Chapter 25
I recognized Veronica’s voice shouting, “Florrie! Let us in!”
When I opened the door, Veronica and Jacquie shot inside, chattering nonstop. I closed the door and Jacquie reached over and locked it.
“We saw a ghost,” Veronica blurted, completely out of breath.
“Everyone did,” added Jacquie. “The whole group of us!”
Why did I find that immensely comforting? I held my breath. “Was it a headless man?”
They stared at me in shock.
“How could you know that?” asked Jacquie.
Strangely enough, the fact that other people had seen the same ghost calmed my nerves considerably. I felt so much better! “I saw him, too. Now I’m beginning to wonder if it was a setup. Maybe the cemetery arranged it.”
“No way,” Veronica headed straight to my liquor cabinet. “It was real. I will never pooh-pooh anyone else’s ghost visions again. ”
“What did Hilda say about it? Could she tell who he was?” I asked.
Veronica poured two glasses of Grand Marnier and handed one to Jacquie. “Hilda took it in stride. I guess ghosts are a big part of her life. It’s not like he was the first one she encountered.”
Jacquie sipped from her glass. “But Hilda couldn’t get him to talk with her.”
Veronica laughed hysterically. “Maybe you need a head to be able to communicate! Oh gosh. I’m sorry. I’m a little shaken. Florrie, would you mind if I slept over tonight?”
“Of course not. Are you afraid he might follow you home?” I was teasing, but Veronica wasn’t a wuss. She had to be very frightened to sleep over.
“No. At least I don’t think so. Where do ghosts go? Do you think he hangs out at the cemetery all the time? Are they like vampires? Do they only come out at night?”
It was a ridiculous conversation. Ghosts didn’t roam the streets looking for people to pursue, did they?
“Wait a minute,” I said. “If ghosts roam the streets looking for people, why is this the first ghost Veronica and I have ever seen? No, no, no. I think there’s something fishy about this ghost.”
“We have one in the mansion, you know,” said Jacquie, taking a seat and elegantly crossing her legs. “Maxwell won’t talk about it. He’s funny that way. And he doesn’t want DuBois to know who it is.”
Veronica nestled in a chair, her shoes off and her legs drawn up under her. “Why not?”
I took the sofa. Peaches vaulted onto my lap and Frodo jumped up beside me.
“Because the ghost was once a butler for the Maxwells. It’s very sad, but a wonderful story. Well, to me it is. You know how I love a romance. Of course, we all know about upstairs and downstairs in England, where the domestics didn’t mingle with the people for whom they worked. It wasn’t all that different here. The butler was the head of the domestic staff. However, even though he was at the top, he didn’t socialize with the family. In the 1800s, the Maxwells’ butler was a gentleman named Grover Throop. He fell in love with a society lady who lived in this neighborhood, a Natalia O’Malley.”
I choked on my tea. “Natalia? The daughter of the ambassador?”
Jacquie looked at me in surprise. “I’ve never heard that but I suppose it’s possible. By all accounts, Natalia was just as smitten with Grover. The lovers met secretly in garden nooks and private spots. You can imagine what a scandal it would have been if their love for each other became public. Poor Natalia was reportedly married to a vile man. Even a rumor of her interest in a butler would have ruined her and likely gotten her thrown out of the house!”
“This is so sad,” said Veronica. “They were star-crossed lovers. There was no way out for them.”
“Not in those times,” said Jacquie. “Can’t you see them sneaking around the mansion? For all we know, they might have met out here in the carriage house!”
“I don’t get it,” I said. “Why would that upset Mr. DuBois?”
“DuBois is a stickler for formality and proper behavior. He would be aghast at the thought. But there’s more. Natalia’s father was worried about her welfare. He gave his daughter a number of gold coins in case she fell on desperate times. He warned her to hide them from her husband. She knew she couldn’t keep them in her own home because her husband would surely find them. So she gave them to the one man she trusted—Grover Throop. Grover was a decent and honest man. Unfortunately, Natalia’s brother, Ivan, got wind of what their father had done. He had a terrible gambling habit and was broke. He wanted those coins! He figured that Natalia’s husband, O’Malley, had taken them from her. So he spied on her husband, O’Malley, intending to demand or steal the gold coins. Unfortunately, O’Malley was a superstitious man with a bad drinking habit. One of the chambermaids, wishing to endear herself to O’Malley, told him about Grover and Natalia. On a misty evening, O’Malley and Ivan confronted the hapless butler on the doorstep and shot him on the spot. But in their haste, they didn’t realize that they had killed the only person who knew where the gold coins were hidden.”
I longed to hear a happier ending. “That’s it? They murdered the poor butler?”
“Now you know why Maxwell doesn’t want DuBois to know about it,” Jacquie explained.
“I hope O’Malley and Ivan rotted in a filthy, cold jail for that,” said Veronica.
“I don’t honestly know what happened to the two of them,” said Jacquie. “Perhaps Maxwell knows. He grew up hearing relatives talk about Grover the butler, who was murdered because of his affair with a society lady and that he now walks the grounds, continuing his job.”
“Coralue told me O’Malley was run over by his own coach,” I offered.
Jacquie cringed. “Sometimes when the wind blows through the trees at night, I could swear I hear someone calling, Natalia!” She sang the name.
Veronica frowned. “Maybe I should sleep at home. I don’t think I have a ghost in my apartment.”
Jacquie glanced at her watch. “Oof! I’d better head back before Mr. DuBois wonders what happened to me.”
But when Jacquie opened the door, she screamed.
Frodo barked and ran to Jacquie’s side. Veronica and I were right behind him.
Frodo wagged his tail, which made me feel a little bit better.
I opened the door wide. It was Roxie. She barely looked like herself. Her beautiful face was haggard, her skin sallow. Her baby blond hair was snagged and ratty, as if she hadn’t brushed it in days. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to shock you. I was just getting ready to knock on the door. Since the lights were on, I figured Florrie was still up.”
Jacquie sagged and heaved a sigh of relief. She reached out for Roxie’s arm. “I’m sorry I screamed, sugar, I didn’t expect to see anyone.”
“I apologize for coming here so late. I . . .”
Jacquie pulled her inside, and I closed the door.
In a whisper she asked, “I heard someone found a body.” She swallowed hard. “Is it Finley?”