Chapter 10: Margaret and Eleanor

In awkward silence relieved only by music on the radio, Louisa drove Margaret out to Tremethyk House because Martin refused to have anything to do with her once he phoned Mr. Robinson to expect another guest. The butler greeted them at the door and Louisa introduced her mother-in-law as the other Lady Ellingham, at her insistence. Mr. Robinson handled the situation by tactfully nodding and thereafter addressing Margaret simply as "Ma'am."

He took her bags and brought them up to the room he had prepared for her. Margaret seemed unimpressed by the room and went down the hall to check out the other bedrooms nearby.

"I prefer this one," she said, poking her nose into the bedroom with the gold and red embroidered canopy bed.

"Unfortunately, Mrs. Glasson is already settled into this one," the butler said.

"Who? I wasn't informed there was another guest."

"She's my mother," Louisa said. "She's up visiting from Spain, she's been here a few days."

"I think you'll find the Green Room very comfortable. It's furnished with Victorian antiques, with Chinese silk bed curtains, and a Degas oil painting on the wall. It's also the only guest bedroom with its own balcony, overlooking the back garden," the butler said.

Margaret sighed. "I suppose it'll have to do. I'll unpack later, I'd like to see the rest of the house."

Louisa took her downstairs for a brief tour. "Christopher brought me here once to visit that old man. It's much as I remembered it," Margaret said. "Even that dreadful painting." She indicated the portrait of Sir Matthew. "It's like his eyes are following me around."

"Perhaps it will keep you honest, Margaret." Ruth had come into the gallery, along with Eleanor, who was clad in a terrycloth robe accessorized with a necklace of aromatic herbs. "Martin warned me you were here. Do we need to count the silver spoons after your visit?" Ruth said.

Margaret gave her a withering glare. "Oh Ruth, as bitter as ever, aren't you. I suppose it's a hazard of spending a career analysing serial killers."

Louisa intervened. "Margaret, this is my mother Eleanor, who is, um, wearing a bathrobe… for some reason."

Ruth explained. "Eleanor was just demonstrating to me the practice of going skyclad when performing neopagan rituals around ancient standing stone formations, like the one in the garden here."

Louisa was mortified. "Skyclad? Doesn't that mean going naked? Mum you didn't…" Margaret snickered.

"Don't worry, Lou Lou," Eleanor assured her with a laugh. "It was all very tastefully done. I kept my knickers on."

Margaret had clearly had enough of these two. "I'm going out for a walk on the grounds. When will dinner be served?"

"Mrs. Robinson will have dinner ready at 7, don't be late," Louisa replied. "And you better like seafood, or vegetarian, because that's what we're having."

"Will there at least be a decent wine with dinner?" Margaret asked.

"You have to go the wine cellar yourself and pick something out and the butler will serve it with the meal. I don't want to hear about anyone making things harder for the staff. Mrs. Robinson is not used to cooking for this many people, she has enough to do making dinner for six after years of only having to look after one person."

"Six?" Margaret was alarmed. "Who are all these other people?"

"Some friends of mine are coming this afternoon," Eleanor said. "Don't worry, we'll all be appropriately dressed. They'll be staying here for a few days to conduct a paranormal investigation."

"Ruth and I will also be here tonight to observe," Louisa said. "It sounds very interesting."

Margaret was unimpressed. "Paranormal investigation. You mean you're ghost hunting? What nonsense."

"You sound just like Martin," Ruth observed.

That was the last straw for Margaret. "Don't be ridiculous!"

Eleanor's guests arrived in late afternoon. They were younger than her, in their late 30s Louisa guessed. The husband was dressed in black turtleneck and jeans, and wore a gilded zodiac medallion on a chain, which Louisa thought made him look like he'd won a track meet.

Eleanor introduced him as Dr. Jack Moran, which made Ruth curious about his degree. He said his doctorate was from the University of Parapsychological Sciences, an online school based in Florida. It takes a science-based approach to the study of dream telepathy, poltergeists, out-of-body experiences, and other psychic phenomena, he explained. Ruth nodded diplomatically.

His wife, Lamorna, was dressed in the casual hippie fashion much like Eleanor favoured. She said Jack worked as a photographer for his day job while she was a social worker, with "some psychic abilities."

"She's so modest," Jack said. "She's practically paranormal royalty. Her grandmother was Demelza Williams, the famous Cornish medium, who co-founded the Cornwall Society for Metaphysical Research and captured some amazing footage of a confirmed haunting on video years ago, really legendary."

"Oh, do you have that available?" Ruth said. "I'd love to see it."

"Unfortunately, my uncle took the video tape with him on a trip to Africa and lost it there. It was the only copy," Lamorna said.

"Of course it was," Margaret remarked. "The real mystery is why the psychic medium didn't predict that she needed to make a copy."

"Ah, a sceptic!" Jack said. "We'll see if we can convince you otherwise."

Louisa turned to a more tactful tone. "Why don't you get yourselves settled. Mr. Robinson will show you to your room and then you can set up your equipment.

It took about an hour for the Morans to set up. It was mostly Jack's doing, as he was the one who's into the technical side of things, Lamorna said. "I'm more into the intuitive aspects of metaphysical investigation."

"And all this high tech equipment costs money," he chimed in. "Right now we do these investigations for free, and because we enjoy exploring the unknown, but we're hoping to turn this experience into a book and a podcast and maybe an online show."

"This is the most high profile location they've investigated so far," Eleanor said. "Who knows just how far this could lead."

She and Louisa helped the guests unpack the equipment and move it around as Jack explained that this piece was a digital recording system that hooks up to night vision cameras, and that piece was a microphone that can record frequencies below human hearing, and those over there were EMF meters to pick up changes in electromagnetic fields, and so on, as he plugged wires into various jacks until he was satisfied with the setup.

He set up a camera on a tripod in the library on Eleanor's recommendation, and then body cameras for him and Lamorna that could be worn as they explored the house. Each camera was remotely connected to a laptop with to record any unusual activity that night.

Then Mr. Robinson announced that dinner was served.

To be continued…