Henry Neville- The Geist Therapist

16. The Stalking of Estella: Chapter Two

"I have a bad feeling about this," replied Polly dryly.

"The house is empty, presumably. There's nothing to fear," Henry said reassuringly. Standing on the dimly lit landing, Henry noted three closed doors. He pointed to the one on the furthest right, "I'll let you take that one," he smiled.

"Gee, thanking you kindly," she replied sarcastically and proceeded to the right hand door.

Henry entered the left side door and was disappointed to find it almost empty. There were a couple of side tables covered in china ornaments and small trinkets, nothing of any worth or value. The desk, although made of fine lacquered wood, proved to be another disappointment.

A distant scream poised his attention and he leapt out of the room and marched down the hallway to the room occupied by Polly. A man lay motionless on the bed on his side as if asleep.

"He-he's d-dead," Polly stammered.

Henry knelt down beside the man and started muttering to himself, "Male, late forties, working class clothes, coal miner," he said as he inspected the blackness around the nails. He checked for a pulse before turning back to Polly. "Yes he's dead but there's still warmth in the body. I would guess whatever happened here, happened not two hours ago."

"Is this the intended victim. Did the murderer get his way after all?"

"Hard to tell, but I do not think this man was lying dead here when Cane picked up his man. It does not add up."

"This is bad, we're now in a full crime scene. I knew we should have walked away!" Polly gasped.

"No this is good," replied Henry and waited for Polly's surprised reaction. "I mean not for our friend here but now he'll be much easier for us to talk to in the morning."

"You mean to wait for his haunting?" Polly asked still in shock.

"In a way, I believe he will follow his attacker and Cane which will lead him to us."

"We need to leave! I do wonder who he is but I do not feel safe here. Any idea on the cause of death?"

Henry inspected the body again, "Biology isn't my field but my first guess could be heart attack. Perhaps he was spooked by a ghoul of some kind. He does look strangely familiar."

"The demon possessing Gary?"

Henry led Polly back out of the room, "There is a very good chance it was. We must be careful." They walked across the top landing towards the stairway but quickly froze when they heard the creaking noises of a figure ascending the steps. They took two steps back.

The air grew cold and Polly noticed first their breath became visible. The gas light to their right suddenly burst to life, shining brighter than ever possible. After a few seconds it burnt out again. A shadow appeared against the wall a few paces away from them. Then it appeared; it was no mere entity, there was no face or distinguishable features. It was nothing more than a black shape of a man, but its aura was that of evil and ill intent. There appeared to be faint crisp lines of smoke protruding from its shoulders.

"Good day... Sir?" Henry said uncertainly.

"Don't provoke it," Polly whispered, her voice trembling.

The black figure did not move as it stood on top of the stairs, it's pose facing towards them.

"Relax," Henry replied. He spoke casually, "I'm guessing it won't speak. At worst it will point a finger for a few seconds then throw us both into the air; at doubly worst, out of the window."

"What!" Polly shrieked. This caused a stir from the figure as its head slanted slightly to one side, it took a step forward and stopped. Its head snapped sideways and faced down the stairs. Moments later there was a knock at the door.