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pained expression. “Oh, Maddie, how could you think that? No, no of course it’s nothing to do with your money. I want to come back to you. I still love you. I never really loved Liz. It was the excitement…” I could tell from his horrified expression that he knew he shouldn’t have said that.
    “Well you can go and find some other cheating woman to get your kicks with, because you’re not coming here.” I didn’t know how much longer I could stop myself from letting fly at him. I stood up. “I think it’s time you left.”
    I picked up his half-full coffee mug and empty brandy glass. “Time to go, Neil. I’d like to say it’s been a pleasure, but it hasn’t. Don’t bother to come back.”
    He looked ashen. I could read his expression so clearly because I’d seen it before. He really had believed I would fall for his sob story and his phony contrition. His arrogance knew no bounds. How could I ever have doted on this man for so many years? Why had I never seen him for what he was—a money-obsessed womanizer?
    I remained at the living room door. He must have seen I wouldn’t back down, so he stood.
    “Very well. I can see your mind’s made up. I can’t say how sorry I am. If you ever change your mind, I still have the same mobile number.”
    “ I don’t.”
    He nodded. “Can I first use your bathroom? It’s an hour’s drive back to Chester.”
    I pointed to the downstairs toilet and went into the kitchen.
    I was rinsing his glass when I heard him shriek. I dropped it and it shattered in the sink.
    Out in the hall, Neil was screaming and clutching his hair. If this was a new ruse, it was a pretty effective one.
    I shook his arm. “What the hell are you playing at?”
    His eyes were round, wide. “Something…there’s something in that room…I saw it…I felt it…” He sank to his knees. “Oh, my God. What the hell was that?”
    I pulled the toilet door wide open.
    “ No . Don’t go in there, Maddie. Please .”
    I looked around at the tiny, white bathroom, with its toilet. Seat up, of course, as always when Neil was around. The faucets still ran in the small wash hand basin. I turned them off. They squeaked from lack of use. The overhead light illuminated my face in the mirror and the angry glint in my eyes. In a reflex action, I pushed a wayward lock of hair behind my ear and turned back into the hall.
    “Nice try, but there’s nothing here. Goodbye.”
    “I swear there was. On my life, Maddie, I swear I saw something.”
    “What did you see, Neil?”
    “I don’t know. I can’t explain it. Like a…a…scarecrow. That’s the nearest. Like a scarecrow. No eyes. Not a person. It touched me. It scratched me.” He fingered his neck. “I can’t feel anything now, but it hurt. You must be able to see. Look.”
    I ventured closer to him and peered at his throat. “All I can see are red marks where you’ve been rubbing it. There’s no skin broken. Oh, come on, I’ve had enough of this. Time to go home.”
    I opened the front door and a cold breeze shot in, reminding me the nights were getting colder.
    Neil lowered his hands, but they were shaking. For a moment I wondered if he was telling me the truth. Had he really seen something in there? I dismissed the thought. Another one of his pranks for getting his own way.
    He took a few steps toward me. “Very well, I’ll go. Something in this house—apart from you—doesn’t want me here. Promise me you’ll take care, Maddie. It might not want you here either.”
    “If you’re trying to scare me, Neil, you’re going to have to do an awful lot better than that.”
    “I’m not trying to scare you, Maddie. I know what I felt. I know what happened in there was real. There’s something in this house. Something…not right. Promise me you’ll be careful. Better still get the hell out of this place. You can afford it after all.”
    Any doubt in my mind flew away at that point. “Always money, Neil. Always money. Goodbye.”
    I