Free Heaven Made by SaraLynn Hoyt Page B

the world was she to do? Her employer imagined he
was seeing ghosts, and her daughter was talking to the dead. Suddenly, a visit
to the mysterious Madame Lou no longer seemed like such a bad idea.

Chapter Six
     
     
     
    "Will you be needing the motorcar, Mr. Northcliffe?"
Mr. Roland asked, handing Ford his Homberg hat and greatcoat.
    "No, thank you Roland. I need to clear my head."
Ford pulled on his leather gloves and contemplated the walking stick that Mr.
Roland held out to him before taking it. "I’ll be at my club if anyone
needs me."
    Ford almost laughed at that, as if anyone in his household
had ever needed him. It was he who did the needing at Northcliffe Manor. And
tonight what he needed was a stiff drink. His feet automatically took him the
eight blocks to his club as he considered the events that had just occurred.
What had he seen? He was certain that a girl of indeterminate age maybe nine,
but perhaps as old as twelve, with long dark hair, had been running down the
hallway. She’d worn a nightgown that flowed behind her in a decidedly
phantom-like fashion.
    Of course a ghost was out of the question. They simply
didn’t exist. Ford was a man of science and all learned men knew that anything
that wasn’t measurable was therefore not viable and subsequently, did not
exist. But if it wasn’t an apparition, what in God’s name was it? If it hadn’t
appeared to look exactly like his little sister right before she succumbed to
the Russian flu, he wouldn’t even be having this conversation with himself. But
at first glance he’d thought it was Piper, and that was what was making him so
skeptical of his own beliefs. Certainly science had no explanation for what he
had just witnessed. The only other logical explanation was that there was a
child in his home who looked exactly like his little sister. But that was
preposterous. There were no children in his home. If there were, he would have
known about it before now, wouldn’t he?
    He had no cousins that he knew of, and no nieces that could
exist since Piper had been his only sibling. None of his servants had children
that young. Mrs. Dixon had a son, but he was in his twenties and had joined the
Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve several years ago. Mr. Roland had two daughters,
but they were both married with children of their own. Maybe that was it, maybe
one of Mr. Roland’s grandchildren was visiting? But no, Ford thought,
remembering that Roland had told him they were still babies. They couldn’t be running
around the house looking like nine year olds. Besides, Mr. Roland would have
informed him if his family was visiting. He always had in the past, anyway.
    The more Ford thought about it, the more he realized that
there must be some logical explanation for what he had seen. But for the life
of him, he just couldn’t figure out what it might be. He knew one thing though,
he was more determined than ever to find a cure for the disease that had taken
little Piper from him and his mother at too young an age.
    Arriving at the club, Ford absently handed his outer wear to
a footman standing just inside the entryway and made his way to the reading
room.
    "Brandy, please," he said to another footman. He
sat down in one of the wingback chairs and stared pensively into the fire.
    "You look like you’ve seen a ghost." The Earl of
Suffolk always did have a way with words.
    "Mind your own business," Ford said in what he
hoped was an unfriendly tone. The last thing he needed right now were questions
from the very bored and too curious Earl.
    "Struck a nerve, eh?" Lord Suffolk asked, sitting
down anyway. "I thought you were a man of science, Northcliffe? You don’t
go for that spirit nonsense, do you?"
    "Of course not," Ford answered, hoping he appeared
properly offended. "I thought it was just an expression, anyway."
    O’Neill didn’t look convinced. "There have been some
strange reports lately. The Ton is fascinated with the stuff, you know. The
young misses talk of