The Ghosts of Peppernell Manor by Amy Reade

Author:Amy Reade [Reade, Amy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-02-12T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

The next day I started on the walls of the ballroom. I couldn’t wait to see them finished in their deep peacock blue. I wondered how the rest of the family would react when they saw the color Cora-Camille had chosen before her death.

But Graydon and Ruby were now the owners of Peppernell Manor. I could have consulted them regarding the color of the walls, but I had a theory. If I showed them a swatch of the jewel tone that Cora-Camille had chosen, they might panic and think the color was too dramatic for the ballroom. If I went ahead and restored the walls with the rich hue, then they could see it in all its glory before forming an opinion of the color. At that point, if they didn’t like the color and wanted to change it, then at least they could have a chance to see the room as Cora-Camille had envisioned it.

So I decided to go ahead, paint the room, and then ask everyone’s opinion. I got started right away. I spent the entire day taking down all the wooden trim around the windows and doorways in the ballroom and sitting room, just as I had done in the drawing room and the dining room. I sent them to the same shop in Charleston that had re-sanded all the other woodwork, then set up sawhorses in the basement to paint them when they were completed and returned.

I would normally have kept the sawhorses in the garage, but no one had been allowed in there since the day of Harlan’s death. The police were still investigating and the space was still considered a crime scene. I hoped I would never have to go into the garage again, even after the crime had been solved and the person responsible had been brought to justice.

When I was done working for the day, I found Heath waiting for me in the drawing room. “Want to go for another horseback ride after dinner? I need a couple hours off,” he told me.

“Sure,” I replied happily. It would be nice to go horseback riding without having to worry about Lucy falling off and getting hurt.

The family and I had dinner together in the dining room. It was slightly less gloomy than the previous days had been. Vivian had gone into her store that day and received a new shipment of antiques. She described them as “exquisite” and told us all about them and where they had come from. Graydon had spent the day locked in his office, working on some ideas for a new book. He bounced ideas around at dinner and we gave him our input and critiques. In all, it was a relatively normal meal, albeit without Harlan and Cora-Camille. Their absences were felt, but it was nice to talk of things other than death and violence.

After dinner Heath and I drove over to the stables. I rode Chuck again and Heath climbed up onto Indigo’s back.

“There’s a story behind every horse’s name,” I said.

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