Havers Returns

A/N. This is a Ghosts fic with a guest appearance by Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers from the Inspector Lynley mysteries


It was a cold morning in autumn when the doorbell of Button House rang, causing Alison to nearly fall off her chair. "Jesus, why's that thing so loud?" she grumbled around a mouthful of cornflakes while standing and making her way to the front door. "Well, probably because this is a big house and the doorbell is supposed to be heard everywhere in it - oh, hello Humphrey!"

"Good morning," the ghost head greeted from his position on the floor. "Have you seen my body by any chance?"

"Er, no, sorry," said Alison before adding, "When I see one of the others I'll ask them to take you to the sofa in the library or something, alright? That hardwood floor looks uncomfortable."

"Oh that would be nice, thank you!" Humphrey's head replied happily.


Opening the front door, Alison came face to face with a short red-haired woman, who held up a police warrant card and introduced herself as Sergeant Barbara Havers. Alison involuntarily flinched a little, prompting the policewoman to smile. "Don't worry, I'm not here to arrest you or anything. I just cleared out my grandfather's stuff after he died a few weeks ago and found this photo."

The photo in question was in black and white and showed a young soldier in, from what Alison could tell, a World War II era uniform similar to the Captain's. On the back of the picture, it said 'Lt. Havers, Button House, July 1940' in scrawled handwriting.

"My great uncle, appparently," DS Havers explained. "Never knew him, he died in the war, but when I found out he used to be stationed here at Button House, I was curious and wanted to see it."

"Oh sure, come on in," Alison offered with a smile, stepping aside to let the other woman enter.


"Alison has a visitor!" Kitty cheerfully announced to some of her fellow ghosts in the kitchen - she'd overheard Alison talking to DS Havers and poked her head through the wall to investigate.

"Really, who is it?" asked the Captain, ever vigilant to strangers showing up at Button House. They might be foreign spies after all, or handsome young men with nicely muscled arms (not that the Captain ever admitted to himself that he enjoyed looking at that type of men).

"A woman, well, a policewoman I think? I didn't know ladies were allowed to join the police force these days."

"Yeah well, they are," said Julian, before quickly disappearing through the nearest wall.

"Mate, I don't think she's here to arrest you, seeing as you're dead- oh nevermind." Pat shrugged and looked around the remaining ghosts. "Let's go see what this is about, shall we?"


They didn't have to go far, in fact they ran into Alison and her guest right at the kitchen door. Well, not really 'ran into', as the ghosts quickly jumped out of the way of the two women, because passing through a living person always made a ghost feel queasy.

"Would you like some tea?" Alison offered.

"Yes, thank you," Barbara Havers accepted with a smile, looking around the kitchen. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you end up in a huge old manor like this one?"

"Inherited it from my... er... step great-grand aunt, or something? A distant relative I've never met, in any case - hey Mike."

Alison's husband had just entered the kitchen and made a beeline for the electric kettle to fix himself a cup of tea. Turning around, he appeared to see DS Havers for the first time. "Oh sorry, I'm not quite awake yet. Mike Cooper."

"Sergeant Barbara Havers, nice to meet you."

They shook hands, then Mike sat down at the kitchen table next to Alison. "Sergeant, eh?"

"Yes, but I'm not here as police," DS Havers explained, placing the photo of Lieutenant Havers on the table. "My grandfather died recently and I found this while going through his things. According to the writing on the back, the man in the picture is my granddad's brother, who worked here at Button House during the war."

There was a collective little gasp from the ghosts assembled in the kitchen, and then Alison had to pretend there wasn't a World War II soldier ghost leaning over the table between her and Sergeant Havers to get a better look at the photo. "It's him," the Captain confirmed after a moment, sounding close to tears, and Alison once again wished that she could hug her ghostly housemates. Fortunately, Pat and Kitty had that part covered; the Captain went visibly stiff at first, but soon relaxed into the little group hug. Alison hid her own slightly teary-eyed smile by taking a sip of tea, then turned her attention back to her guest. "Sorry, I was just thinking about something." Which was probably not a good thing to say to a police officer, even if they weren't at your house as police, but DS Havers let it slide.

"Do you know anything about the work he did here?" the policewoman asked.

"Some kind of secret project apparently, I'm afraid that's all we know. Well, that, and that he was transferred to the front at some point."

DS Havers gave a nod. "The North Africa front, to be precise. He died there and they sent his stuff home to England, to his last living relative: his brother - my grandfather - who had lost an arm in the first war and therefore wasn't called up to fight in the second one."

"His name was Larry - well, Laurence," said a new voice, causing the Captain to jump back from Kitty and Pat in shock and stare at the ghost of a younger soldier who had just appeared at the kitchen door. "Wh- uh- Havers?! Is that you?!"