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“I am not. Would you close them, please?”

“I will.” Dare shut his eyes.

“And now we wait,” uttered Trawley. “Try to help me. And wait. Just wait.” Her final words were barely a whisper. She appeared to breathe slowly and deeply for a time. And then again she spoke. It was a quiet question: “Is there anyone here with us?”

They waited. Only the crackling of the fire could be heard.

“Is there anyone here?” the psychic repeated.

Another deep silence ensued. A minute passed.

Dare opened his eyes and was about to comment tartly when the candles and the fireplace flames were snuffed out, as if extinguished by a single massive breath. The Great Room was plunged into absolute darkness and the scent of the river was abruptly in the air. “Oh, well, really,” said Dare in a voice that was straining to be blithe: “How utterly banal and degrading. I saw this scene in The Uninvited. Is our budget too tight for a fragrance of mimosa, or is eau de clam chowder the scent of the day?”

Freeboard shut her eyes, then put her head down and shook it.

From somewhere a keening sound arose, and then a violent banging that kept repeating, insistent, implacable, jarring their souls.

“Domino’s Pizza,” said Dare. “They’re aggressive.”

But his voice held the hint of a tremor.

Case stood up and moved deliberately across the room to where a wooden shutter, tossed by a gusting breeze, was crashing against the inner wall. “There’s our trouble,” said Case. “We may have another storm coming up.”

He reached the window, locked it shut and then returned.

He struck a match to relight the thick green candles.

“Oh, can’t we have the lights on?” asked Trawley.

“Yes, of course.” Case snuffed out the match. He walked over to the wall and flipped a number of switches, turning on all of the sconce lights and lamps. Coming back to the table, he took his chair and remarked, “So it seems it was really Mother Nature, Mr. Dare, and not Mother Trawley who produced the cliché.”

“My apologies, madam,” Dare told her.

“Now then, may we proceed?” Trawley asked him.

“Your servant.”

As the others closed their eyes, Dare goggled. Far across the room he saw the collie dog he believed he had seen in the other wing. It was staring through a partly open door that led to the inner maze of the house. With a yip it scampered back and out of sight.

“Mr. Dare, are your eyes closed?” Trawley asked softly.

“Oh, for God’s sakes, yes!” Dare irritably answered. He immediately closed them. There followed a silence like that of cathedrals at dawn or in lucid dreams of flying.

“Is there anyone here?” asked Trawley quietly.

More moments passed in silence.

Dare opened his eyes and let go of the hands he’d been gripping. “I don’t want to do this anymore,” he said tightly.

The others at the table opened their eyes.

“Oh, well, it really doesn’t seem to be working, now, does it?” said Trawley. She sounded very matter-of-fact.

“No, it seems not,” answered Case. He looked at Freeboard. “Well, so far it seems your clients should be perfectly safe here, Joan.”

“I didn’t say that I don’t sense a presence,” said Trawley.

Freeboard looked away and murmured, “Shit.”

Case probed Trawley’s eyes. “Good or evil?”

She waited before answering: “Dangerous.”

Dare made a move to get out of his chair, but Freeboard gripped him by the wrist and tugged him down.

“Let’s see what happens, ‘I am Doubt,’ “ she said firmly. “Okay?”

Dare saw the interest in her face and looked appalled.

Case shifted in his chair.

“Well, shall we try something else now, Anna? Something new?”

Trawley stared at him intently for a moment, saying nothing. Then she lowered her gaze to the table and said, “Yes. The Ouija board. Just as you suggested,” she added.

Case nodded his head toward the board. “Worth a try.”

Dare looked past him to the door where he’d seen the dog.

“Mr. Dare, is that agreeable?” Case asked him.

Dare shifted his glance. “Yes, what’s the harm?”

“Did you see something?”

“See something?”

“I saw you looking past me rather oddly.”

“No, nothing,” Dare said curtly. He looked tense.

“Very well,