Lou stuck to his word and joined me on the trip back to Avenches, so we took out his vintage Citroën 2CV for the ride after coffee. I loved the lime-green, well-restored car, but even more important for me was the chance to spend time with its owner. The autumn holidays were about to end, but the hostel was still teeming with visitors. And since Sir Guillaume made it a habit to drop by almost every evening, privacy had become a rare item for Lou and me.

During the drive, he shared his plans for our upcoming holiday in the mountains, describing the trek he'd planned in beautiful colours and gushing over the wild animals we might see. Unlike during my shopping trip with Matt, I now felt only joyful anticipation and wondered why I ever had dreaded accept his invitation for the trip.

We arrived at the depot ahead of everyone. Instead of waiting in the cold, we strolled around the dark and quiet block hand in hand like any couple in love. On the rear side of the building, Lou stepped back and scanned the concrete-and-metal construction. "No second entrance, no windows. I guess the burglar went for the only possible way in. They should mount a motion-sensor-driven light at the entrance. It might keep criminals away."

"True, but we still don't know if this was truly a burglary and what the intruder searched. Perhaps they got interrupted before they entered the building." I wondered if Chiara was right and the ghost had chased the burglars away.

The distant cough of a motor told me Vic's antique car was about to arrive. "That must be Vic—the sound is unique. Let's ask her if the police got in contact with some news."

When we returned to the front, the archaeologist fumbled with her phone's flashlight and the provisional padlock that fixed the door. Lou was right. An automatic light would solve a few problems here. Vic looked up when she heard our steps, her eyes wide and face white in the blueish light from the phone's screen. "San, you gave me a scare."

"Sorry to startle you. We just walked around the building. May I present you my partner, Lou?"

She reached out a hand in greeting, but her face was still paler than usual. I assumed this wasn't Lou's doing, but either the shock we gave her or the prospect of confronting a ghost. "Hey, nice to meet another ghost hunter."

"Not me." My boyfriend—I still hesitated to use the term, as I had never seen him as anything but an adult man—smiled and ran a hand through his reddish curls. "Consider me a satisfied customer of the Ghost Guard, their first. I'm happy to leave the paranormal business to San and Matt, especially the ghost hunting part."

My need to intervene and set things right overwhelmed me. "Hey, we avoid the expression hunt. We just try to find out what motivates the ghosts and how we can help them. Our principle is to solve the problems of the deceased, as in most cases, the problems of the living disappear then, too."

Lou chuckled, and Vic's shoulders relaxed a fraction. This was my chance to inquire about the police investigation. "Do you have news from our friends in blue?"

"No, not a word. I can't help but wonder who went to the length of breaking into this place. It's just a depot filled with antique trash important for science, yes, but otherwise, the artefacts stored here are worthless. We keep all the valuable finds in the safe at the museum, like the coin collection or the defixio you mentioned. Which is a rare piece but not valuable in a material sense. The golden bust of emperor Marcus Aurelius found in a sewer is kept in the historical museum in the capital—we only have a copy in the exhibition here."

I still mulled over this information when Matt's van pulled into the lot and he joined us, carrying a flashlight, his laptop, and his trademark grin. "Hey girls, hey Lou, ready to solve the mysterious riddle of the Roman lady ghost?"

His relaxed attitude brought a hint of colour back into Vic's cheeks. She pulled open the heavy door, switched on the lights, and led us to the office. The bright illumination made every thought of meeting a ghost on these premises seem far-fetched. Vic set down her backpack on a desk and offered us coffee. I couldn't help but wonder if she consumed anything else but the brew.

Lou shook his head. "Too late for me, especially since we plan to confront a ghost. Coffee and a scare on top will keep me awake all night."

Matt grinned but declined, too, and set up his laptop to activate his ghost tracking app. "Let's see. When does everyone leave this place in the evening?"

"Today, Alex was the last. He left at five-thirty and joined me over in the conservation department to hand me the key to the new padlock. I agreed to drop it in his letterbox later, so he can start work early."

"Fine, then that's the point where we hop in. It will take a few minutes to download and convert the data." Matt sat down and began typing, a vertical crease on his forehead.

Vic pulled a few loose sheets out of her bag. "While we wait—this is what I found about the defixio. It should be available on the internet, but isn't easy to find. I thought you might want a print. One of the grand old ladies of Roman epigraphy wrote an article about it a while back. It's a fascinating read, but I'm not sure it holds the information you're after."

"Thanks. I'm glad for every hint that could bring us further. I'm sure it will help." Unless I was mistaken about the Raven's intention, the curse tablet played an important role in this case. I leaved through the pages. The article was brief but written in a tight, scientific style. At least it was in French, so I wouldn't have problems understanding the language. It even contained a plan of the En Chaplix sanctuary, a picture of the tablet, and a meticulous drawing of the inscription.

Before I could read more than the introduction, Matt interrupted. "Alright, I'm ready now."

I shoved the paper into my backpack, determined to read it back home where I had time and the peace of mind, and stepped up to watch Matt's display. He set the timer to five-thirty and replayed the sensor recording in time-lapse mode. I knew the main sensor covered the aisle pointed out by Vic, but the screen remained both quiet and blue. Aware this could become boring, I took Vic up on her offer of coffee. Cup in hand, I returned to see if Matt had captured the red signature of a ghost in the meantime.

The screen was still glowing its immaculate blue, and Vic seemed to suffer from the same impatience I did. She stared at the computer for about a minute before she began pacing the office. "Does this thing even work? Can't we just peek down that aisle?"

I dropped into a swivel chair and shrugged. "Matts sensors do work, and yes, we could have a peek, but I can't sense the ghost's presence yet, so I'd like to know if it already appeared earlier tonight. That's what Matt's recording will tell us." Through the office door, I studied the back part of the depot, now bathed in the cold light of fluorescent tubes. While they probably wouldn't deter the ghost, we would have to dim them if we wanted to see the White Lady. "If possible, I don't want to chase our ghost away without at least trying to communicate."

"Doesn't look good, though." Matt pointed at his screen. "So far, no traces of a visitor of the ectoplasmic kind. Either the ghost hasn't dropped by yet, or I'll have to recalibrate my sensors."

I placed my empty cup on the desk. "Well, then I guess walking in on her is our best bet."

I stood up, but Vic held me back. "Wait, I forgot to show you something else that might be important." She rummaged through her bag and pulled out an object wrapped in silk paper. "When we finished on the dig, I passed by the conservation department this afternoon to check if Paul made progress with the excavation of the urn. He'd already left, but I nicked this from his desk."

She placed the little package on the table and removed the first layer of paper with the utmost care. A second wrapping appeared underneath. Matt turned from his screen, and Lou stepped behind me, placing a hand on my shoulder. The urge to scratch my wrist told me that whatever Vic had found was important. Thankful for Lou's closeness and his soft breath against my ear, I leaned against his chest.

Vic peeled away the last layer of paper. "Here, that's an artefact Paul extracted from the urn and restored."

"An oil lamp?" It nestled in her palm, perhaps six or seven centimetres across and made from almost white clay. Several fine seams showed where it had been broken and glued together. On its topside, it carried the picture of a prancing lion in relief surrounded by three concentric circles.

"Yes, a Roman lamp." Vic pointed to a triangular hole in the right side of the small object where one of the lion's paws was missing. "Do you remember the piece I found on the ground this morning?"

I didn't understand. "Sure, but what's the connection?"

"I bet it belongs to the same lamp. This is the same clear clay matrix with the tiny white inclusions. And the decoration with the rings and the lion is a giveaway."

While I couldn't remember the part about the lion, she was right about the clay. "But you said the other piece was found during the En Chaplix project. The site is situated across town and was excavated when, over thirty years ago?"

A triumphant grin formed on her face. "Exactly. But I'm sure the piece this morning was the missing part from our lamp from the grave with the glass urn. I'll fetch it and show you."

She placed the lamp on the desk and walked towards where she found the fragment earlier. Matt and I exchanged glances and rushed after her. "Wait, the ghost might be there."

Our worries were in vain. Vic reached the aisle in question without paranormal incident and ran her index over the labels, mumbling numbers under her breath. "Here, that's the right one." She slid the case from the shelf, studied its content, and reached for the clear plastic bag holding the piece. "Gotcha."

Her grin broadened in the confidence her theory was about to be proven right. While she rushed back to the front office, Lou and Matt in tow, I lingered, trying to locate the ghost. For the moment, I only felt a faint, unspecific presence and hurried to catch up with the others and witness Vic's show.

With the exaggerated moves of a stage magician, the archaeologist placed the small triangular shard beside the lamp, her eyes gleaming. "As a kid, I loved to do puzzles, and three-dimensional ones are best."

The piece had the correct form, as she had pointed out. She picked it up and held it above the lap or where a shard was missing in the lamp before she slid it into place with a soft click—a perfect fit. Vic's grin almost reached her ears.

I reached out to touch the lamp, but a sharp pain in my wrist made me pull back, my skin burning as if it had been in contact with a red hot iron. "Ouch. That thing has—"

"The ghost is here." Matt's choked announcement came at the same moment as a second electric shock flashed through my wrist—even though I didn't touch the lamp anymore.

I whirled around to face the back of the depot where the row of fluorescent tubes in the central aisle flickered once, twice, and died, leaving us in darkness.