the house, however, and hope would not be the doardens was one thing, the splinteredframes and sporadic roof tiles another, but the eye was inevitably drawn to so in the su a square-shaped hole in the patio Beside the tape stood a temporary tent, in and out of which people in plastic overalls came and went

A helicopter, hovering overhead, had a good position fros Its occupants must have seen an attractive wo new patio doors with a tea tray, which she set down on a loall before conferring privately with one of the plastic-overalled crew

She looked up, so quickly it was almost over before it could be perceived, then ran back inside

‘Did you get her?’ The helicopter co-pilot’s tone was anxious ‘That’s the first time we’ve seen her all day’

‘I think so Just’

‘Great So edition’

That sa up at the helicopter while a forensics expert stood beside her, was in all the next day’s papers

‘CURSE OF HARVILLE HALL’

Jenna Myatt read the Gazette’s headline aloud as she sat at the kitchen table waiting for the coffee to brew

‘More tabloid bollocks,’ said her lover and front-door-painter, Jason, with disressively into a basin and beat them to within an inch of their life with a fork

‘You don’t think this place is cursed then?’ Jenna put aside the paper with a sigh

‘How can I?’ He turned to her, his head on one side ‘It’s where we met’

‘You’re right’ She sest bit of luck in years’

‘Mine,a charmed life’

‘Yeah, well, it was losing its charm rapidly, or I wouldn’t have come here’

‘From LA talent scout to Bledburn hers Hero to zero Sublime to ridic—’

‘All right, I get your point’ Jenna’s tone was slightly frosty ‘And it’s none of those things, because it was my choice to leave LA and Talent Teas yet In fact, I’ht call bloody loaded’

‘The new Lady Harville’ Jason whipped up the egg so vigorously the yellow mixture slopped over the side of the basin

‘I’ht Lawrence Harville’s house, that’s all It doesn’t iven what a dodgy crowd they’ve turned out to be’

‘Even dodgier than their lodger,’ said Jason with a grin