The Secrets of Ghosts by Sarah Painter Page B

partly because she was completely useless at lying. She felt a blush begin on her neck, travelling up towards her cheeks.
    ‘Right.’ Max was looking at her intently, as if he knew full well that she wasn’t telling the truth. Which he probably did.
    He took a step towards her. ‘Did you know Oliver? Mr Cole?’
    ‘I didn’t even know his name was Oliver,’ Katie said, glad to be back on honest ground.
    ‘You were at the wedding. Did you see him give anybody anything?’
    ‘Like what?’
    Max was still staring at her in an unnervingly calculating manner. Then his face cleared and he gave her a charming smile. ‘Never mind. Don’t worry about it.’
    ‘I won’t,’ Katie said, irritated. The voile was moving again. Then the mustard velvet twitched. It billowed outwards as if there was something behind it, a figure hiding. Which was daft. Her eyes were playing tricks. Perhaps her blood sugar was low or something.
    ‘Okay, then,’ Max said. ‘See you around.’
    He left the room but Katie was distracted by the change in temperature. The room had been cool but now it was freezing cold, the skin on her arms goose-pimpling. She walked to the window but there was no breeze. The fabric of the curtain was moulding, funnelling into a solid column. There was definitely somebody hiding inside. Somebody moving.
    ‘Hello?’ Katie forced herself to speak, her voice coming out reedy and thin. Her insides went liquid with fear, but she stamped down on the urge to run. She certainly didn’t mean to scream, but the curtains had billowed inwards, all towering thick cloth, which had suddenly seemed full of malicious intent.
    Now, with Max back in the room and saying, ‘What?’ they were lying flat. Playing dead. She backed away from the window.
    ‘I think there’s someone in here, but I can’t see them.’
    Max didn’t laugh, as she expected. He stepped up to the curtains and, before Katie could stop him, pulled them away from the window. Then he checked the bathroom, inside the wardrobe and under the bed. ‘You’re just a bit freaked out. After finding Cole like that.’
    ‘No.’ Katie shook her head. ‘Look at the curtains.’ The floor-length curtains had gone lumpy again, in the shape of a column or a person. She blinked and they fell slack.
    ‘Did you see that?’ Katie moved closer to Max. She looked around the room. ‘Where’d they go?’
    ‘Just some air or something,’ Max said. ‘I’ll close the window.’ He stepped forwards but Katie grabbed his arm.
    ‘Don’t!’ Katie sounded properly panicked. ‘Stop mucking about,’ she said to the curtains. ‘It’s not funny.’
    ‘It’s okay,’ Max said soothingly. ‘There’s nobody here.’
    ‘I think there is. And it’s really cold.’ She was shivering and now her teeth clattered together. She felt Max’s arm go around her shoulder and she wanted to lean into his warmth. But he was a stranger and a thief, so she stepped away.
    ‘Let’s go outside,’ Max said. ‘You’ll feel better in the sunshine. Warm up a bit.’
    ‘Something’s wrong,’ Katie said quietly. She turned her head, sniffed the air. ‘Can you smell burning? And—’ She broke off. Shook her head.
    ‘There’s nothing in here,’ he began. Then a chair tipped over. ‘Fuck!’ He swore in surprise and moved to the door, Katie already a step ahead of him.
    Max pushed Katie into the corridor and slammed the door shut behind them.
    ‘Oh, my God,’ Katie said. She took a ragged breath and leaned against the wall.
    ‘That was odd,’ Max said. His voice was level but he looked pale and his eyes were wide. ‘Shall we go out for that sunshine now?’
    Outside the air tasted good and the afternoon sunshine warmed the skin on Katie’s face and arms, chasing away the chill. They walked around to the front of the hotel and down stone steps to the lower lawn.
    Katie flopped down on the grass near to an enormous rectangular pond, the surface choked with lily pads.
    Max sat