That afternoon, one thing became obvious to Mac. It didn't matter how many times you asked Jean Pottersworth whether there was anything else she could tell you about her haunted house and her experiences in it, she always answered no.
The problem was, there was always something she had accidentally overlooked. The woman had a mind like a sieve.
Mac and Jean had now retired to the reading room, a plate of biscuits and a hot pot of tea sitting on the table in front of them.
'And that is everything, Jean? You promise this time?' Mac asked pouring milk into the cups, followed by the steaming, golden tea.
'Yes, Miss Jones. I promise. I can't think of another thing.'
Mac had heard it all before. The best way of getting information out of Jean Pottersworth's head was to ask her exactly what you wanted to know. Only then was the real answer revealed. The hard part was deciding on what questions you needed to ask.
'Had you heard of the house, prior to the time you first thought to look around it?'
'No, I can't say that I had.'
'How did you feel when you viewed the house? Did anything strike you as odd or out of the ordinary? What about the behaviour of the estate agent? Biscuit?'
Jean took a couple of chocolate creams off the plate Mac was waving in front of her and proceeded to dunk them in her tea. Only once she had eaten them, did she answer Mac's question. 'I am pretty sure that if anything spooky had struck me when I was first going round the house I wouldn't have gone back for a second viewing, or for that matter, bought the stupid thing.'
'Do you know the history of the house?'
'Yes.'
That's not a surprise, is it now? Mac sighed, reaching for another biscuit.
'Oh, do you want me to tell you that too?' Jean asked, innocently.
'It would help, seeing as though the ghost in all probability lived there at some point in the past,' Mac replied through a mouthful of crumbs and crunching.
'Oops. That bit of information is quite important then?'
'Yes, Jean, it is,' Mac replied, remaining surprisingly calm, on the outside at least.
'Well, the house had been empty for a very long time. A long string of people bought the house over the years, but for one reason or another, they were never there longer than two or three years. If I remember correctly, which in all honestly, I probably can't,' she said, smiling an apology at Mac, 'I would say the house changed hands at least a dozen times since the twenties, and I think there were a few years in which it was unoccupied between owners.'
So, there seemed to have been many people who went into the house, but never stayed for long, Mac mused. It's not a surprising occurrence in a haunted property, but there is nothing in what Jean has said that suggests anyone left because of a ghost. 'Can you go back any further?'
'Before the twenties, there had only ever been one other family in the house. They had owned it and lived there since the time it was built.'
'And how old is the house exactly?'
'The house was built in 1878.'
'Do you know anything about the family?'
'No, only that the name was Colebridge.'
'Well, that's a good start.' Mac paused for a moment to think. She rested her chin on her hands and closed her eyes. She was quickly trying to mull over all she had learnt. Her intuition was telling her, no screaming at her, that the ghost was a Colebridge. That made sense, since that particular family not only had lived in the house the longest, but as the first family to have lived in the property, they might be quite possessive of it. Was that the reason Jean was a target for much of the paranormal attention?
'Miss Jones, I have a question. I am inferring from both what you are saying and not saying, that you think this ghost has a problem with me. Why do you think that is, and if that is the case, how come it also plagued my workmen?'
'I do believe that, for some reason as yet unknown to us, the ghost has singled you out. It could be because you yourself have bought the house and are a planning to live in it. Some ghosts, you see, don't exactly understand that they are ghosts. They still think they are alive. How would you cope with someone walking into the house that had been yours for fifty years, and there wasn't anything you could do about it and you didn't know why? The workmen on the other hand, are moving your furniture about, knocking out walls and windows, redecorating your favourite room and walking all over your favourite hollyhock.'
'So you don't think what happened with the workmen is anything of note?'
'I wouldn't say that. It certainly confirms that there is a paranormal presence in the house, but we need to work out and break the link between it and you.'
'And how do we go about doing that?'
'You're not going to like it.'
'Oh, no. Isn't there another way?' Jean whined.
'I'm afraid not. We need to return to the house.'
Chapter Eight: The Apparition