Read Constable & Toop for Free Online Page A

eyes were drawn to the perfectly round hole in the centre of his temple revealing the grey inside of his skull. General Colt noticed him looking. ‘Ah, I see you’ve seen my old death wound. I tell you, if my own gun hadn’t jammed on me I’d have hit that son of a gun first. Still, the man who gave me this brain ventilation swung for his crime. I was there. I watched his ghost rise up from his limp hanging body and go straight through to the other side. Whereas I ended up with a job here. So who’s laughing now, eh? Don’t answer that.’
    â€˜What do you need me for, sir?’ asked Lapsewood.
    â€˜What do you know about haunted houses?’
    â€˜They’re houses with ghosts living in them?’ ventured Lapsewood.
    â€˜I’m beginning to see why Penhaligan was willing to let you go.’ General Colt raised his eyebrows. ‘Yes, houses with ghosts in them. Do you know why this happens?’ he asked, as though addressing a child, and a simple one at that.
    â€˜It’s something to do with . . . or it’s because of . . . Actually, no. I don’t think I do know.’
    â€˜Let me enlighten you,’ said General Colt. ‘Houses are made of physical materials: wood, brick, stone and so on, but even inanimate objects can retain the imprint of a life that comes into regular contact with them.’
    â€˜You mean like how a medium can use an object like a ring to contact a spirit?’ said Lapsewood.
    â€˜Don’t interrupt. But yes. A building has much more contact with life than a ring, though. It contains life. Think of it like the shell of a hermit crab. You’ve heard of hermit crabs, I suppose? Don’t answer that. The fact is that structures that contain life for so long get used to it. They come to require it. Over time, they come to need life. Are you following me?’
    â€˜Houses need life, sir.’
    â€˜It’s not just houses, Lapsewood. Buildings. Theatres, churches, pubs . . . barns, even. Anything with four walls and a roof. And if a house that has become accustomed to a great deal of life suddenly finds itself empty, it latches on to a soul and keeps the ghost back. It becomes a prison for that spirit, even after new tenants move in.’
    â€˜I think I understand.’
    â€˜Well, that’s what we deal with at the Housing Department. We act as liaison for housebound spirits, dealing with their requests for polter-licences, Opacity Permission applications, correspondence and so on. Our small team of Outreach Workers spend their time visiting each Resident. It can be a lonely life stuck in an attic for eternity. And then there are all the problems they have when new living tenants move in, changing the wallpaper, throwing out furniture – you know the kind of thing.’
    â€˜And why exactly do you need me?’
    â€˜One of my Outreach Workers has gone missing.’ He looked down at a piece of paper in front of him. ‘Doris McNally’s her name.’
    â€˜Missing?’ said Lapsewood nervously.
    â€˜Yep, disappeared without a trace. She covers the London area. Lot of haunted houses there, but she stopped reporting in a couple of weeks ago. Probably got fed up and gone Rogue. So, you see, what I really need is a Prowler. Tracking down ghosts is no task for a pen pusher.’
    â€˜I can do it,’ said Lapsewood, with what he hoped would sound like confidence.
    â€˜I seriously doubt that, boy, but since I’m not exactly drowning in options here . . .’ The general reached under the desk and, for a moment, Lapsewood thought he was going for his gun again. To his relief, he opened a drawer and pulled out a file. ‘This is a copy of the London Tenancy List. It itemises every haunted house in London in the right-hand column. The left has its Resident and the date of their ghost birth. Doris has the other copy. I need you to go to London and find