Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden

He broke off because Janine had entered the room. She was dressed in a long white muslin gown, very plain, with long tight sleeves and a high neck. Agatha eyed her curiously. How could she hold this seance, agree to this seance, with her mother so recently dead? And yet, thought Agatha, peering at her closely, despite her heavy make-up, her eyes had the red, strained look of someone who had done a lot of weeping recently.

"Shall we begin?" she said, sitting down. "Please hold hands and keep holding hands. The circle must not be broken." The overhead lights were turned off. Now there was only a bluish light shining down on Janine and spotlights that lit up their joined hands around the table, but leaving their faces in darkness.

Agatha was between Daisy and the colonel.

There was a long silence. The whale sounds died away. Janine sat with her head back.

Then she closed her eyes and said in a crooning monotone. "Who is there?"

And then a man's voice said, "Hullo, Aggie?"

Agatha tensed.

"It's me, your husband Jimmy Raisin."

Agatha's skin crawled. Jimmy's accent had been a mixture of Cockney and Irish, just like this voice. Her mind raced. Of course his murder had been in all the papers and his background.

"I'm waiting for you, Aggie," he said. "It won't be long now."

"Can I ask him something?" said Agatha.

Janine sat with her eyes closed. So Agatha said, "Do you remember our holiday here in Wyckhadden, Jimmy? That's why I came back."

"And that's how I knew where to find you," said the cocky voice cheerfully.

Agatha relaxed. She and Jimmy had never been in Wyckhadden.

"That's funny," she said. "Because we were never..."

"Someone else wants to get in," intoned Janine.

There was a long silence. A gust of wind suddenly howled down the lane outside. Appropriate atmospherics, thought Agatha cynically, and yet she was aware of the tension building in the room, of the colonel holding her hand so tightly that she could feel her wedding ring digging into her finger. Silly and old-fashioned to keep wearing a wedding ring, she thought inconsequentially. She cleared her throat. Nothing was happening. The woman was a charlatan. It was time to leave.

And then a low moan escaped Janine's lips and she began to rock backwards and forwards. A thin line of grey smoke escaped from between her lips and hung in the bluish light above her head. Can't be cigarette smoke, thought Agatha. Wonder how she does that? But there was something eerie and unearthly in the moaning. Janine's eyes were tightly closed. Then a thin voice sounded from Janine's lips.

"Hello, daughter. I have now completed my journey to the other side."

"Mother. How are you?"

"Restless," wailed the voice. "My death is not yet avenged."

"It will be, mother. Who killed you?"

"I know who killed me."

There was a tense silence and then Mary screamed and leapt to her feet. "What is it?" asked the colonel. "What's up, my dear? Dammit, I've had enough of this nonsense." He walked over to the door and switched on the light.

"Someone kicked me hard," said Mary.

"You have broken the circle and broken the spell," said Janine furiously. "I cannot do anything more."

"You can't expect us to fork out two hundred pounds for this charade," said the colonel.

Janine's husband came into the room. "What's going on?"

"These people broke the circle just when I had got in touch with mother and now they're refusing to pay." Janine suddenly buried her head in her hands and began to cry.

Cliff suddenly looked menacing. "We'll see about that."

"Yes we will see about that," said the colonel wrathfully. "Either we all leave peacefully or I will call the police to escort us out of here."

"Let them go," said Janine, drying her eyes. "Let the bastards go." They made for the door. "I put a curse on you all," said Janine.

Daisy gave a terrified little squeak and pressed against the colonel.

"We may as well walk," said the colonel when they were all gathered outside. "What did you think of all that, Agatha? Did that sound like your husband?"

"It did a bit," said Agatha, "but he was murdered and the murder background was in all the papers. Besides, I'd never been in Wyckhadden before and neither had he."

Daisy shivered as they walked along the prom which was glittering with frost. "She cursed us."

"She only cursed us because she didn't get any money," said the colonel soothingly. "I think what we all need is a drink and a quiet game of Scrabble."