Mrs. Benson - 5. Chapter 5

5

Alice stood in the middle of the drive way in front of the house. “Just be careful, James.”

“I will.” I waved and headed toward the door.

I entered the house like I always had. The place was neat and clean, but at first I couldn’t find whatever it was that had Alice so scared. I started on the ground floor and made my way from my quarters to the kitchen before heading out into the foyer and the main floor. It wasn’t until I got near the staircase that I heard voices.

“Robert, you have the children now, so get rid of her. I never liked her at all.” The voice was strong, female, and authoritarian in nature.

“I love her, mom. I don’t know why you two don’t get along, but she loves me, and she adores our children.”

The voices were somehow muted, but clear. I couldn’t see anyone, but I headed up stairs, where the voices seemed to come from.

“Momma went to lie down.”

I stopped. It was definitely a little girl’s voice I was hearing.

“Come on, Susan; let’s go play in the living room.” The voice seemed to fade like someone turned down the volume for a moment on a radio. I was about to go up the last few steps, when I heard the girl’s voice again.

“Grandma said we have to go to bed.” The little girl’s voice was clear, and she sounded upset.

“Grandma is a meany.”

I heard giggling, and then, silence.

I checked all around, but there was no one in sight. I knew Mrs. Benson kept the original master bedroom, which was off to the left side of the home. The voices were all from the right, over what was the employee wing of rooms.

The rooms on this side had been where the fire started. I moved slowly down, and for a moment, I swore I could smell smoke. The moment passed, and I opened the first door, which had originally been her daughter’s room. It was empty now, mainly used as a library with books neatly stacked on the shelves, except for a copy of Winnie the Pooh, which was set on the small table in the room. I closed the door and headed down the hall.

The next room had been her son’s room. Now it was a spare guest bedroom that seldom got used. The room was a soft blue shade, but there was nothing in here to make it anything special. A bed, a small dresser, and a mirror were all that were in the room. It seemed cold to me with no pictures or anything in it. Again, it was just another empty room, and no hint of where the voices could be coming from.

That just left what was the second master suite in the home. Here is where Mrs. Benson’s mother-in-law had lived. The room was done in shades of white and tan and looked more masculine than feminine, to be honest. I could only assume that when the room was rebuilt, Mrs. Benson didn’t want it to look like it had for Regina Benson. I wandered in and found no one, but as I was about to leave, I thought I heard something in the bathroom.

I quietly crossed the floor and entered the room. It was fairly large, holding a double sink, toilet, and a huge tub. I was sure I had been mistaken, when I heard a woman’s voice again.

“That bitch is going to ruin my son. I know it. She might have money, but … well, she isn’t in the same class as we are.”

The voice was cold. I looked in vain, but couldn’t find anything. Then I smelled the faint aroma of vanilla.

“The bath will help relax me. “ There was a sigh that echoed in the room. “Hmm. Maybe I can accuse her of sleeping with that gardener of ours. She would probably like the boy in her bed.”

I stood there in shock. I’d heard more than my share of rumors and stories, but I’d never heard anyone talk so blasé about trying to destroy another person. What was worse was, I was having a strong suspicion that I might be able to guess whose voices I was hearing.

“I might just have to fix the household books. Make it look like she is stealing from my son. She has to go, before she ruins him and those children.”

The voice seemed to fade.

There were no other sounds and there wasn’t anything I could find to transmit the voices. I tried to stay calm and head back to where Alice was. As I exited the house, I found her deep in conversation with Mrs. Cardigan.

“Oh, the two of them got on like fire and gasoline. I swear, they could barely stand to stay in the room together. I never could understand how they lived under the same roof, but then again, Robert loved them both, and for his sake, they ignored each other.”

It was when I heard Mrs. Cardigan refer to Mrs. Benson’s husband as Robert, it confirmed for me who the voices in the house belonged to.

“Oh, there you are, James. Mrs. Cardigan is here.” Alice smiled and Mrs. Cardigan turned to face me.

Tracey Cardigan had been Mrs. Benson’s lawyer since before either Alice or I had been hired. She had been friends with Mrs. Benson while she had been married, long before the fire. She was one of the few regular visitors Mrs. Benson ever had.

“Hi James.” She reached out to shake my hand.

“It sounds like the two of you were having a lively discussion. Was it anything good?” I tried to smile and pretend that I hadn’t overheard any of the conversation she’d been having with Alice.

“I was just telling Alice all about Regina and Cathy’s fighting. Regina really felt she ruled the family roost, and hated that Cathy had any influence over Robert at all. You would think a mother would know when to back off.”

Tracey was one of those women, who, when in work mode, was all business but get her out socially, and she could be all talk.

“Yeah, I figured from how Mrs. Benson talked, her and the other Mrs. Benson didn’t really get along.” I shook my head, trying to understand how anyone couldn’t get along with Mrs. Benson.

Tracey nodded.

“Mrs. Cardigan knows all about the house from before I was hired. It is nice to find out what Mrs. Benson was like before we met her.” Alice looked at me while she rubbed her hands together.

“Anyway, I came to drop off some forms to you both. Whether you realize it or not, you two have the power of attorney for her. She trusted you both, knew you had basically both turned the household into your personal families, and were devoted to her. She left the both of you jointly in charge of her and her estate. I’m listed to advise you both, but you have to go down to sign off about life support and the rest. You two are listed as her health care proxy.”

Alice and I stared blankly at each other. Mrs. Benson had never said a word about any of this to either of us.

“That can’t be right.” I was pretty sure with all the times I drove her around I’d have known if she stopped to make that change at Tracey’s office.

“She had it done years ago. Shortly after your mother died, as a matter of fact, James. She watched how you took care of your family, and she knew you were ready to hand over everything you had made to cover the costs of her funeral. You had to take her to the office to make a few changes for the business and she had this taken care of at the same time.”

Numbly, I shook my head and signed off on the papers Mrs. Cardigan put before me. Alice did the same, and Mrs. Cardigan nodded and slid the originals into her bag.

“I can’t believe she did this. I mean, shouldn’t she have had someone else to count on?” Alice whispered looking at Mrs. Cardigan.

“It was such a shame. Cathy was still so pretty and young when she was widowed. She wouldn’t hear of dating or starting over. Hell, she wouldn’t even let her mother-in-law be blamed for the fire.”

That woke me up. I’d never heard of anything but an electrical fire as the reason for the deaths. I didn’t even get to say anything, because Alice beat me to it.

“But Mrs. Benson always said an electrical fire started it all.” Alice stood with her arms wrapped around her in the heat, still.

Mrs. Cardigan shook her head. She slipped her bag into her car and peeled off her jacket and dropped it into the car as well.

“To be honest, the old bat was a pain in the ass even then. She loved to fill her tub, and she would burn these incense sticks and candles to ‘help relax’ her. Like the old bitty had anything to relax from, other than ripping Cathy apart. The idiot set her shower curtain on fire. It licked up the walls and set the ceiling on fire which spread quickly into little Bobby’s room next door. Cathy had been suffering from crippling headaches and the medicines at that time were strong. She had taken something earlier in the evening and passed out on her bed. We know Robert tried to help his son. Mr. Peters had cleared the house out on Robert’s say so. Robert had gone to help his son, breaking into the burning room. The heat, fire, and smoke soon overwhelmed him. Little Susan was only four years old, and she was so sweet. They did find her body under her bed where she hid. The old bitty died in her tub. The ceiling fell in on her. Truthfully, I don’t think she suffered enough for all the pain she caused.”

“What about Mrs. Benson?” I had to know the truth.

“The noise finally broke through the drugs she was on. She opened her door to a hallway full of smoke. The whole wing where the kids and Regina slept was engulfed in flames. Most of the staff had fled, except for old Mr. Peters. He went back in to see if he could get anyone else out alive. Cathy managed to wobble her way over to the stairs, but she collapsed due to the smoke. She would have died, as well. if Peters hadn’t heard her fall. He got there just as a piece of the ceiling came down on her leg. He managed to shift it off her and get her down and out of the place. People began calling her crazy because she wouldn’t allow them to blame her mother –in-law, but she felt it would be a disservice to Robert and the kids. Hell, she even helped to circulate the story that it was an electrical fire, to help keep Regina from being the scapegoat.”

There was silence for a moment as we learned the horrors of what Mrs. Benson had been through. She was a quiet woman with a good heart. She shouldn’t have had to deal with someone disturbing the bodies of her loved one.

“Cathy and Robert were both only children. So with her kids dead and Robert gone, she doesn’t have anyone but the two of you.”

I looked up to find Mrs. Cardigan standing there, looking between Alice and myself.

“I’ll have the papers ready in case you need anything and copies sent up to the hospital, as well. If you two need anything, let me know.”

She slipped into her car and pulled out with a wave.

Alice and I were left alone with the house, our consciences, and the ghosts who had come home to roost.