"Did you count them?"
"I didn't think of it until some of them had disappeared over the hill, but here's something funny: It was May thirteenth, the anniversary of the explosion."
"Did you say you were coming home from a party?"
"That had nothing to do with it, I swear."
"Okay, I'll square with you. I've always been skeptical of these stories. I always thought there was some logical explanation. I still do, in the back of my mind, but I'm beginning to be skeptical of my own skepticism. Let me tell you what's been happening here."
He told them about Iris Cobb's terrified call in the middle of the night, about the knocking in the basement and the moaning in the walls, and about her "seeing something" just before her death. He said, "I've been told that Senior Goodwinter just before he died - saw Ephraim walking through a wall. I'm trying to sort out the evidence, you understand."
Kristi said, "There are lots of rumors about Ephraim. They say he stashed away a lot of gold coins in case he wanted to make a quick getaway, but he died suddenly and now he comes back looking for them."
"The old miser!" said Mitch. "He never gives up!"
"One of my cats," Qwilleran said, "has been acting strangely since we moved here. He talks to himself and stares out the window where Iris saw the thing that frightened her."
"Cats are always doing crazy things," Kristi said.
"Koko," said Qwilleran, "is not your ordinary cat. He always has a damned good reason for doing what he does."
Hearing his name, the cat walked into the kitchen, looking elegant and vain.
"God! He's a beautiful animal," said Mitch.
"He looks so intelligent," Kristi added.
"Koko is not only intelligent but remarkably intuitive. I won't say that he's psychic, but he senses when something is out in left field, and if Ephraim's ghost is prowling around here, Koko is going to find him!"
All three turned to look at the remarkable cat. Unfortunately Koko had taken that moment to attend to the base of his tail.
Qwilleran said quickly, "Would you like to see the basement where Iris first heard the knocking? It's just a junkroom for the museum. Do you know the one I mean?"
"I know about it, but I've never been down there. I'd like to see it," Mitch said.
"I'll take Koko along. He can hear earthworms crawling and butterflies pollenating, and if there's anything irregular down there, he'll sniff it out. I'll put him on a leash so that I have a little control."
He strapped the cat into a blue leather harness and coiled a few yards of nylon cord that served as the leash, and the four of them went to the basement, Koko quite willingly.
In the storeroom a few bare lightbulbs threw garish light over the broken furniture, rusty tools, moldy books, cracked crockery, and cobwebs.
"My mother would love this!" Kristi said.
"This is what Homer calls the magpie nest," said Qwilleran. "Iris was looking for a broken bed warmer when she first heard the knocking in the wall. Here's the potato masher she used to reply." He picked up the small wooden club and rapped the Morse code for SOS on the plastered wall - the only skill he remembered from his year in the Boy Scouts - and followed it with the burlesque tattoo, "shave and a haircut, two bits." Neither message called forth a response, but the plaster cracked a little more.
Meanwhile Koko was snapping at cobwebs instead of investigating.
"Cats never cooperate," Qwilleran explained. "The trick is to ignore him for a while. Let's find something to sit on."
Kristi found a platform rocker that no longer rocked; Mitch perched on a barrel; Qwilleran sat on a kitchen chair with three rungs missing, all the while keeping a furtive eye on Koko, who was beginning to move around stealthily.
"I hear rumbling," Kristi said.
"That's thunder," Mitch told her, "but it's a long way off. It's not supposed to rain tonight."
Koko sniffed a wicker baby buggy without wheels. "Some kid cannibalized it to make a go-cart," Mitch guessed.
When the cat sniffed the potato masher, Qwilleran said, "We're getting warm. He knows Iris handled it. Now watch him!"
Koko was making his way to the cracked plaster wall, hopping over a coal skuttle, slinking under a three-legged chair, climbing up on the monstrous sideboard that stood against the plaster wall. It was a hodgepodge of shelves, mirrors, and carved ornament.
"My mother bought two of those dumb things," Kristi said. "Listen! Thunder again! It's coming closer!" Koko was standing on his hind legs and stretching to see the wall behind the sideboard.
"He senses something," Qwilleran whispered. Mitch said, "I think he sees a spider walking up the wall."
"I hate spiders," said Kristi. With one swift movement Koko jumped up, swatted the insect, brought it down in the cup of his paw, and chomped on it with satisfaction.
"Ugh!" she said.
"Let's go," said Qwilleran, grabbing the cat. "He's not in good form tonight."
"We should think about leaving," Mitch said as they emerged from the basement and saw the sky illuminated with blue lightning.
"I'll drive you home," Qwilleran offered, "so have another glass of cider before you go." The four paraded back to the kitchen.
"This is good stuff," said Mitch. "Did it come from Trevelyan's cider mill? They throw in bruised apples, windfalls, worms and everything. My grandfather insisted on using perfect apples, and it was the flattest cider anybody ever tasted."
The two men talked about leaf raking, the hotel business, and Scottish history, but Kristi was quiet and introspective. Finally she said softly, "Emmaline will walk tonight."
The men glanced at each other and then at her. She said, "Qwill, would you like to see Emmaline? Mitch has seen her twice."
"Yes, I would," he said. The downpour had started. They collected their jackets and ran for the steel barn. As they drove up Black Creek Lane torrents of water slapped the windshield. As they turned into the Fugtree drive, flashes of lightning silhouetted the Victorian house against an electric blue sky. No one spoke. They dashed for the side door and arrived in the kitchen wet. Still there was no conversation. Wordlessly Kristi draped their wet jackets over kitchen chairbacks. She turned on no lights, but she beamed a flashlight at the floor to lead them into the foyer. Groping through the incredible clutter they found their way to the massive staircase and sat on the stairs to wait in the dark, smelling the mustiness of the house, feeling the vibration from thunderclaps overhead, hearing the rain slap against the tall narrow windows, seeing the panes glow blue with each lightning flash. They waited.
"She's coming!" Kristi whispered. No one dared to breathe.
The men stared in rapt silence. Kristi shuddered and gasped.
Qwilleran found his blood running cold. The minutes ticked away.
Then Kristi broke into tears. "Wasn't she beautiful?" she sighed.
"Beautiful!" Mitch said in a half-whisper.
"Incredible!" Qwilleran said under his breath.
The three sat quietly for a while, each with private thoughts. The rain relented; the tumult subsided; and Qwilleran brought himself to murmur, "What can I say?... Thank you... Good night." He squeezed Kristi's hand, touched Mitch's shoulder, and found his way out of the house. "My God!" he said aloud, sitting in the driver's seat, reluctant to turn on the ignition.
At home he dropped into his wing chair and fell into a reverie so deep that he didn't hear the vehicle pulling up to the door. The brass knocker startled him. He jumped up and opened the door, saying, "Mitch! Did you forget something?"
"Just wanted to talk for a minute - without Kristi."
"Come into the kitchen and get that wet jacket off. Do you want a cup of coffee before you drive home?"
"It might be a good idea."
"Put another log on the fire while I make the coffee." "Sorry to come back so late."
"Forget it! What's on your mind?"
Mitch gave him a searching look. "Tell me honestly, Qwill. Did you see Emmaline?"