Chapter 8
They were back in the secret study and they had found more books than before. They were in a trunk hidden off to the side. Marion was shocked when she pulled out a picture of another man named Arthur Ravenswood, he turned out to be the older brother of Henry Ravenswood. Another random relative she knew nothing about. She found a few letters from Arthur encouraging him to allow Melanie to marry any suitor with money to help Henry in his struggles since he too would be heading out west to help with the mining company. That was shocking to Marion, they just wanted to marry poor Melanie off to the highest bidder.
Holding up another letter, Marion gasped. The last letter was Arthur telling Henry to keep his mouth shut and continue trying to marry Melanie off, or he would out his own brother about him killing all of his daughter's suitors. Henry was being black mailed, and all the Ravenswood men must have been at least a little crazy. Killing people for money was deeply disturbing.
"Uh Marion...did anyone know Jake had a twin?" Jasper said as he walked over to Marion and handed her a picture of Jake and another man, they also had a different last name.
"Hightower? That's not the same last name that Jake told us." Marion asked confused as she read the names on the picture. "Jacob and William Hightower, Nephews of George Hightower."
Marion was shocked, did Melanie know that Jake had a twin? A loud creak was heard from behind them. Turning around both Marion and Jasper turned around and saw a panel of the wall open right before their eyes.
"Oh, this is getting weirder and weirder." Jasper commented as Marion and he went to the panel.
Another random staircase, this one made of wood, led to another room. However once the panel they reached on the other side, the sight that awaited them was not a pleasant one.
They were in the ceiling above the observatory, a place that just creeped Marion out. Looking out past the passage way. There hanging from the rafters was a body. Who the hell was that? Marion balanced herself on one of the beams and went to see if there was anyway to see who was hanging from the rafters. She saw he was dressed in a nice suit. Something was sticking out of the inside suit pocket, she carefully pulled it out and on the top of one of the papers were the words 'My Beloved Melanie' but Marion barely got a chance to read it. Her footing slipped and she began to fall.
"MARION!" Jasper yelled as he moved to go after her.
"JASPER!" Marion yelled and braced herself to hit the ground but she never hit anything.
Looking up she expected to see the ceiling high above her and her back and butt hurting from the blunt of the fall. Instead she saw a man looking down at her with a kind smile.
"Careful now ma'am, that's a mighty high fall up there." the man said with a smooth southern accent.
"Jake?" Marion asked shocked.
"You have me at a disadvantage miss, you know my name but I don't seem to know yours." He chuckled as he continued to hold her.
How did he not know her? He saved her and Jasper from the ravine. Jasper climbed down a bookcase in the observatory and went to Jake holding Marion in his arms.
"Can I have my wife back please?" Jasper asked holding his arms out.
"Course, sorry, didn't mean ta scare ya." Jake grinned and handed her to Jasper.
"You really don't remember us? Marion and Jasper? You saved us at the ravine." Marion said shocked he didn't remember them.
"Ravine? Miss I've been stuck in this room since a fancy pants man hung me up there years ago." Jake replied with a shrug.
Marion then opened the papers in her hand. They were Jake's vows! This must have been the real Jake! Then it must have been his twin William who had been pretending to be his twin brother.
"Y'all look like you just figured something out." Jake spoke up.
"Jake, we think your brother has been pretending to be you..." Jasper answered.
"My brother? Why would he want to do something like that?"
"Probably for the same reason Arthur would blackmail Henry into keeping his secrets on staying rich." Marion mumbled.
Jasper sat Marion down and she handed the papers to Jake, she felt they were not hers to read. Jake took the papers and grinned, he couldn't put them anywhere. He just sat the on a nearby table and looked back to Marion and Jasper.
"I miss my Melanie so much, you look a lot like her." Jake grinned. "You already got a man though, you look familiar too though."
Jasper shrugged, he didn't know anything about Marion's family. Jake went to the window and looked outside with a groan. He really missed Melanie. Is it possible Melanie went crazy when she found out it was William pretending to be Jake?
"Any other of the suitors here?" Marion asked.
"Nope, just me. That darn fancy dressed man lured me here telling me he had a gift for me to give Melanie that her father wanted her to have before he and his wife died in the earth quake." Jake said as he roamed about the room.
He thought it was an earthquake? He didn't know the truth? Should they tell him the truth about what happened? Marion couldn't help but feel bad for him.
"Jake, it wasn't an earthquake. It was too much TNT set off by Henry himself. Melanie said that you even took him out to the mine to show him something but never returned." Marion told him.
"What? Nah, Will wanted to show him something, I was here with Melanie until our wedding day. That's when I ended up stuck in here."
William was the one who went with Henry! Maybe Arthur knew this...or maybe this was all set up by Arthur? He wanted just as much or even more money than Henry. Was there a way that maybe Arthur and William were up to something together? The minute Marion thought that idea, a rush of wind entered the room. It was deadly silent and we could hear phantom footsteps coming from somewhere in the room.
"You just had to meddle, couldn't just restore the house and move on. Humans, mortals, such fools." an invisible specter called from all corners of the room.
Jasper stood before Marion as if to shield her, Jake, though he was a ghost, stood behind Marion blocking the phantom from accessing her. Marion gripped Jasper's hand. She was scared, she didn't know who was addressing them. Also the fact that she couldn't see who or where the voice was coming from.
"Who are you?!" Jake yelled out into the room.
A harsh loud laughter erupted from the room.
"You fool, you loved her but had nothing to give for her." the voice mocked Jake.
"I had plenty, Will even took ya to see it!" Jake shouted his reply to the phantom voice.
"No you see, he took Henry. Not me." the voice answered and then right before us appeared a man.
He was tall with short oiled back hair. A beard and mustache that were well groomed. You could tell he kept himself well groomed. Smiling with a grin that would make anyone shiver, Marion looked him over. He was dressed in a very well tailored suit, even the shoes he wore were well polished. Even for a dead guy he was well dressed.
"Arthur Ravenswood, you are supposed to be dead! Well back then even!" Jake tried to understand what Arthur was doing standing before him, even as a ghost.
Arthur rolled his eyes, clearly not amused that Jake wasn't catching on fast enough for him.
"Simpleton, I arrived far before my given time. Henry knew to keep me a secret or else I would tell the whole world about the bodies of four rich men entombed in his basement." Arthur chuckled as he walked about the room.
Marion grimaced as the idea, though she knew that it was a highly possible situation. He paused as he looked out the window, everyone watched him unsure what he would say or do.
"I never saw what my brother truly had planned, in truth I was just here to protect our company and family name. He went out with your twin Jake, though William told Henry that he was in fact you. I watched them from this very room, sipping an expensive brandy I knew my brother always kept. I knew he was a despicable man, not despicable enough to kill someone in his own family though." Arthur sighed as he looked to a table that had an empty brandy glass upon it.
"What are you trying to say?" Marion asked.
"He knew I was helping Melanie, to get her away from her father and off to marry the real Jake. William decided he would act like you and trick Henry into being away from the house long enough for the real Jake and Melanie to leave town for good. I even brought my own daughter to take Melanie's place, at least I had." Arthur turned and sighed at the people before him. "The moment Henry saw her he rolled his eyes, Melanie's cousin was just as beautiful as her but she lacked the long red hair. A trait you have inherited my dear."
Marion knew she was talking to her, after all she was the only red head in the room.
"I remember..." Jake said as he looked up to his body hanging from the rafters.
"Yes, Henry took us out one at a time. First me, the brandy he knew I was so fond of he laced with arsenic. An easy poison for him to get from the local apothecary he paid off. I was dead before I even finished the glass. My body who knows where. I watched as he told my daughter that I had left without her. She ran off into the night and I have never seen her again. When I heard of the earthquake I was excited to know he might have died along with poor Martha, but I knew I wasn't that lucky. Henry always had a trick up his sleeve." Arthur walked up to the desk and pressed a part of the desk that looked to be out of place. "He always had a secret."
A hidden drawer popped out of the desk. Marion walked over and looked down into the drawer. It was a book, no title upon it though. She carefully lifted it from it's resting place. Blowing the dust off the cover, Marion carefully opened the book. It was a journal, Henry's journal.
"It tells everything." Arthur says as he walks back to the window. "He was practicing more than just business and mining tactics. Turns out her built this manor on this hill for a purpose, right on top or a Indian burial ground. He uses the souls that were lost here to keep his spirit here, as well as the spirits of the suitors. He didn't use mine nor Jake's. Williams was safe until the necklace was brought here but I don't think Henry has figured that out yet."
Arthur had just told them everything. The whole reason why Henry would do such a thing but we didn't know who killed Jake. Or so they thought, Arthur started again.
"Melanie was so beautiful in her wedding dress, too bad that 'phantom' as he called himself hung Jake from the rafters, making Melanie think she was jilted, that is why Melanie is angry now, he is manipulating her spirit." Arthur was giving more information and as Marion read through the journal, she found everything he was say, Henry confessed to this book.
Jasper read over Marion's shoulder as Arthur walked up to Jake.
"I am sorry I couldn't save you, or my own daughter and Melanie. Henry cause more chaos than even he could control. I tried to blackmail him into letting him allow you marry Melanie but look what happened." Arthur shrugged.
Marion got to the last page, it had blood on it. Turns out the last murder he committed would also end up taking his own life. Jasper looked over at Jake and Arthur who were confused as to what they were missing.
"What is it?" Jake asked.
"You didn't go down without a fight Jake." Jasper answered him.
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