Ghostly Secrets

by K. E. O'Connor

  Archie nodded but then slumped down, and his image faded so I could see the walls and door behind him. He must be sad believing his friend killed him.

  “I know Dexter was your friend,” I said to Archie, “but he’s focused on getting his hands on your money. I’m not sure how far he’d go to get it. But I’ve seen him intimidate Juliette. Maybe murder is also a possibility.”

  Archie’s image continued to waver, and he drifted round the room.

  “What’s he doing?” asked Helen.

  “Being uncommunicative,” I said. “Archie, maybe Dexter wasn’t such a good friend to you. Could he have been trying to trick you out of your assets?”

  “Sometimes, the people you trust the most can let you down,” said Helen as her gaze moved round the room. She looked over at me. “We need to speak to Dexter again and see what he knows about Archie’s death.”

  “I’m not sure how we’re going to do that,” I said to Helen. “Dexter was evicted from the house the last time he came here. We can hardly invite him back again.”

  “We can find out where he’s staying and visit him,” said Helen. “Can Archie help with that?”

  I looked over at the morose figure of Archie, who still drifted aimlessly round the cottage. “He doesn’t seem all that useful at the moment.”

  Helen stood and jammed her hands on her hips. “Archie Musgrave, time for you to do something useful with your miserable afterlife. Tell us where Dexter is staying, so we can question him about his involvement in your death.”

  Archie’s head snapped up, and his eyes narrowed as he stared at Helen.

  “You shouldn’t aggravate him,” I said. “He’s not looking amused. And Juliette said he didn’t like women who stand up for themselves.”

  “I’m not bowing down to a spoilt cheater with an attitude.” Helen let out an exasperated sigh. “We’re doing this for your benefit, Archie. We don’t get anything out of this.”

  “Other than not being hassled by a restless ghost,” I said to her. I turned to Archie. “Any chance you can help us with this? I don’t know where to start looking for Dexter.”

  Archie vanished, and for a few seconds, I thought he’d abandoned us. But then a drawer in the cabinet flew open and the contents tipped onto the floor.

  I sighed as I bent down and started picking up the scattered papers that had landed on the floor. “I wish he wouldn’t keep making such grand gestures. He could just point at things if he wanted us to look somewhere.”

  Helen joined me in collecting the contents of the drawer. “Wait a second; there’s an address book here. Maybe that will be useful.” She flipped it open and hunted through the names.

  “Any information on Dexter?”

  “There are three addresses he’s listed under,” said Helen. “But they’ve all been scratched out. There is a listing for a hotel, though. It’s in Hampshire, so won’t be too far from here.”

  “Tomorrow is our day off.” I stacked the papers back into the drawer. “We should go for a drive and visit the hotel. See if we can’t bump into Dexter and discover what he knows.”

  “I fancy a drive out into the countryside,” said Helen. “And I’d like to see this ghost laid to rest. All his banging and crashing and the cold drafts he keeps blowing round the cottage are trying my patience.”

  “You’re usually the one who is more tolerant of the ghosts,” I said.

  “Well, I’m not keen on any ghost who is unfaithful to his wife and treats her as a trophy. It’s not the done thing.”

  “I agree,” I said. “We need to discover who Archie’s killer is and get this sorted out once and for all.”

  ***

  After dinner, I took a long hot bath and decided on an early night. Encounters with ghosts were exhausting, as was the continual hunt for a possible killer. I snuggled under my covers, settled Flipper at the foot of my bed, and went straight to sleep.

  I was dreaming I was aboard a boat, being tossed from side to side on huge, freezing cold waves. Even in my sleep, I felt my stomach lurch, as the boat was tossed around.

  After a few more seconds of sickening dreaming, I jolted awake and sat bolt upright, feeling as if icicles were being scratched across my skin. My covers had been torn off, and my breath plumed out of me. The room was freezing. Flipper was whining and looking up at me, his ears flat against his head and the whites of his eyes showing.

  The mattress beneath me bucked upwards, and I realized I hadn’t been dreaming at all. The whole bed was shuddering.

  “Archie, if this is you, stop it at once.” I grabbed a handful of covers and pulled them back over my frozen feet. The covers were instantly ripped off again.

  “I’m telling you, this is not funny,” I said. “There are two rules I have when it comes to dealing with ghosts; you don’t disturb me in my sleep, and you don’t go peeking at me in the shower. If you want me to stop helping you, then you’re going the right way about it.”

  The shaking stopped for a few seconds, but then doubled in intensity, and I fell off the edge of the mattress and onto the floor in a tangled heap of covers.

  Flipper jumped off the bed and joined me, licking my cheek and whining.

  “It’s just our annoying ghost being a pest,” I said to Flipper as I stroked his head. “Nothing for you to worry about.”

  The covers that had landed on me were ripped off and flung into the air, floating above my head like they were suspended on a piece of string.

  “What’s wrong with you?” I demanded into the frozen room. “Why don’t you show yourself and explain what’s going on. And if you think this is a game, or you’re out to get some petty revenge because our last conversation didn’t go as you wanted it to, then you’re going to be disappointed. Don’t think I won’t end this hunt for your killer if you keep behaving like this.”

  The feeling of two icy cold hands on my back made me shriek, and I jumped up. Flipper ran round me several times and barked.

  “What’s going on?” Helen shoved open my bedroom door, blinking her eyes at me blearily.

  “I’m getting an unwelcome late night visit from Archie,” I said.

  Helen yanked her dressing gown around her before flicking on the overhead light. “What happened?” She pointed at the sheets on the ground.

  “Archie tipped me off the bed.” I glared round the room, seeking his ghostly form. “You can stop hiding. I know it was you.”

  Archie appeared by the window and pointed frantically at the pane of glass.

  “I’m not going outside,” I said to him. “It’s the dead of night.”

  He pointed again at the window and gestured for me to join him.

  I let out a sigh and stomped to his side. “This had better be good.”

  Helen joined me and peered over my shoulder. “There’s a car outside the main house. That wasn’t there earlier.”

  “I know whose car that is.” I recognized the sleek lines of the Ferrari. “That belongs to Dexter.”

  “Do you think he’s paying Juliette a late night visit?” asked Helen.

  Archie rattled the window and glared at me.

  “Whatever he’s up to, Archie is unhappy about it,” I said.

  “We’d better make sure he’s not causing any trouble,” said Helen.

  I nodded as I pulled on yesterday’s clothes. “If Archie is leading us on a wild goose chase, this is it for him. I will refuse to help him if he’s playing with us.”

  I hurried out of the cottage with Helen and Flipper, Archie drifting ahead, gesturing for us to hurry up.

  As we reached the main house, I could see there were no lights on. I tried the handle of the front door and found it unlocked. I peered round the side of the door into an inky blackness. There was barely any light from the moon coming in through the windows.

  “Can you see anyone in there?” whispered Helen.

  “There's no one in here.” I pushed the door open wider. Flipper wriggled between my legs and dashed ahead of me.

>   “He must have seen something,” said Helen.

  “Flipper, come back,” I whispered into the gloom, not wanting him to put himself at risk if Dexter was up to no good.

  “Let’s follow him,” said Helen.

  After a second of hesitation, I hurried after Flipper’s retreating form, Helen in front of me. “Go quietly. We don’t know who else is in here.”

  “There’s someone here.” Helen hurried forward. “At the bottom of the stairs.”

  I broke into a run and skidded to a halt next to Helen. Flipper was sniffing the body of a woman. She lay face down, her red robe bunched around her legs, and her hair splayed out around her.

  “That’s Juliette,” whispered Helen.

  I bent down, nerves making my hands shake, and pressed my fingers against Juliette’s neck. I let out a sigh of relief. “She’s got a pulse.” My gaze went up the stairs. “She could have fallen.”

  “I’ll call for an ambulance.” Helen dashed along the hallway to where the phone sat.

  A light flicked on, and I saw Ben standing at the top of the stairs, looking down at us. His hair was a mess of tangles and his glasses were crooked. “Who’s down there?”

  “Ben, it’s Lorna. You’d better get down here. There’s been an accident.”

  “Who’s that on the floor?” Ben began to descend the stairs and then paused. “That’s not...”

  “You’d better come,” I said to him. “Juliette has had a fall.”

  Ben stumbled as he dashed down the stairs to Juliette’s side. “What happened?”

  “I just found her here,” I said. “Helen is calling for an ambulance now.”

  The color drained out of Ben’s face as he stared at his wife. “She’s not...”

  “She has a pulse,” I said to him. “But I don’t know if she’s been injured. We’d better not move her, just in case.”

  “How could this have happened?” Ben placed a hand on Juliette’s arm. “I woke to find her side of the bed empty and came looking for her. Why is she up at this time of night?”

  “Maybe she was disturbed by a noise or couldn’t sleep?” I suggested.

  Ben’s attention remained on Juliette. “It could be that.”

  “Does she often get up in the night?”

  “I know she hasn’t been sleeping well recently,” said Ben. “She likes to pretend everything is okay, but I know her. And I see the tiredness beneath her eyes. Something is worrying Juliette, but she won’t tell me what it is.”

  “The ambulance is on its way.” Helen hurried back towards us. “Should be here in fifteen minutes.”

  “Can’t they get here any quicker?” Ben’s face was distraught.

  “We’ll make sure she’s comfortable until they arrive,” I said.

  “Yes, I must make sure she’s safe.” Ben stroked his hand over Juliette’s hair. “I can’t bear to think of anything bad happening to her.”

  I moved away from Juliette, watching the tears trickle down Ben’s cheeks as he murmured to her.

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” whispered Helen to me.

  “Dexter,” I said softly. “He must be here somewhere if his car’s outside. I don’t think we should tell Ben he’s here, though. He may do something stupid.”

  “Would Dexter be so bold as to drive to the house, push Juliette down the stairs, and hide out somewhere?”

  “Maybe we disturbed him before he could get away,” I said. “Or this could have been an accident. The two of them may have argued and things got out of hand.”

  “But what’s Dexter doing here when he knows he’s not welcome?” asked Helen.

  I nodded. “It’s too much of a coincidence that Dexter’s in the area and Juliette’s been injured. He’s involved in this.” It was time to find Dexter Sellers and put a stop to his meddling, before anyone else got killed.

  Chapter 17

  “Juliette is going to be fine.” Ben led me through to the orangery. It was the morning after Juliette's fall, and we were all exhausted. “The hospital has her stabilized, and she’s awake. I just got back from there after she insisted I leave her in peace.”

  “I’m glad to hear she’s doing well.” I waved away Ben’s offer of a cup of tea.

  Ben slumped into a seat at the table. “I was so worried about her.”

  “Did she say what happened?” I eased into a seat next to him. After Ben and Juliette had left in the ambulance, I’d had a sneaky look round the house with Helen and Flipper, trying to find Dexter, but he was nowhere to be found.

  “She’s not certain.” Ben ran a hand over his tired looking face. “Juliette got up for some water, and the next thing she remembers is waking up at the hospital.”

  “So she could have fallen or tripped at the top of the stairs?”

  “It’s possible. But I don’t understand why all the lights were off. She always puts them on when she’s up in the night.” Ben chuckled to himself. “Juliette lights up the whole house every time she visits the bathroom.”

  “Maybe she didn’t want to disturb you.” The lack of light was a mystery. Could someone have switched the lights off to scare Juliette, and she fell down the stairs by accident?

  “Well, I wish she had disturbed me,” said Ben. “Then she wouldn’t be in the hospital.”

  “Can I get you anything?” I asked. “Are you okay here on your own?”

  “Thank you, but I’ll be fine.” Ben nodded. “Meredith is in the kitchen, and I expect Fleur will return from whatever all night activity she’s been engaged in at some point.”

  “I’m happy to stay with you,” I said.

  “That’s kind of you, but I know it’s your day off,” said Ben. “And once I’ve had a shower and a quick change of clothes, I’ll be back at the hospital. I don’t want to leave Juliette alone for long, no matter what she says.”

  “If there’s anything I can do, just ask,” I said as I stood up.

  “There is one question you might be able to help with,” said Ben. “Do you know why there's a car in the driveway?”

  “Not a clue.” And I really didn't. But I'd have loved to find Dexter and ask him that question myself. “Did you have a visitor yesterday?”

  “No. The car belongs to a friend of Archie's, Dexter Sellers. But he’s not here. And he always likes to make a grand entrance when he does visit,” said Ben. “I half expected him to come waltzing through the door this morning and try to make another scene. But all I can find is his car.”

  “I can’t help you there,” I said.

  “Well, if you do have the misfortune to bump into him, please ask him to leave,” said Ben. “Dexter is not welcome here anymore.”

  “Will do,” I said as I left the orangery. That was exactly what I was planning to do, bump into Dexter. I wanted to ask him what he was doing at the house last night and just how involved he was in Juliette’s fall. And since he wasn’t at the house, I knew where to find him.

  ***

  “I’m sorry, madam, but I cannot disclose information about our current guests.” The thin, narrow-faced desk clerk looked down his nose at me.

  Helen and I had made the half hour journey to the Regency Hotel listed in Archie’s address book, in the hope that Dexter had rented a room there and we’d be able to track him down.

  “But it’s an emergency,” I said. “You could at least tell me if Dexter Sellers is still a guest here.”

  “I would be happy to pass on a message if he is here,” said the desk clerk. “But the Regency prides itself in discretion when it comes to our clients.”

  Helen smacked a hand on top of the desk, and the desk clerk flinched. “Why do they need so much discretion? What kind of hotel are you running here?”

  “We are a five-star hotel, and with that comes as much discretion as our clients require,” said the desk clerk. “Do I need to call security?”

  “Yes, you most likely do,” said Helen.

  The desk clerk's eyes widened, and he took a step back.
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  “No, there’s no need,” I said to him. “We’re leaving.” I scribbled a note to Dexter, not expecting him to bother to read it. “Pass this to Mr. Sellers. We must speak to him urgently. A friend of his has been injured, and he will want to know about it.”

  “If he is a guest here, I shall be sure to let him know.” The desk clerk plucked the piece of paper from my fingers as if it was contaminated with typhoid.

  “This is hopeless,” said Helen as we hurried out of the lobby of the hotel. “Dexter’s most likely fled the country already.”

  “He may have. But we’re not even sure he had anything to do with Juliette’s fall,” I said. “According to Ben, she doesn’t remember anyone else being involved.”

  “But you said yourself that it’s too much of a coincidence he’s in the area and now Juliette is in the hospital.”

  “You never know,” I said. “When we get back to the house, we may find Dexter looting the place. Maybe that was his intention all along. Get us all out of the house and then take whatever he wants.”

  “Well, if we do find him doing that, we’ll set Flipper and Jessie on him. He’s not going to get away with hurting Juliette.”

  We sped back to the estate, and I noticed Dexter’s car was still parked outside the front door. Next to it was a police car.

  “Looks like someone else thinks Juliette’s fall wasn’t an accident.” Helen pointed to the police car.

  “It’s no surprise they’re here.” I climbed out of the car. “They’ll want to speak to us, since we were the ones who found Juliette.”

  “What are we going to say?” asked Helen quietly as we walked towards the house.

  “That we went for a midnight stroll and decided to go inside,” I said.

  “In our nightclothes?” asked Helen.

  “I was dressed. You could have been sleepwalking, and I had to rescue you,” I said.

  “I wouldn’t be convinced by that argument.” Helen shot me a worried look.

  We stopped walking as two policemen stepped out of the main door. Meredith was behind them, her expression grim as she said goodbye to them.

  Her gaze met mine, and she gave a single nod before shutting the door.