The Osborne Case

by Diana Xarissa

“You even have a dishwasher,” Doona said. “I’ve been thinking about getting one. Do you use it often?”

  Janet laughed. “When we bought the house we both thought we’d never use it, but it’s a huge convenience when we have guests. Although, to be honest, we seem to use it a great deal even when we don’t have guests. I think we’ve become spoiled by the convenience of it.”

  “I’d like to be spoiled a bit,” Doona laughed.

  The foursome put sandwiches together and then chatted happily over lunch. After the dishwasher was loaded with all of the plates and cups, the sisters gave their guests a tour of the house. They took a quick look into Joan’s large bedroom and the dining room before walking through to the television lounge. Janet held up the key to the next door.

  “I expect I could just leave you here for the week, Bessie,” she teased as she unlocked the library.

  Bessie walked inside and then sighed deeply. “You could leave me here for a year,” she said. “I’d be quiet and no trouble at all.”

  “You’re both more than welcome to help yourselves to as many books as you’d like while you’re here,” Joan said. “We’ll leave the door unlocked so you can come and go as you please.”

  “Are the books in any particular order?” Doona asked as she ran a hand along one of the shelves.

  “I arranged them to suit me,” Janet answered, feeling slightly embarrassed. “I can tell you where to find whatever you’re looking for, if you have a favourite genre or author.”

  “I think I’d rather just browse the shelves for hours,” Bessie told her. “Reading titles and back covers is nearly as enjoyable as reading entire books.”

  There was a small conservatory at the very back of the house. It had sliding doors into the garden.

  “How beautiful,” Doona said as they walked outside.

  “It’s spectacular in the summer months,” Janet told her. “Our gardener is wonderful.”

  “And he can hear you,” a man’s voice said from somewhere behind a hedge.

  Everyone jumped and then Janet laughed. “I’m so glad I said something nice, then,” she told Stuart as he stuck his head in between two shrubs. She introduced the man to their guests. “We’re just showing them around the house,” she explained.

  “If you were thinking of showing them the carriage house, make sure you take a torch and your spare key. Our friend is extra trouble at the moment,” Stuart told her.

  “Friend?” Doona repeated.

  Janet glanced at Joan, who frowned. “Sometimes, when someone is in the carriage house, the door shuts unexpectedly. Often the light switches off as well,” Janet explained, choosing her words carefully.

  “It’s the ghost,” Stuart said. “I don’t know who exactly haunts the carriage house, but he or she seems to take real pleasure in locking people in there in the dark. I’m usually really careful to have my keys and a torch, but I forgot twice last week and got locked in both times.”

  “How did you get out, then?” Janet asked. She hadn’t known about either incident.

  Stuart grinned at her. “I keep a spare key inside the carriage house now. It’s well hidden, but I know where to find it. I’ve put half a dozen torches in there as well. I keep thinking that the ghost will realise trying to lock me in is a waste of time, but he or she keeps trying anyway.”

  “Now I want to see the carriage house,” Doona said.

  “I really don’t think…” Joan began.

  “It’s right this way,” Janet interrupted. “You mustn’t mind the mess. We’ve been working on clearing it out, but there’s always other things that need doing that are more important.”

  She led her friends through the garden to the large building near the back of the property. Stuart had followed them, and now he held up his key.

  “Here we are, then,” he said. He opened the door and then leaned in and switched on the light. He handed Janet a torch with a wink. “Just in case.”

  Janet walked in as far as she could before she was stopped by piles of boxes. Bessie and Doona followed.

  “If I lived here, I’d have already been through all of the boxes,” Doona said. “I wouldn’t be able to resist trying to find hidden treasure.”

  “I’d agree with you, except the first dozen or so boxes that we’ve opened almost all held worthless trinkets, and that’s only the ones that didn’t have piles and piles of old papers inside,” Janet told her. “After you’ve spent a whole day going through someone else’s ten-year-old utility bills, you stop being so curious about what else you’ll find.”

  Doona laughed. “I suppose I can see that.”

  “May I open just one box?” Bessie asked.

  “Of course you can. Doona can open one as well, if she’d like,” Janet replied.

  Bessie walked around the room and then chose a box. “I hope it’s full of treasure,” she said as she lifted the lid. “And it is, of a sort. It’s full of books.”

  “Don’t get too excited. We’ve found a number of boxes of old medical textbooks and the like. None of them had any value,” Janet warned her.

  Bessie picked up first one book and then another. After a minute she sighed. “It’s worse than that. They all seem to be about accounting.”

  Janet laughed. “What a waste of perfectly good trees.”

  “Maybe I’ll have better luck,” Doona said. She selected a box and pulled off the lid. It took her a minute to unwrap the box’s contents. Once she had, she held up a vase with a large red flower, a butterfly, and a ladybird on it. “It’s cute?” she said, making the words a question.

  “I’m not sure that I’d call it cute,” Janet replied. “If you like it, you should keep it.”

  “Keep it?” Doona replied. “Oh, no, I couldn’t possibly. It might be valuable.”

  “And if it is, good for you,” Janet said. “Take it, please.”

  Doona looked at the vase again and then shook her head. “That’s very kind of you, but I really don’t have anywhere to put it.” She wrapped it back up and put it back into the box. As she put the lid back on, Joan stuck her head in the door.

  “If you’re opening boxes, bring them into the house,” she said.

  “We’re done in here,” Janet replied, ushering Bessie and Doona towards the door.

  “But what about the ghost?” Doona asked.

  “Maybe there are simply too many people about for him or her to act,” Janet said. “If you really want to get locked in the carriage house, I suggest you come out by yourself after dark.”

  Doona looked at her for a minute and then shivered. “Or not,” she replied.

  “I think the ghost in your bedroom is more interesting,” Bessie said to Janet as they walked back into the house.

  “You have a ghost in your bedroom?” Doona asked.

  Janet grinned. “I do, and I’m pretty sure I know who it is, as well.”

  “Tell me everything,” Doona demanded.

  They all walked into the sitting room and settled into seats. Before Janet could speak, Joan cleared her throat.

  “I don’t believe in ghosts,” she said stoutly.

  “But you also won’t sleep in my bedroom when the moon is full,” Janet retorted.

  “I simply don’t see any reason why I should,” Joan replied. “I have a perfectly good bedroom of my own.”

  Janet nodded, but she wasn’t convinced.

  “Why do you want her to sleep in your bedroom?” Doona asked.

  “Because Alberta screams in the night whenever the moon is full,” Janet replied.

  Doona shivered and looked at Bessie. “Did you know about this?”

  “Janet told me about it in one of her letters,” Bessie replied.

  “And you didn’t bother to mention that we’d be staying in a haunted house?” Doona asked.

  “It’s only my room that’s haunted,” Janet said quickly. “None of our guests have ever seen or heard anything out of the ordinary.”

  “I’m not sure if I’m happy to
hear that or disappointed,” Doona said. “Bessie and I went around a haunted castle once but we didn’t see any ghosts there, either. Tell me about your ghost, then. Did you say her name was Alberta?”

  “Yes, Alberta Montgomery. We’ve named our guest rooms after her. She used to live in Doveby House many years ago. She was the only child of wealthy parents who had grand ambitions for her.”

  “If it was a long time ago, then you must mean that they wanted her to marry well,” Doona suggested.

  “Yes, exactly that. They had high hopes of her marrying into a title, but then she fell in love with the gardener,” Janet explained.

  “Good for her,” Doona said. “Except you aren’t going to tell me that they lived happily ever after, are you?”

  “Sadly, no. When her parents found out, they locked Alberta in her room to keep her from seeing the man. At least, that’s what I was told. One night, during a full moon, she looked out her window and spotted the gardener taking another young woman into the carriage house, the meeting place she and the man had used as well. According to the story, she screamed and then opened her window and tried to climb down to confront the man. Unfortunately, she slipped and fell to her death.”

  “The poor girl,” Bessie said softly.

  “Some versions of the story suggest that she was pregnant when she died, but I don’t know if that’s true,” Janet added.

  “I don’t blame her for haunting your bedroom,” Doona said. “It’s a shame she can’t do it quietly, though.”

  Janet laughed. “I’ve almost grown used to it, really. When we don’t have guests, I sleep in one of the other rooms when the moon is full, but we were so busy during the summer that I didn’t have that option. Of course, Aggie won’t sleep in our room during a full moon, but at least that means I get an extra pillow on those nights.”

  “How is Aggie?” Bessie asked. “I thought we’d have seen her by now.”

  “I told her not to bother you, so she’s probably off somewhere sulking because I suggested that she might be a bother,” Janet replied. “She’ll be around when she gets hungry, though.”

  “Perhaps you need to find a way to get Alberta to leave,” Doona said thoughtfully. “Do you know what happened to the gardener?”

  “I’ve been told he eventually left the area, and maybe even moved to America,” Janet replied. “I don’t know anything more about him than his Christian name, though. He was called Will. I suppose that may have been short for William. I don’t even know his Christian name for sure, do I?”

  Bessie chuckled. “I would imagine he’d be hard to track down, then. Isn’t there anyone in Doveby Dale who knows more?”

  “The man who used to run the historical society is now in prison,” Janet told her. “He sent me a letter with everything he knew about Alberta. I’ve spoken to one person who knew her and I have the name of another, but she never seems to be home when I ring her.”

  “How frustrating,” Doona said.

  “I may as well try her now, actually,” Janet said. “She doesn’t seem to have an answering machine, so I keep trying at all sorts of odd times. One of these days she’ll have to be home.”

  She picked up the nearest telephone and dialled the number that she knew knew by heart. After the tenth ring she sighed and put the phone down.

  “Still no answer. I’ve half a mind to drive over to her house and knock on her door,” Janet said.

  “So let’s,” Doona suggested. “We’ve nothing else planned for this afternoon.”

  Janet was surprised at the suggestion. She looked at Joan, who frowned at her.

  “We wanted to give you time to get settled in and then we thought we’d take you to dinner at the French restaurant in the village,” Joan said. “We have a booking for half six.”

  “That’s hours away,” Doona replied. “Now that I’ve heard about Alberta, I’m dying to hear more.” She glanced from Joan to Janet and back again. “I’m sorry. It was just an idea.”

  “It was a good idea,” Janet said. “If Gretchen isn’t home, we can leave her a note. I don’t know why I never thought of it before. I did think about sending her a letter, but this is a better idea. I’m curious to see her house, too. I’m told it’s quite unique.”

  “Just give me a minute to freshen up,” Doona said, getting to her feet. “Bessie, you’ll come, too, right?”

  Bessie grinned. “Yes, I believe I will.”

  “I’ll stay behind,” Joan said. “Having four people turn up on her doorstep might be a bit overwhelming for poor Miss Falkirk.”

  Chapter 3

  As Doona was still tired after the journey from Liverpool to Doveby Dale, and Bessie didn’t drive, Janet was happy to do the driving. Doona didn’t complain as she climbed into the small backseat of Janet’s car. Once Bessie was settled in the passenger seat, Janet climbed in and drove slowly away.

  “We’ll take Joan’s car tonight,” she said a moment later. “It’s quite a bit bigger.” I’ll have to sit in the back with Doona, which would be just about impossible in this car, she added to herself.

  As they went, Janet pointed out a few places of interest in Doveby Dale. She drove them past the small parade of shops and the police station before turning down a long narrow road. The first few houses on the road were quite close together, but as they went along the houses began to get further and further apart. Eventually the road simply stopped in front of a small two-storey house.

  “This is it,” Janet said, nodding towards the house. She pulled her car as far off of the road as she could. There didn’t seem to be any parking for the house itself.

  “It looks, well, haunted,” Doona said. “Like something out of an old scary movie.”

  Janet had to agree. The house appeared to have been there for a very long time. It seemed to be leaning slightly, with its front steps seemingly leaning in the opposite direction. There were numerous chimneys, which suggested multiple fireplaces, and Janet imagined that the house was lacking central heating.

  There were two separate letterboxes in the door. One was neatly labelled with a tag that read “Gretchen Falkirk.” The second had a crookedly applied label stuck to it. The label read “Beverly Osborne.” Janet glanced through the window next to the door and noted that any post delivered to either letterbox would simply land in a single pile on the floor inside.

  She glanced at Bessie and Doona and then knocked on the door’s frame. After a moment, she knocked again.

  “I should have written her a note before we came,” Janet said after a minute. “Then I could have simply slipped it through the letterbox. I hope I have paper and a pen in the car.”

  She turned to walk back down the steps and then heard a noise from inside the house. Turning back around, she smiled at the still shut door, expecting it to open. Everything went quiet again.

  “I’m sure I heard something,” she told the others before she knocked again.

  This time there was no mistaking the sounds she heard. There was definitely someone in the house. Whoever it was had to be standing right behind the solid door, out of sight of the small window beside it.

  “Miss Falkirk? Hello? Are you at home?” Janet called.

  After another full minute, Janet turned and looked at her friends. “I suppose I’ll have to put a note through the letterbox.”

  The words were hardly out of her mouth when the door behind her opened a crack.

  “What do you want?” a voice said through the crack.

  “Miss Falkirk? I’m Janet Markham. I wanted to talk to you about Alberta Montgomery.”

  “You have the wrong person,” the voice said. “Gretchen isn’t here.”

  “Could you tell her that I visited?” Janet asked. “I’d really appreciate it if she’d ring me. My sister and I run Doveby House.”

  “Doveby House? Really?” The door swung open the rest of the way, revealing an elderly woman wearing a bright pink jogging outfit. “What’s it like? Doveby House, I mean. Whenever I drive past
it I wonder what it’s like inside. I imagine it’s full to the rafters with antique furniture and that the kitchen is full of old appliances and broken crockery.”

  Janet smiled at her. “It does have a lot of antique furniture, but it also has a modern kitchen. The woman who owned it before us had that put in.”

  “That’s disappointing, although I suppose it makes things easier for you,” the woman sighed. “But why did you say you were looking for Gretchen?”

  “My sister and I are curious about the previous owners of Doveby House. I was told that Miss Falkirk knew Alberta Montgomery. Her parents used to own the house.”

  “I don’t know anything about that. I’m being awfully rude, aren’t I, though? Usually whenever anyone drives all the way down here, they want to sell me something I don’t need, but you’re all genuine visitors. Come inside.” The woman stepped backwards to let Janet and the others into the house.

  Janet hesitated for a moment and then gave herself a mental head shake for her foolishness. The woman had to be ninety years old and couldn’t possibly be a danger to them. When a little voice whispered that there might be other people in the house, Janet ignored it.

  “Come through,” the woman said. “My rooms are back here.”

  She led them down a dark and badly lit corridor into a small sitting room. There were several antique chairs and couches in the room, but they all seemed to be covered in piles of papers and boxes. Janet glanced at her friends and then smiled at the woman. “We don’t want to impose,” she said softly.

  “Oh, dear,” the woman sighed. “I’d quite forgotten that I’d left everything such a mess. We’ll have to sit in the kitchen.”

  Janet, Bessie, and Doona followed the woman into the next room. It was a kitchen that badly needed updating, and again, just about every surface, including three of the four dining chairs around the small table, were covered in boxes.

  “Goodness me, what was I thinking?” the woman sighed. “I’ve only just moved in, you see. I haven’t had time to unpack. I know what we can do. We can go and use Gretchen’s sitting room. She won’t mind.”

  Janet wasn’t sure that was a wise idea. “We don’t want to cause any trouble,” she said quickly. “Let’s just chat in here.”