The Haunting of Josephine (12 page)

Though it was not very late in the day when Mr. Kinsley
returned
to Mr. Genus’s office he was rather shocked to see that the business was closed with a note on the door saying that he would not be back until the next day. It seemed rather suspicious to both Mr. Kinsley and Captain that Mr. Genus would close up shop right after they had left him.

Chapter 12

After leaving the Captain Mr. Kins
ley headed over to talk with Jo to fill her in on what they had found and what there were going to be doing next
. The Captain and
he
had a plan to head over to the maid’s family’s house the next day for it would be a long ride and they did not want to have to stay somewhere overnight. Arriving at Jo’s house Mr. Kinsley was greeted by the butler and informed that Jo was in the drawing room with some others.
Insisting
not to be announced Mr. Kinsley
wound
his way through the house and opened the drawing room doors where he was greeted by a shrieking Jo who ran and ducked behind a partition that had been set up in the room.

“Do not look at me. Please tell me that you did not see anything.” Jo was still hiding behind the partition and Mr. Kinsley was finding it hard not to laugh at her.

“I did not see anything. If I may ask what is it that I am supposed to
not be
seeing?”
Mr. Kinsley went over to one of the chairs and sat down.

“I am trying on my wedding
dress
mock up. You know all those papers that we found? Well in there was a drawing of my dress and listed whom was making it so I sent out for them and they brought it right over.”

“I still do not know why it is that you think that I should not be looking at you.” Jo
popped
her head around the side of the
partitions
and shot a look at Mr. Kinsley
making it clear that she thought he should understand without having it explained to him
.

“It is bad luck for a groom to see the bride in the wedding dress before the wedding and seems how
my a
unt did not leave any instruction
s
for an
alternative
dress for our wedding I am not going to jinx this dress.” Again Mr. Kinsley was trying not to laugh at the ridiculousness of Jo’s response but he found it good to see her so passionate about something
and clearly happier than she had been in a while
.

“I am glad to see that you are getting so into the organizing of this wedding. Has something changed?” Jo
stepped
out from behind the
partition
dressed in a heavy robe and sat on a chair next to Mr. Kinsley.

“Well, I thought about what we had talked about and I decided that if there is a chance that whoever killed
my a
unt did it to try and get between the two of us or anything that I should make sure that I plan our wedding and make it official to prove to them that no matter what they do they
will not be able to
come between us.” Jo smiled at Mr. Kinsley and looked at some fabric samples that someone had brought to her.

Mr. Kinsley thought for a moment how far Jo had come in such a short period of time. She had adjusted to the customs of the society with grace and poise. And here she was gleefully planning her lavish wedding with knowledge and good
judgment
even in the face of such a tragic loss as the loss of her beloved
a
unt.

“I think that is a wonderful idea.” Mr. Kinsley paused for a moment before deciding to go on with the information that he had been originally coming to tell Jo. “I was able to get ahold of the account books for the house today.”

“Really? Were you able to find anything that you found helpful?” Jo still looked hopeful if not a touch sad at the mention of something that made her think of her
a
unt’s death.

“Yes, I was. Your a
unt made sure that her account books were kept like she kept most everything else that
I have ever seen of hers; impeccable. It took
mere
moments to locate the name of her personal maid and the address at which to find her next of kin.”

“That is great. I am almost surprised to find that you stopped here. I half expected you to go straight to find her. What are you doing here?”

“Oh, so that is why you were in here trying on your wedding dress. You figured that I would be
safely far
away all day? Anyway, the reason that we did not go today is that it is a rather long journey to her next of
kin's
house so we are going to head out tomorrow that way we would not have to be gone overnight.” Jo smiled at Mr. Kinsley because she knew
full well
that his main reason for not going was he was not yet ready to leave her unattended overnight.
Though since her aunts death there were more guards around the house at all times so she was never at a lack for protection he still wanted to remain close to her just in case.

“You know that I would be just fine here.
My u
ncle has so many people awake and patrolling at night that is a wonder that I get any sleep at night for all of the noise of footsteps around the house.” Mr. Kinsley laughed at her obvious joke. He could tell that Jo was doing her best to move past
the sadness of the loss of her a
unt but he could not get past the very real danger that Jo may still be in.

“I do not want you getting to the point where you think that you are just fine because everything has been quiet for a while now. Anything could happen.”
He did not want to scare her but he wanted to be sure that she got the seriousness of the risk and danger that she might still be in until they could figure out who it is that they were after.

“You are right anything could happen and that is why I have not complained about the extra guards or the fact that you have someone who goes through every item that is brought into this house; which by the way is a rather pain given the number of samples that are being brought in daily with the planning of this wedding. Now, you go and keep looking to see if you can find who it is that did all of this. Me, I plan on continuing to fight in the only way that I
as a mere women can;
w
ith the planning of our wedding.”

Mr. Kinsley allowed Jo to shoo him out of the room and then headed to
Mr. Cline
’s office to inform him of everything that he had learned. Also to ask him a few questions on whether or not he would know where to f
ind Katherine
’s personal notes and files.

When Mr. Kinsley entered Mr. Cline
’s home office he knew instantly that he would
not be asking anything of him
.
Mr. Cline
had once been a robust man whom always seemed busy. The fact that he now was sitting behind his desk seemingly staring off into space with a distant look on his face worried Mr. Kinsley more than he would have if he had walked in on
the man
crying. This non-emotion and numbness that was about him at
most times since the death of Katherine
worried Mr. Kinsley on how much longer
Mr. Cline
would be with them.

“Oh, Mr. Kinsley you startled me. Is there something that I can do for you?” Because Mr. Kinsley
had decided not to bother Mr. Cline
with what he had really come for he d
ecided to try and help get Mr. Cline
past this void of emotion.

“I was actually hoping that I could help you. I worry about you and how you have been doing with all of this.”

“Oh, I guess that I am as well as can be expected. Please tell me that Josephine has not sent you. I could not
bear
the thought of her worrying about me.”
Mr. Cline
turned to his desk and made a move like he was going to
shuffle
through the papers that were normally present on his desk only to find that his desk was completely empty. “I guess that I have been letting my work get away with me.”

“No, Josephine has not sent me. She is currently busily planning our wedding. Have you been to work at all since it happened?”
Mr. Kinsley was trying to find the right balance between concern and compassion.

“To be honest, I have not been to work since before it happened and I have done little work here since. Why? Is there something that I have missed that you have caught wind of?”
Immediately Mr. Cline looked worried as if he had managed to mess up.

“Oh, I did not mean to worry you. There is nothing that you have missed. It is just that I went to your office this afternoon and found it closed and I was wondering if that was something that you have been doing lately when it gets to be too much or if it had m
ore to do with Mr. Genus.” Mr. Cline
thought for a moment before replying.

“I have not been in so it has everything to do with Mr. Genus. He has not been by in a while to tell me about how things have been going but honestly I had not thought much about it. I thought that he was just taking care of everything so not to worry me.”

“I am sure that something must have just come up and I am thinking too much about it.” Mr. Kinsley went over and
crouched
next to
Mr. Cline
’s chair. “I want you to know that though I am not yet married to Josephine I already think of you as family and I will do anything in my power to help you with anything that you may need.
”
Mr. Cline
appeared to think for a moment and then with a rather serious expression on his face he asked Mr. Kinsley something that rather shocked him.

“I would like you to help me draw up the papers to dissolve my partnership with Mr. Genus.”

Jo could not remember a time when she had been so happy. Her fitting was done and she headed to her room in hopes of getting to
see her aunt’s ghost
and tell her how much she loved the dress. She was not in her room long before she was not disa
ppointed by the arrival of her a
unt.

“You looked so beautiful in that dress. I knew that style would look best on you.” Jo was shocked. Though she had wanted to talk to her
a
unt about this exactly sh
e was still surprised that her a
unt had stated that she had seen the dress.

“How do you know? Can you see me in more rooms than just mine?”
Jo was not sure of everything that a ghost could do and what she should expect her aunt to just know and what she would have to actually tell her.

“
Of course
I can. I can move freely about the house. But I only allow myself to be seen by you and in your room so that it is
easier and
safer. I do not really want anyone else knowing that you can talk with me.”
Katherine gave Jo a look as though it should be clear as to why it is important that no one else knows that Jo can see and hear her aunt.

“Good point. I love the dress by the way. It is fashionable and beautiful. I was rather surprised on how comfortable that it was also.”

“Yes, I designed it that way because your wedding day is going to be a rather long one so I wanted to be sure that you were as comfortable as possible.” Jo thought for a moment before asking
her a
unt her next question.

“Aunt
Katherine
, where do you keep all of your crazy notes that you ha
d
been keeping since I first came here? Bradley and I were thinking that we might be able to find
a clue as to who killed you somewhere in
your notes
possibly
.”

“
Dear
, I keep them in my desk. I thought that you would know that.”
It suddenly dawned on Jo that they had never bothered to look in the most obvious of places for her aunt’s notes.

“I never really thought about trying to go through your desk. Bradley and Captain are planning a trip to your personal
maid’s
house tomorrow in order to ask her about that. Now it seems rather silly to have them make a trip all the way there.”
Jo was glad to have found a way to prevent the men from having to take such a long unnecessary trip.

“It does seem rather silly.
In my desk down in the writing room you will find all of my notes from since you have gotten here along with all other notes that I have kept in the past year.” Jo got up and headed down to the writing room to search through
her a
unt’s desk figuring that if she could find the notes before Mr. Kinsley left the house that she would be able to save him a trip the next day.

Being such a
well-organized
women it did not take long to find a stack of notes on everything and it was all labeled so that she knew what every book contained. She headed out of the room in search of Mr. Kinsley when she noticed the sound of distant hooves that was quickly approaching the house. Jo did not know why but the sound scared her and she cried out for
her u
ncle and Mr. Kinsley. Mr. Kinsley reached her at the same time that the
rider
of the horse dismounted and approached the door to the house where the butler was waiting with the door wide open. It only took a moment to recognize the
rider
as Captain.