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“Did you see anyone else?”

“No I was but five or six steps from the bottom when I noticed his body and realised he was dead” She shuddered visibly as she recalled his grisly expression “His face was ashen, the texture a powdery white His hair practically stood on end His body lay twisted and contorted like the corkscrew branches of aOver the years, I have seen many distasteful emotions in his eyes, but I have never seen terror”

Tristan shuffled uncoitation “Had his heart given out? Did the fall kill hi your disguise? I find I cannot concentrate I cannot absorb what you’re telling me when your face is obscured”

His coed her away from the morbid scene back to the present She wondered if he doubted her account Did he i?

“Forgive me I knohen one intends to deceive it is often reflected in the eyes,” s

he said, although she had failed to notice it in Tristan’s Forcing steady fingers, she removed her mask and placed it on the bench next to his “You only need to look into mine to know I speak the truth”

For soaze drifted over her face, but he chose not to look into her eyes “What was the cause of death?”

“Samuel suffered a broken neck Apparently, death was instantaneous”

Tristan rubbed his chin in silent conteh you did not hear a sound,” he eventually said, “he could still have tripped and fallen What makes you believe someone murdered him?”

Just thinking about her tih her “In the two days prior, we experienced various unexplainable events — strange noises, the sound of footsteps pacing the landing in the dead of night And then there was a spate of accidents The horse Samuel had ridden for years threw hi outside when two tiles slipped fro his head byforced hiht and pushed him down the stairs”

Tristan leant closer, his interest in the topic evident “So? You cannot mean an animal, which leads me to conclude you mean a …” Even an erratic wave of his hand failed to help him say the word

“A ghost A phantom The spirit of his first wife”

“Surely you’re not serious?”

Raising her chin, she atteh she knew her assumptions were evidence of an unstable mind “I understand it is hard for you to co the way his bottom lip almost touched his chin “Had our situations been reversed, I would have tried to find a rational explanation for the sinister events But I have witnessed things, terrible things that defy all logic and reason”

Tristan sat back “What sort of terrible things?”