Ghostly Affairs

by K. E. O'Connor

“That would make me sound crazy,” I said.

  We both ducked behind a tree as Henry came into view. He was no longer wearing women’s clothes and had on dark slacks and a zipped-up black jacket.

  After a few seconds, I ducked my head around the tree and saw Henry was ahead of us. “Let’s keep going.”

  “I know where he keeps a backdoor key,” said Helen. “We can creep inside and have a look around.”

  “What should we look for?”

  “Not sure,” said Helen. “More women’s clothes?”

  “That will only prove the cross-dressing angle, not that Henry’s the killer.”

  Helen wrinkled her nose. “I’m going to have to throw those high heels away. I’ll feel dirty every time I put my foot in them, knowing Henry has his designs on them.”

  “You should be flattered,” I said. “Shows you have good taste.”

  “You mean, it shows I buy shoes that men who dress in drag prefer. That’s hardly a compliment.”

  I gave a shrug. Helen had a point. “You know, there’s always the walking boots.”

  “Don’t say another word.” Helen scowled at me. “Let’s focus on Henry.”

  We hurried the rest of the way to Henry’s house. It was on a similarly grand scale to Lady Camilla’s, although it looked worn around the edges, with paint peeling off several windowsills and the garden needing attention.

  “Here’s the key,” whispered Helen, as she lifted a fake rock from the ground and opened a hidden compartment. “He had to use it when he brought me here. He’d left his own set of keys inside.” She eased the key into the lock and it turned silently.

  We walked into a dark kitchen and hurried to the door.

  Helen pressed her ear to the wooden door. “I can’t hear him. Maybe he’s gone straight to bed.”

  “How much of the house did you see when you were here?”

  “Most of it,” whispered Helen. “The rooms upstairs are mainly empty. It’s just him living here.”

  “You saw everywhere?” I asked. “None of the rooms were out of bounds?”

  Helen scratched her chin. “There was one room I didn’t get to see. He told me it was a box room, a place where he stored things he didn’t know what to do with.”

  “Then we start there.” I took a deep breath and gently eased the kitchen door open. I peered out into an unlit hallway. A thick, deep-red carpet ran the entire length, muffling our footsteps as we crept towards the box room. The smell of lilies filled my nose as we passed an enormous glass vase full of flowers.

  Helen pointed to a door and I nodded at her. She tried the handle and it turned.

  She pushed the door open, and we hurried inside, Flipper in front of us.

  Helen shut the door and let out a breath. “So, where shall we start looking?”

  I looked around the room. It looked nothing like a box room, it was more like a study. One wall was all bookshelves, and by the bay window was a tidy desk and a leather chair. There was a couch against the other wall, and several small tables dotted around.

  “You try the desk drawers,” I said. “I’ll have a look along the bookshelves.”

  Helen nodded and hurried over to the desk.

  I walked to the bookshelf, Flipper nudging me with his nose as I did so. I paused and looked down at him. “Are you sensing something?”

  Flipper looked up at me and blinked, before pointing his nose at the books.

  “That’s where I’m going,” I said to him. “Are you picking up an interesting smell?”

  Flipper placed his nose on the ground and snuffled along the floorboards, stopping by the books, before he raised his head and continued his investigation.

  I followed Flipper’s progress, pressing my hands against all the books that interested him. Maybe Henry had hidden documents between the pages of some books, information he didn’t want anybody to see.

  Flipper kept working along the bookshelf, and after I’d opened a few of the books and not found anything useful, I came to the conclusion he was simply hunting out an intriguing smell.

  I turned and looked at Helen. “Anything in the drawers?”

  “Nothing so far,” said Helen, as she shoved a drawer shut. “Mainly files, and old mobile phones. He seems to like to collect them from the number he has.”

  “I thought Flipper was on to something, but I’m not so sure now,” I said.

  “Better not be much longer,” whispered Helen. “Henry might come down and hear us moving around.”

  “Don’t think we’re going to find much here anyway.” I leaned against the bookshelf and heard a quiet click behind me.

  I turned to discover the source of the noise. One of the books had shifted forward on a shelf. “Helen, come and see this.”

  Helen hurried over and stared at the books. “Was that what Flipper was trying to show you?”

  I grabbed hold of the book and pulled it towards me. The entire shelf next to me shifted, and a gap appeared.

  “It’s a hidden room!” said Helen.

  “You could be right,” I said. “But what’s Henry hiding?” I squashed my fingers into the gap and pulled the heavy shelf open. My eyes widened when I saw the contents.

  Helen grabbed my arm. “Photographs of Katie?”

  I nodded and stepped closer. The space was only small, you couldn’t squeeze into it, but the entire wall was covered with photographs and pictures of Katie. There were also newspaper articles that had been cut out, and printouts of information about her.

  “Henry was obsessed with her,” said Helen. “He was stalking Katie.”

  “And she must have found out,” I said. “And Henry had to get rid of her before she called in the police and revealed what he was up to.”

  “And he seemed like such a lovely man,” sighed Helen.

  “He’s clearly not.” I pulled out my mobile. “And we’d better call the police. We’ve got enough evidence to show Henry had an unhealthy obsession with Katie.”

  The door to the study opened, and the overhead light flashed on. Henry stood in the doorway, wearing a silk robe covered in flowers. He looked at us, surprise clear on his face.

  “Helen, Lorna! What are you both doing here?”

  Chapter 21

  “Henry!” Helen hurried over to him. “I was going to surprise you.”

  “Indeed you have, my dear.” Henry glanced down at his feminine looking robe and tightened the belt. “But it’s a nice surprise. And you’ve brought Lorna, and her dog as well.”

  I attempted to close the bookshelf, so Henry wouldn’t see what we’d discovered. “I never like Helen to go out late unaccompanied. Especially not with a man she’s just met.”

  “That’s decent of you.” Henry’s gaze strayed to the bookshelf behind me and the color drained from his face.

  I walked away from the shelf, my heartbeat matching my rapid step. “Perhaps we should go. It’s getting late.”

  Henry held his hands up. “No! I mean, since you’re here, you must stay.” He walked into the room and shut the door behind him.

  “Lorna’s right, it is awfully late,” said Helen, as she shot me a worried glance. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have come unannounced.”

  Henry’s gaze remained on the bookshelves. “Oh dear, you’ve stumbled onto something you shouldn’t have.”

  “The books, you mean,” I said, as I tried to make my expression as innocent as possible.

  Henry sighed, as he walked over and pulled on a book on the bookshelf, reopening the hidden panel to show Katie’s pictures. “I mean this. That’s what you were looking at when I came in.”

  “You did say you dated,” said Helen. “It’s not so terrible to keep a few photographs of a former girlfriend.”

  Henry waved his hand at the pictures. “I know what this looks like, though. This isn’t normal. Even I recognize that.”

  I glanced at Helen. “Why have you got so many pictures of Katie hidden in there?” Henry scrubbed a hand down his face. “Marrying Katie wa
s my only hope.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Helen.

  Henry sank against the bookshelf. “I’m sorry to say, I’m in debt. Rather a lot of debt, actually. I’m being blackmailed, I just had a big tax bill arrive, and this beautiful place eats money all day. I’ve been given a quote to have a new heating system installed, and almost fainted when I saw how much it was going to be.”

  “What are you being blackmailed about?” I asked. My gaze went to Henry’s bare legs, and I noticed there was no hair on them.

  “I have a... hobby that I don’t share with many people,” said Henry, as he twisted his hands together in front of him. “Some don’t approve. And one individual has gone as far as to extort money out of me in order to keep my hobby a secret.”

  “You mean the cross-dressing,” said Helen.

  Henry’s eyebrows shot up, but then he sighed and nodded. “You know about that.”

  “We saw you tonight,” I said. “You, Billy, and Ranulph all wearing women’s clothing.”

  “I can’t really explain it,” said Henry. “I just enjoy it. Don’t you find, there’s nothing more pleasurable than feeling silk against bare skin?”

  I bit my bottom lip. “It does feel nice.”

  “And legs look so much better in a pair of high heels.” Henry looked at Helen’s feet, and a soft smile crossed his face. “You have excellent taste in footwear, my dear.”

  Helen blinked rapidly. “Well, thanks for that.”

  “So, what’s with the crazy person-wall, and covering it with information about Katie?” I asked.

  “It was part of my plan to get out of debt. I had to get to know Katie better,” said Henry. “I wanted to find out what made her tick and needed to make sure she fell in love with me so we could get married - and quickly. But then things got tricky when her new man came on the scene.”

  “Did you love Katie?” I asked.

  Henry shook his head. “She was a sweet girl, but too young for me. But I had to have the money, and I wouldn’t have minded being married to her.”

  “Did she know about your liking for ladies’ clothes?” asked Helen.

  “I think so,” said Henry. “But she didn’t mind. She was a broadminded girl, not stuck in the traditional ways many of the people I spend time with are. If she had grown to love me, she would have accepted the dressing up as a part of me.”

  “It is unusual,” I said, “but there’s nothing wrong with it. You’re not doing any harm.”

  Henry nodded. “That’s what I think. And Katie had such a lovely dress sense. I had hoped, once we’d been together for some time, we could share a wardrobe. I get my clothes specially tailored, and Katie liked her bright outfits, the same as me.”

  “But she refused your offer of marriage?” I asked. “And that’s why you killed her.”

  Henry hung his head. “I didn’t get the opportunity to propose. And I didn’t kill Katie. I’d never do such a thing.”

  I glared at him. “But you know something about her disappearance?”

  “I do.” Henry’s shoulders slumped and he blew out a big breath. “I know what happened to her. And I know where her body is.”

  Helen’s hand flew to her mouth. “You know Katie’s dead?”

  Henry raised his head. “I do. And I’m ashamed to say, I helped hide her body. And the body of her nice young man, Johnny.”

  My breath caught in my chest, and I struggled to breathe. “What happened?”

  Henry wiped his brow with the back of his hand. “No, I shouldn’t tell you. I’ll get into so much trouble.”

  “Don’t you dare wimp out on us!” snapped Helen. “If you know anything about this, then you owe it to Katie to help her. How would you feel, if someone killed you and hid your body? You’d get no rest. You’d be lying rotting in an unmarked grave. Show some respect to Katie. If you say you liked her when she was alive, then do the decent thing now.”

  “And I’ve already called the police,” I said. “They’ll be here soon, and you won’t be able to hide anything from them.” I looked at the mobile in my hand and realized I’d accidentally sent a dozen exclamation marks to Zach’s mobile phone by mistake. I decided not to mention that little mistake to Henry. If he thought the police were coming, he’d be more likely to open up.

  Henry’s shoulders dropped lower. “You’re right, of course. This has been weighing heavily on my mind. I’ve even been thinking about selling the estate and moving away, getting away from the scene of the crime, and starting somewhere new.”

  “Katie was killed nearby?” I asked, as I pushed my mobile into my pocket.

  “In the garage on Lady Camilla’s estate. She died in her car, sitting next to Johnny.”

  “It wasn’t a car crash?” I asked.

  “No, nothing like that. Katie died from carbon monoxide poisoning,” said Henry. “Her killer put a hose on the exhaust, and then fed it through the window. I hear it’s not a terrible way to die. She wouldn’t have been in pain.”

  “That doesn’t make it acceptable,” said Helen. “So, who killed Katie and Johnny?”

  Henry chewed on the side of his thumbnail. “It was her brother, Ranulph.”

  “I knew it!” said Helen. “He’s such a snake.”

  “He is,” said Henry. “I only spend time with him because he doesn’t judge me for dressing in women’s clothes. He enjoys it more than I do, and he does know a good supplier of heels.”

  “Why did he kill his sister and Johnny?” I asked.

  “He was jealous of her,” said Henry. “And he absolutely hated Johnny.”

  “That’s no reason to kill them,” I said. “What did either of them do to make him feel like that?”

  “You misunderstand me,” said Henry. “Ranulph was obsessed with Katie.”

  “Obsessed how?” I asked.

  “Well, he only dated women who looked like his sister,” said Henry.

  “Ranulph wanted to be with Katie?” I opened and shut my mouth a few times. “He loved her as more than a sister?”

  “I think I’m going to be sick,” said Helen.

  “That’s gross in every possible way,” I said.

  “Exactly my thoughts,” said Henry. “I believe his desire for her was muddled with lots of other emotions. Ranulph was always talking about how Katie stood in his way, and he needed to get rid of her. He was delighted when Lady Camilla started talking about disinheriting Katie when she got involved with Johnny.”

  “But surely Ranulph wanted Katie nearby if he was so obsessed with her,” I said.

  “Ranulph hoped that if Katie was out of the way, he’d stop thinking about her,” said Henry. “He never openly revealed how he felt to her, but Katie didn’t need to be a genius to figure out his feelings were not healthy. She kept out of his way as much as possible, and when they did meet, they always argued. Ranulph kept up this disguise of hating her, when in fact, it was just the opposite.”

  “He’s even more twisted than I realized,” said Helen.

  Henry nodded. “So, what now?”

  “You need to tell the police,” I said. “Ranulph needs to be brought to justice.”

  Henry swallowed loudly. “I will confess to my part. Although I did not harm Katie or Johnny in any way. I simply moved the bodies.”

  “Why did you help Ranulph?” asked Helen.

  “He’s my blackmailer. Ranulph threatened to reveal my cross-dressing activities if I didn’t help,” said Henry. “But I’m not the only one involved in this. Billy is, too. We all like getting dressed up, and Ranulph held it over our heads, threatening to expose our secret. Lady Camilla would be so distraught if she discovered what we liked to do. Billy would have lost his job, and I would have lost a good friend. Neither of us wanted to risk Ranulph revealing everything. And he’d do it as well, just to be spiteful.”

  “Didn’t you think about going to the police after Ranulph told you what he’d done?” I asked. “Refused to help him and told them about all of this?”
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br />   “Of course,” said Henry. “But I have a reputation to keep, and if I lose that, then I won’t be able to get the finances to keep this place going. I’m barely managing as it is. If I lose my reputation, then that’s it, I’ll be out on the streets with only my high heels and a bucket load of debt I cannot pay off.”

  “And Billy was willing to go along with this so he can keep his job on the estate?” I asked.

  “Billy loves it here,” said Henry. “He has an easy life. Lady Camilla leaves him to get on with things, so he has lots of free time. And I know he’s light-fingered. He probably steals thousands of pounds worth of things from the estate every year. Lady Camilla has so much, she never notices when a few things go missing. He didn’t want to lose any of that. And Ranulph is persuasive. He said it was just two bodies, no one would ever know what happened. He told us not to think of them as people but trash to be removed.”

  “You’re all sick,” said Helen. “And you should all go to prison.”

  “Helen, my dear, you’re right,” said Henry. “I deserve to be punished. I thought I’d be able to keep this information to myself, and not let it get to me. But I have dreams about Katie. It worries me about what we did. And your words hit home when you said she might not be at peace. I think that’s important. Despite what happened to her and Johnny, they need to be at rest, where people can properly mourn their passing.”

  “How did Ranulph get Katie and Johnny in the car?” I asked. “They would have been able to break a window if he’d locked them in.”

  “He drugged them,” said Henry. “He got a bottle of champagne, and said he wanted to make amends, wanted to be involved with Katie’s life when she was a married woman. I think she was so happy he was coming to his senses that they readily drank his toast. Then all Ranulph needed to do was drag them to the garage, fix the hose on the car, and start the engine.”

  “What did you do with their bodies?” asked Helen.

  My stomach sank as I stared at Henry. “They’re buried in the woods on the estate, aren’t they?”

  Henry blinked at me. “They are. How do you know that?”

  “Because I think Flipper found where you’d buried them. He led me to their graves not long after we’d arrived.” I looked down at Flipper. “Sorry for doubting you were just messing around. You were trying to help me solve this mystery.”