"Are there gardens on the Morton Estate?" Harry asked.
"They had beautiful gardens at one time," Miss P said, with a sigh. "That was before the fire, of course. It may all be in ruins now."
"Maybe not," Harry said. "He lives in what used to be the guest cottage on the estate, so he probably has access to the gardens. Who owns the estate now?"
"Oh, I think Clive owns it," Glory said.
"That's right," Miss P said. "The others wanted nothing to do with the estate, just their share of the money."
"Right," Glory agreed. "I remember hearing people call them snobs."
"They all signed the deeds, giving Clive full ownership of the entire estate," Miss P added. "There are some very old trees out there but, thankfully, the fire didn't spread to that area."
"So Baxter could have both gardens and a forest to look after," Harry said. "I guess that would be enough to keep him busy."
"As long as he doesn't mind sharing it with a ghost," Glory said.
"Whose ghost?" Harry asked.
"Jimmy Morton. He walks around the woods on the estate nearly every night. Lots of people have seen him."
"I don't believe it," Miss P said, "but quite a few people have claimed they've seen him."
Harry stood up. "Thank you, ladies, for the information, and the food."
"Thank you for your company," Miss P said. "Stop by anytime. We get bored looking at each other so it's nice to have company."
"I'll keep that in mind," Harry said, chuckling as he walked out.
********************
After lunch Harry went over to the office early to do some reading. He was leaning back in his chair, hands folded behind his head, staring blankly at the wall across from him when Bertie walked in.
"What are you thinking about?" she asked.
"I was reading the online accounts of the Morton fire. Very sad," he said.
"Yes, it was," she agreed. "The worst was that they both died in the fire."
Harry nodded."Did you know they did it themselves?"
"Did what? What do you mean?"
He sat up straight. "I also went back over the police and coroner's reports. There was a lethal dose of sedatives in their blood. Apparently she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer a few weeks earlier and given six months at most. Seems like neither of them wanted to live without the other."
"So, they set the fire themselves," Bertie said. "That's even sadder."
"That's the official report. But they didn't seem to realize it was raining when they took the sedatives and went to bed. The firefighters bashed holes in the roof and heavy rain did the rest."
"And their... they weren't burned up?"
Harry shook his head. "They had some burns, but nothing drastic. The coroner said they were already gone when it happened, sedatives and smoke inhalation. But, none of the stories mentioned a ghost."
"Ghost? So Clive isn't alone after all? He has a ghost for company - if he sees it."
