Down the Rabbit Hole

Into the Deep Part 2

Soundtrack:

Summertime Moonpools and Caterpillars

Natalia Kills Fake it

Earth Wind and Fire Boogie Wonderland

A while later the five of them had returned to William and Ann's. Amy and Lacey decided to take Rian for a walk so they could discuss the events of the morning without being disturbed.
"So, what do we do now?" Amy asked as she pushed the stroller along the sidewalk.
"Well, normally the first thing to do is find out who the ghost is." Lacey explained. "As we're heading into town we might as well go to the library and see if we can find anything there." Amy nodded.
"Okay, let's do it." They walked the rest of the way into East Hampton and headed to the library. Lacey asked the clerk at the desk and she pointed them in the right direction for the historical records.
"Okay, what are we looking for exactly?" Amy asked as Lacey handed her a large leather bound book.
"We're looking for any unusual deaths at the house, going as far back as possible, or anything related to Mr Cornish himself." Amy balanced Rian on her lap, bouncing him up and down as they read through the volumes.
"Well, I couldn't find anything more suspicious than an old man dying of a heart attack in the house." Amy told her. "So obviously not our ghost. Any joy?"
"No, nothing. Okay I'm going to go have a quick look on the computer, see if there are any town records for missing persons." Amy went outside and bought them ice creams while she waited. Lacey hurried down the steps towards her a short while later.
"Okay I got a list of missing people from the last 60 years, maybe we should go back and talk to grandma, see if she can remember anything that could help." Amy nodded and handed her an ice cream. They walked back to the house and found their parents and grandmother in the living room.
"Hello darlings." Ann smiled at them, taking Rian from Amy. "How was your walk?"
"Quite productive. We went to the library to see if we could find anything on the case." Ellie frowned at them.
"The case? Really girls, shouldn't we leave it to the police to catch the murderer?" Amy and Lacey exchanged glances.
"I don't think the police will be much help with this one. See when Amy and I were upstairs, we saw a ghost." Lacey told them. Ann and Williams faces paled a little but Ellie looked back at them unbelievingly.
"I'm sure it wasn't a ghost dear, there's no such thing. You were probably just in shock from finding poor Mr Cornish."
"Grandma, I'm sorry to have to tell you this but ghosts, monsters, angels and demons, they're all real." Lacey told her. Ellie turned her gaze on William.
"The girl is delusional. I thought you said she wasn't traumatised?"
"Grandma!" Amy interrupted. "I saw the ghost too, ok? Show her something, prove it to her." She told Lacey. Lacey pulled a face, trying to think of something that would convince her.
"I don't think I can. I don't have my powers right now. Look grandma, just go along with what I say for now and if you don't believe it's a ghost by the time I leave, we'll never bring it up again? Deal?"
"Very well." Ellie nodded begrudgingly.
"Ok, so I did some research while we were down at the library but we couldn't find any suspicious deaths reported at the house. Grandma, why do you think Mrs Fortescue turned up this morning? I mean, how did she even know something was going on?"
"I'm not sure how she would have known, I'd say her husband told her, but that was awfully quick for even him to have found out. I suppose she was interested because of her long time friendship with Mr Cornish."
"How did they know each other?" Amy asked.
"Well they were both on the town council and the planning committee. And of course they were also members of the lodge."
"The lodge?" Lacey asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, I suppose you'd call it the towns version of a masonic lodge. All the most wealthy and important people in the community were members."
"Including you?"
"Actually no. I am a member of the Ladies Auxillary, your Grandfather was offered membership but he was always away in the city so he preferred to join organisations there."
"So Mr Cornish and Mrs Fortescue were both part of this club. Why is it not around now?"
"Oh it was disbanded about 45 years ago. No one really knew why at the time. There was rumours of a scandal but nothing was ever discovered."
"So who else was a member that still lives in the town?" Amy asked.
"Oh a number of people, Mr Millburn, Mr Benedict, Mr Duxbury and Mrs East just to name a few." Ellie shrugged.
"What about this." Lacey handed Ellie the print out from the library. "This is a list of all of the people that went missing from the town in the last 60 years. Do you recognise any of their names?" Ellie pulled on her glasses and scanned down the list.
"Well, I remember hearing about a George Merryweather who went missing when I was a young girl. The only other name that rings a bell is Margaret Helliwell." Ellie pointed to the name on the sheet and passed it back to Lacey.
"Margaret Helliwell, aged 24 when she went missing in.... 1966." Lacey looked up. "The same year the lodge was disbanded."