by K E O'Connor
Archie nodded. He drifted over to Helen and shoved her in the back, making her stumble forward.
Helen shrieked and dropped onto the sofa. “Why did he do that?”
“Archie, behave,” I said to him. “If you hurt any of us, we’re not going to help you.”
Archie looked at Helen with a sorrowful expression on his face.
Helen struggled into a seated position and smoothed down her hair. “That’s right. I’ll tell Lorna to ignore you.”
“He’s looking suitably sorry,” I said. “And I think he’s demonstrating that he didn’t die from falling off a horse. You think someone pushed you?” I looked at Archie and saw him nod.
Archie gestured to the main house and made the shoving motions again.
“He thinks he died in the house and was pushed from behind,” I said as I interpreted his gestures.
“But wasn’t he found outside?” asked Zach.
“He was. I remember reading that Juliette discovered Archie about half a mile away from the house,” I said. “That doesn’t add up if he died inside.”
“He wouldn’t have been riding his horse around the parlors,” said Helen. “Archie is confused.”
Archie shook his head violently and glared at Helen.
“Maybe he wasn’t riding a horse at all,” I said.
Archie nodded and pointed to the house again.
“Could somebody have made it look like a riding accident? Maybe he died in the house and then whoever killed him moved his body and staged it so it looked like he’d had a fall?”
“Archie was murdered?” asked Helen.
“He thinks so,” I said.
“If he was killed then we must help him,” said Helen, “despite the fact he shoved me.”
“What happened the last time we helped a ghost?” I asked her.
“Well, the ghost got justice,” said Helen.
“And we had to find new jobs,” I said. “We’ve been here one day, and already, we’re at risk of losing our positions here.”
“Not necessarily,” said Helen. “We can make some discreet inquiries into what happened. You don’t have to go breaking expensive vases over people’s heads this time.”
“I didn’t have much choice about that.” I thought back to a close encounter I’d had when I discovered a killer and he had tried to keep me quiet. “If I hadn’t knocked him out with the vase, I’d be the ghost hassling you now.”
Helen grinned at me in the firelight. “Fair enough. But I do think we need to help Archie get justice too.”
Archie nodded and then spun round the room, rattling the doors as he did so.
“He’s not leaving us with much choice,” I said. “If we don’t help him, he’s going to be bothering us the whole time we're here.”
“He’s only bothering us because he wants to see his killer revealed,” said Helen. “And I know you do too. I know you want to help him.”
“I’d rather have a quiet life with Flipper, you, Zach, and a job we all enjoy.”
“I’d like that too,” said Zach softly. “But you need to help Archie. You know it’s the right thing to do.”
I leaned back against Zach and sighed. It was the right thing to do, but that didn’t make it an easy thing to do. “Fine, let’s do this. Let’s investigate who killed Archie.”
Helen clapped her hands, and the overhead lights came back on. “Excellent. Let’s go on a ghost hunt.”
Chapter 5
After a quick breakfast with Helen the next morning, I walked through the grounds with Flipper by my side. The early morning sunlight dappled the ground with spots of brightness and the birds in the trees sung a chorus of welcome to me.
I entered the main house and walked through to the orangery, where Juliette had instructed me to meet her. She was still at the table with Ben as I entered the room, and as she looked up, I could see the tiredness sitting beneath her eyes. Juliette had not slept well.
Ben also saw me and jumped to his feet, a smile on his face. “Join us for a cup of tea.” He gestured to one of the many vacant seats around the breakfast table.
“Thank you.” I sat at the table and accepted the cup Ben handed me.
“Does your dog want anything?” asked Ben.
“He will say yes, but I’ve fed him, so ignore him if he’s looking at your breakfast.” Flipper rested his head on my knee and gazed up at me with a look of admonishment on his face.
“He’s a lovely dog,” said Ben. “Reminds me of those huskies that pulled our sleigh when we were in Lapland.” He looked over at Juliette. “Do you remember, my love?”
Juliette nodded. “He’s very similar to them.”
“How was your first night in the cottage?” asked Ben. “Did you sleep well? I hope the power cut didn’t inconvenience you too much.”
“I slept well,” I said, although it had taken me a while to get off, considering I'd had such a frantic introduction to Archie. “And we weren’t inconvenienced. The lights were only out for a short time. We lit the log burner, so we had plenty of warmth and light.”
“That’s one of the disadvantages of living in the countryside,” said Ben. “You can’t always rely on the services.”
“It’s been happening more and more,” said Juliette quietly. “There must be something wrong with the main line. We get power outages at least once a week. Have been for the last few months.”
I sipped my tea, deciding not to mention the possibility that her dead husband’s ghost was most likely responsible for the problems they’d been having.
“Well, just glad it didn’t spoil your first evening with us,” said Ben. He turned to Juliette. “Can I get you anything else to eat?”
Juliette waved her hand vaguely in the air. “I’m content with my tea and toast.”
I looked down at her barely touched toast. No wonder she was so thin.
“Perhaps some slices of peach or an apple?” asked Ben. “Or I can get you some freshly squeezed orange juice.”
“No, nothing.” Juliette sighed and her gaze went to the window.
“How about a walk later?” asked Ben. “Some fresh air will do you good.”
“Perhaps.” Juliette reached down to the purse by her side and took out some money. “Why don’t you go into town and buy yourself something nice?”
Ben blinked a couple of times as he stared at the money. “I don’t need anything.”
“Buy yourself something you like the look of,” said Juliette, still holding the money out to him. “It will be good for you to get out of the house for a couple of hours.”
“You don’t need to give me money to get me out of the house if you want some time alone,” said Ben.
“It’s not that,” said Juliette. “But you do need to get a new shirt for the dinner we have next weekend.”
Ben reluctantly took the money from Juliette. “I didn’t realize we were going to that.”
“I’m not certain we are yet,” said Juliette. “But it will be good to get yourself something new just in case.”
“Come with me,” said Ben. “We can go shopping together, and you can pick out whatever color of shirt you want me to wear. And wouldn’t you like a new dress as well? We could be the best dressed couple there.”
“Not really,” said Juliette. “I can always get something picked up, or ask Helen to alter one of my dresses. She could add some color or something like that. The thought of going dress shopping is exhausting.”
Ben stood and walked to the other side of the table where Juliette sat. “Come with me, my love. It will also do you good to get away from this house.”
“I can’t leave today.” Juliette shook her head. “I must spend time with Lorna and ensure she knows what her duties are.”
“If you do want to go, you can give me instructions, and I can get to work,” I said, not wanting to be the reason Juliette felt obliged to stay at home.
“No, it’s important I’m here today,” said Juliette. “It would not be approp
riate to leave you unattended on your first day with us.”
“Oh, yes, perhaps you’re right,” said Ben. “I wasn’t thinking about our new employees.” He kissed Juliette on the cheek. “But another time. We should go into town together. I enjoy our trips out.”
“Even dress shopping?” asked Juliette, giving Ben a small smile.
“Especially dress shopping,” said Ben.
“Perhaps another time then.” Juliette shooed Ben away with her hands as if dismissing an overly attentive dog. “Enjoy your shopping trip.”
Ben frowned as he stepped away from Juliette. “I would if you came with me, but I can see you’d like to be on your own, so I will leave you.” He gave me a nod before leaving the room.
Juliette watched Ben go before turning to me. “He’s a lovely man, and I do adore him. But he does want to spend all of his time with me. I find it so tiring constantly having to keep him entertained.”
I twisted the cup in my hands, not sure how much to say. “Perhaps he wants to spend all of his time with you because he’s fond of you.”
Juliette gave me a tired looking smile. “I’m not used to so much attention. Archie was always going out and about. He’d sometimes go to London for a long weekend and leave me on my own. I've become used to being independent and only having my husband around for a couple of days a week. Having Ben here all the time is alien to me.”
“He does seem to care for you very much,” I said. “It could be his way of showing that.”
Juliette nodded. “You could be right. And it is his first marriage, so I shouldn’t object to him being eager to spend time with me. But things are so different these days.”
Since Juliette was happy to talk, I decided to press my luck. “Different how?”
“Ben is full of energy and excitement. He reminds me a little of Archie when we first met, but more innocent somehow.”
“That doesn’t sound like a bad thing to me.”
Juliette looked over at me, as if seeing me for the first time. She placed her cup on the table and pushed her seat back. “We should get to work. I have a huge heap of unopened mail that will need your immediate attention. Let’s start with that.” She walked over to a bureau on one side of the breakfast room and unlocked it. “I work in here most days. The light isn’t too bright, and it’s nice and quiet.”
“Will this be where I’m working?”
“Yes. Use my desk when I'm not here or you can sit at the table.” Juliette extracted a pile of letters and gave them to me as she walked back to the table.
“What would you like me to do with these?”
“Anything that is addressed to my late husband, open, make sure it’s nothing important and there are no bills to pay, and then destroy it.”
“You don’t want me to keep any correspondence of his?”
“There’s no point,” said Juliette. “He’s gone now. And he did leave me in somewhat of a mess by dying so unexpectedly. Archie left a will, but he was vague as to all of his investments. I’m still struggling through those. So there may be something of value in the letters. Anything you’re not sure about, leave to one side, and we can look at it together.”
I began to sort the letters into piles, extracting the ones for Archie, creating a pile for circulars and junk mail, and having a separate pile for all letters addressed only to Juliette.
“I am also planning a charity gala,” said Juliette. “There will be some correspondence in that heap about the event.”
“That sounds interesting,” I said. “What charity are you supporting?”
“I’m patron to a number of good causes, but this one was Archie’s idea,” said Juliette. “His father died of heart disease years ago, and Archie decided to raise some money for a charity doing research into that particular field. But he was always a big ideas man and never one for the details. He came up with the basic plan and selected a date, but he wasn’t interested in the rest. Archie thought it would run itself once he decided what he wanted to do.”
“Some people are natural born idea generators and others like to do the detailed work and all the planning,” I said.
“Archie was full of big ideas,” said Juliette with a sigh. “So rather than letting down the charity, I decided to organize the event myself. Perhaps I was being foolish. I didn’t realize how much work I would need to do. And then Archie died, and I almost gave up on the whole idea. But I decided it was a way to remember him and complete the final thing that he wanted to accomplish.”
“That does sound like a nice plan,” I said. “I’d be happy to help with the event. I have experience in event planning.”
A small smile crossed Juliette’s face. “That would be lovely. Any help is appreciated.”
“And if it does seem like too much, perhaps you can get some of your friends to lend a hand,” I said. “These kinds of things are easier to arrange when you have assistance.”
“Yes, friends would be useful,” said Juliette. “But I don’t have many of those round here. As you’ll discover for yourself, the village is small, and there aren’t many groups that I’m a part of locally. I do have friends in London, but they only visit on the occasional weekend, and they were mainly Archie’s friends anyway. Now he’s gone, there’s little point in them coming to visit just me.”
Juliette sounded lonely. It must be easy to isolate yourself in a place like this, especially after losing a loved one. “Well, just say the word, and I’ll be happy to help.” I turned my head at the sound of footsteps approaching. A short plump woman in a black dress, with a floral apron tied around her waist, entered the room. She looked to be in her early fifties, her dark hair sprinkled with grey. Her mouth pinched as she spotted me sitting at the table.
“You haven’t met our housekeeper,” said Juliette. “Meredith Green, this is Lorna Shadow. She is helping me with my administration.”
Meredith gave a curt nod. “A pleasure.”
“Likewise,” I said.
“I’ll clear the breakfast things if you’re finished,” said Meredith to Juliette.
Juliette poked the cold toast on her plate. “Yes, all finished here. I didn’t have much of an appetite this morning.”
Meredith gave a sniff as she collected the plates and cups and put them on a tray. “You need to keep eating in order to stay healthy, Mrs. Musgrave. I can always make you something different for breakfast if you’ve gone off toast. An omelette, or sausages, or some of that fancy granola cereal.”
“Thank you, Meredith, that’s kind of you. But I never have much of an appetite in the morning.”
“Or at lunch or dinner,” said Meredith under her breath as she lifted the tray. “Can I get you anything else, Mrs. Musgrave?”
“Nothing, thank you,” said Juliette. “Unless you want something, Lorna?”
“Not for me,” I said, seeing Meredith’s dark eyes narrow as she stared at me.
“I’ll be in the kitchen. Just call when you need me.” Meredith left the room swiftly, her flat soled shoes slapping against the wooden floorboards.
“Meredith’s been with me for years,” said Juliette. “And she’s always trying to feed me. She’s an excellent cook. But I should warn you, go into the kitchen at your peril. It is her domain, and she doesn’t like anyone else intruding. She even scolded me once when I tried to make myself a cup of tea.”
“Duly noted,” I said. It was never a good idea to get on the wrong side of the cook. If you did, you might find something nasty in your next meal.
Ten minutes later, I'd finished sorting the letters into piles. “There are a dozen here for Archie.”
“Open those first,” said Juliette. “We may as well get them out of the way.”
The first three were unimportant. But the next one looked like a large, overdue bill. I checked the contents carefully, but there was no mistake; Archie owed almost ten thousand pounds to a credit card company, and they wanted it back.
“You’d better take a look at this one.” I h
anded Juliette the bill.
She stared at it, before throwing it to the ground and covering her face with her hands for a few seconds. “We were married for the best part of ten years, and there was so much I didn’t know about my own husband. These bills, they keep appearing, and I have no clue what he was spending the money on. And because of that, I can only imagine the worst.”
Fleur stomped into the orangery, dressed in a fitted white shift and black stilettos. “More like you always think the worst about my brother, because you’re a mean spirited old cow.”
“This is a private conversation,” said Juliette, “and I am working.”
“More like you’re making up lies about Archie,” said Fleur. “He’s not even here to defend himself.”
“Your brother kept secrets from us all,” said Juliette, “and I am on the unfortunate receiving end of many of them. You don’t have to deal with the mess he’s left behind.”
“He didn’t want to die,” said Fleur.
“He should have been more thoughtful,” said Juliette. “Archie was the provider for this family. He should have been looking after all of us, not squandering his money on goodness knows what.”
“He only spent all of that money to give himself a distraction from his awful wife,” said Fleur.
“Perhaps I should go.” I discreetly stood, not keen to be in the middle of a family argument.
“Stay where you are,” said Juliette. “You may as well know what this mess of a family is really like. Then you’ll have a true picture of your working life. You may decide, after seeing this, you no longer wish to be here. I feel like that most of the time.”
I sat back in my seat and inspected my nails, trying to appear invisible as they continued to argue.
“You’re only angry about the bills you have to pay because it means less money for you and your toy boy,” said Fleur.
“Ben is not my toy boy,” said Juliette. “He’s barely five years younger than me.”
“It still makes him your toy boy,” said Fleur with a derisory laugh. “And he’s come from nothing. He didn’t bring anything to the marriage.”