Dear Sunday friends, thank you for the lovely comments and speculation. Please keep them coming! It's time for another instalment of our ghostly business. Stay safe and happy reading!
Chapter Nine
Lady Anne's sister killed her? Elizabeth saw Fitzwilliam sit down in defeat. She felt that she could understand what he was going through. It would be hard for them to think that it was a family member that did that. Elizabeth could not imagine herself doing that to Jane or Jane doing that to her.
"I don't understand it," Fitzwilliam started. "Aunt Catherine was one of Mother's favourites, if not her favourite family member. Their love was mutual, and everyone knew how much they adored each other. It was almost impossible. Lady Catherine could never kill Mother, I think." Fitzwilliam said quietly.
"And why?" Judge Darcy said in a low tone as if he was trying hard to believe what he had just heard. Obviously, no one could say Lady Anne was lying because she was the one who died from it. She wouldn't be at peace until she was satisfied that whoever did this to her was brought to justice.
"I do not believe that Catherine would do that," Lady Anne said. "Not Catherine. At least, not intentionally. It must have been handed to her or something. But not her. We get along so well, and she has no reason for wanting to kill me. I must have offended someone unintentionally." She added the last part, and everyone present except Elizabeth nodded, seeming to agree with her.
"You said it was at the party. Could it have been a disgruntled servant?" Elizabeth asked, trying to consider other possibilities.
Fitzwilliam looked at her, nodding steadily. Then he spoke. "The party took place years ago, and finding out such a person would take a lot of time. Plus, many other people would think that we would have gone barking mad if we started to ask questions about whoever killed my mother. Everyone believed that she had died of natural causes. And they probably thought she was in heaven now because of her sweet nature. That was what I used to think until I just witnessed," Fitzwilliam waved his arms around wildly. "all of this."
"I will not be reincarnated until whoever killed me," Lady Anne said, "is either dead or behind bars. George and Fitzwilliam might be in danger from this person too. I won't go. And that is final." All the attention snapped back to her, and Elizabeth thought it could be dangerous for Lady Anne to continue on this course of action. Her Ladyship should move on. Elizabeth always believed that whoever did evil would be dealt with by God, and she wanted Lady Anne to leave it for God. She wanted to say that, but Elizabeth did not think it was her place to speak.
"How then do you suggest we find your killer, Mother?" Fitzwilliam asked, and the room fell silent as everyone waited to hear from Her Ladyship. Maybe she would have insights on finding the killer and help them stop racking their brains and trying to find a needle in the haystack.
Lady Anne closed her eyes, staying still. Elizabeth wondered if the ghost was tired. She tried to think of what she had read about apparitions. It must have taken Lady Anne a lot of "energy" to do so.
"Start from Pemberley," Lady Anne said, "look for everyone who worked at the party, question them, and they would have something to say. I am sure someone would know someone who did it. I am trying to go back in time, but I can't." She shook her head. "I believe that at Pemberley, you'd find a trace to the killer. I know not what it is. But I feel you'd know it when you see it. Do this for me."
"I want you back in my arms, Anne," George said. "You left too soon. I want back the life we had. Please, return to me." Elizabeth could see the sincerity in the elderly gentleman's eyes. She turned to Fitzwilliam. It looked like he wanted to say the same thing too. Elizabeth was touched by how loving the Darcy men seemed.
Lady Anne, in an instant, appeared next to Mr. Darcy, leaving her initial place vacant. "I know how much you miss me, George," she said. "I do miss you too, and I would have preferred to be in your arms as well. It is just not possible." Everyone looked at the way they sat together, and no one could claim not to see the connection between them, even though one person was already dead. They looked too beautiful to watch. Elizabeth was starting to tear up watching them. They weren't touching each other, but they stared at each other like they were the only ones in the room. It was a moving sight.
Then Lady Anne looked at Fitzwilliam, and next, disappearing with a pop, she was by her son's side. Fitzwilliam looked at her like all he wanted was to hold her and hug her tight.
"How is the great master of Pemberley doing today? Have you found a bride yet, or are you just like your father? Clueless and having no idea of how to treat a lady. Tsk," Lady Anne teased. Fitzwilliam covered his face. He looked embarrassed for the first time since Elizabeth had met him. She thought it was adorable and funny for a grown gentleman to have his face and ears flushed bright red.
"Mother," Fitzwilliam said, jerking backward and smiling. "You are very much still the same. Just lively like how you used to be." He swallowed the word "alive" mid-sentence. His mother was not alive. The word just didn't belong to this realm.
"I'm not clueless," George groaned back at Lady Anne's words. "I did treat you right most times. Maybe Fitzwilliam got it from somewhere else and not me. Maybe a distant relative's genes." Everyone burst into laughter.
"I was not the one who gave Mother's emerald ring to a fake psychic, though," Fitzwilliam grumbled.
"What have you done with my precious emerald ring?" Lady Anne asked slowly, and all eyes turned to look at George Darcy. He scratched his head nervously before smiling sheepishly. Elizabeth started to understand why Fitzwilliam believed she was fake. Many people had mistreated them under the guise of helping them communicate with Lady Anne. Fitzwilliam's eyes met hers, and she could see the gratitude in them. She turned to look at Lady Anne but not before smiling at him reassuringly. She was supposed to be angry at him, but suddenly, she understood him. Fitzwilliam was only looking out for his father. Anne feigned disappointment and shoved George Darcy with a bit of force. She was back at her initial position with Elizabeth by her side.
"You silly boy, Fitzwilliam. Did you have to tell your mother that or the pearl necklace? I am dying of embarrassment now," George said.
"Hello, Father. I didn't tell Mother about the pearl necklace. You told her so just now." Fitzwilliam said, pretending not to understand his father's embarrassment, and everyone started laughing.
Elizabeth had waited for them to finish catching up and teasing each other, but she could not wait any longer. "I have a question," Elizabeth murmured.
"What is it, young lady?" Judge Darcy said.
"Since Lady Anne can make an apparition," Elizabeth turned to Her Ladyship, "have you confronted Lady Catherine directly?"
Lady Anne shook her head. "I am quite restricted in where I could go."
"What do you mean by that?" Judge Darcy asked. His eyes shone with interest in this ghostly business.
"It seems I could only go to places where Fitzwilliam is."
"Like you are my guardian angel? Guarding me against any danger?" Fitzwilliam said, his eyes widened.
"I believe so," Lady Anne nodded. "And I couldn't roam freely during daytime and was unable to make an apparition before, until now."
"Why not me? We were husband and wife." George Darcy asked, with a hint of jealousy sipped in his voice.
"I don't know," Lady Anne murmured. "when you left Pemberley three years old, George, I was worried about your safety. I wanted to follow you but it was like my legs were shackled with lead. No matter how hard I tried or how many times, I couldn't leave Pemberley to follow you. But when Fitzwilliam left for Norwich and London, I was ecstatic that I could follow him."
"Perhaps it is because Lady Anne is related in blood to young Mr. Darcy," Elizabeth commented. "so her spirit is tied to him."
"That makes sense," Lady Anne nodded. "since we are related many generations ago, Miss Elizabeth. Perhaps that is why I can make an apparition today, in the daytime no less."
"Are we?" Elizabeth wondered, not aware that Lady Anne had used her real name.
"Why did you call her Miss Elizabeth," George Darcy asked. "Isn't she Miss Zeath, the great psychic of Meryton?"
"She was born Miss Elizabeth Bennet of Longbourn," Fitzwilliam explained.
"You knew?" Elizabeth said, surprised by the young gentleman's revelation.
"I worked it out earlier. Before Mother made an appearance, she called you Miss Elizabeth."
"In that case, young lady, perhaps you should take off the veil," Judge Darcy said. "I always prefer to deal with people when I can see their expression."
"But you deal mostly with criminals, Sir, and I'm not," Elizabeth retorted with a smile before taking off her veil.
Fitzwilliam held his breath. He hoped that his fascination with Miss Zeath would dim on seeing her face. He was sorely wrong. He was charmed by Miss Elizabeth's teasing mouth. Her green eyes looked like the depth of an alluring sea, calling out to Fitzwilliam to immerse into its intensity. He tried to avert his eyes and focus on his mother.
"Since I have been in Pemberley most of the time after you died and have not visited Aunt Catherine…" Fitzwilliam said.
"…I could not leave for Kent to ask Catherine about it." Lady Anne said.
"There was a story," Elizabeth said, "of a soldier. He died unjustly, and when he was summoned, he refused to be reincarnated. The psychic asked his reason, and the soldier said he would be reincarnated if his murderer was hanged. But until then, he wouldn't leave the inhabitants of his family house. It's almost similar to Lady Anne's. Oh, since you have been in Pemberley all these years, Lady Anne, did you have any bad feelings from the servants?"
Lady Anne thought for a moment and shook her head.
"In that case, I think we can safely rule out any disgruntled servants killing you," Elizabeth said.
"You could be right," Lady Anne replied.
Everyone then fell silent. Suddenly, Lady Anne faded into the background.
"Anne," George Darcy called out.
Elizabeth had been trying all her possible best to find a way to make Lady Anne stay, but it was starting to feel wrong. Lady Anne had stayed long here with them, talking about different things and catching up on the past.
"Mother is no longer here. Everything didn't work." Fitzwilliam declared, and everyone turned to look at the spot where her apparition had stood moments ago, but it was empty. Lady Anne had indeed disappeared.
"Where did she go?" George asked, almost getting to his feet. "Please bring her back, Miss Elizabeth."
Elizabeth looked at her hands. "I couldn't hold her much longer." She closed her eyes, and her body swayed from side to side. Fitzwilliam caught her before she could fall again. "Miss Elizabeth!"
Elizabeth opened her eyes weakly and said to Fitzwilliam, "Thank you, Mr. Darcy. Really." She could smell his woodsy scent.
Elizabeth smiled and nodded. Materialising Lady Anne in that form, at that magnitude, was something that she had never done before. She was ridden with shock when it happened. It was justified to use energy that vast. She was feeling very drained.
Elizabeth closed her eyes again, seeing Lady Anne momentarily. She thought Her Ladyship had left in anger. She would probably not communicate with her anymore, but seeing her now confirmed another theory of hers. Lady Anne wanted justice indeed. She wouldn't stop until she got it.
"Lady Anne!" Elizabeth whispered, her voice tired with exhaustion. Lady Anne continued to shake her head as if she said no to an opinion. Elizabeth tried to make sense of what she was saying, but in the end, she gave up, and she decided to let the woman speak herself.
"Help me get justice," Lady Anne said. "At any cost, help me." She continued to repeat that phrase as she slowly faded until Elizabeth could no longer focus on anything else before deep tiredness finally overtook her.
~P&P~~P&P~~P&P~
Fitzwilliam moved Elizabeth to rest her head on the chair and watched Elizabeth drift off. She was pretty, and how many times did he have to tell himself that? He wanted to stop thinking about her and maybe get her out of his mind. Still, it proved impossible with almost every step. It was like she had premeditated it every time and intentionally invaded his head. He shook his head to clear it and turned to look at his father.
"We were just about to discuss who the killer might have been." Judge Darcy said.
"Oh?" Fitzwilliam straightened up, giving the other two gentlemen full attention. "Father, Uncle. Please proceed."
The quest for Lady Anne's killers had begun.
"Do you remember who was present at that gathering years ago?" Judge Darcy asked.
"Your Aunt Augusta and Uncle Henry were there," George said, looking at Fitzwilliam.
"The Lord and Lady Matlock. Yes," The Judge nodded. Fitzwilliam found a pencil and a piece of paper from his person and wrote down the names.
"Lewis and Aunt Catherine, but we know that already," Fitzwilliam added.
"Molly and I were present." Judge Darcy said. When Fitzwilliam hesitated to put down their names, the Judge waved him to write them down.
"Collins was there with his wife too. Reverend William Collins, the Vicar of Stapleford." George added.
"Mr and Mrs John Bingley were there, were they not?" Fitzwilliam asked. Judge Darcy nodded.
"That's right, Fitzwilliam. And there were a few debutantes too," George Darcy commented. "Your mother and I hope they would interest you."
Fitzwilliam grimaced at being reminded of the young ladies who had attended the gathering.
"Now we have a suspect list." George Darcy nodded, determined to find out who ended his wife's life, leaving him with a big hole in his heart.
"But did any of these people ever have a reason to hate— dislike Lady Anne? Even if it is only a little bit?" Judge Darcy asked. "Myself included."
"I don't know about hate, but I remember that Catherine and Anne had an argument once. But then they handled everything perfectly later. They made up. The rest, I do not know." George Darcy said.
"What was the argument about?" Judge Darcy probed while Fitzwilliam made another note.
"If I remember correctly, Anne was scolding her elder sister about how she raises Anne de Bourgh. Anne thought that Catherine was mollycoddling her daughter, never allowing her to learn to ride or play the piano, on the excuse of the child's sickly constitution."
"That doesn't sound like an argument worth killing for." Fitzwilliam commented.
"Let's keep our minds open," Judge Darcy said. "I can declare that I didn't have any disagreement with Anne. And as far as I can remember, Molly didn't either."
George Darcy nodded in agreement.
"Now about Collins," George continued his speculation, "Anne had always thought the Reverend to be a pretentious man. But they never had any arguments. None that I know of."
"And Collins was appointed after Anne had married and left the Matlock," Judge Darcy said. "Their dealing would have been minimal. I couldn't think of how Anne would have offended him in such a way to warrant murder."
"What about Henry and Augusta?" Judge Darcy prompted. "I know Catherine was not very keen about Henry marrying the second time, especially to someone with connection to trade."
"Yes, Catherine did write a scathing message back when we invited her to the gathering. She complained that Anne was polluting the shade of Pemberley by inviting Augusta. And Catherine had more harsh words for Augusta's cousin Bingley. You know Catherine holds the distinction of rank very religiously. It took Lewis quite a while to persuade her to come to the gathering. But Anne got on reasonably fine with Augusta, and she was quite fond of John Bingley. She liked his strange sense of logic and whatnot."
Fitzwilliam shrugged. "I really do not know anything about any of them in detail, and neither do I know if they had any motives for killing my mother. But for the life of me, I couldn't understand why they didn't poison Aunt Catherine instead. She is offending more people in a day than Mother was in a year!"
"Boy," George mumbled. "show some respect for your aunt."
"I can't disagree with Fitzwilliam. But one step at a time." Judge Darcy said. "What about Churchill?"
"Mother is very fond of Frank," Fitzwilliam said. "I don't see why Frank would want to murder Mother."
"And I am not aware of any of them having a disagreement with Anne," George Darcy added. "Besides Catherine."
"So from the suspect list, according to what we think we know, Lady Catherine was the last person to have a falling out with lady Anne?" Judge Darcy summarised.
"That is Mother's sister. She cannot —"Fitzwilliam began but was cut short.
"I am not saying that Catherine is the murderer. I am just stating what we know now." Judge Darcy said. "Ah, the lady has awoken."
The gentlemen turned to see that Elizabeth had blinked open her eyes.
"After you passed out, James, Fitzwilliam and I made a list of the people who were present the night Anne died." George Darcy said.
"Including the servants?" Elizabeth asked.
"No, I shall check the wages diary from three years ago when I get back to Pemberley. Hopefully, I will find something there." Fitzwilliam commented.
"Would you be willing to travel with us back to Pemberley? I am sure with your presence, you can communicate with Anne. Both of you may be able to identify the killer."
Elizabeth's face fell at the hopeful look of the older man. "My apologies, Mr. Darcy, but I cannot help with that. I help people reconnect with their dead family members, not solve murder mysteries. And no, my psychic powers cannot help with that. If it could, I would have been pleased to tell you the name of the person that poisoned your late wife, but I cannot. I'm sorry."
Judge Darcy turned to Elizabeth. "I shall gather some investigators to do some investigation, Miss Elizabeth. But I think George has a great point here. It seems Lady Anne prefers to communicate with her family through you. Please, think about it at least. You would be helping Anne to move on to her next life by assisting in solving this murder."
Fitzwilliam didn't say anything, but his eyes begged her to help them. From the depth of his emotion, Elizabeth could see that the handsome young gentleman had a vulnerable yearning. He desperately wanted his mother to be at peace and his father lived his life fully again. He seemed to call out for his father's love.
Elizabeth wondered what it was that always put her into messes like this. A murder case? She sighed and rested her head on her palms. Should she agree or not?
