by K E O'Connor
“The last person is about to leave,” I said. “You only need to hang on until Reverend Davies has gone.”
Helen clamped her other hand over her mouth and let out the sound a startled mouse would make when it sat on a whoopee cushion.
Reverend Davies twirled around as he heard the noise.
I leapt out of the alcove and rubbed feeling back into my calf. “We were just admiring the craftsmanship in the church.” I gestured vaguely behind my shoulder.
“I knew I’d seen you at the back of the church,” said Reverend Davies. “I thought you’d left before the end because I bored you.”
“We enjoyed the service.” Helen stepped daintily out of the alcove, acting as if it was the most natural thing in the world to be hiding at the back of the church.
“Jolly good,” said Reverend Davies. “It’s nice to have new faces here. I have my regulars, which is a joy, but fresh blood in the congregation is welcome.”
“I’m not sure we’ll be coming all that often,” said Helen.
“Was it my sermon?” Reverend Davies looked crestfallen. “I knew it wasn’t lively enough.”
“I enjoyed the hymns. And I’m sure we can attend a service now and again.” I shot Helen a warning look, not wanting to upset Reverend Davies.
“Exactly! Now and again won't be a problem,” said Helen.
“I’m glad I’ve seen you both, actually,” said Reverend Davies. “After you left the museum, I continued with some research into the Bellamys’ house. It has a fascinating history, but not always a happy one.”
I looked over Reverend Davies’s shoulder to see if there was any sign of Francis, but she was long gone. Our pursuit had failed. “What did you discover about the house?”
“It is one full of loss,” said Reverend Davies.
“What kind of loss?” asked Helen.
“It’s almost as if tragedy has been tied to the bricks themselves,” said Reverend Davies. “You know about the Bellamy children, of course, but I researched into the other families that have previously lived here. And the family we mentioned last night, the Bakers, appear to have had a tragic past as well.”
“What happened to them?” I asked.
“They used to be prosperous in the region, and were the county’s bread producers, hence the name Baker,” said Reverend Davies. “But their livelihood was lost because the husband, Saul, had a problem when it came to gambling. He bet the family business in a game of cards and lost everything.”
“His wife must have been furious,” said Helen. “I know I would be if I discovered my husband doing such a foolish thing.”
“I expect she was,” said Reverend Davies. “They were forced into farm labor to pay off their remaining debts. When they first joined the estate, they already had three children. But their numbers grew rapidly, and they ended up with seven.”
I could understand now why Saul was always so angry every time his ghost appeared. He must feel terrible guilt at ruining his family. “Did you find out anything more about the children?”
“The records are patchy, but I know it is of interest to you, so I did some digging,” said Reverend Davies. “Saul didn’t stop gambling when they changed profession, and as the number of children grew, so did the debt. Several of the children were recorded as being unwell. There are records of hospitalization.”
“Was that where the child, Bill, died?” I asked.
“Quite possibly,” said Reverend Davies. “A member of the clergy from this parish visited the hospital regularly. He recorded his attendance in a journal, and described the hospitals as dirty and disease filled, not a place to go if you wanted to get well. But that’s not all I discovered.”
“What else?” I asked.
“Newspaper reports about one of the other children vanishing.” Reverend Davies’s eyes sparkled as he picked up on my obvious interest. “A young girl.”
“She ran away?” asked Helen.
“Nobody knows,” said Reverend Davies. “A newspaper article I read suggested the child died, but there was no evidence to support that. There were a few lines about the family. They also vanished, leaving behind unpaid debts, and stealing equipment and money from the place they worked.”
“Was the family caught?” I asked.
“Not that I could find,” said Reverend Davies. “I found no mention of any of them being arrested or tried for their crimes. It’s possible they decided to make their fortune overseas and left for America or Australia to escape punishment.”
I exchanged a glance with Helen and could see her mind working in overdrive just like mine. The child who went missing could be the one I’d heard crying and running around the house.
I leaned closer to Reverend Davies. “Tell me everything you know.”
Chapter 21
After speaking to Reverend Davies in the church for a few more minutes, I realized we’d gotten all the useful information out of him. We made our excuses and hurried back to the house. I was eager to contact the ghosts and see if my theory was right.
“You’re thinking it’s the ghosts of Saul and Gwen and their dead child at the house, aren’t you?” asked Helen as she hurried alongside me.
“Yes. But why are they still here after so many years?” I asked. “And why are they bothering the Bellamys?”
“Perhaps they feel bad about their children dying?” suggested Helen. “If they were unable to feed them all, they must feel terrible guilt.”
“What if it’s more than that? What if they did something bad to their own children and cannot rest because of it?”
“You think they killed the girl who went missing?” asked Helen.
“It would explain why none of them can rest,” I said. “The girl I’ve seen must be confused as to what happened to her. And if her parents had any guilty feelings at all, they’d be struggling to resolve them.”
We reached the house and the front door opened. Jasmine and Chris stepped out wearing their coats.
“Glad we caught you,” said Chris. “We’re heading out for something to eat. We’ve given Francis the night off.” He raised his eyebrows at me.
“You would be welcome to join us,” said Jasmine. “We’re going to the pub, so it’s nothing fancy. But the food is good.”
“We’ve already eaten tonight,” I said. Having Chris and Jasmine out of the house would be the opportunity I needed to see if I could get the ghosts to make contact and figure out what they all wanted.
We said goodbye to Jasmine and Chris and hurried inside.
“Where do you want to start?” Helen shrugged off her coat and looked at me expectantly.
“Most of the noises and sightings have been upstairs. We should start there.” I took off my coat, collected Flipper from his dog bed, and then headed up the stairs with Helen in tow.
“Who do you want to try to reach first?” asked Helen.
“Let’s see if we can get to Gwen Baker first,” I said. “Although she wasn’t friendly when we met, she was trying to tell me something. And it had to do with a baby or child.”
“Definitely don’t want to start with the husband,” said Helen. “If Saul tries to slime me again, we’re going to have harsh words.”
I grinned at her. “I don’t think that will stop him from doing it again. We’ll just have to hope it was a one-off incident.”
I walked along the corridor and stopped outside the Bellamys’ bedroom. “Gwen came through the wall and stopped in this spot. We’ll see if she can hear us. If not, we can go in the bedroom.”
Helen looked round the corridor. “Ready when you are.”
I took a deep breath and relaxed. “Gwen Baker, are you here?” I waited a moment and then asked again.
“Anyone coming through?” asked Helen.
“Nothing so far,” I said. “Let’s try in the bedroom.” I eased the door open, and we walked in. The bed was neatly made and everything tucked in its rightful place. I felt like an intruder going into the Bellamys’ bedroom, bu
t we had to make contact with the ghosts.
The second we entered the room, Flipper began to whine. He hurried to the wall and sniffed it.
“That looks positive,” said Helen as she shut the door behind her.
“He’s sensing something,” I said. “Gwen Baker, are you here?”
The curtains on either side of the window moved, as if caught in a gentle breeze. This was followed by a faint swirl of cold air on my face.
“Your hair just moved on its own,” said Helen.
“Somebody’s coming,” I said. “We just have to hope it’s Gwen.”
The faint outline of a woman appeared by the wall Flipper was sniffing. It slowly filled out to reveal Gwen.
Flipper gave another whine and stared at the ghost before looking at me.
“She’s here,” I said to Helen.
“Ask some questions. See what she knows about the children.”
I nodded. “Are you Gwen Baker?”
The ghost glared at me.
“We’re not here to cause any problems,” I said. “But I sense you’re not happy, and I want to help you.”
The ghost gave a quick nod.
“Why are you still in this house?”
Gwen cradled her arms in front of her.
“You lost a child here, didn’t you?” I said to her.
Gwen nodded again, and her arms dropped to her side.
“Is it Bill and the missing girl you’re grieving for?”
Gwen’s head shot up and she stomped towards me.
I resisted the urge to back away, and waited until she was only a couple of inches from my face. “We know about them both. We know your boy, Bill, is buried in the churchyard here. Do you know what happened to your other child?”
Gwen raised a finger to her lips and then looked around, fear in her eyes.
“You don’t have to be scared of anything,” I said. “We know that, whatever happened, it was a long time ago. You won’t get into trouble now if something bad happened.”
Gwen shook her head and vanished out of sight.
I let out a sigh. “She’s gone again.”
“Did Gwen tell you anything useful?” asked Helen.
“She was scared,” I said. “But she didn’t reveal anything else.”
The mirror on the dressing table shook, and Gwen reappeared beside it. She jabbed at the glass with her finger and then looked at me.
I walked over to the dressing table. “What do you want me to do? Look into the glass?”
Gwen shook her head and blew across the mirror. It made a light haze on the glass, and I realized what she wanted.
I misted the glass with my own warm breath. “I think she wants to spell something.”
Helen came to stand by my side, and we both watched as the ghost drew the name Annie on the glass.
“That was your daughter’s name, Annie?” I asked Gwen.
She nodded, and a look of sadness filled her eyes.
“And do you know what happened to her?”
Gwen’s gaze shot around the room, and she backed away from Helen and me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her.
Gwen’s hands clutched at her chest, and I could see her chin trembling.
A freezing blast of air shot straight through me. I staggered forward and came face-to-face with Saul.
The flesh freezing touch of his hands wrapped around my throat. Flipper dashed to my side and snapped at the air as he tried to fight the ghost off, but Saul remained oblivious to Flipper as his fierce glare bored into me.
“Lorna, what’s going on?” Helen peered into my face, concern in her eyes.
“Saul has appeared.” I fought with his fingers, but all I encountered was ice cold air. “I can’t pry him off me.”
“What should I do? I don’t know how to hit a ghost.”
I looked at Gwen, who was still by the wall, fear seeming to freeze her to the spot. “Help me. Get him off me.”
Gwen shook her head and her gaze went to the gold band on her finger.
“You may have been married to each other, but he’s not a good man,” I said. “If you don’t get him to stop, I won’t be able to help you because I’ll be dead.” I could feel the air leaving my lungs, and I was unable to get another breath in. This ghost was a powerful one, and he wasn’t using his abilities for good.
Helen circled me just as Flipper was doing, flapping her hands in the air as if trying to beat away Saul.
“That’s not helping,” I choked out.
“What do you want me to do?” asked Helen.
“Convince Gwen she needs to get her husband away from me.”
Helen jammed her hands on her hips. “Gwen, you must help Lorna. It’s not right what your husband is doing. He may have hurt you and your children when you were alive, but that doesn’t give him the right to keep harming people now he’s dead. Lorna wants to make things right for you. She wants to help you find peace.”
The sound of children’s laughter floated through the room, and for a second, the fingers on my throat loosened.
“Are they your children?” I coughed out, my attention still on Gwen.
Gwen took two stumbling steps towards me as she nodded. She pulled back her shoulders and then hurled herself towards Saul.
I jumped out of the way as the two ghosts spun through the room, their arms locked around each other, before vanishing. I took in a gasp of air, grateful I was no longer being choked to death by icy fingers.
“Are you okay?” Helen grabbed hold of my arm and helped me to stand straight.
“I am, thanks to Gwen,” I said. “Her husband decided he didn’t like me and attempted to make me a ghost as well.”
“He was choking you?”
“He was doing his best to.” I rubbed my throat; it felt sore and cold.
“I can see fingerprints on your skin.” Helen stared at my throat in horror.
“Saul only loosened his grip when the children started laughing,” I said. “They distracted him.”
“And that spurred Gwen into action,” said Helen. “I heard them too.”
“They came to my rescue,” I said. “We must help them. If Saul harmed his own children, I’m not going to rest until we’ve found out what he did. We won’t be able to serve him justice, but we can do something so the children know they no longer need to be afraid and can go to a happier place.”
A second later, I heard the sound of children’s laughter again, echoing around the room, followed by small feet running along the corridor outside the bedroom door.
“The children are back,” whispered Helen.
“Let’s find these children and see what they want,” I said.
Chapter 22
I dashed out of the bedroom, closely followed by Helen and Flipper. Children’s laughter and footsteps could still be heard, and I followed them to the closed door of the old nursery.
“Go carefully,” said Helen. “We don’t want to scare them away before we’ve had a chance to communicate with them.”
I nodded as I twisted the door handle. The noises stopped, and I hoped I hadn’t already frightened them off. As I pushed the door open, I discovered three ghosts, all children. There was the older child I’d met outside, and two younger children, a boy and a girl. I’d just discovered Mirabel and Michael.
“Are they in here?” asked Helen.
“There are three children here.” I took a couple of steps into the room, being careful not to make any sudden movements.
Flipper was also behaving himself and remained by my side, his ears pricked up, and his attention on the ghosts. He seemed to sense they were not a threat, and after a few seconds, lay on the floor with his nose on his paws.
“What are your names?” I asked the children.
The ghosts exchanged glances, and the two younger ones smiled shyly at me. They both had the same sandy brown hair, although Mirabel’s was longer. They were dressed in matching jeans but had two different colored checked shirts
on.
“I’m guessing you’re Mirabel.” I pointed to the younger girl before turning to the boy. “You’re Michael, and you are Annie.” My gaze rested on the older child.
Annie’s eyes widened as she stared at me. She crossed her arms over her thin chest and frowned. She looked scarily like her mother when she did that.
“Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble,” I said to her. “We’re here to help. Do you know where you are?”
Annie nodded and pointed at some of the toys on the floor.
“That’s right. You’re in Mirabel and Michael’s nursery. Do you like it here?”
Annie looked at Mirabel and Michael, and a smile softened her sharp features.
“Do they remind you of your own brothers and sisters?” I asked Annie.
Annie turned to Mirabel and Michael and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. They looked up at her, adoration clear in their eyes.
“All three children seem to get along well,” I said to Helen. “Annie has taken the younger ones under her wing by the looks of it.”
“Are they giving you any clues as to why they’re still here?” asked Helen.
“Not so far,” I said.
Helen knelt down and rolled a toy car towards the opposite wall. “I hope I’m sending that in the right direction. Do the children want to play?”
Michael made a move to stop the toy car with his foot, but Annie held him back.
“The older child, Annie, is protecting them. I don’t think she wants them to come to any harm,” I said.
“It’s good they have her,” said Helen. “It must be confusing to die at such a young age.”
“Could that be why they’re still here?” I asked. “I’ve not got much experience with very young ghosts. Maybe they simply don’t understand what’s happened to them, and are clinging to their old lives because that’s all they know.”
Helen rolled another car across the floor, and this time, Michael reached down and grabbed it, lifting it into the air.
“It looks like somebody wants to play.” Helen smiled up at me.
“It’s the little boy,” I said.
Helen grabbed a ball and rolled it across the floor. This time, Mirabel grabbed it and rolled it back to Helen.