From the previous chapter;
 
His beer drunk, Igor decided to call it a night. The softness and warmth of not only the cosy duvet but the fluffy pillows at his back, had the desired soporific effect. He reached over and turned off the bedside lamp on the opposite side of the bed, before turning to the one on the table beside him. Just as his fingers reached the switch, the light went out…
 
    








 
 
Samantha looked down at Igor as he slept, one hand thrown back on the pillow, the other nestled close to his cheek. He reminded her of her lover before she died, and for the first time since she’d found herself trapped in the room, she didn’t feel angry because someone was invading her space. Unlike the other occupants before they stopped letting the room out, this one seemed different. There was a sincerity about him that was very endearing, and when she listened to his conversation with the woman who cleared the room, and saw his obvious enthusiasm when he found out he could sleep there, she’d warmed to him immediately.
 
     ‘Nazdia…’ he muttered in his sleep when she ran her finger across his open palm on the pillow. Samantha pulled her hand away as she felt an unexpected pang of jealousy. Was this new occupant in love with someone? If he was, she would do whatever she had to do to keep them out of this room. She had been alone for too long, with nothing to do other than learn the limitations of her powers via electricity, her only means to connect to the world she once lived in as an attractive, passionate woman.
 
     Samantha reached down again and tried to move a lock of Igor’s hair from his cheek to behind his ear, but nothing happened. Or did it? His left hand suddenly brushed across his cheek exactly where her fingers had been. Could it be that he felt something? He’d mentioned the woman’s name when she touched his hand, so maybe he could. Perhaps they were bonded in some way that made them able to connect.
 
     ‘Can you hear me?’ she whispered in his ear.
 
     This time Igor didn’t react, which disappointed Samantha more than she thought possible. She so missed having a man in her life. Andrew, the lover who had driven her to the edge of despair when he didn’t turn up in time six years ago, had filled her life with love and laughter after years of searching for a soul mate. Swallowing the sleeping pills she’d brought with her had seemed the only option at the time because she certainly didn’t want to live if he no longer loved her. The fact that he did, and had only been late because of a pile-up on the motorway, made that decision the worst in her life. By the time he eventually got there, Samantha was dead, and her spirit, which she felt floating above her body, could only watch the heart-breaking scene below when he rushed to her side and tried to shake her awake.
 
     ‘I love you, Samantha…’ he’d shouted at her lifeless corpse in his arms, the tears streaming down his face. ‘Jemma’s agreed to a divorce… That’s why I wanted to see you. To tell you we can be together.’
 
     The irony of it still made Samantha weep every time she thought about it. Like a macabre work of art painted in her head, the memory plagued her night and day. Why didn’t she wait? When Andrew said he needed to talk to her face to face, she’d assumed he was going to end their relationship. Not for a moment did she think he would leave his wife, however loveless their marriage had become. When she checked into the Bedford, their usual meeting place, she only brought the pills with her in case her suspicions turned out to be correct. After waiting for nearly three hours, she stupidly assumed that they were.
 
     As she looked back down at Igor sleeping peacefully, Samantha made a decision. No more playing with the lights or trying to make her presence felt. She wanted Igor to be happy here, so she wouldn’t be left alone again. She lay on the bed and pretended it was Andrew’s soft, rhythmical breathing she could hear beside her…
 
 
   
   
 
As he made his way down to the kitchen to start cooking breakfast for the sixteen guests, Igor couldn’t believe how well he’d slept the night before. With the compliments regarding the Polish evening still ringing in his ears, he was anxious to find out when the event would be repeated. There were enough people on the waiting list to ensure the dining room would be full at least two times over, so he didn’t doubt it would be soon.
 
     ‘Good morning, Igor! How was your first night?' Laura asked when she saw him approaching the reception desk on his way through to the kitchen.
 
     His brilliant smile answered her question before he opened his mouth. ‘I sleep like baby!’ he told her.
 
     Laura let out a sigh of relief. Visions of his lights turning off and on all night had plagued her after she opened the door to Igor’s room the night before. ‘Eh… were the lights okay?’ she couldn’t resist asking.
 
     ‘The lights good, but I need new bulb,’ he told her. ‘One go caput just before I go to sleep.’
 
     Her smile dropped as Laura groaned inwardly. The only thing that would make Igor’s new home impossible to live in was if there was indeed a ghost, and much though she hated to admit it, the three, now four ‘light’ incidents convinced her there was.
 
     ‘It no problem, Boss,’ Igor assured her when he saw the expression on her face. ‘I get new one from dry store. You no worry…’
 
     ‘Ye…. Yes, of course,’ Laura stuttered before she forced a smile. She assumed it would only be a matter of time before Igor realised a new light bulb wasn’t going to solve the problem, but until he did, she might as well try and get ahead of the game. As soon as Igor left to go through to the kitchen, she Googled how to get rid of ghosts…
 
 
 
Igor was surprised to see the kitchen door wide open when he got there. He was equally surprised to see Jenny sitting at the unused prep table having a cup of coffee. Her morning greeting, in the same way as Laura’s, was more of an enquiry regarding his first night in the storeroom.
 
     Igor looked distracted when he answered her, his eyes jumping between the pet box on the kitchen floor and the opened back door. ‘The room good,' he told her. 'I see you bring cat...’ he added, a look of concern etched on his face.
 
     ‘Yes, I’m just letting Jasper get used to his new surroundings. I know we can’t let him loose in the kitchen, so I thought I’d wait till he comes back in for his breakfast before I put him in the dry store. It seems a bit mean to have him locked in there 24/7 with a litter tray. It’s not a problem is it?’
 
     Igor didn’t hang around long enough to answer her. When he realised Jasper was outside, he shot through the back door and ran over to the refuse bin to retrieve the box containing Nazdia and her babies--just as Jasper appeared from behind it licking his lips…