Page 70 of Secrets and Seashells at Rainbow Bay
Arthur shrugs.
‘Come on, Arthur, I know you know,’ I say encouragingly.
‘Possibly around the seventeen hundreds,’ Arthur says begrudgingly. ‘Perhaps a little later.’
‘Thank you.’ I turn back to Ed. ‘And you say he rode his horse right through a wall?’
Ed nods. ‘Like I said, the one I was just plastering.’
‘You must have seen the ghost of an eighteenth-century soldier,’ I tell him. ‘What other explanation is there for it?’
‘I know,’ he says, shaking his head. ‘If it had happened to anyone else I wouldn’t have believed you – I don’t believe in that sort of stuff, never have done. But I know what I saw.’
‘Think you saw,’ Arthur says.
‘KnowI saw,’ Ed repeats.
‘I believe you,’ I tell Ed. ‘I’ve heard things too since I’ve been here, and I think I might have seen something as well. I can’t be one hundred per cent sure I wasn’t dreaming with that one, to be fair,’ I say, looking up at the tower. ‘But I’ve definitely witnessed some odd things.’
‘Thank you, miss. But the problem is the lads saw me after I’d seen the . . . the thing, white as a ghost I was, funnily enough.’ He rolls his eyes. ‘But the problem is now they won’t go back in the building because they think it’s haunted.’
‘And as I was telling you just a few minutes ago,’ Arthur says, ‘you can’t just down tools because you think you’ve seen a ghost.’
‘Try telling them that,’ Ed says. ‘They’re all scared shi— I mean, they’re really spooked by this.’
‘But you have a contract,’ Arthur says. ‘The work must be finished for the opening in two weeks.’
Ed shrugs. ‘You’d better get the local priest in, then – perform an exorcism or something. Because we are not setting foot in those stables until you can guarantee no more ghosts.’
Arthur turns to me with a despairing look.
‘I don’t know about getting the local priest in,’ I say, watching as two figures and a dog walk through the castle entrance. ‘There might just be another way . . . ’
Twenty-six
‘Mum!’ Charlie calls, running across the gravel to hug me. ‘You’re all right! Benji said you weren’t feeling very well this morning.’
‘Yes, I’m fine now,’ I tell him. ‘Have you had a good walk with Joey?’
‘Great, thanks. We saw some Arctic terns, a kittiwake, some guillemots, and I got a new shell for my collection.’ He pulls a sand-covered shell proudly from his pocket.
‘Excellent!’ I examine the shell in his hand.
‘So what’s going on here, then?’ Joey says, looking suspiciously between Arthur, Ed and me. ‘Ed, you’re as white as a ghost, mate.’
Ed pulls a face.
‘Ed has seen what we think is a ghost in the stables this morning,’ I tell Joey, expecting him to look as shocked as Ed.
‘Ah,’ Joey nods, ‘that’ll be Jasper.’
‘Jasper? Who’s that?’
‘Didn’t you tell them this, Arthur?’ Joey asks, looking with surprise at Arthur. ‘Jasper is the ghost that haunts the stables,’ Joey continues when Arthur just shrugs. ‘He’s this dude from the Battle of Culloden that rides his horse through the castle on occasions. I’ve heard him a few times, but only seen him once. He usually appears when he’s not happy about something. Remember when we moved all that gardening equipment out of the stables and into the new sheds His Lordship bought, Arthur? His Lordship decided he might try keeping horses again,’ he says to us when Arthur doesn’t respond. ‘Not that he ever did. He was like that – always dreaming up new schemes he never followed through. Anyway, when we went to empty the stuff, Jasper went a bit ballistic – it was like the Grand National in there for a while.’
‘Why didn’t you tell us you knew about this ghost?’ I ask Arthur.
‘There are ghosts, spirits – whatever you want to call them – everywhere in this castle,’ Arthur says stoutly, breaking his silence. ‘Bound to be in a building as old as this – stands to reason. Doesn’t mean I want to share those details with everyone, does it?’
