Chapter 14 #2
‘The locals don’t…’ I leaned forward eagerly. ‘Are you saying that some of the villagers know about you ghosts?’
‘Oh, they all do,’ Bill said airily. ‘Some of ’em can see us. Well, if they’re related to us. I haven’t got any relatives left in Rowan Vale, but Millie has, haven’t you, Mill?’
‘My niece and her husband run the record shop on the Swinging Sixties Street,’ Millie told me proudly. ‘I live with them in their flat above the shop. I’ve got a smashing bedroom, all decked out with posters of Paul McCartney and The Beatles. Do you like The Beatles?’
‘Don’t start on about them again, Millie,’ Bill groaned. ‘You don’t need Paul McCartney any more. You’ve got me now, remember?’
‘Well…’
‘So how many ghosts are there on this estate?’ I asked, before a domestic squabble broke out between the two young lovebirds.
‘No one really knows for sure,’ Millie admitted.
‘Thing is, we’ve got some ghosts who don’t want to mix with us or be part of the community, for whatever reason.
So they sort of wander round the edges of the estate, cos we can’t cross the boundary, you see.
A lot of them live at The Monastery.’ She shivered at the very mention of the place.
‘The Monastery? Yeah, I went there,’ I told her.
Her eyes widened. ‘You never did! You’re braver than I am then. Harmony says they’re all right really, but how can they be? They’d be with us if they were, wouldn’t they?’
‘Harmony?’ I said sharply. ‘Do you mean Harmony Hill? The actress?’
Millie beamed. ‘Yes. She’s with us.’
‘Not often though, be fair,’ Bill said. ‘She likes to keep herself to herself. Reckon she thinks she’s too good for the likes of us.’
‘She’s all right, Bill. Don’t be mean.’ Millie turned to me. ‘She puts on shows for them. Keeps them entertained, like. Well, they haven’t got much else going on in their afterlives, have they?’
‘That’s their fault,’ Bill pointed out.
‘Even so. Shows what a kind soul Harmony is, I reckon.’
‘Okay,’ I said, wishing I’d brought a notebook and pen with me, as there was no way the ghosts’ voices would record on my phone. ‘So there’s you, Bill, and you, Millie, and a Roman centurion called Quintus…?’
‘Severus,’ Bill supplied helpfully.
‘Right, and Harmony Hill, and a whole lot of unknown ghosts at The Monastery.’
‘Yeah, but there’s a lot more than that,’ Millie said. ‘Like my friend Polly, and her brother, Ray, and Walter, and Isaac, and Brooke and Danny, and…’
‘Hang on,’ I said, not able to keep up. ‘Slow down. Can you tell me a bit about yourselves first?’
Millie and Bill exchanged delighted smiles.
‘Will that Madam Mariska tell people about us?’ Millie asked.
‘Yes. Is that okay?’
‘You bet it is!’ she said. ‘The others might be on strike, but they can’t tell me what to do. I’ll tell you all about me first.’
I must have sat with the two of them for well over an hour and a half as they took me through their own life – and death – stories and then told me about the various other ghosts on the estate.
Apparently, there’d been a wedding at Christmas between the Victorian gentleman at the Hall and the disapproving woman.
Their names were Agnes and Aubrey, and they’d unofficially adopted the little wartime evacuee child, Florence.
And as if that wasn’t incredible enough…
‘Shakespeare’s tutor?’ I gasped, as they told me all about a man called Walter Tasker. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Oh, absolutely,’ Millie assured me. ‘He’s always quoting the stuff at us. Boring it is, but we can’t shut him up. Reckons he gave young Will his inspiration. As if! Lawrie confirmed he taught him, though,’ she added, as if I’d accused her of making it up. ‘He told us, didn’t he, Bill?’
Bill nodded. His own story had been surprisingly inglorious.
Evidently, he’d been fighting with his friend and fellow soldier on the platform at the station in Harling’s Halt, and they’d fallen onto the tracks just as a train arrived.
Not a pleasant death, though mercifully Bill had no memory of it.
‘Fighting over some girl who didn’t care tuppence about them,’ Millie said, rolling her eyes. ‘Men!’
She’d hardly had the most glorious death either, though.
She’d fallen from the drainpipe of her home after climbing out of her bathroom window.
She’d wanted to sneak off to a Beatles concert with her friends, as her parents had banned her from going.
Her decision to ignore them had cost her her life, although she seemed remarkably cheerful about the whole thing.
There was also information on the murder victim that Melissa had told me about.
The war widow in the woods. It was a revelation as they revealed that her name was Polly Herron and that they knew who her killer was.
I thought that would make a great story for Madam Mariska to recount on Halloween night.
Then there were the two young ghosts, Brooke and Danny, who’d died after attending a 1980s fancy dress party. They were the most recent ghosts to arrive in the village and had been killed in a car accident just inside the estate boundary.
As Millie and Bill reeled off the stories of their fellow ghosts, I listened in awe and amazement. This village was like no other I’d ever been to. Melissa was going to be over the moon!
‘And Callie can see you all?’ I asked, trying to get the situation straight in my head.
‘Oh yes. She had to. That’s why Lawrie sold her the estate for ten pounds.
It’s the way it’s always been done, you see.
The owner has to be able to see all the ghosts, not just ones they’re related to like my niece, Lucy.
Hey!’ She gave a sudden giggle. ‘If you’d come here earlier, Lawrie might have sold you the estate instead. Imagine that?’
‘Another woman!’ Bill said in disgust. ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with the blokes in this world.
Why can’t they see us any more? It’s like Brodie.
He can’t see any of us, and neither can his dad.
That’s why Lawrie had to look outside the family for a new owner.
It’s the way it’s got to be, ever since the days of the Harlings right back in William the Conqueror’s day. ’
‘This is incredible,’ I said. A thought struck me and I said hesitantly, ‘And what about Mia? Can she see ghosts, too?’
‘Only Florrie,’ Millie said. ‘Florrie’s her great-aunt, though you’d never believe it to look at them. Florrie’s just a kid, and a cheeky little blighter she is, too, although she’s better than she was.’
‘That’s not saying much,’ Bill grumbled.
‘You can talk!’ Millie giggled and nudged him again. ‘My boyfriend is a bit of a one for scrapping.’ She said it quite proudly and I felt a flash of envy that I’d never experienced the pangs of young love.
‘Mia wants to open a restaurant, but she won’t leave Florrie so she can’t leave Rowan Vale,’ Bill said. ‘Now there’s a conundrum for her.’
‘Not really,’ Millie said. ‘She loves Florrie, though I can’t think why. No contest.’
I thought about that day in the kitchen of Harling Hall, and of how Mia had shown no sign of being able to see the little girl. But then, neither had I, so how could I complain about that?
‘Have you got enough information?’ Millie asked at last. ‘Only, Quintus Severus will be doing his checks soon, and he’ll notice if we’re not around. If he hasn’t already.’
She nodded at the broken window, and I realised, with some shock, that it was growing dark. I’d been so engrossed in their story that I hadn’t noticed, and I didn’t relish the thought of scrabbling back through that gap in the hedge.
‘So, the Roman is there to stop you from giving me and Mel – Mariska – any information?’
‘That’s right. I have to say, he’s never actually hurt any of us, but I wouldn’t like to be on the other end of his anger, put it that way,’ Millie said. She chuckled. ‘He once had you and Ronnie dangling in the air by the scruff of your necks, didn’t he, Bill?’
‘He took us by surprise, that’s all,’ Bill said with a scowl.
Millie winked at me. ‘So is it okay if we go now?’
‘Of course,’ I said, standing up. ‘Though if it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll try to find a gate further up the field, rather than go back through that hedge.’
‘Suit yourself. Well, thanks for listening.’ Bill helped Millie to her feet. ‘We’ll look forward to hearing what Madam Mariska has to say about us.’
‘Ooh, I can’t wait for tomorrow,’ Millie told me, her eyes sparkling. ‘I’ll be spending Halloween with my very own boyfriend! And just think, everyone will hear our names on the telly! How exciting is that?’
I smiled and we said our goodbyes after I’d thanked them profusely for their help. I finally had some good news for my sister. She was going to be thrilled.
Mia, on the other hand, would be furious. It made me feel sad, knowing I was about to upset her, but she’d made it very clear what she really thought of me, and I had to put my sister first.
Even so, I wished there was some way I could make them both happy.