He sounded almost dreamlike. Zeb said, “Uh, right, yes. Er, how is Dash?”
“I fear the dear fellow is suffering greatly.”
“Poor Colonel Dash,” Jessamine said. “But that is the nature of the affliction, isn’t it? One carries one’s past, always, and at any time, it can return to strike you down.”
They finished the meal in silence.
Wynn retired to the drawing room, inviting them all to join him. Zeb didn’t think he could bear another evening in there. He had the fidgety feeling he got when he couldn’t get out of places, which meant he’d be twitching his feet and fiddling with things all evening, which meant Bram would shout at him, and he didn’t want to be the person who set off the next familial explosion.
“Join me for a smoke, dear boy,” Hawley suggested.
At least it meant being outside and upright. They went on to the front steps, where Zeb shuddered against the cold. “I don’t know what’s worse, the mist or those gaspers.”
Hawley puffed reeking smoke, reducing the quality of the air around them even further. “The gaspers aren’t preventing you or Elise from going home. I am annoyed. I really did hope to see the back of the lot of you: you, your dullard brother, and that witch.”
“It’s entirely mutual, believe me. I’d love to show the lot ofyou a clean pair of heels.”
“You’ve never had clean shoes in your life,” Hawley pointed out. “I trust you intend to depart when you can, and will restrain your natural charm around Jessamine until that happy day. Tell me, Zebby, what happened with Elise last night?”
“In what sense?”
“You know very well. What she said she saw.”
“She said she saw a ghost,” Zeb said. “And before you say anything sarcastic, you claimed you saw writing on the wall.”
“I did see it.”
“Then I expect she saw a ghost.”
Hawley exhaled a long stream of smoke in lieu of reply. Zeb was weighing up the relative merits of freezing to death out here or sitting inside with everyone else when his cousin spoke again. “Do you believe in the Wyckham curse?”
“If you ask me, the Wyckhamsarethe curse.”
“I’m serious,” Hawley said. “There are some odd things happening in this house. That writing. That damned ghost of Wynn’s.”
“It’s not his ghost. It’s fromThe Monastery.”
“Wynn has evidence that Walter basedThe Monasteryon what he saw here. He showed me letters from two of Walter’s wives, letters from his father. People have seen it—the ghost—for years. And this cursed place—” Hawley turned abruptly. “For God’s sake, can you not feel it? Can you not feel something wrong?”
“Oh, don’t you start.” If there was one thing,one single thingZeb had thought he could rely on in Hawley, it was boundless cynicism, but apparently the man couldn’t even be trusted for that. “Everyone’s on edge, that’s all, and hardly surprising.”
Hawley shook his head. “The writing was there, Zeb. I didn’t imagine it. It said things nobody here could have known, and Isawit. It was written on the wall, and then it was gone as if it had never been. And—Christ, have you not noticed the shadows?”
“What shadows?”
“In this house. The lights flicker, and they darken, and I can see things moving in the corner of my eye. The whole house is full of them, moving when you aren’t looking. If you look directly, they’re just shadows but when you turn away… For God’s sake, Zeb, I see them now. Don’t you? Can’t you?”
Zeb couldn’t help an instinctive look around. “There’s nothing there, and you need to lay off the sauce.”
“I can see them now. It’s why I asked you to come out with me.” Hawley’s mouth twisted in what ought to have been a sneer but looked dreadfully like a man about to weep. “I didn’t want to be alone. Ludicrous. Me, clinging on to you of all people because I’m frightened of the monsters under the bed. But I don’t know how anyone can bear to be alone.” He grabbed Zeb’s sleeve. “God damn it, are you that much an oblivious fool? Do you really not feel it hanging over you?”
“Feel what?” Zeb said, resisting the urge to glance around again. The back of his neck felt very cold and bare.
“Retribution. They say our sins will find us out. I never believed that. Humbug and prudery. But everything has a price,and we all have to pay in the end. That’s what Walter believed. I see it now.” Hawley threw away his cigarette end and fished out another with a shaking hand. “There’s always a price to be paid. Don’t you feel your sins waiting for you?”
“If you’re having a religious awakening, I’m going inside.”
Hawley didn’t seem to hear. He was lost in his own world, and Zeb was glad not to be there with him. “Jessamine said it comes after the guilty. I’m not surprised it has come for Elise before me. Itshouldtake her first: she took everything from me.”
