Serafina and the Virtual Man - By Marie Treanor Page 0,49
guys grew apart.”
“True,” Petra said eagerly. “I think he even had a key still.”
“Where did he sleep when he stayed over?” Sera asked. “Which room?”
“One of the spare rooms upstairs.”
“Which one?”
“The one you saw,” Petra said. “The one that was trashed.”
Sera smiled at the phone. “Well, that explains the particular fury of the attack. Tell me, have you cleared that up yet?”
“There isn’t any point until you get rid of the damned thing,” Petra said with brittle accusation. “It’ll only do it again. It was up last night, hurling the rubble about again.”
“Can we come and take another look? I’m going to bring a powerful colleague of mine this time. I think we can get rid of it for good tonight.”
Chapter Eleven
The Ewans took the appearance of the handsome if slightly cadaverous Blair very well. He inclined his head graciously on being introduced, even smiled at Petra, who was clearly not immune to his charms, and no one seemed to notice the fact that he never spoke.
“Same deal as before,” Dale said shortly as he strode across the wide entrance hall toward the glass front door. “I’ve locked and alarmed the out-of-bounds areas.”
“Silly question,” Jilly said suddenly. “Does the poltergeist stick to those rules?”
Dale paused, his fingers grasping the door handle as he frowned in thought. He and Petra exchanged glances. Then he said, “Actually, it seems to. So far. It’s never been near my testing area. I’d really like to keep it that way—Jesus, the damage it could cause in there…”
“Don’t you have the…work duplicated anywhere else?” Jilly asked.
Dale stared at her. “I don’t think that’s any of your business.”
Jilly shrugged. “Your funeral. Even school kids know to keep backups.”
“It’s okay,” Sera said hastily before Dale’s irritation could become incandescent, although, interestingly, he already seemed to be calming into thoughtfulness. “We’ll get rid of this thing tonight, give you peace to concentrate on business matters.”
“Let’s go,” Petra said with an impatient glance back into the house. “We’ll be home in the morning, but please keep us informed of any major events. If you discover any more bodies, for example.”
She stepped after her husband and closed the door with a very decisive clack.
“I think we’ve been told off,” Sera murmured. “Okay, Jilly, do you want to find your virtual man while we rake up the rubble for a keepsake?”
Sera wanted something of Adam’s to try to reach his spirit via what was, to her, more normal channels. Jilly hesitated. She distrusted the urgent yearning to see him again. But more than that, she needed evidence.
“I want to do a bit of raking myself,” she said, leading the way to the stairs. “By their own admission, the Ewans dumped stuff in there. I want to see what they took from Adam’s flat.”
“Good luck with that,” Sera said. “If they didn’t destroy it, the poltergeist will have.”
When Jilly tried to push open the door to the spare bedroom, it wouldn’t budge.
“Have they locked it?” Sera demanded. She looked at Blair, who shook his head. He stepped forward, and Jilly hastily got out of the way. Blair put his broad shoulder to the door and forced it open, pushing against whatever was in the way. When it was wide enough, they all edged through the gap.
“I know,” Sera agreed as if Blair had made some comment. “Well, he certainly rearranged the mess, but as far as I can tell, it doesn’t look much worse than last time. Blair, can you heave that mattress up against the wall? Well, the bits of it.”
As Blair moved it, the disturbed duvet stuffing got up Jilly’s nose and made her sneeze. It was everywhere. Some of the mattress springs had even been torn loose and all but straightened.
“I’d say this room must reek of Adam,” Jilly observed. “Judging by the fury this thing vented in here. Didn’t you feel him the first time?”
Sera shook her head, crouching down to rake through the mess of splintered wood and paper. “No. I just felt the poltergeist. Like an echo.” She shivered. “Come on, we’ll have to be quick here, or the damned thing will show up again.” She glanced at Blair and after a moment said, “Are you sure about that?”
Blair nodded.
Sera said, “Apparently the poltergeist won’t form anywhere near Blair.”
“Well, if you don’t get rid of the bastard tonight, Blair can just come and live with the Ewans. Shite, this is impossible, Sera, everything’s in bits. You can’t even tell what it was.”