The Writer Read Online Free PDF

to give it a shot. I’ve been dreading the whole thing, and now my worst fears seem to be coming true: Louise Redmond, the psychic Jacqui thinks is so goddamn brilliant, seems so far to be nothing more than a confidence trickster, like something from a bad TV show. Still, I figure my best bet is just to let her do her thing and wait for her to leave.
    “How many physical manifestations have you seen in the house?” Louise asks.
    “Physical manifestations?” I glance briefly at Jacqui. “Oh. Um, two.”
    “Uh-huh.” She pauses. “I’m only picking up one.”
    “Just one ghost?” I reply.
    “I’m not sure if that’s quite what it is,” she continues. “Things might become clearer as I move through the building. Also, it’s possible that one entity is manifesting in two forms.”
    “Really?” I reply. “Surely if -”
    “Ssh!” Jacqui hisses. “Let her do her thing!”
    I watch as Louise makes her way along the corridor, heading to the bedrooms.
    “How much did you tell her?” I ask, turning to Jacqui.
    “Just a brief outline.”
    “Okay. ‘Cause I just want to know how much of that she’s going to regurgitate back at me in the guise of picking things up from the atmosphere.”
    “I thought you believed in ghosts?” Jacqui asks, looking a little hurt.
    “I do. I think. I mean… It’s one thing to believe in ghosts, it’s just… I don’t believe in people like Louise Redmond. She seems so fake.”
    “She’s got an amazing track record,” Jacqui continues. “The Somervile Haunting? That house in Plainsboro that started bleeding from the walls? She was at both of those and more. She’s highly respected on the internet.”
    “Case closed,” I say with a faint smile.
    “It can’t hurt,” she points out. “Well… Not unless she accidentally unleashes some kind of demonic force, but she won’t do that. She’s far too professional.”
    Sighing, I head through to the corridor and make my way along toward the master bedroom. Before I can get too far, however, I stop by Hannah’s door and see that Louise is standing next to the bed, staring down at the neatly-made-up duvet. I wait for her to say something, but she seems almost transfixed, as if something about the bed is attracting her full attention.
    “Are you okay?” I ask after a few seconds.
    She holds a hand up toward me, indicating that she wants me to be quiet.
    As Jacqui joins me in the doorway, I can’t shake the feeling that I’m witnessing some kind of ‘performance’. No-one has mentioned paying Louise for her services yet, but I’m pretty sure there’ll be a bill at the end of it all.
    “This is where the child slept?” Louise asks finally.
    “Yeah,” I reply, feeling a twinge of irritation at the thought of Hannah being used as some kind of prop in this performance, “but she -”
    “She didn’t die here, did she?” she asks, turning to me. “She and your husband died, I believe, in a car crash?”
    I nod.
    “Yes, I see now,” she continues. “I was expecting, based on everything I was told before coming to the house, that this room would be the epicenter of the paranormal activity, but in fact there’s nothing here.”
    “Nothing?” I ask, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
    She shakes her head.
    “But Beth’s seen her in here,” Jacqui adds, before glancing at me. “Sorry, honey, I hope you don’t mind me telling her that.”
    “It’s fine,” I say quietly.
    “That may be,” Louise continues with a shrug, “and I would never argue with you, but I’m quite certain that this room is in no way connected to the presence that I’m feeling.”
    Making her way to the door, she slips past us and heads along to the master bedroom, leaving me to give Jacqui a ‘What the hell is this all about?’ stare.
    “See?” she whispers. “If this was all fake, she’d have been all over Hannah’s room, claiming there were spirits and all that jazz, but she’s being honest with you!”
    “I just don’t