by K E O'Connor
Ralph moved his chair closer. “Gone how?”
“There was a fire,” I said. “The place has been destroyed.”
“That’s terrible,” said Ralph.
“There’s no hope of having my wedding there,” said Helen. She exchanged a glance with me. “I need to ask you both a favor.”
“Go on,” said Countess Ponsonby. “What do you need?”
“Well, your home is lovely. It’s the most beautiful castle I’ve ever seen.”
“Thank you. I’m rather fond of it.”
“And, well, I need a place to get married.”
Ralph and Charlotte exchanged a smile.
“I know it’s short notice, but I need your castle,” said Helen.
I discreetly kept hold of the back of her dress to prevent her from dropping to her knees and begging.
“What day are you getting married?” asked Countess Ponsonby.
“Next Saturday,” said Helen. “I’ll be eternally in your debt if we can use the great hall for the ceremony and then the dining room for the evening celebrations. I’ll work here for free for the rest of my life if you let me get married here.”
Countess Ponsonby laughed. “I won’t ever expect you to do that just for the use of rooms in the castle.” She tapped her fingers on her knees. “Ralph, we don’t have any plans for the great hall on that day, do we?”
“None that I can think of. Providing Lorna can get her work done in there before then, I don’t see it being a problem.”
“I’ll be finished,” I said. “I’m almost done in there. I can get the silver moved out before the wedding and any of the antique furniture, as well.”
“I promise you, you won’t even know we’ve been here,” said Helen.
“How many guests are you having?” asked Countess Ponsonby.
“One hundred to the ceremony and two hundred in the evening.”
Her eyebrows rose. “I suspect we will know if we have that many people in the castle.” She looked at Ralph. “What do you think?”
“A wedding sounds splendid. It will remind me of our wedding day.” He looked at me. “Did you know we got married here?”
I nodded. “It must have been a lovely day.”
“It was ideal. Even though it rained the whole time. But, an amazing thing happened. We had the whole ceremony planned for outside. We were rearranging things, so we could get married inside, when the rain stopped and the sun came out.”
“We took it as a positive sign,” said Countess Ponsonby, “a sign we were right to get married. We had our ceremony outside. Ten minutes after we’d finished the photographs, the heavens opened again. It didn’t stop raining for the rest of the day.”
“It was the perfect wedding,” said Ralph. “We had about the same number of guests as you. The great hall is ideal.”
Helen clapped a hand over her mouth. “What about tables and chairs? The manor house was going to supply those.”
“Don’t worry about that,” said Countess Ponsonby. “We have that sort of thing in storage. We use them when we have events here. You’re welcome to them.”
“Does that mean Helen can have her wedding here?” I asked.
“Of course,” said Countess Ponsonby, “on one condition.”
“Name it. Anything,” said Helen.
“That we’re invited.”
Helen laughed. “Of course. You can be our guests of honor. You can even sit at the top table if you’d like. Lorna will make room for you.”
She shook her head. “That won’t be necessary. But it would be lovely to watch you get married.”
“I’m sure you’ll be very happy.” Ralph gave his wife’s hand a squeeze and smiled at her.
I could see they loved each other. Their marriage might be going through a difficult patch, but there was affection there. I couldn’t see how either would be involved with Johnny’s death. There were no signs of jealousy or coldness between them.
Sure, their marriage was far from perfect. Countess Ponsonby had said there were times when she was lonely, but their marriage was a good one. I needed to look elsewhere for suspects in Johnny’s death.
“Marriage takes a lot of work,” said Countess Ponsonby. “Are you ready for that, Helen?”
“Of course. I love Gunner. He makes me happy.”
“Remember, it’s not always going to be happy times.”
Ralph looked at the ground. “Helen doesn’t need to worry about things like that. She isn’t even married yet. You don’t want to put her off.”
“All I’m saying is things change. The first flush of marriage wears away. You’ll realize you’re going to be with the same person for the rest of your life.”
Maybe I’d been wrong to assume they were happy.
Ralph sighed. “My wife is right. Marriage is about a long-term commitment. You’ll be together in sickness and in health. As you can see, I’m doing an excellent job of the sickness part. I’m a terrible burden.”
Countess Ponsonby’s expression appeared pained. “Marriage is for life. ‘Til death do us part. I knew what I was getting into when we married.”
He shook his head. “Did you, my love?”
“Yes, I did. That’s enough of your maudlin talk. This will not do Helen any good as she prepares for her own wedding.”
“We were both happy to begin with,” said Ralph.
“We’re happy now.” Countess Ponsonby rested a hand on Ralph’s shoulder.
Ralph shrugged her hand away. “I’m going for a lie down. Congratulations on your upcoming wedding, Helen. I shall look forward to seeing you be the beautiful bride on the day.” He pushed himself out of the room, his head down and shoulders slumped.
Countess Ponsonby shook her head. “I am sorry about Ralph. He’s not always thinking clearly. It’s his illness, you see. It gets him down.”
“It must be hard for him, knowing he’s never going to get better,” said Helen.
“It’s not just that,” said Countess Ponsonby. “He’s worried it’s putting a strain on our marriage. He thinks I’ll run off with someone else, or as he says, someone who can actually run. But I love Ralph. You don’t throw something away when times get tricky.”
“Absolutely not,” said Helen. “Although I must admit, there are times when I want to throttle Gunner. He can be so stubborn, and he doesn’t always do what I tell him to.”
I laughed. “You’re as stubborn as each other.”
“You sound like the perfect match,” said Countess Ponsonby. “Your marriage will be lovely. Is there anything you need me to do to help you prepare?”
“Helen has a wedding planner who will handle everything.” I jumped in before Helen started listing off dozens of requests and queries.
Helen pursed her lips. “The guests will need to know about the change in venue. Some will have to stay overnight.”
“If you need guest bedrooms, I’m happy to offer those,” said Countess Ponsonby.
“That’s perfect. Marjorie, the wedding planner, will also deal with that,” I said.
Helen let out a sigh. “Thank you so much, Countess Ponsonby. Thanks to you, I’m still going to be able to get married.”
“It’s no trouble. Loaning you a few rooms will not cause me any headaches. You concentrate on having a wonderful day.” Her gaze went to the door Ralph had left through.
Their conversation had confused me. One minute, they were wistfully talking about their own wedding day and the next saying how difficult marriage was.
Maybe Ralph knew Charlotte was unhappy about their relationship and didn’t know how to solve it. Or perhaps Charlotte had reached breaking point and was thinking about divorcing Ralph. Could she have been leaving him to be with someone else? Could that somebody else have been Johnny?
And, most importantly, did Johnny want that to happen, or had he broken things off with Charlotte and she’d gotten her revenge?
Chapter 15
“Slow down!” I’d been chasing around after H
elen ever since she’d been given the go-ahead to have her wedding at the castle. It had been like this for two days, and my patience had vanished.
“I need to measure the number of steps up the aisle.” Helen brandished a tape measure in her hand.
“It doesn’t matter. If it doesn’t have the right number of steps, you’ll either walk faster or take smaller strides. Either way, it will work. And, if you think about it, there isn’t even an aisle. You’re walking between rows of chairs.”
“Way to go in spoiling my romantic day.” Helen hurried into the great hall. “Grab this end of the tape measure.”
Nothing I could do would put Helen off her manic arranging. Despite Marjorie saying she was on top of everything and having already visited the castle twice, Helen was in full-on Bridezilla mode.
As Helen measured and muttered to herself, we were kept company by Jacob, who was happy to follow us around as Helen made her plans. Flipper was also hanging out with us, watching Helen as she kneeled and measured, measured and scribbled.
I noticed him looking at his favorite sword a few times, but he’d stopped trying to convince me to steal it from the castle.
Helen counted off on her fingers and then scribbled notes on a piece of paper.
“What are you doing?”
“Calculating how slowly I’ll need to walk.”
“Nobody will mind about the speed of your walk. They’ll be looking at your fabulous dress.”
“I know that. But I’ll be on my own. I have to get this right.”
Helen’s father wasn’t alive, so she’d decided to walk up the aisle on her own.
“Are you nervous about doing it?”
Helen glanced at me. “It’s just walking.”
“It’s a big deal. All eyes will be on you.”
“Thanks for that. Now, I’m nervous.”
“You could ask our chivalric ghost knight to accompany you up the aisle. He’s been following us around and seeing what we’re doing. Maybe he’d enjoy a good wedding.”
“He’s welcome to join us. After all, he won’t take up any room.” Helen looked around the hall. “So long as he doesn’t make the other guests cold.”
“You don’t want him escorting you up the aisle?” I grinned at Jacob.
“That would look odd. Me walking up the aisle shivering because there was a ghost next to me. I’ll pass.”
Jacob bowed and continued his inspection of an oil painting depicting a battle scene.
I left Helen to her frantic calculations and joined Jacob. “Were you in this battle?”
He shook his head.
“You did fight?”
Jacob nodded.
“You must be very brave, a true hero.”
He tilted his head from side to side.
“Is that how you died? In a battle?”
He nodded again and pointed to his head before miming slicing through the air.
“Ouch! Not quite sure what you showed me, but it looked painful.”
Jacob rubbed the back of his neck and smiled ruefully.
“You’re not hanging around the castle because someone murdered you? I mean, not in a cold-blooded sort of way. I guess you could say you were killed but in battle. That’s a bit different from someone sneaking up behind you and shoving you off the top of a turret.”
Jacob shook his head.
“It’s all about the sword, isn’t it? You’re attached to your sword and don’t want to let it go.”
He nodded.
“You might have to. The family didn’t mean any harm when they bought it. If you can’t let it go, I can think of worse places to haunt. You’ve got it easy living in the castle.”
“I’ve had a brilliant idea.” Helen hurried over. “Stop talking to thin air and concentrate on my wedding.”
I gestured to Jacob, even though Helen couldn’t see him. “We do have company. He’s been very decent about all this wedding nonsense.”
“None of it’s nonsense. Just you wait until you get married. Everything will be different.”
I bit my tongue. Yes, everything would be different. For one thing, I didn’t even know two hundred people to invite to my evening reception.
“What’s your brilliant idea?”
“You walk me up the aisle.”
“I’m your maid of honor.”
“You can do both jobs. All the maid of honor does on the day is make sure I turn up on time and holds my flowers during the ceremony. I need someone by my side to count the steps as we walk, so I don’t make a mistake.”
“You do remember I failed my math exam at school? I’m not great at counting.”
Helen tutted. “That was ages ago. You know your way around a set of business accounts better than most people. Come on. It will be fun.”
The thought of all the people watching us as we walked up the aisle made me cringe, but I could see how much Helen wanted me to do this. “It will be an honor to walk you up the aisle and count steps with you.”
“Great! Let’s practise now.”
“What about dinner?”
“We can eat later. Practise walking first.”
“I already know how to walk.”
“You don’t know how to walk up a wedding aisle. There’s a difference.” Helen stuck her elbow out. “Let’s get practicing.”
We spent the next half an hour marching up and down the great hall, trying to imagine all the chairs set out and the place filled with eager-eyed guests.
Flipper and Jacob followed us up and down the aisle a few times, but they quickly lost interest, as did I.
Flipper settled himself at the top of the imaginary aisle and kept an eye on us as Helen marched me backwards and forwards, trying to get to the magic number of steps.
“That’s enough now. I’m getting hungry. Flipper is bored, and even Jacob looks like he’s gone to sleep.”
Helen dropped her hold on my arm. “You expect me to cook dinner after all this?”
“All we’ve been doing is walking around.”
“Well, I guess I could rustle up something. There’s leftover cake. We can have that.”
“Maybe cake for pudding. You’ve not given any more thought to your wedding diet?”
“I gave up on that idea. I tried a stick of celery with no cream cheese. There’s absolutely no way I could stomach that for two weeks.”
“Good job. You’re perfect just the way you are.”
Helen ran her hands down her curves. “I think so too.”
“You go get started on dinner. I’ll tidy things up here and join you in the kitchen.”
Helen hurried away. “Make Flipper practise his walk before dinner.”
“He walks just fine.”
“I don’t want him running up the aisle. He needs to perfect his slow doggy saunter.”
Flipper raised his head as Helen left the room. He looked at me.
“Don’t worry. Your slow doggy saunter is already perfection.”
He wagged his tail and placed his head on his paws.
I let out a breath as I looked around the great hall. I needed to focus on Helen’s happiness and her wedding. Although I’d found several suspects who could have killed Johnny, there was no definite evidence.
There were rumors, but no one had confirmed an affair had been going on. And everyone said Johnny was a good guy. This could be a mistake. Johnny wasn’t killed. It was a terrible accident.
And as for Jacob, I couldn’t help him, and he hadn’t been murdered. There was little I could do to assist him in his mission to be reunited with his sword.
“Johnny, are you there?”
He didn’t appear, but Jacob approached me.
“Have you seen Johnny? I need to get things sorted out for him. I’ve got a wedding to focus on.”
He raised a finger and blinked out of sight. A few seconds later, he was back, with Johnny by his side.
“I’m glad you’re both here. I’ve been thinking.” I focused on Jacob. “I wish I could
help you with your quest to get your sword back, but I can’t risk my job by stealing from the family. You’ll have to accept that it’s remaining here.”
Jacob shook his head and folded his arms.
“It’s not ideal. But I don’t have the first clue where to find your grave. And if I did, I’m not digging it up to put a sword in it.”
He pointed out the window.
“I know it’s somewhere out there. That’s not going to change the fact I have to dig into a grave. That’s too creepy for me.”
Jacob’s mouth turned down, and he looked at the floor.
“And, Johnny, I’m not sure why you’re still here.”
He pointed to the staircase that led to the turret.
“Your death was horrible, but I’m not sure anyone harmed you. I’ve spoken to all the family, your girlfriend, and Will. I wondered whether you were having an affair, and Emma found out about it. Is that true? Maybe with Charlotte or Tilly?”
Johnny shook his head and looked away.
“Which means, if you weren’t seeing anyone behind Emma’s back, my suspects vanish. I think you got confused when you were on the turret. You could simply have fallen.”
Johnny scratched his hands through his hair and looked back at the staircase.
“You’re right to be confused if your death was sudden. Take some time and think about it. Would anyone in this family want you dead?”
Johnny moved his jaw from side to side before shrugging.
“I agree. I don’t think anyone does. You were having a few problems with your girlfriend. I know that much. Were those problems bad enough for her to want you dead?”
Johnny shrugged again before shaking his head.
“You might even have been attracted to Tilly, but I don’t think you did anything about it.”
Johnny’s eyes widened, and he rubbed his nose.
“You didn’t fancy Tilly?”
Johnny shook his head.
So, Johnny hadn’t cheated. His girlfriend didn’t push him. Ralph was too sick to climb the stairs, and Johnny hadn’t fallen out with Will. The suspects looked less likely by the second.
“If neither of you needs my help, I must focus on my best friend’s wedding. Now that she’s having it here, we’re going to be even busier. I’ve still got to carry on with this inventory while sorting Helen out. Can I ask that you’re both on your best behavior over the next few days until the wedding is over? Think about why you’re still here. Do you need to be?”