“There’s the drive back home, invariably in the dark. Not safe.”

“She has plenty of space. We could have just stayed over.”

Linda shook her head. “No. Not allowed. Against the rules.”

“What do you mean?” Andrew took off his glasses and frowned at her. “Hodgey was always begging us to stay the night. I’ve never understood—”

Linda drummed her fingers on her knees.“It’s just a thing, okay? An agreement.”

Andrew’s furrows deepened. “Between you and Hodge?”

“Between Peter and I. We sibling-swore.”

“‘Sibling-swore’? What are you two? Twelve?”

Linda stopped drumming. “We were sixteen, if you must know.”

Andrew laughed. “Why? Is the house haunted?”

“In a way.”

He stopped laughing, perhaps remembering that Linda had lost her parents when she was sixteen. “In a way?”

“Bad things happen. If you stay over.”