The Ghost of Kathleen Murphy

by Vickie Carroll

  When they returned to the retreat center they found Ida standing beside the car log book desk. “Hello ladies, where have you been all day?”

  “Hello, Ida, and so sorry. I guess we forgot to write down a destination note. I wanted to get some pictures to send to friends back home. Then we got caught up in doing more research for my book, and we visited the cemetery as well.” Cassie tried her most innocent smile.

  The bells started to ring. “I’m glad your day was productive. Just in time for supper now.”

  “See you inside, then.” April hung the keys back on the rack with shaky hands.

  “You have done nothing wrong, April,” Cassie whispered. She hid her smile and gave April a big hug.

  They followed the hall around to the dining room. “Oh Cassie, I never had so much fun in my life, so I must be doing something wrong!”

  “You are a hoot. I will tell Emily and Rose about the professor coming to the class tomorrow just so we are covered there.”

  April did a little hop-step in her excitement. “I can hardly wait to see what he finds and what he thinks.”

  “I’m very excited about this too, but I need to work a little tonight if I am ever going to get this book out of my head and on paper.”

  April’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I’m going to find some food for Shamus and take him for a walk after supper. I’ll take him for a longer one after the staff goes off duty and the rest go into the game room for the evening.”

  “What are we to do with him, April? We’re going to get caught with him one of these times.”

  “I can’t let him go now. I’ll take the blame for it if they find out. Maybe I can talk them into having a mascot dog here.”

  “Now that is a great idea. I’ll back you up in any way I can.”

  Supper turned out to be a lively affair because Emily and Rose brought in a harp and a fiddle player to entertain the retreat group. There was some impromptu singing, and one lady in the writers’ retreat read one of her poems. By the end of it all Cassie and April were both tired and watching the clock to time a graceful exit.

  As soon as Rose got up to say goodnight, and put an end to the evening, Cassie and April made a hasty retreat.

  They parted ways at the staircase. “Have a good night Cassie, and good luck with your writing. See you at breakfast.”

  “I’ll be ready on time if I remember to set my clock. I could have sworn I set it last night but if I did, I turned the alarm off in my sleep.”

  “Hope your dreams are ghost free.”

  “Hey, and the same to you, April.”

  Cassie changed into her pajamas, washed her face, and set up her computer. She spent some time with her handwritten notes and soon she was ready to work on her book outline again. The next time she looked at the clock it was almost midnight. She stood and stretched and was proud of herself for getting so much accomplished. She realized she had not thought of Jacob for hours either. Yes, the book might get her through it all.

  It was in the misty minutes between night and dawn, and Cassie was completely awake, but didn’t know why. She sat up in bed and peered into the semi-darkness. Her heart pounded as if she had just run a mile at full speed. She reached for the water on the nightstand and took a long drink. She swung her legs to the floor, but she felt too shaky to stand. A cool vibration of air bounced around her, taking her breath away for a second. As her vision adjusted to the dimness, the white of Kathleen’s gown appeared. She stood at the window with both hands held out toward Cassie. Kathleen’s long white gown blended in with the white sheer panels across the French doors, and her bright eyes were all the more startling against the background of white. “Cabhru liom teacht ar mo dheirfiur.”

  Kathleen repeated it again, and this time Cassie rushed to turn on the recorder, her hands not cooperating. “What are you saying, Kathleen? How can I help you?” Cassie turned to adjust the volume on the recorder.

  “Kathleen…”

  But she was gone as if she had dissolved into the white curtains. Cassie struggled to remember the other Gaelic words Kathleen spoke, but they were gone from her mind. She willed her legs to move forward, and stumbled out onto the balcony, but Kathleen was nowhere to be seen. She looked at the clock; it was a few minutes after five. She went to the bathroom and splashed water on her face to make sure she was not dreaming.

  “Kathleen, I don’t know if you can hear me, but I am trying to figure this out and I will find out what happened to your sister, I promise.” She closed and locked the French doors, again.

  Cassie got back into bed feeling not at all silly about talking to a ghost. She slipped into a restless sleep, and dreamed of long dark halls, cold floors, and Gaelic whispers in the night.

  She slept hard for the next hour but got up as soon as her alarm sounded. She was a bit tired, but excited about the events from the night before. She knocked on April’s door just past six-thirty. By the time she filled April in on what happened the night before, the bells for breakfast started to ring.

  They sat near the windows in the dining room and looked outside at the peaceful landscape. It was hard for Cassie to believe that just a few hours ago she was listening to a ghost ask her for help. April offered to go get their tea and left Cassie in deep thought about the night before. She hoped no one joined them for breakfast this morning. She was not in the mood for small talk.

  April put the tea in front of Cassie, who was still staring out at the landscape. “I didn’t sleep well last night either, but at least I didn’t get a spirit visitor like you.”

  “I’m just so darned annoyed with myself. I didn’t get the recorder on in time. Maybe next time.”

  “She seems intent on getting you to hear her, Cassie.”

  “Yes, and I don’t mind telling you, it is a bit unnerving.”

  “What’s our plan for today?”

  Cassie took a long drink of tea, again, making her think of Jacob. “I need to find Rose or Emily after breakfast and let them know the professor is coming to talk to the class this afternoon. I hope they won’t be mad I didn’t ask prior to inviting him.”

  “Look, Emily is coming our way.”

  April stood. “Good morning, will you join us.”

  “Thank you, no, April, and good morning to you both. I just stopped by to remind you we are taking the writing group into Dublin to a reading at Trinity College after breakfast, but we will be back in time for your evening class, Cassie.”

  “About that, Emily, I was about to come look for you—I invited Professor Roland to come by and discuss Irish writers with the group this afternoon. He is helping me with research for my book. It was a last minute thing, and I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Please extend my invitation for him to stay for supper. The two of you are on your own for lunch. But they have set aside fruit and cold cuts in the refrigerator for you.”

  Cassie tried not to show her relief. “I’ll ask the professor to stay if he can, and thank you.”

  They watched her straight back walk away. “I can’t read her, April, was she upset?”

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  “If all goes well, the professor will arrive about an hour after they leave and we will have several good hours with him before everyone returns for class.”

  The rest of the meal passed without incident, though Cassie did catch Rose looking their way a few times. She was getting annoyed with her constant scrutiny. Or was it just her imagination?

  Cassie looked at her watch. “We need to get down to the archives and get some work in before the professor gets here. We must accomplish three hours of work in one hour. Let’s get going.”

  They made their way down to the archives, talking in whispers about what they hoped the professor could help them with. After a few minutes, they realized they couldn’t hear the garage doors open from where they were in the archives so April went around to the side to watch the cars drive off to make sure everyone was gone. An hour later, finished with their
work in the archives, they went to the front of the building to wait for the professor.

  Chapter 9

  Professor Roland arrived right on time. Cassie and April watched him unfold his lanky six-foot frame from the front seat of the bright red van. He stretched and gave them a wave. He called them over, but stopped to look around before opening the back of the van. Satisfied there was no one else around, he pulled out two black cases and sat them on the ground. Each was the size of a medium suitcase.

  He put his hand on one now and focused on Cassie and April. “This is my usual equipment for picking up energy, in layman’s terms. If there are spirits in what was the old monastery section, we will find them.”

  Cassie pointed toward the side of the building. “Let’s not go through the main building. The cook and the handyman are both still around today.”

  “This way, professor.” April led the way, half dragging one of the cases.

  “Here, girl, give me the case; it’s heavy.” The professor reached for the case April was carrying.

  They made their way around to the side door near Cassie’s rooms as April pointed out some points of interest for the professor.

  April stopped to give the professor time to look around. “This is where we have seen her, the ghost. She has also been out there in the garden and along the tree line leading into the forest.”

  “Let’s not forget she has visited me several times in my room as well,” Cassie said.

  The professor took his time looking around and at last he seemed ready to go on. “Very well, a long history, lots of people, lots of spirits possible. So we will do one area at a time. Let’s start with your room, Miss Malone. It seems to be the area she has been in most recently.”

  They took the equipment up to Cassie’s room, and April pointed out Lydia’s room and told him what happened there.

  “Goodness, is it any wonder the spirits can’t rest here? Lots of bad things when it was a monastery, and who knows what went on back when it was a castle. You have enough history here for a dozen good books, Miss Malone.”

  “Call me Cassie, please. Fellow ghost hunters must be on a first name basis. And professor, we don’t want to find too many more ghosts.”

  “We will find those who want to be found, Cassie. No promises.”

  She started to laugh but then she saw his face. He was stone still and his eyes were scanning the area.

  “What is it professor?” April moved closer to Cassie.

  “Ah, ladies, we have a visitor.”

  He opened one of his cases and brought out what appeared to be a microphone and a recorder in one. He flipped the switch and the meter sprung to life and danced back and forth like it was being pulled with a magnet.

  “Whoa, we have more than one visitor here.” He moved the microphone in a slow arch and watched the needle move to the highest position.

  “How do you know there is more than one?” Cassie moved closer to look at the equipment.

  “The needle registers location and intensity. There is energy coming from two very separate locations, both strong. See the needle jumping?”

  “Where…where are they?” April turned around in a circle.

  “In the room across the hall from you, Cassie. And the other is down the hall, or at least it was.”

  “So what do we do now, professor?” Cassie felt April’s hand take her own.

  “We try to find out if they move when we move. The longer a spirit has been around the more power it has to maneuver. A young or new spirit is often trapped in one small space for a long time. Depending on the circumstance of the death and the character of the person who died. Some spirits just refuse to move on until they have settled the score or worked out what they need to work out.”

  “So some are stronger than others?” Cassie looked at Lydia’s room again.

  “Yes, some are stronger and smarter than others, just like in real life.”

  “So if someone was mean in life will he or she be a mean spirit after death?” April asked.

  “Sometimes, but not always. It just depends on why he or she is staying around. Is it to atone for past sins, to watch over a loved one, or is it to get revenge or try to help right a wrong?”

  April moved closer to the equipment to watch the needle as they started down the hall. “Is it true some spirits don’t know they are dead?”

  “I’m not sure it’s true. I believe they know they are no longer flesh and blood and of this physical world, but won’t, for whatever reason, move on.”

  “Kathleen is staying around to find her sister. We know that at least, but maybe to find out what happened to her, right?” April’s eyes followed the moving needle.

  The professor did another sweep with his microphone. “I believe Kathleen has been trying for a long time to get someone in this world to help her, April. For some reason she is attaching to the two of you now. Your decision is to help her or leave the grounds because she won’t stop showing up as long as you are here.”

  “We are trying to help; we just need to figure out what to do.” Cassie stepped back to give the professor more room to maneuver with this equipment.

  “The signal is fading here. Let’s go back then and go through the other room, I think you said it was Lydia’s room, where she died?” The professor turned so fast he almost knocked April over.

  “It’s all right, April, I’m not picking up any evil here. I remember reading about her death in the newspaper, though the details were sketchy as I recall.” The professor stopped to adjust a dial on his equipment.

  “I don’t think I want to go into Lydia’s room, thanks just the same.” April shivered.

  “Neither of you have to go. I will just go in with my equipment and do a quick sweep.”

  Cassie and April stood in the hall while the professor did his recordings. Cassie fought an almost uncontrollable urge to giggle. A few months ago she was reading the work of untalented writers and today she was in a castle/monastery/writers retreat in Ireland with a ghost hunter.

  “One just never knows.”

  “What did you say, Cassie?”

  “I was talking to myself. I was just thinking it wasn’t long ago I was in another country in a boring job, and look at me now!”

  “Yes, well, maybe a bit too exciting for me. Now I am wondering what on earth we are going to do to help Kathleen. How can we help?”

  “We are doing it, April. We are following all the clues we find, and I’m convinced we will find some proof, or at least something to guide us to more proof.”

  “But what about these other spirits, Cassie?”

  “You mean who are they?”

  “Yes, who are they and what do they want…from us, from you and me, Cassie?”

  “Oh, good question, April. I have been so consumed with Kathleen and what happened to her sister, Maeve, that I haven’t thought too much about what any other spirit might want from us.”

  The professor came out of Lydia’s former room and looked at both of them and smiled. “We’ve got one in there, ladies.”

  “Just to give you some history, professor, Jacob, Lydia’s husband, and I have gone out a few times, and he wants no part of any of this. He is in some sort of denial about it all, even after seeing Kathleen himself. Also he has big guilt about putting her here, I think.”

  Professor Roland sat his equipment down and looked around. “Interesting he saw the ghost and still denies it. I can see why he might have issues, certainly. But if it is Lydia in there she is here for a reason. Do you two have any idea what it is?” The professor rubbed his stubbly chin and looked at Cassie and April.

  “We think Lydia wanted justice for both sisters, the same as we do, because she knew the story of Maeve’s disappearance too. Maybe Kathleen visited Lydia many times too. Maybe Lydia has a personal reason, like clearing her name,” Cassie said.”

  “Hum, good theories, and sounds like it might be a strong enough cause to hold a spirit bound here to this place. But remember
this, ladies, and it is important, there are spirits everywhere. We become another form of energy when we die, that is all. It is my theory most spirits are fine to be in that final form, and they cause no disturbance. However, some left something undone so important to them they hover around the place they died or the place where something traumatic happened to them or a loved one.”

  “So you think Lydia or maybe another spirit has chosen to stay around to see if we do help Kathleen?” April asked.

  “Yes, I think you are right. But it does not mean you will be contacted in any way you can recognize.”

  Cassie sighed in frustration. “It makes sense of course, but if Kathleen is strong enough to show herself and speak, why can’t she do more?”

  “I’m not sure I want her to do much more,” April said.

  “It is just so frustrating. I feel we are just on the edge of finding out what we need, but there are some missing pieces.”

  The Professor patted Cassie on the back. “Keep going then, Cassie. That is what good research is all about. You keep at it.”

  “We both are doing all we can, professor, and we appreciate your help. There is one more area for you to see if we have time.” They all looked at their watches.

  “We have an hour before the group is due back, professor. This way.” April stepped out in front to lead the way to the renovated area where the priest’s suite of rooms used to be.

  “Remember professor, this entire area has been renovated. I needed to look at the old master map in the office to figure out where his rooms used to be.” April patted the key in her pocket.