[Spooky intro music fades in and then out]
Noah:Was Beth a servant? Destined to be as invisible in death as she had been in life? We know that the fashion for disguising the service wings led to feats of architectural engineering. Even the doors linking to the connecting corridors were covered by screens, sometimes disguised as bookcases, or covered in the same wallpaper as that with which the room was decorated. All because the existence of servants was not to be acknowledged.
So why bury her in this family cemetery?
Could it be that she is the same Beth referred to in an entry in Dr Rawlings’ diary, regarding an accident suffered by William Atherton, eldest son of Charles, in 1871?
Dr Rawlings writes:
‘I was called to the mines after Lord William Atherton had taken a fall. Injuries to his legs were minor. However, the cause appeared more troubling. His staff reported that their master had not slept a full night for several days. According to his valet, he spent hours walking the hallways, looking for “the woman in white”, whom he called “Beth”. Like his father before him, he suffered night fevers and terrors, and at my time of treating him in the mine, he had a headache and nausea thatcould not be accounted for by the fall. Prescription: laudanum, to ease pain and aid rest.’
If this is one and the same Beth, what befell her? And had her sudden appearance foretold the doom of a second Atherton?
A further entry in the doctor’s journal, dated a few weeks later, reveals it may have.
‘And so, I followed the housekeeper around the garden to the croquet lawn, where to my horror in the snow lay the body of Lord William Atherton, dead at his own hand by a gunshot wound to the head.’
Chapter39
‘She’s lucky to have experienced a real-life possession.’ Noah had cornered the doctor in the hallway as soon as they had come back into the house. ‘Can I record her later?’
‘You stick that bloody microphone anywhere near her and it will be the last you see of it, sunshine,’ said Dr Mortimer. ‘And my wife was not possessed.’
Midge couldn’t help agreeing.
The doctor reiterated that he would be leaving first thing in the morning to try to get help, and that he was going to bed and under absolutelynocircumstances was he to be disturbed. Harold had taken over snow-shovelling duties outside and, for the time being, everyone else was back in the kitchen, lost in their own thoughts. Midge eyed the old medical journal Rendell had passed on to Noah, which he’d brought downstairs.
‘May I?’ she asked, nodding at it and putting aside her work-in-progress hedgehog handkerchief.
Noah had returned to attacking the cheese on the wooden platter, and nodded with his mouth full.
Midge tried her best to ignore the sight of the vandalized dairy and concentrated on the pages in front of her, while the others continued to drink their tea in silence.
‘Are you looking for anything in particular?’ asked Noah who, despite having had, in Midge’s opinion, several opportunities to change, was still dressed in the moth-eaten cloak.
Was she? Her mind wandered back to the portrait that hadbeen hanging in her room when she first arrived. ‘I don’t know,’ she admitted. ‘There was a painting of three Atherton men in my room. Now, I know one is Charles, having seen the other portraits dotted around the house, but can only assume the others are his sons. I’m pretty certain one of them is William. I was wondering if there was any mention of the sons in here. What was the second one’s name, again?’
Noah swallowed. ‘Rupert.’
‘Ah – there’s a portrait of a Rupert Atherton in the library. Could easily be the same man as in the family bathing portrait.’
Midge’s eyes scanned the doctor’s entries before resting on the name ‘William’.
‘What exactly is laudanum?’ asked Noah, frowning as he read over Midge’s shoulder.
‘It’s a tincture of opium – a milder version of morphine, really, derived from the opium poppy. Super addictive, but back in the day, doctors would prescribe it for all sorts. Even a bad cough.’ They turned to look at Rona, who put down her cup of tea. ‘What?’ She shrugged. ‘During my addiction, let’s just say I got really interested in drugs and ended up taking an Open University degree in organic chemistry and pharmacology.’
‘See,’ said Harold, who had appeared by the back door, wiping snow from his feet. He winked at Noah as he grabbed a spare cup of tea from the counter. ‘A proper “ology”.’
‘What are you wearing, Rona?’ Harold was staring at the pop star. Midge peered at her too.
There was something different about the clothes that Rona was dressed in, she looked...
‘You look like Midge,’ laughed Harold, who had now managed to find a packet of biscuits from somewhere and was enthusiastically dunking them into his tea.
‘Très chic,’ smirked Noah.
Rona’s laugh was forced as she tugged her thick woollen jumper down. ‘What are you talking about?’ she said. ‘It’s bloody cold in this house. Anyway, I’m not taking fashion tips from someone wearing a dead mammoth.’
