Follow Me

"Jessica," said Drake, "Are you sure you want to move into that old place?" He looked at her, waiting for an answer, then added, "I know your great aunt kept it for you all these years, but she’s dead. She won't care if you don't move there."

"I know that. I've always wanted to live there," answered Jessica. "Besides, I've already hired a staff to clean it."

"It's been un-lived in for fifty years, Jessica. The only people that ever tried to lease it didn't last a week. They said it was haunted!" Drake argued.

"Now let's not get carried away, Drake." Jessica tapped her foot. "They said there was something strange about it; not that it was haunted," she said tersely.

Jessica rode quietly the rest of the trip thinking of what her great aunt, Pauline, had told her about her family.

"…Lord James Errol Winfield, your grandfather, disappeared many years ago. His only son, Brian, your father, had to take over the business that his father began. As the years passed, without clear ownership, Brian could not borrow the money he needed to keep the business going. He had to have his father declared legally dead. With this, the title to the business and to Winfield Manor went to Brian. He and your mother were killed in an automobile accident a few years later shortly after you were born, dear child. I took charge of you and a trust fund they had set up for you. You will receive the properties in the trust after you marry or in the event of my death."

Jessica and Drake drove passed the main gate of Winfield Manor. The old mansion was covered with brown and green ivy. Neither a window nor barely a door could be seen. The rose hedge that led to the house scattered in every direction. The grass was the only thing outside the house that had been attended to.

"Welcome Ma'am," said Lilith, the head of housekeeping. "Did you have a pleasant trip?"

"I guess it could have been better," Jessica said, glancing in the direction of her fiancée. "I see Joseph has the grass clipped at last. Tell him to start on clearing the windows and doors of all that ivy before he does the rose hedges.

"Yes Ma'am, right away," said Lilith.

Jessica walked into the study. "Drake, that is a portrait of my grandfather," she said pointing at the painting hanging over the mantle. "I think it will look better in the hallway along the staircase," she said, gently lifting the painting from his its hook. "I'll just go get something to hand it with," she added, setting the painting gently on the floor at the foot of the stairs. "I want to eventually line the stairway with all the family portraits."

"Where's the painting?" Jessica asked when she returned.

"I don't know," Drake answered with a shrug. "I went up stairs to look around and when I came back it was gone."

They went back into the study. There was the painting right back where it had been before. Underneath it was silver bowl filled with red roses.

"Lilith," Jessica called, when she saw her come into the house.

"Yes Ma'am?" she inquired. "What can I get for you?"

"Nothing. Did you move this painting from the stairs back to here?"

"No ma'am. I've been out trying to find Joseph. He was locking up his tools in the gardener's shed," she answered. "All the other servants have gone."

"Gone! Why?" Jessica asked.

"Oh, they won't stay here at night," she added. "They think the house is haunted."

Drake snorted.

Jessica raised an eyebrow. "Thank you Lilith," she said. "That's all for now. Oh, by the way, thank you for the roses. They're lovely."

"But, ma'am, I didn't bring those in. That is the kind that grows on your hedges, but they aren't in bloom. And that bowl," she said looking closer, "I never got the chance to polish it. It was all green with tarnish just a few hours ago."

Jessica motioned for Lilith to go back to her duties. She turned to look at Drake, who was trying not to smile. She had had about all she could take for the day. "I think I'll go up and get a bath before we eat. Do you think you could build a fire? It's getting chilly in here."

Jessica was calmer after her bath. She walked into the study where Drake was sitting near the fire. "The fire is burning nicely," she said sitting down next to him. "Thank you for building it for me. Drake, I'm sorry for being such a tyrant today."

"That's all right," he said. "It has been a long day and I should not have teased you the whole trip." Drake put his arm around Jessica and they sat, silent, watching the flames flicker in the dimly lit room.

Suddenly the flames shot higher. Jessica jumped in her surprise and slipped off the sofa.

"Are you all right?" Drake asked her.

"I think so," she said reaching for his hand to help her back onto the sofa. Something caught her eye and she stopped where she sat, staring at the ceiling.

Drake looked up to what held her attention.

"Would you look at that?" Jessica said. "It looks like to people quarreling."

They watched the strange shadow show on the ceiling. The two figures raised their arms and pointed at one another. Suddenly, one stabbed at the other with some dark object. The one who had been stabbed fell, holding his middle. The flames died down as quickly as they had risen. The shadows disappeared.

Jessica gasped. A chill ran down her spine and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end.

"You look frightened," Drake said staring into her face. "Would you like me to have Lilith bring you some tea?"

"Yes, I think I would. But I think I'll have it up stairs in the bedroom," she said.

"I'll help you up before I get Lilith," he said. He helped her to stand then put his arm around her shoulder and helped her up the stairs. "I'll bring you something to eat too."

Jessica inspected the grounds. The gardener walked by carrying a large pair of pruning shears.

"Joseph," said Jessica, "You must be a very quick worker."

"Why is that ma'am?" he asked.

"Well, you got that bottom row of windows cleared of that ivy and still had time to do the cellar door."

"Aye, I did do the windows," he said with his Irish brogue. "But, I did not do the cellar door. I was just about to start on the top row of windows and then the tower."

"But, if you didn't, then who did?" Jessica stared after his shrugging figure, as confused as he was. He inspected the door, scratched his head a second and shrugged again.

Jessica stared at the house for a moment, arms crossed, thinking. Who could have cleared that door? She took a deep breath and shook her head. There certainly was something strange about this place, she thought and wandered her way back into the house.

She decided to check out the study for anything that could have caused those shadows the night before. There was a shallow figure of a man standing in front of the fireplace looking up at the paining of Lord Winfield.

"Excuse me," she said. "Who are you?" she asked.

The man turned around. He was dressed exactly as the man in the painting. Jessica looked closer. He looked just like her grandfather. He said nothing.

"Drake!" she screamed, her eyes wide with disbelief.

Drake ran into the room and started to say something but stopped when he saw the man.

The man motioned for Jessica to follow him.

"He wants us to follow him," said Jessica. "I think we should."

"If you insist, Jessica, but I don't think it's a good idea," replied Drake.

"Then you can stay here. I'm going with him."

The man started toward the French doors that led out onto a terrace.

"Please wait," said Jessica. "Those doors aren't cleared yet, so I'll have to go around the house."

He motioned for her to stay and then waved at the doors. He walked through them as though they weren't there. Then the doors opened. The ivy was cleared.

Jessica started through them, glancing around the cleared opening.

"I'd better go with you," said Drake, walking quickly after her. "You might get hurt."

The man led them to the cellar door and again went through it as if it weren't there.

Jessica and drake pulled hard to get the old door to open and then stepped inside. It was dark and musty after being closed u for so long. Drake struck a match and brushing away the cob webs all the way down, they found a candle on the a table near the bottom stair.

The man was still turning occasionally, motioning for them to follow him. He led them to the wine cellar and then disappeared into one of the casks.

"Do you know how old this wine is?" asked Drake, blowing the dust off of one of the bottles.

"At least fifty years," said Jessica. "We can study quality later. Right now we have to get into that wine cask."

Drake tapped on the surrounding casks and then the one the man had disappeared into. He tested the spigot to see if anything came out. "It's hollow," he said.

"You expected it to be full?" Jessica said, while she tried to open the rusted lock on the side of the cask with a hair pin. At last it popped open.

"That only happens in novels," said Drake.

"It looks like it happened to me," Jessica said sarcastically.

Jessica opened the cask. It was dark and dusty. They found several doors. All were locked except one. Once inside the room they could make out a desk and a chair and what appeared to be an old settee.  Drake noticed something on the floor and lowered the candle to get a better look at it. It was a skeleton. It was dressed just the same as the man they had been following. Jessica opened her mouth to scream, but nothing would come out.

Drake said after a few moments, "Whoever, or whatever, we were following wanted us to find this."

"I know," Jessica said. "Grandfather's been trying to get someone to follow him here for years. Until now, no one would."

The next day the police were still going over the room. They thought that it was Lord Winfield's skeleton that had been found, but they had no clue as to who had killed him or why.

Jessica grew impatient with the constable's questions and started wandering around the room. She sat down on the settee. "Ouch!" she said. "What was that?"

She felt the cushion. There seemed to be something under the lining. Jessica opened the cushion revealing the stuffing inside. There was a book between the stuffing and the lining. On the book was printed in gold letters the name LORD JAMES ERROL WINFIELD.

The book was opened. It was a private journal. Two sheets of old yellowed ledger paper marked a page in the journal.  The page read:

           

"I fear now that my partner, Geoffrey Ames, knows I have found his secret ledger that my life is in danger. Geoffrey called a meeting for tonight. He wants to meet me in my secret office. I wish he didn't know about this place; no one else knows about it. I have taken two of his ledger sheets and I am putting them in this book for safe keeping, although I shall hide the journal where Geoffrey won't find it…right under his nose."

The ledger sheets were used as evidence, along with his journal, in the arrest of Geoffrey Ames for the murder Lord James Errol Winfield. Geoffrey Ames, who was still quite a sturdy man to be well into his eighties, gave up without a fight. He cried when they came to his door. He told them the money wasn't worth the agony of living with what he'd done.

Daddy's Girl

The day had started out cold and overcast when Wendy began chores at five that morning. She had been awakened by another one of those dreams, of the day her mother left ten years earlier, a day she only half remember. Her father had told her they would stop eventually, but he had never lived to see that. She missed him more than ever on days like these, after all, as her mother had often said, she was her daddy’s girl.

By the time Wendy had the animals fed and the cows milked it was pouring rain. She sighed, “What a rotten start to the day.” One of the cows had pulled up lame and she had gotten kicked by a neighboring cow when she was trying to check the offending foot on top of everything else. 

It was hard work and now that her dad was gone, and Wendy was doing it all alone for now. It had been just her and her father working the farm after her mother left. She had never been content on the farm with its endless days of work, days repeating with little variation other than planting and harvesting. They hired hands then to help with the hay and putting up feed for the cows. It was more than one man and young girl could manage since her mother had refused to do any of it after the cows were milked.

Wendy drank her much needed cup of coffee and gazed over the ripening hay fields. They would need cut and baled soon, she thought. Maybe that neighbor kid on the next farm would help. Her eyes closed briefly and she wavered on her feet causing her nearly drop her cup. She awoke with a start. It was the same thing every year around the time when her mother had disappeared without a word, without ever calling or writing to let anyone know where she was. She always had a hard time sleeping then, as if she got a lot of sleep in the first place. 

Wendy shook her head to clear her muddled mind. “No time for a nap!” she said to the cat. “I have a lot of work to do if this rain ever lets up.”

The cat hopped off the chair where he was perched and rubbed her leg, purring. 

“You have work too, my fine feline. I saw a mouse today. The rain we’ve had over the last week is making them seek dry shelter and in the house is where they chose. Do your job.” She reached down and petted the calico fur and then went to wash the few dishes.

Wendy’s neighbor Carl Lester knocked on Wendy’s door. She jumped at the sound. She wasn’t expecting anyone. Drying her hands, she went to the door. 

“Monring Wendy,” Carl said. “Thought I’d come over and see if you needed help with anything.”

“Hi Carl. I’m just checking tractors today to make sure they’re ready to go when the hay dries, if it quits raining that is,” she answered. “Say, can Carl, Jr. help put up the hay this year? With my dad gone I just won’t be able to do it by myself.”

“I tell you what Wendy, we’ll both help. You help us with ours and then we’ll come do yours. That sound like a deal?”

“That sounds great! Thank you,” she said.

“That’s what neighbors are for. I know your dad tried to keep mostly to himself after your mom left, but I hope maybe you’ll be out and about as time allows now.” He smiled. “You know, I can remember when no matter what he was doing, in the fields, bucking hay, whatever, your dad always stopped when he saw that bus and went to welcome his girl home from school.”

Wendy smiled back. “I think helping each other is a good idea. It is lonely around here without anyone but the cat and that silly dog in the barn. I tell you what, if Rex doesn’t get where he responds to me like he did dad, I’ll have to get rid of him.”

“Well, he always was your dad’s dog. Give him time. He knows who you are. He’ll come around.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you later then. That tractor isn’t going to fix itself,” she said.

“What’s wrong with it?” he asked.

“It just needs greased and the hay baler needs checked over. I think there was some string caught in the hooks last year. I need to get that out.”

Wendy went about her day making sure the equipment was in working order. She kept thinking as she worked about the small section at the end of the orchard where she planted flowers every year. They bloomed this time of year. As lovely as they were, it reminded her of the ugliest day of her life. 

Wendy tried to remember. She spoke out loud to the cat. Mother had been going into town more often than usual," she said. That day when I got home from school mother’s car was home for a change. Daddy was busy planting corn since we had gotten an early spring. I waved at him when the bus passed the field. There was another vehicle in the yard and I wondered who was visiting. I heard voices coming through the open windows. They were laughing and one was a man’s voice. I thought maybe it was a friend of Daddy’s that stopped by and was waiting for him.”

I left my books on the kitchen table and followed the voices. And then to my shock Mother was in bed with a man. I had never seen him before. I screamed and ran from the room. I remember going to dad's office. It was covered in taxidermy from his hunting when he got something really extraordinary and he kept his hunting rifles on display in a special cabinet near the desk. That is the last thing I remember for hours.

I woke up in bed. I was in my pajamas. When I got up I realized my mother was gone, her car, her clothes, some nick-knacks were all gone. I was devastated. Daddy and I cried for weeks.” She stroked the cat. “I do remember also that Daddy was doing some laundry when I went down for breakfast. For some reason our clothes were all muddy. He said it happened chasing cows, so I dropped it. The dreams started about then. Daddy thought if worked with my hands and grew something just for me, to take my mind off things, I would feel better. She got up and found a tissue and wiped her eyes.

Wendy looked out the window. “I remember finding the plot of earth freshly tilled at the end of the orchard. I thought my mother must have intended to plant flowers there so I did it instead. They’ve grown there really well all this time. All that had grown there before were brambles and weeds.” 

Wendy awoke with a start. She sat up in the bed, shaking with tears streaming down her face at a pace faster than the rain that was falling outside. “Daddy always said one day I would remember what I did that day,” she told the cat that was now climbing all over her lap frantically. Wendy had screamed right before she was shocked from her dream. 

At last the rain stopped and the temperature rose warming the remainder of the day to the high eighties. And then, as suddenly as it had risen, the temperature dropped when the sun began to set. With the nightly chores done, Wendy stood just outside the barn watching the sun set. The temperature cooling down had caused a fog to begin. As it arose from the still wet earth, Wendy was barely able to make out the cows as they grazed. The fog turned into a mist and eventually engulfed everything animal and vegetable, living and dead.