Under the window there was an oak window seat, with a hinged lid covered in cracked green leather. Rob went over and lifted the lid. It was full of nothing but legal documents, all rolled up and tied around with faded red ribbons.
‘See? Nobody here. And it doesn’t look as if Dad’s been in here for years.’
‘Oh, well. Maybe Timmy imagined it. He does have quite an imagination. He won a prize at school for a story he wrote about a bad egg that fell in love with a bullying centipede.’
‘Takes after his father then. Always making things up.’
Martin closed the door. But as soon as they started to walk back along the corridor, Rob heard what sounded like a man’s voice, talking in an urgent whisper.
‘Stop, Martin! No, stop! Can you hear that?’
Martin stopped, and listened.
‘No. What?’
‘It was definitely somebody whispering.’
Martin waited a few moments longer, but then he said, ‘No. I can’t hear anything.’
‘Really. I’m sure it was somebody whispering.’
‘Did you hear what they said?’
‘No. They weren’t speaking loud enough. But they sounded – I don’t know – panicky.’
‘Oh, come on, Rob. I think you and Timmy have both caught a dose of Allhallows-itis. You remember that old woman who used to live across at Wormold’s Farm? She used to tell us this house could drive anybody who lived in it “maze as a brush”.’
‘You mean old Mrs Damerell. She was a couple of sausage rolls short of a picnic herself.’
Downstairs, they heard knocking at the front door.
‘Come on,’ said Martin. ‘That’ll be Dad’s solicitor. Let’s go down and find out who’s inherited what.’
Rob followed him downstairs. ‘Knowing my luck, it’ll be the headless cherub.’
About the author
Graham Masterton is mainly recognized for his horror novels but he has also been a prolific writer of thrillers, disaster novels and historical epics, as well as one of the world’s most influential series of sex instruction books. He became a newspaper reporter at the age of 17 and was appointed editor of Penthouse magazine at only 24.
His first horror novel The Manitou was filmed with Tony Curtis playing the lead, and three of his short horror stories were filmed by Tony Scott for The Hunger TV series. Ten years ago Graham turned his hand to crime novels and White Bones, set in Ireland, was a Kindle phenomenon, selling over 100,000 copies in a month. This has been followed by ten more bestselling crime novels featuring Detective Superintendent Katie Maguire, the latest of which is The Last Drop of Blood. In 2019 Graham was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Horror Writers Association. The Prix Graham Masterton for the best horror fiction in French has been awarded annually for the past ten years, and four years ago he established an annual award for short stories written by inmates in Polish prisons, Nagroda Grahama Mastertona “W Więzieniu Pisane.” He is currently working on new horror and crime novels.
Visit www.grahammasterton.co.uk.
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