The Haunting of Tabitha Grey Read Online Free PDF

waistband.
    ‘Captain Jack,’ says Dad with one end of the measuring tape between his teeth and the other end stretched up one of the bed’s wooden posts. ‘Eleanor’s only son. I
don’t think she liked him very much.’
    ‘Why?’ I say, but Dad has moved over to the window and is gazing out over the overgrown lawns and messy walled garden at the back of the house. I can see that he’s planning to
take on more gardening staff and knock the entire place into shape, so I leave him in Lady Eleanor’s bedroom and go back on to the landing.
    There are lots of other bedrooms to explore up here but somehow I don’t feel like going into them on my own.
    Dawn’s laugh wafts up the stairs and I follow it down.
    Sid is standing by the main door jingling his keys, about to unlock it and let the public in.
    ‘Time to let in the great unwashed!’ he says as I emerge from the foot of the stairs and round the corner into the entrance hall.
    ‘Sid,’ says Dawn. ‘That’s not a very nice way to refer to visitors. Without them the council would shut this house and you’d be out of a job.’
    I look over to the fireplace. ‘Those lady visitors looked very clean,’ I say. ‘Did they already go? They must have rushed round the house at top speed.’
    Dawn looks over to where I’m standing.
    ‘Visitors?’ she says. ‘They’re all outside, love. Look.’
    There’s a long queue of impatient-looking people in spring dresses and flip-flops all shifting about and peering through the windows.
    I laugh.
    ‘Not them!’ I say. ‘The two old ladies who were chatting by the fireplace!’
    Sid turns round sharply when I say this. He glances at Dawn.
    Her smile has faded but she continues to speak in the same low, pleasant voice that she always uses. ‘Oh of course,’ she says, holding her reel of tickets in front of her. ‘I
forgot I’d let them in!’
    Sid has turned away from me and is fiddling about with the computer on the reception desk.
    ‘I’d forget my head if it wasn’t bolted on to my shoulders!’ Dawn is saying.
    Something’s not right, but I decide to leave them to it.
    As I head back through the entrance hall, I run my finger along the edge of the white marble fireplace.
    ‘See you later, Tabs!’ calls Dawn as I walk towards the flat.
    I turn round to wave but she’s deep in conversation with Sid. I strain my ears as I walk in slow-motion towards the door of our flat but I can’t really hear what they’re
saying.
    Then they realise that I’m still there and they open the grand doors to let the visitors pour through.
    I go back inside to find Mum.

 
Chapter Four
    W hen Dad comes home that evening I tell him about how Dawn forgot she’d let two old ladies in. Dad ruffles my hair like I’m about six
and gives his deep laugh.
    ‘I wouldn’t trust that Dawn!’ he says. ‘I hear she’s got a bit of a reputation for mucking about. She was pulling your leg, I bet.’
    Actually I wouldn’t bet. Dawn didn’t look like she was pulling my leg. She looked as if she was covering something up. I don’t tell Dad that, though. Dad is one of the least
mysterious people in the world. He’s got a scientific explanation for everything that happens and he refuses to entertain any other theories.
    Mum is cooking sausage and chips while I’m telling Dad about the women but I can tell from her shoulders that she’s listening to every word.
    ‘Don’t be so mistrustful of poor Dawn,’ she says to Dad. ‘People are entitled to make mistakes now and again. Even you!’
    ‘Ow!’ I yell. Ben has just bitten my leg underneath the table.
    Mum gives me a look. ‘Lay the table, Tabitha, and get the ketchup,’ is all she says, but over the meal I catch her giving me the odd worried glance when she thinks I’m not
looking.
    Mum’s very protective. She’s always watching me and wondering where I am.
    Of course I do the same with Ben. He’s my little brother so I have to look out for him, even though he’s