Gifted

by Campbell, Jamie

  “My grandmother used to tell me stories, especially as she got older. I think she was trying to pass them on, make sure it wasn’t lost when she passed. Is there anything in particular you wanted to know? I could rattle the whole thing off but most of it is just family gossip that would probably bore you both to death.”

  “We are really looking for any information on Lord and Lady Reign. From what we have pieced together, they originally built Sage Manor in Pickerton when they first arrived in Australia. They only stayed there for six years before moving. After that, they disappear off the radar.”

  “Ah, Richard and Elizabeth Reign were quite the proper people. They had three daughters, did you know that? One of them, Violet, was my great-grandmother. A total of seven greats to be exact. Violet was the middle child and got married at only eighteen years old. My lineage comes from her only son.”

  “Do you know where they went when they left Sage Manor?”

  “They moved to a small town near Sydney. After that, they apparently went off the rails a bit. According to my grandmother, Lady Elizabeth had a bit of a breakdown and couldn’t really function in high society any more. They became recluses and retired to the country to live in solitude. They severed all ties with the family back in England. But that wasn’t the worst of it,” she paused for dramatic effect, after she was satisfied she had reeled both Charlie and Blair in, she continued. “Lord Richard committed suicide a few years later. It was officially deemed an accident, but my grandmother said otherwise. He left his poor wife there to cope with everything on her own. Luckily, the girls were grown up by then and married off.”

  “What happened to Lady Elizabeth then?”

  “She survived. I guess we Reign women are made of some tough stuff. She went on to live in the country until she died of pneumonia in her seventies.”

  “What happened to the other daughters? Obviously Violet went on live a normal life?”

  “She did. Joanna did too. She had a bunch of kids and lived into old age. It was Eve that caused a stir in the family.”

  “Eve? What happened to her? She was the youngest, right?”

  “She was. She never moved to Sydney with the family. My grandmother said she never made it out of Pickerton. The details here are a bit sketchy, I’m afraid.”

  “That’s okay, any information is helpful. Believe me.”

  “Eve was killed when she was just sixteen years old. It was widely known in the family but no-one ever spoke of it. I had no clue about it until my grandmother was unloading her memories on me one day. It’s not something you’d really expect in a family such as ours. I guess everyone has a few skeletons in the closet, even Lords.”

  “From what I know of English history, I would think that every nobleman has some skeletons rattling around,” Charlie joked. “Did she give you any details about how or why she was killed?”

  “None. From what I gather though, it was the major cause of the family falling apart. Lady Elizabeth just couldn’t cope with the loss of her baby daughter. Even though kids grow up, you always keep a special place in your heart for each of them. I think my youngest will always be my baby for the rest of his life. Do you have any children?”

  “God, no. I have a niece though. That’s plenty for me right now. Do you think that’s why Lord Richard committed suicide?”

  “I do. For some reason, he just couldn’t cope with it either. They must have been a very close and loving family. It would have impacted on each of them, including Joanna and Violet. They did lose a sister too, after all.”

  “Do you know if they ever caught her killer?”

  Hope shook her head. “No, I don’t know. I was never told about any of the details. Grandmother just said Eve was murdered and it tore up the family. She said Violet refused to speak of it for many years. Remember, this is all just spoken family history. I mean, this is going down the generations for almost two hundred years so they could have it all wrong. But, I know my grandmother believed it to be fact.”

  “Have you ever been to Eve’s grave, by any chance?”

  “No, why would I go there? I think it’s in the Pickerton cemetery, I would assume anyway. I have only been there once and we drove past the house for a bit of a look on our way through. We didn’t stop. It’s pretty countryside out there. Have you lived there long?”

  “We’re just visiting for the summer. My sister owns Sage Manor now.

  “Oh. Is it as grand on the inside as it looks on the outside? From memory, it looks like it’s right out of a picture book, isn’t it?”

  “It certainly is a nice house. The previous owner kind of let it get run down so we’re helping to fix it up. If there’s nothing else you can remember, then we should probably leave you alone and let you get back to your packing.”

  “All the other family history is more recent. That’s all I know about the Lord and Lady. I do have something you might find interesting though,” Hope stood and crossed the room to a large cabinet. She opened one of the drawers and pulled out a sheet of paper. “I found this in amongst my grandmother’s things when we were cleaning out her house. I remembered it when you telephoned yesterday.”

  Charlie took the piece of yellowed paper from her. It was a photocopy of an obituary notice from a newspaper.

  “That was placed in the paper when Violet died. I have no idea how or why my grandmother had a copy. Do you see what’s strange about it?”

  Charlie read through the notice again, trying to work out what Hope was referring to. It seemed like a standard obituary notice to her. The funeral was going to be held in two days time at the Uniting Church. She was survived by her husband and children. Then she spotted it. The blurb about her family was incorrect. It stated she was one of two children borne by Lord and Lady Reign.

  “It says she only had one sibling,” Charlie pointed out.

  “Exactly. It was like Eve was just erased from everyone’s memories. I expect the newspaper would have obtained the correct facts when referring to such a prominent family in the community.”

  Charlie handed the notice back to Hope. “Thank you, for everything. You’ve certainly helped us to fill in some of the gaps.”

  “Not a problem. I like gossiping about the family. It keeps the memories alive, you know?”

  “I understand. If memories aren’t passed on then they just disappear in time.”

  Hope led them back through to the front door where they said their goodbyes. Blair started up the car and started the long drive back to Pickerton. It was still drizzling rain which made the roads slippery. He slowed down in the wet, making the journey back even longer.

  “She was nice,” Blair commented.

  “She was. I’m amazed that so much old history is still running through their family. I expected to be hearing about Auntie Beryl and how she cheated on her husband. I didn’t expect her to confirm that a murder really did take place.”

  “Imagine knowing who your family was two hundred years ago? I don’t ever remember my grandparents!”

  “What happened to your grandparents?”

  “They died when I was little. Cancer or something, some type of illness,” Blair changed the subject back. “Do you think Eve is the one who’s in the house causing trouble?”

  “I think it’s Eve in the house, but I can’t imagine a sixteen year old would be responsible for the things that are happening. Why would Alice be trying to protect Rahni from another young girl?”

  “Come on, you were a teenage girl once. You know they can be nothing but trouble at times. Especially one that was murdered. I imagine that would make her severely mad.”

  “Okay, say for a minute it is Eve. Why would she scare away all of Harold’s women? Why would she be putting me through all these nightmares?”

  “Maybe she had a bit of a crush on old Harold and didn’t like the competition. Maybe she feels the same about me and is trying to get you out of the picture.”

  “You really think a sixteen year old ghost girl has a cr
ush on you? You’re delusional,” Charlie laughed at the thought.

  “Hey, it could happen,” Blair started laughing too. It helped to lighten the mood in the dreary weather. In a more serious tone: “So now we know who the murdered girl is, what do we do?”

  “Find out who killed her I guess. She’s obviously staying in the house for a reason. If we could work that out, then maybe we could help her to leave.”

  “Cross over, you mean?”

  “I guess,” Charlie took a stab. “Whatever she has to do to leave the house. I’m completely out of my element here.”

  “We could call a priest. He might think we were crazy, but you never know, it might help.”

  “Let’s call that Plan B. Knowing her name is a huge leap forward for us. I wonder if her death has something to do with the family moving to Sydney?”

  “I would say so, if it caused her mother to have a breakdown and her father to kill himself, then it would have been difficult to stay in the house where it happened.”

  “So we’re saying that it happened in the Sage Manor house?”

  “Not necessarily. It could have happened anywhere, but considering the house is so ‘active’, then it wouldn’t be a long shot to assume that,” Blair theorized.

  “Maybe she’s still buried in the house,” Charlie said, half-joking.

  “She could very well be, for all we know. We should try the cemetery first though, before we jump to conclusions.”

  “You know, back in the olden days, they would have family burial plots on estates.”

  “In some places, yeah. I doubt they would have done that here though. The council won’t even let you build a shed without permission these days, let alone bury some family members.”

  “Let’s hope you’re right. Cate would freak out if we found some skeletons in the backyard.”

  They continued the drive home, both of them mulling over their findings about the Reign family. No matter which way they looked at it, underneath everything was a poor young woman that had lost her life. It was a tragic enough event to break the family apart and never really recover from it. Joking aside, they knew they had to get to the bottom of it. If not to satisfy their own curiosity, for the sake of the Reign family.

  * * *

  Stepping out of the shower, Charlie wrapped a towel around herself and walked down the hall back to the blue room. Both she and Blair had stuck to their decision to not use the bathroom in their room. It felt a lot better in the main bathroom, like the atmosphere was clear and not as oppressive. She dressed quickly and went downstairs to where Blair and Cate were waiting with breakfast.

  It had been late when they had arrived home the previous night but Cate had waited up for them. They filled her in on what they had learned from Hope. She had been surprised to hear about the murder of a girl within the walls of the house.

  On the drive home they had made the decision to visit the cemetery as soon as they could and settle the argument once and for all about where Eve was buried. The rain had cleared so they were planning to go over to the church first thing in the morning. As soon as breakfast was over with, they did that very thing.

  The cemetery was located next to the small church. As far as the building went, it was quite modern in red brick. The original church had burned down some fifty years ago. At a town vote, the committee had decided to rebuild a newer church in the popular style rather than try and salvage what was left of the original. So it had been out with the old and in with the new.

  Standing at the gate, looking from the church to the cemetery yard, they were in stark contrast to each other. The tombstones were made out of a crumbling grey stone and the grass was growing in patches amongst them.

  Charlie opened the short iron gate and stepped onto the grass, Blair followed close behind.

  “You start at the back, I’ll take the front?” She suggested. Blair nodded in agreement and headed for the far row. She walked to the end of the first row and slowly started to read each tombstone. Some were really decrepit and hard to decipher, but she tried her best before moving on to the next one. They continued down each row until they were only a few rows apart from each other.

  Charlie stepped in front of one of the tombstones, its inscription made her stop to take a closer look. She bent down and rested on her knees to read the writing. It read: Unknown Woman, 1913, RIP. She stood up again and continued to stare at the writing. For some reason, she couldn’t move to the next headstone. All she could do was stand there, staring at the words and reading them over and over again. They repeated in her mind like a CD that had been caught in a loop.

  All of a sudden she felt like the air around her had been chilled. The other tombstones, the grass, the trees - they all disappeared from around her. She was encased in a darkness that whispered faintly, making her blood run cold through her veins. She tried to calm her breathing that had begun to run shallow in her panicked state. She couldn’t do it, she started to gasp for breath but there was no air around her. Her lungs felt like they were made out of lead and red raw with pain.

  Then the world started to spin around her. The wispy blackness started to dissipate in a swirl of colour. She felt dizzy, her legs started to shake and threaten to give way. She rocked back and forth like a puppet on a string. She was no longer in control of herself, she could only surrender her body to the blackness surrounding her.

  She hung upright, suspended by an invisible thread, barely touching the ground. She was unaware of how long she stayed there, unaware of what was going on around her. All she could feel was her head swimming in the darkness. She wasn’t sure whether she was still breathing or not. A part of her said she was, but she couldn’t feel her lungs anymore.

  From the distance, she could hear her name being called. Shortly afterwards she felt hands around her waist. She was powerless to move, she could feel herself being dragged down towards the ground. Her name was getting louder, more audible. The spinning stopped and she was back in the cemetery, lying on the ground, resting on Blair’s knees. She couldn’t speak, she was still trying to make her body move and follow her orders.

  “Charlie, what happened?” She looked up. Blair was brushing the hair from the side of her face. He looked concerned, she wasn’t sure why. Then it hit her. She was back in her body and could feel the terror that she had just experienced. She gasped for breath again and tried to sit up. Blair held a firm grip on her, keeping her close to him. Tears started to run from her eyes while she tried to tell him what had just happened.

  “Something just got me. I don’t understand,” she choked out. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him hard, crying onto his shoulder. He held her, gently patting her back and waiting for the moment when she was ready to go on.

  They sat there on the grass in the cemetery for another half hour before Charlie relaxed her grip on Blair and pulled back from him. She wiped her eyes, he placed his hand around her neck to cradle it in his palm.

  “Are you alright?” He asked, his voice full of worry for his girlfriend.

  “I’m okay. I don’t know what happened. One minute I was standing here, the next it just got really dark.”

  “You were, for lack of a better word, hovering. You scared me to death.”

  “It felt like I was spinning. I couldn’t control it. Thank goodness you were here. I heard you calling my name, that’s what made it stop.”

  “Are you alright to stand up. I think we should get you out of here.” Charlie nodded and Blair helped her to stand. Her legs were shaky but they held her up. Under the threat of buckling, she walked back to the car with Blair’s arm around her waist to steady her. She was relieved to be sitting down in the passenger’s seat again.

  “Did you find her grave?” She asked.

  “No, did you?”

  “Nope. I did find an unknown woman’s grave though, that’s where I was stopped. I think it was Eve’s. I have no basis for making that assumption. It’s hard to describe, but I know it was hers.”r />
  “We could probably find out what happened to her. It’s bound to be in the papers if they found a body. Are you well enough to go back to the library, or would you prefer to go straight home? I don’t want to put you through anything more today if you’re not up to it.”

  “I just want this over with. Let’s go to the library and get it sorted. The sooner we work out what happened, the better.”

  Blair started the car and drove the two blocks to the library. He managed to find a car park right outside the building and helped Charlie out of her seat. They greeted Brenda as they passed the front desk and seated themselves in front of the research computer.

  Blair typed in ‘1913’ on Charlie’s instructions. The search brought up an array of articles from that year. There were several dozen to wade through. Blair refined his search, adding in the words ‘woman’s body’. It reduced the number of articles down to just two. He clicked into the first one. The headline read “Woman’s body found in shallow grave.” They scanned through the rest of the article:

  The remains of a young woman, believed to be in her mid-teens, has been found in a shallow grave on the outskirts of Pickerton. It was discovered by farmers in the early hours of the morning. They immediately called police when they noticed they were human remains, and not that of an animal which they had first thought.

  The remains, now just bones, have been examined by Dr Dean Fellows who has yet to finalise his official report. Preliminary findings have stated that it is believed the women died as a result of a serious trauma to her neck which caused her spinal cord to snap. This would have caused an instant death to the victim.

  The police have stated they have deemed the death a possible homicide and there will be an official investigation into the matter. In their press release, they have also noted that the bones appear to have been in the ground for quite a long time and believe there is currently no threat to the public.

  The article ended with the usual spiel, advising anyone with information to report to the Pickerton Police Department as soon as possible.