The Fourth Mistress - Chapter 23：Decision to bring in

Music Recommendation: Cow Song- Meredith Monk

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The investigating officer, who had come to the Edgerton’s manor, had no leads on who might have had a motive to push Ernest Wensley from the top floor to his death. The body had been returned to the family after the doctor’s examination after nothing had been found, resulting in it being marked as a suicide case. And after a few days, the officer closed the case.

In front of the ground that had been dug, Louise stood next to Graham wearing a dress that was black like the others to mourn Ernest Wensley’s death while he would be buried.

The family members of Reed’s manor, some of the guests and the servants were present too, while Mr. Wensley had been placed in the casket.

“Let us pay our respect to Ernest Wensley, the same way as we did during his life here,” said the priest. “Hoping he would peacefully transcend into Heaven…”

The priest offered his prayers for the deceased soul, remembering the good things about the man.

Unlike the other deceased members of the family, who had been buried in other towns, Mr. Wensley was buried in the grounds of Reed’s estate. Mud was pushed back into the hollow ground, covering the wooden casket and a tombstone placed at the head side.

“Let’s get back inside, Viola,” Senior Mr. Reed suggested to his wife, who stood in front of the new headstone. The couple left the place, and so did the others, who had come to pay their respect.

Henry walked towards Lady Agatha, placing his hand on her back, “You need to get some rest, Lady Agatha. We can come here again.” The woman nodded her head, the rim of her eyes had turned red, and she walked away with him, Alison and their daughter Molly.

Louise watched the family members head inside the manor while she and Graham stood in front of his uncle’s grave. She placed her hand on his arm for comfort.

“The investigating officer has interrogated everyone who were present in the Edgerton’s manor, but no one shows any hidden motive,” said Graham with a frown on his face. “My uncle isn’t someone who would take his own life, Louise.”

“We can request the officer to keep inquiring,” replied Louise, hoping it would ease Graham’s mind.

That day when Louise and Graham had stepped outside after finding the body on the ground, every guest had come to the scene within a few seconds. She doubted it was possible for someone to push him and join others in that short time. And this could happen only if the murderer was a servant of the manor with a good alibi with someone. But what motive would one have to Ernest dead?

“Maybe they can try to find out if there was someone who was troubling Mr. Wensley. Someone who was working with him?” asked Louise, bringing up the possibility.

The sudden death of Ernest Wensley was unexpected. With the reason unknown, it made the outsiders’ eyebrows raise at Reed’s family as the family had experienced the most number of deaths in a short period.

Graham gave a nod, “I will see how it goes. Let’s get back inside.”

“Mm,” responded Louise, and as they continued to walk towards the manor, she asked, “Do you think it would be alright if I came along with you? I would like to be of help.”

“Won’t it hamper your studies and work?” questioned Graham, looking at her.

“I will manage my time.” A few days ago, Louise had seen Mr. Wensley arguing with someone, and she wondered if that person had anything to do with their family member’s death.

“Alright. I will let you know when I am going to meet them,” said Graham and Louise was thankful that he wasn’t asking her to stay in the manor. “How are you feeling today?” he asked.

Louise knew he was asking her this because she had mentioned ghosts to him and her life being in danger. So far, nothing bad had happened to her after falling in the water.

“I am okay. How are you?” she asked him. Graham had spent more time with his uncle than her, and she wondered how he was enduring the loss as he was mostly quiet.

“I will be okay,” he offered her a small smile as if assuring her that everything was alright. “Uncle Ernest, he was a good man. He guided me when it came to business matters, teaching me everything he knew and I owe it to him. Also, I wanted to tell you,” he paused for a moment before continuing to say, “Thank you for confiding about your troubles with me, Louise.”

“It should be I thanking you, not you,” replied Louise, because if she had told her worries to someone else, they would call her crazy after living in Reed’s manor. “I know things like that sound absurd.”

“No,” said Graham. His footsteps stopped, and so did Louise, turning to look at him. “Whatever you are seeing, maybe there’s a reason or explanation for it.”

“Did Lisa see things too?” inquired Louise and Graham shook his head.

“It was more on the opposite side. Like her things went missing and saying there was someone who wanted to hurt her,” replied Graham, and his lips set themselves in a thin line as if he was recollecting the memories of what had occurred. “A lot of things didn’t make any sense to us, and mother and some others came to believe that Lisa was only trying to gain attention to herself. In the end, it wasn’t someone who wanted to harm her, but she passed away because of the fall…”

This had Louise frown.

They got inside the manor, reaching the parlour room where the family members were sitting. Mr. Reed was speaking to Henry about his father and where the family members had been buried.

“Even Graham and Alison’s grandparents are in the older house that I once used to live with them. Not Warlington. At that time, we didn’t know we would be moving to another town,” said Robert, while holding Lady Viola’s hand in his.

“My parents and their brothers and sisters have been in Southern Cardiff,” responded Henry, his tone polite and calm in the quiet room.

Robert looked as if he agreed to what his son-in-law said. He said, “It is why I have requested one of the people I know to bring our family members’ caskets here.”

“Whose caskets?” questioned Graham, taking a seat on the empty side of the couch, and Louise sat next to him.

“Your grandparents, Graham. I have also requested for the caskets from Midville to be brought here,” Robert let his son and the others know about it.

From Midville? Asked Louise in her mind. It was where the three caskets of Graham’s deceased wives laid in the cemetery.

“Why the sudden decision?” asked Lady Viola with a slight look of surprise in her eyes.

Robert went on to explain, “Now as we have a large estate as this, it should be alright to have our own personal cemetery for the family. I have told Paul to take care of them once the caskets arrive here. It also doesn’t make sense to keep our family members away from us. You don’t mind it, do you, Graham?” he asked his son.

Graham gave it a thought and asked, “Have they been picked up from the cemeteries?”

“I believe so. I had them requested after our dear Ernest left us,” said Robert, keeping good thoughts for the deceased.

While almost every person in the room seemed to agree with Robert’s decision, Louise couldn’t help but feel a sliver of worry about it. The three caskets of the dead wives would be brought and buried here with the other deceased family members. It seemed like Mr. Wensley would be having company, she thought to herself.

“How about you Louise?” asked her father-in-law.

“It should be okay. It is good to have everyone at one place,” Louise offered a smile, but internally, she let out a shuddering exhale.

A week passed, and the melancholy that hovered around Reed’s manor didn’t leave as they continued to grieve at their family member’s death. During the noontime, Graham had come to the manor to fetch some of the papers from his study room. After fetching the papers, he went to the drawing-room.

“Graham, you are early,” said his mother. Taking a look behind him, she asked, “Where is Louise?”

“She’s still at her work place,” answered Graham, standing at the entrance of the room, where his mother, his sister and his aunt were sitting on the couch.

“Come take a seat, Graham. Have tea with us,” offered his mother.

But Graham said, “I need to go back to the office.” Turning to his sister, he said, “There is something I wanted to speak to you, Alison. Do you mind stepping outside?”

Alison looked at her brother, who had a serious expression on his face. She gave him a nod and followed him outside the room. “What is it, Graham?”

“I didn’t want to bring this up before because of Uncle Ernest’s death, but I was wondering if you could tell me what actually happened near the pond in Edgerton?” Graham questioned Alison without beating around the bush.

Alison looked at her brother and replied, “Louise and I were taking a stroll near the pond, when she fell into it. Why?”

When Graham had arrived near the place where Louise and Alison were, they both had their backs facing him, and his sister stood behind Louise, covering her, which was why he wanted answers from both sides.

“Did you by chance place your hand on her back without knowing she would lose her balance?” questioned Graham, and this had Alison knit her eyebrows.

“You aren’t meaning to say that I had something with her falling, do you?” asked Alison, her lips setting in a thin line. “You should ask Louise herself, she will confirm that I didn’t push her and that she slipped by herself. Why would I even do that? I don’t mean any harm to her, Graham.”

That is what even Graham wanted to know. Alison was the one to suggest he marry Louise, and she wasn’t the type of person who pulled tricks. Did that mean what Louise told him was true? That she felt someone push her, and it wasn’t Alison. But then, there was no one else apart from his wife and sister near the pond. His eyebrows drew together in concentration.

“I know. I only wanted to clear my doubt,” responded Graham, his words calm while his olive-green eyes stared back at his sister.

“It is good that we cleared it,” Alison smiled.

Seeing Graham leave, Alison stepped back inside the drawing-room to join her mother and aunt’s company. When she took a seat, Lady Viola asked, “Everything fine?”

“Yes, mother,” answered Alison. “Everything is perfectly fine.”