CHAPTER 15

The next morning Bella lazed in bed, secretly enjoying the spectacle of Edward's precise and well-honed routine going completely off the rails. They'd already spent precious little time sleeping, but gratifyingly he couldn't seem to leave her alone and after several false starts, he left for work nearly an hour late, still damp from the shower, with his hair sticking up at all angles, tie askew and a half eaten piece of toast in his hand.

It was touch and go whether he'd actually get all the way there without turning back again, but knowing she had her own plans, after a flurry of very suggestive texts, which made her laugh out loud, she assumed he'd finally arrived at work and it was safe to get up and get ready for her own day.

But first she couldn't resist having a good look round the flat. She'd only seen the hall and Edward's bedroom and ensuite so far, and although he was in the process of moving out she was curious to see where he'd lived for so long.

As he'd warned her, all the other rooms were in a state of complete disarray. As well as packing up the contents of the flat, which was even larger than she'd thought and must stretch across the top floor of at least two, or even three, adjoining houses, Edward had been going through everything which had been left in storage when his mother and then his father had died, ready to ship anything worth keeping down to Cornwall.

He was only halfway through the job and everywhere was piled high with crates, even the huge kitchen diner, where there was barely room to either cook or sit down. Like the other rooms, the large sitting room next door was also full of boxes in various stages of packing and unpacking and every available surface was covered with miscellaneous objects from clothes, to books, to kitchen supplies, to random ornaments, which Bella didn't dare disturb.

But even in this untidy state nothing could disguise how beautiful the room was, with its polished oak floors, white sofas and cream walls decorated with large and brightly coloured modern paintings and double height windows through which the bright winter sunshine was streaming in.

After briefly opening the doors to numerous other light and tastefully furnished rooms, Bella went back to the kitchen to make herself some breakfast, where best of all, half hidden by another stack of crates, she discovered a spiral staircase in the corner of the room, which led up to a secluded roof terrace where potted plants were flowering even in the dead of winter.

But there was no time to linger, she had things to do and places to go. And not much more than half an hour later she was sitting on a bus on her way to Chelsea.

-ooo-

Clutching Edward's old A-Z for directions to save running down her phone battery, Bella started by visiting the church where Lady Mary had been buried.

Like all of Chelsea the surrounding backstreets were charmingly elegant and Chelsea Old Church, which turned out to be only slightly larger and grander than a normal parish church, was in a beautiful spot a stone's throw from the river Thames.

It was incredible to think that bomb damage had reduced most of the church to rubble in the war. The building had been so lovingly rebuilt and restored that it was almost impossible to tell and no hint of past troubles disturbed the peaceful atmosphere. But nearly all the churchyard had long ago been built over and Bella was surprised at how closely hemmed in the church was by other buildings.

And although she'd already known that very little had survived from Lady Mary's time, Bella was still glad she'd come. She'd been worried her search would be depressing, but the tranquillity inside the church seemed to have rubbed off on her and she was only thinking what a beautiful day it was, almost like spring, as she walked past the statue of Sir Thomas More outside and crossed the road to the river.

She hadn't realised how wide the Thames was. The tall modern buildings on the opposite bank looked almost distant. The pavement beside the road ran right alongside the river and she leant over the stone parapet and stared at the swirling water for a while, thinking how grey and muddy it looked compared to the sea. But it would be just as efficient at drowning anyone who got swept away in it and she'd been surprised to discover that 80 to100 bodies, mainly suicides, were still fished out of the Thames every year.

She walked further along the river, past Albert Bridge to Chelsea Embankment Gardens, then sat on a bench and re-read the newspaper report of Lady Mary's death, before taking out her notebook and checking the address of the madhouse to get her bearings.

The street was still there, but again the original houses had long gone and the house number had been swallowed up into a block of redbrick mansion flats. The proximity of the river was very striking though and Bella wondered why Lady Mary had been allowed to go walking there in the first place. It seemed a bit odd if she was so ill that she had to be locked up, and it was unlikely there would have been any perceived health benefits.

She wished the newspaper report was longer, it was only a couple of lines stating the bare facts - that Lady Mary had slipped and drowned before anyone could get to her. But Bella knew by now that she was lucky to have anything at all. There would have been an inquest, but there were gaps in the archives and although she'd searched online and written to the local records office, nothing could be found.

Her morning hadn't revealed any further information, but she hadn't really been expecting it to. It was enough that she'd been able to see for herself where the trail ended, if only to draw a full stop. So leaving the river behind, she wandered northwards, thinking she'd do a bit of sightseeing or window shopping before she went back to Notting Hill. But after a few minutes she passed a public library and on an impulse she went inside.

The librarian looked up from her computer screen and smiled, 'Hello, can I help?'

'I'm not sure if you can. I've been researching someone from the 18th century for my degree and I've come up from Cornwall to see where she died. I haven't been able to find out much and I was wondering if you could suggest anywhere else to look?'

'Yes of course, we can use one of the computers over there.' The librarian indicated a study area at the far end of the room and after asking another member of staff to take her place at the desk, they settled themselves down at one of the tables.

In no time at all she'd confirmed that the small amount of information Bella had already discovered online was probably all there was to find.

'It's a shame you've picked someone from quite so far back, records from the 18th century are definitely scarcer I'm afraid. There wouldn't be any mental health records in the first place, coroner's reports are quite rare survivors as you've already found, and even the first census wasn't until 1801.'

'Is there anything else you can think of?'

'Your best bet is probably a more detailed newspaper report of the inquest. I'll check what the district library has on microfiche for you, but again it's too long ago and I'm not very hopeful.'

'Oh, well. At least I'll know I've done everything I can.' Bella watched the search results appear.

'Yes, I'm sorry the local newspaper collection definitely doesn't go back far enough. The only other place I can think of is the British Library. They have several private newspaper collections which aren't accessible to the general public, or online. So you'd have to physically go over to Euston and register with the Library to request a search. You'd need the same sort of proof of identity we ask for to join. Do you have anything with you?'

Bella groped around in her bag for her wallet. Why was everything she wanted always at the bottom, under a layer of miscellaneous junk she kept forgetting to sort out?

'Umm yes, I've got my student ID card and my driving license, ' – thank goodness Emmett had recently started teaching her to drive – 'and there should be at least one letter with my address on somewhere in there.'

'Well it looks as if you're all set then. If you walk up to Sloane Square and get the tube to Kings Cross, it shouldn't take you much more than an hour to get there.'

'Ok, I'll get straight onto it as soon as I've had some lunch. Thank you so much for your help.'

'No problem. Good luck.'

And feeling quite optimistic, Bella set off.

-ooo-

When Bella arrived back at Edward's flat later, it was nearly 5pm and she was exhausted. Thinking she had masses of time, after she left the library she'd stopped at a café for an early lunch and spent half an hour reading the additional texts Edward had sent her and sending some more. Then on her way to the tube, as she'd got closer to Sloane Square she'd been distracted by the shops and stopped again to buy gifts to take back home.

It took ages to get to the British Library and much longer than she'd thought to register and get the search going. The brilliant part was that the really helpful staff had been able to find a longer, much more detailed account of the inquest, in one of their newspaper collections, which had been really exciting. The not so brilliant part of her afternoon was that she'd suddenly remembered the watch she'd promised to pick up from James's solicitors, which resulted in a mad dash across town before they closed early for the weekend.

The watch, which the snooty receptionist had insisted she signed for, had been loosely wrapped in tissue paper in a padded envelope and on the annoyingly long journey back to Notting Hill, Bella had had plenty of time to inspect it.

It was a rather beautiful, and old, gold Rolex chronograph, which she suddenly felt the need to bundle back in the envelope and hide from sight, when she googled it on her phone and found it was worth somewhere between sixty and seventy thousand pounds. No wonder James had been so anxious to get his hands on it.

And now it was burning a hole in her pocket, or more accurately her bag, not only because it was her responsibility to keep it safe, but also because she knew she'd have to own up to Edward.

It would already look strange that she hadn't mentioned anything before and although he hadn't tried to force her to drop her friendship with James completely and he would have got short shrift if he had, somehow suddenly something didn't feel right and Bella was feeling slightly apprehensive as she got off the tube and started to make her way towards the flat..

She had about half an hour until Edward got home and in case he forgot, she decided to quickly pick up a pint of milk and some bread on the way. When she got to the door she realised the keys had sunk to the very bottom of her bag again and making another mental note to throw out some of the accumulated rubbish, she juggled the milk, the bread and the bag of gifts she was already carrying, while she pulled out her wallet, her umbrella, her notebook and the watch, and groped around.

Luckily she found the keys without having to empty her whole bag out on the doorstep and still clutching an armful of random items, she went straight towards the kitchen to offload the milk and bread. But when she opened the kitchen door she got such a shock to see Edward unexpectedly standing there, that everything went tumbling out of her arms and skidding across the kitchen floor.

The plastic milk bottle, which was her first concern, seemed to be still intact and she breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't deluged everything in milk. But as she smiled at Edward apologetically and hastily started gathering things up, she realised the envelope the watch had been in was empty and to her horror when she looked around, she saw it had slid out of its wrapping and was lying on the floor right in front of Edward's feet.

Standing, Bella hastily deposited the milk and bread on the table and returned the other items to her bag, while Edward bent to retrieve his father's wristwatch. She could tell he was absolutely furious, so furious that she immediately suspected James had set her up.

'Christ, say something Edward.'

'I assume James asked you to collect this. Are you going to be taking a cut of the proceeds too?'

'Don't be so ridiculous, he just asked me to do him a favour and pick it up for him. I had no idea it was worth so much until I googled it on the way back here.'

Looking slightly less angry, Edward ran a hand over his face, then pulled a chair out and sat down at the table, while Bella followed suit. He pushed the watch towards her and she stared at it, wondering why Edward's father had left it to James not Edward.

Edward was apologetic when he spoke again, 'I'm sorry, I seem to lose all sense of perspective where James is concerned. It's not your fault and you don't need to be dragged into all of this.'

'All of what?' She knew Edward would consider it vulgar to talk about money, but she wanted to know the truth, 'Carlisle gave me the impression you'd been left practically penniless though.'

Edward laughed, 'Not entirely penniless, we lawyers are rather well paid, better than we deserve sometimes. The truth is that with the rise in property prices, when this place is sold, even after paying off the remaining debts and death duties, there'll be enough left to buy somewhere fairly comfortable elsewhere. In Cornwall I hope.'

'But how did James end up with something so valuable, instead of you, when there's so little left?'

Edward was staring at the watch again and realising how angry the mere sight of it was making him, Bella picked it up and put it back in her bag.

Edward sighed, 'That's just the problem, James has always been much too clever to give himself away, or attract the slightest blame for anything, ever. In fact I've often come close to believing that it's all just paranoia on my part.'

'Was James a particular favourite of you father's?'

'Not that I was aware of. James hasn't lived in the UK for years and even when we were kids he was away a lot, either at school, or with his father's family in Italy, so they rarely met.'

'What do you suspect then? 'Bella frowned. She didn't like asking the question. Her opinion of James had certainly been wavering lately, but her instinct was to protect her friends and he wasn't there to stand up for himself.

'Well I assume you know about Irina?'

'Yes, Mrs Cope did mention…'

'Not one of my more edifying conquests, I'm afraid.' Edward grimaced. 'My father had never been careful with money, or bothered to make any provision for death duties, so I'd always known there probably wouldn't be a massive amount to inherit. Although I had expected to keep this flat at least, it was my mother's originally, not his.'

His eyes roamed around the room, before coming back to Bella's face, 'I'd heard rumours his spending had got completely out of hand in the year before his death and that he might have had a little help with that. But to be honest by then we'd barely been in contact for years and he could have gone to the devil for all I cared.'

'So that was all Irina?'

'I knew he'd employed a so-called nurse/companion, but I hadn't even met her until the funeral and when I did and then discovered how deep the financial damage was, I decided to keep her where I could see her. It wasn't difficult, she was absolutely stunning.'

Bella shook her head, thinking how strangely men's minds worked sometimes. 'I heard she disappeared suddenly. Did you go to the police?'

'No, we couldn't find a shred of concrete evidence against her and eventually she must have got wind of the investigations going on behind the scenes, because she vanished without a trace. Which rather confirmed her guilt as far as I was concerned. We never managed to establish the slightest connection to James either, although some of her actions seemed to indicate a degree of insider knowledge.'

'Oh my God,' Bella looked at Edward in shock, 'You suspected me of trying to do the same to Carlisle?'

'I'm sorry, not my finest hour. With hindsight it would have been stupid to try to pull the same trick again so soon, but I couldn't help being suspicious and I was still angry that Irina, and possibly James, had got away scot-free. You were so completely devoid of history.' He looked puzzled, 'Why have you never even had a passport? Where did you go for holidays?'

'Seriously? Christ you people have no idea how the other half lives do you? We were lucky to have any food on the table most of the time and I didn't even know what a bloody holiday was. I made Renee hand over all the finances when I was twelve just to try to make sure the bills and the rent were paid. I can't even remember how many moonlight flits she did before that and the reason why I've got no history is that we never stayed anywhere long enough to have any.'

Bella took a deep breath and tried to calm down a bit, 'Does that answer your question sufficiently?'

Edward couldn't help laughing, 'Sorry, we have led rather different lives. I can't wait to take you on your first proper holiday now though. Where would you like to go most?'

Bella's face lit up, before they both remembered Carlisle and realised that might not be possible just yet.

But something else had just occurred to Bella, 'So when did you change your mind about me?'

'Almost immediately. The first time I kissed you really, that night at the pub. Although you wouldn't have got me to admit it at the time.'

Bella's eyes narrowed, 'So you were going to try the same tactic on me as Irina?'

'Umm, maybe.' Edward had the grace to look slightly ashamed.' It sounds horrible when you put it like that, but on the whole I think you would have ending up seducing me rather than the other way round, if Rosalie hadn't interrupted us. But then I got it into my head that you deserved better than someone with my track record and convinced myself that you weren't interested anyway. So we've both made some pretty bad decisions along the way.'

'Yeah, I definitely need my head examined for going anywhere near you in the first place. Although, god help me, despite the fact that you seem to know fuck all about real life, I'm beginning to understand the appeal of someone who knows their way around the bedroom a bit.' She grinned at him, remembering the previous night.

He grinned back at her, remembering too, and making as if to get up and come round to her side of the table.

'Hey, hold on a minute, you haven't properly explained about the watch yet. So you think James somehow swindled it out of your father with the help of Irina?'

Edward immediately looked serious again.

'The watch was one of several bequests which were the subject of a legal dispute. My solicitor noticed the signature on the codicil to the will was slightly suspect, so he contested it. It's taken all this time to track down the witnesses. They were apparently neighbours of my father's, but they'd moved away. The case was only settled last week and the watch was released into James's solicitor's care.'

'So you're angry because you think James has basically stolen something valuable from you?'

'Not exactly. What it's worth isn't the main issue. It belonged to my grandfather and it was the one thing I really wanted.'

For a second she thought his eyes betrayed a sadness that his matter of fact expression tried to deny.

'Would James have known that?'

'I don't know.'

They were both silent, while Edward stared out of the window and Bella tried to digest what she'd just been told. She didn't believe that Edward would be so suspicious of James without any reason and all her remaining confidence in James had suddenly deserted her.

'I'm really sorry Edward, I'm beginning to think I've acted like an idiot. I know I'm going to have to hand over the watch first, but from now on I'm going to make it absolutely clear to James that we can't be friends anymore.'

'Thank god for that, imagining you two together has been driving me completely crazy. I wanted to at least warn you to be careful, but you got so friendly so quickly it took me by surprise. And anyway what could I have said? Don't go near him, I don't like him? The way things were going that would have had the opposite effect.'

Bella smiled, 'Yes, you're right, you weren't exactly my favourite person at that point and I definitely wouldn't have listened to any advice from you.'

'And even recently, I didn't know how I'd be able to convince you. Like I said, I haven't a shred of evidence against him and you were so determined… My only hope was that as usual, he wouldn't stay around for too long. I was beginning to think he really had fallen for you, but at least he's out of the house now.'

'Yes that bit was odd. But I think he's been genuinely occupied with trying to make sure Aro buys the restaurant - Jessica says he's on commission. Although there might be another reason as well…'

She looked at Edward wondering how bad his reaction would be.

Edward raised his eyebrows, 'What?'

'Apparently, James is already talking to the council about demolishing The Lantern House and building holiday flats on the site.'

'Oh don't worry, I already know and so does Carlisle. James hasn't been very careful about keeping that one quiet, he must be too short of funds at the moment to care.'

Edward was fuming again and he took a couple of moments to calm down, 'Sorry I really don't want to talk about James any more, or let him continue to affect our time together. In fact I think I could do with some fresh air. Do you fancy going out for a while? I was going to surprise you by cooking a meal, but that'll keep for tomorrow. How about dinner and a movie? You can tell me what you've found out about Lady Mary while we're eating.'

'As long as the film's something fun, I'm not really in the mood for serious at the moment.'

'Strangely neither am I,' he smiled. 'I'll just check the restaurant round the corner's not fully booked. It's still early, so we should be ok.'

Edward took his phone out and started searching for the number, 'Oh, I nearly forgot again,' He reached for something on one of the worktops, 'I meant to give you this last night. I found it in among my mother's things the other day. Call it a late Christmas present if you like.'

Bella looked down at the object he'd put into her hand before going back to his phonecall. It was a small oblong silver box and she shivered slightly when the cold metal touched her skin, although it was quickly warming to the same temperature. A snuffbox perhaps? It fitted snugly into the palm of her hand and her fingers wanted to fold around it.

When she examined it more closely she could see what looked like shells engraved across the top, but they were so indistinct it was difficult to be sure. She ran her fingers over the faint outlines etched into the silver. The box was so tactile it was no wonder the decoration had almost been rubbed away.

There was a line of black writing running all round the sides of the box, but however closely she squinted at it, it was too small to read. Giving up, she opened the top and got the shock of her life - in the inside of the lid was a miniature version of the painting of Lady Mary which hung in her room and behind the hinged cover it was painted on, was a lock of dark brown hair tied with a tiny blue satin ribbon.

Edward had come to stand beside her and they both looked down at the box. 'It's a mourning piece. The Victorians really loved to keep mementos of the dead, but as you can see there are earlier examples too. It seems a bit macabre, but I suppose in the days before photographs, it was all they had. I like to think Percy kept the box in his pocket the whole time and that's why it's so worn.'

'What does the inscription say?'

'I had to find a magnifying glass to read it. It's in Latin, but I wrote the translation on that piece of paper inside.'

Bella hooked out the folded slip of paper, opened it out and read what was written on it 'I am my beloved's and he is mine' then burst into tears. She turned and buried her head into Edward's shoulder while he put his arm around her.

'I'm sorry, it was just the thought of Percy carrying that around with him for all those years until he died. There's a similar inscription on her memorial in the village church. It's all so sad. He must have loved her very much. So why did he desert her at the end and send her so far away?'

-ooo-

Bella was tempted to take the snuffbox with her when they went out to the restaurant, but in the end she decided it would be safer where it was and while they waited for their meal, she told Edward about her trip to the British Library and showed him the copy of the newspaper article they'd found.

Unlike the few lines she already had, this was a full report of the inquest, which had been held at a local inn a few days later. Several witnesses had given evidence, including the owner of the madhouse, the maid Lady Mary had been walking with, a doctor, and the boatman whose account she already knew about.

The owner of the madhouse and the doctor had reported that Lady Mary, or Mary Trevear as she was known to them, had been generally docile and tractable, but given to sudden ungovernable fits of rage and delirium, during which she had been restrained for her own safety as well as others.

But the sight and sound of the river had seemed to benefit her condition and the maid testified that on sunny mornings she had been used to accompany the deceased on a short walk, which had always calmed her for several hours, during which she talked quite gaily about her home, her husband and her children (which the poor lady believed were still alive). Everyone involved with her care also agreed that her general condition had been improving and there was hope that in time she might have recovered sufficiently to rejoin her family.

All the witnesses present agreed that the drowning was a terrible accident and that her ladyship had ventured too close to the river and slipped and fallen into the water, which was swollen by the spring tide. Several boatmen had been alerted by cries for help and hurried to her rescue, but unfortunately their valiant attempts to save her had been too late and they were unable to resuscitate her.

However, several local people had mentioned another witness who'd told them he'd seen the lady arguing with a gentleman on the river path that morning. But the maid and the witnesses who were present had strongly refuted this suggestion and reiterated that Lady Mary had been completely alone apart from the maid.

Despite being called, the additional witness hadn't turned up and after establishing that he was a well known drunkard of the most unreliable character, the coroner had decided to ignore this evidence and requested his arrest for failing to attend the inquest when summoned. The verdict was therefore given as accidental drowning.

But somehow the tone of the newspaper report sounded unconvincing to Bella. 'Does the missing witness seem at all fishy to you? There's also the rushed burial in London, rather than having her body brought back Cornwall.'

'I thought you'd already decided the burial was due to rumours of suicide at home? Speaking as a member of the judicial system myself, I'm sure the coroner would have recorded an open verdict if he'd had any suspicion at all that it wasn't an accident. The point of holding inquests in local pubs was to make sure as many people as possible came forward and they seem to have had a lot. The one who didn't appear could well have made his story up, to get a few drinks out of his audience perhaps, then thought better of it.'

'You're right, that does sound feasible. But if Lady Mary really was arguing with someone, I hope it wasn't Percy. Think how much guilt that would have caused if she was begging him to take her home and he refused.'

'Well, we'll never know now. But the whole story's so sad, it's no wonder she's supposed to haunt the place.'

'For a second I thought I saw the ghost myself, when Carlisle collapsed before Christmas and Emmett had to do CPR on him.'

'I think James saw her as well. The night Alice died he was complaining about some idiot in fancy dress giving him a fright as he walked around a corner.'

'It's weird the way one random person sees her, just before a member of the family dies. Didn't you tell me once that someone from the village saw the ghost when Esme died? There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. And why does she only appear in the garden, not the house?'

'Maybe it makes her too sad to go inside, it's where her children died after all. Or perhaps she feels as if she's locked up again.'

'Mmm maybe.' Bella moved slightly to give the waiter room to put her plate of pasta down. 'I can't believe we're actually having this conversation though, I'm sure you don't believe in ghosts any more than I do. Although I did get pretty spooked for a while when I thought things in the house were being moved around. Has that ever happened to you?'

'No, I can't say it has. Although I agree the atmosphere in the house does get a bit spooky sometimes, I'm sure there must be a rational explanation for everything though.'

'Anyway let's change the subject. – ghosts and James again, no-one's idea of fun… Which movie did you want to see afterwards?'

'Actually, I think I've changed my mind. There's something I'd much rather be doing at home,' Edward's green eyes sparkled at her from across the table.

'Well that's another spooky coincidence; I was thinking exactly the same.'

A big thank you to The Lemonade Stand for another mention this week, I owe you an awful lot, & another big thank you to everyone else who's ever rec'd or tried to get their friends interested, I know I don't always make it easy lol!

Next chapter more James. more Edward, more Lady Mary, ok more everyone really.

x Sue