The Fourth Mistress

Louise waited for Lady Viola to speak as the woman had paused after her previous words, staring into a distance.

The woman then said, "It is true that Alison and I met each other in the corridor, but it has nothing to do with my brother's or the other man's death. We met because you entered Lisa's room, I believe it was something you didn't know until Alison mentioned it to you."

"But you knew the wedding gown was there," said Louise, and the woman's lips pursed itself in a thin line in distaste.

"I don't know what opinion you carry in your mind about me, Louise, but no. I didn't know about the wedding gown. In fact, I didn't know about it, until you and Graham brought it up with me. We did discuss it afterwards, because I had made sure to have my daughter return the wedding gown," said Lady Viola, her head held high as if she had done nothing wrong while still not meeting Louise's eyes. "There's a belief from where I come, not to keep the wedding gown of a deceased woman in the house who has not completed five years of her marriage."

Louise was an educated young woman, and to believe in superstition like these was absurd, but at the same time, with the ghost haunting them, she doubted anything could be absurd.

"That is the only reason why you both met in the middle of the night for?" asked Louise.

"To make sure what I heard was true. We have all visited Lisa's room at some point, but none of us have ever seen the gown until you showed it to us yesterday," Lady Viola turned around, facing Louise when she said, "We thought you were turning just like Lisa."

"Losing my mind," murmured Louise.

"She saw things that weren't there. Hearing noises and voices," said Lady Viola.

"Did you never try to see if what she was saying was true?"

"Of course, we did. There was nothing there. I know Graham brought a priest to the manor in Warlington, and as expected the man found the place to be perfectly fine," replied Lady Viola, her eyebrows deeply furrowing. "She turned into a scared thing. Scared to step out of the manor and clinging to Graham as if he was going to leave her. Not letting him go to work and making him stay in the manor."

Was this the reason why her mother-in-law had told her not to divert Graham's attention from the family business?

Louise could sense there was something more that Lady Viola had tried to keep a tight lip about it. "What about her death?"

"What about it?"

"Do you believe that it happened because of a normal fall? I came across the pictures of her death, and it seemed more than that," stated Louise, and she noticed the flicker in the older woman's eyes.

Silence filled between them one more time, and Lady Viola carefully chose her words as she spoke the next words.

"There is something that torments in the back of my mind. The day when Lisa died, we had a bit of heated discussion between us, and I told her to stop speaking unnecessary things. Telling her that she should focus on useful things in the manor. I told her to use her time better and to be useful," Lady Viola wrung her hands as if she regretted the words she had spoken in the past.

"Which was why she got on the chair to fix the hangings in the attic," replied Louise, and the woman nodded her head.

"I know Graham loved her, which is why it made it worse for me to see him devastated when we found her body in the attic," said Lady Viola, taking a shuddering breath. "I might be anything, Louise, but I am not a killer. If that is the answer you are looking for."

Something told Louise that even if Lady Viola's words hadn't sparked the young woman to go to the attic that day, Lisa would have still died someday. As if everything had been planned.

"I never doubted you to be the killer," replied Louise.

"Your questions towards me tells otherwise," Lady Viola didn't look pleased by Louise's words, but she tried not to bring it up on her face.

"I did doubt you," replied Louise and saw the woman's eyes narrow at her, "That you had something to share."

"Is that all you wanted to ask?" Lady Viola questioned, and Louise asked the last thing she had wanted to know.

"You said Lisa heard noises, have you ever heard the noises at night or during the time of the day?" Louise watched Lady Viola frown.

"I sleep on time and have enough rest that I don't feel the need to imagine things with my eyes open," saying that, the woman walked away from there to head towards the manor.

So it seemed like Lady Viola didn't believe in ghosts, thought Louise to herself. So far, it didn't seem like the woman had anything to do with the unusual deaths. But remembering something again, she quickly ran towards to catch up with Lady Viola.

"Lady Viola!" She called her mother-in-law, who turned around with a glimmer of annoyance in her eyes.

"I thought we finished our discussion," said Lady Viola, her lips barely moving, yet the words that came out were swift and sharp.

"There is something else that I needed to ask. Three years ago, you signed on the papers giving permission to move the caskets from Warlington to Midville's cemetery. Do you remember it? The caskets belonged to your deceased daughter-in-laws," questioned Louise, this time her eyes slightly anxious because this was something she had wanted to know.

Lady Viola gave a nod, "Yes, I remember it. It was three years ago."

"I found a fourth consent page in there, and I was wondering for whom it was," asked Louise, waiting for Lady Viola to answer.

"Fourth one?" repeated Lady Viola.

Lady Viola tried to recollect it, "We received information that families wanted to shift the caskets as at that time they were buried in the centre place of the town," midway as she was speaking, Lady Viola's face scrunched in pain. She closed her eyes and held her temple .

"Are you alright, Lady Viola?" Louise came near her and placed her hand on the woman's shoulder.

"I am fine," replied Lady Viola, opening her eyes and standing straight. She blinked her eyes before looking back at Louise. "Where was I? Yes I-Ugh, these dreadful headaches."

Louise placed her hand on Lady Viola's back, supporting her, and she said, "Let me take you to your room," and they walked inside the manor.

On their way, they met the maids, and one of them asked, "Is Lady Viola alright, Lady Louise?"

"Yes, she's just having a headache. Get some snacks and tea to her room so that she can relax in there," said Louise before taking Lady Viola to the respective room. She helped Lady Viola to rest on the bed, pulling the blanket enough to cover her.

"Thank you," murmured Lady Viola, placing her hand on her forehead. "Sometimes I get this raging headache. I got it checked with the physician and said it was probably hereditary."

Louise took a seat on the nearby chair, looking at the woman who had closed her eyes and tried to keep a composed face even now. "I heard it from Graham."

Lady Viola pulled her hand away, looking at Louise, and she said, "You don't have to look after me. I will be fine."

Louise smiled and then said, "I will stay. It isn't often that we get a chance to bond together apart from sharing the same dining table." She heard the light sigh that escaped from Lady Viola's lips. "Do you not like me, Lady Viola?" Now that they were alone in the room, it seemed like an opportune time to ask.

"When did I ever say that? If I didn't I wouldn't have gone to your uncle and aunt's house to ask your hand for Graham," replied Lady Viola, closing her eyes again.

That was true, thought Louise to herself, but still, it was hard to decipher what Lady Viola's actions meant.

"Sometimes I worry that there must be some bad luck, that it is going to strike again and Graham is going to be hurt one more time. It is not once or twice but three times. It is not easy to see your child suffer again and again. You only end up worrying," said Lady Viola, a trail of silence following her words. "And I don't mean to say it will happen again, but I worry."

It was good to know that Lady Viola wasn't completely blind, and she sensed something wrong with their luck.

"That's the same as telling that you are waiting to see if I will follow the rest of them," stated Louise and Lady Viola's lips twisted in displeasure before she clicked her tongue. The woman slowly sat up, her back resting against the headboard, watching Louise.

"Do you know why I accepted you even though you belong to a status that is far from us?" questioned Lady Viola looking Louise in the eye. "I don't question this because I want to show off our past differences."

"Because I am more educated than most of the young women and have an open mind," Graham had already told her.

The woman nodded her head, "Right. Because you were different from the other three and even though I am not particularly fond of it, you have a mind of your own. But that doesn't mean I will agree to whatever you think is to be right. Poking your nose where it doesn't belong… I do not hate you," said Lady Viola, and Louise nodded.

"I am glad to hear that," replied Louise.

After spending some more minutes with Lady Viola in silence, Louise finally excused herself and stepped out of the room when the maid arrived. While walking through the corridor, she heard someone knocking on the main door.

By the time she reached the hall, Gilbert had already opened the door.

"No, Master Graham, isn't home," he replied to the person who stood in front of him.

"What about Lady Louise?" asked a man's voice, and the butler turned on hearing footsteps to see Louise making her way there.

The butler informed her, "Father Edward is here, milady," he bowed his head, stepping away from the door.

Louise came to the front and noticed the peppered hair priest standing at the door, "Please come in, Father Edward," she invited him, but the man had a hesitant look in his eyes, and he didn't step in.

"Can we talk outside?" suggested Father Edward.

Nodding her head, Louise stepped outside the manor and walked towards the cemented path built for one to walk amidst the estate. "Did you go to check the manor in Warlington?" she inquired.

"I did. But there was nothing that I could find. I didn't sense any dark energy in there and it seemed empty," informed Father Edward. "I believe it is because the family moved here and no one has lived there in the last few years."

"So there's no ghost in there?" Louise tried to confirm.

"None," replied the man.

"Is it possible that it was one of the ghosts that once used to live in the cemetery of Warlington?" she tried to find the possibility.

The man looked like he gave it a thought before saying, "If that was true, the other families residing in Warlington would have had the same issues as the late lady. I believe the ghost is connected to this manor and the reason why I asked you to come out, I wanted to give you something."

Father Edward searched for something in his coat and pulled out a cross that looked similar to the one he had tied around one of the pillars inside the manor.

"You want me to tie another one inside the manor?" asked Louise, and she added, "I don't think it worked last time because last night we had a little mishap."

"That's because I have it in my hand, Lady Louise," said Father Edward, and she gave a puzzled expression. "Whatever is in that manor, it brought it back to me."

"I thought ghosts were scared of holy objects," whispered Louise, noticing the man having a grim expression on his face.

"I would like to think the same too, but this seems different. To bring it back to me and place it on my table in the house, I don't know what its intention is, if it is a warning," he shook his head while looking at the trees that surrounded them. "I will speak to the other priests and ask for their help to hold an exorcism. Do not worry about it."

Louise nodded her head, taking the cross from him and stared at it.