Chapter 39：Charred remains

Louise excused herself, wanting some time for herself as she felt cold because of the earlier fall into the water. On her way towards the room, she heard the clock ding. When she reached the top of the stairs, she heard the clock ding again as if the time had been rewinded.

With a frown on her face, she followed the sound of the clock that continued to ding in the corridor. Coming to stand in front of it, her lips turned upside down. Though the grandfather clock's pendulum continued to move back and forth, the hour and minute hands were stuck in one position.

Four past eleven.

Weeks ago, Louise had believed that the clock was old But now she inferred that it had a significance, what did that hour mean?

Suddenly, the hands started to move anti-clockwise, and instead of stepping away from it, she banged the side of the grandfather clock.

"Louise?" she heard Graham's voice from the direction she had come from, and he appeared in her view. Louise looked back at the clock and noticed how it was showing the proper time.

"Did you find something?" he asked, walking to where she stood.

Staring at the clock, Louise asked him back, "Have you ever noticed that the clock often stops at one particular time. It is always four past eleven."

"I don't think I ever came across it," replied Graham, his eyes shifting from his wife to look at the grandfather's clock. "Do you think it means something?"

Louise nodded her head, "I do." A sigh escaped her lips, "Sometimes I wonder, if I am imagining things, making me question if I am dreaming in the broad daylight," she confessed to him.

"You didn't," said Graham. "You noticed the wedding gown, you noticed the skeleton. And they were all in there."

A soft smile appeared on Louise' lips, and she said, "Thank you, Graham."

"I didn't do anything, Louise," Graham's hand reached out for hers, holding it before pulling her into his embrace. Louise could only guess that her falling into the lake had given him a scare. "You put your faith in me, it is only right that I do the same."

They stood in the corridor near their room, alone with no one there to disturb them. Louise brought her hand up to hug him back, her face hiding in his chest as he was taller than her.

After a while, she asked him in a whisper,

"Do you think it was alright, to not inform Mr. Burton about the letter?" It was because they didn't know if it had anything to do with the skeleton they had found.

Graham pulled away from her, his olive-green eyes looking into her eyes, "If it makes you feel better, we can tell it to Mr. Burton and maybe find the culprit."

"Mr. Burton seemed in a haste to put you in the list as a possible suspect. But maybe… it will help in finding who wrote that to Lisa," murmured Louise under her breath.

"You don't have to worry about me, Louise," assured Graham. Raising his hand, he tucked the piece of her hair behind her ear. "No harm has come to fall on me. Come, let's get our coats first."

Reaching their room, they wore their coat, and Louise went to pull the closet door to take the letter. But it was not there anymore.

Louise started to look all over the closet. She said, "It is missing."

"Let me take a look," offered Graham, and he looked for it along with her, pulling the drawers around the room.

A deep frown came to settle on Louise's face, and she said, "It's missing."

"Where did you last keep it?" asked Graham.

"I kept it in the closet, beneath my clothes," replied Louise.

Graham looked around the room, which was when his eyes fell on a piece of paper lying on the ground, near the fireplace. Walking near it, he bent down and picked it up.

Louise was quick to follow him, and when she noticed the burnt sides which had only two words in it, her eyebrows furrowed. They both looked at the fireplace, which was lightly burning with the ashes of the letter.

"Do you think it was the ghost?" whispered Louise.

"Someone must have entered the room and burnt it in our absence. They knew it would cause a problem," stated Graham, his jaw clenching in slight frustration.

Walking back to where the other family members were, he asked them, "Did someone enter our room? today"

The family members looked startled at his question, "Why would we ever enter your room, Graham? What happened?" asked his mother.

"There was a piece of parchment and someone threw it in the fire. I want to know who did it?" He sharply looked at the people in the room.

"I doubt any of us have stepped into yours and Louise's room, son," said Senior Mr. Reed. "We all have been sitting here. Maybe you should ask the servants as they are the ones who keep entering the rooms to clean."

Louise's eyes subtly narrowed seeing the way her father-in-law had tried to push the blame on the servants.

When they got the servant to gather in the hall, Graham questioned, "Who was the last person among you, who entered our room?" he questioned, his eyes sharply looking at the manor's servants who had lined up in front of him.

The male servants looked left and right because they had been busy with other things today. Gilbert, who was in charge of the servants and their work, calmly said, "Master Graham, none of the servants have stepped foot in there because I was yet to give them the order to move up to the first floor to clean."

Louise observed each of them standing there, not looking guilty and wondering why they were being questioned. She placed her hand on Graham and whispered to him,

"It doesn't look like they know."

They weren't sure if it was someone from the family or the servants or the ghost trying to cover its tracks. Lost was the evidence which had the words that were used to threaten Lisa by copying Graham's handwriting. What was the person trying to hide?

"Get back to your work," Graham dismissed them and the servants bowed their heads. They walked away from there.

"Maybe we should request Father Edward if he can exorcise the manor and see what is going on?" asked Louise.

"Okay. Gilbert," Graham called the butler, who didn't have to be told twice, and he stepped out to get the carriage prepared for them.

Graham and Louise left the manor, travelling in the carriage to reach the church. They got down and went inside. But the man wasn't there at the chapel. Noticing the nun in there, Graham walked forward and asked her,

"Is Father Edward here?"

"He hasn't come to the church since yesterday. He said he had to go somewhere to look at something," informed the nun.

"Do you know where we can find him?" Louise politely asked the nun, who shook her head.

"No milady. Would you like me to pass him a message?" the nun asked, looking at the couple.

"You can let him know that the Reed's were here to meet him. We'll be back tomorrow," offering a polite bow, they walked out from there.

Graham and Louise stood next to the carriage that had been parked next to the church. Even though it was only noon, the sky had turned dark as if it would soon start to rain. Wind breezed, such that Louise brought her hand up to tuck the side fringes to stop it hovering in front of her face.

"Did Father Edward tell if he was going to visit the manor in Warlington again?" asked Graham, looking at the grey walls of the church.

Louise shook her head and said, "He only mentioned that he would speak to the other priests to hold an exorcism. He probably felt it would be risky to do it by himself. He already went to the manor, do you think he went there again?"

"The nun said that he wanted to go look at something. We still have some time before the night falls. Maybe it won't be too bad to go there and see if we can find anything," suggested Graham and Louise nodded her head as she had been wanting to visit the manor. Before they got on the carriage, he asked her, "If you aren't doing well, we can go tomorrow."

"I am fine," Louise assured him, knowing he was concerned because they had fallen in the lake. "Are you, okay?" she asked him back.

"I am fine," he first helped her get into the carriage and then followed her before the carriage's door closed.

They travelled in the carriage from Habsburg to Warlington while Louise stared outside the window.

Her hands were on her lap, which had turned into loose fists, her thoughts occupied in trying to understand whose skeleton they had found in the bottom of the lake. The image of the mossy skeleton flashed in front of her eyes, and she blinked her eyes to get rid of the image.

When they reached Warlington, at one place, Louise said, "This is where I saw Mr. Wensley that day, talking to that man."

The carriage rode towards the previous manor of the Reeds. On reaching the manor, the coachman pulled the reins of the horses. They stepped out of the carriage, and Louise heard Graham instruct the coachman,

"We'll be back in a few minutes. Have the carriage parked to the side."

"Yes, Sire," the coachman bowed his head and got back on the carriage.

In the meantime, Louise's eyes stared at the manor that stood in front of her. Though it wasn't as big as the current residence, it was still beautiful. The paint was still intact, but the windows were broken.

Walking towards the large doors that were closed, Graham pulled out a key from his pocket, and he said, "This is a spare that I carry with me. The town's magistrate has another one, if ever they need it." He inserted the key into the lock and turned it for the door to unlock.

Pushing one door, they stepped inside the manor and Louise was greeted with the emptiness of the hall and eerie silence. Most of the objects had been sent to Habsburg during the time when the family was shifting manors.