The Fourth Mistress

On hearing Mr. Burton's words, Louise's eyes widened in shock because it was the last thing she had expected from the late Mr. Wensley to be associated with a hired killer. A deep frown came to settle between Graham's eyebrows, and he asked,

"Are you sure this is what Elias Latton's job was?"

Mr. Burton nodded his head, "I found out about it two days ago and took some more time to collect more details of him. Hiring a person to kill is an illegal offence and we tried to trace back to the other jobs he and his companions tried to complete. Some of them have fled away while we have arrested some of them. The question here is why your late uncle was seen with Elias. Did he get someone killed?"

"There's no way he's involved in something like that," said Graham, refusing the idea.

"I understand it is hard to accept," the officer nodded his head. "Believe me when I say this, when I found out about it, it came as quite a shock. It is the reason why I didn't share the information with you right away. As an officer, it is my duty to collect sufficient proof before sharing it. During the interrogation, Mrs. Wensley said that they received the letters from this man, but that she was unaware of what it was about."

So Lady Agatha did mention it to Mr. Burton, which would make her less suspicious, thought Louise in her mind.

"I think Elias didn't get the promised amount, he must have threatened your uncle that he would expose him, letting people know who was killed," replied Mr. Burton, and the atmosphere in the room turned tense.

"For most of the time, Uncle Ernest has stayed in the manor. I don't know when he had the time to go and meet the man," stated Graham. "He was also a pleasant man to be around."

"That's true," agreed Louise.

"We aren't sure if Elias completed the job. But at the moment, we are trying to cover all the facts," informed Mr. Burton, and he got up. "Is there anything that I need to know?" he asked Graham. "Hiding any evidence or knowledge of what is going on would only add the person as an accomplice. You have a big family, who all live together."

"The members in the Reed's family have told everything that they know to you, Mr. Burton," stated Graham. Louise noticed the look of suspicion in the officer's eyes. Her husband said, "We have been living together for a very long time. We are a close knitted family," his olive-green eyes trained on Mr. Burton.

Mr. Burton started to walk towards the door. Before pushing the door open, he turned and said, "I will be back again if I need more information or if I find anything new."

Graham nodded his head, the expression on his face grim.

Louise saw Mr. Burton leave the room. Like Graham, she wondered if Mr. Wensley had been falsely accused and was being framed for someone else's misdeeds. But from Lady Agatha's previous words, it seemed obvious that Ernest Wensley was involved with Elias Latton.

Graham sat down at his desk, his elbows coming to rest on the surface of the desk, while his head pressed against his interlocked hands.

Seeing this, Louise walked around, and she placed her hand on his shoulder. She heard Graham let out a tired sigh, and he placed his forearms on the desk. "Let me drop you back to your workplace," he offered.

"Mr. Winkle gave me an off day. I am free until tomorrow," replied Louise.

After a few seconds, Graham said, "It was much better knowing the first news than knowing the current information."

Louise could understand Graham's emotions right now because she felt the same.

"First uncle died and then the man was found dead in the ground, it was already reported that he was buried alive," said Graham, his voice low, but Louise heard it well. "Let us go back to the manor."

When they reached the manor, seeing both Graham and Louise at the door this soon, Gilbert looked slightly taken aback, his eyes subtly widening. "Welcome back, m-"

But Graham cut short the greeting and said, "Bring my parents, Aunt Agatha, my sister and Henry to the drawing room. Right now."

The butler bowed his head without question. By the time everyone was in the drawing-room, Graham entered it with Louise.

"What is going on, son?" questioned Senior Mr. Reed. "Why did you want everyone in here?"

"Is Louise pregnant?" asked Alison, her eyes shifting to look at her sister-in-law, and Louise awkwardly smiled.

Thankfully Graham answered, "No and that is not why I called everyone here." He looked at every single person who was in the room. "Mr. Burton had come to meet me in the office. It is about the case."

"What did he find?" asked Lady Agatha, showing a keen interest in the matter.

Louise, on the other hand, tried to read the expressions of every person in the room. Was there someone in here who was involved and wasn't speaking the truth?

"Mr. Burton has found out what Elias Latton's work was. He was a killer, and Uncle Ernest must have hired him," informed Graham, and Lady Viola frowned.

"Did the man drink early in the morning to give such absurd information which is untrue?" asked Lady Viola, who looked visibly upset after what her son revealed.

"There's no way Ernest would have done anything like that. This is just a made up story," declared Lady Agatha, and she stood up from her seat. "Are you the one who fabricated this story?" she shifted her eyes to look at Louise.

"I wasn't the one who found out about it. It was the investigating officer, Mr. Burton," Louise replied calmly without taking any offence to the woman's accusation. Lady Agatha had turned aggressive in both her actions and words from the time her husband had passed away.

"Why do you blame it on Louise, Auntie?" questioned Graham, his eyes narrowed. "Is it because you knew uncle was doing something he was not supposed to do?"

"It is because she is meddlesome. Everyone already knows it and soon word will reach out that she has lost her mind," stated Lady Agatha.

Louise couldn't hold her tongue, and she replied, "I guess if I pass the exam it would prove the point to be otherwise and know the lies people are spinning without any base."

Senior Mr. Reed asked Graham, "Do you know what you are telling, Graham? We all have known Ernest well enough, living under the same roof. It is impossible for him to be associated with such a thing."

"I know, father. But Mr. Burton has thoroughly investigated the matter before he came to us today. From what we know, uncle committed suicide. But is there a possibility that any one in this house knew what was going on with him?" asked Graham, his eyes meeting every member in the room. "I want you to step forward if you know about it."

"Do you hear what you are saying," asked Lady Viola, a stern expression on her face. "Even if we assume for a minute that your uncle was into such dealings, then who killed this other man?" the woman raised her eyebrows in question.

This time, Louise answered, "Lady Viola, Mr. Burton is still trying to find out more on this case." Hearing her words, Viola harrumphed. "Whoever murdered Elias, that person didn't want to blow their cover. We believe it was someone who Mr. Wensley knew. Elias might have tried to expose Mr. Wensley and maybe this other person was worried that Elias would try to expose him or her next."

Henry, who was sitting next to his wife Alison, said, "Are you trying to imply that the person who killed Uncle Ernest is one among us? Isn't that a little too strange," he offered an awkward smile.

"It isn't confirmed, but it is a possibility," replied Louise, and it raised eyebrows in the room.

Alison raised one of her hands and placed it in front of her mouth in worry.

"What is going to happen now?" asked Senior Mr. Reed to Graham.

"I guess we'll have to wait, to know if there's an outsider's hand in this. I would ask everyone to be careful. At least until Mr. Burton gets to the bottom of it," answered Graham.

Maybe if Elias was not killed, they would have never known that there was another person who was Mr. Wensley's compliance. Robert was busy speaking to Graham, Lady Viola had a grim expression, and Lady Agatha looked as if she didn't want to speak about it. While Henry was speaking to Alison as she looked worried over the news.

Was it someone from this room? Or someone they didn't know about, who had killed the killer, asked Louise in her mind. Lady Agatha had mentioned her husband receiving letters that demanded the rest of the payment to be fulfilled, that meant the deed had been completed, and Mr. Wensley indirectly had blood on his hands.

So who was killed?

When everyone met again in the dining room to have dinner, Louise watched the maids bring the dishes into the room one by one on the butler's order. Her eyes watched every family member being served with what they wanted.

"Louise?" she heard Graham call next to her. "You haven't taken anything to eat yet."

That was because Louise remembered what Mr. Winkle had told her this morning. It wasn't possible, but there was nothing wrong in being careful, she said to herself.

"I was thinking something," she murmured and chose the dishes before the maids served them to her.

Once Louise finished her dinner with the rest of the family members, she excused herself and got back to her room. She wondered if there was a connection between the haunting ghost and the person whom Mr. Wensley had gotten killed. But if it was true, maybe the person was killed five or more years ago when Graham's uncle was fully involved in their lumber business.

When Graham came to the room, he asked Louise, "Did you find the will that you mentioned yesterday?"

Louise shook her head, "It wasn't there."

Graham pursed his lips and asked, "If it makes you feel better, we can move to Hungate where the construction of the new branch is taking place. You don't have to worry about anything."

At his words, she smiled, "I don't think it will solve anything. And there's still time for my exam and getting its results." Right now, she was still an employee of Mr. Winkle's, and she doubted the ghost would stop following her, even if they moved from here. "I know you mean well, Graham. But I don't want to hide or run. It only brings more fear."

"Alright," replied Graham, not trying to force her to pick something she wasn't comfortable with.

"I spoke to the priest already and he will be coming here tomorrow early in the morning," said Graham, and Louise nodded her head.

"Thank you."

Hours later, Louise was fast asleep on the bed next to Graham, dreaming when someone entered the room.

The ragged, dirty hem of the dress trailed behind as the decayed feet walked from the room's entrance to come and stand at the foot of the bed. Staring at one of the people who slept on the bed.

Louise continued to sleep, her breathing calm, as air passed in and out from her parted lips.

In her dream, she was in the forest, lying in a hollow pit. She tried getting up, but her hands and legs were tied with a rope. People stood above her, but the mud was pushed into the hollow pit before she could see the faces. Some of the mud fell into her eyes, and she struggled to see. She tried to scream for help, but a cloth had been tied around her mouth.

More mud was thrown upon her while people continued to bury her alive. She felt suffocated, unable to breathe as she became part of the ground in the forest.

When Louise felt she would die, a gasp escaped from her lips, and suddenly she woke up from her sleep. Sitting upright, she touched her face and then her mouth to realize she had only been dreaming.

She placed her hand to rub her forehead and temples that were covered in sweat. She had been thinking about Mr. Wensley's case so much that her mind had subconsciously turned her to be the person who was buried. Remembering how it felt, she couldn't imagine how much Elias must have suffered while being buried alive. Turning to the nightstand, she picked up the glass and drank the water.

Suddenly Louise realized that she had failed to think about something.

A motive behind a person's death could be found by seeing the way a person died. And in Elias' case, it didn't seem like someone was trying to silence him. To kill him in a way to make him suffer, it seemed more like revenge, thought Louise to herself.

The following day as Graham had already told her, the local priest from Habsburg had arrived at Reed's manor after the family had finished their breakfast, riding in his carriage. The butler opened the door, leading the man inside, where Graham and Louise greeted him.

Louise noticed the man wore a black cassock, and he held a rosary in his hand. Even though he had a head full of peppered hair, his clean shave made him look as if he was in his early fifties.

"Good morning, Father Edward," Graham greeted the man with a bow. "This is my wife Louise whom I spoke to you about."

"Good morning. It is good to have you here, Father Edward," said Louise with a polite smile on her lips and offered a bow to him.

Father Edward nodded to them, "Good morning to you both. I think this is my first time coming to the manor even though I have lived in Habsburg my entire life." His words were gentle and calm. His eyes patiently looked around the place where he stood. "You wouldn't mind if I take a trip around the manor, do you?"

"Of course, not," responded Graham.

"Lady Louise, would you like to show me around?" asked Father Edward, and Louise nodded her head. "As she's the one who has been experiencing things, I would like to have a little chat with her."

Graham gave Louise a nod, "Gilbert," he called his butler, "Tell the maids to prepare tea for us and bring it to the parlour room."

"That's fine," said Father Edward. "I have another place to go after this. You don't have to trouble yourself."

"Let's start from above," said Louise, walking towards the stairs.

"This place is quite isolated and away from the town of Habsburg, isn't it," said Father Edward, his eyes looking at the windows to look outside the manor.

"It is," replied Louise, and she asked, "How do you know if a place is haunted or not?"

The man smiled at her words, "Similar to how you can distinguish between day and night. I live right behind the church, and people who come to meet me are often people who want a solution to their troubles. You can call it intuition, but in truth, we are only trying to provoke the entity if there's anything in this manor. I have come across a spirit once, a terrible one that took the life of the clergy man. Graham told me that you have been seeing strange things, when did it start?"

"It was probably before I moved to this manor, before the wedding," replied Louise. She walked next to him, looking ahead of him. She hadn't forgotten the day when she had gotten lost in the forest.

"Has this spirit that you believe is haunting you, ever harmed you?" questioned Father Edward, his eyes falling on her, and she shook her head.

"No, not maliciously at least," she answered him. "The most that has happened to me is getting locked in the rooms. I have heard footsteps, but sometimes the flooring creaks because of its age and it is hard to say."

"Which are the rooms?" he asked, a look of curiosity in his eyes.

Louise decided to lead him towards the room where she had been first locked in this manor. The room which the Reed's family didn't often use. "This is the one," she said, walking towards the curtains and pushing them away from each other to bring in light inside the room.

Turning around, she saw Father Edward, who stood at the front of the room. He said, "This room is dark."

"Let me push the other curtains away from the window," offered Louise, starting to walk towards the other windows.

"I am not speaking about the light," stated Father Edward, and he took one step inside the room, standing still as if he was thinking something. "It is the room that holds the darkness. The things in here and the air."

Feeling a little chill run down her spine, Louise looked at the room's objects, which was covered in sheets.

"Whose room is this?" he asked her, without touching anything. He looked at the bed, the closets and walked towards the dressing table. Noticing a comb that had been placed at the edge of its surface.

"Nobody uses this room. This side of the rooms are always kept closed. Before the Reed's, the manor used to belong to the Lestrange's," explained Louise, and the man nodded. "There is something, though," she said, gaining his attention.

Louise walked towards the closets, opening the door to show him clothes that belonged to women. She said, "The Lestrange's didn't have a daughter. All the three were sons." She had even checked with Graham if someone else had lived before them in the manor, but the manor had stayed empty after Mr. Lestrange's death until the Reeds bought the estate.

"Sometimes people come to occupy manors illegally... but then the doors must have been locked," murmured Father Edward. "Or maybe it was one of Lestrange's family members. Did the other members in your family face similar problems like you?"

Louise shook her head, "No. It feels like I am the only one who sees things. There is something else," said Louise, and the man gave her a nod to continue. "Graham's third wife, Lisa. She said she was haunted and followed too. Is there a way to know if it was true?"

"From the same ghost?"

"I am not sure about that. When she was alive, the Reed's used to live in Warlington's manor," she let him know.

"I can go take a look today as I am on my way to Midville after this. I can see if there's anything there," answered the priest, and Louise internally sighed.

"Thank you, that will be very much appreciated," said Louise and asked, "Is there no way to know which person's ghost it is or why she is here?"

"For that I will need to make contact with the spirit. And we don't know how well that will go. Some spirits are evil and they don't take it well when people try to reach out to them," replied Father Edward before adding. "But I can confirm this much, that I have sensed something in this room."

Hearing the priest confirm it had Louise purse her lips.

Louise was about to close the closet door, which she had opened earlier to show the priest, when she noticed a white dress. It was placed underneath the other dresses. Her hand reached out for it, pulling out the dress, which was the wedding gown she had seen a few days ago.

Father Edward noticed Louise running her hand on the fabric and asked, "It must be Mrs. Lestrange's wedding gown."

"It isn't," replied Louise, tightly clutching onto it. Earlier, she didn't have proof, but now she did.

He said, "I will hold a peace offering and tie the crosses around the place so that whatever spirit is in here can enter the afterlife in peace."

She heard Father Edward mutter something while walking in the room. At that time, she picked up a sheet to cover the wedding dress and carried it with her. They stepped into the corridors of the manor as he continued to pray. He tied the cross to one of the pillars inside the manor.

When they reached the hall, they met Lady Viola, who stood with Graham and Gilbert at the side. He bowed his head at the lady.

"Father Edward," Lady Viola offered her greetings. "I heard from my son that you were here. I hope everything went well?"

"It did, milady. Everything should be fine now. I will see you in the church," said Father Edward, and the butler led him outside to the carriage. Lady Viola had seen Louise carrying something earlier but had not questioned it.

When Louise removed the bed sheet to show the wedding gown, the expression in Lady Viola's eyes hardened.

Graham looked taken aback, and he asked, "Where did you get that, Louise?"