“Travel safely, dear. And know that I will be waiting for you when you come back.” Hailey is traveling north to pack her belongings and have them shipped to the mansion. The trust has offered Hailey a contract to like in the mansion for a minimum of one year as resident family member She is to move into the master bedroom and in due time preside at social events in her role. She can continue her work in the library. After considerable hesitation Hailey signed the contract. After all that has happened, what else is she to do? So much has happened since Hailey entered the door to work in the library little more than a week ago. She met a young police detective named Aram. She met two of her cousins and then lost one of them in an accident narrowly avoiding one herself. She learned of her connections to the mansion — some of her ancestors almost certainly lived here. And she might end up living here too. Matilda knows much more than she is permitted to tell Hailey. The trust intends to have a married couple living here. Hailey is clearly the preferred candidate but she is not married. Yet. So in a way it is up to Hailey but she doesn't know about it's being a condition. And, Matilda muses, it is up to Aram, too. Hailey might even meet someone else, though Matilda doubts it. All of which is why Matilda did not invite Aram to see Hailey off. 48 - Requiem. So ends Part One of the story, many questions yet to be answered, perhaps like life itself.

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Part Two will take place mostly outside the mansion, much of it backstage at a nearby theater. It is where Aram spends a lot of his free time acting and helping out backstage. We meet the backstage crew: Turell on building security and sets, Susan the light girl, Nick aka 'Buddy ' the stage manager, spooky Emily the props girl, and inscrutable Ros costume manager. Rex the director isn't a crew member but we meet him too - much of the story involves them. We travel to Aram's home town in the Cotswalds and meet his sister, Lydia. Then there is the panda mug. Oops maybe I wan't supposed to say that.. So as we say backstage, the show must go on.