The Ghosts of Peppernell Manor

by Amy Reade

  “Do you think Phyllis will quit?” I asked.

  She sighed. “I hope not. I’m sure Daddy is trying to smooth her ruffled feathers right now. Ruby, too. She and Phyllis get along and Mother is nasty to both of them, so they have lots in common.”

  “What do you think your dad will say?”

  “It’s hard to know. It sounded like he was expressing some interest in what James and Abigail had to say, but I don’t really believe he wants that for Peppernell Manor. I think he was just being polite.”

  “I’d like to sit down with him and talk to him about my ideas for restoring those cabins.”

  “Sounds like you’d better do it soon, before Mother forces her plans on him. Want me to come with you to talk to him?”

  “Yes,” I answered gratefully. “I’d appreciate that.”

  “Wait until he’s done talking to Phyllis, then we’ll have a little discussion with him.” We remained at the table until Graydon came back in after several minutes.

  “There,” he said, addressing Evie. “I have spoken to Phyllis and assured her that your mother spoke out of turn and that the rest of us do not share her ideas of a caste system around here. I think she’ll stay.”

  “Daddy,” Evie began, “I know Carleigh has spoken to you before about restoring the slave cabins, and this might be a good time to discuss that with her. I mean, now that you’ve heard what James and Abigail are planning. I think Carleigh’s onto something. Maybe you should hear her ideas before you go deciding about anything the investment group has to say.”

  “Of course you’re right, Evie.” He looked at me intently. “Carleigh, what do you propose?”

  “Well,” I began a little nervously, “the slave cabins are an important part of the history of Peppernell Manor.”

  “Agreed.”

  “When I first spoke to Cora-Camille about restoring the manor house, it was very important to her that we stick as closely as possible to the original aesthetic of the house to keep it connected to its history.”

  Graydon nodded, but said nothing. I continued.

  “It seems a shame to put such care into the historical accuracy of the great house only to ignore the historical accuracy—and importance—of the other houses on the property. That is to say, the slave cabins. I think it’s essential to remember that people lived in those homes, too.

  “I know I could restore them as closely as possible to their original state. And once that’s done, you could take your time deciding what to do with the property. You could keep it and just live in it the way you do now, or you could give it to the state of South Carolina for use as a cultural center and park, or you could turn it over to the investors, who might even appreciate having restored slave cabins on the property since they could use that as a marketing tool. And they could still have their gift shop if that’s what you decide—they’d just have to build one elsewhere on the property.”

  Graydon was silent for a moment. “Carleigh,” he drawled, “I think you make some very good points. I think Vivian needs to hear your reasoning before she goes and makes foolish decisions on my behalf about Peppernell Manor. But tonight isn’t the time to discuss this with her.” He chuckled. “She’s hoppin’ mad at me. I’ll let her cool down and talk to her about it tomorrow. Are you going to be here in case she has any questions?”

  I nodded eagerly. “Of course. I’ll be finishing up the floors in the ballroom and the sitting room.”

  “All right, my dear. We’ll find you if Viv wants more particulars. You have my vote.”

  I wondered briefly about Ruby’s vote, but I didn’t say anything. I was just happy to have persuaded Graydon. I suppose I should have mentioned that Phyllis was opposed to the restoration of the slave cabins, but that could wait until Graydon had spoken to his wife.

  I went to bed that night with a feeling of elation. First Heath, now the slave cabins. The only thing preventing my happiness from being complete was Lucy’s absence. As soon as we heard from the police that Harlan’s killer had been apprehended, I would drive down to Florida and pick her up. And the farther from his murder we got, the more likely it seemed that it had been an act perpetrated by an angry business associate. It’s funny that we never considered any other options.

  CHAPTER 15

  The next morning I woke to a beautiful day. The air was cooler and dry, and the windows were flung open to let in the soft breeze. This was the way the South was meant to be enjoyed—with gentle warmth and sunny days in the autumn.

  I went downstairs with a lightness in my step that hadn’t been there recently. I ate breakfast by myself and paged through the newspaper. Nothing happened to suggest that anything was amiss in the great house.

  But when I left the dining room to get started for the day, I walked into the ballroom and stopped short with a gasp.

  The ballroom walls, which the previous day had been a vibrant, deep blue, were now scarred with long, jagged streaks of black paint. There was paint on the floor and paint on the ceiling. That beautiful ceiling, which I had worked on for so many days! Looking at all the droplets on the walls, some of which were dripping in long scraggly lines, it was obvious that someone had taken a brush and flung paint all over the room. I walked quickly to the sitting room, trying to avoid stepping in any drops of black on the floor. The sitting room had thankfully been left untouched. I was confused, shocked, dismayed. I ran to the doorway of the ballroom and took off my shoes. I was going to run upstairs to find Evie and Graydon when the front door swung open. Heath peeked his head around the door. He smiled when he saw me.

  “Good morning!”

  Then he saw the look on my face. He came inside quickly and closed the door. “What’s wrong?”

  I couldn’t speak. I pointed to the ballroom and he looked through the doorway. He turned to me, his face mirroring my own. “What happened?”

  I shook my head and finally found my voice. “I don’t know.” I gulped. “I don’t know. It was like that when I went in there just a minute ago.”

  “When did it happen?”

  “I don’t know,” I repeated. “Sometime between yesterday afternoon and this morning. I haven’t been in there since then.”

  “Does Dad know?”

  “I doubt it. I just found it myself.”

  Heath went to the stairs. “Dad!” he called up, a sense of urgency in his voice. “Dad!”

  We could hear doors opening upstairs. Graydon’s head appeared over the railing upstairs. “What is it?” he asked with concern.

  “Come down here, quickly. There’s something you need to see.”

  Graydon came downstairs, tying his robe. Evie clattered along behind him, still in her pajamas. Graydon looked from Heath to me, glancing at my bare feet. “What’s wrong?”

  Heath pointed grimly in the direction of the ballroom. Graydon walked to the doorway, followed by Evie, and let out an expletive.

  He turned to me. “What on earth happened?”

  I threw my hands in the air. “I have no idea. It was like that when I walked in there just a few minutes ago.”

  “Is the paint still wet?” Evie asked.

  “I don’t know. I’ll go see.” I walked into the ballroom and ran my finger down one of the drips of paint on the wall. It was still a bit wet. I bent down and did the same with the paint on the floor. Same result.

  “It’s not completely dried, but it’s not fresh, either. Someone must have done this a few hours ago,” I informed the group.

  “That doesn’t really help us much,” noted Graydon, “unless someone was down here in the middle of the night and saw it happening.”

  “Saw what happening?” asked Vivian. She had come down the stairs and was standing in the entry hall with the rest of us.

  “Someone vandalized the ballroom,” Graydon informed her grimly. “There are streaks of black paint all over the walls and drops of paint on the floor and the ceiling.”

  “What?” she exclaimed, her eyes widening. “Who did it?” sh
e asked as she looked into the ballroom.

  Graydon shrugged. “We don’t know.”

  “What about the sitting room?” she asked.

  “The sitting room is untouched,” I answered.

  “Thank heaven for that,” Vivian remarked. “What do we do next?” Everyone looked at me.

  “I guess we wait for the paint to dry and then I redo the ballroom,” I said simply. “I’ll try to remove as much of the black paint as I can from the walls, but it’s going to be hard to do that without damaging the plaster. I may just end up having to paint over the black. The same is true for the ceiling.

  “And as for the floor,” I continued, “I’ll scrape it off as best I can and restain it.” I shook my head. “This will take some time. I guess I’ll get started in the front hall while I’m waiting for all the paint to dry.”

  Just then Ruby came in the front door. She looked around at everyone, confused. “Is something the matter?”

  “Ruby, do you know anything about the black paint in the ballroom?” Graydon asked.

  “No. What happened?”

  “Someone splashed black paint on the walls and floor and ceiling of the ballroom. It’s ruined and now Carleigh is going to have to do the entire room again.”

  Ruby went over to the ballroom doorway and peered in. She turned around, her hands over her mouth, and stared at me with wide eyes. “This is terrible!”

  “I know,” I sighed resignedly. “I’ll get started today on the entry hall. Normally I like to work on walls first, but I think I’ll work on the floor first this time.”

  “It had to have been someone in this house,” Vivian said conspiratorially to Graydon loudly enough for us all to hear. “My money’s on Phyllis. She’s disgruntled.”

  Graydon turned to her angrily. “If she’s disgruntled, then we have you to thank for it. So don’t go around making accusations like that. We have no idea who did it.”

  Vivian stared at him stonily for a moment and then said, “Well! I guess we know where your loyalties lie!”

  He rolled his eyes. “Vivian, don’t start. You know my loyalties lie with my family. But you can’t go around treating Phyllis like that! She’s worked for us for many years, and her mother for many years before that, so I think we owe her a certain amount of respect.”

  “Where is Phyllis, anyways?” Evie cut in, probably to stop her parents’ bickering.

  “She wasn’t in the kitchen when I came down to eat breakfast,” I answered. “I imagine she’s in her apartment.”

  “Maybe I should go look for her,” Ruby said.

  “You do whatever you want,” Vivian replied sourly. “I’m going to work.” She walked out the front door, closing it quietly behind her. Ruby went into the kitchen, presumably in search of Phyllis.

  “Carleigh, I’m real sorry this happened,” Graydon said. “You’re a good girl to keep working on this house.” Evie, smiling, rolled her eyes and jerked her thumb toward her father at his antiquated chivalry. Her reaction lightened the mood.

  “Daddy, for heaven’s sake, don’t call her a good girl. She’s not a child.”

  He looked at me sheepishly. “Sorry, Carleigh.”

  I grinned at him. “That’s okay.”

  “I think we need to notify the police about this,” Graydon said. “I’ll call them and I’m sure they’ll be over here before long.”

  He went upstairs, leaving Heath and Evie and me standing in the entry hall.

  “Who do you suppose did it?” asked Evie.

  “I can’t imagine,” answered Heath. “Why would anyone here want to vandalize the house? We all live here.”

  “Do you agree with Mother?”

  “That is was Phyllis? Could be. Mother sure made her angry last night.”

  “I don’t blame Phyllis for being mad, but she needs to find a better way to express herself,” Evie replied with a sigh. “Carleigh, what do you think?”

  “I have no idea who did it. That doesn’t seem like something Phyllis would do, but I really don’t know her very well.”

  “Carleigh’s right. It seems out of character for her. Do you suppose someone could have broken in and done it?” Heath asked.

  Evie shivered. “I hope not. That’s a scary thought. Don’t you think we’d see evidence of a break-in if someone from outside had done it?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m sure the police will check that out once they get here.”

  “I wish I could stay here to help you,” Heath told me. “But I need to get into Charleston to work. I’ve got court this morning.”

  “That’s okay. This is my job, remember? Just because there’s been a setback doesn’t lessen my responsibility to complete it. Go on. Have a good day.” I shooed him toward the front door.

  He smiled at me and kissed my forehead. “I’ll see you tonight,” he promised.

  “I’ll come down when the police get here,” Evie said, heading up the stairs.

  I sighed and stood looking into the ballroom. Who could have done the damage to the ballroom? Phyllis? Even Vivian? She was pretty angry last night. Maybe she vandalized the room out of spite. But I didn’t want to be the one to suggest to Heath and Evie that their mother might have been the culprit.

  I gazed around at the entry hall for a few moments. Some areas of the marble had become discolored through the long years, and I wanted to try to clean them before thinking about having the floor replaced.

  I was gathering the supplies I would need to tackle the marble when the police arrived. After looking around the ballroom, they examined the doors and windows on the rest of the first floor. Evie and Graydon and I waited for them in the drawing room. Then they questioned us in turn in the kitchen. They left after explaining that they could find no evidence of a break-in and that this appeared to be a domestic problem. They suggested that we keep our eyes and ears open for anything suspicious, but there appeared to be nothing they could do about it. I was discouraged, as were Evie and Graydon.

  I threw myself into my work that day, scrubbing the marble until my arms hurt. I think I was trying to forget about the scars in the ballroom. By late afternoon I was starving and ready for a break. Phyllis came into the entry hall to offer me a glass of sweet tea.

  “Ruby told me what happened in the ballroom. The police questioned me, too,” she told me. “It’s too bad your work was ruined. I saw how hard you worked in there and it looked nice.”

  “Thanks,” I replied. “I wish I knew why someone threw paint in there.”

  “You know what I think?” she asked.

  I looked at her askance. I knew where this conversation was headed. But I answered anyway. “What?”

  “It’s that dog.”

  I shook my head at her. “Phyllis, I hope you aren’t suggesting that Addie came into the manor house and threw paint on the ballroom walls.”

  She arched her eyebrow at me. “I didn’t say the dog did it. But I warned you about stray dogs. They bring nothing but bad luck to a house. It wouldn’t have happened if Heath hadn’t adopted her.”

  “Don’t talk like that. Addie doesn’t even live in this house! She lives with Heath!”

  “Doesn’t matter,” she answered, shaking her head. “She lives on this property, doesn’t she?”

  Apparently there was no reasoning with her. I was exasperated. “Thanks for the tea, Phyllis. I have to take a shower.” I went upstairs and as I reached the top I looked back down out of the corner of my eye. Phyllis was watching me. I shivered. The very idea—that Addie could be responsible for Harlan’s death and for vandalizing the ballroom! Between Phyllis’s superstitions and her belief in ghosts, I was beginning to think she was more than a little creepy.

  CHAPTER 16

  During dinner my cell phone vibrated. When I looked down at the number and saw that it was from Florida, I excused myself to take the call.

  “Carleigh? It’s Mom.” Her voice sounded strained.

  “Mom? What’s going on? What’s wrong?”r />
  “Lucy’s okay, but Dad is sick.”

  I was shocked. “Is he all right? What’s the matter?”

  “We don’t know yet. He wasn’t himself when he woke up. Then this afternoon he fainted and when he did, he fell and hit his head. He’s bleeding internally and has a broken wrist. He’s in the hospital right now and they’re running tests. He’ll probably be there for several days.

  “I think it would be best if you took Lucy back to South Carolina so I can concentrate on taking care of him.”

  “Absolutely. I’ll be there as soon as I can get there. I can leave right away. Do you think Dad’s going to be okay?”

  “I think he’ll be fine. But it’s going to take some time to figure out exactly what’s wrong and how to treat him.”

  “I’ll be there by tomorrow morning. Tell him I’ll see him then. And Lucy, too. Bye.”

  I hung up and returned to the dining room. I told everyone that I would have to leave to pick up Lucy as soon as possible. Everyone was concerned about my father, but happy that Lucy would be returning to Peppernell Manor.

  I ate a little of my dinner and ran upstairs to pack for an overnight. Before long I was in the car heading south.

  My emotions were scattered in all directions. I was worried about both of my parents. I knew they had lots of friends in their neighborhood, but what if something happened in the night and there was no one close by to help Mom? What if he fell getting out of the car or out of bed? The what ifs were starting to whirl around in my mind until I felt my chest start to tighten.

  And besides worrying about my parents, I was very concerned about having Lucy back at Peppernell Manor. As much as I wanted her with me, there was always the nagging reminder that Harlan’s killer still hadn’t been caught. I didn’t want to expose my daughter to the very grown-up things that went along with a police investigation, but my choices were limited. I felt that I couldn’t leave Peppernell Manor with the restoration incomplete. My job and my reputation were on the line. Besides, the police wouldn’t let me return to Chicago anyway. Also, I was starting to feel at home in South Carolina, and I didn’t want to leave Heath behind.