The Fourth Mistress

Chapter 69 Marked unsolved

Her family and the people she had lived in Reed's manor now sat in the living room. And right next to her sat Graham's ghost. Ghost because the man was long dead and unlike before near the lake, where the officers had caught a glimpse of the ghost, right now except Louise, no one could see him.

She heard Uncle Hugo saying to Alison, "Let me go and see Father Andrew."

"Let me come with you," Alison's husband Henry proposed, standing up from his seat so that he could accompany Louise's uncle. Henry turned to his wife and said, "I will be back soon," the woman agreed. Aunt Merlin went to see them at the door while the servants stood at the same spot. In the meantime, Alison continued to shed her uncontrollable tears, while Louise was too aware of her deceased husband's ghost sitting next to her. She turned to look at him, noticing Graham's green eyes looking back at her. It was Alison's sob that broke Louise's eye contact with him, and she turned back to look at her sister-in-law, getting up from her seat and sitting next to Alison. Even though Louise was younger than Alison, she was stronger when it came to her emotions regarding what had transpired. Alison was quick to put her arms around Louise, hugging her. She said, "I am so sorry, Louise. I thought it would be different this time. I thought you would overcome all the bad omen and be able to save our family." A soft sob escaped from Alison's lips, and she then whispered, "But never did it occur to me that our family members would die. I should have never urged my brother to marry again." Louise hugged Alison back, rubbing the woman's back to comfort her. She said, "No one would have thought that something like this could happen, or why it was happening. It isn't your fault, Alison." And while Louise comforted her sister-in-law, she saw the ghost stare at her with the same serious expression on its face, similar to the first time they had met. Alison pulled away from Louise and said, "Once Henry comes back, we'll go and stay in the Three Season's building," stated Alison with a small frown on her delicate face. "You can stay right here with us. There's enough rooms," Louise tried to convince, but Alison shook her head. With a weak smile on her face, Alison said, "I wouldn't want to impose."

"There's no such thing as a ghost, Shaw. Think about it practically. People die, and sometimes the trauma affects the others or the trauma projects, making us believe that what we saw is a ghost of someone," explained Mr. Burton in a serious tone. "The woman will be put through interrogation and will then be let off the hook. Can you imagine what the higher-ups or the people would say if we said that these murders were orchestrated by a ghost?" Mr. Shaw shook his head, "It is not right, Burton. I know what I saw with my own eyes. If I was able to see it, and the woman was able to see it, and obviously you saw it, the ghost should be visible to others. It is unorthodox, but maybe bring the dead's ghost to testify on what happened."

Mr. Burton huffed, "Fine. If you are that intent, then get Lady Louise Reed in here, so that we can see if the ghost contacted her again." Hours passed, and the physician finally said, "It looks like someone strangled him before he was left to burn in the house." "And do these hand marks identify with Lady Louise's hand?" questioned Mr. Burton.

"They don't," replied the physician, and he said, "Strangely it relates to the skeleton of the woman, who was found on the grounds of the Reed's manor." "That's not possible!" Mr. Burton was still in denial. "It is why it is strange," replied the physician, and he continued to speak, "There's only one way for it to have happened, that is Mr. Reed died many years before the woman, and his body was preserved. But his body shows no signs of aging."

"At least it is clear that Lady Louise had nothing to do with their deaths. We can always place the case in one of the mystery and half solved cases, Burton," stated Mr. Shaw because he knew his fellow officer wouldn't want to file this one as a ghost case. People in this building didn't believe in ghosts unless the ghost appeared in front of them. "Fine," replied Mr. Burton with a frown on his face. "Mark and place it in the unsolved cases. "You can let the family know that they are free to take their family members and bury them now.

That night, Mr. Shaw sat down in his office room, documenting most of the things that were believable while the rest had been left unwritten as if the incident would be taken to their grave. Once he was done with it, he took the file to the storage file room. The file read—'The case in Reed's Manor' As he placed the file with the other files, it made the officer wonder how many such similar cases must have taken place in the past for it to be marked unsolved. Before Mr. Shaw could leave, he sensed as if someone stood at the door and he turned to find no one there. Somewhere he was rattled over what he saw at the Reed's estate and he felt like he needed to get some sleep before he could take up the next case. When he left the storage file room, a shadow came to appear in front of the files.