Page 49 of Dead Serious Case 4 Professor Prometheus Plume

“Yes, but that’s not the point.” Ellis waves his hand airily. “There’s been knocking noises in the attic rooms, and once”—he leans in even closer to me, his voice dropping so low I doubt Danny can hear him—“Rosie, who works in the office, swears that someone touched her shoulder, but when she turned around?There was no one there.” He says the last sentence with dramatic relish.

“Uh-huh.” I stare at him, my mouth hanging slightly open as I try to decide if he’s being serious or taking the piss. “So, no one has actually ever seen a ghost?”

“Of course not!” His incredulous tone is laced with an impliedDuh!“I mean, no one has ever seen a real live ghost just walking around. Ghosts don’t just show themselves willy-nilly. Otherwise, they’d have caught them on camera onBritain’s Most Haunted!”

“Is that right?” I mutter, knowing emphatically that it is most definitely not right. The ridiculous conversation I had half an hour ago with Dusty and Terry smashes Ellis’ theory to smithereens.

“Anyway.” He straightens, holding up his notepad and pencil. “What can I get you?”

“I think I’ll try the roast beef. I have it on excellent authority that the gravy is to die for,” Danny says, laying the menu down.

“Excellent choice, Mr Hayes.” Ellis beams at him.

“Danny,” he corrects. “Mr Hayes always makes me look behind me for my dad.”

Ellis lets out a little quack of a laugh, which is quite frankly adorable, and turns to me. “I’ll have the same. Thank you, Ellis, and it’s Tristan if you were wondering.”

“Tristan.” He grins. “And if you are both thinking of dessert, you cannot go wrong with the sticky toffee pudding.”

“Sounds good. I do love a pudding.” Danny nods, tilting his good ear toward Ellis so he can hear better. “Does it come with custard?”

“Obviously.”

“Okay, I’ll have that, then.”

“Me too,” I agree as Ellis picks up the menus.

“Can we get a bottle of champagne as well?” Danny adds. My brows rise.

“Sticky toffee pudding and champagne? We’re so rock’n’roll.” I snort. “Are we celebrating something? Because all I’ve managed to do so far on this romantic trip is injure you in a non-sex-related incident.”

“Can’t I just celebrate the fact we’re away and spending time together?” he says. I reach for his hand across the table, a soft, gooey feeling encasing my heart.

“Aww.” I look up to find Ellis hugging the menus to his chest as he watches us. “You guys.” He sighs happily. “I’m so glad you came to stay at The Ashton-Drake.”

“I’m glad to actually see some other guests,” I say. “I was beginning to wonder if we were the only ones who didn’t cancel this weekend.”

“No, we definitely have other guests. It’s a bit quiet, yes, but we have Mr and Mrs Nakatomi from Japan, and they’re so lovely. They don’t speak a lot of English, but they’re amateur ghost hunters. Every year when they have two weeks off work, they choose a different country to visit in search of spirits.”

“You don’t say,” I murmur in amusement.

“Oh, and they showed me a picture of their son who’s just graduated from Kyoto University, and he ishot!”Ellis fans himself with the menu. “Did you know that Kyoto University is the second oldest university in Japan? It used to be an imperial college, which is the equivalent of an American Ivy League school. I looked it up.”

“Uh, you looked it up?”

He shrugs. “I just find people and places fascinating. If it interests me, I’ll look it up. Anyway, where was I?” He stops for a second to review his words. “Oh, yeah, the guests. We’ve also got Martha and Essie, who are total sweethearts. They’re twins and pretty spry for being nearly eighty years old. They’re here for the murder mystery weekend. Massive Agatha Christie fans.”

I’m beginning to wonder if he’s going to run through the entire guest list when my stomach lets out an embarrassingly loud growl of complaint.

“Goodness me.” Ellis laughs. “There’s me carrying on while you must be starving. I’ll drop your order to Aggie in the kitchen and make sure she gets a rush on it.”

“Oh, there’s no need.” I flush.

“Nonsense. It’s mostly all ready anyway, she just needs to plate it up,” he says. “I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

We watch as he bounces away, greeting guests at the other tables on his way to the kitchen.

“It’s like he’s inhaled sunlight,” Danny mutters.