The Fourth Mistress

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Louise stared into Graham's eyes that looked paler compared to the ones that she was used to. She pursed her lips to stop it from trembling, half because of the morning cold and half because of the anxiety that had come to settle in her chest since she had seen the bodies of the dead in Reed's estate. 

Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Louise asked him, "What do you mean you couldn't?" 

She noticed Graham's ghost move towards her, coming to stand in front of her, and he said, "I don't know. I thought I was going to disappear from here, but I wasn't able to, as if I am stuck here. As if I am not able to move. Forgive me for being reckless about some things."

She shook her head, "You didn't know about it."

"If it weren't for me approaching you, or my family, you would have led a normal life. Studying and attending your exams now," Graham's voice was even, which barely rose or fell. Though he often spoke in a monotonous tone, this time it felt colder and emptier than the other times, and Louise wondered if it was because he was a ghost who had turned from being alive to dead. "There was something that I never told you."

Louise stared at him, listening to every word that came out from his cold lips. She wondered if she were to reach out to him, would she still be able to touch him? Or if her hand would pass through his body?

"What is it?" asked Louise, and when Graham stretched his hand towards her, she took a step backwards. 

Graham's hand that was in midair, it turned itself into a fist, and he retreated it to his side. His expression held no emotions, and it was blank, making it difficult for Louise to read him. She hadn't stepped away from him because he was a ghost, it was that she was hurt that he had come here to meet Lisa, without telling her what had happened to him inside the manor. 

"The first time when we met, we didn't crash against each other by coincidence," confessed Graham, and Louise's eyebrows furrowed at his words. 

"You didn't know me though," stated Louise, and Graham nodded his head. 

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"I didn't know you until that day, but I had seen you when you got down from the carriage with your aunt. And then heard about how you were the famous Louise Evardon, who was studying to be a legal counsellor," said Graham, and he turned his head in the direction of the lake that was behind Louise. "I don't know why, but I wanted to meet you. Maybe see you closely, which is why when we crashed into each other in that lonely corridor, it wasn't because I wasn't paying attention."

Feeling her heart squeeze in her chest, Louise clenched her hands on her sides, "Why are you telling me this now? Why not before?" Him revealing things like these would make it difficult for her to move on from his death. 

There was a subtle frown on Graham's face. He said, "Now that I know I don't have time, where I might disappear at any time, I felt like I had to tell it to you."

With what had gone down since last night, Louise was drained out of her mental and physical energy. "You went to her," she whispered. "Why not me? I would have heard you first."

"I didn't know if you would be able to take another death. Lisa was already dead, she has been dead for quite some time and I thought…" Graham's unfinished sentence left many possibilities of what he wanted, and Louise turned her head in the other direction. 

Trying to sort her feelings in her mind, where silence fell between them, Louise said, "You shouldn't have let her die like that. You could have taken other precautions to keep her away from you and your family," she spoke concerning Emily's death. "Neither would she have been dead, nor would the rest of the people in the manor."

"I was angry that time… seeing Lisa like that and knowing the person who killed her was around, trying to get her presence closer to other family members with every step, I went along with it," Graham's voice lacked any emotion. Louise wondered if he felt any remorse over his action, but then at the same time, his memory had been washed away like the rest of the people in the manor and the town. 

"Where is Lisa?" questioned Louise, as she hadn't seen the woman. 

Graham shook his head, "I don't know. She must be somewhere around."

Louise didn't know how to perceive the matter, knowing her deceased husband was still around with his deceased wife's ghost. Emily's ghost wasn't around anymore because her skeleton had been burned with half of the house. Was that how it worked? Burning the body was a way to get rid of a person's ghost.

There was no use crying over spilt milk, thought Louise in her mind. Everything was already done, and it was irreversible to bring back someone from the dead.

"I can tell you are upset. I will see you later," murmured Graham, and in a blink of an eye, he disappeared from there, leaving Louise all alone by herself. 

The surface of the water in the lake continued to glimmer and shine with the sun's rays that touched it. Louise pulled the shawl that was around her shoulders closer while she stared into nothingness. 

After a few hours, Louise visited her uncle and aunt's home. Louise had given the shortest and the sanest version that she could explain on what happened in Reed's manor, and it had both of them hold a grim expression on their faces. 

"I am so sorry that you had to go through this by yourself, Loui," Aunt Merlin wrapped her hands around her niece, hugging her with a deep frown and sadness in her eyes. 

"Some of the people were right," Uncle Hugo shook his head, "The Reed's have been cursed for so many years now. We should have been more careful when it came to offering our Louise's hand in marriage to Graham." 

"It's not the Reeds fault," murmured Louise, pulling away from her aunt's hug, and she met her uncle's gaze, who was genuinely upset. 

"I know. But we cannot help but blame ourselves for not being more careful, when we clearly knew the number of deaths that had taken place in the family," said Uncle Hugo with a sigh, and he turned to his wife, "Merlin, why don't we let Louise have some rest. I am sure she needs some time. Would you like to eat something before that, Louise." 

"I think I will go and take a nap, uncle," replied Louise, and her uncle and aunt nodded. 

"Let me go and get the logs of wood from the backside. I didn't stock them in your room—" Aunt Merlin offered, but Louise stopped her aunt. 

"I will do that. You don't have to trouble yourself with it," she assured her aunt and went to get the logs of wood for the fireplace. Both Uncle Hugo and Aunt Merlin shared a look of worry between them. 

Louise picked up the logs of wood and went to the room given to her since she had been taken into the DeRose's family. The first thing she did was take a bath, and it took quite a while for her to finish it, as she kept spacing in and out. In the last twenty-four hours, so much had happened, and it had happened too fast. Now that everything had slowed down, she started to grasp the reality, letting it sink in her mind. 

In the DeRose family's living room, Aunt Merlin had prepared tea and had offered biscuits to Reed's butler Gilbert and the maid, Camile. 

"People are going to talk, aren't they?" asked Aunt Merlin to her husband in a low voice. "How could a maid kill everyone, it is shocking."

"We should offer prayers to the deceased and be thankful that nothing bad happened to Louise. The talk and gossip has never fazed Louise, but I can understand your turmoil, Merlin," said Uncle Hugo with a nod. He then turned to look at the butler, who hadn't sat down even after being told to sit on their couch. He asked Gilbert, "Did the officers mention when we are allowed to see the family members?"

"They said Lady Louise could see and take them by tomorrow or day after tomorrow after they are being examined, Mr. DeRose," replied Gilbert. 

"I see. I guess it would be right to arrange a proper funeral so that it doesn't burden Louise with what she's going through now," said Uncle Hugo, and his wife agreed on it. "Was Graham's sister's family informed?"

"The coachman has gone to notify them about it. They will come to visit Lady Louise soon," replied Gilbert with his face unexpressive, and Uncle Hugo sighed once again, something he had been doing since Louise had come to them. 

In one of the rooms of the DeRose's family, where Louise used to live before her marriage, she climbed into the bed but didn't fall asleep. Her body was tired, but her mind kept her busy and awake. Even when her eyes closed, she could see the deceased maid's face, who came to attack her.

A few hours passed, and when it was the time of evening, Louise's sister-in-law Alison reached the DeRose' house with her husband, Henry, while their daughter had not accompanied them. 

"I cannot believe this," Alice was in shock, her eyes wide and tears brimmed in her eyes which she tried to hold back. "Father, mother… even my brother…" She broke into tears, and Henry supported his wife by putting his arm around her. 

Louise's mind had turned blank. Even though hours had passed, she hadn't gotten to grieve the death her husband or the other people she had come to know. She said, "I think it would be better if you don't visit the Reeds' estate now, Alison." 

"I think that's wise. It is best to let go of things and not bring bad luck to us," Henry agreed with Louise. 

"I thought Emily was a trustworthy person. How could she do this to our family? Why would she even do it in the first place? Was it for the money that she wanted?" demanded Alison with tear-filled eyes. 

Louise had not revealed the truth of what happened in the past between the Reed's and the maid, Emily. It was hard to explain and make them understand when they were not even part of it in the past. 

"The officers are trying their best to find out the reason. I will go speak to them, but I doubt they will find anything. After all, we don't know much about the maid's family. Did she ever say anything about where she came from?" Henry asked, who shook her head. 

"No, she never did. She mostly spoke about working with us, making sure we were taken care of… so we never thought she had anything to do with anyone. But this also means she might have killed the other wives of Graham, isn't it?" 

Henry rubbed his wife's back and said, "We will have to wait for the officers." 

Louise, Gilbert and the maid who had witnessed everything and knew the truth didn't say anything and stayed quiet. Because this was something, they had decided to keep a secret and to themselves. 

Uncle Hugo, who was in the room, said, "I have already spoken to Father Andrew and he has agreed to perform the ceremony. We can hold the viewing for the family members if you want."

"Yeah, I think that would be a good idea," nodded Henry. 

While they were talking about what happened and the arrangement for the funeral ceremony, Louise saw another person entering the room. Her eyes fell on Graham's ghost, who walked from the door and then towards her before he came to sit next to her. 

Louise turned to look at the others, but they seemed unfazed by his presence.. As if she was the only person who could see him.