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But the young man wasn’t put off. He bent down towards her. “Was there really a ghost in that old castle or did you make it all up.”
Andrew leaned forward straight away, putting his hand on Juliette’s knee. “Of course we make it all up. It’s all smoke and mirrors. You guys must know that.”
It was almost as if he’d staked his claim and the two guys backed off, mumbling to each other as they made their way down the train.
Juliette waited a few minutes until they’d sat down. “Is that what you think?” Her nose was wrinkled and she was staring at him with a strange expression on her face.
“What?”
“That everything we do is smoke and mirrors?”
He couldn’t believe she even wanted to go here. “Don’t you?”
She straightened up and pushed the chocolates away. She was obviously serious. “You mean, in all the time you’ve worked on the show you’ve never seen anything, ever, that made you a little curious?”
He shook his head.
“But what about the place you’re taking us to? The local place?”
He shrugged. “It’s a local legend about it being haunted, passed down through the years. The legend and folklore will work well for the show.” He waved his hand. “You’ll have plenty of airtime talking about it, I’ll even find you some locals to give you their slant on the story. It’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”
The train slowed to a halt and he stood up and gathered their bags, the camera and sound equipment. Everything was lightweight these days but there was still a lot to carry. Juliette scrambled to collect all her plastic carriers. It was pitch black as the train doors opened and his warm breath froze in the bitter cold air.
Juliette shuddered. “Wow, bit of a temperature drop. How long will it take to get to the house?”
They crossed the car park and he pulled the keys for the ancient Land Rover from his pocket. Juliette’s steps faltered. “Does this thing actually work? How old is it?”
He smiled. “Nearly as old as me. I like to call it vintage.”
“I like to call it a wreck.”
He pulled open the passenger door, “Get in, it should only take ten minutes to reach the house.”
She climbed in and he got in the driver’s side, turned the key and prayed the engine would start. The car would have been left here this morning by one of the staff. She was right it was a wreck. But as long as it got them to Garnock Hall he didn’t care. The engine spluttered once, then twice, then finally gave a little hopeful rumble.
He gritted his teeth and turned the key again. This time the engine started and he shot her a smile as they pulled out the car park.
Big white flakes of snow had just started to fall. “Whoa,” said Juliette, smiling. “You’re even trying to give me a white Christmas?”
He shrugged. “Well, hey, you couldn’t get to Barbados,” he raised his eyebrows, “And we can’t live the entire next few days on chocolates alone.”
She settled back in her seat and smiled. “Don’t hold out any hope for Christmas dinner. I had a perfectly good meal-for-one back home. That’s as good as my cooking skills get.” She pushed her hand forward and back. “In the oven, out the oven. My work is complete.”
He groaned. “To be honest I hadn’t really given Christmas dinner much thought.”
“I thought you planned to come up here?”
“Only in the last two days. There are problems with the roof. It’s kind of an emergency visit.”
The car turned up the familiar driveway. From here the house was still hidden. He just prayed that the electricity would be working and the oil delivery for the heating system had arrived. Otherwise this would be a cold, dark night.
*
This hadn’t been how she’d seen Christmas going at all. The lonely girl with the lop-sided tree and the silver tray meal was gone.
The thought of a haunted house over Christmas wasn’t entirely appealing either. But being with Andrew made it feel not so bad. She shot him another sideways glance.
He was more than a little handsome. He was probably better looking than most of the male television presenters she’d worked with over the years. And the female audience would die if they could hear that Scottish accent. A thought flickered through her brain. If she’d actually captured that fight between him and the director and uploaded it to YouTube it probably would have had a million hits by now and Andrew would have been offered his own show by now. He was even more cute when he was mad.
“What’s up?”
His voice came out the darkness and startled her.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re staring at me. Don’t tell me I’ve got chocolate on my face.” He reached his hand up and rubbed it roughly over his face.
She felt her face flush. There was something about sitting in complete darkness that made her feel safe to stare. Too bad she’d been caught.
A shape came looming out of the darkness. A silhouette against the black night. The house was much bigger than she’d imagined. It was like a proper country house estate. She’d thought they were still on a country road but realised they were actually on the driveway to the main house. The few houses they’d passed some moments ago must be part of the estate.
Andrew pulled the car up to the main house and opened the door. She climbed out next to him and turned to face the grounds. The snow was beginning to lie on the grass in front of them, making it easy to see the expanse of the area. “What, no welcoming committee?”
She tried to make her voice seem carefree but with not a single light on in the house it was an imposing structure. From this point of view, she could imagine why there were legends about the place. The building was old, really old, with slightly strange architecture. Most of the grand houses they visited were built from light-coloured sandstone with traditional windows and doors. This was different. It was like a cross between a castle and a huge estate house. The brick was dark grey, making it seem even more imposing. From the outline above it was almost like there was a turret structure on the roof. She couldn’t wait to see this place in daylight. Come to think of it, she just couldn’t wait until it was daylight.
“It’ll be fine in a minute when I get some lights on,” Andrew murmured next to her.
The snow was covering her in a light dust. She certainly didn’t want to be stuck outside tonight, the temperature must be well below zero.
Andrew pulled a key from his pocket. It was huge, almost gothic-looking and he unlocked the door with a huge click, putting his shoulder to the door to open it.
How bizarre, but as the door swung open she realised it was nearly a foot thick. She stepped gingerly inside after him. The pitch blackness enveloped her immediately and she sucked in a deep breath.
There was a familiar smell. Oldness. Time after time. The smell of hundreds of years of lives lived and gone before. It was the one thing that was familiar in any of the buildings they visited – any of those with a roof on.
His hand reached over and grabbed hers. The warmth surrounded her completely, sending a little rush up her arm. Immediately reassuring. And a little something else too. “I need to go to the breaker switch. One of the lights must have blown. Do you want to stay here?”
She shook her head quickly. Her imagination was racing already just waiting for the mad axeman to appear screaming at the door behind her or from the dark space in front of her.
He gave her hand a little tug. “Let’s go, it’s this way.”
She gave a shudder and let herself follow him into the complete blackness. Andrew seemed to have no problem navigating. They walked through one room then another, before he wrestled with a cupboard door and knelt down.
It was the strangest feeling. “How come you know where to look? And why wasn’t there anyone here to meet us?”
It was almost as if he hadn’t heard her. “Give me a second. It’s a bit of a fankle in here.” She smiled. Fankle. She’d need to look that one up too.
Andrew flicked something in the cupboard and the room lit up behind her. Maybe ‘lit up’ wasn’t the right expression. Lights came on in the room, but instead of brightness they gave a warm, yellow glow. An old-fashioned glow. It seemed that Garnock Hall wasn’t as up to date as she might have hoped.
Andrew stood up. He was so close the fabric of his shirt brushed against her nose. Now that the house was lit up she instantly realised how intimate this was. His green eyes were looking down on hers. There was a tiny little scar underneath his chin. She’d never noticed it before.
He gave her a smile and held her gaze. The room was cold, but all she could feel was heat emanating from the body in front of her.
He spoke softly. “Juliette Connolly, welcome to Garnock Hall.”
She tipped her head up towards his as a strange feeling swept over her. “So, where’s the owner? Where’s our welcoming committee?”
“They’re here.”
She spun around, half expecting to see someone standing behind her. When she didn’t, she turned back around, breathing in a whiff of his aftershave.
“It’s me. I’m the owner. I own Garnock Hall, Juliette.” He held out his arms. “Welcome to my haunted house.”
