The Ghost of Kathleen Murphy

by Vickie Carroll

  “You found her, Miss…”

  “Malone, Cassie Malone. Yes, I have already given my statement outside.”

  “Where can we reach you?”

  “I, well, I will be at Jacob’s, Mr. Sullivan’s house, after tonight.”

  “I see. You are from America, is it?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Don’t leave the country without letting us know. We will be in touch.” The officer gave Cassie a quick up and down look and walked away.

  Cassie sat down on the sofa beside Jacob and took his hands. “I am so very sorry.”

  “Tell me what you saw and how she was laying when you found her, Cassie. As soon as they clear out I want you to take me to the exact spot.”

  “But Jacob…”

  “Bernadette was a little scattered but she was healthy and knew this place like the back of her hand. I can’t see her falling down the tower steps, but what in hell was she doing there?”

  “So what are you thinking, maybe it was not an accident?”

  “Exactly what I’m thinking. She is not senile, and I have to believe her when she says someone pushed her down the stairs. What did Bernadette know that was a threat to someone?”

  “But Jacob, she is seventy-four after all, and walking around in the near darkness up and down those narrow tower steps. Hasn’t she been taking some sort of anti-depressants? And as you said, why would she be there anyway?”

  “I don’t know, but she does not lie. Maybe it was an accident, or medication, and now I’m seeing villains where there are none.”

  “Well, Jacob, not to join you too much in your darker version of events, but she knows what we know. It means maybe someone was afraid she would tell it and halt this property sale, embarrass the church, and cause a real problem for the Sisters who are still living who may have covered up the murder and abuse.”

  April joined them on the sofa. “Sounds like a good enough motive to me, Cassie.”

  Emily and Rose glanced their way as they ended their conversation with another officer and walked toward them.

  “Jacob, we are very sorry about Bernadette. She is a good friend and valuable asset here at The Haven,” Rose said.

  “Thank you, Rose, thank you both for all you did for her. By keeping her on she felt useful in her older years.”

  “She loves this place and she was a help to us, Jacob, a real help. We would like to help in any way we can,” Emily said.

  “Thank you, Emily,” Jacob said.

  Rose put her hand on Jacob’s shoulder. “Jacob, Bernadette is welcome to recover here. We can take care of her here. You work, and we have staff here who can help.”

  “Thank you, Rose, but I’ve not thought that far ahead, and I would need to ask her, of course. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to see if they are ready to take her to the hospital now, and I need to talk with her doctor.”

  “We would be happy to accommodate her in any way, just make sure she knows,” Rose said.

  “I’ll tell her, and I’ll be back tomorrow to get Cassie and April and their things. Maybe we can talk more about my aunt then.”

  “Jacob, please know there is no rush on anything. I was told she said someone pushed her down the stairs. I can’t imagine anyone here doing such a thing. I hope the doctors look into her medications. But I know you will handle things, Jacob, and we’ll all just take one thing at a time,” Emily said.

  “I’ll leave the officers to their investigation for now, and I’ll talk to my aunt about the fall later when she is feeling better.”

  Emily put her hand on Jacob’s arm. “Go on and see your aunt, and talk to the doctor, but come back down and stay a while for tea and sandwiches, all of you.”

  Jacob looked at April and Cassie. “Thank you, but I want to go on to the hospital with my aunt. This has been a huge shock for her.”

  “Of course it has.” Emily motioned toward Cassie and April. “We’ll take care of Cassie and April until you get back, Jacob. You ladies come on to the dining room for a bit of refreshment.” Rose and Emily glided off down the hall leaving them looking at each other.

  Jacob took Cassie’s hand. “Maybe it is best if you two stay here. There’s no point in hanging around the hospital. There is nothing you can do there.”

  “Okay, Jacob, you go on ahead. You will need to concentrate on getting Bernadette situated. We’ll be okay here.”

  Jacob kissed them both on the cheek and left to find the doctor.

  Cassie leaned in to whisper to April, “Do you think they want to go through Bernadette’s things before we get to them?”

  “I’ll bet they have already been in her room.”

  “Hum, you are probably right. We’d better hurry and catch up with them. We will have some tea and wait for Jacob. Maybe he’ll know more after talking to Bernadette and the doctor.” Cassie took April’s hand as they followed the sound of fading footsteps ahead of them. When they got to the dining room they found tea and a cake set out for them but there was no sign of Emily and Rose. So they sat for a few minutes with their tea and then left. They were not anxious to stick around for conversation.

  About an hour later Jacob called to say Bernadette had been admitted to the hospital until they could evaluate her more thoroughly. In the meantime, they were casting her ankle and taking care of her pain. He assured them he would be fine alone, and needed some time to make his family calls about his aunt. Cassie and April, both exhausted, went to their rooms to rest and prepare for their departure the following morning.

  Cassie was awake before sunrise and made a pot of tea. She caught herself smiling when she realized making the pot of tea was routine already. She skipped breakfast and took her tea out to the balcony. She looked over the never ending expanse of green one last time as she clutched the warm cup between her hands. She knew she would miss this, the view, the quiet moments alone in the fresh air. Part of her hoped Kathleen would pay her a visit, but all she saw was the mist rising from the little valleys and dancing across the land as the sun struggled to penetrate the cover of it.

  She forced herself back inside to take a long shower to help shake off the chill. She tried to brace herself for what was to come by thinking of all the good this would do for the girls, whose voices were never heard. She couldn’t help but think it was her fault Bernadette was hurt and she could feel her stomach knotting a little as she realized there was nothing she could do to stop the moving train she started.

  It was nearly time for Jacob to arrive. She put the remaining bits and pieces of what had been her life there into her bags. It seemed a lifetime ago since she walked through the bedroom door with her new life ahead of her. She was ready, or as ready as she could be, even if the life she imagined was not to be. Though everything was so uncertain, her relationship with Jacob, her writing career, even her move to this new country, she felt more herself than ever before.

  She made her way down to April’s room and found her coming into the hallway with her duffle bag. “I’m ready, Cassie, but why am I so nervous?”

  “It’ll pass once we are out of here. Or at least maybe it will lessen. Jacob called me this morning to say Bernadette doesn’t want to come back here nor to his house. She wants to go live with her cousin in Dublin.”

  “I guess the fall scared her away from here. I don’t blame her if she thinks she was pushed. She wouldn’t be safe here.”

  “Jacob was very relieved. Though the investigator ruled the fall as an accident, at least for now due to lack of evidence otherwise, Jacob still believes his aunt, I think,” Cassie said.

  A few hours later as they were almost settled in at Jacob’s, David called to see how Cassie was coming on her paperwork. He also said they were close to getting an order to look for a body, but it would depend on what they found when they went in for their search. There was a slight delay but the authorities are still going to The Haven today and should be there within the hour. There was nothing to do now but wait.

  Each of th
em tried to stay busy and out of the other’s way. Jacob finally reached all of his relatives his aunt had instructed him to tell about her accident. He then talked to Maura, his aunt’s cousin, and they came up with a plan for getting her moved to Dublin in a few days. Maura wanted to see the area again so she offered to come get Bernadette. It turned out Maura had also spent time at the place when it was a monastery discerning a vocation as a Sister.

  So they were back into wait mode again as the dinner hour approached. They knew David was meeting with The Haven attorney and the attorney for the Catholic Church. After dinner, having heard nothing, they decided to get out of the house and treat themselves to ice cream. Jacob’s phone rang just as they ordered. David told them The Haven owners agreed to cooperate, but the attorney for the church denied any kind of cover up or knowledge of a death on the premises during the monastery years.

  “So now we have our answers. They will fight it all, deny it all, and could keep us tied up in court until we are too old to fight anymore.” Jacob shrugged and looked at them both.

  “But…but no, they can’t just stop it. Can they?” April clutched at Cassie’s hand.

  Cassie looked from one to the other. “They can try to stop it, and may succeed for a while, but remember, they don’t have the journals yet. Our ace in the hole, right?”

  Jacob cleared his throat. “While it is true, Cassie, and as much as it pains me to say this, the journal was written by Lydia, a woman with documented mental illness, and the other journal was written by a child.”

  “But surely there is enough there to warrant a more thorough investigation and to at least insist on talking to the old surviving Sisters, if any, and the owners and operators of The Haven…or something.” Cassie knew her voice sounded a little hysterical but she was terrified they were going to be stopped in their tracks after all they had gone through.

  “Cassie, any surviving Sisters would be pushing one hundred by now so that’s no help even if we could find them and get them to comment, which I’m sure they would not. David will meet with us tomorrow and we will go from there. Let’s eat our ice cream now and try to relax a little.” Jacob sat back with a sigh.

  They all knew no one would relax very much until they could move forward. Each of them kept to their own thoughts as they walked back to the car.

  When they returned home, Jacob called Emily to tell her he would be at the retreat center the next day to pack up his aunt’s belongings for her move into Dublin.

  Cassie watched Jacob’s face as he put down the phone. He turned to her now as if he read her thoughts. “No, she said nothing helpful and nothing about me pulling out my support for the expansion. I’m not at all surprised since they have legal counsel now.”

  “Yes, but so do we, and we have right on our side, and not to mention a ghost-child.” Cassie gave a small laugh hoping to lighten the mood.

  April stood and stretched. “I wish Kathleen would show herself to Rose or Emily. That might do the trick. Do you think any of them there now really knows anything about all this?”

  “A good question. I also wonder if they are put under pressure if they’ll tell it if they do know something,” Cassie said.

  “I guess it is something else to find out along the way.” April yawned. “I’ve had enough excitement for one day so I wish you two a goodnight.”

  Jacob and Cassie sat out on the porch with Shamus for an hour talking and going over all they might do to prepare for the possibilities. After an hour Jacob stood. “Let’s go to bed, Cassie. We will let it run its course because it’s all we can do. We have prepared in every way we can.”

  “That reminds me, I need to talk to April about going into Dublin for wedding dress materials. I hate she had to lie to her mother and now this making a wedding dress charade. I have to actually go have a dress made to help April save face!”

  “You are a good friend, Cassie. Who knows—I’m sure it will come in handy someday.”

  “If not, I can always auction it off, I guess.”

  “I can see it now. One wedding dress, never used. So sad, Cassie.”

  “Oh, now that is just mean.”

  “You know I don’t mean it. I want nothing more than to make you happy, today, tomorrow and forever.”

  “Are Irishmen supposed to be this romantic or is it just you?”

  “Irishmen are the most romantic men on earth. We are also the most dramatic and like to talk about our tragedies more than our romances, we get it all mixed up somehow.”

  “Makes for good literature.”

  “Indeed. Now come kiss me.” Jacob pulled her against him.

  They managed to forget their troubles for a while and think only of each other. As Cassie drifted into sleep, she reflected again on how at home she felt in this country. It had become home, a real home.

  Sometime later she heard the phone ringing but somehow it got caught up in her dream and it was some minutes before she realized Jacob was talking to someone.

  He took the phone into the bathroom as not to wake her, but she could still hear him talking. She couldn’t make out what he was saying but now couldn’t go back to sleep. She got up and went to the kitchen for water. When she returned he was just coming out of the bathroom.

  “Sorry love, I tried not to wake you.”

  “Who on earth is calling at this hour?”

  “Aunt Bernie’s cousin, Maura. Apparently, after you reach a certain age you get up before dawn and expect others do the same. She wanted to firm up plans to pick up Bernie and then she told me about a conversation she had with her not long ago. She said Bernie talked on and on about a recurring dream. It was something about being locked up in the old monastery tower where the ghost would find her there and kill her. When she heard Bernie had fallen down those tower steps she remembered Bernie’s dream and she just had to tell me.”

  “Oh, Jacob, this doesn’t sound good at all. I wondered if Bernie was over-medicated. She seemed pretty stressed this past week or two, and it is possible she went up to the tower to just put her dreams to rest and took a fall on the way down.”

  “Anything is possible. I told Maura if she thought of anything else to call me.”

  “Never a dull moment. I so want all this over for all of us, Jacob. I’m so sorry you’re having to deal with all of this.”

  “I can handle it, I’m a big boy. Will you be all right to manage on your own tomorrow? If you like, I will drop you off so you can rent a car, and you and April won’t be stranded here. Then we have to do something about getting you a permanent car as soon as this settles down.”

  “I’ll go with you and rent a car for a week to give us time to figure something out long term,” Cassie said.

  “Let’s try to go back to sleep for an hour if we can, or…”

  Cassie shivered as Jacob’s lips worked his way up and down her body. “Are you thinking now, Jacob, maybe you are sorry you ever met me?”

  “Hum, you taste good. What was the question?”

  “I’m serious, Jacob.”

  “Oh Cassie, all this guilt and you’re not even Catholic. Be quiet now.” Jacob lifted off her gown with one move.

  “It’s hard not to feel some guilt. If I had not come here…oh, okay, I’m shutting up now. Oh Jacob.”

  Chapter 19

  Jacob left Cassie and April in the village at Grady’s car rentals, and hurried to the retreat center to start packing his aunt’s belongings. The doctor, an old friend, was going to get Bernadette from the hospital and bring her to The Haven later in the morning. She wanted to say goodbye to the staff.

  “I feel as if I should have gone with him, April.”

  “I think he wanted to spare you, Cassie. Things there may be easier to manage if it is just Jacob there dealing with them.”

  They got into the rental car and Cassie took a minute to orient herself to sitting on the opposite side of the car again. “I hope you’re right, and he can get in and out with a minimum of fuss. I think he wanted to get t
here before Emily and Rose searched her room but I’m sure they did that the second they could get in there. Well, here we are with a car now, are you up for a bit of shopping for yourself?”

  “Don’t tempt me. I am saving all my money for school.”

  “Well, April, I never thought I’d be saying this after just a few weeks in Ireland, but how about if we go look at wedding dress patterns?”

  “I know just the place, just a few blocks from The Tea Room. We don’t have to go into Dublin at all.”

  Cassie settled into the seat and took a deep breath. “I think I can find it if you direct me. Let me know if I make you nervous with my driving. I have no idea how long it will take me to be comfortable with sitting on the right side and driving on the left!”

  “The more you do it the faster you will be comfortable. I don’t scare easily.” April laughed as she clutched the door handle.

  “Well, fortunately for you, we have a short drive to the shop.”

  They spent the next two hours looking at dress patterns, materials, and bridal books. “I never knew there could be so many dress designs, April. How do I ever decide?”

  “What’s your style? That’s the first question you need to answer.”

  “I lean toward the classic but not a lot of skirts and flounces and puffy sleeves and nothing ornate. Does that make sense? Does any of this make sense? I feel like a phony buying wedding stuff.”

  “Hush now, and close your eyes, and picture yourself walking down the aisle. What do you see? Try it right now.”

  Cassie stood quietly with her eyes closed for a full minute. “Oh April, you are wise beyond your years. I could see it, and this is it.” She put her hands down on a Vogue pattern, with elbow length sleeves, deep V-neck front and A-line dress, fitted at the waist.

  “I agree, it is you. Now, we need to think materials and embellishments. Do you want beading on it?”

  “Oh no, April, more decisions. Maybe I’ll decide on this one thing today. I’ll buy the pattern and then maybe you and your mother can give me some input on the rest.”