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“Aye. He was far more observant than anyone ever gave him credit for, including himself. What did you learn, then?”

Levi recaps what Xander said quickly. He told me all about it in the car, so right now I watch Branok’s face. He’s frowning in concentration.

When Levi falls silent, he puffs on his pipe. “I remember that book of Richard’s,” he finally says.

I lean forward. “You do?” He nods. “What did you think of it?”

“The same as Xander. Richard told me it was his sermon book.”

“But you didn’t believe him?”

His eyes sharpen. “Nay. He spent a great deal of his time writing in that book. Far too long for it to have been sermons. His sermons were known for their shortness. It was one of the reasons he was so favoured by the previous Lord St Claire. Xander’s father always did appreciate religious brevity.”

Levi begins tapping away on his phone, and I ask Branok, “What was actually in the book, then?”

“I believed they were his memoirs.”

“Did you know he made Xander uncomfortable when he got too close? Did you guess Boynton liked men that way?”

Silence drops and then he shakes his head. “Nay, I cannot say I did.” He frowns. “I did not know that he touched Xander in such a manner. I would have intervened if he’d told me.”

“Maybe that’s why he didn’t.”

He looks startled for a second and then nods. “Perhaps it was so. Xander always fought his own battles.” He taps his pipe on the arm of the chair. “I have racked my brain while you have been away, but I can remember no unease or suspicion about Richard. He was my friend, or so I thought.”

Levi looks up. “Xander said you were troubled that week. As though you had a problem that you were working through.”

Branok looks startled. “Was I? I have no memory of that.”

“That suggests the problem was a sudden one that you didn’t see coming,” I observe.

Levi sets his phone down. “I just looked up the ghost-laying bit,” he announces with an edge of excitement in his voice. “You said you knew about that?”

Branok studies him. “Aye. He was famous in the county, and I was proud of my friend’s ability. He was not alone, though. There was another ghost-layer over in Truro. The folks who frequented The Pilchard Inn liked to whisper about both of them.”

“He was believed to have had control over the dead.” Levi’s face is shadowed in the firelight. “What if he still does? What if he never lost that ability?” He licks his lips. “What if rather than getting rid of ghosts, he kept them on tap?”

“It would explain the faux zombies,” I say thoughtfully.

Branok sighs in agitation. “That encounter sounds like something he would have enjoyed,” he admits. “He was always fond of drama and spectacle. I remember watching a travelling player do magic tricks in the village once. Richard was with me and was fascinated by the illusion of magic. He talked of it a great deal afterwards. Unfortunately, I do not remember much of that conversation. I had no interest in tricks and mummery.” He turns the pipe over in his hand. “The only way we are going to move forward and solve this mystery is by me retrieving my memories.”

“And how are you going to do that?” Levi asks.

Branok looks between us. “I have read many books and travelled many miles to find information as a spirit. People in my time believed that a ghost was someone who died violently. The spirit then lingered in the places they knew best, searching for familiarity amidst the confusion. I found a treatise in an old abbey in Northumbria. The author theorised that ghosts could not move on until they understood the reason for their restlessness. The author believed that reuniting the spirit with their body would result in peace for an unquiet spectre.”

“What does peace mean in that situation?” I ask. A thought suddenly occurs to me, and I whip my head around to look at Branok. “Does that mean not walking the earth anymore?”

“Clever lad.” His eyes gleam with approval, and, strangely, his approval matters to me. “Perhaps that will happen.”

“But then what? What about Xander?”

“Ah, I do not think that I will move on. I will not leave Xander here alone. I believe that the monk meant the ghost would find peace by knowing everything.”

Levi says slowly, “So, when you say reunited with their body, you mean that literally?”

Branok nods calmly. “Yes. I think if you find my body, my memories of that last week will return.”

I shake my head in disbelief. “Just like that? It’s not quite that easy. You died hundreds of years ago. Where the fuck would we find your body? It’s not something we can order on Amazon, you know.” I stand up and pace over to the window. “I think I’d rather look for a needle in a haystack. At least that way, I can poke myself in the eye with it and get out of this weird situation on my honeymoon.”