Chapter 14

Grace closed our bedroom door and ran back over to my bed. She jumped on, rocking me and Zoe as we crowded around the laptop.

‘Quick, let’s see before Violet gets back from breakfast,’ said Grace.

Zoe held the computer in her lap and began navigating around the screen. She opened the file with the overnight footage.

The image on the screen was dark and grainy.

‘Will we be able to see anything?’ I asked, worried.

‘Yes, just let me pump the resolution up a bit,’ she said, her fingers clacking the keys.

We watched as she switched the video on. Nothing appeared to happen, the video just showed the quiet stairwell in the darkness.

‘If you look along here,’ Zoe said, pointing to a bar running along the bottom of the screen, ‘it will show us at what points in the night movement or sound occurred. See here, at 10.07 p.m., we get something.’

I leaned in, holding my breath.

Zoe flicked the cursor along the bar to 10.07 p.m. and turned up the sound. Nothing came onto the screen but we did hear the unmistakable sound of the bathroom door opening and squeaking closed.

‘Just someone going for a wee,’ Grace said, disappointed.

I giggled.

‘What about there?’ I asked, pointing to a marker further along. It was at 10.35 p.m.

Zoe pulled up the footage and we saw movement on the staircase. Ms Montgomery glided up the stairs and turned down the hallway. She was doing her final checks on everyone before going to bed herself, we figured. We saw her walk back down the hall again about two minutes later, and on down the stairs.

‘Ugh!’ I huffed, frustrated.

Zoe looked along the bar and pointed to another portion of sound activity. She pumped up the volume again.

Clink.

Clink.

Clink.

We all looked at each other, confused.

The sounds got louder. But there was nothing on screen.

Clink.

Clink.

The sound of the gentle clinking grew so loud, whatever was making it was clearly right next to the laptop. But there was still nothing on the screen!

Zoe scrunched up her nose. Grace’s eyes were wide.

BANG!

We all jumped as a loud bang echoed out of the computer. We leaned in and saw the blue vase gently rolling on its side.

‘The vase was knocked over this morning!’ Grace said.

‘What knocked it over?’ I asked in a shaky voice.

‘You don’t think Saskia was right, do you?’ Zoe asked. ‘I mean, about the ghost of Ms Montgomery’s fiancé?’

Grace let out a nervous laugh. ‘As if,’ she said. But she didn’t sound so sure.

‘Look, there’s some more activity at 2.02 a.m.,’ I said, keen to get away from the ghost question.

Zoe pulled the cursor along and brought up the footage. We could hear light footsteps padding up the hallway. Suddenly, there was a figure standing right in front of the screen. It was hard to tell who it was, because her back was turned to the screen and it was grainy and dark. But she had a light coat on. Like she was going outside.

‘Who is it?’ Grace hissed, leaning in closer and squinting at the screen.

‘She’s not tall,’ Zoe remarked, turning her head to one side.

The figure looked left and right, then started tiptoeing down the stairs.

‘Look, she has shoes on!’ I exclaimed. ‘She’s clearly going out.’

We still couldn’t tell who it was.

‘Well, whatever goes out, must come back in,’ Grace shrugged. ‘Scan ahead for when she comes back.’

We looked at the computer screen and saw that the next flurry of activity was around ten minutes later.

The figure padded back up the stairs, looking left to right again as she went. When she got to the top of the stairs, she looked right square in the direction of the computer camera.

She was small.

Her skin was pale in the moonlight.

She had a little face.

And big round glasses.

We all gasped.

It was Violet.