The Haunted Past

by J A Whiting

  John held the envelope ready to rip it open.

  Viv laughed. “We’re not competitive in the least, are we?”

  The bell rang and John pulled out the questions and handed a sheet of paper to each of his team members.

  “Let’s read through all of them first, then we can decide on a route so we can get done as quickly as possible.” John read aloud. “First question, find the addresses of the three historic Nantucket mansions called ‘The Three Bricks.’”

  “Easy one,” Jeff said. “The instructions say we have to use our phone to take a photo of the team in front of every place described in the questions.”

  Lin, Jeff, and Viv attempted to group the questions geographically to make their search as fast as possible, and when they were ready, the foursome darted up Main Street.

  When they’d written down the addresses of the Three Bricks, they had to find the house that was depicted on the questionnaire and answer several questions about it.

  They tore through the town neighborhoods, finding the places, writing down the answers, and taking their photo in front of the stops they made.

  “I think that’s it,” Viv said. “Let’s go.”

  The team jogged back to town and raced to the historical museum.

  “Are we the first team to return?” John wondered out loud.

  The woman and man working at the table, checked the time and wrote it at the top of the scavenger hunt questions and then passed the paper to the judges to score and arrange according to the percentage correct and the return-times.

  In thirty minutes, the winners would be announced and the prizes awarded so to pass the time, Lin, Jeff, John, and Viv strolled down to the docks to see the boats.

  “I think we did well,” Viv told the others. “I think we got all the questions right. We’ll just have to see if our time was good enough for a prize.”

  A chilly breeze blew off the water as darkness descended over the island.

  Lin told the men what had happened the previous evening outside of Tim Pierce’s house and they both began asking questions.

  “What does this ghost want?” John asked. “Is Ezra Cooper the ghost telling you things through the table or is he someone the ghost used to know?”

  “My feeling is that Ezra is the one speaking to us through the table,” Lin shared what she thought.

  Jeff asked, “Do you have any idea what he wants?”

  “Not yet. His wife, Abigail, died from injuries sustained in a fall and Ezra took his own life a year later,” Lin explained.

  Viv shook her head sadly. “It seems Ezra couldn’t go on after he lost his wife.”

  “How did Abigail fall? Do you know anything about the accident? Where it happened? What the circumstances were?” Jeff took Lin’s hand in his as they walked along the docks.

  “We don’t know anything about her fall and I think that information is important to figuring out what Ezra wants me to do,” Lin said.

  “How can you find out what happened to the woman?” John questioned.

  “We checked records at the historical museum library, but there wasn’t a whole lot about the couple,” Viv shared. “We’re meeting with Anton tomorrow to see if there’s anywhere else we can look for more details.”

  “The Coopers owned Tim Pierce’s house?” John asked.

  “Ezra lived there for four years. He bought the house in 1777 and he and Abigail married in 1778. Abigail died two years later, and Ezra passed away a year after his wife.”

  “They were cheated out of their future together,” Jeff said wistfully.

  “How old were they when they died?” John questioned.

  Viv said, “Abigail was twenty-four and Ezra was twenty-eight.”

  “Heck, we’re all already older than they were. They certainly were cheated,” John shook his head.

  Checking the time, Viv said, “We’d better get back for the results of the scavenger hunt.”

  The president of the historical museum stood on the top steps of the building with a crowd spread out in front of her as she announced the winners. First prize went to a five-person team who completed the questions with 100 percent correct and a time of 39 minutes. The second and third place teams were announced next.

  “Finally, our fourth place team with 100 percent correct and a time of 49 minutes goes to Lin and Viv Coffin, Jeff Whitney, and John Clayton.”

  A whoop went up from the four of them and John hurried up the steps to accept the prize.

  “What did we win?” Viv was almost jumping up and down with excitement watching John open the envelope.

  A broad smile crossed John’s face. “It’s a gift card to our favorite restaurant.”

  “Want to use it now?” Jeff asked. “We haven’t had dinner yet.”

  The couples headed to the pub located next to the harbor and were seated by the windows where they could look out at the lights glittering over the dark water.

  “I didn’t think there was a fourth prize. I thought the historical museum only gave out first, second, and third place awards.” Viv raised her glass of craft beer. “To a scavenger hunt well-played.”

  Everyone clinked their glasses.

  “Wait until next year,” John told them with a grin. “We’ll win that first place award yet.”

  “It was a lot of fun, and I had the very best teammates,” Lin smiled. “Those are the most important things.”

  “You’re right, Lin,” John admitted. Then he narrowed his eyes and added in a jokingly serious tone, “But, next year … must win … the first place prize.”

  When the meals arrived and everyone was enjoying what they’d ordered, Lin said, “I forgot to tell you. Tim Pierce hired Leonard and I to handle his yard. He’ll have to travel to the mainland pretty often and he’s very busy. The yard is huge, but it’s in a state of neglect. Tim’s grandfather didn’t keep it up in his last few years. Leonard and I are drawing up some landscaping plans.” Lin smiled. “When we’re done, it’s going to be beautiful.”

  “What do you have planned for the space?” Jeff asked.

  “New flowerbeds, lots of heirloom plants, a border of hydrangeas, a water feature, and a large two-tiered patio off the conservatory.”

  “Sounds great,” John remarked.

  “Leonard and I will meet with Tim soon to go over the plans. I’m excited about working on it. That house is a beauty, it needs a gorgeous lawn and gardens to go with it.”

  “How does Tim feel about having a ghost living in the house with him?” John asked. “It would freak me out.” John was uncomfortable with the idea of spirits remaining on the earth and when Lin and Viv revealed to him their ability to see ghosts, he took the news much better than anyone expected. They talked long into the night about things none of them really understood, and John accepted the Coffin cousins’ skills even though he was wary, nervous, and unsure about ghosts moving through the world.

  Viv said, “Tim doesn’t really believe in ghosts, but he seems to be opening his mind to the possibility that something is going on that can’t be explained within earthly parameters. He’s thoughtful and not closed-minded at all.”

  “I bet he’s glad to have that table out of his house.” John shook some pepper over his chicken.

  “I don’t think the table is going to be so insistent anymore,” Lin said. “I think Ezra used it to send a message and he might not need the table’s help any longer. I asked Tim if he was ready to take it back, but he wants to wait a little longer.”

  John shook his head. “I’d want to wait forever. I couldn’t live in a house with ghosts. If I were the Snows, I would have moved out of their place a long time ago.”

  “The Snows like their ghost,” Lin said. “They’ve never seen the captain, but they know when he’s around and they’re happy he’s part of their lives.”

  John took a long swallow of his beer. “Just please, don’t tell me if there’s ever one around me. I’d faint dead away.”

  While the others cha
tted, Lin’s mind wandered to Ezra Cooper and his too brief life. Just when things were beginning for him and his wife, it was all cut short. How terrible for him to lose his young wife. Ezra must have fallen into a deep despair that he couldn’t climb out of. What does he want me to discover? There’s so little to go on. How will I ever figure it out?

  Lin’s heart was heavy and she was feeling a little hopeless when Jeff leaned close to her, looked into her eyes, and ran his fingers over her cheek in such a sweet and loving way that it lifted her spirits and made her so grateful to have him in her life.

  I won’t give up, Ezra. I’ll figure out what you need.

  7

  Lin and Viv sat with Anton at the long wooden table in the man’s antique Cape Cod house. The evening was cool and Anton had a made a fire in the big kitchen fireplace and Nicky was asleep on the rug in front of it. Books and notebooks and two laptops sat on the table near the historian. Tea and coffee and a plate of cornbread and cookies were on the counter for the cousins to help themselves.

  “Did you find anything?” Lin asked with a tinge of excitement in her tone.

  “I found plenty … whether anything pertains to your case is yet to be seen.” Anton flipped through a history book.

  “Did you read anything about Abigail?” Viv asked.

  Anton looked over the top of his glass frames at the young women. “In a minute, I’ll go over everything with you.”

  Lin and Viv sipped their tea trying to wait patiently for Anton to collect his notes.

  “Yes, here we are.” Anton finally spoke. “Ezra Cooper was a mason and bricklayer. I believe he had some other masons working for him. He was born on-island. His father was a merchant in town who appears to have done very well. It was the custom back then for people of means to help out their children by providing some assistance when they were starting out, so I assume the father gave Ezra some money to help him purchase the Colonial on Old Lane. All of this was pieced together through my historical knowledge of the island and by my sleuthing. Nothing is definitive, mind you, but I’m relatively confidant about it.”

  “You found quite a bit of information,” Lin praised the historian.

  “What about Abigail?” Viv questioned eagerly. “Were you able to find anything about her?”

  “Unmarried women often did work outside of the home, but because they usually weren’t allowed to keep their wages, there are very few records available about specific women of the time.” Anton shuffled some papers around. “Women who worked taught school, worked as assistants in stores or apothecaries, did sewing or other domestic chores. Some women did own businesses and worked as blacksmiths, barbers, printers, tavern keepers, and merchants.”

  “What about Abigail?” Viv asked again.

  “We know that Abigail’s father owned an apothecary in town. The man’s wife passed away when Abigail was probably a teen. I expect that she worked alongside her father until she was married, and even then, she may have worked in her father’s shop a few days a week. Once children came along, most women stayed at home to care for them and take care of the household.”

  “Was Abigail born on Nantucket?” Lin asked.

  “Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that. Yes, she was born on-island.”

  “Did you find any mention of the fall that took her life?” Lin questioned.

  “There is a brief mention of Abigail Cooper experiencing an accident in town one evening in April 1780. The short article mentions a fall, but gives no details about where it happened or what her injuries were,” Anton told them. “So it wasn’t of much help. That’s all I was able to find, just a few small things you didn’t know.”

  “It’s good information.” Lin thanked the historian. “It’s more than what we knew. So Abigail’s fall must have been an accident and not the result of foul play?”

  “If it had been foul play, there would have been something in the story about that. It seems the woman fell somehow and the fall resulted in her death. Most likely, she hit her head. It was an unexpected and unusual occurrence, a freak accident.”

  “Ezra must have been devastated,” Viv said softly. “They must have had plans for a family, things they hoped for the future. All gone in a matter of seconds.” She looked to her cousin. “If there was no foul play involved in Abigail’s death, what could your ghost want from you? There isn’t a murder to solve.”

  “I’ve been wondering the same thing,” Lin admitted.

  Viv’s eyes widened. “Unless Ezra didn’t take his own life. Maybe he was murdered. He might want you to investigate what happened to him.”

  Lin’s head started to spin. “Do we know how Ezra died?”

  Anton’s face screwed up and he started to search through his notebooks. “I don’t recall reading anything about the man’s cause of death.”

  “How could we ever investigate Ezra’s death?” Lin asked with a look of worry on her face. “There are so few records available and back then, it was probably frowned on to reveal a suicide so we won’t know for sure how he died. Even if we read everything written from the time and Ezra was murdered, we’ll never be able to find out who killed him. There’s nothing to go on. I doubt very much that we’ll find a diary where someone confesses to killing Ezra. It just can’t be done.”

  “Where are Ezra and Abigail buried?” Viv wanted to know.

  Anton clicked on his laptop. “They’re both buried in Old North Cemetery on Grove Lane.”

  “That’s what? A quarter of a mile from Tim Pierce’s house? So close to where Ezra and Abigail lived.” Lin leaned over Anton’s shoulder. “Can you locate the graves using the town cemetery website?”

  “Let me take a look.” Anton scrolled through the site. “Here it is. See?” He pointed to the screen.

  Lin took note of where the graves were located in the cemetery. “I have an idea.”

  Viv gave her cousin a look. “Why do I know I won’t like it?”

  “Does anyone want to take a drive over to the cemetery?”

  “I knew it. I knew I wouldn’t like it,” Viv sighed.

  “Now?” Anton pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose. “Can’t you go in the daylight? The cemetery’s probably closed.”

  “It’s never closed,” Lin said. “Maybe the town doesn’t want anyone to go poking around in there at night, but it doesn’t close.”

  “What do you want to do in there?” Anton asked suspiciously.

  Lin shrugged. “I just want to walk around, visit the graves.”

  “Why don’t we do it tomorrow?” Viv suggested.

  “I’d really like to go now.”

  Viv stood with a resigned expression on her face and looked at Anton. “Come on. I know better than to argue with her. We aren’t going to win this fight. Let’s get it over with.”

  Nicky sprang to his feet wagging his tail.

  Viv saw the dog’s reaction. “I’m glad someone’s happy about this visit.”

  “It’s not such an awful thing to do,” Lin told them with a shake of her head.

  “Walking around in the dark at night in a deserted cemetery?” Viv asked. “I think you and I hold two very different definitions of the word awful.”

  Lin parked her truck at the entrance to the cemetery and she and her passengers got out. Viv and Anton flicked on flashlights and they started into the graveyard with the dog sniffing the ground ahead of them. The moon was nearly full and it shined its silvery light over the landscape. Off in the distance, the spring peeper frogs’ chirping calls sounded like a chorus of tiny sleigh bells and an owl hooted low and deep from somewhere in the woods.

  “If it wasn’t so creepy being in here, it would actually be pretty.” Viv moved the beam of her light over the grass.

  “It is pretty,” Lin agreed with that part of her cousin’s sentence.

  “I’m pretty sure we’re not supposed to be in here.” Anton had looked around for a sign reporting the cemetery hours, but he didn’t see one.

  “We won’
t be long.” Lin remembered where the Coopers’ graves were located on the online map and she tried to apply that to the actual topography of the place. “I think it’s this way.”

  As they walked, Anton used his flashlight to see the grave markers and when he swept the beam to the next row, the light found Nicky sitting near a grave, tapping his tail.

  “I think Nick found it,” Lin said hurrying over to see.

  “How could the dog find it before we did?” Anton questioned.

  “Don’t even ask,” Viv told him.

  “Here it is. Here’s the headstone. Here are their graves.” Lin bent at the waist to read the nearly worn-away inscription, and saw Ezra’s and Abigail’s names on the stone. The dates were difficult to make out from the letters and numbers being so weathered and faded away. Lin gently touched the marker. “So very long ago.”

  The wind blew through the trees making the not-yet-mature leaves rustle in the breeze. Unsure of exactly why she’d wanted to come to the cemetery, Lin closed her eyes and bowed her head slightly trying to focus on the things that floated on the air. She knew that emotions and feelings could linger … some for a very long time.

  Lin began to feel dizzy and she had the weird sensation that her feet weren’t touching the ground, like she was suspended a few inches over the earth, light as a feather.

  Images flashed in her head … two people sitting by a fire, a couple holding hands, a man’s hand running tenderly over a woman’s long hair. The pictures she saw in her mind never showed the couple’s faces, they were always in shadow or seen from the back, but Lin knew who they were and the love they shared with one another touched her heart.

  The peeper frogs’ chorus of chirps sounded mournful to Lin’s ears and the wind whipped suddenly around her and lifted her hair from her shoulders. The peaceful night turned lonely and forlorn and Lin shuddered from the weight of it.

  When she opened her eyes, her body filled with icy cold and she saw Ezra Cooper’s ghost standing near the big trees, translucent, see-through.

  They made eye contact with each other and Lin’s heart contracted with a wave of almost overwhelming grief.