‘Then you did know that he was dead.’
‘Only when that young copper told me.’
‘I see. Have you any idea who was or might have been with Mr. Skinner?’
‘He were talking to his ghoulies,’ the woman said. ‘I heard him.’
‘His what?’
‘His ghoulies. He were seeing ghoulies all the time,’ the woman said. ‘He said they were out to get him. I saw them once or twice m’self.’
Lorne pinched the bridge of his nose. Just my luck to get a nut case, he thought.
‘You’ve seen ghoulies,’ he said, trying to keep a straight face. ‘I see. Well, what did these ghoulies look like?’
‘They were kiddies,’ she told him earnestly. ‘Archie always wanted to take their picture- he was by way of being a photographer, you know- ‘cept of course when he developed the film there were always nothing. They came from out of the cellar. That’s where they’re buried.’
Lorne suddenly found that he had gone very still and cold inside.
‘Kiddies buried in the cellar, you say? How about you show me.’
The cellar was of a very old type and still retained the original wooden floorboards instead of being cemented over, as most cellars had been. The men from forensics noticed an area in a far corner where the boards lay unevenly and went to work immediately. The work stopped just as quickly and Fred Hiller took Lorne aside.