Ghosts in the Garden

by Judith Silverthorne

  “Did someone special give it to you?” J.J. asked. She might as well be direct.

  “Didn’t you say something about a duchess?” Sam said.

  “You heard that, did you?” He laughed. “Yes, the Duchess of Atholl gave it to me when I left her employment as gardener. She hired me on as a junior gardener at Blair Castle – that was in Perthshire, Scotland.”

  “She must have been impressed with your gardening,” Sam said.

  George raised his eyebrows. “I suppose she was. I never expected a gift, much less a pocket watch of that calibre.”

  “What did it look like?” Sam asked.

  “We know it was silver. But did it have a design on the cover, or any writing on it?” J.J. held her breath.

  “The design on the case was a Celtic shield knot. Something to do with the Atholl clan ancestry, I believe.” He chuckled. “The inscription was ‘Tout Prest’ – ‘Quite Ready.’ I guess that does show she had faith in my abilities as a gardener. Enough to send me off into the world, at any rate.” George stood, deep in thought.

  J.J. shared a smile with Sam. They had part of their answer. The watch Lily found and gave Bert had been George’s. Too bad there wasn’t some way of getting it back to Mr. Watt. They’d never be able to track it through Bert.

  “I’m sorry you lost it,” J.J. said.

  “We’ll keep our eyes out for it,” Sam said.

  “I appreciate that,” said George. “Well, I must get these plants watered before the day turns too hot in here.”

  “We have to go too, uh, to do some, uh…” J.J. tried to think of something they would have had to do if they lived in that time period. “...needlework,” she finished. She grabbed Sam's arm and whirled her about.

  “Goodbye,” Sam said over her shoulder, as J.J. rushed her out of the conservatory. George had already turned back to his watering.

  At the door, J.J. stopped and looked Sam in the eyes.

  Then she said in a soft voice. “Goodbye…”

  Sam nodded.

  They clasped hands, and together, they said, “George Watt.”

  Instantly, the visitor experience host stood in front of them with an alarmed look.

  J.J. and Sam steadied each other.

  “What just happened?” Robin stammered.

  “I’m not sure what you mean,” J.J. said. She shifted around the edge of the glass cabinet, trying to look innocent.

  “You just disappeared and reappeared.” Robin took a step back from them, her hands on her mouth.

  “Maybe something to do with the reflections,” Sam suggested.

  The host continued to stare at them. “But, I’m sure you disappeared…”

  Sam looked sideways at J.J. She shrugged at Robin. “I don’t really know…”

  “We have to get home now.” J.J. adjusted her backpack and nudged Sam. “Thanks for your help.”

  “Yeah, thanks,” Sam said, stepping past the shocked host and down the hall behind J.J. They didn’t look back.

  They pushed their way through the doors to the stairwell and clattered down the steps to the main entrance. Outside, they collapsed against each other, breathing hard.

  Sam started laughing and couldn’t stop.

  J.J. giggled beside her. “This is getting a little crazy, with other people seeing us disappear,” she said with a snort.

  “As long as they don’t start talking to each other, we’re okay for now,” Sam said, becoming serious again. “We’d never be able to explain it.”

  “They’d never believe us, even if we tried.” J.J. took a drink of water from the bottle in her backpack. “I’m so glad we figured out the origins of the watch, and now we can forget about everything to do with all the ghosts.” J.J. felt a little shiver run up her back. Were they really done? She hoped so.

  “Sometime, we should let Mrs. Goudy know about the watch,” J.J. suggested, flinging her backpack up into the air and catching it again.

  “We could see if she’s up for a visit right now,” Sam said. “That is, if you’re up for it?”

  “Yes, I’m fine.” J.J. gave her a thumbs up.

  “I’ll call,” Sam flipped out her cell phone, punched in the numbers, and spoke for a few seconds.

  “She’s happy to see us,” Sam said, putting away her phone.

  They headed across the parking lot and into the building. Amber wasn’t at the reception desk this time, so they breezed by. No sign of Lily either, until they reached Mrs. Goudy’s suite. J.J. blinked and nudged Sam. Lily stood beside Mrs. Goudy’s chair.

  “There you are, my dears.” Mrs. Goudy gestured for them to sit in their usual places. “So tell us what you’ve learned.”

  J.J. gave Mrs. Goudy a startled look. Did she realize who was beside her?

  “Oh yes, I know Lily is here too.” Mrs. Goudy laughed.

  Sam recovered first. “We did a little research, and I was right. The pocket watch did belong to Geo…” J.J. threw Sam a warning look. “Uh, to the former gardener.”

  Between them, J.J. and Sam filled in the story for Mrs. Goudy, leaving out the details of the time travel, of course.

  “How special,” she said, clapping her hands when they’d finished. “If this is what Lily wanted us to know, the mystery is solved.”

  J.J. noticed that Lily's face still looked downcast. “I have the feeling that wasn’t what Lily had in mind.”

  The others turned to Lily, and she shook her head a little.

  “But I wonder what she wants us to do?” Sam asked.

  She mouthed something.

  “I think she said, ‘Find the watch,’” J.J. said.

  “I agree,” Mrs. Goudy said.

  Lily nodded.

  Sam nodded. “But how?”

  “And where?” J.J. asked.

  Mrs. Goudy looked at her sister’s ghost. “You never told me what you did with it after receiving it with Bert’s belongings after the war. I don’t know how to find it now.”

  Lily’s shoulders sagged.

  Sam bolted upright. “She got it back?”

  “Yes, dears. Bert’s effects were sent to Lily when he died. He had no other close relatives, and he had named her as his beneficiary.”

  With tears welling in her eyes, J.J. turned to the ghost. “He really loved you, didn’t he?”

  Lily nodded sadly.

  “He was your true love,” Mrs. Goudy said. “You loved your husband, but you loved Bert too.”

  Lily nodded again and stared at Alice for a moment. Then she glided closer to a photo on the wall and eyed it. The one of the light-haired young man Mrs. Goudy hadn’t named.

  Alice nodded. “Yes, he was my special true love – Gerard was his name, but it wasn’t meant to be.”

  J.J. studied the photo of the handsome young man in uniform. So Mrs. Goudy had lost someone special too. Would she ever tell them about it? By the stoical set of her face, J.J. was sure she wouldn’t.

  J.J. turned quickly back to the conversation when she heard Sam ask, “What do you want us to do about the watch?”

  Find the watch, Lily mouthed again.

  “But where?” Sam asked.

  Lily swept an arm out, pointing towards the Government House grounds. Her shape started to waver.

  “Where out there?” J.J. called out frantically.

  But Lily’s ghost had disappeared.

  •••

  “How are we ever going to figure out where?” Sam turned to Mrs. Goudy.

  Mrs. Goudy looked bewildered.

  “Do you have any idea what she might have done with Bert’s things?” J.J. asked.

  Mrs. Goudy shook her head. “I don’t know what she did. We were both married and living in different places by then. And she died not long afterwards.”

  Sam leaned towards Mrs. Goudy. “Do you have any of her belongings?”

  Mrs. Goudy thought for a few moments. “The only thing I have left is her jewelry box.”

  “Maybe there’s a clue in it,” J.J. said.<
br />
  “If so, I wouldn’t know what it would be. There are only a few trinkets. But we can look if you like.” She made a move as if to rise from her chair, but then she eased back down. “Why don’t you get it, J.J.? It’s tucked away in the bottom drawer of my dresser in the bedroom.”

  J.J. stood up. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, dear. It’s on the right hand side, beside my winter sweaters.”

  J.J. emerged a short time later with a small wooden box, intricately carved with flowers and vines. She set in on the table in front of Mrs. Goudy.

  The elderly lady gently opened the clasped box and lifted the lid. The first thing they saw was the ivory hair comb.

  Sam blurted, “The Christmas present Lily got from the McNabs.”

  Mrs. Goudy gave a little gasp. “How do you know that?”

  Sam felt the colour drain out of her face. She stammered. “I thought, uh, I read a list somewhere, uh, of the gifts the McNabs gave their staff.”

  Mrs. Goudy stared at her oddly, and then glanced over at J.J. She closed her eyes for a few moments.

  When she opened them, she spoke. “I remember the year the McNabs gave Lily and I these combs for Christmas. Lily was given this one and I was given a…”

  “...copper-coloured one,” Sam finished for her in a whisper.

  Mrs. Goudy stared at them as she continued. “That Christmas Eve night, it started to storm, and two girls came to the door. We invited them in and gave them tea…”

  “And gingerbread cookies,” J.J. said.

  “When they left, they disappeared abruptly. We couldn’t figure out what happened to them. Not even Constable Roup could find them.” Mrs. Goudy seemed to be puzzling something through in her mind.

  Sam and J.J. sat very still.

  “When I look at you now, I recall those girls looked very much like the two of you.” She put her hand on her chest as if slowing her heartbeat. “The only reasonable explanation I can come up with for you knowing so much is that those two girls must have been your grandmothers when they were young.”

  “Wow,” was all that Sam could think of to say. She felt her pulse racing. J.J. stayed mute beside her, though Sam could feel her friend trembling.

  “Do you have anything more to say about this, or shall we agree that this is what happened, and your grandmothers told you the story?” Mrs. Goudy stared at them half uneasily, and half wistfully.

  Sam nodded slowly. If Mrs. Goudy was willing to believe that, she was happy to let the discussion go.

  “Sounds good to me,” J.J. squeaked out.

  Without another word, Mrs. Goudy chose things out of the jewelry box and laid them on the table. The girls handled each one carefully, as Mrs. Goudy explained what they were. Besides Lily’s hair comb, there was an array of delicate earrings, necklaces and brooches, as well as an embroidered handkerchief edged in lace, and a well-used stick of lipstick. Plus, some medals.

  “I forgot Bert’s medals were in here. But no watch,” Mrs. Goudy said, somewhat disappointedly. “But then I didn’t really expect it would be. She must have done something with it, though.”

  “Would she have had it buried with him?”J.J. asked.

  “No, dear. The men who died overseas during the war are buried near where they fell.”

  “May I see the box?” Sam asked.

  Mrs. Goudy passed Sam the box, and she and J.J. continued to sort through the jewelry.

  Sam caressed the elegant, carved designs on the outside. When she looked inside, she noticed the inside depth didn’t match the outside. She held it up and turned it this way and that.

  “Have you found something I’ve missed?” Mrs. Goudy asked.

  “I’m not sure. I think there might be a false bottom in it.” Sam passed the box to Mrs. Goudy.

  “I do believe you’re right, though I have no idea how to open it.” Mrs. Goudy tried pushing a few of the carved flowers on the outside, but nothing happened.

  “Let me see if I can figure it out,” J.J. said. “There must be a hidden trigger.” She examined the outside carefully, and then passed it back to Sam.

  Sam pressed each side of the interior surfaces, and then flipped the box over to examine the bottom. All at once, the bottom released, and sprang up enough for her to get her fingers along the back edge. When she drew up the bottom panel, she found a stained photograph tucked in the hidden portion.

  “Wow.” Sam gazed at the photo in amazement for a few moments, and then handed it to Mrs. Goudy.

  “Lily and Bert. They’re sitting in their favourite spot in the grounds,” Mrs. Goudy said. Her face was sad. “This must have been right after she gave him the watch.”

  Sam and J.J. leaned over her shoulder to take a better look. The couple was sitting on a wrought iron bench in front of a rose garden. Climbing rose vines grew up and over a trellis that sheltered the bench. They were both smiling and leaning slightly into one another. Bert held the watch in his hand between them, and Lily had her hand cupped under his.

  Sam perked up. “Did you say this was their favourite spot?”

  “They spent hours out there when they had free time,” Mrs. Goudy said. “Lily loved the scent of the roses and, in those days, the bench was sheltered from the wind and the sun, in a cove of caragana bushes.”

  All of a sudden, Sam noticed some writing on the back of the photograph. “What does it say on the back?” she asked.

  Mrs. Goudy read the inscription out loud. “Together for all time.”

  J.J.’s mouth fell open.

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Sam asked.

  “She buried the watch again,” J.J. guessed.

  “In the rose garden,” added Sam.

  Mrs. Goudy’s eyes widened. “By golly, it would be just like her to do that.”

  “But the rose garden is really big. We couldn’t possibly dig it all up.” J.J. wiggled to the edge of her seat.

  “And it’s already been dug up lots of times over the years, and probably moved a little too,” Sam said.

  J.J. frowned. “Someone probably already found the watch by now.”

  “But then why does Lily want us to find it? She probably wouldn’t ask us to find it if someone else had it. What would it matter?” Sam asked.

  “I don’t think someone found it, either,” Mrs. Goudy said. “Roses…hmmm…” Mrs. Goudy seemed lost in thought.

  Sam and J.J. thought hard too.

  All at once, an idea jumped into Sam's mind. “Not that rose garden.”

  “Huh?” J.J. stared at her friend.

  “We keep thinking it’s the big rose garden where Geo…” Sam stopped short. “Where you know who lost his watch. But what if Lily didn’t put it in the same place as she found it?”

  Sam swooped up the photo of Lily and Bert. “What if it’s by another rose garden? This doesn’t look like the same one.” At least, it didn’t look like the one they’d seen when they’d gone back to the past.

  “You’re right it doesn’t,” J.J. said. She tapped the photo. “There wasn’t a trellis there.”

  Mrs. Goudy stared at them. “How do you…?”

  “You don’t want to know,” Sam said, “but trust us, we know.”

  Mrs. Goudy nodded. “There was a smaller garden where Lily and Bert always went. It makes perfect sense that she’d think to bury the watch there.”

  “At least it should be a smaller area to search,” Sam said.

  “But we don’t even know where the garden was, and it is still be too big an area to dig ,” J.J. said.

  “But it’s a place to start.” Sam turned towards Mrs. Goudy. “Can you help us figure out exactly where this one was?”

  Mrs. Goudy pursed her lips. “It was so long ago, and it’s been gone for years. Other than it being northeast of the staff building, I couldn’t pinpoint it. I’m really sorry, but I don’t think I can help you this time.”

  Sam and J.J. slumped back. Mrs. Goudy looked disappointed.

  “I guess there�
�s nothing more we can do,” Sam said glumly. “Without Lily telling us, we’re hooped.”

  “But that’s okay,” J.J. said to Mrs. Goudy. “It was a long shot anyway.”

  Sam agreed. “We’re thankful for all the help you’ve been able to give us.”

  But Sam knew they needed to find the watch somehow; otherwise, she and J.J. would keep popping back and forth in time. If only they’d been able to follow Bert and Lily around the corner of the staff residence, instead of being flipped back to the present. They probably would have seen the bench and rose garden for themselves. How could they solve this dilemma when they had no idea where the rose garden had been? Would they ever find the watch or know why locating it was so important?

  Sam made up her mind. She and J.J. had to try.

  Chapter Eleven

  “I’m so sorry to disappoint you,” Mrs. Goudy said.

  She looked so mournful, that J.J. leaned over and gave her a hug. “It’s okay.”

  “If only Lily would appear and guide us,” Sam said wistfully.

  “She only seems to appear when she wants to, not when we need her, just like how she was in person,” Mrs. Goudy said with a little smile.

  J.J. glanced around Mrs. Goudy’s suite.

  “Would talking about it help? Maybe something will twig your memory,” J.J. asked.

  “Even if you know sort of where the small garden was, we might be able to figure something out,” Sam suggested.

  “I could start with what I do know about it, but I don’t think it will be of much use,” Mrs. Goudy said.

  “How about where it was compared to the staff quarters? Was it close by? Who used it?” J.J. asked.

  “That’s easy. Mostly the staff used it, although sometimes Mrs. McNab went out there too, because it was more private than the bigger garden to the east.” Mrs. Goudy drew herself upright. “It would have been east and north of the northeast corner of our residence. I recall that the landscaping was symmetrical at that time, so the centres of the two rose gardens would have lined up with one another.”

  “Great,” J.J. said.