The Haunting of Josephine (9 page)

“How can I best protect her? If these might be enemies coming after me trying to hurt me through them I do
n
o
t want anything to happen to Josephine.” The Captain thought for a moment before responding.

“I am going to help you come up with a plan and we will discuss her safety later. No offense Mr. Kinsley and Mr. Genus but considering the nature of the crime I would really feel most comfortable creating a plan to keep her safe with
Mr. Cline
only.” Mr. Kinsley readily nodded in agreement.

“Just let me know if I can help with providing anything including money in order to procure anything you need. I would expect you to leave me out of this. As Josephine’s fiancé I am sure that I am a suspect until I can prove otherwise.”

“Thank you for your understanding Mr. Kinsley and you are quite right. I am sure that you will check out perfectly fine but I do not want to take any chances.”
The Captain turned to ask Mr. Genus if he would be so kind as to meet with him later to explain his
whereabouts
of the night before and was shocked to find that he had left. “Now where did he go?”

The three men continued talking for a while and Mr. Kinsley gave the Captain a full list of his employees in his home that could verify his comings and goings of the last night and month before if needed.
Then Mr. Cline
provided the Captain of a list of
possible enemies that would go after him through his wife. A list that included Mr. Genus.

Chapter 9

On the day that would have been the day before Jo’s engagement party nearly the entire town gathered in honor of
Katherine Cline
. The death of
Katherine
had changed so many things in
everyone’s
lives. Mr. Cline
had been struggling to make it to work
every day
leaving Mr. Genus to handle most everything at the office. Mr. Kinsley had been struggling to get Jo to open up to him and to keep her from pulling so far away from him that it broke their engagement. And Jo well, she was dealing with many things that she did
n
o
t feel she could explain to anyone causing her to withdraw from everyone.

“Jo are you going to help me or not?” Jo was laying fully dressed on her bed trying her best to avoid the gathering that was going on downstairs and trying to figure out why it was she kep
t thinking she was hearing her a
unt.
It was rather hard to have to deal with something like that which could be a good sign that she was going
insane
.

“You are not really here! I know that it is
n
o
t possible.” Jo put her pillow over her head to ignore
what she knew was
n
o
t possible to hear.
What was her mind doing to her causing her to
think that she was hearing her a
unt?

“Josephine! I know that you can hear me.  Just look at me!” This was a first. In all of the times that
Katherine
had called out to Jo for help she had never demanded her to look.
This peaked Jo’s
curiosity
enough to cause her t
o peer out from under her pillow and looked in the direction of the sound.

“You canno
t be my
a
unt. Aunt
Katherine
was murdered. You
can
no
t
really be here.” Jo removed the pillow farther from her head and gasped when she
spotted
a transparent form in the
corner
of her room that sure enough looked just like
her a
unt. She grabbed at the blanket and pillow and scrambled back against her headboard.

“Calm down. I know that it is shocking and I can
no
t explain why exactly it is that I am able to talk to you but I can.
And you seem to be the only person who can see or hear me. Can you please just listen
I need your help
and you are the only one who I can ask
.” Jo did the best to gather her
wits
about her.

“How am I ever going to be able to help you?” Aunt looked around as if she was making sure that
she
and Jo were really alone.
Jo continued to wonder how it wa
s that she was able to see her a
unt but then decided to dismiss thinking about it too much for fear of causing a headache.

“I know who killed me. I need your help proving it.” J
ust as Jo was about to ask her a
unt who a knock sounded on her door and
Katherine
’s figure disappeared.
Jo found herself as shock
ed at the disappearance of her a
unt’s figure as she had b
een at the discovery of it
in the first place.
Before she could gather her
wits
about her the door opened and Mr. Genus
rushed in and stopped
just
short of the bed on which Jo lay
.

“Josephine, everyone is asking about you.
” Mr. Genus took a minute to look at the pale form of Jo
lying
on the bed.
“
I think that you should come down and help your
u
ncle with all the guests.”
Jo took a deep breath before responding to Mr. Genus.

“Alright, let me just gather myself and I will be right down.” Mr. Genus had noticed the paleness and scared look on Jo’s face when he had come in but chose not to
comment
. Since the death of Katherine
he was doing his best to be more distant and show less
visible
interest in Jo seems how he had been questioned several times extensively about his
whereabouts
on the night of
Katherine
’s death.

Mr. Genus left the room and Jo waited in her room not moving for a minute
to see if the illusion of her a
unt would reappear. After a long time of waiting she got up and pulled herself together and headed down to see everyone who had arrived.

When entering the sitting room Jo was immediately greeted by several people and she could
n
o
t help but notice that Mr. Kinsley was not there. She did
her best to move to where her u
ncle was
once she managed to reach him
there she
remained for the rest of the gathering allowing everyone to come to her and offering
her u
ncle all the support she could.

It was not until everyone was leaving that Mr. Kinsley arrived. When he arrived he was not alone. He was accompanied by the
Captain
. “I am sorry my dear Josephine,
Mr. Cline
. I lost track of time at work and did not realize it until
Captain
here arrived at my wor
k to pick up some papers.” Mr. Cline
looked at Mr. Kinsley with a questioning look. “
Unfortunately
I have run into a few problems proving something on a case that I am working on.”

“Well, whatever it is that your case is about I am sure that you will figure something out.” Jo was doing her best to be the supporting fiancé though what she really wanted at that time was to go back up to her room and go to bed.

“I hope that you are right. This case is more personal to me than any of my other cases ever have been so it is really bothering me that I am having some trouble procuring evidence.” Jo was rather confused by what he was saying and was trying to figure o
ut why it was that Captain and her u
ncle where seeming to
follow his every word intently, yet she was utterly lost at what they were talking about.

Mr. Genus strolled up to the group just then. “What are you all talking about? Mr. Kinsley, I am surprised to see that you finally managed to be here for your fiancé and her family during this great time of need for them.” Mr. Kinsley looked Mr. Genus up and down with obvious dislike.

“I am sure that you would never understand this Mr. Genus but even when I am unable to be her
e
physically for my fiancé I can assure you that I am doing something for her that she may not even be aware of that will greatly benefit her
in the long run. Unlike some
people I would never do anything that would cause her
even a moment of
pain.”
Mr. Genus had a moment of confusion and questioning cross his face before responding to Mr. Kinsley.

“I have never done anything to ever harm or hurt Josephine. Can you honestly say that you have never? She more than likely could have really used her fiancé at this gathering tonight and where were you? Seems how you arrived just as it was getting over I highly doubt that you can really say that you were there for her at this time of great need.” Mr. Genus looked rather smug at his quick thinking and belittling of Mr. Kinsley.

“I find it rather interesting that you think that. But as I said before though I was not physically with Josephine tonight I was still there for her in a way that you would never be able to understand. Sometimes in order to best support someone you cannot physically be with them at all times even in times of great need.” Again Mr. Genus looked a bit confused while trying to figure out what Mr. Kinsley had just said but decided that it would be in his best interest not to question it more thoroughly at this time with the Captain standing next to Mr. Kinsley.

The Captain leaned in and whispered to Mr. Kinsley and both men kept their eyes on Mr. Genus. “I suspect that you are quiet right at that Captain.” Mr. Genus started to sweat as both men continued to stare at him.

“If you will excuse me.” Mr. Genus left the group and then quickly left the home. He found himself beginning to wonder what it was that Mr. Kinsley had really been doing that had kept him from the gathering and why it was that he had arrived with the Captain.

“My darling, are you all right?” Mr. Kinsley went to where Jo was standing and put his arm
gently
around her waist
in a wonderfully comforting gesture
.

“I am not really feeling like myself at the moment. Do you mind if I just go back up to my room?” Mr. Kinsley looked even more concerned for Jo but agreed and walked her up to her room.

“Do you need anything? Would you like for me to ring for the maid for you?” Jo shook her head yes and Mr. Kinsley went over to the bell pull and rang for the maid. “I want you to promise me that you are going to rest tonight. If you still are
n
o
t feeling much better I want you to stay in bed tomorrow too.”

“I cannot stay in bed all day tomorrow Bradley. We are supposed to figure out what to do about our wedding.” Jo looked even more stressed with the mention of their coming
nuptials
.

“I think that we can discuss all of that another day if you are in need of rest. I would love to have you as my bride so that I can bring you home with me and take care of you there. But I also understand
that you have been through qui
t
e
a lot lately and I want you to make sure that you are really ready and that you take care of yourself.” Jo was overwhelmed with feelings of love.

“Thank you for being so understanding Bradley. I do not know what I would have done without you these past few days.” Mr. Kinsley pulled her in for a quick hug.
The rush of comfort she always felt in his arms was something she was sure she would love having
every day
for the rest of her life.

“If you think that I am here for you now you should wait and see what a great husband I am going to make for you. But seriously just rest now and we will figure the rest of it out later. There is no pressure and no rush.” Mr. Kinsley left as the maid came in and soon Josephine began the process of getting undressed and ready to
lie
down for the night.

Hours later Jo was suddenly awoken when a chill entered the room. As she lay in bed wondering why her room was suddenly cold Jo heard the slight rhythmic clicking that sounded like someone strumming or tapping their nails. Trying to adjust her eyes to the darkness of her room Jo looked around in search of the sound. There she was again
the transparent form of
her aunt.

Jo did her best to hold back a scream as she scrambled back from her
a
unt’s ghost. “How is it that you are doing this? This cannot be real.”
Jo realized that she was
more scared of the unknown re
asoning then the fact that her a
unt was essentially haunting her at random.