Free Cherringham--Ghost of a Chance by Neil Richards Page B

my agent in the summer, trying to sell us a new ghost show. ‘Dinner on the Dark Side’, he calls it.”
    “And he invited you here to The Bell?” said Jack.
    “Nah,” said Eiss. “I booked his dinner as a guest. Incognito. So’s I could watch how he worked. See if his idea had legs, for a show and all.”
    “And does it?”
    “If you’d asked me that at five to midnight I’d have said no. I mean — I’m not saying he’s bad at what he does. But all that smoke and mirrors stuff — it’s so last century. These days everyone in the ghost business has gone digital.”
    “But …?”
    “Yeah, well — that chandelier trick? Blew me away. That was something else.”
    “How do you mean?”
    “There’s no explanation for it. What he did was, well it was impossible. Totally, humanly, magically — inexplicable.”
    Was Eiss onto something here, Jack thought.
    Was charming old Basil actually the one who’d sent that chandelier flying?
    And did he maybe suspect who the mysterious ‘Mr. Anderson’ really was?
    This is getting interesting, thought Jack.

13. A Question of Physics
    Jack watched Eiss walk over to the hole in the boards and crouch down.
    “Soon as the excitement was over that night, I came straight back up here and pulled back the carpet,” said Eiss. “Just like you. I wanted to see if someone had been mucking around with the fixings.”
    “And they hadn’t?”
    “You saw for yourself. These boards haven’t been lifted in years .”
    “Maybe whoever loosened the chandelier did it from below?” said Jack.
    “Not possible. And you know it. Look.”
    Jack crouched down next to the hole as Eiss pointed.
    “The bolts on the fitting come up through these four holes. And they’re held by four nuts. Which are screwed down from above .”
    “The same nuts which right now are attached to the bolts downstairs,” said Jack.
    “Exactly. You and me — we’re on the same page, aren’t we?”
    “So maybe someone stuck the nuts on afterwards?”
    “No way. As soon as the damned thing dropped, I never took my eyes off it. And I swear to God — the nuts were on there then, nice and tight. It wasn’t rigged. Least, not in any way I’ve come across. And I’ll tell you — I’ve seen every trick in the book.”
    “But you’re sure Basil did it?”
    “He must have,” said Eiss. “What are you suggesting — some bloody ghost did it?”
    “Just keeping an open mind. This talk of Freddy Rose is very convincing.”
    “Oh, come off it — you and me both — we know that’s all made up nonsense.”
    “Maybe. Maybe not. What about the scare after dinner last night — were you around?”
    “I was here, having a nightcap. Heard the commotion, came out on the landing to see — that lady seemed quite shaken up.”
    “But you weren’t?”
    “Takes more than a little dry ice to frighten me Jack.”
    “Dry ice — so you knew?”
    “You kidding? Use it myself.”
    “But not last night?”
    “What? Why on Earth would have I done that? I’m here to check out Basil’s show, not do my own.”
    Jack watched Eiss’s face.
    Was he telling the truth?
    “You think Basil was behind that too?” he said.
    “Has to be.”
    “But why? His big Ghost Dinner was over.”
    “He’s stuck here, isn’t he? I reckon he decided to give the old Freddy myth an extra tweak while he could. Make sure he gets a booking for next year—”
    “Or maybe he did it to impress you?”
    “Oh yeah, nice one. Saw through my disguise? Hadn’t thought of that.”
    “But you don’t think there’s a ghost here at The Bell?”
    “Do me a favour,” said Eiss, with a shrug.
    “And is that how your TV show ends up? That what you tell your punters? That it’s all a con — ghost’s aren’t real?”
    “Christ no,” said Eiss, draining his gin and tonic. “The show would go straight into the bin. No, I scare the bloody pants off them. I want them to be seeing ghosts everywhere! And tuning into my show to see