The Haunting of Grey Cliffs by Nina Coombs Pykare Read Free Book Online

in need of love, but not so badly as Ned. After all, they had each other.
    My husband, I was told, had departed on estate business, and since it was time for the noon meal I took myself to the dining room—a great gloomy cavern with a vast table in the middle. Numerous candles in rows of candelabras along the walls could not relieve the gloom. I must speak to my husband, I thought, and see if we might take our meals in the breakfast room, which at least got some sun.
    I moved toward the sideboard. My morning excursion had sharpened an appetite that was always healthy.
    I had filled my plate and chosen a seat at one end of the great table when Cousin Julia came in. This morning she had not powdered her hair, which appeared to be almost orange, and she was wearing a gown of deep, deep red. The sight was rather hard on the eyes.
    "So, there you are," she said. "Isn't this room marvelous? I can just feel the spirits hovering."
    She piled a plate so full of food that I wondered she could carry it. Then she came to sit beside me. I could have wished for a little time to myself, time to consider what I had discovered about my new charges and to plan for the future, but short of repairing to my room I didn't know how to get it.
    "You should feel his presence," Cousin Julia said round a mouthful of food. "That's his chair."
    The food in my mouth turned to straw and I swallowed hastily, mumbling, "Whose?"
    "The late earl. 'Twas a terrible thing."
    "Death is always difficult to handle," I agreed, wondering if Cousin Julia ever spoke about more cheerful subjects.
    "Oh, it wasn't his death," she said, cramming half a muffin in her mouth. "Manner of it."
    I paused, my fork halfway to my mouth, my lunch forgotten. "I'm afraid I don't understand."
    Her eyes grew round, her expression pitying. "You mean Edward didn't tell you?"
    "He told me his father is dead."
    Cousin Julia shook her head. "He didn't tell you!"
    I was fast losing patience with this sort of thing. "Cousin Julia, if there is something you think I should know, will you please tell me?"
    "The earl, the late earl, he didn't just die. He ... he was found hanging from his  chandelier. By his cravat."
    I clamped my mouth shut tight to keep the food I had already eaten from escaping from my stomach. "He ... he killed himself?"
    "That's what the magistrate said."
    There was something about Cousin Julia's tone of voice, about the way she looked at me that told me there was more.
    "And—"
    "But there's some people hereabouts that don't believe it."
    "You mean—" A cold hand seemed to grip my throat, making it difficult for me to breathe.
    Cousin Julia stared at me. "I mean there's some that think the old earl was murdered!"
    "Murdered!" I could scarcely credit my ears. "But wouldn't the magistrate—"
    Cousin Julia snorted, spraying the table with muffin crumbs in a most disgusting way. "Our magistrate's an old fool. Couldn't find his coat if he took it off."
    So much for law and order, I thought. "But if there was a murder," I said, "wouldn't there be evidence?"
    "Maybe. Unless the murderer covered it up." Cousin Julia gulped down some tea and looked me in the eye. "But let me ask you this—if it wasn't murder, then why is the old earl haunting the place?"
    My stomach rolled completely over. "H-haunting?"
    "That's right. He's been seen by the servants. I've seen him myself." She frowned, twisting her face into a tortured grimace. "I just don't understand why he won't tell me who did it."
    "Perhaps he doesn't know," I said. Then I realized that she almost had me believing. "That is—"
    Cousin Julia smiled. "That's it!" she cried,  clapping her hands. "It must have happened while he was asleep. Thank you, my dear."
    "But Cousin Julia—I don't believe in ghosts."
    Cousin Julia chortled. "Perhaps not now ... but later, when you have seen him, you will be a believer. Yes, you will."
    Cousin Julia ate for some time, devouring more food than most people would consume in an entire day.