The Ghost of Marlow House (Haunting Danielle Book 1) (23 page)

 “Did you know Roger married Kathrine
O’Malley?”

“Oh yes, she told me when she arrived.
My
sister-in-law.”
Angela laughed sardonically.

Lily pushed the gates wide open while
the delivery van, its engine idling, parked at the side entrance waiting
patiently.
When she finished her task she gave the driver a little wave and watched as the
van slowly made its way down the driveway before parking by the kitchen door.

Upstairs Walt watched from the attic
window. He’d tried to talk to Danielle when she returned from the police
station, but Lily was in the room, making it impossible to have a conversation.
One thing he had noticed, Danielle seemed distracted when she returned earlier.
By the way everyone was rushing around in the house—the electrician, the
plumber and now the delivery men—he wondered if she was simply overwhelmed.
What she needed in her life was a man to take care of things. He thought it
foolish that two attractive young women like Lily and Danielle would be on
their own without a man’s guiding hand.

Turning from the window, Walt walked to
the far wall, his gaze focused on the paneling along the floorboard. Leaning
down on one knee he reached out to touch the paneling, preparing to push in and
and to the side, when he paused a moment.

“I can’t really touch it…my hand is only
an illusion,” he said aloud. “But if I concentrate it will seem as if I can.” 
His hand touched the paneling and with concerted effort it moved to one side,
revealing a compact storage area. Reaching into the hidden compartment he
pulled out a velvet pouch.

“I took you for her, you know,” Walt
said as he opened the pouch, revealing a gold necklace identical in appearance
to the one in Eva’s portrait. “I should have simply tossed you in the ocean
decades ago, but then I suppose they would still come looking for you.” Gently
he returned the necklace to its pouch, and then to the hidden compartment in
the wall.

It was dark by the time everyone but
Danielle left Marlow House—the electrician, plumber, delivery men and even
Lily. Walt found Danielle in the kitchen admiring her new refrigerator. She
stood in front of the stainless steel double door appliance, the doors wide
open, its interior lit and on it’s shelf an almost empty half gallon carton of
milk and cube of butter.

“I noticed Lily left. Where did she go?”
Walt asked.

Danielle closed the refrigerator and
turned to face Walt. “She went with Ian to get pizza. They asked me to go with
them, but I’ve had a long day.”

“You look exhausted,” he noted.

“I saw Angela.”

“Excuse me?” Walt frowned.

“When I came back from the police
station I took another way home. I went by the cemetery.”

“I thought you said you avoided
cemeteries.”

“I normally try to, but it doesn’t
always work out.”

“I assume when you say you saw
Angela…she is like me?”

“A spirit? Ghost? Yes.”

“How is she?”

“Dead.”

“I thought you saw her spirit.”

“I did,” Danielle said with a shrug. She
walked to the kitchen table and sat down. “But she is still dead. Looks great
though. Hasn’t changed a bit in 89 years.”

“You talked to her?”

“Yes. Come, sit down, this is going to
be a long story.”

After Walt joined her at the table,
Danielle began by telling him of her trip to the police station and what she’d
learned by reading the autopsy.

“Of course, I could have saved a lot of
time if I had just stopped at the cemetery first,” Danielle said before telling
Walt how she had happened to turn down the street leading to the cemetery.

“She knew I was trapped here?” Walt
asked after she told him about Angela’s confession and how she had tried to
stop Roger.

“She said Kathrine told her. I’m not
sure exactly how Kathrine knew, but from what I’m starting to piece together
from all this, when you die not everyone has the same abilities. I’m not sure
if it’s determined by what you did when you were alive, or if your own issues
hold you back.  For example, Kathrine seemed to know that you’re trapped in
this house; she was troubled by it and went to great lengths to find someone
that could help you.”

“That’s why Brianna left you Marlow
House,” Walt said.

“I think so. Kathrine wasn’t prepared to
leave this realm, not when she believed her daughter needed her. She regularly
visited my aunt’s dreams, beginning when Brianna was just a small child. Brianna
probably assumed they were comforting dreams, nothing more. According to
Angela, Brianna told her mother how I communicated with spirits. I never
discussed this with my aunt and uncle—ever. My guess is that my parents
discussed it with them when I was a child, when they sent me to therapy.”

“You said Kathrine moved on…she’s no
longer at the cemetery?”

“It sounds like she moved on about the
time Brianna passed away. I guess she figured her job was done here. Unlike
Angela, Kathrine wasn’t trapped at the cemetery—it was her choice to stay. I
suspect you’re trapped here by your own personal unresolved issues, whereas
Angela is, as she put it…under house arrest. Her past sins are holding her
here. She was hoping I could in some way help free her, like she believes I’ll
be able to free you.”

“Did Angela know anything about the
marriage between her brother and Kathrine?”

“It was as we suspected: he seduced her
for her inheritance. Apparently he planned to get rid of her in the same way he
originally intended to get rid of you. She shot him out of self-defense. I
suppose his plan worked, because she died not long after she fell.
Unfortunately for him, she didn’t intend to go alone. I have no idea how she
happened to have a gun. Angela didn’t have an answer. I guess that’s something
we’ll never know.”

“I wonder what would have happened to
Brianna,” Walt asked.

“You mean if he would have successfully
pushed Kathrine down those stairs without getting shot?”

“Yes.” Walt nodded.

“I don’t know. I suppose he could have
played the part of the doting stepfather, while spending her fortune. But the
most likely scenario, considering his track record, the poor child would have
met a similar fate as her mother.” Danielle glanced down at the tabletop, her
hands fidgeting with its edge. They sat in silence for a few minutes,
considering the day’s events.

“The necklace is in the attic,” Walt
announced.

“What?” Danielle’s head shot up. She
looked Walt in the eyes.

“Come, I’ll take you to it.” Walt stood
up.

Danielle followed Walt to the attic and
watched as he removed the velvet pouch from its hiding place. After he handed it
to her she gingerly removed the necklace from the pouch.

“It’s beautiful,” she said in awe.

“It’s not real,” Walt said.

“What? Not real?” Danielle looked from
the necklace in her hand up to Walt and then back to the necklace.

“That’s why I took it. I did it for
her.”

“It was fake all along?” Danielle asked.

“No.” Walt reached out and took the
necklace from Danielle. Holding it in his hand he studied its glittering
stones. “The necklace had been passed down in her family for several generations.
She was her parent’s only child and it naturally went to her.”

“What happened?”

“She was young and foolish, married
another actor who quickly abandoned her when she got so ill. It wasn’t until
after he left her that she realized he’d removed the diamonds and emeralds from
the necklace and replaced them with fake stones. She was so embarrassed. She
didn’t want her parents to know how foolish she had been.

“Eva knew she was dying. The necklace
would go back to her parents and she didn’t want them to be humiliated if they
took it to a jeweler for some reason. She didn’t want some stranger telling
them the family heirloom was fake, and she couldn’t bring herself to tell them
the truth.”

“She asked you to take it?” Danielle
asked.

“Yes. We made it look like someone had
broken in while I was visiting her. At the time I was never a suspect; not only
was Eva my alibi, I don’t think anyone would have imagined I would steal the
necklace, considering who I was.” He handed the necklace back to Danielle.

“I assume the gold is real?” she asked.

“Yes. He only swapped out the stones.”

“It’s probably still valuable—even with
the fake gems. Are you sure they’re fake? They look so real.”

“Yes. Before Eva returned to
Frederickport she took the necklace to a jeweler in Portland, to see if her
hunch was correct. She showed me his appraisal.”

“Was the necklace insured?”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“Wow, how did Eva’s parents react when
the necklace went missing?”

“They were losing their daughter, so it
wasn’t important to them, considering everything. Her parents were devastated
over Eva’s death; she was the world to them.”

“That is so sad,” Danielle murmured. She
tucked the necklace back into the pouch. “I was wondering—how did you happen to
tell George Hemming about the necklace—that you took it?”

“It was the anniversary of Eva’s death.
She had been gone for about seven years, and I hadn’t met Angela yet. George
was over, we were having a brandy. I guess I had a little too much to drink; I
was feeling sorry for myself and missing Eva. Out of the blue he says,
I
wonder who took that necklace? You have any idea, Walt?
Without even
thinking I say,
it’s upstairs tucked away, who did you think took it?
George just looks at me, and I smiled. He and I never spoke about it again.”

“I’ll get it back to Eva’s heirs. It’s
still beautiful, even if it is a fake, and it should go back to them. It’s only
the right thing,” Danielle said.

“I honestly don’t know who that would
be. They never had any other children, but she did have cousins. Her parents
sold their Frederickport house after Eva died and moved back to Boston.”

“Where is she buried?”

“In Boston, where her family’s from.”

“Maybe you’ll see her again, when you
move onto wherever you’re supposed to go.”

“You think so?” Walt looked into
Danielle’s eyes and smiled softly. “Perhaps, but even if I don’t, it’s okay. I
came to terms with my relationship with Eva long before I died. I loved her
once and she loved me, but I understand she loved me like a brother, nothing
more.”

“I’m sure there are others you’re
looking forward to seeing,” Danielle said in a soft voice.

“I don’t know.” Walt shrugged. “I never
really knew my parents, they died when I was young and my grandparents raised
me.”

 “Hopefully the truth coming out will
give you the freedom you need. After I put everything together I’ll see if the
newspaper is interested in writing a feature article. It’s too bad I can’t use
the information Angela gave me, but I think I have enough.

In one hand she carried her sandals and
in another her beach bag and towel. Looking down at her bare feet Danielle
wiggled her toes as she walked. Wearing flip flops on a sandy beach gave her
the same unpleasant sensation as fingernails on chalkboard. She preferred to
dive right in, immerse her feet and toes in warm sand as opposed to teasing her
soles with gritty matter, trapped between shoes and feet.

“I think you had a good idea,” Lily said
as she walked alongside Danielle.

“I haven’t been to the beach since the
first day we arrived in Frederickport. Which is crazy since it’s just a block
away and the weather is amazing. Although I wish it was a little warmer.”
Danielle breathed in the clean air, smiling as the cool breeze caressed her
face.

“I guess we can fill up that new
refrigerator later.” That morning at breakfast Lily had suggested they spend
the morning grocery shopping.

“There is always time for that. I wanted
to talk to you about something and thought it might be nice to do it down
here.” Danielle stopped and looked to the right and then the left. The beach
was sparsely occupied with the closest people a good distance away. Tossing her
shoes and purse on the sand she spread out her towel and sat down. Lily
followed suit.

“What did you want to talk to me about?”
Lily stretched out on her towel.

Before Danielle could answer they heard
Ian’s voice call out
Sadie!
Looking from the ocean to the street,
Danielle and Lily watched as Sadie raced toward them, Ian sprinting behind her,
calling her name.

“I’m really sorry,” Ian said with a
laugh when he reached them. Sadie had arrived first, scattering sand over the
towels in her enthusiastic greeting. Danielle and Lily did not complain.
Instead they affectionately greeted Sadie while calming her down, before
re-straightening the towels and shaking off excess sand.

“This dog is pretty ferocious,” Danielle
teased, sitting back down.

“Yeah, I get that a lot,” Ian chuckled.

“What are you up to today?” Lily asked.

“I noticed you two heading for the
beach. I don’t mean to intrude, but I was wondering if I could talk to you a
minute,” Ian asked Danielle.

“Sure, what’s going on?” Danielle looked
up at Ian. Lily scooted over to one side of her towel and motioned for him to
join her.

“I’m sure Lily’s told you a little about
the article I’m working on,” Ian said as he sat down on Lily’s towel.

“A little bit.” Danielle was curious
what he had to say. She hadn’t had a chance to tell Lily about what she’d
learned at the police station. When she got home the electrician and plumber
showed up, and then the appliances, and after that, Lily took off with Ian.
Danielle was already in bed before Lily returned to Marlow House.

“I’ve been working on a story about Eva
Thorndike, the silent film star, and the mystery of the Missing Thorndike. It
brought me to Frederickport and to Marlow House. Lily expressed her concern
that I might be putting you in danger with the story by suggesting the necklace
is hidden in Marlow House. She told me about Nichols and Jones breaking in, and
ever since she told me, it’s been weighing heavy on my mind.”

“I don’t think you need to worry too
much about it,” Danielle said, grabbing her purse.

“I don’t know Dani,” Lily began. “When
Ian’s story comes out you don’t need more people like Adam and that other guy
trying to break into Marlow House hunting hidden treasure.”

“Lily told me about your theory
regarding Marlow’s death. If he really was murdered, maybe Lily’s right, and
whoever killed him, killed him for the necklace. Maybe I can do my own research
into his death, and find something to support Lily’s theory which will make
Marlow House less a target for future break-ins.”

“I appreciate your offer,” Danielle
said, pulling a velvet pouch from her purse. “While I’d love it if you wrote
about Marlow’s murder, I have to tell you, the killer didn’t take the necklace.”
She handed the pouch to Ian. Curious, Ian took the pouch and opened it.

“Holy shit!” Ian gasped, pulling the
necklace from the pouch. “You found it.”

“Oh my god, Dani!” Lily cried, leaning
over to get a closer look at the necklace in Ian’s hand. “Why didn’t you tell
me?”

“I was going to this morning. That’s
what I wanted to talk to you about. I found it last night. It was in the
attic.”

“This is worth a fortune you know.” Ian
glanced around nervously to see who else was on the beach.

“Yes it would be. If the gems were
real,” Danielle said with a sigh.

“What do you mean?” Ian brought the
necklace closer to his face to examine what appeared to be diamonds and
emeralds.

“The diamonds and emeralds were stolen
years ago—before it became the Missing Thorndike.”

“How do you know that?” Ian studied the
necklace, turning it to and fro.

“I can’t say, but those aren’t diamonds
and emeralds. I promise you. We can take it to a jeweler to verify it.”

“Why don’t you think they’re real?” Lily
asked.

“Call it a hunch.  They don’t look real
to me.” Danielle shrugged.
I should have taken it to a jeweler first—or at
least told them I had. What was I thinking? Naturally they are going to wonder
why I assume it’s a fake.
“Anyway, it really doesn’t matter to me if it is
real or fake.”

“Why do you say that?” Lily asked.

“Either way it’s going back to its
rightful owner. I’m just glad it was found, so I don’t have to worry about
treasure hunters.”

“Danielle, it will matter to you if the
diamonds and emeralds are real,” Ian said as he slipped the necklace back in
the pouch and handed it back to her. Lily snatched it out of Danielle’s hand so
she could examine the necklace.

“Why would it matter?” Danielle asked.

“You want to know one reason why this
story intrigued me?” Ian asked.

“Sure.” Danielle stroked Sadie’s head.
The dog shared her towel, her chin resting on Danielle’s knee.

“I guess I’m not much better than
Nichols and Jones, I confess, I was also looking for the necklace. I hoped I
might find it when I helped Lily with the inventory. But the difference between
me and them is that I didn’t want it for myself. I wanted to return it to its
rightful owner. Imagine the dramatic punch for my story—unraveling the mystery
of a necklace that was stolen a hundred years ago, and then returning it to its
unsuspecting rightful owner.”

“Do you know who they are?” Danielle
asked. “It will make my job a lot easier.”

“Yes, I do.” Ian snatched the necklace
out of Lily’s hand and handed it to Danielle. “You.”

“Me? What are you talking about?” Danielle
looked down at the necklace now in her hand.

“I hope you’re wrong, Danielle. I hope
they are real. Because you are the rightful owner.”

“Me? What are you talking about?”
Danielle frowned.

“By the time Eva Thorndike died, her
marriage had been annulled,” Ian explained. “After she died, everything she
owned went to her parents. According to what I’ve uncovered, it was never clear
when the necklace was actually stolen—before or after her death. Her mother
said Eva had it when she returned home, yet they didn’t notice it missing until
after she died. The Thorndikes naturally changed their will after Eva’s death.
Before that time, everything went to their daughter. Interestingly, in their
new will they left the necklace to Walt Marlow, should it ever be recovered. I
doubt he ever knew, because he died before Eva’s parents, and apparently they
never bothered to change the will to leave it to someone else.”

“But wouldn’t it go to someone else if
Walt was already dead? Another one of their heirs?” Danielle asked.

“No, not the way the will was written.
It was to go to Walt, and if he was deceased, to his heirs. Therefore, the
necklace was passed to Kathrine. Since Kathrine left her estate to Brianna, and
Brianna left Marlow House to you—where the necklace was kept—I believe you’re
the rightful owner. Of course, this would have been much more exciting if it
was real—which I’m not convinced it isn’t.”

“Would any of Brianna’s other heirs have
claim to the necklace?” Lily asked.

“I obtained a copy of Brianna’s will,
and the way it’s written, she specifically leaves Danielle Marlow House and all
its contents. Danielle is the only heir mentioned in the will who is related to
Brianna—even if by marriage—the others are charities. So no, I don’t believe
they’d have a claim.”

“You are right, it would be more fun if
the stones were real.” Danielle laughed. “But I think it’s a beautiful
necklace, and if Mr. Renton agrees with your finding, I wouldn’t mind keeping
it.” 
I should probably ask Walt if he wants me to do something else with
it…but it is so pretty!

“Would you mind if I had the necklace
checked out by a jeweler?” Ian asked.

“No, that’s fine. But I have a favor to
ask you.”

“Sure.”

“In the story you’re writing, do you
have room to elaborate a little on how Walt Marlow died? Since he’s the one who
inherited the stolen necklace?”

“And the one who stole it,” Ian
reminded.

“I guess finding it in Marlow House
rather confirms that fact.”

“Perhaps. But if the stones aren’t real
like you suspect, what happened to them?” Ian asked.

“You didn’t answer my question,”
Danielle reminded.

“Lily told me about Emma Jackson and
what she saw, but I’m not sure that really proves Marlow was murdered. Just
that his brother-in-law may have lied about where he was when Marlow was
killed.”

“True, but the autopsy report tells an
interesting story. And according to Sargent Morelli, who reviewed it with me,
he told me that if it was more recent, he’d reopen the case.” Danielle then
elaborated, telling Lily and Ian about yesterday’s visit to the Frederickport
Police Department and what she found in the old case file on Walt Marlow’s
death.

“Would you mind if I have a look at the
report?” Ian asked when Danielle was finished.

“I’d love for you to.” Danielle grinned.

“Sometimes the stories we start writing
aren’t what we end up with,” Ian said.

“If you’re really a sweetheart, when you
write your article you can mention Marlow House is now a quaint B and B,”
Danielle said with a laugh.

“Don’t worry, the B and B will
definitely get a plug. By the way, when do you plan to open? Lily said you were
shooting for the fourth?”

“I’m having an open house over the
fourth. I was planning to have some brochures printed up for the opening,
including a brief history on Marlow House and Walt Marlow’s death. I hope that
won’t mess up your story.”

“Let’s work together,” Ian suggested.
“Let me write the history for the brochure. I’ll use your opening as a
full-circle sort of ending for my article. Good for your new business and a human
touch for my piece.”

“Are you working on an article or a
book?” Lily asked.

“Both. Now that the necklace has been
found, I’ll call my publisher and step up the release date on the article. It’s
more a prequel to the in-depth biography I’m writing on Eva Thorndike. My book
will be published later this year. I’m hoping the mystery of the necklace and
its recent discovery will whet my reader’s curiosity.”