notebooks from her desk. ‘We’ve listed about five hundred books.’ She gave the notebooks to him.
‘You’re a star,’ said Nightingale, flicking through one.
‘Barbara was fascinated,’ she said. ‘In fact I think she wants to talk to you about borrowing a few volumes, maybe doing a paper on them.’
‘On what, exactly?’
‘It’s better coming from her, but I think she wants to do something about the fact that in the third millennium people actually believe that witchcraft works.’
‘Maybe it does,’ said Nightingale.
‘Or maybe, as the world becomes more technologically sophisticated, people need to hold on to some sort of belief system. I think she wants to do it along the lines of witchcraft moving into the vacuum left by the decline of religion.’
‘I’ll make sure I order a copy,’ said Nightingale.
‘It was good of her to help me,’ said Jenny. ‘It got dark while we were there and I wouldn’t have wanted to be there on my own.’
‘You see, that’s a crazy thing to say. You’re in a basement. It doesn’t matter if it’s day or night outside. It’s the same. You have to have the lights on either way.’
‘Oh it matters, Jack,’ said Jenny. ‘Trust me, it matters.’
‘What about today? Are you up for helping me?’
‘Are you giving me a choice?’
‘Well, it’s not really in your job description, is it?’
‘I don’t recall there being much of a job description, actually,’ she said. ‘Other than being your assistant.’
‘I still don’t understand why you took the job, what with all the qualifications you’ve got.’
Jenny shrugged. ‘I’m an underachiever,’ she said. ‘No drive or ambition.’
‘You’re the smartest person I know,’ said Nightingale.
‘Thank you, kind sir.’
‘Would you drive? I didn’t bring the MGB in today.’
‘Sure. I’m always happier in a car with airbags anyway.’ She went back into her office and switched off her computer. ‘What are you going to do with the library once you’ve finished the inventory?’
‘Hopefully sell a big chunk of it,’ he said. ‘It’s not as if I’ve got any interest in witchcraft or spooky stuff. Gosling paid big bucks for his collection and I’ll happily take whatever cash I can get.’
‘What’s happening about your father’s estate?’ asked Jenny. ‘When will you know if there’s any money coming your way?’
‘I’m still waiting to hear from Turtledove. He said we should know something in January. But he wasn’t hopeful that there’d be much money coming my way, not with Gosling Manor mortgaged to the hilt. How about a coffee before we head off?’
‘Are you offering to make one?’
Nightingale waved at his feet, up on the desk. ‘I’m sort of comfortable now, and you’re up.’ He grinned at her. ‘I’ll get the next one, promise.’
24
J enny parked her Audi next to the mermaid fountain in front of Gosling Manor. ‘I suppose I’m going to have to get used to driving you around,’ she said.
‘Why’s that?’ asked Nightingale as he climbed out of the car.
‘Because they take away your driving licence for drink-driving,’ she said. ‘The only question is how long for.’ She picked up a briefcase from the back seat and locked the car doors.
‘I wasn’t in an accident and I wasn’t speeding,’ said Nightingale. ‘I was barely over the limit.’
‘Doesn’t matter, these days,’ she said, following him to the entrance. ‘You might think about getting a full- time driver.’
‘I’m not made of money,’ said Nightingale. He unlocked the front door. ‘Honey, I’m home!’ he shouted. His voice echoed around the hallway.
‘You really are twelve years old, aren’t you?’
‘Can you imagine me living here on my own?’ he said, holding the door open for her. ‘What if I heard a noise in the middle of the night? How long would it take to check every room?’
‘That’s probably why Gosling put in his CCTV system,’ she said. Nightingale closed the door and followed her over to the section of wood panelling that hid the stairway leading down to the basement. She pulled open the panel and switched on the basement lights. ‘Anyway, if you don’t want to live here, sell it.’
‘Easier said than done,’ said Nightingale. ‘The bottom’s fallen out of the luxury-mansion market ever since Brown went after the bankers.’
‘Arabs or Russians, then,’ said Jenny. ‘They’ve always got money. This is a beautiful house, Jack. It’d sell.’
They went down the stairs. Jenny put her briefcase on the desk and took out the two notebooks they’d been using to compile the inventory. ‘We finished the bookcase by the stairs, and most of the one next to it,’ she said. ‘I thought I might put them on computer. It’d make it easier to sort through them by subject or author. What do you think?’
‘Good idea,’ said Nightingale. He lit a cigarette and went over to the desk to get a crystal ashtray. He grinned when he saw the Ouija board beneath it. ‘I wondered where that had got to,’ he said.
The board was a large square of oak that had cracked across the middle. Two words were printed in silver letters in the top corners, YES on the left and NO on the right, and the letters of the alphabet were embossed in gold in two rows across the middle of the board. Beneath the letters were the numbers zero to nine in a row, and below them the word GOODBYE.
He picked it up and showed it to Jenny. ‘You know Parker Brothers still sell Ouija boards as a kids’ toy,’ he said. ‘They even do one that glows in the dark.’
‘I didn’t know that,’ said Jenny, taking off her coat and draping it over the back of one of the sofas.
‘Yeah, and actually Ouija is a trademark. Hasbro owns it. Before Parker Brothers made their set, they were just called spirit boards or talking boards.’
‘Fascinating,’ said Jenny, her voice loaded with sarcasm.
‘Do you know where the name Ouija came from?’
‘ Oui is yes in French and Ja is yes in German?’
Nightingale grinned. ‘That’s what a lot of people think, but it’s more complicated than that. You know Wicca, right? Witchcraft? Well, the guys who designed the game wanted a spooky name and one of them was talking to some Spanish chap and it turns out that the Spanish pronunciation of Wicca is Ouija. So that’s what they went with.’
‘I prefer my version,’ she said. ‘Anyway, since when did you become an expert on Ouija boards?’ asked Jenny.
‘I’ve been reading up on it.’
She put her head on one side and narrowed her eyes. ‘Did you ask me here because you wanted to work on the inventory, or because you wanted another go at the Ouija board?’
‘Jenny…’
‘I’m serious, Jack. I don’t like being played.’
‘I swear it hadn’t occurred to me until the moment I saw it,’ said Nightingale. ‘You know me better than that.’
‘I thought I did,’ she said. ‘But recently you’ve been…’ She shrugged. ‘Forget it.’
‘I’ve been what?’ asked Nightingale. ‘What do you mean?’
‘You’re under a lot of pressure, I understand that.’
‘It’s been a rough few weeks,’ agreed Nightingale. He stubbed out his cigarette.
