Voices in a Haunted Room

by Philippa Carr

  “Perhaps,” I said, “Jonathan will see a ghost himself one day. Then he won’t be so sceptical.”

  The next day I went to see Aunt Sophie.

  She had heard the story of what was now called “Mrs. Frenshaw’s vision” and was very interested in it.

  “It was the ghost of that poor young man who was murdered with Alberic,” she said. “They were both murdered, poor innocent boys. Those are the people who come back… those who die violently. And they come back because they want their revenge.”

  Dolly Mather was there listening intently. Aunt Sophie addressed her now and then: “Dolly, bring another cushion for me, dear child. Just put my footstool a little nearer and ring and tell them we want some coal on the fire.”

  Dolly obeyed these instructions willingly, even eagerly.

  I asked about her grandmother and Dolly said she was not really well. She just wanted to be by herself all the time.

  “It’s very sad,” said Aunt Sophie, with that relish she always had for misery. “But Dolly comes to me very often, don’t you, child?”

  Dolly answered: “I don’t know what it would be like if I couldn’t come here.”

  I left at the usual time and when I came to the bridle path I dismounted and walked my horse. There was a deep silence and the darkness gave the place an eerie aspect. If I had not known that Billy Grafter was at large and that he had certainly fled from London, I could easily have been convinced that I had seen a ghost.

  On the second day when I was about to call on Aunt Sophie I met Dolly on the way and I had a feeling that she had been waiting for me, which proved right.

  “Oh, Mrs. Frenshaw, I was hoping to see you. Mademoiselle d’Aubigné is not well today.”

  “Oh, isn’t she? What’s wrong?”

  “It’s nothing much. She’s just tired and wants to sleep all the afternoon. Jeanne said if I saw you would I tell you not to call this afternoon. I haven’t seen Mademoiselle today. When I went Jeanne said come tomorrow.”

  “Oh, I see.”

  “Mrs. Frenshaw, I’d like to talk to you. Would you… come for a little ride with me?”

  “But of course, Dolly.” I was rather pleased. I had always found it difficult to talk to her. I was sure she brooded a great deal, and I had often said to David that if only she would talk we might be able to help her. So now I welcomed the opportunity.

  We turned our horses away from Enderby and I said: “Where shall we go?”

  “Evie and I used to love to ride by the sea.”

  “Perhaps you’d rather not go that way now then.”

  “Oh, I would, I would. I often go there.”

  So we turned our horses in a southerly direction.

  “It’s wonderful for me to be able to go and see Mademoiselle.”

  “It’s good for her, too. I think she’s really fond of you, Dolly.”

  A flush suffused her cheek. “Oh, do you really think so, Mrs. Frenshaw?”

  “I do indeed.”

  “She’s taught me a lot. French… and everything. It has been wonderful to go there… especially after I lost Evie.”

  “I understand,” I said.

  “She’s so sympathetic. After all… terrible things happened to her too, didn’t they?”

  “Yes.”

  “Can you smell the sea, Mrs. Frenshaw?”

  “Oh yes. I just got a whiff. I always like that… when you know it’s not far off.”

  “Evie used to like it, too.”

  I was wondering what it was she had to tell me, but I decided to leave it to her to do it in her own time and her own way. I fancied she could easily return to the secretive Dolly I had always known.

  We broke into a gallop and went like the wind over the green fields. Dolly was a good rider and she seemed to gain confidence in the saddle.

  Then we saw the sea. It was a grey, quiet, November sea with hardly a ripple on the water and not even the slightest breeze in the air.

  “Shall we go down to the beach?” she said. “I love it there.”

  I followed and as our horses’ hoofs touched the sand I saw the boat lying there on the beach.

  “Oh look,” said Dolly. “Shall we go and see the boat?”

  We galloped across the sand to where the boat lay.

  Dolly turned and looked at the boat house.

  “Oh, I think someone’s there.”

  “The owner of the boat perhaps,” I said.

  “Shall we go and see? Let’s tie our horses there… on the rock. That’s where Evie and I used to leave ours when we came here.”

  “All right,” I said. I dismounted and tethered my horse. Dolly was already making her way to the boat house.

  “Is anyone there?” she called.

  There was no answer.

  “I did think I saw someone,” she said. “Let’s take a peep inside.”

  Cautiously she pushed open the door and went in. I followed.

  The door shut suddenly and I was in darkness. Something had been put over my head. I felt a sharp blow on the head and then there was darkness.

  When I opened my eyes the first thing I saw was Dolly. She was sitting on a three-legged stool watching me.

  I was lying on the floor; I felt dazed and there was a pain in my head. My wrists and ankles were firmly tied together.

  “Dolly…” I stammered. “What… what’s happened?”

  She said: “You’ll soon come round. It’s ten minutes since we came in here. I’ve brought you here to kill you, Mrs. Frenshaw.”

  I should have thought she was being ridiculous if she had not been holding a gun.

  She saw my eyes on it and said: “I know how to use it. It’s one of the things I’ve been taught.”

  “Dolly! What is this? Some game?”

  “Oh no, it’s very serious. Death is.”

  “Do you really mean…?”

  She said: “Oh yes. You’ve got to die. You murdered Evie and you’re going to die… as she did.”

  “You’re mad. Nobody murdered Evie. She killed herself.”

  “She killed herself because others made her. That’s murder… and murderers have to die.”

  “Dolly, try to be sensible. Talk to me. What do you mean? What is all this about?”

  “I’ll tell you. We’ve got time because I’m not going to kill you until Billy gets here. That’s part of the contract.”

  “Billy? Billy Grafter?”

  “Yes, Billy Grafter.”

  “So you and he are friends.”

  She nodded. “Well, he was Alberic’s friend, wasn’t he?” She smiled. “You can’t move, can you? You’re well tied up. Billy did that.”

  “He’s here?”

  She nodded. “He’s going to get him. That’s what he’s going to do. And I’m going to get you. He helped me… and I’ll help him. You don’t understand, do you? Billy will be here in a moment. Then we’ll just go ahead.”

  She caressed the gun and I thought: She really means it. She’s mad.

  “Why should you go free with your sins… when my sister Evie…” Her face puckered as though she was going to cry.

  “Dolly,” I said, “let’s talk.”

  “We are talking, aren’t we? You see, you committed adultery. You broke the seventh commandment. You were married to the nice one and you committed adultery with the wicked one. It was in Enderby when it was empty before Mademoiselle came in. We knew you were there with him. We frightened you, didn’t we, when we spoke through the tube?”

  “So that was you.”

  “Yes… Evie and me. You were so scared. We laughed about it. And then… Evie was in love, and she said that when you loved it was the most wonderful thing… and then she was going to have the little baby. I wanted that little baby, Mrs. Frenshaw. Oh, I would have taken such care of it. And then she killed herself.”

  “She should never have done that. We could have done something. We could have helped her.”

  “It was you, Mrs. Frenshaw. You started it
and he finished it. You betrayed him and he shot him… and he was drowned. Between you you killed Alberic. Oh, you are puzzled, aren’t you? You thought Evie’s baby’s father was Harry Farringdon. She never cared for him. It was our Granny who wanted that. It was Alberic for Evie. They loved each other and I loved them both. They were going to take me to France with them. I was going to look after the little baby… because they would be married and it was all going to be wonderful. Then suddenly it all changed. He went to London and when he came back in a hurry he told us that you’d seen him and you’d told that wicked Mr. Frenshaw, who was your lover, and Alberic said he had to get away quickly… because they were after him. He promised to send for us… Evie and me. He told us we were to go to France. We would have gone. We knew how to get there. We were up here… hiding when it happened. So we saw it all. You came along and that wicked man shot Alberic and Alberic drowned and everything was different after that.”

  “You must know that Alberic was a spy.”

  “Alberic was a wonderful man.”

  “It is men such as him who brought terrible trouble to France.”

  “That had to be. That was injustice. Alberic talked about it to us.”

  “And he was trying to do to this country what he had done in his own. He had to die, Dolly. He always knew that he was taking that risk.”

  “And my sister… my Evie… she killed herself. She couldn’t face Granny. She was always on about Evie marrying well, telling her she really belonged at Eversleigh and how pretty she was and how she would get a rich husband. She said she didn’t try hard enough for Harry Farringdon.”

  “Oh Dolly… what a tangle of troubles! It need not have been.”

  “Evie couldn’t face… having a bastard.”

  “People do…”

  “You did… perhaps.”

  “Dolly!”

  “That makes you angry. Of course you’re angry. It makes me angry. Poor Evie had to kill herself and you… you did the same… only you were worse because you had a good husband. Evie never had that. She had to die… and you’re the lady at the big house… with everyone being respectable while my poor Evie…”

  “Oh, Dolly, I’m so sorry. It’s such a waste of a life… a waste of happiness…”

  “Not for you. You get what you want and nobody knows.”

  “Did you take the baby from Eversleigh?”

  “Yes. I was going to kill it.”

  I caught my breath with horror.

  “Well, Evie’s baby was killed wasn’t it?”

  “Oh Dolly.” I felt quite sick thinking of that terrible time when Jessica had been taken from us.

  “I kept her in my room at Grasslands. I was afraid someone might see her, but we managed. Then I knew I’d taken the wrong one. How was I to know which was which? There was all that fuss. I had her with me all the time. She’s a lovely little baby.” Her face creased into a smile. “She laughed at me and grabbed my finger and wouldn’t let go. She was a dear little baby. I’m glad I didn’t have to kill that one.”

  I said: “And the rope in the bushes?”

  She nodded. “You always went that way. Why does everything go right for you? Why did Billy have to come along that path just then?”

  “Rough justice,” I said.

  “I was watching. I shouted when I saw who it was but I was too late and I didn’t have time to get him away when you came so I had to leave him… and the rope and everything.”

  “So you were watching?”

  “I wanted to see you fall.”

  “I understand. And then after I’d gone for help you came out and took him away. You removed the rope…”

  “It wasn’t easy. I had to get him on his horse. Then I took the rope away and I took Billy to the boat house and looked after him. He’d cut his forehead but he hadn’t broken anything. He’d fallen into the bushes and they’d saved him. He was all right after a little while.”

  “I had no idea that you could be so devious,” I said.

  She looked rather pleased with herself. “Billy said I was making a mess of it. He said it was too important to be managed by an amateur. He said he’d help me to do it in a better way. He’d show me how to get you and I’d help him get the man. You’ve both got to die… for Evie. He knows too much, Billy says. He’s going to finish him and help me with you. When you’re both dead we’re going to put weights on you and throw you into the sea. You’ll just be a mysterious disappearance.”

  “And you, Dolly, what are you going to do? How are you going to feel when you know yourself to be a murderess?”

  “I’m an avenger. That’s different. We’re not ordinary murderers. I’m doing what has to be done for Evie, and Billy… he’s doing his duty.”

  “I don’t think a court of law would recognize it that way.”

  “Aren’t you frightened, Mrs. Frenshaw?”

  “A little. I don’t want to die. And, Dolly, somehow I feel you weren’t meant to be a murderess.”

  “I’m going to kill you,” she said. “I wish I could do it now and get it over.”

  “You don’t like the idea of it, do you?”

  She said: “I’ve sworn… for Evie.”

  “Untie my hands, Dolly.”

  She shook her head. “That would spoil everything. I’ve promised Evie. I’ve promised myself. Why should you break the seventh commandment and get away free while my sister Evie… She didn’t break the commandment because she wasn’t married. It was only because she loved Alberic. They would have been married and lived happily ever after… and I should have been with them.”

  “You couldn’t do this to me, Dolly. How will you feel when people are asking where I am? Suppose somebody saw you with me? They would say, ‘The last time we saw her she was riding away with you.’”

  “Nobody did see us.”

  “How can you be sure? And when they started asking you questions…”

  “They wouldn’t. Billy said it would be all right. You’re trying to frighten me.”

  I laughed mirthlessly. “And what are you doing to me?”

  “You deserve what you’re getting.”

  “Whatever I’ve done I have not murdered…”

  “Yes you have. You murdered Evie. My dear sweet lovely Evie.”

  “Evie killed herself.”

  “If you say that again I’ll shoot you now. I won’t wait for Billy.”

  “Why do you wait for him?”

  “Because… because… You must not ask questions.”

  “You have already told me all it is necessary to know. I am sorry about Evie. It was such a cruel waste of life.”

  She turned away from me to hide her grief, and just at that moment I heard a shrill whistle.

  “It’s Billy,” she said.

  She went out and there followed the sound of voices.

  I heard him say: “I’ll keep an eye on her. She can’t get away. Take something of hers…. something he’d know. He’s a suspicious devil and he’s on the trail.”

  “All right,” said Dolly.

  She came back into the boat house. She was no longer carrying the gun.

  “I want a ring or something… something he’d know,” she said.

  “Something who would know?”

  “Your lover, of course. The one you met at Enderby, the one you broke the seventh commandment for.”

  “Why do you want this?”

  “Because I’m going to take it to him and tell him where you are.”

  “Dolly!”

  “Then he’ll come, won’t he? He’ll come to rescue you.”

  “And then?”

  “Billy will be lying in wait for him.”

  “Dolly, you must not do this.”

  “It’s part of the plan. Billy and I are helping each other. It was his idea. That’s why he doesn’t want you dead till after he is. You get the idea. Billy doesn’t trust me. He thinks that if I killed you I mightn’t help him bring Mr. Frenshaw here. I would though… because although yo
u’re both Evie’s murderers, he was the one who actually killed Alberic.”

  I was more afraid now. I saw the plan clearly. Jonathan would come riding onto the beach and Billy Grafter would be lying hidden waiting for him. Jonathan would be an easy target. It must not happen. I suddenly thought of a world without him and I could not bear it. If ever I knew that I loved Jonathan it was in that moment.

  I began to plead for Jonathan’s life as I had not pleaded for my own.

  “Dolly, please… listen to me. You must not do this. Jonathan has done no wrong. He is working for his country. He had to kill Alberic. Alberic was a spy.”

  “Alberic was going to be Evie’s husband.”

  “Listen, Dolly.”

  “I won’t listen any more. Billy will be angry. He gets very angry. He wants me to go at once. I’ve got to bring him here. Now… give me something. That scarf. That’ll do. Oh yes. It has your initials worked on it in silk. He’ll know that.”

  “Dolly, please don’t do this thing.”

  She laughed, and snatching the scarf, ran out of the boat house.

  It seemed like hours that I lay there. There was a deep silence broken only by the gentle swishing of the waves as they ran lightly up the sand; and now and then I heard the melancholy cry of a gull.

  What could I do? I was powerless. Must I lie here trussed up like a fowl for the oven, unable to move? I looked at my wrists which were firmly bound together and I wondered if I could hope to release them. If I could do that… unbind my ankles and get out of here… I could find a way. Billy Grafter was watching out there. He would be at some vantage point, ready to kill Jonathan as he arrived.

  It was hopeless. My hands were firmly tied and I could not break free.

  I thought: What chance will he have? He will walk straight into the trap.

  I should have been more astute. I should have tried to find out more about Evie and her sister. I should have tried to discover who was watching me, who had tried to bring me down on the bridle path. It seemed that I had been obsessed by Jonathan and I had thought it was Millicent’s jealousy when it had been a much more sinister cause.

  What was the time? Would she find him? I knew that when she showed him my scarf he would believe that I had sent it. What would she tell him? Some plausible story. She was quite inventive. She would say that I was Billy Grafter’s prisoner in the boat house, that she had seen him bring me here, that she had slipped in and been unable to free me and I had begged her to go to him for help.