Chapter 23 #2
‘He was delighted to see her again,’ Agnes said sadly.
‘He never could see the bad in her. She neglected him terribly, you know,’ she told them all.
‘He was brought up by a variety of nannies, nursemaids, and servants. She was always too busy for him. But any little bit of attention she gave him was cherished by him. It used to break my heart watching him when he was but a small child, desperate for his mother. I did my best to comfort him, but I was a poor substitute.’
‘You were always very special to him,’ Wyndham assured her.
‘The bond between the two of you is clear to us all, even today. Charlotte, on the other hand, only really took any notice of him when he reached his late teens and she could talk to him about topics that interested her. They had a lot of conversations about horses, as I recall,’ he mused.
‘And the garden. She was rather fond of the garden.’
‘She was rather fond of the gardener, too,’ Agnes said wryly.
‘Well, she’d get short shrift with the gardeners this time, even if they could see her,’ Callie said with a laugh. ‘Douglas and Mac are in their sixties now, both happily married, and I doubt Andrea would be to her taste.’
‘Ya know,’ Harmony said suddenly, ‘I think we’ve forgotten something kinda important.
’ She looked round at them all. ‘The séance! Well,’ she added as they all began murmuring among themselves, ‘think about it! What else has happened that’s out of the ordinary?
Nothing, right? It has to be the séance.
Somehow, that Madam Mariska dame has brought Charlotte Davenport back from the great beyond. ’
The room erupted as they all chipped in with exclamations of shock or excitement and their own memories of that night at the barrow.
‘But she doesn’t have the gift any more,’ Callie pointed out. ‘It’s Verity who does all the ghost whispering. Her sister hasn’t been able to communicate with spirits for years.’
‘Well, her gift must’ve returned,’ Harmony said with a shrug.
Callie’s eyes widened suddenly. ‘Oh heck!’
‘I told you!’ Silas said, with some satisfaction. ‘Didn’t I say no good could come of this Halloween blasphemy? Now look what you’ve done! You’ve opened the gates to goodness knows who.’
‘You mean, other ghosts might have come back, too?’ Millie asked nervously, as Bill put his arm around her and pulled her close, whether to protect her or because he felt the need for protection himself, Silas wouldn’t like to guess.
‘Good gracious,’ Walter said anxiously. ‘You really think it is possible? You think the events of Halloween brought Charlotte back?’
‘Can you think of another reason why this could have happened?’ Mr Swain asked Callie hopefully.
‘Oh, Perks, I—’ Callie shook her head. ‘I’m afraid I can’t.’
It was such a shocking thought, that for once Silas forgot to be cross that Callie insisted on calling Mr Swain ‘Perks’, because she said he reminded her of the porter in some film called The Railway Children.
Personally, he would have been deeply offended if she had come up with a nickname for him.
He could never abide nicknames, but Percy Swain seemed to be rather touched by it.
‘Thing is,’ Callie said slowly, ‘It might not be Madam Mariska who was responsible. There’s something funny going on here. I’m sorry but I can’t tell you everything because I made a promise, but… look, I know this is an odd question, but have any of you seen a stranger in the village?’
There was an incredulous silence followed by splutters of laughter.
‘Callie love,’ Polly said, ‘there are always strangers in the village! Even at this time of year unfortunately. It’s a tourist destination, remember?’
‘I know, I know.’ Callie rubbed her forehead.
‘But this is different. I can’t go into much detail but there was a man.
He posed as the shopkeeper at the curiosity shop and gave away two items to someone, though he had no right to do so.
It was half-day closing. The shop should have been locked up.
Unfortunately, Mrs Brown is away visiting her sister today, so I haven’t had the opportunity to speak to her, but you all know that anyone working in estate property has to be cleared by the office.
I don’t believe this man was supposed to be there at all, and I don’t believe Mrs Brown knew about it.
Now, the question is, how did he even get into the shop?
And why did he give away items when he could have earned himself some money by selling them? ’
There was a great deal of muttering at that. None of the ghosts could answer her questions.
‘Disgraceful,’ Silas said. ‘No doubt he pocketed several more valuable items and made off with them. You should call the police.’
‘What did this chap look like?’ Wyndham asked.
Callie considered. ‘According to – er – the person who saw him, he was wearing some sort of waistcoat over a white shirt, and he had on brown corduroy trousers and wore spectacles. Round spectacles. Kind of old-fashioned. She said he had thinning light brown hair, too. She thought he was maybe around forty to forty-five years old. Sort of earnest looking, she said. Like he spent his time buried in books.’
Silas noticed Harmony and the Roman exchange glances.
‘Do you recognise the description?’ he asked sharply.
‘Who, me?’ Harmony asked. ‘No way. I was just thinking how odd he sounded, that’s all. You’d think one of us would have noticed him around, right?’
The Roman said nothing, but the look on his face ensured Silas didn’t dare direct the question at him. He had a feeling Quintus Severus wouldn’t take kindly to having his integrity doubted.
‘Well,’ he said firmly, ‘whoever he is is beside the point for now. The priority is to send Lady Davenport back, however she got here. And if this Madam Mariska woman is responsible for bringing her through the veil, then she must return to the Harling Estate and reverse the process.’
‘If not,’ Brooke said thoughtfully, ‘there’s always Reverend Amelia.’
‘Amelia?’ Silas spluttered. ‘What does she have to do with it?’
‘She can perform an exorcism,’ Danny explained. ‘We’ve seen the film, haven’t we, Brooke? I warn you, though, it’s pretty gruesome. Charlotte’s head might spin round a bit, and we might all get hit with flying pea soup.’
They all looked at him, completely baffled, but Brooke and Danny grinned at each other as if they were in on some joke.
Callie shook her head. ‘All right, guys. It’s not really funny, is it? You might have a point, though. If, er, Mariska can’t do this, then Amelia might be our best option.’
‘You do realise I’m also a vicar?’ Silas demanded.
‘Of course I do,’ Callie assured him. ‘But you have no idea what would happen if a ghost tried to perform an exorcism, do you? Why, you might send yourself somewhere! Somewhere not as nice as Rowan Vale.’
‘Meaning what?’ he demanded indignantly.
‘Maybe,’ Polly said anxiously, ‘we should leave Charlotte alone. Make her welcome, even. I don’t fancy seeing her head spin round, thank you very much, and besides, we don’t know where she’d end up if we tried to send her back.’
‘Nonsense!’ Silas boomed. ‘She doesn’t belong here! She passed over and it’s outrageous that she’s been brought back as a ghost by some fairground conjurer. This is not her place and she must go back. I repeat, she must go back!’
He realised suddenly that they were no longer paying attention to him.
There was a collective gasp and all heads turned as someone cleared their throat and said tentatively, ‘I’m not interrupting, am I?’
A woman stood by the door. She was in her early sixties, rather plump, with white hair partly obscured by a navy cloche hat, hooded, droopy eyes, and heavy jowls like a bloodhound.
She wore lace-up boots, an ankle-length dark skirt, a white blouse, and a long-length royal blue cardigan with two deep pockets, which she had plunged her hands into as she surveyed them unblinkingly.
Silas stared at her, unable to speak or move.
Her gaze fell upon him and her already wrinkled face creased with dozens more as she smiled at him in delight.
‘Carrots!’
Silas staggered back, hardly able to believe his eyes and ears.
‘G-Grace?’
‘Oh, Carrots, my angel, there you are. I’m so pleased to see you.
Do you know, I’ve been wandering around feeling completely dazed.
I think I must have bumped my head or something because I feel distinctly confused about everything.
No idea where I’ve been! Still, I’ve found you now and that was only by accident, you know.
I was leaning against the wall outside to have a rest and the next thing I knew, here I was.
No memory whatsoever of walking inside the library. What am I like?’
She paused for breath and looked round, her eyes twinkling. ‘I say, what have we got here then? Some sort of meeting going on? Is it secret? Should I have given you a password?’
‘Grace, I…’ Silas fell into the nearest chair, unable to take his eyes off the vision before him.
Dimly, he heard Polly saying, ‘Lord, not another one!’
‘Who is she?’ Millie asked, clearly agog. ‘And how does she know him?’ She jerked a thumb in Silas’s direction.
Wyndham cleared his throat. ‘For those of you too young to remember, let me introduce you. This is Mrs Grace Alexander. Silas’s wife.’