by K E O'Connor
“Did you push Juliette down the stairs as well?”
“She was becoming a problem,” said Meredith. “I didn’t like her when she was married to Archie. I knew she had plans for me. And I knew she was thinking of leaving this estate. I’ve been here for a decade; it’s my home as much as it is hers. I had to make sure she couldn’t ruin everything for me. She’d taken the man I was supposed to marry. Juliette wasn’t going to take this as well.”
“How did you do it?”
“Juliette is easy to manipulate.” Meredith shrugged. “Her health hasn’t been good for some time, and she’s always so groggy. I blame the pill she takes.”
Alarm shot through me. “You’ve been drugging Juliette?” It made sense now; Juliette’s tiredness, her constant headaches, and aversion to daylight.
“Only with what she’s already been prescribed,” said Meredith. “Juliette likes a drink before bedtime. It’s easy enough for me to add a couple of extra pills into her tea at night. It keeps her out of my way for most of the day and ensures she sleeps soundly, so I can move around the house without being bothered by her.”
“That’s dangerous,” I said. “She could have overdosed on her medication.”
“That would have been a tragedy.” Meredith smiled thinly. “I overheard Juliette discussing on the phone about putting the estate up for sale. I had to put a stop to it. So I didn’t drug her one evening and waited outside her room until she came out. Juliette doesn’t sleep well when she isn’t medicated. All I had to do then was run up behind her and give her a good, hard shove. It’s just a shame she didn’t die as easily as Archie.”
“Juliette will be home from the hospital soon,” I said. “She may remember it was you who pushed her.”
“I’ll be gone by then,” said Meredith. “I was just saying a last goodbye to this place. I wanted to try on this dress one more time before I said farewell to all the things I could have had, but were stolen from me.”
“What are you planning to do?”
Meredith’s gaze went to the window. “I may not be high up enough here. The attic will be my next stop. I want to die in the place I consider my home. The place that should rightfully have been mine, where I was happily married to Archie. That’s all I wanted, to be loved by him, to be his wife, to have my service recognized.”
“No man is worth dying for,” I said to her. “If you confess to the police, they will understand. It sounds as if Archie led you on. He’d been lying to you, telling you things he thought you wanted to hear, so you stayed at his beck and call. Don’t you want to live a life on your own terms?”
“But this is my life,” said Meredith. “This is all I’ve known, and it’s all I want. Archie is gone, and as you said, Juliette will be back soon, and she’ll either sack me or sell the place I love. There’s nothing left for me here.”
“Then make a new life for yourself,” I said. “It’s not too late.” It most likely was. If the police got a confession out of Meredith, I doubted she would see the outside of a prison again.
Flipper barked and I rested my hand on his head to keep him quiet.
“We are not stupid women, Lorna,” said Meredith. “I appreciate you taking the time to hear my confession. But it’s the only one I will give. I know what I need to do. I know what I’ve done, and I know why I did it. I doubt the police will understand my reasons, though.” Meredith moved to the window and unlocked it.
“You don’t have to do this.” I hurried towards her.
“But I want to.” Meredith raised a hand to stop me getting any closer. “There is nothing you can do here. Time for you to go. You won’t want to watch this.” She tugged at the window, but it remained stuck.
“There is another way,” I said. “There’s always another option than ending your own life.”
Flipper gave another sharp bark and looked at the window. I’d sensed it a few seconds before he had; Archie had finally come back.
“Prison is not an option I wish to consider,” said Meredith. “I would have no control over my situation. This is the better option as far as I’m concerned.” She grunted as she tugged at the window again. “I make sure these are regularly oiled. Why isn’t it opening?”
The answer to her question was standing right beside her. Archie glared at Meredith as he held the window in place.
“I’m guessing you heard all of that,” I said to him.
“I heard everything you have to say to me, Lorna,” said Meredith. “But it has not changed my mind.” She pulled at the window again before stepping back. “I should jump from the attic anyway. Need to get this right the first time.”
Archie moved to stand directly in front of Meredith so that she walked through him as she headed towards the door.
Meredith gave a visible shudder and tugged the delicate fabric of the wedding dress closer around her. “Time to get the central heating on. I shall get to that.” She smiled at me. “Or rather, whoever takes over from me after I have gone will have to deal with that.”
I looked at Archie, wondering what he was going to do. He simply continued to glare at Meredith.
I blocked her path. “Don't do this.”
“Are you going to let me past, or do I have to throw you down the stairs as well?” asked Meredith. “I’ve never had a problem with you being here, but if you get in my way now, things will not end happily for you.”
Flipper gave a growl as if he’d heard the menace in Meredith’s tone. His ice blue eyes narrowed as he focused on her and his hackles rose.
I placed a comforting hand on his head. “There’s nothing to worry about. Meredith is not going to hurt either of us.”
“I will if you don’t get out of my way,” said Meredith. “You cannot interfere with my plans. I am determined to get one thing right in my life.”
“I’m not intending to interfere,” I said. “But I know a man who is.”
“Do you mean that boyfriend of yours?” asked Meredith. “I don’t see him around at the moment. And, as I have discovered, men have the knack of letting you down when you need them the most.”
“I don’t mean Zach,” I said. “I mean Archie.”
Meredith’s eyes widened. “My Archie is dead. I should know; I pushed him down the stairs.”
Archie’s form dissolved, and he swirled round Meredith in a cloud of shimmering mist.
She coughed and covered her mouth with her hands. “I feel most strange, as if the room is tipping from side to side.”
“Perhaps you’re overcome with remorse,” I said. “If you confess to the police about what you’ve done, those sensations will go away.”
“You’re talking nonsense.” Meredith staggered to one side and then headed back to the window. “I must get out. I must be with my Archie.”
“What if Archie doesn’t want to be with you? What if he’s heard what you’ve had to say and now despises you?”
“He would never despise me.” Meredith glanced at me over her shoulder. “After everything I’ve done for him.”
“Including killing him,” I said.
Meredith gripped the window ledge. “That was unfortunate. If there had been any other option, I would have taken it.”
“But you killed him and then decided to get rid of Juliette,” I said. “Was Ben to be next?”
“That boy knows nothing.” Meredith snorted a laugh. “He was an inconvenience, who would have disappeared as soon as Juliette’s money dried up.”
“He loves Juliette,” I said. “And in a twisted way, I know Archie did as well. Their marriage was far from perfect, but he did care for her. And Archie would never have married you.” I looked over to Archie and saw him give a firm nod.
“You know nothing about any of this.” Meredith tugged at the window again and let out a scream of frustration. “Just open!”
Archie misted the window in front of Meredith and slowly drew a word in the mist. It was a single word: why?
Meredith stopped in her frantic tugging o
f the window. She took several steps back. “What is this?” She pointed a shaking hand at the window.
“Maybe Archie hasn’t abandoned you as much as you thought he had,” I said.
“He is waiting for me!”
“I don’t think he’s waiting for you,” I said. “I think he wants to know who killed him and why.”
“Is this really happening?” asked Meredith. “Has my lover come back to me?”
Archie shook his head and grabbed hold of Meredith’s shoulder. I saw her shudder and pull back from his touch.
“I don’t think he likes you calling him your lover,” I said.
“Can you see him?” Meredith spun towards me, her eyes wide with a combination of alarm and hope.
“It’s hard to explain,” I said. “But it’s a talent of mine. Helping people who have been wronged.”
The window behind Meredith suddenly shot up and Archie lunged at her, forcing her backwards.
“Archie, no!” I ran towards Meredith and tried to grab hold of her arm, but Archie shoved me away.
Flipper gave a yelp and dashed in the direction of Archie, intent on protecting me.
Meredith squealed in alarm as she attempted to keep her balance and stop from pitching out of the window.
“This is not the way to resolve things,” I said to Archie. “Killing Meredith won’t bring you back.”
Archie glared at me before turning back towards Meredith and stalking towards her.
“Meredith, you must confess to what you’ve done,” I said. “Archie will not leave you in peace until you do so.”
Meredith grabbed hold of one side of the window frame and clung on. “But I don’t want him to leave me alone. I want to be united with him.”
“He doesn’t want you in that way,” I said. “You won’t get any peace until you’ve confessed to what you did to him and Juliette. He will haunt you for the rest of your life.”
“But not if I’m dead,” said Meredith. “Then we can be together.”
“Do you really want to die?” I asked her.
“I want to be with Archie,” said Meredith slowly. “And if he is here, then it shows he’s waiting for me.”
“No, it only shows he wants revenge, because you killed him,” I said. “Archie does not love you. He never has. In fact, Archie Musgrave has only ever loved himself.”
Archie shot me an evil glare but then shrugged. It seemed I knew him better than he realized.
Meredith sagged against the window. “But he loved me.”
“Confess to what you’ve done,” I said. “It will give you peace and mean Archie can finally rest. If you really do love him, isn’t that what you’d want?”
“I... I’m not sure what I want anymore.” Meredith looked down at the wedding gown, and her shoulders sagged. “I feel like such a fool.”
“We all make mistakes when it comes to love,” I said. “You won’t be the first woman to have been deceived by a man.”
Archie gave me a half-hearted shove, which I ignored as I closed the gap between Meredith and me.
“But I was so sure.” Meredith turned to face the window and gazed out over the grounds. “No, I am right. It’s time for me to join Archie.” She threw her legs over the window sill.
Archie shot round in front of Meredith and blasted her backwards into the bedroom. She landed on top of me, knocking the air out of my lungs as one of her elbows sunk into my side.
“Lorna, the police are here.” Helen walked through the doorway, stopping when she saw Meredith sprawled on the floor in a too small wedding gown, a look of terror on her face, and me squashed underneath her.
I gave a groan and tried to roll out from under Meredith. But she pinned me to the floor in a flustered heap as Flipper licked my face and Archie circled overhead, a smug look on his face.
“Need some help?” Helen hurried over and grabbed my arm.
“You’d better bring the police up here,” I said to her. “Meredith has something to tell them.”
Chapter 21
I raised a hand as the police car made its way along the gravel drive and turned the corner.
Zach was by my side, along with Flipper and Jessie. Helen was inside the house on the phone to Ben.
Meredith had confessed to killing Archie and attempting to kill Juliette. She’d been half-deranged when the police had arrived in the bedroom, shrieking about Archie still being in the house and how he’d saved her life.
It had taken the police an hour to talk Meredith down and get any sense out of her, but they believed her confession enough to escort her down the stairs and into the back of their car. The interview they were about to conduct with Meredith was going to be an interesting one.
“I’ve just spoken to Ben at the hospital,” said Helen as she emerged from the house. “Juliette will be out tomorrow morning. Ben’s going to stay with her until then and bring her home. I gave him an update about what had happened with Meredith. He was shocked, to say the least.”
“None of us thought Meredith had anything to do with this,” I said. “Even Archie was convinced that somebody else had pushed him down the stairs.”
“There had to be something wrong with her,” said Helen. “She likes sherry.”
“Meredith killed Archie because he rebuffed her?” asked Zach.
“Unrequited love can quickly turn to hate,” said Helen.
“In this case, it took a decade to do so,” I said. “But Meredith snapped and took her anger out on the person she loved the most.”
Zach scratched his chin. “Archie could have pretended he cared for Meredith. It meant he had an ally in the house to keep an eye on things when he was away. He’s not innocent in all of this.”
“Most likely,” I said. “Meredith grabbed onto the little attention Archie gave her to create a whole make-believe world, where she and Archie were together and happy. She convinced herself that, one day, he would marry her, and they’d live together in wedded bliss. Meredith overlooked all of his faults and failings and covered for him.”
“But you said Archie saved Meredith when she tried to jump out of the window.” Helen looked at me. “Why would he do that?”
“I’m not sure,” I said. “When he first arrived, he was angry. In fact, he tried to push her out the window. But when she tried to jump herself, Archie shoved her back into the room.”
“Maybe he wants her to pay for what she’s done,” said Zach. “If Meredith had jumped, she’d have gotten away with it.”
“But what a way to get away with it,” I said, “having to end your own life.” I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Meredith. Locked in a fantasy world inside her head, not having any real life to enjoy, and manipulated by a selfish employer.
“It sounds like Meredith never had much of a life as it was,” said Helen, echoing my own thoughts. “She was so obsessed with Archie that she’d do anything for him and created this world where she was the lady of the estate. It’s rather sad.”
I spotted a movement out of the corner of my eye and saw Archie floating by one of the flowerbeds. “Give me a minute. There’s someone I need to speak to.” I left Helen, Zach, and the dogs by the front door of the house as I walked towards Archie.
He acknowledged me with a nod as I reached his side.
“Are you happy with the outcome?” I asked him. “Turns out, it wasn’t your friend who hurt you after all.”
He nodded again and gave me a sad looking smile.
“I imagine the police will still want to talk to Dexter about his dubious business dealings,” I said. “So he may not have gotten away with everything. But at least he won’t be accused of your murder.”
Archie’s gaze shifted to look across the garden.
“Are you going to miss all of this?” I asked him.
He raised a hand and briefly pressed his icy cold fingers to my arm before mouthing thank you. His image began to fade.
“Before you go,” I said, “are you going to leave Juliette alone? I k
now she has plans for a happier future with Ben. And it sounds as if she may be selling the estate. You aren’t going to stop her from doing that, are you?”
Archie’s image shifted back into focus, and he looked over at the house. His gaze went down to the wedding ring still on his finger, and he shook his head.
“She stuck with you during some difficult times,” I said. “Maybe now is her time to find real happiness. And if that means moving away from here, then you should let her.”
Archie smiled at me and gave a carefree looking shrug.
“Time for you to go?” I asked him.
Archie nodded then spun round, plucked a daisy from the flower bed and passed it to me, before blinking out of sight.
As he vanished, a sense of calm descended upon me. I hadn’t realized how tense I’d felt whenever Archie was around. His ghost gave off a nervous energy that unsettled me. I couldn’t help but feel relieved he was finally gone and would now be at rest. As could everyone else. Meredith was in police custody, and Juliette and Ben would move on with their lives together.
I turned and walked back to where Zach and Helen stood.
“Is everything okay?” asked Helen as I walked towards her.
“Yes, just saying goodbye to someone who has been causing us a few problems.” My fingers brushed the petals of the daisy I held.
“No more rattling windows in the cottage?” asked Helen with a smile.
“No one will be disturbing us anymore,” I said. “Our cottage will be peaceful from now on.”
Zach wound an arm round my waist and pulled me to his side. “Unless I decide to drop by with Jessie for a visit. Flipper and Jessie always get themselves in trouble when they’re together.”
We all looked over to where Flipper and Jessie were playing a merry tug-of-war with an enormous branch they’d discovered; both had tight grips on either end of the wood and were growling at each other, tails wildly wagging to show it was all in fun.
“That kind of noise and mess I don’t object to,” I said. “It’s the icy fingers in the dead of night and the cold drafts that bother me.”
