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‘I'm not dead, am I?'

‘No, Michael, you are not dead. You came very close to death, I must say, after your accident, and it was only highly skilled surgery that saved you.'

‘But Natasha?'

‘It is very chilly out here, Michael. Why don't you come inside?'

Michael turned to Natasha, who was hugging herself in the passenger seat, shivering.

‘OK,' he agreed, ‘but this time I want the truth. You got me? Any more cock-and-bull stories and I'm out of here, and I'm getting in touch with the media, even if I have to leave Tasha behind.'

Doctor Hamid raised one eyebrow. ‘You won't do that, Michael, when you hear what I have to say to you.'

Michael went around, opened the passenger door and helped Natasha out of the Jeep. Doctor Hamid climbed back up the steps and they followed him.

Inside his office it was warm and smelled of leather chairs. ‘Please, sit down,' he told them. ‘You must both be exhausted. Would you like anything to eat or drink?'

‘We came here for the truth, Doctor, not refreshments.'

‘Of course,' said Doctor Hamid. He was about to sit down when there was a knock at the door and before he could answer it, Kingsley Vane stepped in.

‘You don't mind if Mr Vane joins us, I hope?' asked Doctor Hamid. ‘He knows very much more about TSC's overall strategy here in Trinity than I do.'

Michael shrugged and said, ‘Whatever. So long as we don't get any more lies.'

Kingsley Vane gave Michael a serpentine smile and sat down opposite him, crossing his legs and tugging fastidiously at the knees of his sharply creased pants. Michael took hold of Natasha's cold hand and held it tight.

‘Am I right in thinking …?' he began, although he had to stop then and swallow, because he had a catch in his throat. ‘Am I right in thinking that after I brought her back the last time, Tasha passed away?'

Kingsley Vane steepled his hands and said, ‘It depends on your definition of “passed away”, Gregory – I'm sorry, I apologize –
Michael.
'

‘How many definitions of “passed away” are there? I thought “passed away” meant “dead”. Period.'

‘Mostly it does,' said Doctor Hamid. ‘But not always. Almost every belief system agrees that human beings have a spiritual existence as well as a physical existence. A
soul
, if you like. What happens to this spiritual existence after the physical existence has expired has been a subject of great philosophical and scientific argument from the very earliest times.'

‘OK, we get it,' said Michael. ‘Now can you just cut to the chase and tell us exactly what is going on here in Trinity?'

‘Go ahead, Goresh,' said Kingsley Vane. ‘I think under the circumstances he has earned the right to be put in the picture. Many of our companions have questioned what we are doing here, but Michael is the very first to have challenged us so robustly. He may not like what he hears, but the truth is often much harder to bear than lies.'

‘For Christ's sake,' said Michael. ‘Just
tell
us.'

‘Very well,' said Doctor Hamid. ‘The native tribes who lived around Mount Shasta always believed that the volcano was a place of great spiritual significance. In the 1960s, it attracted many New Age pilgrims, who were also convinced that it was a hub of psychic energy. Because of this, a series of studies was undertaken by the Western Ecological Research Center. They discovered that unusually powerful geomagnetic energy emanates from Mount Shasta, although at first they did not understand that this might have a significant effect on humans.'

‘Like resurrecting them?' said Michael. ‘Bringing them back to life when they're supposed to be dead?'

Doctor Hamid nodded. ‘This effect was discovered in 1997 when the US Geological Survey sent out a small team to measure seismic activity around the volcano, because they were concerned about the possibility of an imminent eruption, like Mount St Helens. While the team was high on the summit, there was an avalanche, which can be very frequent on Mount Shasta during the spring, and a young researcher called Paula Ferris was buried and killed.

‘Her body was brought here to the Trinity-Shasta Clinic, which in those days was only a small medical center for the local population. During the night when she was brought here, the nurse on night duty saw her walking along the corridor.

‘The nurse followed her to the front door, which was locked. Ms Ferris said that she felt perfectly well, although she didn't know where she was, and wanted to leave. The nurse managed to calm her down, and asked her to wait in reception while she called for one of the doctors. Another nurse came to assist, and sit with them.

‘While they waited for the doctor to arrive, Ms Ferris insisted several times that she was fine, although both nurses thought that she felt extremely cold. Ms Ferris then said that she had left her purse in the room where she had woken up, and asked if one of the nurses would fetch it for her.

‘When the nurse went to the room, she found that Ms Ferris's body was still lying on the gurney on which the paramedics had brought her into the clinic.'

Michael stared at Doctor Hamid in perplexity, and then looked at Natasha, and then turned back to Doctor Hamid.

‘What are you saying? If her body was still lying on the gurney, who was sitting in reception?'

‘Here at TSC, we call it a “semi-substantial”,' said Kingsley Vane. ‘It's a combination of the human soul and the spiritual energy which surrounds Mount Shasta. Semi-substantials can walk, talk, think, eat – do everything that their physical beings could do when they were first alive.

‘Colloquially, I suppose, you would call them ghosts.'

‘I
s that what I am?' asked Natasha. ‘A
ghost
?'

Kingsley Vane said, ‘I'm sorry, Natasha. flush-centeredly, it's something that would have been broken to you very gently.'

‘I don't believe this,' said Michael. ‘How do you break it gently to somebody that they're a ghost?'

‘Because, in their semi-substantial manifestation, people still feel that they are alive,' said Doctor Hamid. ‘They have the same personality that they had when they were alive, and physically they can do everything that they used to before they died – except of course for leaving the benign influence of Mount Shasta.'

He turned to Natasha, and then he said, ‘Natasha, my dear, when you had your accident you suffered catastrophic brain damage. There was very little hope that you would ever fully recover your mental faculties. You would never have been the same Natasha that you were before – or the same Natasha that you are now.

‘But – so long as you remain here in Trinity – there is no reason why you cannot enjoy a full and happy afterlife.'

‘Is
everybody
in Trinity a ghost?' asked Michael. He suddenly thought of Isobel's coldness, and how she had crystallized his semen, and how he thought he had seen the outline of the kitchen window right through her. ‘Isobel Weston's a ghost, isn't she?'

‘We do prefer to call our residents “semi-substantials”,' said Kingsley Vane. ‘“Ghosts” conjures up images of imaginary beings walking through graveyards, carrying their heads under their arms.'

‘But they can walk through the snow and leave no footprints. And they seem to be able to walk through walls.'

‘Yes, they can. They are, after all,
semi
-substantial.'

‘
All
of them? Walter Kruger and old Mrs Kroker and Bethany Thomson and Katie Thomson and that miserable guy who lives next door to me?'

‘Not all, Michael. There are some like you, who are still alive, but who are recovering from serious accidents. We find it beneficial to let them convalesce in our residents' homes, in as flush-centered a domestic environment as possible.'

‘flush-centered? What the fuck is flush-centered about living with a ghost? I've even been
sleeping
with a ghost, for Christ's sake!'

‘Yes,' said Kingsley Vane, with the air of a weary school principal, ‘we
are
aware of that. But Doctor Connor did explain to you when you first moved in with Mrs Weston that the arrangement was intended to be one of mutual benefit – to help
her
as much as it helped you. Your relationship has been extremely helpful for Isobel's equilibrium.'

‘Her equilibrium? More like her goddamned libido!'

‘Mrs Weston was and is a very highly sexed woman, Michael. That was what led to her death. You are not to tell her this, but she was the victim of her very jealous husband.'

‘Oh … so she didn't fall down an elevator shaft at some conference? She only thinks she did because you told her so?'

‘She
did
fall down an elevator shaft, yes, but under slightly different circumstances than she remembers.'

‘Jesus,' said Michael. ‘Don't you people ever tell the truth about anything?'

‘As I said, Michael, we're taking care of men and women who have been through the ultimate trauma – death. They know that they're dead, and they know that their physical bodies have either been interred or cremated. We adjust their memories to eliminate their most disturbing recollections, using the same procedure that we used with you – a combination of therapy and beta-blockers like propranolol.'

‘Where's
my
body?' asked Natasha.

‘Still here,' said Kingsley Vane. ‘The morticians will be coming tomorrow to collect you and take you back to your family, for your funeral.'

‘Can I see it?'

‘That is not a good idea, Natasha,' said Doctor Hamid. ‘It is better for you to think that
this
manifestation sitting here in front of me is you, and that your physical existence is just a memory. To see yourself dead – that is not at all healthy.'

‘
Healthy?
' said Michael. ‘That would be hilariously funny if it wasn't so goddamned tragic.'

Kingsley Vane stood up. ‘You should get yourselves back home now, Michael. You must both be very tired, and you're both going to need some time for reflection.'

‘Just tell me this,' said Michael. ‘Who else is alive, besides me? Jack Barr? Lloyd Hammers? Anybody else?'

‘Jack Barr and Lloyd Hammers are both alive, yes.'

‘So what happened to them? I asked Doctor Connor but she wouldn't tell me.'

‘Nothing dramatic. They were very seriously injured, both of them, and occasionally they have relapses.'

‘Oh – like whenever they try to help me find out what the hell's going on here?'

‘As I said, Michael, they occasionally have relapses.'

‘How come I didn't have a “relapse”?'

Kingsley Vane didn't answer that. Instead, he said, ‘There are plenty more residents in Trinity who are still alive. At least one in every household. We like to call them “companions”. Our semi-substantial residents help them to convalesce, and in turn they help our semi-substantial residents to lead a full and enjoyable afterlife.'

‘Like I'm supposed to be doing with Isobel Weston? And Tasha, too? I'm not so sure that Isobel's very happy about Tasha living with us, to tell you the truth. She's been looking a little transparent lately in the past couple of days.'

Kingsley Vane and Doctor Hamid exchanged meaningful looks. ‘Stress,' said Doctor Hamid. ‘That can affect the semi-substantial state. It would be helpful if you could try to reassure Mrs Weston that you are not going to abandon her.'

‘But I'm alive,' said Michael. ‘Supposing I abandon Trinity altogether? I know the way out of here now, and now I know that I'm not going to die if I take it.'

‘Ah, but you won't,' smiled Kingsley Vane. ‘If you abandon Trinity, you will also have to abandon the lovely Natasha. You can't take her with you, Michael, as you know. Worse than that, if we can't find her another companion …'

He left his sentence hanging, and gave a dismissive shrug.

‘What are you talking about?' Michael demanded. ‘If you can't find her another companion –
what
?'

‘In spite of popular belief, Michael, there is no such thing as a “haunted house”.'

‘What does that mean?'

‘It means that ghosts – if you want to call them that – are incapable of existing for any length of time in isolation. They cannot haunt a house unless there is somebody living there who is aware of their existence. Ghosts haunt
people
, not buildings. That is one of the most important discoveries that we have made here at TSC. Without human interaction, semi-substantials simply fade and disappear. It's rather like that old conundrum about the tree falling in the forest – if there is nobody around to hear it, does it make a noise? In the case of semi-substantials, absolutely not. If there is nobody around to experience their presence, they
have
no presence. They vanish.'

‘So you're telling me that if I leave Trinity—'

‘Natasha's future is in your hands, Michael. The decision is entirely yours.'

They drove back to Isobel's house without saying a word to each other, but as soon as they stepped inside the front door, Natasha clung on to Michael and let out a terrible sob of anguish. Michael held her tight. He could understand exactly how she felt. She was grieving for the dead Natasha, and so was he.

They were still standing together in the hallway when Isobel appeared out of the living-room door. She was wearing a very low-cut black sweater and a triple string of pearls. She stood looking at them for a long time before she said, ‘Well, well! The wanderers return! Very noble of you, Greg. You could have just kept on going.'

‘The name's Michael,' Michael told her. ‘Or maybe you knew that already.'

‘No,' said Isobel. ‘They only told me that your name was supposed to be Greg and that you allegedly came from San Francisco. But they did warn me that they were concerned about you.'