Fury's Ghost

by Sue Perkins

  My will is drawn up and the lawyer assures me it can’t be challenged. Everything goes into a trust for the Mune descendants. This specifically excludes Margaret and Miles by name. The house is not to be sold or altered, except for such things as this new-fangled electricity. Anything like that may be added but no change is to be made to the structure as it is now or the insides, including furniture. Any descendant may use the house, as long as they adhere to the above rules. Now I can be peaceful, knowing I’ve done my best for the family, but made sure the evil two don’t take any benefits from their children.

  “There’s only blank pages after this. Ellen really hated her sister and brother-in-law, didn’t she?” Fury wondered how she could be descended from a person like Margaret. Her mother was the kindest of people and had said her elderly aunts were dear old souls. Fury had never met them as they’d died before her birth.

  “They were probably driven by greed. Money does that to some people. I think it’s time to talk to Ellen, don’t you?”

  Cora and Fury nodded and Samantha led the way up to the attic floor.

  “Mum’s only downstairs so it might be best if we dropped the tapestry behind us and kept our voices down when we talk to Ellen.” Fury put the key in the lock and opened the door.

  Cora dropped the tapestry into place. This made the room feel smaller, but they soon forgot this when Ellen appeared.

  Did you find my diaries?

  “Yes we did, Ellen, but I don’t think it will help us find the reason you’re still here.” Fury felt really bad they hadn’t solved the problem of Ellen’s continued presence in the house. “We read through them. There wasn’t much from your early years, but then we came to the bit about your sister stealing your beau and how they got angry with you for inheriting the house. Then there’s the bit about you getting your revenge by cutting them out of your will.”

  Revenge? I never saw it that way before. I merely did what I could to safeguard the property for future generations.

  “We’ve got a question for you, Ellen. Why were your diaries in the safe if you didn’t know the combination? How did they get there?” Samantha stood with her arms folded and looked sternly at the ghost.

  Father never told me the combination, but he left it with his lawyer. I only used the safe once and I got the legal man to open it for me. I didn’t want to know the number as my memory for numbers is shocking. I would have had to write it down and then Margaret might have found it. There’s a copy of my will in there as well as a few other things of importance.

  The girls looked at one another. They hadn’t checked the other documents.

  “I’d like to know something,” Cora spoke softly and they nearly missed her words. “A few weeks ago when we were staying over with Fury, I came up to this floor and heard you arguing with someone. Who were you talking to?”

  You’re mistaken. Who would I argue with?

  “You didn’t tell me about this.” Samantha looked upset that her friend hadn’t confided in her.

  “I can think of two people.” Fury stood directly in front of Ellen. “It’s either the ghost of your father or the ghost of your sister. They’re the only two people who made you angry.”

  Ellen didn’t answer. Instead she faded away until the girls were left alone in the room.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “We forgot the papers, didn’t we?” Fury dropped the tapestry back into place and turned to her waiting friends. “Let’s go see what they are.”

  “Shame she wouldn’t tell us who she argued with.” Cora shook her head.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about hearing Ellen?” Samantha looked hurt by her friend’s omission. “Did you know, Fury?”

  “Only because I woke up and found Cora missing. I went looking for her and found her on the attic level.”

  “I asked her not to tell you, Samantha,” Cora quickly interrupted. “I didn’t want you to think I’d gone mad.”

  They reached Fury’s bedroom and Samantha looked from one to the other before grinning and pulling them both into a hug.

  “We’re all mad, aren’t we? We’re trying to help a ghost pass on to the other side. What’s more lunatic than that?”

  Fury picked up the documents and they clambered onto the bed and spread them out.

  “Let’s see. This looks like a copy of Ellen’s will. This is a copy of her father’s will. A certified copy of the deeds of the house. All reasonably important, but only copies.”

  “What’s that?” Samantha picked up a document.

  “Looks like a birth certificate.” Cora looked over Samantha’s shoulder. “Who’s it for?”

  “Lilian Carver. Mother is Josephine Carver, father unknown.” Samantha shook her head. “Why would this be in with Ellen’s stuff?”

  “Look there’s a death certificate underneath.” Fury fished the black edged document from under other bits of paper. “Lilian Carver again. What date is on the birth certificate, Samantha?”

  “September 4 1812. How about the death certificate?

  “December 5 1813. Poor thing. She didn’t last long did she?” Fury frowned. “I wonder why her certificates were in Edward Mune’s safe?”

  “You don’t think it could be an illegitimate child of Edward’s do you?”

  “Surely not.” Cora looked shocked at Samantha’s suggestion. “He loved his wife, he wouldn’t do such a thing.”

  “His wife had been dead eight years by the time this child was born. Maybe he sought affection elsewhere.” Samantha shrugged.

  A thought struggled to come to the surface of Fury’s mind and now it jumped up as if frightened it would be forgotten.

  “The governess. Our research showed the governesses didn’t last long. The first one only stayed a few months and she started on Ellen’s seventh birthday. Maybe Edward paid her for her services in more than just money.”

  “You mean he had his wicked way with her.” Samantha giggled and set the other two laughing.

  “How do we find out the name of the governess?” Cora asked.

  “Old newspapers, census records, parish records?” Fury opened her laptop. “There will be a list somewhere of the residents of 1811.”

  “Doubt if she’ll show up on census as she only lived here a short time.” Samantha reminded her.

  “Here we are. It’s a list of residents of the houses in Cave. Sort of like a census but more a private list. Here’s Mune House, residents Edward Mune, Head of House; Ellen Mune, daughter; Margaret Mune, daughter; Josephine Carver, governess.” Fury gave the others a triumphant look. “It is her. The only explanation for these certificates being in Edward’s safe is Lilian had to be his child.”

  “There’s another certificate under this one.” Cora held up another black edged piece of paper. “It’s for Josephine Carver, died 12 December 1813. I wonder if they had an epidemic or did the mother die of a broken heart?”

  “Does this have anything to do with Ellen’s passing over?” Samantha queried. “Both mother and child died so there’s no one to compensate.”

  “Perhaps it needs acknowledgement Edward fathered a secret child, so he wasn’t a saint?” Fury guessed.

  “What are the rest of the papers?” Cora sifted through the remaining documents. “There’s a newspaper cutting here. It says Josephine Carver accused Edward Mune of blackmail. Apparently he threatened to ruin her reputation, but he got free because his children’s governess dropped the charges. I guess he tried to blackmail her into keeping quiet about their affair and its result. Maybe he promised to acknowledge the child if she stopped, then he went back on the deal.”

  “Again. Does this have anything to do with Ellen?” Samantha appeared to be getting impatient as she rifled through the remaining papers. “Nothing else but bills and a few letters.”

  “I’ll put the lot in here and return them to the safe when Mum’s not around.” Fury opened the drawer of the bedside table, popped the documents in and shut it again. “I don’t think this has got us
any further. We need to have a think about Ellen’s diary and maybe go to the newspaper archives in the town library to see if there’s any mention of her. Maybe she did something she’s not telling us.”

  “Good point.” As Samantha spoke, a car horn beeped outside. “That’s Mum. We have to go. We’ll let you know if we come up with any ideas. If not, we’ll see you at school on Monday.”

  All three girls headed downstairs as Fury’s mother opened the front door to Samantha’s mother.

  “Thank you, Mrs Laing.” Samantha and Cora both spoke at once.

  “You’re welcome, girls. What did you think of our library?”

  “It’s just like in the movies,” Cora replied. “I love the ladder that swings round the top shelves.”

  “Pity the books are so dry and old fashioned,” Fury commented, then waved goodbye as her friends went out to the car.

  Fury helped her mother prepare the evening meal and after the family had eaten she decided to go up to the attic floor and do some artwork. Not homework, more an idea she wanted to try out. She had no intention of contacting Ellen. If the ghost didn’t want to help find an answer to her problem, Fury wouldn’t go out of her way to talk to her.

  Ellen had obviously had a change of heart as five minutes after Fury sat down, a soft call came through the door.

  Fury, can I talk to you? Are you on your own?

  With a sigh of irritation, Fury dragged the tapestry back and unlocked the door. She always brought the key with her when she came to this level, just in case she needed to get into Ellen’s room.

  Fury, I’m sorry I didn’t answer your friend’s question but I felt too embarrassed.

  “What on earth have you got to be embarrassed about?”

  You’ve been through the papers from the safe?

  “Yes, we have.” Fury didn’t want to mention the secret child. What if Ellen had merely put her will and diaries in the safe and hadn’t gone through the other stuff? She wouldn’t know anything about her father’s affair.

  My first governess became my father’s mistress. I didn’t find out about this until much later. About eighteen months after Josephine left she came back and I’m sorry to say I listened at the library door and peeked through the keyhole when he talked to her. Josephine told him their daughter had died so he didn’t have to worry about shame any more. As she left she turned and threw two pieces of paper at him before storming past me. She didn’t even see me standing to one side of the door. I never saw her again.

  “What’s this got to do with the argument Cora overheard?”

  After Father died I found the papers in the safe when I put my diaries away. I felt sorry to hear the baby had died. Apparently my father had tried to blackmail Josephine by threatening to ruin her reputation. He must have kept an eye on her after her visit because he had Josephine’s death certificate too. I think from the closeness of the date to her daughter’s death, she might have killed herself. I wanted to find her family to see if I could do anything to help them. Somehow Margaret got wind of my attempts to find them and why. She came storming through the front door and yelled at me not to even think of besmirching father’s name in such a disgusting way. Since I died, her spirit turns up every now and then to remind me to keep things under wraps. I have no idea what she thinks I can do in this ghostly state. Your discovery of me must have beckoned her from the spirit world.

  “Do you think this is the reason you can’t pass over? Is it because you still need to do something for Josephine’s family?” Fury wondered if any of the governess’s family could still be found. They didn’t seem to have helped her when she’d given birth to a secret baby.

  It’s a possibility.

  “We’ll look into it. Don’t worry, Ellen, we’ll get to the bottom of all this and you’ll be able to rest in peace.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Snuggled up in bed that night, Fury decided to look through the bills and papers they hadn’t had time for that afternoon. She dragged open the drawer in her bedside table and put the certificates and newspaper cutting to one side. The bills were neatly piled together and Fury frowned as she looked through them.

  “Hats, shoes, dresses. All sold to Miss Josephine Carter with the invoice to be sent to Edward Mune for payment. The stores are all outside of the local area, presumably so no one would know about his affair.”

  Fury flicked through a few more items for luxury goods, then the type of establishment changed.

  “Doctors bills and money order receipts for cash sent to Josephine.” Fury checked the dates. “This must have been during her pregnancy and after she had the child. At least he paid for Lilian, which would have made things a bit easier for her mother.”

  At the bottom of the pile Fury found a classified listing for the death of Josephine. It had appeared in a cutting from a Christchurch newspaper and called her a beloved daughter and sister, but nothing about being a loving mother. Either her family hadn’t known about her indiscretion or they chose not to mention the skeleton in their closet.

  Maybe we can find details of Josephine’s family and see if any of her descendants are alive.

  Fury didn’t know what they could do if they did find anyone, but it might help Ellen to feel easier, knowing they’d tried to make amends.

  Next day she searched the family history sites. John and Lily Carter had had seven children and Josephine was in the middle. Fury checked to see if any of the children had died young, a frequent occurrence at this time in history. The two eldest had died within days of their birth and the two youngest were girls who gave birth in their teenage years. Neither mothers nor babies had survived. This left Josephine and her older brother and younger sister as the sole survivors of the family.

  A further search showed the brother had died in a cart accident when he was in his twenties. He had never married. The sister had married and given birth to three children after Josephine died. Fury searched through the generations and found only one family member survived from John and Lily’s children. The woman was a great, great, granddaughter of Josephine’s parents and she had one daughter who had recently married. The newlyweds did not have their own house, presumably due to lack of deposit. Fury wondered if Ellen could help with a financial gift.

  “Stupid. How can she do that? Ellen’s dead and her bank accounts are long gone. It would have to go through the trust and, without her say so, which is impossible, they won’t pay out any money.”

  Nevertheless, Fury tucked the idea away in her mind to talk over with Samantha and Cora. The other possibility might be they had to clear Josephine’s name. After she’d withdrawn the blackmail charge, the poor woman had been accused of trying to gain money by false pretences and some had even said her earnings came from immoral living.

  “Only problem is Edward was not only Josephine’s lover and Ellen’s father. He also fathered Margaret which makes him my goodness knows how many times great grandfather. I’m not sure I want to be associated with him in any way.”

  With these unsavoury thoughts, Fury settled down to sleep.

  During school lunch break the following day Fury told the others about the details of the papers and her conversation with Ellen. She’d slipped everything back into the safe while her mother prepared breakfast, but before doing so she had made quick notes of the contents of the bills.

  “So you see, Ellen knew about the child and wanted to do something to help Josephine’s family, but Margaret wouldn’t let her. Her sister’s spirit comes back every now and again to remind her not to do anything. You heard them arguing, Cora, or at least you heard Margaret shouting at Ellen.”

  “Do you think Ellen has to recompense Josephine’s family before she can pass over?” Cora frowned. “I don’t see how it’s possible.”

  “I did a little research on the Carver family last night. There’s only one descendant left and she has a daughter who’s just got married. I wondered if Ellen could give them financial help, but then realised there isn’t any way for
her to do this. How does a ghost give money to the living?”

  “Good point.” Samantha cocked her head to one side. “It might not be the reason she’s still here anyway, but it’s a good place to start.”

  “I can carry on researching, but we can’t do anything until the weekend when we can get together.” Fury packed away the remains of her lunch wrappings.

  “I’d like to meet at my place this weekend.” Cora surprised the other two girls. This quiet friend never wanted to take anyone to her home. “My mother has got a new interest. A friend has introduced her to a church group. It seems to be helping her cope with life. I’d like to meet at my place so you can see how much better she is. We could have a sleepover.”

  “Do you think your mum would be up for that?” Samantha looked doubtful. “It won’t be too much for her?”

  “I’m sure it will be okay. I’ve mentioned it and Mum seems quite keen. She especially wants to meet you, Fury. Our family seems to have had some connection to the Mune family a long time ago.”

  “Really? If you’re sure it’s okay I’ll run it past my mum. I doubt if she’ll mind. Jonah’s away this weekend with the football team so it will give my parents time on their own.” Fury secretly thought her mother would spend most of her time in the garden while her father would hide away in his office.

  During the week Fury tried to find out more about Josephine Carver’s family but it seemed her first discoveries were all there was to find. Curious as to the Mune connection to Cora’s family she started to look into that. It occurred to her that the connection might be why Cora had heard the argument between Margaret and Ellen.

  Saturday arrived and Mrs. Laing and Fury collected Samantha from her home and dropped them at Cora’s. To Fury’s embarrassment she took them to the door.

  “We’re not babies, Mum. We can be trusted to be polite to Cora’s mother.”

  “I need to thank her mother for having you to stay.”

  Fury knew this was not the real reason her mother escorted them up the path. She had overhead her parents talking and knew her mother also wanted to check out the other woman. Her mother had explained to her father Cora’s mother had serious bouts of depression, presumably Samantha’s mother had divulged this information.