The Ghost of Kathleen Murphy

by Vickie Carroll

  “I’m happy to have you on the team, April. Call Tommy on Monday and you and he can get together and work out a schedule. I’ve told him you are coming onboard already.”

  They arrived at The Haven right on time and made their way to the dining room. The room was decorated with balloons and flowers everywhere, and there was a goodbye banner strung up across one wall. Cassie looked around for Bernie and spotted her in the corner with her leg propped up on a chair. Her cousin, Maura, stood beside her. After the introductions were made and they took their seats, Maura sat down across from Cassie and kept glancing at her as if she were trying to place her. Maura must have been in her mid-seventies but her skin remained mostly unlined and her eyes were a pearly light blue. She was short and rounded but she looked strong and fit. She proceeded to bombard Cassie with questions about her life in America and her plans.

  Just as Cassie felt as if she would never get off the hot-seat, they were interrupted by Jacob’s ringing phone. A few minutes later when Jacob could break away from his aunt, he motioned for Cassie and April to follow him out into the hall. David called to tell them the attorneys for the church and the retreat owners were still advising them not to allow digging on the property. David suggested a meeting with them and their attorneys to try to come to some agreement to keep it all out of the press. He reasoned that if they gave their word, legal and otherwise, not to talk to the press, maybe they would allow them to search the site under the Virgin statue and put it all to rest. He would try to set up a meeting for the following day.

  Cassie tried to keep the worry off her face and to maintain a cheerful attitude for Bernadette, but it was difficult. Rose and Emily kept their distance at least. Maura and Bernadette talked about their memories of being at the monastery, and their years of trying to decide if they had a calling or just wanted to escape their parents.

  Cassie could sense Jacob was getting restless so she steered the conversation back to Maura’s tour to move things along. Maura was all too eager to talk about it. Cassie saw Bernadette glancing at Jacob all evening as if she wanted to tell him something, but Jacob didn’t seem to notice. Once it was over, Jacob helped get his aunt to her room, and Maura followed behind with a bag full of gifts Bernie received.

  After getting his aunt settled, Jacob meet Cassie and April at the car. “Well, it’s done and Bernie seemed to enjoy it, so that’s the main thing,” he said.

  They got into the car, eager to get home. The phone was ringing when they went in the front door. David called to say the necessary representatives agreed to the meeting for the next day. He felt it was the mention of no press that finally moved them. David agreed to meet them at the center at nine and Jacob told him he promised Maura a tour at that time. After some discussion, it was decided April would give the tour while Jacob and Cassie went to the meeting with David.

  They made tea and sat out on the back porch watching Shamus play with his new toys as the darkness took over. They tried to think of every question that might come up and any compromise they could live with if it became necessary. April took notes as Jacob and Cassie talked out an outline of the crucial points and what they wanted from the meeting. In the end, they agreed on the bottom line: they must allow for the search for Maeve’s body, and Cassie would not be sued for writing a book based on the story, as long as she set it in a fictional place and time. Cassie knew if the story was leaked, someone would write about it anyway, but she was willing to try to help protect the church and the current owners if she could.

  They arrived before David got there, and Jacob went in to visit his aunt while Cassie and April waited in the car for David to arrive.

  “Where is he?” Cassie tapped her watch. It was almost time.

  “He’ll be here. He would have called if he had problems, I’m sure.”

  “Ah, there, someone’s coming, but they must be the lawyers. Look, must be David coming in behind them.” April opened her car door and got out.

  David got out of his car and joined the others and then did the introductions with Cassie and April. “Where’s Jacob?”

  “He is with his aunt, but he’ll be joining us. I think we are in the conference room, just follow us on in. Jacob knows where to come.”

  Just as they turned the corner to go down the hall leading to the conference room Jacob came out of another room with Maura. Jacob introduced her to everyone else.

  “Maura, can you find your way back to Bernie’s room okay?”

  “Of course I can. I used to live here you know? Well not here but here when it was a monastery. I was very young, just out of high school.”

  Cassie saw the attorneys exchange glances, and she knew they wanted to get on with it, but she wasn’t ready to give them any satisfaction.

  “You were here as a Sister? I never knew that, Maura.”

  She ignored Cassie and directed her reply to Jacob. “They kicked me out, Jacob, so it was not something I wanted to talk about. Doesn’t bother me anymore though.”

  Maura started walking toward the main doors and Jacob caught up with her. “Wait, Maura, where is it you wish to go?”

  “I want to go into the chapel while you meet, if no one has objections.”

  “April is all set to give you a tour, Maura.”

  “I want to go to the chapel now, Jacob.”

  “If you don’t want to go with April now I’ll take you when this meeting is over. Don’t try to go alone, Maura. It’s rocky and muddy and covered with bushes down there now. Not safe to go alone. Promise me.”

  “I’ll wait for you, Jacob.”

  April shrugged, and offered to take Maura to the chapel. She gave her a smile and agreed.

  Emily and Rose walked up and had heard the last exchange. “We don’t mind if your guest is in the Chapel, Jacob, but I hope you made it clear she was to go nowhere else without an escort,” Emily said.

  “Yes, she will wait for me in the chapel.”

  “Very well. There are some refreshments on the buffet, so everyone, just help yourselves and we will get started shortly.”

  There was no conversation as everyone made their way into the conference room and took their places around the huge oak table.

  Mr. Stevens, the attorney for the Center, introduced Mr. Kennedy, who was the attorney for the Catholic Church. Mr. Kennedy stood and read a short statement about privacy and asked them all to sign a statement declaring what was discussed and disclosed in the room would not be shared outside of the group.

  David pushed his chair back from the table. “We can’t do that, sir. We don’t know what will be discussed and how what we learn here today will affect any of our decisions.”

  “Well then, I don’t see how…”

  “Never mind.” Rose stood and went over to the table to refill her tea. “I’m going to tell you the story and you can do with it as you see fit, Miss Malone. As for the rest of you, I hope after hearing what I have to say, you will honor my wishes to keep it in this room.”

  Cassie met her stare. “I can make no promises, Rose.”

  She nodded at Cassie and sipped at her tea. Mr. Kennedy cleared his throat. “Rose, I don’t think this is such a good idea.”

  “The Church has its view of things and I understand that, but once they hear this maybe we can all let the dead be dead, and put this all in the past once and for all,” Rose said.

  “Just remember, what you are about to hear is based on years of second- and third-hand information, old rumors, and very little hard evidence. It’s basically a version of what we have pieced together.” Mr. Kennedy nodded his approval for Rose to continue.

  Rose sat back in her chair. “Here is what I’ve learned over time and pieced together. A year ago I ran across the same information I think you did, Cassie. Our housekeeper found a letter from the housekeeper who was here back when the school was here. Father Dunn came to the school to be the director of education at the school. This was not long after the time Kathleen and Maeve Murphy arrived. She, the old housek
eeper for Father Dunn, overheard a confession he gave…not a real one, priest to priest, but rather a spur of the moment one in the chapel. She heard Father Dunn confessing to the statue of the Virgin in the sanctuary late one night. Normally, she would not have been up at that hour, but she was suffering her own pangs of guilt about the affair she was having with her sister’s husband. She couldn’t sleep and decided to go pray for forgiveness in the sanctuary. When she heard Father Dunn in there, she hid and listened. She heard him confess to abusing Maeve, or trying to anyway, and it’s likely his assistant was the instigator. He talked about watching Edward try to entice and abuse the girls. And then, the really big bomb, he confessed he knew his assistant killed Maeve. There followed much crying and praying and the housekeeper didn’t hear if Maeve’s death was an accident or on purpose. The housekeeper kept this secret until she was dying and then she wrote it down and sent it to her sister, along with her own confession about her affair with her sister’s husband. As fate would have it, her sister’s husband intercepted the letter and tried to use the letter to blackmail the church. The attorney for the church did settle with the family, paying them a lot of money in return for their silence. They thought it was all made up, and didn’t investigate. They wanted it to go no farther, and seemed to be the end of it when the man died some years later. But they didn’t know the man copied the letter and put it in his safe deposit box. It all came out again when his children collected his papers. The church ended up having to make a second financial settlement with his heirs.

  Jacob looked at Cassie before he spoke. “So, Rose, when you found all of this information, didn’t you assume they buried her here?”

  “Yes, I did, Jacob, the more I thought about it, but her family was long gone, everyone involved was gone. I didn’t see the point in dragging it all back up again just to hurt the church and our center. It will end up a horrible story in the news forever, and delay all the plans we have. None of us here today had anything to do with it.”

  “Don’t you now understand this story helped drive my wife to suicide, Rose?”

  “No, I didn’t know. I don’t see the connection, Jacob. I knew your wife was here but I did not connect it to anything with that time and with those girls.”

  Jacob ran hands over his face. “But you can’t see why it’s important to put the poor girl’s body to rest properly, even after all this time, Rose?”

  “Why though, Jacob, no one connected to her is still living, no one knows about it or cares, not really? Yes, it makes a good story for Miss Malone, but why dig up the old cemetery when it all might be untrue anyway?”

  Cassie stood and pushed back her chair. “I didn’t start all this to hype some story or for publicity. I started it because these girls deserve to be acknowledged. Maeve’s presence on earth needs to be noted, marked, and counted for.”

  “Very well, Miss Malone, we’ll have the attorneys work on the papers and we will agree to the digging in that one area, but you must sign a privacy agreement. I must protect the church so our agreement and negotiations with them for the rest of the land can proceed.”

  “Yes, but I will write this story, Rose. I will use fictional names and places but the story will be told. I don’t care if it embarrasses the church.”

  “Very well, Miss Malone, the attorneys can come up with something that will work for all concerned. In the meantime, do I have your word this will go no further than this room?”

  “I’ll advise my clients appropriately,” David said.

  Jacob stood. “Well, there could be one issue. My aunt’s cousin is here today as you know, but you may not know, she lived here many years ago, and she seems to know a lot about this story. I’m sure she is the one who shared it with my aunt. You see, she was a Novice here when it was the monastery but was asked to leave. Something about seeing a ghost-child talking about her missing sister.”

  Mr. Kennedy stood now too. “Oh for all that is holy, will this old myth just go on forever?”

  “Maybe it will until Maeve’s body is found,” Cassie said.

  “Let’s all go outside for some fresh air, and we’ll stop by the chapel and get your friend, Jacob.” Rose motioned for them all to follow her.

  Several of the employees were also outside tending to the grounds, and the old monastery bells rang out the hour. They found Maura sitting quietly in the chapel praying her rosary. April was sitting in the back of the chapel with her eyes closed. Jacob put a hand on Maura’s shoulder, and she stood and looked around, a bit startled by the crowd of people at the chapel door.

  “Maura, these are the people I was telling you about. Their attorneys need to talk to you for a minute. There may be some questions they need to ask you. They are going to okay the dig for Maeve’s body. I know you are aware of the story.”

  Rose came over and put her hand on Maura’s arm. “I’m sure you can understand we wish to help with this but it must remain private to protect the church, the Sisters who were here before, and to assure it does not get in the press and gets twisted into some horrible tale.”

  “It is a horrible tale, Miss. Kathleen has been looking for her Sister for a long time. She finally has found someone to listen to her.” Maura’s eyes found Cassie’s and she nodded to her and smiled.

  “Oh, not the ghost-child thing again,” Emily chimed in and turned away.

  “I’m ready to go to the cemetery now, Jacob.” Maura walked toward the chapel door.

  Rose and Emily said their goodbyes to their attorneys and stood looking at Maura as if they wondered what she would say next.

  “I’ll leave you now too, but I’ll be in touch as soon as I have the papers, and we’ll meet again.” David waved and walked to his car.

  “Come on Maura, let’s go,” Jacob said. He motioned for Cassie and April to follow. Cassie looked back at one point and realized Emily and Rose were behind them.

  “You know Maura, it’s a long walk down to the old cemetery and rough going,” Jacob said.

  Maura said nothing but kept walking, faster now, and they rushed to keep up with her as she went tearing through the grass, weeds, over fallen branches, and never slowing down.

  “Where on earth is she going, Jacob?” Rose asked.

  “To the old cemetery.”

  Rose caught up with Jacob. “What old cemetery?”

  “There is one down here from the castle days, Rose.”

  Maura started to pick up her pace again, and soon everyone was almost running. Cassie saw Jacob slow down so he would not catch her because he wanted her to find what she was looking for. He was letting her lead the way to where Maeve was buried, she was sure of it.

  By the time the others caught up, Maura was on her knees at the foot of the Virgin. “She sleeps at the foot of the Virgin, here at the foot of the Virgin.”

  “Please, make her get up. Jacob, take her back, please.” Rose was flushed and breathing hard.

  And then, it was as if the air was sucked out of the space around them. Everything went quiet, still, and cold, and then there she was—hovering beside the statue of the Virgin. It was Kathleen holding out her hands to them, speaking in Gaelic.

  Jacob caught Emily as she fainted, and the rest stood in shocked silence. Cassie looked at April who was smiling while the tears streamed down her face. Maeve was here, and Kathleen had found her sister at last.

  ****

  Some months later, they stood in the same spot again, but this time for a funeral. Maeve was getting her burial service and a headstone to mark the spot. Cassie kept her word and there was no press. Though everyone knew there would be eventually, but today it didn’t matter so much. It would eventually be leaked to the press from one of the center employees or one of the lawyer’s employees. There were just too many people involved for it not to happen. But all the trouble, the legal wrangling, the fear, the secrets, were now over. Kathleen could rest now. Today belonged to both Maeve and Kathleen. It was the day Cassie and April worked for, and now, as they looked at Ma
eve’s grave marker, they felt they had buried one of their own sisters. They left the gravesite, and though sad, they left with the satisfaction they had been able to bring justice for these two sisters. They left with the hope their souls could now rest in peace.

  The days settled into a more normal pattern for all of them as the weeks went on. Cassie did her final dress fitting with April’s mother, who thankfully was not pressing them about a wedding date. Jacob arranged to go back to America with Cassie to help her close up her life there. There were still some legal things to iron out about what she would write in her book about the girls, but Cassie was looking forward to tackling the project when she and Jacob returned to Ireland, returned home.

  She didn’t know how things would work out for her in Ireland, but she knew one thing for sure—somewhere, somehow, Kathleen and Maeve were together and smiling down at her. That thought would get her through the months of writing ahead of her. It would be hard work, but it would be a labor of love. Sometimes you need to leave home to find out about the world, she had told April. She had found a world she had never imagined thanks to Kathleen and Maeve.

  The Ghost of Kathleen Murphy was never seen again.

  A word from the author…

  I’ve published one paranormal novella, The Witches of Half Moon Island. The Ghost of Kathleen Murphy is my first full-length book. I’ve just finished a third book, a murder mystery, and will be sending it out to my publisher soon. I’ve published short stories, essays, articles, and I am an ongoing contributor to Southern Writer’s Magazine that has a two-million-plus following.

  My writing interests are broad, but I seem to be drawn more to the mystery genre now. I hope to have a cozy series developed in 2018.

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