The Whispering Dead (Gravekeeper #1) - Darcy Coates Page 0,33

removed their daughter from the town.”

“Oh,” Keira muttered. “They didn’t accept, did they?”

Mason gave her a tight-lipped smile. “They did. The family was gone the next morning.”

“Wow.”

“No one knows where they went. Frank maintained that he intended to marry Emma as soon as he found her, but over the following six months, his father wheedled and threatened and cajoled so severely that Frank began to talk of his love less and less.”

“Emma came back, though, didn’t she? Her grave’s just outside.”

“You’re right. While her side of the story isn’t so well-known, it seems she never stopped loving Frank. When he didn’t come to find her, she left her family and went looking for him. It’s suspected that she traveled on foot through the back roads because the first sighting of her was by the Crispins’ groundskeeper, who saw her emerge from the woods surrounding the property and walk toward the mansion.”

Keira had a sickening idea of what came next. “She didn’t find Frank, though.”

“No. George discovered her in the garden behind the house. They argued. He was incensed. She refused to leave without seeing Frank. So George picked up one of the rocks lining the path—”

“And beat her head in,” Keira murmured, absorbed in thought.

Mason raised an eyebrow. “That’s right… Good guess. The groundskeeper fetched the police. They arrived in time to find George digging a grave-sized hole in the garden. He didn’t try to deny the murder. The only thing he said as they took him away was ‘I wish I’d done it sooner.’”

Keira shuddered. “What a pleasant soul. What happened to him?”

“Life imprisonment, no parole. He passed away about five years ago from heart failure.”

“Will I sound like a horrible person if I say good riddance?”

Mason laughed. “You’ll only be echoing the sentiments of most of the town. That’s not quite the end of the story, though.”

“Oh no. I’d almost forgotten about Frank.”

“Out of everyone, I think he may have suffered the most. He was in the house when his father murdered his intended but didn’t hear about what had happened until the police called everyone out for questioning. He stayed just long enough to see that Emma was buried in this very graveyard, then walked to the abandoned mill behind the house, found a length of rope, tied one end around the rafters, and fashioned the other into a noose.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah. It took a few days for his body to be found. Although he’d left a note asking to be buried beside Emma, his siblings chose to put him in the family plot. They also supported their father through his unsuccessful legal battle.

“There’s not much to the story after that. The Crispins, who had been one of the most respected families in the area, were permanently tainted by the scandal. One of George’s remaining children moved overseas; the other chose to stay in the family home until his death several years ago. He only had one son, Dane, who is the last of the once-great Crispin empire.”

Keira chewed on the edge of her thumb. When she’d first seen Emma, she’d assumed the injuries had come from a spur-of-the-moment attack, such as a mugging, with the attacker fleeing the scene. Knowing that she’d been killed by the town’s most prominent social figure made the situation both much simpler and much more complicated.

There was no need for her to uncover Emma’s murderer because he’d already been found. Whatever Keira wanted to learn about him would probably be public knowledge. But he’d been caught, convicted, and incarcerated…so why did Emma’s ghost linger?

“Keira?” Mason watched her closely while he scratched around the cat’s head. The black creature’s tongue had emerged again, and it showed no signs of retracting. “Do you remember something?”

“Ah, no, I’m afraid not. But it’s a fascinating story.” She rubbed at the back of her neck. “I was just thinking about Emma. And whether she’d have returned to town if she’d known George was capable of murder.”

“Good question. I like to think so. Love can make people do reckless, crazy things.”

The cat tried to roll onto its back but slipped off Mason’s lap. He lunged to catch it, then chuckled as he set it onto the rug. “I’d better get going. As much as I’d like to stay longer, I promised to help my neighbor wash her dogs.” He made a face. “She’s a tiny woman pushing eighty with three Great Danes the size of horses. I’m seriously worried that one of them will sit on her and squash