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Supposedly the house collapsed in 1980, from mysterious water damage.'

He shook his head. 'I didn't come here till about ten years ago.'

'The family was still living there when it happened. I didn't know anyone ever lived on plantations now.'

'Well, no one does, really. Movie stars have bought a couple. Likely it was the family's old place they couldn't get rid of. Ground wouldn't perk, maybe.

They would have been land-poor.'

'Lots of property and no money?'

He nodded. 'Would have gone to pay the taxes.'

"That's the case in England, too. No one can live in those grand country homes. Longleat gives tours and has a safari park, one of those cageless zoos.'

Rust smiled. 'I don't know what you'd put in a private zoo here. Gators, I guess. Possums and raccoons. Maybe a nutria for an exotic touch. Were you bornin England?'

'Yes. Third generation. I'm a Londoner.'

He toyed with his water glass. 'Excuse me if I'm out of line here, but do you mind if I ask if you and either of the gentlemen you travel with are involved?'

'Oh, no,' said Anji - a bit too quickly, she thought, and hurried on, 'None of us is involved with any of us. I mean& Well, you know what I mean.'

'I think so.'

'We're just We sort of fell in together.'

'I didn't ask you out to pump you about your friends,' he said quietly.

'Why would you? You don't think either of them had anything to do with the murder, do you?'

'Not with the murder, no. You've got to admit that Doctor of yours is a puzzling character.'

'He's just eccentric,' she said, in a way that sounded defensive to her.

'Well then, he's come to the right town.' Rust lifted the menu. 'What would you like? I can recommend the fried oysters.'

The Doctor had expected Dupre to skulk home each night to a hole in the French Quarter, but in fact he lived in the Garden District in a magnificent Victorian-era house, all gables and turrets. Well, of course, thought the Doctor looking up at it, Hollywood's idea of a haunted house.

When he pressed the doorbell, a chime sounded deep inside. The upper part of the door was bevelled glass, and through it the Doctor could see, only slightly distorted, a high hall and a broad staircase lit by candles in ruby glass sconces. This was pretty much what he had expected, and he wasn't disappointed when Dupre glided down the stairs wearing a long black velvet robe embroidered with runes in golden thread. He speculated on the kind of refreshments that would be served. Poisonous Japanese pufferfish, perhaps - and for dessert, Jell-O made with absinthe.

'My dear Doctor.' Dupre slipped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him inside. The Doctor hadn't previously been this close to him, and he caught a whiff of sourness, as if Dupre had recently vomited, or his robe hadn't been washed for weeks. He slipped free and went to admire the carved demon topping the newel post. 'Beautifully done, isn't it?' said Dupre.

'I think I recognise the artist. Teddy Acree?'

'You have gotten around in your few days here, haven't you? Yes, it's Teddy's. He's finishing up a larger project for me as well.'

'The Nightmare of Horror?'

'You know everything, don't you?' Dupre was smiling, but his eyes were hot.

'Some things.'

'Well,' Dupre linked arms with him, 'I'll try to show you some things you don't know.' He started up the stairs, then stopped, confused, when he realised he was no longer holding the Doctor who was, somehow, on the step just below him. 'I see you're a bit of an escape artist.'

'Yes,' said the Doctor. Dupre didn't try to take hold of him again but swept grandly up the staircase. The Doctor followed, admiring the richly patterned stair carpet and the way the reflections of the candle flames appeared to glimmer deep within the well-polished wood of the railing. Dupre led him down a hall hung with a particularly sadistic set of Japanese woodblock prints to a door that opened on a steep, unlit stairway. The Doctor peered up this dubiously.

'You're not scared?' taunted