The Dead of Winter Read Online Free PDF Page A

there’s been quite a bit of follow-up work done.’
    â€˜But the interesting thing for us is that they did something just like that here, a whole century before.’ Viv was evidently excited. ‘And we get to reconstruct it and to film the whole thing.’
    Rina wasn’t so sure she shared Viv’s enthusiasm.
    â€˜Sounds creepy,’ Joy said.
    â€˜Well,’ Toby agreed, ‘we all hope so.’
    â€˜But you said that all the people involved had been together over the Christmas,’ Rina objected. ‘Surely, that isn’t the case this time. We only arrived this afternoon.’
    â€˜Ah, well, that’s what makes it so perfect,’ Toby reassured her. ‘In the original experiment they brought in observers who stood in the corners of the room. A further two observers actually participated in the seance, knowing nothing about the character they hoped to summon. They were meant to be like controls for the experiment.’
    â€˜The analogue for which you’ve scuppered by telling us about it,’ was Rina’s somewhat tart observation.
    â€˜Well, yes, but we agreed we had to tell you both something. Tim’s felt guilty as hell bringing you both here and not spilling the beans.’
    â€˜I hope he has,’ Rina said, looking closely at her protégé, who smiled sheepishly at her.
    â€˜I’m sorry,’ he said, and she could see in his eyes that he was.
    â€˜I should think so too. We don’t do secrets, Tim.’
    â€˜No, you’re right, we don’t.’
    She could feel the attention of the group upon them as they made this very personal exchange. Felt their relationship being reassessed, but was satisfied that her Tim really was contrite. She wondered, though, what Toby had said to him to make him even contemplate the keeping of such a secret. Tim was terrible at hiding anything – except, of course, when he was performing. The thought that Tim could have called upon his performance persona and made use of it in the real world disturbed her profoundly. He would not have done this lightly, so what had Toby said or done to make him think, even for a moment, that it might be a proper thing to do?
    Deciding that a full interrogation was in order for later, she turned back to Viv, knowing how much that would annoy Toby – and the need to annoy Toby was oddly insistent. ‘You mentioned death and madness?’
    Viv grinned. ‘Bit of an exaggeration, really. One woman had a fit of the vapours and had to be revived with smelling salts, and another left the room screaming – a man, actually, not a woman. Then there was the mysterious death of Dr Pym, one of the guests that night, one of the neutral observers.’
    â€˜He fell off his horse on the way home.’ Toby was dismissive. ‘Too much port after dinner.’
    â€˜Ah, but he was supposed to stay overnight, and after the seance he refused to stop and wanted to go home. The servants brought his horse round for him, and there’s eyewitness reports that he and Mr Southam were having a right barney. He called Southam an irresponsible idiot, and Southam called him an arrogant sceptic who would do anything to deny the truth. It’s all in the inquest notes,’ she added.
    â€˜Viv has read everything she can lay her hands on.’ Toby got up and refilled his cup. He was drinking coffee, Rina noted, in quantities that would have had her flying without the aid of any special effects or ghostly presences.
    â€˜So, what happened to him?’ Joy asked. ‘The doctor, I mean.’
    â€˜Weeell, so far as we can make out from the inquest, he fell off his horse and hit his head on a rock.’ Viv shrugged. ‘Apparently, he took off in a right temper, and you’ve seen what it’s like round here. Really rural—’
    â€˜Rural?’ Toby laughed. ‘You make it sound like we’re camping up the Amazon.’
    â€˜Far