Chapter 31

Rory arrived home with the address and discussed contacting the Hamptons with Nina.

"We better be careful. We don't want them to think that we are going to cause trouble, ask for money or anything like that." Nina said.

"I was thinking that. What I'll do is write a letter saying how much we love the house and then broach the subject of strange occurrences. I'll say that we are not seeking any recourse, but would appreciate information that will help us work out what is going on."

"Are they likely to reply?"

"If they don't, I will have stated our position, and then we can try getting their number and phoning them."

"Okay, we'll give it a go." 

Several drafts were written and rejected before Rory and Nina were happy with the letter. It was put in the post that day and the waiting began. To their surprise, and delight, a note came back two days later. Mrs Hampton had given her phone number and asked them to call. 

"Okay I'm going to make the call. I'll put it on speaker and then we can both listen and comment." Rory said.

"Do you think I ought to speak first? If we are talking to Mrs Hampton, it might be better for her to hear a female voice."

"Good idea. It's ringing."

"Hello?" a hesitant female voice said.

"Mrs Hampton, this is Nina Jackson. Have we called at a convenient time?"

"Yes. Give me a moment."

The sound of movement was followed by a door shutting.

"That's better. My husband is still not in the best of health and I don't want to bring up those problems in front of him. I take it that you have had some disturbing things happening to you."

"Yes. Not much, small things. A vase that moves and a light that comes on in the downstairs cloakroom. These things happen over night and have not bothered us much, apart from being mystified. We talked to Len recently and he said that you had left after things were damaged. We wanted to know what you had experienced. Really we're trying to see if there is a pattern or an explanation."

"I had ornaments that moved and the cloakroom light came on. Like you, I wasn't too bothered by it. A ghostly presence, if that's what it was, didn't frighten me. In fact, I felt quite fascinated and sort of honoured to share the house with it. That went on for months and I just got used to it. Then my husband suffered a stroke and I didn't have a lot of time for worrying about anything else.

When he was first ill, the strange stuff more or less stopped. When he was back on his feet again, it resumed. It was almost like, whatever it was, knew I needed a break. I could have coped with the light and things moving, but it got worse. The ornaments which had moved were smashed on the floor. Bigger things, furniture and kitchen items were moved or food was scattered on the floor.

Derek was still frail and I was concerned about it upsetting him. I would get up early and put everything back in the right place and clear up any mess before he got up. In the end, it was too tiring and stressful. Constantly managing all the fuss and looking after Derek as well."

"Did you hear the things breaking or being moved?" Rory asked.

"No. It made my head ache just trying to work out what was going on. A silent ghost? An intruder of some sort? Who sneaks into someone's house, smashes things and moves stuff around? What would be the purpose of that? Nothing was ever missing. At one point I had all the locks changed just in case, but it still carried on."

"We really appreciate you talking to us. Are you settled where you are now?" Nina said.

"Oh yes. We are fine now. It was so annoying having to leave Fernborough. The house was lovely. Had Derek been fitter, I would have stuck it out and got to the bottom of the puzzle."

"That is what we intend to do. If you think of anything else which might be a clue, perhaps you could let us know." Rory brought the phone call to a close.

"How awful that they were forced to leave. I'm not going anywhere, Rory. Let's find out what's going on, and when we do, we'll tell the Hamptons."

"Agreed, with a proviso. You are pregnant, Nina. I don't want you in any danger."

"Don't worry. It's the intruder that is going to be in danger. All these hormones raging, this will be the thing I need to work out my frustrations. Look out ghosty, I'm coming for you."

Thinking about the conversation, Nina was most concerned about the trouble continuing after the locks had been changed. If a person was coming into the house, how did they manage it? Someone might have had a key from when the Phillips were there, but once new ones were required, how did they get in?

"The locks" she said.

"I know" Rory answered.