Tales from St. Gertrude's Cemetery

St. Gertrude was born in Saxony. She was given over to the convent nearly from birth. A stoic, highly educated woman, some believe she was possessed of a kind of mysticism or second sight. It comes as no surprise that many pray to St. Gertrude for strength in times of great turbulence. Churches named for St. Gertrude are full of devoted patrons of this saintly woman.

In the rural village of Aptonia, a cemetery is named for her. It isn't the saint who generates interest in this particular cemetery. It is those who are interred there.

St. Gertrude's cemetery sits at the crest of a hill in Aptonia. The cemetery's land was donated by the Morlando family back in the early 1900s. The Morlandos were land owners of hundreds of heavily forested acres formed into a huge farming monopoly.

At the site of the Morlando mansion is the two story, white Victorian structure with black shutters adorning floor length windows, two white marble columns at the front and a side veranda linked to the white marble front steps and porch.

There was a small stained glass window, octagonal in shape, between two of the second floor bedroom windows. When the morning sun shone on this window, it cast colorful prisms inside and out of the mansion, seen from the main, unpaved, curvy road that led to the driveway.

The barn had been turned into a garage when Arturo Morlando bought his first Ford motor car, a sleek red affair with gold trim, he treasured. This was a luxury that looked more than a little out of place in this farm area. Not that the Morlandos farmed very near the mansion. The farmed acres could barely be seen from the upper floor of their stately home.

This was due to Arturo's desire that his family should not be subjected to working class nuances he believed farming implied. Yet, Arturo's heritage endowed him with a deep sense so self sufficiency which he hoped farming his crops would provide for his family's needs.

The garage matched the mansion perfectly. It was painted white and had black trim around the garage windows.

The Morlando family fully occupied the mansion until the last member of the first generation passed on in 1928. The garage would later be converted into cemetery's offices where people in Aptonia could purchase a grave site or family mausoleum. Not that many had the money in blue collar Aptonia to afford a family mausoleum.

The cemetery would later become enclosed by a ten foot high black wrought iron fence, double gated in three places. The original gate was near the front of the mansion. The other two were added after the property became a cemetery under the new management of a Morlando relative.

After the crash of 1929, it looked as if Aptonia would not have a religious cemetery until Pietro Morlando, a first cousin of Arturo, arrived in the states from Naples, Italy. Pietro was an undertaker by trade who was curious about the mansion.

He immediately saw the value of a large portion of the forested property as a cemetery and garage as his "workplace" to prepare bodies for interment. Once terms of the sale of the mansion and property were final, he restored the side annex of the mansion and turned it into a conservatory where he loaded it with his collection of various and sundry rare plants.

His wife, Genese, son Giovanni and daughter, Pasqualina, settled comfortably in the mansion while Pietro began his business in earnest in the converted garage.

Having none of Arturo's avid interest in farming, he realized he could lease a few dozen acres of his farmland to others, so there would be no loss of farm products in Aptonia.

He applied to the town council to allow him to create St. Gertrude's Cemetery. St. Gertrude had been Pietro's mother's patron saint. In her honor, he named the cemetery for her patron saint.

The first years were difficult. The occupied part of town was small, less than one hundred people spread over only four square miles.

By 1945, Aptonia farms were being sold one by one to land developers, until only five of the original twelve sprawling farms remained unsold. The Morlando farm was one of these.

The first to be interred at St. Gertrude's cemetery was the result of a deadly influenza epidemic that hit residents of Aptonia hard.

Pietro steeled himself  for the worst when children as young as eight years old were brought to him by hospital morgues for burial.

The first of these children to be interred at St. Gertrude's cemetery was Stas Lemkowicz, an eight year old boy who succumbed to influenza and pneumonia. Pietro tried to do his best work for the child's family. But, it was clear from the boy's last facial expression the disease had taken him without mercy.

By the time a vaccine was finally developed, Pietro interred more than a dozen children of varying ages and a half dozen adults. He decided these children should be interred in what he called,  "Plaza de Piccolo Angelos" or "The Place of Little Angels."

It rested on a hill among several tall, slender oaks more than one hundred years old. He enclosed their graves with an ornate, low black wrought iron fencing and a small gate at the front,, trimmed with angelic designs.

Their families felt this was a wonderful, generous gesture on Pietro's part. As a result, St. Gertrude's cemetery gained prominence throughout Lyton County.

Aptonia had the good fortune of being a town without crime. Until city people began moving in and buying up homes and Aptonia became a glut of housing developments created from farms that were sold.

With just over fifty graves in St. Gertrude's by 1950, Pietro realized he needed to promote the sale of family mausoleums now that his business had become more recognized. He knew mausoleums to be as much as "selling point" as the "Place of  Little Angels."

One of these mausoleums was sold to the Guidice family. Why the family wanted a mausoleum in St. Gertrude's when they were from Brooklyn, New York mystified Pietro. Still, the sale of one family mausoleum meant more would come.

The first of the Guidice family to be interred in the grey marbled mausoleum was Alberto Guidice. Pietro knew who Alberto Guidice was. He was a relative of the Mayor of one of the boroughs of New York City.

The Guidice name in St. Gertrude's would be a great drawing card. After all, death is an inevitability and dead bodies have to be buried.

So it was that the wealthiest family in Lyton County started a parade of new headstones and by the time St. Gertrude's was five years into its founding, Pietro was proud to number the total buried at 134. Part of the increase in number of burials was due to the fact that the rural village of Aptonia was no longer a village, but a burgeoning town.

When Albert Dyson, one of the oldest Aptonia residents died, his four sons, horse farmers all, requested their father's body be borne to St. Gertrude's in a wagon dressed in black swags and drawn by four of their best horses, adorned with feather headpieces.

Pietro's knee jerk reaction was to decline the request. Until the Aptonia governing body decided to be Albert Dyson's pallbearers. Thus, Albert Dyson was buried in a choice family plot at the top of the hill with a huge marble statue of the Pieta in the direct center.

Albert's widow, Emma, was inconsolable, even with her four sons at her side. Not that Albert died unexpectedly. He was not the kind of man to frequent doctors for care. He ignored that strange cough every morning that worried Emma so.

Still, he woke every day at five in the morning to Emma standing at the stove making his favorite breakfast of oatmeal, toast with butter and jam and strong, hot coffee.

In their daily routine, she wouldn't see Albert again each day until noon when she would bring him and her boys lunch. Theirs was the only horse farm in the northern most part of Aptonia.

The other two horse farms were located nearer to St. Gertrude's cemetery on County Line Road. One was owned by Buck Delahanty, a big, burly Irishman, who rented out his horses to some of the city people from the nearby town of Allaway.

Buck was mystified why these city slickers thought they could learn how to ride western style. He laughed when one of them asked to be taught how to ride "English" style. He was also amused that he had to refurbished an old carriage when they requested Sunday afternoon carriage rides along County Line Road, a length of only about three miles.

Buck and his wife, Ida, had two sons, Bob and Al, not yet in their teens and already as big and burly as their father. Buck, Bob and Al tended to the horses on their ten acre property.They were not prepared to teach English style horsemanship. Buck had a bit of resentment toward anything English since his parents came from Catholic Ireland.

The other horse farm,  Manford Trails, was lesser known due to its location in Aptonia. It was known as "Duke Hills." Though why it was given that name was anyone's guess. There had never been any royalty in Aptonia, even when the Brits landed in battle during the Revolutionary War and it wasn't located on any hill. In fact, it rested comfortably in a lowland area of Aptonia.

Manford Trails was owned by Ralph Manford and his wife, Lucy. They had no children. Their horse farm was mainly a business relegated to leasing horses to the growing film industry.  Not to be outdone by the Delahanty Sunday afternoon carriage rides, Ralph Manford offered hay rides and pony rides for children.

Manford Trails was tucked into a lower elevated area that ended with the smallish Mine Lake. Mine Lake froze over in winter with solid ice. Aptonia children thought it perfect for ice skating.

Without any town protection or warning signs of thin ice, two young boys, Jimmy Laspin, age 10 and Damian Krieg, age 12, playing "Crack the Whip" sailed too far near a soft spot on the ice and were drowned by the time adults reached the lake to rescue them.

They were buried side by side in St. Gertrude's Place of Little Angels in the late 1950s as a way of remembering their tragic deaths.

The Dysons, Delahantys and Manfords were all aware of the seemingly rapid growth of Aptonia. They decided to ensure a place at St. Gertrude's by buying their family plots while they still had the choice of the best locations.

The governing body of Aptonia consisted of five men: Bob Warman, Alfred Henning, Sam Brown, Thomas Lipton and Aptonia's only remaining relative to the village founders: Charles D. Apton III.

The first police and fire departments were comprised of all of the men of the village, bar none, who were young enough to heft a fire hose or round up criminals. Not that Aptonia had any crime and the only occasional fire was when lightening hit dried hay stacks.

No one bothered farmers and property owners in Aptonia since most were not remarkably wealthy with the exception of the Morlando family.

The Morlando mansion began to look out of place when newer homes were built on land surrounding their property. If not for its antiquated Victorian style, it was for the fact the Morlando family resisted change.

Pietro Morlando set aside ten acres around the mansion for personal property. The rest was used for or would be used for burial plots and mausoleums and eventually the farmed acres would also become part of the cemetery as needed.

Fortunately, homes built near the Morlando mansion were mostly higher income city people. These were built in two-story, Greek Revival style,  four bedroom manor houses.

When Aptonia's top real estate agent, Richard van Helm, sold these manor houses, he didn't always follow strict Aptonia zoning regulations. What land he couldn't force to be sold by farmers, he just found "other" ways to make them sell.

Everyone knew it including the governing body. Some believed Charles D. Apton and van Helm were "in cahoots." Still the other four, Warman, Henning, Brown and Lipton also valued a good land deal a tax ratables.

Apton and van Helm soon managed to reduce the number of farms in Aptonia to only three and only because the Dyson and Manford horse farms were considered too far from the center of "town" and considered the Manford farm a "growing business." Not to mention that Buck Delahanty paid plenty to have his horse farm rezoned for business to prevent a sale to van Helm.

Richard van Helm's land acquisitions began to encroach closer and closer to St. Gertrude's Cemetery. Now, Pietro Morlando was concerned for the first time that the property originally owned by his cousin Arturo, was about to become the property of van Helm who planned to cut it into hundreds of homes bordering St. Gertrude's.

Pietro Morlando knew what to do. He would prevail upon Aptonia councilors and remind them Arturo Morlando was first to begin a much needed business and Pietro was owner of the highest taxed property in town. He wanted van Helm to stop the housing development.

"I am not going to mince words as your most "generous" taxpayer in this town. I do not want homes built near St. Gertrude's Cemetery."

"St. Gertrude's is no longer the only cemetery in Aptonia," Charles D. Apton said.

"Let me rephrase this. St. Gertrudes is the ONLY Catholic cemetery here in town. You know Monsignor Vitale will not allow Catholics to be buried across town in Oakwood Cemetery," Pietro said.

"Mr. Morlando, Aptonia appreciates all the Morlando family has done for our town. We don't want to step on any toes," Raymond Brown said, cautiously.

"Of course, we don't" Thomas Warman added.

Pietro wouldn't be snookered by smooth talking town politicians.

"Put it in writing that no housing developments will be allowed to be built for a one mile perimeter around St. Gertrude's and we have an agreement. If not? I'll close the cemetery and leave it to the town to deal with it," Pietro threatened.

Warman, Lipton, Brown and Henning were all in agreement that to leave St. Gertrude's under town auspices would be a huge costly burden. Only Charles Apton disagreed.

"Aptonia owes a huge debt of gratitude to Richard van Helm for bringing in new tax ratables. We can't just ignore his need to build," Apton said.

"You heard Morlando. He will carry out his threat. You know he will. So which is it to be? Morlando or van Helm?" Warman asked.

"What if we give van Helm land near Oakwood instead? There is still that huge parcel of land near Manford's horse farm," Frank Henning said.

Ralph and Lucy Manford fought hard to stop van Helm's housing developments. Their farm was adjacent to Oakwood Cemetery and Mine Lake.

Mine Lake was a heavily treed area at the crest of a hill. As the hill rose upward from the lake, it forced Oakwood Cemetery and Manford Farms to stand out prominently. Opposite these three sites was one hundred acres of forest which the Manford's hoped would remain that way forever.

In Aptonia, nothing is forever.

"Of course! That's the perfect answer. We let van Helm build over there on the east end of town and he'd have more land than the parcel near to St. Gertrude's," Harold Lipton said.

By the late 1950s, Giovanni Morlando, Pietro's son and Pasqualina, his daughter, helped expand their father's business. Giovanni, now called John and Pasqualina, called Lina, opened two more businesses by Pietro's acquisition of a five acre parcel of land directly across from St. Gertrude's.

The property had once been the site of an abandoned home on five acres of partially wooded property on the corner of Duchess Road. The home was owned by another historical Aptonia family, the Darwalls.

After the two Darwall sons moved out of state and their father passed on, the widow, Minerva Darwall, was left alone in the home her husband Jahn took such pains to design and build.

It was built to resemble a German country cottage. It was unusual in its design because the front of the structure was built entirely of river rocks and the entrance had a steep peak that ended at the base if home, giving it a sort of cathedral look.

When Minerva died in 1958, her sons returned to Aptonia and interred her body in St. Gertrude's Cemetery beside her husband who died ten years earlier. Gus and his brother, Erik, saw to their mother's funeral just as they had their father's.

Minerva's funeral was not exactly attended by Aptonia's most celebrated residents. Few of the newest residents knew of the Darwall family's historical origins. John Morlando and his wife, Donna, attended Minerva's funeral at the demand of their now aged, ill father.

John Morlando knew he should also prepare for his father's imminent funeral. His father buried his mother two years earlier in the grandest family mausoleum in St. Gertrude's that faced the main road. Pietro felt the oversized mausoleum was a fitting monument to his family name and to his beloved wife, Genese.

Acquiring the old Darwall property was a stroke of fortune for John and Lina. When their mother  died, she left a tidy sum of money in trust to her two children.

Genese Morlando inherited property in Italy, being her parents' only child. She and Pietro sold it and decided to put the money from the sale in trust for their children as a gift from their maternal grandparents they'd never met.

Lina loved the idea of owning a flower shop. Her part of her mother's inheritance paid for half of the Darwall property and construction of a small flower shop that had a work room at the back and two full walls of glass to attract passersby. She had sufficient money to move into Minerva Darwall's old German cottage style home.

Like her father's flair for style, Lina remodeled the exterior so it had two twin turrets at the each corner of the home, leaving the odd looking peak intact and added ceiling to floor windows.

She upgraded the kitchen and installed central heating and hot water. She kept the claw foot tub in the master bath. But, she renovated a smaller bedroom on the second floor nearest the master bedroom into a second bathroom.

John was so impressed by his sister's talent for interior decorating that he asked her to make suggestions about Morlando Mansion. Lina was happy to oblige since John had just become engaged to a lovely young woman, Donna Amsford.

Lina quickly had all of the bathroom furnishings upgraded and central heating installed. In truth, there wasn't much that needed to be done in Morlando Mansion. Lina also didn't want to appear to be engineering all of the changes she felt Donna might want to do after she and John married.

Lina loved the name of the street located nearest to her new flower shop: Duchess Road. John was amazed at how quickly the first Aptonia flower shop managed to attract so much business. It didn't hurt that people visiting their deceased at St. Gertrude's just across the road found it quite convenient to pick up floral arrangements Lina created every morning at dawn.

Meanwhile, John and Lina used a small section of Darwall land to set up a headstone business. Lina's spouse Antony and John's spouse, Donna and their children helped out by selling grave sites and mausoleums, flower arrangements for funerals and headstones after school and on weekends.

John had to expand the type of headstones to a less religious variety. Many families of deceased who were to be interred at Oakwood Cemetery prevailed upon John to sell them non-religious headstones and grave markers.

One family of clients, in particular, unsettled John. He was a former senator of the state who had a shady reputation. Holding a graveside ceremony for Carl Sharpe seemed juxtaposed to the hallowed ground into which his body would be buried. Sharpe had been found guilty of tampering with an investigation into his use of public funds for personal projects.

Lina also had the same feeling as her brother when the Sharpe family approached her for funeral flowers.

"John, they are asking me to provide the church and funeral home with thousands of dollars in floral arrangements. Are they good for the money?" Lina asked.

"Let's hope so. You are having reservations?"

"Yes, aren't you? How will Carl Sharpe's funeral be seen by the public if you accept such a crook in St. Gertrude's?" Lina asked.

"I'm hoping it won't go public. But, if it does, I will have to explain that I can't deny the aggrieved their right to honor their dead as they choose," John said.

"Great response!" Lina said, smirking.

"Look, we are business people. Do you think Papa would deny them?"

"No. I confess. I don't think he would. But, Papa barely recognizes us these days," Lina said.

"Lina, death is the debt we all owe the minute we are born. Papa isn't expected to live another year," John said.

John's words didn't hasten his father's death. It merely portended the inevitable. Not two weeks after he and Lina discussed the burial of Carl Sharpe, their father, Pietro, passed away.

"Papa would have wanted the grandest exit," John told Lina.

"I agree. Will you make all the arrangements with Monsignor Delahanty?" Lina asked.

"Funny, isn't it? Buck Delahanty having a son who would rise to the position of Monsignor?" John said.

"I agree. From horse farm to St. Angela's in Lyton Diocese, a Monsignor. Who'd have thought?" Lina mused.

"Lina, you write better than I. Would you do the honors for Papa and write his obituary?" John asked.

"I will and I'll see it gets published in several papers in the region. It can't hurt business to have free advertising for St, Gertrude's Cemetery," Lina said.

"Lina! That's sacrilegious!"

Lina feigned a low bow of the head for forgiveness for such brazen business in the face of a family member's death. She crossed herself with the sign of the cross.

Pietro Morlando, an immigrant who turned a relative's land into the largest cemetery in Aptonia lay at rest among his favorite plants and flowers in the conservatory. Hundreds of guests poured into the Morlando mansion conservatory to pay their respects.

At the family mausoleum, Lina hired temporary florists to create the huge numbers of floral displays that overwhelmed the great black marble Morlando resting place. Even the governor of the state sent a floral piece.

Monsignor Delahanty arrived in a long limo, accompanied by four other priests and half a dozen altar boys who assisted him with graveside services.

When Lina and John saw the Monsignor, they glanced at each other with quizzical expressions that indicated they wondered why all the religious pomp and circumstance.

Later, all of those attending Pietro Morlando's funeral were invited into the mansion for a reception.

John had never seen so many Aptonia politicians in the same room. Monsignor Delahanty had Lina's ear and she had a pained expression on her face.

When all the guests left, John and Lina plopped into two chairs in their father's library.

"I am glad that's over. What were you and the Monsignor talking about?" John asked.

"He did the all the talking, not  I," Lina said, her feet plopped on a hassock.

"For my part, I've never seen so many Aptonia politicians in one room at the same time. I didn't think Papa was that well liked by any of them," John said.

"You'll be happy to know that Monsignor wants to know if St. Gertrude's plans to expand. He seemed oddly interested in our real estate holdings here in town," Lina said.

"What did you tell him?

"I said you and I have our hands full managing the businesses we have."

"What other business would he have in mind for us?" John asked.

"A religious articles shop."

"What?"

"No kidding. And...you'll be happy to know he thinks it should be adjacent to my flower shop to "attract" Catholic customers,' Lina said.

John laughed so long and hard that Lina was shocked her brother was so amused.

"Sure, you think it's funny. What if he threatens to excommunicate us for refusing his wishes?" Lina asked.

"Lina, not even a Monsignor could force a Morlando to do his bidding."

Lina's husband, Antony and John's wife Donna appeared in the doorway, brother and sister knew it was time to call it a day.

As the traffic on the main avenue in front of the mansion and cemetery grew, so did the noise. The Morlando mansion, now occupied by John and his family and the cemetery offices in the converted garage, stood like last vestiges of the once silent location of burial plots of five hundred graves and mausoleums.

Lina lived less than a half block from the Morlando Mansion in the house owned by Minerva Darwall, at the top of Duchess Road much of which had been cleared of its woods and some of the land sold by Richard Van Helm Real Estate at Lina's husband's request.

"Lina, we can't own all that land. There is still over five acres that we own. We don't need the rest. We can sell it and put that money into our children's educations," Antony had said.

Lina's husband, Antony Buccafuso and her children, Antony Jr. and Gina, settled into the newly renovated home on five acre section of the property now after the remodeling was complete.

John Morlando was worried about his daughter, Adrianna. Lately, she never seemed to sleep restfully. He and his wife grew more concerned when each morning their daughter came to the breakfast room with gaunt eyes and skin as pale as a linen sheet.

"Adrianna, how did you sleep last night?" John asked, noting her sickly condition.

"Daddy, I can't sleep. My bedroom faces the graves on the west side," the twelve year old girl said.

"Those people are dead. They can't hurt you," John said.

"They don't try to hurt me. They roam about rattling their bones with each other," Adrianna said.

"That's just nonsense. The dead don't rise from their graves," Donna Morlando, John's wife said.

"Mother, please. I know what I see from my window," Adrianna said.

"Dear child, your grandfather and grandmother are buried there. There is no way they would allow anyone to hurt you...or us," John said.

John glanced at his wife with a quizzical expression on his face.

"May I be excused?" Adrianna asked.

"Yes. Hurry and dress for school. The bus will be arriving in 20 minutes," Donna said.

Rushing through getting dressed, Adrianna hurried down the stairs and out the door, ignoring her parents still lolling about the breakfast nook over their coffee and discussion of the day's activities.

"John, I think I should have Doctor Morgan examine Adrianna. She's losing weight and is as pale as a ghost," Donna said.

"I think that's a good idea. When was the last time she had a medical exam?" John asked.

"It was when she had that terrible flu a month ago," Donna said.

"Why is she suddenly bothered by living near a cemetery?" John asked.

"You know how young girls that age are. She is probably getting teased by her school friends," Donna said.

"I imagine that's it. Do take her to Doctor Morgan as soon as you can.

I'm off. I've got five funerals to prepare for today. That ought to keep our morticians busy for the next two or three days and me on my toes," John said.

Donna kissed him on the cheek as John tucked his newspaper under his arm. He'd always made a habit of reading the local news to keep on top of potential burials.

Donna readied herself to help out at her sister-in-law's flower shop. It was a bright, sunny May morning with such a freshness in the air.

As Donna prepared to walk across to Duchess Road, the phone rang.

"Mrs. Morlando?"

"Yes?"

"I think you need to come to the school nurse's office. Your daughter, Adrianna, seems quite ill."

Donna hurried to inform John.

"Do you want me to go with you?" John asked.

"No. I'm sure it can't be anything too serious. At least, I hope not. I'll be back after I take her to see Doctor Morgan," Donna said.

"Good. I'll feel relieved she'll be in Morgan's hands," John said.

Donna phoned Doctor Morgan and made an appointment, stressing she thought it was an emergency. Then, she and Adrianna hurried into the family car and drove to the doctor's office.

Donna approached the assistant seated at a desk behind a glass wall.

"I'm Mrs. Morlando. I'm here about my daughter, Adrianna?"

"Mrs. Morlando, Doctor Morgan is with another patient at the moment. He should be through in about fifteen minutes," the receptionist said, eyeing the ghostly condition of Adrianna.

"Are you feeling any better dear?" Donna asked her daughter.

"Mother, I told you. I feel as if my stomach is about to burst open," Adrianna said, holding her hands on her abdomen.

Doctor Morgan called Donna and Adrianna into the examining room after about five minutes.

When Doctor Morgan finished his examination, he spoke directly to Adrianna.

"I'm afraid we must admit you to the hospital immediately," he said.

"Hospital? Why!" Adrianna screamed.

"It's your appendix. They have to be removed or they will burst..or are about to," Doctor Morgan said.

"She'll need surgery then?" Donna Morlando asked.

"I'm afraid so. But, this is a relatively normal surgery performed fairly regularly," Doctor Morgan said.

"Will you perform the surgery yourself, Doctor?" Donna asked.

"No. That requires a more experienced surgeon. Dr. Chambleau will be performing it. Now, I need to make all the arrangements. If you would, take Adrianna to the hospital immediately.  I'll call ahead to alert the Emergency Room staff you are on your way."

"Thank you, doctor."

Donna Morlando carefully helped her daughter into the car. She felt nervous and fearful for Adrianna. The hospital was less than ten minutes from Doctor Morgan's office.

As Donna turned their car into an intersection one block from the hospital, a small, grey pick up truck sped directly toward their vehicle.

Donna saw the pickup truck heading toward them and in a split second tried to turn to avoid hitting it. It was too late. The truck flipped Donna's car into the air and the truck landed upright on the nearest sidewalk.

To the horror of onlookers, the Morlando vehicle lay upside down as the truck backed up slightly and then sped off without stopping.

An onlooker ran to the nearest shop and asked the owner to call police. The shrill screams of ambulance sirens grew closer to the scene of the accident.

Donna Morlando was placed unconscious on mobile gurney in one ambulance while Adrianna Morlando was placed in the other. The EMTs tried to keep Donna alert. It was too late for Adrianna.

The ambulances pulled into Aptonia General Hospital and hustled the two women inside into the emergency room.

"No need to move the younger woman into the ER," one EMT said, with a sad look on his face.

"The older woman has a punctured lung and may have internal injuries. It's amazing she's still alive from the looks of the accident scene," another EMT told the ER admitting nurse.

Doctor Morgan contacted the hospital to inquire whether surgery preparations had begun for his patient, Adrianna Morlando. When he received the news she was fatally killed in an auto accident, he rushed to the hospital.

John Morlando hadn't received a call from Donna. He had an odd feeling of foreboding. He decided to call Doctor Morgan's office. Without any explanation, he was advised to go to the hospital immediately.

Oh my God! What happened to my wife and Adrianna?  he wondered as he raced to Aptonia General.

As soon as he arrived, he was taken by an admitting clerk to the ER. Doctor Morgan caught sight of John and hurried to his side.

"Doctor...my daughter? Is she alright?"

"I'm afraid I have some very bad news. Would you like to sit down?"

"No. I want to know how my daughter is. Where is my wife?"

"Your daughter and wife were involved in an auto accident on the way over here. Adrianna was to have an appendectomy. They were broad sided by a truck on their way. Adrianna didn't make it. Your wife is in surgery now. I don't have all the details on her injuries," Doctor Morgan said.

John Morlando was stunned and shocked. How could this happen?

Donna Morlando hovered in the shadow of death for a week.John felt as if he was losing his mind. He was with Donna when she opened her blue eyes for a moment and went into a coma. He thought she was trying to form words.

John held her hand as he leaned closer to see if he could hear the words she was trying to say and kissed her cheek as her lovely eyes closed and her head drooped on the pillow. He buzzed for the nurse immediately.

The only woman he had ever loved was comatose.

Adrianna Morlando was buried in St. Gertrude's Cemetery in the Morlando family mausoleum. The following week Donna Morlando's condition took a turn for the worse. She passed away with John at her bedside and Lina offering what support she could in such a time of grief. Donna was buried in the family museum beside her daughter.

Aptonia police searched for the hit and run driver to no avail and John's continuous pleadings for justice for his wife and daughter. The driver was gone as if he never existed.

John Morlando was beside himself with grief. Now, the Morlando home was empty. John felt as if his heart had been surgically removed. Lina did what she could to help John try to resolve the depths of his grief.

One autumn night three months after he lost his wife and daughter, Lina stopped by the Morlando mansion to check on her brother. In Italian families, it's left to the women to do their duty to the grieving for one year.

Lina had a key to the mansion John had given her many years before. Still, she rang the front doorbell. There was no answer.

"John, it's me. I've brought you dinner. I made your favorite dish---manicotti. John?" Lina called.

She used the key she kept on her key ring to open the door. Once inside, she called to John several times and heard only the slight echo of her own voice.

She walked toward the French doors in the large living room that faced the rear of the cemetery. From the windows in the door, she saw John walking aimlessly among tombstones as if he was a zombie. She hurried out the door.

What on earth is he doing wandering in the cemetery?

She called to her brother yet again. It was as if he was in a trance.

As she approached him, he startled at the sight of her.

"What do you want, Lina?"

"I brought you dinner. Why are you wandering about out here?"

"It makes me feel closer to Donna and Adrianna," John said.

Lina thought it peculiar. John had never been the kind of personality to dwell on emotions for very long. In fact, she thought her brother quite distant and too aloof at times.

"Well, come along. The manicotti is getting cold," Lina said.

John followed behind ever so slowly, as if he was reluctant to leave the grave sites.

"You know Lina? I think Adrianna might be right about the dead. She had such trouble sleeping. She said the dead walked the cemetery at night. She always looked so weary and exhausted," John said.

"John, Adrianna wasn't well. You know how children are. Adrianna's appendix had probably begun to cause her pain in the night and she imagined she saw "things."

John's expression told Lina he didn't believe it.

"There are a few hundred men, women and children buried out there since Papa built St. Gertrude's. Some have been dead for almost sixty years. You never believed in ghosts before. You are just overwrought with grief. John? Are you listening?"

John wasn't listening. Lina set a place at the table in the dining room. She reheated the manicotti that had cooled and then served it to John.

"John, you can't live in this place all alone. It is too much for you to manage without Donna," Lina said.

"What are you proposing now, Lina? That I sell it? This was Papa's home and Donna's and Adrianna's," John said.

"I'm not saying you should sell it. Perhaps, maybe rent the rooms on a month to month basis," Lina suggested.

"And just who would want to live near a cemetery?" John asked.

"Other men who are like you...alone," Lina said.

"I don't think I want strangers prowling about in this house. No. I won't rent it and I refuse to sell it," John said.

An empty house has a way of recalling vivid memories in ways that evoke spirits of those who have lived in them.

John never put much into Adrianna's claims of seeing "ghosts" among the graves. He had refused to believe in ghosts.

Dead is dead. There is no such thing as the dead coming back in any way, he told himself.

Strangely enough, his father, Pietro, came from a long line of superstitious Italians. At the end of each day, Pietro asked his newly hired housekeeper, Justina Antonetto, grandaughter of the farmer, Ricardo Antonetto, to make sure all the drapes were pulled over the windows in all the rooms.

Justina did as she was told and spent nearly a half hour complying with her employer's wishes.

When a terrible storm passed through Aptonia early in September of 1971, the now sixty year old John, made sure everything that could be nailed down was, in preparation for the worst.

That night, as rain beat in long sheafs against the Morlando mansion windows, John sat in his library reading one of the many books on the shelves his father left him. He felt comforted by the warm fire in the fireplace.

Outside, he heard wind whistle like a child's top. From time to time, John walked to the French doors, pulled the drapes aside and looked out at a soggy world. It reminded him of a used dishrag. Everything flattened and sopping wet.

From this vantage point he could see the hill in St. Gertrude's where his family's mausoleum was located. Nearer to the mansion the wind was already tearing limbs from trees like a violent animal tears into raw meat.

"There'll be a lot of clean up tomorrow. At least, the tombstones won't be knocked over by the wind," he told the empty room.

His voice echoed strangely like a radio playing off in the distance. By nine o'clock, he poured himself a second glass of wine, emptied the glass, stoked the fire, closed the fireplace doors and walked up the stairs to his bedroom.

John's mother, like his father, was full of superstitions. Yet, neither John or Lina seemed especially superstitious. Or, at least, Lina never seemed to show it, if she was.

John's mother taught him to always do the right thing so when it was his time to "go," he'd rest in peace. John got the idea that his beloved mother believed unrested souls were doomed to wander the earth in penance for all the wrong they'd done.

Was this something Adrianna sensed when she said she saw the dead walking around at night? Unrested souls?

Genese Morlando died when Adrianna was only three eyes old. It wasn't possible his mother could have filled his toddler daughter's head with such superstitions. He was aware of how children often acquire certain second sight from ancestors.

Working so closely with the dead, John dismissed the idea. He'd seen enough dead bodies in his lifetime to refuse to believe in an after life as his mother did.

Recognizing a change in her brother's personality, Lina assigned more work to her children at the flower shop, while she took over the day to day management of the clerical part of the funeral business.

"John? Are you unwell?" she asked.

"No. Why do you ask?"

"You seem pale and preoccupied. I know it is due to Donna and Adriana's deaths. I thought I'd ease a bit of the burden of running the business at St. Gertrude's," Lina said.

"That's fine...I..." John's voice trailed off.

"You what?" Lina asked.

But, John was already out the door not more than ten minutes after he arrived. Lina was mystified by the changes in her brother. She knew he would absolutely refuse to be seen by Doctor Morgan. She wondered if there was a way to have Doctor Morgan observe John. She decided to invite Doctor Morgan for dinner.

Doctor Morgan was a client of the flower shop. She needed no excuse other than to say she was showing her appreciation for his business.

The dinner Lina planned was served Italian style. Meaning, spicy Carpacchio before antipasto, followed by an entree of veal scallopini and side of braised cardoon in wine sauce.

Lina made sure there was plenty of warm ciabatta bread and a good red wine. This was served before the traditional salad. Finally, she served a dessert of Neopolitan cassata and lots of cheeses accompanied by a fruity dessert wine.

This type of traditional meal takes more than an hour and half to be served at intervals and eaten slowly to truly enjoy it. The more time it takes, it would give Doctor Morgan more opportunity to observe her brother.

John remained unusually silent throughout the meal, even though Antony, Lina and their children tried to engage him in conversation by talking about happier family times in Morlando mansion.

When their children, Gina and Antony Jr., excused themselves from table, demitasse was served in the library.

"I've seen ghosts. Just like my Adrianna said she saw," John blurted out as demitasse was served.

"John, surely you are joking?" Lina asked.

"I've seen them. They walk at night in mists over their own graves!" John said.

Doctor Morgan glanced furtively at John first, then Lina and shook his head.

By the time Lina offered a tray of her homemade anisette cookies,, she could see Doctor Morgan wished to speak with John alone and at length.

"John, I would like to know more about these apparitions you've seen. Lina, would you mind if John and I spoke alone?"

"As you wish, Doctor. Would you like an after dinner liqueur?"

"Not for me. Perhaps, John would like one?" Doctor Morgan said.

"Lina, anisette for me, thank you," John said.

The two men sat quietly in the library located at the rear of the hall of the west wing of the mansion.   Doctor Morgan waited for John to be seated comfortably while he sat in the high back tufted arm chair nearby with the fireplace aglow.

Lina walked in with a cordial of anisette, stoked the fire,  added another log and gave a lingering glance at the two men as she left the room.

"Doctor Morgan, Do you think I am imagining these ghosts?" John asked, after sipping his cordial and a long pause.

"I should like to know more about them before I respond."

"I am not the only one who has seen them. My daughter Adrianna was first to see them. Like you, I was skeptical about what she said she'd seen. In fact, I didn't want to discuss it further. I was afraid it would terrorize her."

"What exactly did Adrianna tell you about them?"

"She was having trouble sleeping. I asked her why. She insisted she saw ghosts outside her bedroom window in the cemetery beyond."

"Did you try to rationalize it with her?

"She said she saw them as skeletons "rattling their bones" at each other. My mother, rest her soul, was a very superstitious woman. I know my father, rest his soul, was too. Mother believed unhappy people leave behind a trace of themselves. It was why she always kept a crucifix inside our front and back doors."

"And what do you believe, John?"

"I think there are people buried in St. Gertrude's who died unexpectedly. I think they roam about trying to resolve their own deaths."

"That's quite an interesting theory."

"I know what you really think. You think it's just old Italian superstition. But here's the thing, there was a strange situation Father told me about when he first became a mortician," John said.

"What was it?"

"He was embalming a body that had been deadly cold for hours. He turned toward the laboratory table to reach for a bottle of fluid. When he turned back toward the body, he said the head moved to the right side."

"But, that could have been due to shifting of the weight of the head," Doctor Morgan said.

"Possibly. But, Father said the eyes of the corpse had flung open."

"What did your father do then?"

"He said he left the room because he felt the hairs on the back on his neck and arms stand up. The room had suddenly become colder than it normally was and the body of the dead man felt warm to the touch. He left the room feeling nauseated."

"That's quite a story. Sometimes, we imagine things out of deep inner fear. What are you afraid of, John?"

"I'm not afraid of anything. Life has been good to our family," John said.

"But, you must feel grief over such a tragic loss of your wife and daughter," Doctor Morgan replied.

"I carry hurt deep," John answered, placing his hand over his heart and bowing his head.

"When did you first see these ghosts?"

"I think I sensed them. It was during that storm a few weeks ago. The wind was wild and I was looking out the French doors. I thought I saw movement toward the left side of the cemetery. I don't believe in ghosts...or, at least, I didn't.

I rubbed my eyes and realized it could have been the wind swirling around. So, I went upstairs to my bedroom. I dressed and readied for bed. In the dressing room, there are two windows side by side.

As I put on my robe, something moving outside the window in the cemetery caught my eye. At first, I thought it might be a prowler or homeless person.

Then, I saw the second one. It was floating or sort of hovering just a few feet from the first one. I shut the light off in the dressing to get a better look and by then, I saw two more of these silvery visions. I was so scared. I hurried to my bed and pulled the quilt over my head," John said.

"What happened after that?"

"The very next day I walked out to where I thought I'd see those visions. I looked down at the graves. One of them was the grave of Carl Sharpe. The other graves were older...Buck Delahanty, Richard Van Helm Sr. and Charles Apton. They were big names in Aptonia decades ago, in case you've forgotten."

John walked over to the fireplace and added another log.

"It has grown colder in here. Do you feel it?"John asked.

Doctor Morgan didn't feel colder as John did.

"Let me see if I understand. You were raised by parents who were superstitious and taught you unrested souls don't die after death? Why would these dead be unrested?"Doctor Morgan asked.

"Buck Delahanty might be the angry ghost my Adrianna claimed she saw."

"Who was Buck Delahanty?"

"He was one of Aptonia's earliest farmers. An big Irishman with a quick temper when he felt double crossed. I barely remember him now. In my mind's eye, I see him in his coveralls with the soiled BVDs underneath. You must know his son is Monsignor Delahanty...St. Angela's?"

"I'm afraid I don't...know this Monsignor," Dr. Morgan replied.

"He may be angry at what Van Helm and Apton did to his farm. He would be enraged that his horse farm was chopped up and turned into all those homes. He never would agree to anything Van Helm or Apton proposed,"John contined.

"And Carl? Sharpe is it?"

"Yes. Sharpe was not a very honest man, a former senator. In fact, we weren't sure those who owned burial plots for their families in St. Gertrude's wouldn't protest his being buried here. He was a shady character...involved in some sort of misuse of public money."

Doctor Morgan saw John Morlando had some deeply embedded ideas in his head that were related to family culture and traditions.

"You say your daughter saw these ghosts in the cemetery?" Doctor Morgan asked.

"Yes. My wife Donna and I were worried about her when we saw her losing weight and not sleeping well. At first, Adrianna didn't want to tell us what she'd seen. I didn't believe it when she finally blurted it out. But then, I remember my Mama would't go out the back door when there was a new burial. Mama believe that was when a spirit was still new and most powerful."

Doctor Morgan was finding it difficult to approach John in a clinical way. He decided to change the direction of their discussion.

"John, your sister is very worried about you. I'm here to help you. Tell me...do you believe you had a very happy family when you were a child?"

"Oh, my! Yes. Papa was a good man even when he was so busy. He would still make time for us to go fishing on his friend's boat. Mama often held picnics for us when we were young. Mama always loved to cook. She sometimes made our favorites and her sweet treats for us like her struffala were what we looked forward to."

"And you never worried about ghosts back then?"

"Well, no. That's because St. Gertrude's didn't have many people buried there. Over time, it grew and, as you well know, Lina and I took over the family business after Papa and Mama were gone," John said.

"When you married your wife, did she know you were a mortician and owned a cemetery?"

"Yes. Of course. Donna...is...was..."

John's voice trailed off. His head hung low and his eyes misted over.

"You miss Donna and Adrianna a lot, don't you?"

"There are days when I visit their graves and pray for them to make my time here on earth shorter," John said.

"John, you are not an old man. You might live another twenty years or more. Do you really want to die?"

John didn't answer. His eyes were vacant and he seemed intently staring out the windows of the study. Doctor Morgan glanced in the same direction, trying to follow John's fixed gaze. He realized it must be near nine o'clock when he saw the pitch dark from the window.

"John, why are there no lights in the cemetery at night?"

"The dead must rest in peace...if they have lived peacefully. No one visits a cemetery at night. We light only the front of the mansion and Lina keeps lights on at the front of the flower shop," John replied.

Doctor Morgan felt foolish for asking. He should have realized lighting a cemetery would not be necessary. But, he also noticed St. Gertrude's in the darkness seemed unusually dark. It wasn't even possible to see some of the white marble mausoleums he knew he'd seen earlier in the evening's twilight.

"Fog will be settling in soon. This time of year, if the day is warm, the night brings fog," John said.

"John, I would like to meet with you again, if you don't mind," Doctor Morgan said.

"I would like that very much. It is comforting to have another man to talk to. I so seldom have the chance to socialize. Ghosts are not very good company, given the late hour they keep," John said, quite seriously.

Doctor Morgan was about to laugh at what seemed like John joking. But, he saw the stoic expression on John's face and realized John wasn't making a joke.

"John, I can find my way to the front door," Doctor Morgan said.

"I think I will turn in for tonight. I didn't realize how tired I am," John answered.

In the foyer, Lina handed the doctor his hat and top coat.

"Do you think my brother is losing his mind?" Lina asked.

"I need to know more from him. I asked if he would mind my returning and he agreed he would like the "company."

Doctor Morgan took his hat in one hand as Lina helped him on with his coat.  He walked toward the driveway at the side of the mansion. As he opened his car door, he saw something odd in the distance near the rise of a hill.

Probably just fog, he thought.

The fog moved forward in a long silvery column and hovered over a section of the cemetery where several large family headstones poked up from the ground. Doctor Morgan shrugged his shoulders and hurried into his car. But, not without checking his rear view mirror.

The silvery column floated closer to the mansion. Doctor Morgan drove off. When he arrived at his home, he headed for his study and poured himself a drink.

Steady old man. It was only fog. Just fog. 

The next morning, as he ate his usual breakfast of whole wheat toast, a soft boiled egg and hot coffee, he laughed to himself that John Morlando's ghost tales had begun to have an effect.

He visited John on three more occasions. But, he made sure to do so only during daylight hours. He suggested to Lina that John have a full medical exam at the hospital. His visits with John showed no serious mental break down. Still, John insisted he had seen ghosts in various areas of the cemetery no matter how Doctor Morgan chose to rationalize it.

Several months after Doctor Morgan visited the Morlando mansion, Lina phoned him.

"Doctor, John is not well. He said last night he saw several ghosts near the mansion. I know you found nothing wrong with his mind, but he is beginning to obsess over this."

"Lina, John believes he sees things that cannot be possible. Dead is dead. They don't come back. I don't understand how John ever prepares bodies for burial and doesn't know this."

"The more he ages, the more he seems to cling to old beliefs of my mother and father about unrested spirits. He claims some of the dead buried in St. Gertrude's are doomed to roam the earth after death because they owe a debt for their wrongdoing."

"And what do you believe Lina?"

"At this moment, I just want my brother to be back to his normal, happy self."

"I don't think that's possible because he needs the will to move past the death of his wife and daughter."

"But Doctor, he's not taking care of himself. He barely eats and I've seen the light in his room at late hours of the night. So, I know he is afraid to fall asleep."

"He tells me he is tired with each visit we've had. There may be something clinical to that and his lack of sufficient nutrition. He also needs to be shown that his "ghosts" are not going to harm him."

"How do I do that Doctor? I can't take him out to the burial plots at night to prove him wrong . I know he won't go."

"Why not take him out to dinner or the theater instead and when you return, he will see for himself he is imagining these visions

Lina decided that was probably all she could do to help her brother out of his misery. At first, John rejected her offer until she told him she'd already made reservations at the new Italian Ristorante that had just moved into town the previous year.

"We haven't tried their menu yet. Let's have dinner and see a movie afterward," Lina told John.

"I don't mind the restaurant. But, I'm not up to seeing a movie. Anyway, what movie did you plan to see?"

"I thought you'd enjoy "Seven Summers in Puglia." It's a travel movie with lots of scenery. You need some diversion."

John reluctantly agreed.

Lina decided to do the driving on a late summer evening in August. The day had been quite hot and humid. But, by evening, the temperature dropped and there was a cool breeze to be had and fog settling in in the low lying areas.

John seemed to enjoy the restaurant and especially the food.

"This calamari reminds me of the way Mama cooked it," John said.

"Yes. Mama was an excellent cook. Wasn't she? What was your favorite of her recipes?"

"Well, let me see. There were several. I'd have to say it was her manicotti. Remember how she always put tiny bits of pancetta in the ricotta?"

"You know? I'd almost forgotten that. With the business and all, I don't get to do much cooking anymore. It's a good thing we have Teresa to come in and cook for us. John, do you think maybe you'd like to take a trip to Mama and Papa's childhood homes in the old country?" Lina asked.

John didn't answer. There was that vacant look in his eyes again.

"John? Did you hear my question?"

"I..uh..Yes. No. I...don't think I want to fly to Italy. That country is so distant in my memory. I remember when Mama and Papa took us to their village to visit our grandparents. It was like another whole world to me,"John said.

After dessert, Lina decided to overrule John and drive them to the newly built theater at the north end of Aptonia.

"Lina, I'm tired. Can we go home?"

"John, you need some real relaxation. You never leave the house anymore. A travel movie is just the thing to transport you from all of the things that cause you stress," Lina said.

She nearly had to yank John by the arm to get him into the theater. The movie ended around nine o'clock. John actually did seem interested in the film. He remained silent throughout. By the time they reached the drive of Morlando mansion, John had that vacant stare again.

Just as the two opened the car doors to the parked car, John screamed.

"John, what on earth is it?"

"Lina, look toward the hill in St. Gertrude's. Tell me what you see."

Lina followed where John was pointing. She saw silvery columns in varying sizes.

"It's just fog from the heat of the day, John," Lina assured him.

"No. It isn't. It's those children who died so young. They are searching for their families and homes," John said.

Lina had to admit fog in columns did seem strange.

"John,, I'll prove it's just fog.I'll go out there and you'll see. It's just heavy air settling over the cool ground."

"No! Lina! Don't go out there."

But, it was too late. Lina started walking directly toward the silvery columns. When she approached the smallest one, she turned toward John and then put her hand through it. She fell to the ground with such force, while the taller silvery columns gathered around her.

Lina lay motionless for quite some time.

John made the sign of the cross. His hands were shaking and his whole body felt as heavy as a marble gravestone.

"I told her not to go out there. I warned her. Why didn't she listen to me?"

John hurried into the mansion to call an ambulance. He didn't dare go near her body. He wasn't sure if she was alive or dead.

He dropped the phone in his hand when he heard footsteps near the door to the study. He saw a figure coming toward him.

"Oh my God! Lina, what happened to you?"

Lina's clothes were sopping wet and she had scratches on her face and arms as if she'd been mauled. But, her hair was as glowed white as snow!

"I don't exactly remember. I must have tripped and fell over a gravestone," Lina said.

"No. Lina...your hair..."

"My hair? What's wrong with it?"

"Look in the mirror."

Lina walked out into the hall where there was a full length mirror hanging on the wall. She saw what John meant. Her normally carefully dyed brown hair was a shimmery silver.

Lina was not as willing to believe spirits from the other world were haunting St. Gertrude's Cemetery. Yet, it was true her hair had somehow changed in color and her clothes were still wet.

"Lina, when you walked into the silver column, what did you see?"  John asked.

"I...I can't remember seeing anything. It was as if all of the air was sucked out of my lungs. I felt as if I was pushed really hard to the ground. After that, I must have passed out," Lina said.

"I warned you not to go out there. I told you over and over there are unrested souls still roaming over the graves," John said.

Lina didn't respond. She knew there was something else going on. It just wasn't possible for the dead to rise. Lina had always been the one in the Morlando family to solve mysteries. She was the one whose determination that everything had an answer always led to closure on family issues.

Now, it appeared she had to discover the truth about what Adrianna thought she saw and what John believed he saw at night over those graves.

"John, those silver columns...which graves were they hovering over?"

"Sometimes, it is over the grave of Carl Sharpe. Other times, over the graves of Buck and Ida Delahanty. Why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering. You said earlier you thought they were the children who died so young. Why?"

"The silvery columns were at a distance and looked smaller until you walked out there. I could see they were much larger. Lina, let me take you to Dr. Morgan in the morning to make sure you were not harmed by those ghosts."

"I have an appointment with Dr. Morgan this week, John. No need. I'm fine. I'm just getting on in years. I probably tripped out in the cemetery and fainted."

John felt sure Lina was denying what he was so certain were ghosts. She avoided mention of her hair.

Lina did see Dr. Morgan at the end of that week. She told him about the episode.

"Surely, you are not also believing ghosts attacked you?" Dr. Morgan asked.

"No. Dr. Morgan, I have to be honest. At first, when I saw the silver columns I was sure it was just fog from the heat of the day. But, when I tried to show John that's all it was, I walked directly into one of them and I can't remember much of anything until John found me lying on the ground," Lina said.

"There's a perfectly good explanation for that. I'm going to take a blood sample and check your blood pressure. You may have high blood pressure or the beginning of heart disease. You will need to cut back on all of those rich Italian meals you serve."

"But what about my hair going silvery?"

"Often, a minor stroke will cause that," Dr. Morgan said.

Lina was not so sure she believed that.

"I must bow to your medical expertise. When will you have the test results?"

"As to your blood pressure, right now actually. I'll draw a blood sample, send it to the lab and I'll call you as soon as the lab has analyzed it."

Lina felt reassured that she wasn't also seeing "ghosts."

"Dr. Morgan, I realize I am getting older. But, it isn't me I'm worried about. John will be seventy in a few years. I want him to enjoy his life. I spend more time at Morlando mansion than my own home lately. I'm fortunate I have an understanding husband. Antony and my children are worried about John too. He's lost a lot of weight and seems not to have any motivation toward taking care of himself. If I didn't make his meals, he would be emaciated by now. Is there anything I can do?"

"We both know your brother has no outside interests. Is there anything he was ever interested in before Donna and Adrianna died?

"He liked to go fishing...deep sea fishing. But, Donna went along with him after our Papa passed on. She was wonderful that way. I'm afraid I am too deep into our family business to be much of a companion to my Antony," Lina said.

"Lina, you must not distance yourself from your own family for John's sake. If John is relying on you solely to run the family business for him and tend to his personal needs, he will never be independent and you may find it too late to be a companion to Antony. Antony is not getting any younger either."

"My Gina is married now. In fact, our granddaughter, Gina Marie is graduating college next spring. Antony Jr. helps out in the business just as his uncle, John, did when our father as still living," Lina said.

"Why not suggest that Antony and John go deep sea fishing for a whole weekend?"

"You know? I never gave that a thought. They do get on so well. Antony always loved fishing. Thank you for that Doctor. Our son is a very sensitive young man. I am so proud that he is so into our religion."

"Is he thinking of a vocation?"

"Oh my! No. I ..don't think so. He just likes to help out at the church and Father fairly dotes on him. He's kept him busy and out of trouble. You know how young men are with peer pressure," Lina answered.

"Does your son have a lot of friends and socialize with them a lot?"

"No more than any other young men of his age."

"Speaking of pressure...your blood pressure is 150 over 80. I'm going to prescribe medication. High blood pressure can cause fainting," Dr. Morgan said.

"Well, at least I know I wasn't attacked by ghosts!" Lina laughed.

Lina left Dr. Morgan's office feeling buoyed by the fact that there was an explanation for that episode earlier in the week. Still, she had this gnawing feeling she must get to the bottom of those "spirits" in St. Gertrude's cemetery or her brother's health would continue to fail.

Before she returned home, she stopped at the Aptonia library. She lived all of her life in Aptonia, but realized there was much she didn't know about its history and a lot she had forgotten as told to her by her parents.

The Aptonia library was smaller than it should be for such a growing community. It was no surprise that the librarian was none other than a relative of Albert Dyson, Georgianna Dyson. Lina recognized the name on the nameplate immediately.

"You're a Dyson? One of THE Dysons?"

"Why yes. How do you know our family name. I don't believe I've seen you in here before," Georgianna said.

"I'm Lina Morlando Bucafuso. Maybe, you know my children? Antony and Gina? Or my grandaughter Gina Marie?"

"A Morlando? Here in this library? That's something! Sure I know your family. You own the cemetery and flower and monument shop."

"Yes. That is I...er...we do."

"Of course, I am a fourth generation Dyson. Now that you mention it, I believe Gina Marie was in my junior high classes. How is she?"

"She's about to graduate college," Lina said.

"I'm looking for some historical information about the early families of Aptonia...yours included," Lina said.

"Well, we do have a library section full of family Bibles. Those are often more helpful than historical files from the town. They are located over in that last aisle. Do you need my help?"

"I think for now I'll just browse."

"Was there any family you wanted to know about especially?"

"Not really. I'm just interested to see if there are many more Aptonia residents like you who come from the oldest families."

"You might want to seek help from Dora Apton. She's the president of the Aptonia Historical Society."

"How can I contact her?"

"She sitting right over there at that library desk. She comes into the library nearly every day to curate historical artifacts older families bring to the museum."

Lina didn't even realize there was an Aptonia museum.

"Where is the museum located?" Lina asked.

"It's in the Oakwood Presbyterian Church annex. The church donated it to the Historical Society."

"Oh, I see. Who is the minister in charge at Oakwood church?" Lina asked.

"The Reverend Albert van Helm, of course. His grandfather who donated part of the van Helm estate to build that church."

Lina knew the name, "van Helm." As a child, she recalled her father speaking negatively about a man named van Helm. She couldn't remember the specifics about van Helm except vaguely his involvement with real estate.

She spent more than an hour reading family Bibles. She felt as if she was turning back time. She'd forgotten about the polio epidemic of the 1940s. It reminded her of her mother's insistence she and John get a "vaccination" when a nurse went house to house administering it.

A flood of older family names came rushing back like the founder, Charles Apton III, Sam Brown, whose wife Martha committed suicide, the young Krieg boy who drowned and Buck and Ida Delahanty.

All of these with the exception of Martha Brown were buried in St. Gertrude's Cemetery. The Browns were not Catholics and were buried at the Oakwood cemetery across town. The van Helm family Bible showed that the land belonging to that family was founded as a non-Catholic cemetery.

Lina wondered if Oakwood had ghosts like John believed of St. Gertrude's. In almost all of the family Bibles there were at least two or more generations of family members listed with their births and deaths. She felt as if she was spinning wheels looking for evidence to prove to her brother those ghosts were not real.

She went back to the reference librarian, Georgianna Dyson and thanked her,

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Georgianna asked.

"Not exactly. It was more like a trip down memory lane."

"Maybe, Dora Apton can help?"

Dora Apton, a woman near her dotage sat with a pile of books in front of her. She was pouring over a large album. As Lina approached, she saw it wasn't a photo album, but a book of very old maps.

"Good morning, I'm Lina Morlando. The reference librarian thought you might be able to help me with some research I'm doing," Lina said.

"A Morlando? Now, that's something! I don't know whose family is older in Aptonia,, yours or mine. Why I was just a toddler when Arturo's mansion passed to Pietro," Dora said.

"Are you a daughter of Charles Apton III?" Lina asked.

"Why yes. I am sure Georgianna mentioned I'm curator of the Aptonia museum and president of the Historical Society. Are you interested in becoming a member? You would be a big asset to our group," Dora said.

Lina's face flushed. But, she also felt somewhat cornered.

"Well, I don't have much time for outside activities. I'm sure you must know how busy our monument, cemetery and flower shop are. But, I wouldn't mind being an inactive member," Lina said.

"We have a total of 85 members to date. I'll send you a membership form. Just mail it or bring on over to the museum. If I am not at the museum, you'll likely find me here," Dora said.

"Actually, I was wondering if I could see the museum and files on my family if there are any," Lina asked.

"I expect there are a lot of mention in those old files of the Morlando family. Is there anything in particular you wished to research?"

"Well, maybe the Dyson and Delahanty families too. They are buried in St. Gertrude's..." Lina started.

"I'm sure Georgianna Dyson over there can fill you in on anything you want to know about her family roots and heritage. As for the Delahantys, my only recollection of them is that Buck never wanted his property sold after he died. There was some kind of scrap between the Delahanty sons, Bob and Al, and my grandfather back in the early 1940s. Course back then, the war was the biggest issue and men who didn't serve were usually the elderly who served in the first war.

But, I'll take you over to the museum and maybe you'll find what you are looking for. You know that one of the Delahanty sons, Bob, I believe it was, was missing in action in Japan. Buck and Ida never did get over that. Some say, it hurried their deaths. But, you know how townspeople do go on."

"And the other son?"

"Al Delahanty? Or, should I say, "Archbishop Delahanty?"

"Oh my gosh, I'd almost forgotten he became a priest as soon as he left high school. I didn't realize he received a new title. He was Monsignor at St. Angela's Cathedral wasn't he?"

"Yes, that's right. In Lyton diocese. But, now he is archbishop of both Lyton and Sommerton diocese."

"Would you like to visit the museum now?"

"Yes. I think I would. Though, I must be back at the office by noon."

Lina explored the seemingly cluttered museum. An entire wall was lined with bookshelves that had books of all sizes on each shelf. There was a large  display case on the opposite wall that had an old Victorian lace collar, several antique farm implements and artifacts gathered from around Lyton County.

"Well, I do hope you can find time to stop by again or attend one of our meetings. Is there anything special you'd like me to show you?"

"No, I think you may have answered several questions when we spoke at the library,."

Lina tried to collect her thoughts. Somewhere in all of the information she had from Georgianna Dyson and Dora Apton, nothing formed a picture remotely connected to the "ghosts" at St. Gertrude's.

Not only did she feel more confused than ever, she had begun to feel foolish. She decided to check in on her brother.

Lately, John was more inclined to show up at the office near noon and leave after only two hours. Fortunately, Lina's son was willing to take over for his uncle while Gina was glad to make a few extra dollars of her own at the flower shop.

Lina looked at her watch. It was only half past noon. John would be at the office. He was sitting at his desk when Lina walked in the door.

"John, oh my! Do I ever have some news to tell you. I stopped at Dr. Morgan's as I said I would. He took my blood pressure. A little high. He warned me to watch my diet. Like I wasn't expecting that to be the first words out of his mouth. Anyway, after I left his office, I stopped at the library. Did you know that the granddaughter of Albert Dyson is head librarian?"

"No. But, I'm not surprised. I'd heard some years ago, the library was a donation by the Dyson family," John said.

Lina was glad John showed a bit of interest.

"Here's more news...Dora Apton is curator of the Aptonia Museum and Historical Society. They want me to become a member. What do you think of that?" Lina asked.

Antony Jr. watched his uncle's face intently from his place behind the service counter.

"I think you have enough to do with the businesses and taking care of me. Dora Apton? She must be the daughter of old Charlie Apton,"John said.

"Well she did say she remembered Buck Delahanty. She said there was some kind of flap about his property being sold to the town. Did you know the Oakwood Presbyterian Church donated space for the Aptonia museum?" Lina asked.

"We have a museum? In Aptonia? I shudder to ask what they could possibly have of any historical value in that museum," John said.

"It's mostly bookshelves, numerous family Bibles and a large display case,"Lina said.

"What could they display?"

"From what I saw, an old Victorian lace collar. My guess is it was donated by the Apton family. Oh and there are a few farm tools, some unusual looking rocks. and a couple of old brown jugs like you see on farms."

"You went to the museum?"

"Yes. Why not?"

"I didn't think you were interested in historical things. I think I know which unusual rocks those are. There was a time in Aptonia when the town councilors believed they'd found silver in rock substrate over near the Manford farm. Or...what was the Manford Farm."

Lina didn't know John knew so much about Aptonia history.

"Why don't you join the historical society with me?" Lina asked.

"Why?"

"Well, you might like to see the museum for one thing and for another, you might be able to provide some town history younger people don't know," Lina said.

In truth, Lina would do anything to get John involved in activities.

"Antony, how about you and your father take Uncle John out for some deep sea fishing. It's supposed to be a grand weekend for it," Lina asked.

"Who will work at the office?"

"It can be closed for a half day. I'll take the half day and Ginua  can take care of business at the flower shop. There's no holiday this weekend, so it won' t be busy."

"I don't think I want..." John began.

"Oh come on Uncle. We Morlando/Bucafuso men haven't had a day at sea since Grandfather passed on. I'll set it all up," Antony Jr. said.

John agreed, albeit reluctantly. Lina was thrilled that John agreed to his nephew's request. Could it be a sign John was finally emerging from a bad patch?

It was definitely time. Donna and Adrianna's accident had taken a lot out of John, but that was ten years ago. Since then, Lina watched him isolate himself and dwell on things he only imagined were true.

Lina asked her son to see to John's fishing gear. She packed a huge hamper full of fried chicken, sandwiches and a large cooler full of iced tea.

She remembered her father had said wine and beer were not allowed on the fishing boats. So, her men would have to make do with iced tea. She filled the hamper with cupcakes. Although, she knew John was not much into sweets and desserts. Her husband and son would be, she was sure.

While the men were away, Lina took time to review all she learned about the history of Aptonia from Dora Apton. There was something crawling around in the back of her mind that seemed to be forming a picture. It had to do with the Delahanty sons. One was missing in action. The other was an Archbishop.

Try as she might though, other pieces just didn't fit. Yet, there it was. Stuck in her mind. She decided to invite Archbishop Delahanty to dinner while the men were away. She asked her daughter, Gina, and granddaughter, Gina Marie to help plan the dinner.

His Reverence was thrilled to accept the dinner invitation to Morlando mansion. Lina thought it best to have dinner served there since there was a formal dining room and much larger kitchen. She and the girls prepared a sumptuous meal.

Gina lit the candles on the dining room table candelabra as the Archbishop rang the doorbell.

Lina wasn't sure what information she hoped to gather from the Archbishop's visit. She just knew there was something more to those "ghosts" John thought he saw.

"Mrs. Bucafuso...."

"Oh please your reverence, do call me Lina," she said.

"Why thank you...Lina." he responded.

"I was about to say that Morlando mansion is quite spacious. I never realized how big it is. Your brother, John, he runs the business from the office across the drive?"

"Yes. I run the flower show and monument business across the road," Lina answered.

"Will your family take over when you and John retire?"

"My son already does quite a bit of business and my Gina, here, she helps out in the flower shop."

Gina focused intently on the Archbishop's expressions. There was something about them that unnerved her. She made a mental note to mention it to her mother.

"Do all of you live here in the mansion?"

"Oh no. My home is across the street on Duchess Road. Gina and her husband, Dennis Fortunado's home is just a block away on Hartley Avenue. It's very convenient for all of us."

"I see you have some staffing here in the mansion...a cook? Anyone else?"

"Yes. We have a cleaning service that comes in three times a week to do the cleaning. My brother, John, lives in the mansion by himself."

Gina didn't miss the sly but passing gleam in the Archbishop's eye.

"Doesn't he feel the mansion is more home than he needs? Wouldn't he be more comfortable in a smaller place?"

"John believes our father would not have wanted the mansion sold. Anyway, who would we sell it to with the cemetery just outside the windows?" Lina asked.

"Well, I'm sure it could be sold to a business of some kind. With so much space in the mansion, it might even serve as a rest home."

"Oh my heavens! No. Your Reverence, this mansion is nearly one hundred years old. We've had it declared a historic site by the state. So, you see, there could be no renovations or remodeling. No...the mansion will have to remain as you see it forever."

"Forever is a long time and history is often overlapped by modernity," the Archbishop said.

Lina got the answer to a question about the Monsignor she was hoping for. So, His Grace was an opportunist, was he?"

Lina decided to change the subject.

"Your Reverence, has there never been any word about your brother?"

The Archbishop's face looked shocked.

"My brother Bob? Why do you ask?"

"I was speaking to the Aptonia Museum curator over at the library. She told me your brother was missing in action. I just wondered if he had ever been recovered."

"In those times, we just accepted that a soldier missing in action was likely dead. At least, that's what my family felt most comfortable believing. Mother and Dad were never the same after Bob went missing."

"That's to be expected. My brother has never been the same since his wife and daughter's accident ten years ago." Lina said.

"I believe I recall reading about that tragedy. I was in Rome at the time having a meeting with a Cardinal and hoping for a papal audience."

"Did you manage that?" Lina asked.

"Yes. I did. I fell on my knees in prayer after the audience. I was so thankful for the Cardinal's help."

"Your diocese is quite large now. Is that a result of your papal audience?"

Lina knew the question appeared lacking in knowledge. But, she was trying to form a picture of who Al Delahanty really is.

"No. That was actually the bequest of my predecessor, the late Archbishop Ryan. When he died, He left instructions that I should succeed him."

After dinner and dessert was served, Lina, her daughter and granddaughter, gave the Archbishop a tour of the mansion's first floor conservatory, library and John's study. Gina noticed the he was quite taken with the books in the library.

"Has anyone ever read all of these books?" he asked.

"My father claimed to have read them all. My brother has probably read most of them. Now and again, we all come in to this library to borrow a book for some night time reading."

"My grandmother, rest her soul, loved books about the old country. So there are some of those on these shelves," Gina said.

From their vantage point in the library, Lina could see it was getting dark outside. She glanced at her watch.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to linger so long after dinner," the Archbishop said.

"No problem, your Reverence. We aren't afraid of ghosts," Lina said, quite purposefully.

"That's one thing Catholics don't need to be worried about," he answered.

"Really? How so?" Lina asked.

"Catholics have an immortal soul, not an immortal body," he answered.

"Pardon my lack of understanding your Reverence, but if a soul is immortal, doesn't that mean it "never dies," Gina asked.

Gina and her mother exchanged knowing glances. Gina realized now why her mother invited the Archbishop to dinner. She sensed her mother suspected John Morlando's ghosts were more human created than spirit immortals.

"Yes. That's it absolutely."

"If our souls are immortal, do we have power after death?"

"Ah...I see what you are getting at. You want to know if an immortal soul can return to take care of unfinished business...like a ghost?"

"Well, maybe not a ghost, so much as some kind of specter. Isn't that what the Holy Spirit is supposed to be? A spirit with powerful influence?" Gina asked.

"The Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity. Each part of the Trinity is equal to the other and only has power over those who believe," he said.

Gina sensed a religious dodge by the Archbishop. Gina glanced toward her mother and Gina Marie. The Morlando women always seemed to have a strange telepathic communication using only their eyes and facial expressions.

"I want to express my appreciation for your dinner invitation Lina and to your daughter and granddaughter for such a pleasant evening," the Archbishop said.

After they escorted  him to the front door, the car Lina surmised brought their dinner guest to Morlando Mansion was waiting in the drive for him. She didn't recognize the uniformed driver.

"I see you have your own driver," Lina said.

"He's a parishioner and my only earthly indulgence," Archbishop Delahanty said, as the driver held the door for him.

The three women waved as the car pulled down the drive.

"Mother! Look! Over there! Do you see it?" Gina asked.

"Yes. I see it. I've seen it before. That's what your Uncle John believes is a ghost."

"Grandmother! It's moving toward us," Gina Marie said, her voice trembling.

"Let's go inside. It's not a ghost. St. Gertrude's has always had strange looking formations over the graves."

The three women decided to relax and sat in the large, elegantly appointed living room. Lina curled her tired feet under her. Gina and Gina Marie, sat in two arm chairs.

"This house seems so empty now that Donna and Adrianna are gone," Gina Marie said.

"Mother. Those "formations"...What do you really think they are?"

"I  believe it is some type of gaseous cloud caused by newly buried bodies in the earth," Lina said.

Lina knew her explanation sounded hollow.

"I don't know about you girls, but I am so deadly tired. Let's head back. I am ready for bed. I wonder how the men are doing with their fishing weekend," Lina said.

"I am sure they are having a great time," Gina said.

"You can be sure our kitchens will reek of fish for the next while," Gina Marie said laughingly.

The three women took the trouble to secure Morlando Mansion and drove away, Lina in her car and Gina in hers.

"Mother, did you believe what Grandmother said about what we saw out in St. Gertrude's?" Gina Marie asked as they arrived home.

"No. And I don't think your grandmother does either. She invited the Archbishop to dinner while the men were away for a reason. I believe your grandmother is sleuthing or something to end this crazy idea of Uncle John's that he is seeing ghosts," Gina said.

"But, why the Archbishop?"

"Not sure. Like you, Your grandmother always catches me off guard. She can be so very quiet, reserved and placid for a long time and then gets a bee in her bonnet and she's off on some wild goose chase."

"Do you think she will get to the bottom of those ghosts?"

"I am sure she will. She can be quite persistent. And we all love Uncle John and want him to be happy. He's not getting any younger."

Gina Bucafuso's words may have been prophetic. Gina and her mother both became worried when Sunday evening twilight still brought no word from the three men. By ten o'clock that evening, Lina decided to call the police. Just as she picked up the phone, she heard Antony's voice.

"Antony, my God! We've been so worried..."

Lina noticed immediately John Morlando was not with Antony or her son.

"Where is John?" she asked.

"Lina, there was an accident..."

"Accident? Is John hurt badly?"

"I'm so sorry, my love. John is dead."

"Dead!"

"Yes. We were all on the fishing boat as it was pulling into the dock. Antony and I noticed John was missing. We thought maybe he'd gone to the bathroom below deck. He wasn't there. We hurried to tell the boat's captain. Everyone on board searched the boat. He was no where to be found," Antony Sr. said.

Lina felt as if the room was spinning. She grabbed for the nearest chair rail to steady herself.

"Sit down, my dear. I know this is a shock,"

"But...how...How did it happen? Did he fall overboard?"

"We are not certain. But, that's how it appears."

"Did John seem despondent to you aboard the boat?" Lina asked.

"No. In fact, Antony Jr. and I noticed he seemed to be having a good time. We ate the food you packed and he even joked about having caught the most fish," Antony said.

"Did they find his body?"

"No. Not yet. I am sure in bay waters, it will be found. They are still searching."

The phone rang and it was Gina. Antony gave her what little information on John Morlando he had. Gina's face went white.

"Mother? What is it?" Gina Marie asked.

"Uncle John..He's...dead."

"What??"

"Let me sit down. I can't seem to get a grip on this yet. Your Papa said he thinks Uncle John fell overboard."

In the days that followed, preparations for John Morlando's funeral kept Lina and her family too busy to dwell on the circumstances of his death. When Lina received a phone call from Archbishop Delahanty, he asked if the family wanted John's funeral services to be held at St. Angela's Cathedral at a High Mass.

Lina said she would discuss it with "family." In truth, John Morlando had never been much more than a "Sunday Catholic" and Lina and Antony Sr. were not sure John would have approved of all the fuss the Archbishop seemed to want for John's funeral.

"Lina, you know it could become a circus of every politician and throngs of publicity seekers. Do you think that's what John would want?" Antony Sr. asked.

"I think you are right, dear. My brother was a very private man all his life. All he really wanted was Donna and Adriana. Antony... I must ask. Do you believe John's death was an accident?"

"What else could it be? He seemed in such good spirits that day."

"Yes. But, do you think it was...you know...suicide?"

"Lina! Don't even breathe that aloud. The papers would have a field day with that kind of scandal. And, if Archbishop Delahanty thought it was suicide, he would never allow a High Mass in a Cathedral. You know what Catholics think about suicide."

Lina knew Antony was right.

"Don't tell Gina or our son I even asked the question," Lina said.

John Morlando's funeral service was held at the church where he and Donna were married and where Adrianna was baptized. Lina knew the Archbishop  was not pleased with their decision. She had cheated him of a chance to exploit John's death for publicity purposes.

It took nearly three weeks for Lina and Antony Bucafuso to decide what should be done with Morlando Mansion now that John had passed. And still, they had not really come to a decision.

"Lina, I'll put this to you and see if you agree," Antony said.

"I'm open to any suggestions."

"Gina Marie will be getting married in the near future. We know that. I think we should keep Morlando Mansion in the family. I realize it will mean helping Gina Marie and her future husband with upkeep. But at least, it is what John and your papa would have wanted. Do you agree?"

Lina never considered it, although, she hoped there would be a way to keep Morlando Mansion in the family.

"But, what will Antony Jr. think if we do that?"

"Lina, I know our Antony has been a big help with the family business. But, while he and I were away fishing, our son admitted something I don't think you or I considered."

"And what is that?"

"Antony Jr. plans to become a priest!"

"What! Are you sure you understood him correctly?"

"As certain as I can be. In fact, he plans to enter the seminary in spring. I think we should be happy for him and feel we are blessed."

"I'd feel more blessed if he found a wife."

"Gina Marie will find a husband, have children and life for all of us will begin all over again."

When Antony Jr. completed his studies at seminary, Lina and Antony attended the rite of Holy Orders that formally pronounced their son a priest. Gina refused to attend. She felt her brother was abandoning his family. Nothing Lina could say would dissuade her daughter or her granddaughter.

"Lina, she'll come around  one day when she has a young son of her own."

"Hold onto your hat, husband dear, your granddaughter is dating Richard van Helm III."

"van Helm? Of the real estate van Helm family?"

"One and the same or should I say, a third generation van Helm?"

"I am sure all those old Aptonia disagreements with the van Helms are long forgotten."

"And if Gina Marie married van Helm, do you still want a van Helm owning Morlando Mansion?"

"We agreed Morlando Mansion would remain in the family, even if Gina Marie marries. Besides, her future husband might  not even want to live there."

"Then, the mansion remains empty? Antony...What are we going to do?"

"Well dear, What about this? We could rent our home and move into the mansion."

"But, what about the flower business right next door?"

"I don't see a problem with that. It isn't any obstacle to a renter. And, they'd know before they decide to rent that the business is there."

"I think we should invite Gina Marie and her new beau to dinner, Antony. We need to get some perspective on who he is. He may not be at all like his grandfather or father," Lina said.

"Good idea. After all, as her grandfather I would naturally be curious about who she has in mind for a husband."

The Bucafuso home, though large, was not nearly as large as Morlando Mansion. Gina Marie sensed "something was in the air" with her grandparents invitation to dinner with Richard van Helm III.

Gina and her husband, Dennis, Gina Marie and Richard van Helm arrived at the Bucafuso home in time for pre-dinner cocktails. Antony loved to show his drink mixing skills. Lina was in her element in the kitchen preparing another of her famous four course meals.

"Mama, can we help?" Gina asked.

"You can start the antipasto. All of the ingredients are ready to be put onto that antique platter. Gina Marie, the salad if you would. I must be getting old. I can't seem to get dinners organized as I used to," Lina said.

"Mama, you should have let us know you needed help sooner," Gina said.

"I suppose I should. But, with Uncle John's passing, rest his soul, there are so many details now to take care of," Lina said.

When dinner was ready to be served, Lina, Gina Marie and Gina all took turns serving a family style dining service.

"Mrs. Bucafuso, this all looks so heavenly!" Richard van Helm said.

Gina Marie blushed.

"Did you prepare all of this yourself?" he added.

"My daughter and granddaughter helped."

The table was quiet for a few minutes while the guests enjoyed their meal. Then, Antony mentioned that he and Lina were considering moving back into Morlando Mansion.

"Mama! When did you decide this? What will you do with this house you now live in?"

"Your Papa thinks we should rent it."

"Who would you rent it to? We've always kept Morlando and Bucafuso property in family hands," Gina said.

"Well, we were hoping for someone in the family would rent it," Lina said, with a grin.

"Grandmother, are you suggesting what I think?" Gina Marie asked.

"Well? Do you and Richard have any news for us?" Gina asked.

Gina Marie looked at Richard furtively. He reached for her hand. Then, he stood up at his place at the table.

"Since all of the most important people in Gina Marie's life are all together at this table, I want to ask her parents' permission for their daughter's hand in marriage," Richard said.

"But, Richard. We are an old Aptonia family and we know so little about you," Lina said.

"Well, there really isn't much to tell. I've always wanted to own my own business. Just not real estate. It's too complex now that Aptonia is no longer the small town I grew up in. I am looking at a small shop over on Main Avenue," Richard said.

"What kind of business would you do there?" Antony asked.

"I'm thinking I'd like to sell life insurance. I took some courses in college. I think I could manage that."

Dennis glanced at his wife. His dark eyebrows arched heavily over his dark eyes.

"What about Gina Marie, we spent a small fortune for her college education," Dennis said.

"Mama, I studied floral design. I could take a job in a big city," Gina Marie said, weakly.

"Is that what you want?" Gina asked.

"Unless Grandmother wants to sell her flower business, yes. I think it is what I want."

"Sell? Right now, I would be thrilled to "give" it to you. I am so underwater with the business of St. Gertrude's. It wouldn't surprise me if any day soon we are forced to build those new fangled above ground communal mausoleums. Gina Marie, are you seriously considering marrying Richard?"

"Oh Grandmother, I have NEVER been more serious. I love Richard. He's kind, considerate and intelligent. Like my Papa," Gina Marie said.

Dennis blushed with pride and Gina grinned.

"Well then, Richard, I have a proposition to make to you. How would you like to rent this home? That would allow Lina and I to move into Morlando Mansion to be near to the office" Antony asked.

Richard pulled a small black velvet ring box out of his pocket. Got down one knee and said,
"Gina Marie Fortunado, will be do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

Gina Marie smile broadly and said, "Yes, Richard van Helm, I will."

Then, he slipped a beautiful diamond engagement ring on her finger.

"Oh my! Wedding plans are afoot!" Gina said.

"I propose a toast to the newest future member of our family," Dennis Fortunado said.

Everyone stood up, raised their glasses at the seated couple and toasted them with good luck.

"Mr. Bucafuso, about this house...I wouldn't mention it too publicly you are planning to rent it," Richard said.

"Why is that Richard? We are hoping you will want to rent it. I assure you we can make the rental fee attractive," Antony said.

"It isn't that. I think I should tell you now that I'm to be a family member, that the diocese has had its eye on the flower business AND this house for church property," Richard said.

"How do you know this?" Dennis asked.

"My father met with  Archbishop Delahanty recently. As I walked past the library, I heard them discussing the possibility of Morlando's donating the property," Richard said.

"Donating!!! Where did the Archbishop ever get that idea?" Antony asked.

"Ladies, let's clear the table while the men take their drinks into the great room," Lina said.

Lina, Gina Marie and Gina cleared the table and tended to their kitchen duties.

"Gina Marie, did  Richard tell you about that idea of the Archbishop's?" Lina asked.

"No Grandmother. This was the first time I heard of it," Gina Marie said.

"Gina Marie, your grandparents were hoping to rent this home to you and a future husband. Now, it looks as if that's going to be a necessity. I don't trust the Archbishop," Gina said, making the sign of the cross to ward off bad luck.

"I have a better plan. Gina Marie, we will give you this home as a wedding present. Your grandfather and I can afford it. And, as you can see, it would prevent family property from getting into the wrong hands," Lina said.

"Grandmother that's a very generous offer, but I feel I owe you something in return. How would you and Mama feel about my using my floral designs in the flower shop?"

Lina Bucafuso and Gina Fortunado looked at each other and shook their heads in amazement.

"You should discuss this first with Richard. He may have other ideas," Gina said.

"Oh Mama! Richard loves me. I'm much rather he managed the flower shop for you where we could work together. Besides, he doesn't have any experience as an insurance agent and he could still sell insurance AND help out with the flower shop. I know I can convince him."

Gina Marie needed no convincing. She was as determined to resolve issues as her grandmother had always been.

Richard van Helm III, Antony Bucafuso and Dennis Fortunado spent the evening discussing the Archbishop's plans for the Bucafuso home and flower shop. The men were adamant Morlando properties, all of them must be protected.

The evening ended with the ladies joining the men and laughing that they had all come to the same conclusion: Richard and Gina Marie would receive the Bucafuso home as a wedding gift, sealing any possibility the Archbishop might have had of trying to wrest it from the Morlando family.

All agreed secrecy was required until "after" Richard and Gina Marie's wedding was over. Lina and Antony prepared their move to the mansion across the road, while Gina and Dennis did the same for the Duchess Road home their daughter and new husband would call home and Gina's parents home.

Lina, her daughter and granddaughter spent a few weeks packing their belongings and the men in their family did most of the hauling from one home to the other.

"It's just a matter of taking from one home and furnishing it in another," Lina said, as the hungry family, tired and exhausted decided to have dinner at the Italian Restaurant in town.

Lina heard the groans from her family in perfect unison.

"Just think, Mama, Father Antony is missing all of the back aches," Gina said.

"Oh Mom, Father Antony wouldn't have back aches from kneeling and praying all day," Gina Marie joked.

At Morlando mansion, Lina and Antony chose her parents' bedroom that faced St. Gertrude's rather than John and Donna's bedroom which faced the Morlando Mausoleum.

"Lina, you are not superstitious about John and Donna's bedroom are you?" Antony asked.

"Let's just say I want no "restless ghosts" interrupting our sleep," Lina said, laughingly.

Antony decided to remodel John and Donna's bedroom into his own private study on the second floor.

"I don't see why you need a second floor study when there is a large one on the first floor," Lina said.

"This one is smaller. And, I don't like the French doors or that curved window seat that faces the cemetery," Antony said.

"Now who's being superstitious," Lina asked, grinning widely.

When Gina Marie and Richard returned from their honeymoon, they were surprised to see how much work her parents had put into updating her grandparents former home before the three homes were occupied and occupants comfortably settled in.

The van Helms decided one summer evening in July to visit with Lina and Antony and thank them for their generous wedding gift. Gina Marie wasn't confident enough in her cooking skills to invite her parents and grandparents to dinner just yet. She planned to take her parents out to dinner to thank them for their help with their new home.

Gina Marie and Richard pulled into the Morlando Mansion drive and rang the front door bell.

"This is the first time I've ever been inside this place," Richard said.

"I used to play croquet in the front yard with my uncle, Antony."

"Not the back yard?"

"No. The ground back there is always so mushy and damp. Mama was afraid of a sink hole."

"Are you sure it wasn't because St. Gertrude's is just beyond the back yard?"

"Grand Uncle John had a real thing about ghosts he thought he saw out there," Gina Marie said.

"And what did you think?"

"I just thought he spent too much time as a funeral director around the dead,."

Lina welcomed the newly married couple and ushered them into the Great room with its massive stone fireplace.

"What a wonderful fireplace!" Richard said.

"The stone came from a quarry in Italy. It took a lot of supports to the floor to ensure its weight wouldn't cause structural weakness," Antony Sr. said.

"There are three other fireplaces in the master bedroom suite, the library and dining room," Lina added.

"Do you ever use all of them?" Richard asked.

"When winters are cold and snowy or there is a rainy, damp evening. Otherwise, the house has central heating. We just rotate the heat in some rooms. Each room has a thermostat

We never needed a cooling unit because of the open space from the cemetery out there.," Lina said.

Lina provided light refreshments of Italian cookies and Antony passed around wine goblets.

"Now, to what do we owe the honor of your visit?" Lina asked.

"Well, we wanted to thank you for your wedding gift of course. I'm not as good a cook as you are, Grandmother, but we do plan to have my parents and both of you for dinner as soon as we get settled in properly," Gina Marie said.

Antony took Richard on a tour of the house. Richard asked if he could borrow books from the massive book shelves.

"So, you love to read, do you?" Antony asked.

"Yes, sir. I do."

"Lina's papa had a firm rule...If you take a book, you have to sign in the log with the book title and your name. Some of the books are quite old and valuable, as you might imagine," Antony said.

When the evening ended around ten o'clock, Gina Marie and Richard made their way to their car.

"Gina...What's that?"

"What's what, Richard?"

"Out there near that mausoleum...Do you see it?"

"Probably just fog," Gina Marie said.

"Fog doesn't move in a single column and by itself," Richard said.

"Come on. Let's go. I think you are letting your imagination get the best of you," Gina Marie said.

Lina and Antony Sr. stood on the front landing of the mansion. They were seeing the same thing Richard saw.

They looked at each other with expressions of fear.

"Antony, you saw it too?" Lina asked.

"Yes. Of course, I saw it."

Lina was remembering the time she thought she would bravely confront whatever it was her brother, John, had seen. She returned to Morlando Mansion that evening sopping wet and her hair a ghostly silvery color.

"Lina, you remember...." Antony began.

"Yes. I was just thinking about that. But, dear...there was an explanation"

"For your hair suddenly going silver?"

"Sure. You know I have my hair colored at Armando's Beauty Salon here in Aptonia. My doctor said that it was possible that particular evening the heavy fog was more water with some type of chemical that made my hair color change," Lina said.

"And you believed that?"

"I don't believe whatever that is out there is a ghost. I can't allow myself to believe that. It would mean every dead person our morticians prepare for funerals and burials have the power to come back from the dead."

Antony smirked and rolled his eyes.

"Well, I can't disagree with you. But, that column of fog out there...It seems to know when to appear," Antony said.

"Yes. I've also noticed that. Right now, it is hovering over the graves of Buck and Ida Delahanty. Antony, I must admit after Gina and I had dinner with his Reverence, I could see Gina's attitude was also less than trustful of him," Lina said.

"I don't understand."

"There is some reason why John was so frequently seeing these visions. We all know now he was not imaging them. But, are they really visions?"

Antony was confused. Not that he'd ever be the man to believe in ghosts. But, his Italian heritage did endow him with a certain dubiousness about the power of the "afterlife."

He tilted his head toward Lina hoping she would explain.

"Let's go inside. To the library. We can watch these things from the French doors," Lina said.

Lina poured two glasses of wine and handed one of them to Antony.

"I think we need a stiffener for what I am about to say," Lina said.

"Oh?"

"If it's alright with you, I'd like to find out more about what happened to Bob Delahanty. There is something sticking in my mind about the way the Archbishop avoided any discussion of him when Gina and I had dinner with him that evening a few months ago," Lina said.

"I can see why a brother missing in action in a war wouldn't be something any sibling would want to discuss," Antony said.

"No. It isn't just that. He had the oddest expression when I asked him about it. Like he was in a hurry to change the subject."

"All of which tells you what, my dear?"

"It tells me I need to do some sleuthing of my own. There has to be a way to find out why St. Gertrude's is being invaded by strange columns of fog that look like ghosts....or maybe are "made" to look like ghosts.'

"Honestly, Lina, haven't we enough to do with all of the moving about going on and after Gina Marie and Richard moving into our old home?"

Antony knew his wife of nearly four decades well enough to know when she was resolute.

"And just how, my loving wife, do you propose to "sleuth" into a death almost five decades old?"

"Military records?"

"Wrong. If there is any government group that believes in secrecy, it's the military," Antony said.

"Well, there must be other men who served in the military with him who are not under any code of military secrecy," Lina said.

Antony shifted in the brown leather, high backed arm chair, as Lina leaned forward in a matching chair a few feet from his.

"I'm thinking there are still people in Aptonia who know things. There are still a few family members from the oldest families. There's Georgiana Dyson, Dora Apton and the Reverend van Helm over at the Oakwood Presbyterian Church," Lina said.

"I wouldn't go meddling with Richard's uncle at that church," Antony warned.

"Why not? I have the perfect excuse...his nephew is married to our granddaughter," Lina said.

"How fast do you think it would get around the entire van Helm family, including Richard, that you were asking crazy questions about a war hero missing in action so long ago?"

"I recall Papa saying he thought that in his day, Richard van Helm was involved in some kind of shady real estate deals. Papa wanted no part of the town cliques in those days. But, he was smart enough to make certain van Helm didn't try to get his hands on St. Gertrude's unused properties."

"What has that to do with Bob Delahanty?"

"I am not sure. That's why I need you to approve of my trying to resolve the St. Gertrude "ghost problem."

"Lina, I do wish you would not go sticking your nose into old town business. You know how that always stirs up trouble. Our family businesses are doing well. Morlando mansion is safely in family hands and so are our other family properties. If you go uncovering something that's better left dead, you just might also uncover unwanted information about the Morlando family itself."

"It's a chance I'll have to take. St. Gertrude's is getting a reputation for ghosts. We can't risk that. Already, we have families who fear visiting their relatives graves and mausoleums."

Antony did have to agree Lina did make good sense about how "else" the family business could suddenly take a turn for the worst simply by rumors of ghosts. A cemetery in decline is not a way to keep St. Gertrude's a town icon.

"So, you will give me your blessing, then?" Lina asked, glancing surreptitiously outside the French door windows. The ghost was gone.

Antony nodded.

"Time for bed. It's been a "too long" day, Lina. I know when I am beaten by your persistence," Antony said, rising from his chair.

The very next day, Lina gathered her thoughts on what her priorities should be. She wrote them down according to importance:
. Find out more about the ghostly fog
. Learn more about Bob Delahanty's death
. Figure out how it all ties to St. Gertrude's Cemetery

Lina decided not to begin with Georgiana Dyson or Dora Apton. Instead, she went out to the sites of graves in St. Gertrude's and Oakwood Cemetery. She carried a small notebook with her to jot down names of those who died in the Korean War in 1950. She was certain one of these soldiers would have families still living who might have known what happened to Bob Delahanty.

Next, she visited the state university's chemical research laboratory. She spoke with a professor and told him about the strange fog sightings in St. Gertrude's.

"I have to tell you that fog, being basically vapors usually occur when there is a combination in temperature changes and humidity. However, what you are describing sounds more like an aberration that has more to do with vapors coming from bodies buried in the soil," Professor Jack Lyons said.

"How can that be if the bodies are buried in caskets that are then buried in metal liners?" Lina asked.

"It depends on the gases already naturally occurring in the ground. What I am uncertain of is why these "columns of fog" as you call them move from one place to another. That suggests something of a bit of man made engineering," he continued.

"So, you are saying it is possible these are not ghosts at all but something someone is doing to scare people away from St. Gertrude's?"

"Well, I'm not saying that for certain. But, it is possible."

"Why don't we ever see a living, breathing human doing these things?" Lina asked.

"It's a simple matter of placing certain gaseous pellets that begin to vaporize once they enter normal air streams."

"Wouldn't there be some residue remaining?"

"No. Not if the pellets are placed beneath sod. Then, you wouldn't notice any remaining residue. Of course, there are certain chemicals, as you probably know that have the effect of making a human body appear ghostly."

"Such as?"

"Well for one thing, phosphorous. Isn't that one of the chemicals used in embalming? Check with your staff who are responsible for digging the graves."

Lina's mind immediately went to Sam. But it wasn't possible Sam was behind these visions. Sensibly, he would never risk losing a job he held for over three decades.

Lina thanked the professor and felt a huge sense of relief. Now, she knew for certain she wasn't on the wrong path. She felt impelled to resolve this issue once and for all time.

The bigger problem was going to be contacting families of soldiers who died in the same war as Bob Delahanty. Lina sensed that the Reverend van Helm would naturally have a record of deaths in his parish. She pondered over how she would get that information without making it obvious what she was looking for.

Then, it was like a bolt of lightening. She could say she was checking on a customer of the flower shop who placed an order for a funeral. Which wasn't entirely a lie, since she checked on the list of customers in the 1960s who purchased flowers for graves for holidays and anniversaries of the dead that were sent to St. Gertrude's and  Oakwood Cemetery.

From the flower shop files, she found only three customers with possible ties to Bob Delahanty. One was a cousin, Irene McKern. The other two were James Merkonson and Cara Sharpe.

She pulled carbon copies of invoices with their names, addresses and phone numbers out of an old accounting box where she'd kept them for tax purposes. Next, she checked to see if any of the three had done any type of business with the Morlandos. Only Cara Sharpe purchased flowers on a regular basis, albeit only once a year on Memorial Day.

The last Sharpe purchase was two years earlier. Lina didn't lose much time making phone calls to all three customers. She found out that James Merkonson had been in the military with Bob Delahanty.  She placed a phone call to the only number on the invoice.

The woman who answered the phone was his sister, Janelle Trelly.

"What is the purpose of your call? My brother is deceased," Janelle said.

"Well, I've been trying to dispose of obsolete business records and I found your brother's invoice. How long has he been deceased?"

"Five years. But, he moved out to California shortly after his wife died in 1968."

"I see. Well, thank you for helping me sort through these invoices. I am sorry to hear of your brother's passing."

"My brother had an old war injury that came back to haunt. He died of uremic poisoning and kidney failure."

"Oh dear. I am so sorry," Lina said.

"I do miss James. He was such a peaceful, gentle man. He never really did get over that incident during the war."

"Incident?"

"Yes. You must know how many men came back from the Korean War pretty badly shaken. James was taken prisoner as a result of another man in his troop who gave information to the enemy. That was how James and three others were captured," Janelle said.

"Was a soldier named Robert Delahanty one of those captured?"

"No! HE was the traitor who gave up his own men. Do you know him?" Janell said angrily.

"I only know his parents are buried here in St. Gertrude's."

Lina had to admit she was in shock over Janelle's statement.

When Lina and Janelle ended the phone call, Lina knew she didn't reveal that Bob Delahanty had a brother who was a high level church official. Lina figured Janelle, who lived upstate, would either know that already or she was not aware of the relationship between Archbishop Delahanty and Bob.

She decided against contacting Irene McKern, a Delahanty cousin. She was afraid it would get back to his Reverence. Not that Lina feared him or his lofty church position. She just wanted to finish her search.

It took almost a month to locate Cara Sharpe. She lived in a nursing home just over the state line. Lina knew that meant visiting the woman in person. But first, she contacted the nursing home to confirm the woman's residency there.

"I'm looking for a former customer of our flower shop here in Aptonia. I'm getting rid of our old invoice copies. Can you tell me if Cara Sharpe is still a resident there?" Lina asked.

"Why yes. Miss Sharpe is a patient here," the female voice on the phone said.

"I think she has family buried in our St. Gertrude's cemetery. I would like to spend a little time with her. Could I arrange a visit?" Lina asked.

"Well, I am sure it would do her some good. She is not always lucid. But, you can visit on the weekend. We allow visitors on Saturdays and Sundays between the hours of 1 PM and 4 PM. May I reserve an appointment for a visit with Miss Sharpe for you?"

"Yes. Please do. I have some free time this Sunday coming," Lina said.

When Lina informed Antony of what she'd learned thus far, he felt apprehensive for her safety.

"If Bob Delahanty was, as Janelle Trelly told you, a traitor. I cannot believe there would not be some very serious anger toward him," Antony offered.

"Precisely," Lina answered.

Antony shook his head with a facial expression of disbelief that his wife had become so preoccupied with Bob Delahanty.

"It isn't Bob Delahanty I care about. It's putting an end to these "ghosts" in St. Gertrude's before they put an end to our business," Lina said, matter of fact.

"What do you hope to learn from this elderly woman....Cara Sharpe?"

"I want to know why she bought flowers every year on Memorial Day," Lina said.

"She probably has a friend or relative at Oakwood Cemetery."

"Papa once told Mama he was skeptical about allowing Carl Sharpe to be buried in St. Gertrude's," Lina said.

"Why?"

"I was just a child when I overheard Papa say it was over some "land deal." But, I have a memory of Papa being not exactly pleased with Sharpe's reputation."

"Do you know what the land deal was?"

"I guess I could find out."

Antony knew she would and worried it would have some of Aptonia's "biggest names" in town worrying about what she uncovered about Carl Sharpe.

She remembered vaguely her Mama referring to Sharpe as a "crook."

She took Antony's warning not to go digging into past Aptonia scandals to heart. Still, she phoned the state hall of records to see if there was any criminal record on Sharpe. She had to fill out a two page form and get it notarized that the information she was seeking would not be used illegally. The state mailed her a response to her inquiry four days later.

As it turned out, Sharpe had been found guilty of tampering with an investigation into his use of public funds for personal projects.

Lina was perplexed. What are the ties of Carl Sharpe and Cara Sharpe to Bob Delahanty,? she wondered.

She found her answer at Laramore Nursing Home for the Aged when she visited Cara Sharpe.

She introduced herself and waited for a response. The elderly woman gazed past her as if she was not speaking.

"Good afternoon, Miss Sharpe. I'm Lina Bucafuso. Do you recall you were a customer of my flower shop?" Lina asked.

The petite, frail, silver haired woman before her with the unusually beautiful blue eyes took a few more minutes before she answered.

Lina owed this to the woman's age and memory recall.

"He always favored yellow roses and gladioli" Cara Sharpe answered.

"You had them delivered to Oakwood Cemetery, do you remember?"

"Course I do! I'm not feeble minded yet!" she answered sharply.

Lina knew she had to diffuse a potential negative attitude.

"I live in Aptonia. I'm the lady you bought the flowers from."

Cara Sharpe was indeed an astute minded elderly woman. Lina knew she would need to choose her  words carefully.

"Well? What is it you want?"

"I'm just doing a little bit of history on St. Gertrude's and our customers. Is it your father buried in St. Gertrude's?" Lina asked.

"Carl Sharpe? He was my benefactor. In those days, little girls who had been orphaned for one reason or another were often sent to live with relatives. Aunt Cara, my birth mother's sister, raised me from birth. My mother died giving me life. My father couldn't care for me and then he was killed in an accident at his job when I was just three years old. So Aunt Cara took me in. How I loved her!"

"What about your Uncle Carl?"

"He beat Aunt Cara. He was a no good bum. I used to hide under my bed whenever he would hurt her. Until I was older and then I would try to stand between them. Uncle Carl threatened to throw me out for years. I finally left at age 18 just as the Korean War was ending. That's when I met Bobby," Cara Sharpe said.

"Bobby?"

"Yes. Bobby Delahanty. Aunt Cara didn't much care for him and Uncle Carl wanted nothing to do with him. So, we ran off together."

"You have such an amazing memory," Lina said.

"Oh well, you know how it is...first love and all. No one forgets their first love," Cara said, her beautiful pale aged skin framing her deep blue eyes and a grin.

"What happened to Bobby?"

"Strangest thing. We were about to elope when we went shopping for wedding bands. Bobby saw a reflection in the jewelry store window and suddenly acted as if he'd seen a ghost."

"What did he see?"

"I have no idea. But, before I woke the next day, Bobby was gone. Disappeared. Just like that."

Lina wasn't sure about Cara's sense of time and dates. If Bob Delahanty died in the war, when did he and Cara have their romance?

"Miss Sharpe?"

"Oh please. Cara. I like you. You can call me Cara."

"Maybe, Bobby disappeared in the military?"

"No. Bobby told me he had been dishonorably discharged. Something about some kind of war problem he was blamed for."

"Did he try to contact you after that?"

"After what? After he disappeared?"

"Yes."

"I never heard from him again. Once Uncle Carl died, I moved back home with Aunt Cara. She was getting on in years and not so very healthy. I took good care of her."

Lina knew it would not be possible to get any information about Bob Delahanty's military record. Yet, something deep down inside told her she would learn what she needed to know. Lina also sensed this elderly woman before her knew nothing of her Uncle Carl's dealings with the town of Aptonia.

Cara sat with her wrinkled and veined hands in her lap gazing out the window. Lina wondered if their interview was over. She was about to take her leave when Cara began speaking again.

"Uncle Carl was right about Bobby."

Lina kept silent hoping Cara Sharpe would continue.

"Uncle Carl told me Bobby was no good. I didn't listen. Didn't want to...I was too smitten. Of course, Aunt Cara knew when he disappeared I had no choice. We took the baby to be adopted. Never got over that. I really hoped Bobby would come back home to Aptonia. I'm sure he's dead by now. Has to be. He was older than me by four years," Cara said.

Lina tried not to contain her shock.

"The child you gave up for adoption...was it a boy or a girl?"

"A baby boy. A beautiful little thing. I hoped he would have a much better home," Cara said, her eyes misting over.

"Did your uncle know about the baby?"

"Not at that time. Though I'm sure people in Aptonia talked. They always did. I'm getting sleepy. Must be time for my nap. Been a nice visit. Will you come see me again?" Cara asked.

"Why certainly."

Lina couldn't wait to get home to tell Antony what she learned.

"Well, no one can say you are not persistent.  I don't recall anyone mentioning anything about Cara Sharpe being pregnant or that she and Bob Delahanty were ever a couple. Do you?"

"No. But then again, we were so busy with the businesses. We had no time for town gossip about the older folks . I wonder if anyone else knew," Lina said.

"I shouldn't go around asking if I were you," Antony said.

Lina knew he was right. It was not news and so old it might only cast a more meanspirited shadow on the Morlando name. As it was, Morlando's were viewed by many in town as "the elite."

That night, she had such trouble sleeping. She tried to piece together everything Cara Sharpe had told her that afternoon. She thought a glass of warm milk might help her sleep.

"Lina, what's the matter?" Antony asked, half asleep.

"I can't sleep. I'm going to warm a glass of milk, That always helps,"Lina said.

She walked down the stairs to the kitchen, poured a glass of milk into a sauce pan and stood over it thinking about what she knew after speaking with Cara Sharpe.

So, Bob Delahanty had possibly been dishonorably discharged from the military and had a son with Cara Sharpe? I don't see the connection to the ghosts at all. Another question is, Did Archbishop Delahanty knew about his brother and Cara Sharpe? I know all families have their family secrets. I also know how secretive men of the church can be. How does any of this tie into the ghosts over at St. Gertrude's?

Lina pondered these things as she finished her milk and tried to fall asleep. The following day was pretty busy for the family business. Three burials and at least two dozen orders for floral arrangements to be sent to two funeral homes, one in Aptonia and the other in Syndom in another county.

Lina was shocked at the floral arrangement ordered by Larimore Home for Aged. Her face went pale. It was for Cara Sharpe!

"Mama? What's wrong?" Gina asked.

"This order...It's for Cara Sharpe!"

"Do we know her?"

"Not really. I just spoke with her at Larimore on Sunday," Lina said.

"Why on earth did you go to a home for the aged, Gran?," Gina Marie asked.

"It's a long story. I'll tell you both later," Lina said.

"Mama, you don't think Gran or Grandpa are getting ready to go to a ..."Gina Marie asked in a whisper, out of the hearing range of Lina.

"No. Of course not. You know your Grandmother. She always has a bee in her bonnet. I think...."
Gina startled as Lina walked toward them and silenced their conversation.

Gina couldn't help wondering if her daughter was right. She had to know what her mother was up to. So, she decided they should have lunch together.

"Gina Marie, Can you manage for an hour?" Gina asked.

"Sure. Something wrong, Mama?"

"No. Your Grandmother and I are just going to have lunch together. We so rarely get the chance," Gina said.

Her daughter grinned. She knew her mother was worried about Grandmother Bucafuso's visit to the nursing home.

At lunch, Gina got right to the point, "Mama, what are you really up to?"

"Gina Marie wanted to know what her Gran was doing at Larimore. You aren't looking for a nursing home for you and Dad, are you,?" Gina said.

"Oh my angels and saints! Heavens no. I went there looking for answers. I'll tell you what I've learned after we finish our lunch.

The waiter brought two cups of coffee and two slices of apple pie. Gina waited for her mother to speak.

"I needed to gather information about several things," Lina said.

Gina was unable to contain her shock when Lina told her about her visit with Cara Sharpe.

"Mother! What on earth were you thinking? This is so dangerous. You know how people talk!"

"Who's to talk at a nursing home who would know anything about old Aptonia tales?"

"The staff for one. A Morlando isn't an easy name to hide. Suppose a member of the staff is a relative of someone living here in Aptonia?"

In truth, Lina never did consider that. She reasoned that such a likelihood was rare. When they returned to the Morlando flower shop, Lina decided to finish the day at the cemetery office. Her usual routine was to see that Antony had everything in order and wasn't swamped. He seemed to enjoy his second 'retirement career" as office manager.

The family business had, for the most part, run smoothly since Lina's father was owner. It was comforting to always have family fill in whenever the need arose.

For the most part, Lina and Antony loved living in Morlando mansion, despite the frequent occurrences of "ghosts" over the graves.

Gina Marie phoned her grandmother one evening a few months after Lina visited Cara Sharpe.

"Gran, I had the strangest customer in the flower shop today," Gina Marie said.

"Oh? A stranger to town?" Lina asked.

"Yes. But, a stranger who knew all too much about the Morlandos. He asked specifically about Uncle John."

"Did you get his name?"

"No, Gran. He just walked into the flower shop looked around and as he was standing near the display window at the front of the store, he looked over at St. Gertrude's and Morlando mansion."

"What did you tell him about your uncle," Lina asked.

"Only that he passed away and was buried across the street in Morlando Mausoleum."

"What did he look like?"

"That's what's so odd. He was wearing one of those old fashioned trench coats and a hat...like the one Grandpa used to wear. You know the one? It was felt fabric and had a black band around it?"

"Yes. Those are out of fashion these days. I gave your Grandfather's to the second hand store in town," Lina said.

"That hat pretty much hid his face. All I really saw was his cheekbones and chin and a bit of nose."

"Was he young or old?"

"I would say younger than Grandpa by a decade at least. But, not as young as my Papa."

"Did he buy flowers?"

"No, After I told him about Uncle John, another customer was at the counter and the stranger disappeared out the door."

When Lina told Antony about the stranger, Antony was angry.

"Lina, I told you poking around in old town business was dangerous."

Lina's mind was already far away.

"Lina! Are you listening to me?"

"Ummm..Yes. Of course."

"No. You are off again on some tangent again I fear will get you in trouble."

Lina rose rose abruptly from the library chair and headed toward the Morlando library.

"Where are you going? It's nearly time for bed," Antony said.

"I just want to get a book to read to put me to sleep," Lina answered.

But, that was not quite true. When she went to the library, she unlocked the desk her brother John had used to keep his personal journal. Their mother had taught them to always keep a personal journal so they could see where they'd advanced over the years.

Lina flipped through John's journal to the last page. John had seen the "ghost" the night before he died. Lina hadn't realized that. Next, she flipped the pages to the date when Donna and Adrianna had been killed.

Something about Cara Sharpe and Bob Delahanty seemed to be fitting together. Cara said she had a son and Bob Delahanty never knew it because he disappeared. Gina said she feared people would talk if they found out Lina was asking too many questions.

She sat at the large desk as John and her father before him had done so often in her memory. She felt a sudden pang of nostalgia for her childhood in Morlando Mansion.

Funny how I thought of this place as "home" and not a "mansion." 

She refocused her attention on John's journal. She wasn't sure what John's journal would reveal or why she suddenly had the inclination to read it. She lost track of time and rose to stretch her still youthful body, her arms outstretched over her head.

Then her gaze fell on something she thought she saw through the windows on the opposite side of the room. She made her way ever so slowly to get a better look.

Sure enough! There it was again! Silvery columns over several graves. Antony didn't believe in ghosts and always tried to explain what she was seeing, until he saw for himself those long, silvery mists in column formation.

She quickly drew the drapes over the windows and hurried up the stairs,.

"Lina? What time is it? Have you been downstairs for so very long? " Antony asked.

"Yes. I was feeling a bit nostalgic and came across John's journal."

"John's journal? I didn't realize he had one."

"We both had one. Mama always wanted us to keep a journal so we could know whether or not we were making any progress. I stopped journaling after our Gina was born. I just couldn't find the time," Lina said.

"Am I noted in your journal?"

"Only when we were still dating. You know the kind of thing silly young girls madly in love write," Lina said.

She didn't realize how sleepy she'd become and didn't even hear Antony say "Goodnight."

The next morning Lina told Antony about the ghosts she seen.

"Lina, I've told you there is probably a very good explanation. Anyway, I have to be off, I'm interviewing a new assistant this morning,"

"Do we need another employee?"

"I'm not getting any younger and I don't move fast enough for some customers. I would feel better having a younger person lend a hand," Antony said.

Lina understood. Their son, Antony, used to fill in before he was ordained. She gave he husband a hug.

"Do you have anyone particular in mind?" she asked.

"Well, there are two I sort of like. What do you think? One is a young man with very little experience in mortuary embalming. The other is slightly older but a woman who worked in embalming before," Antony replied.

"How fast do you want to hire?"

"I'm not in a real hurry, but soon would be nice."

"Then, I'd go with the woman. When you are ready to hire, there won't be any training needed. She could start when you choose and it would be a neat fit with no time lost for training," Lina said.

Antony chucked Lina's china and with a wave, hurried out to the cemetery office that was once the Morlando garage and converted to facilitate the family business.

Over the years, John added several "work" rooms onto the back of this structure. What once was Morlando farm land soon became part of the cemetery. John and Donna had no time for farming and by that time, Aptonia had a well developed business base, including a big name grocery chain store.

Antony met first with the young man. It was as Lina had predicted. He would need quite a bit of training. Antony already had two older men managing the embalming and interment procedures. He knew neither could be spared to train. That meant the training would fall to Antony who also served as "funeral director and office manager" now that John was gone.

The interview with Janette Lyons went quite well and she just seemed a better fit. Antony offered her the job.

With the family business fully staffed, Lina couldn't help but gravitate back to her hunt for answers to the St. Gertrude's ghosts. Although, the ghostly visions were not nearly as frequent as when John lived in Morlando mansion, Lina and Antony were accustomed to seeing them as often as two or three times a month. John claimed to have seen them on a nearly weekly basis.

Antony, ever the pragmatic soul, even went as far as having the soil tested where these apparitions floated. Lina was rather amused that her husband was intent on finding some scientific reason behind the ghosts of St. Gertrude's Cemetery.

More worrisome was that as plots of land for burials began to fill up, Antony had to "expand" on Morlando land to the farthest reaches. He wondered how long it would be until burial plots would be inches from the mansion.

Lina floated between helping Antony and Gina and Gina Marie and Richard.

Her worries that "ghosts" would deter customers proved wrong. In fact, quite the opposite was happening. Families of the deceased hoped they would see these apparitions and that maybe, it was a sign that the dead returned from their eternal sleep. One customer even asked "where" the ghosts were seen and if their loved one could be buried near that location "so they would be in good company."

When Lina told Antony about this over dinner one evening, Antony was incredulous.

"So now St. Gertrude's is to be a "ghostly meeting place?" Antony said.

"Apparently so. By the way, how is your new hire working out?" Lina asked as the two made their way to the library.

"Janette? She is a perfect fit. She is quite knowledgeable about Aptonia and even more importantly, quite knowledgeable about her job. Her resume indicated she worked in a hospital morgue," Antony said.

"Yes. But does she have embalming experience?" Lina asked.

"Yes. Apparently, the morgue where she worked prepared the dead with embalming chemicals in order that they should be preserved when their kinfolk claimed their bodies," Antony aid.

"Where is she from originally?" Lina asked.

"Her resume says she lives in Upper Dover Township."

"Isn't that quite a trek for her to travel to Aptonia every day?"

"She has a place in Larimore. So...not so very far from here."

The two prepared for bed as wind began to toss tree limbs around and falling leaves swirled in the darkness. Lina walked toward the window of their bedroom to close the gold damask drapes.

"Antony! Come quickly!"

"What is it?"

"See for yourself."

What Antony saw made his heart pound in his chest. Just beyond the mansion were three large, silvery columns.

"Still think there is a scientific reason for this?" Lina asked.

Antony was at a loss to explain what they both saw out in the dark of night.

"If that was some kind of climatic formation, why are there large spaces between each of them. And why are the columns varied in height from five feet to six and why isn't that wild wind making them disappear?" Lina asked.

"Lina, none of this makes any sense. All we can do is close the drapes and go to sleep. Leave the ghosts to their own merriment," Antony said.

"They are as close to the mansion as I've ever seen them," Lina said.

"You won't see them inside this mansion, of that I can assure you," Antony said.

The next morning, Lina saw from their bedroom window that Antony was out near where they'd seen the 'ghosts."

Lina told Gina, Gina Marie and Richard what they'd seen.

"I wonder if these things are seen over at Oakwood Cemetery," Richard said.

"Richard, please. Don't go ghost hunting in Oakwood. The land there has never been stable in some places, what with the lake so near," Lina said.

"Yes, I remember. I was a little boy when my father told me about the boys drowning there," Richard said.

Like Lina, Richard was now as curious about the apparitions. But, he agreed with Antony that there had to be some scientific explanation.

He'd never been to Oakwood Cemetery. His curiosity got the better of him. He took the trouble to slip out the following weekend on the pretext, as his told Gina Marie, to check out some new flower vendors.

He'd driven past Oakwood Cemetery but never ventured inside. Today, was the day to do just that.

He noticed the elevated hill with the single, paved lane and a lovely old chapel on the left hand side of the lane. Further ahead was what appeared to be a caretaker's shed. He drove his late model sedan ever slowly until the hill seemed to even out.

Then, the single lane curved wildly to the right with graves located on both sides of the lane. He parked his car near the oldest section. He saw that some of the graves were more than one hundred years old.

My goodness! I had no idea there were this many settlers in Aptonia so long ago. This is like a hands on history lesson."

He walked closer to the gravestones. Some were so weathered the names were indistinguishable. Others were barely visible, given the proximity to the lake and dampness of the soil that had sunken them further down the hill just beyond.

At closer look, Richard realized so many of the dead buried here were young children and mostly women. He noted the dates on these were all the same. He figured there must have been a plague of influenza or some such.

I see what Lina meant. The drop in the hill is nearly five feet. It wouldn't do to get too near it at night.

Richard crossed back to the opposite side of the lane. Here, the graves were more recent. Some were soldiers who had died in action,

He tried to remember what Lina told them all at dinner about Bob Delahanty, the soldier from Aptonia missing in action. He wondered if it was possible he had been mistakenly buried in Oakwood.

He spent more than an hour walking through the graves. He saw an older, green sedan pull up at the gate outside the cemetery. He tried to obscure himself behind one of the many tall oak trees that shaded the entire cemetery, giving it a spooky sort of aura.

He could see from his vantage point the driver of the car was a woman. She parked the car and walked slowly around toward the black wrought iron gates attached to the two massive marble columns at the entrance.

Richard moved around the tree to get a better look. She had flowers in her hand. Not the kind Morlando Flower Shop sold. He saw they were barely larger than a nosegay.

The woman didn't walk up the hill where Richard had driven his car. He didn't recognize her as one of their regular customers either.

She made her way across the graves on the lower end of the cemetery nearest the lake. When she saw Richard's car, she hurried to the grave, placed her flowers on it and ran back to her car.

How odd? Who brings flowers to a grave in a hurry?

Richard made a mental note of the woman's appearance. It was a habit from his former job in his father's real estate brokerage where details could play a huge role in outcomes of closing sales. His wife, Gina Marie, was amused by his habit of noticing tiny details about strangers.

The woman drove off in such a hurry that Richard couldn't even get the vehicle's license plate number. He noted that she was about the same height as his wife, or so it seemed from his vantage point. Her clothes were pretty average as well. Nothing remarkable about the style.

He wasn't certain but it looked as if she had a multi colored scarf around her neck. Could have been the collar of her dress though, he mused.

He walked around to where she placed the small bunch of flowers, about ten yards from where he parked his car.

When he reached the gravestone, he saw it was somewhat weathered and several decades old. The name etched into the grey marble stone was, "Sharpe." That bothered Richard. He knew he heard or saw that name before. The flowers were not from any flower shop, least of all from Morlando's.

They looked as if they might have been hand picked from a garden. There were nasturtiums, baby iris and beech leaves around the flowers.

The sky overhead suddenly turned a leaden grey. Richard headed back to his car. Once inside, he checked the time and realized he'd spent nearly two hours in Oakwood Cemetery. His wife and mother-in-law would naturally be curious about where he was.

By the time, he reached Morlando Flower Shop, he realized it was closed. The shop closed by four on weekends mainly because  visitors to St. Gertrude's began to dwindle as the dinner hour was near.

Between Lina and Richard now so heavily invested in hunting the ghost of St. Gertrude's, Antony Sr., Gina, Dennis and Gina Marie had their hands full trying to distract those two from the subject of "ghosts." So, when they six of them had dinner together at Morlando Mansion, Lina and Richard especially avoided the subject.

On another evening in late autumn, the six were seated at the dining room table in Morlando Mansion when Gina Marie asked for everyone's attention.

"I have an announcement to make that not even my husband knows...yet," Gina Marie said.

Her mother surmised what the announcement was, given Gina Marie's sudden spate of nausea every day.

"Richard and I are about to parents!" she said.

"Madre Mia! Antony...a grandchild!" Lina said

"Let's hope you will not spoil your grandchild too much," Antony said.

Everyone laughed.

"Do you think we should tell Father Antony he is to become an "uncle?" Gina Marie asked.

"Let's do. He is no longer confined to the seminary. Let's make a day of it next Sunday. He's at a new parish about an hour from here," Lina said.

"You men can cover for us while we visit with Father Antony," Lina said.

"What else?" Antony Sr. joked.

During that week, tt wasn't until Richard was planning to discard old documents that he saw the name "Carl Sharpe," among old invoices. He pulled the invoice out.

Lina was taking over the front of the flower shop for Gina and Gina Marie.

The three women arrived at St. Mark's rectory, only to find Antony Jr. had already been transferred several months earlier.

They were told by the rectory receptionist that "Father" was transferred at Archbishop Delahanty's request to St. Angela's Cathedral.

Lina was in shock.

"Why didn't Antony let one of us know?" Lina asked.

"Mama, you know Antony. He is a loner with family. Always was. We can just go to St. Angela's and see him there. At least, he is closer to home, Gina said.

Gina didn't miss her mother's shocked expression.

"Mama? What are you thinking?"

"You know what, Gina. Why would Archbishop Delahanty, want a Morlando as his right hand?" Lina asked.

"I'm sure Antony took the job to be closer to you and Papa. You two are not getting any younger," Gina said.

"Yes. Gran, that's probably it." Gina Marie put in.

Lina couldn't wait to tell her husband as soon as they had their after dinner wine in the library.

"I should think you'd be glad he's so near to his family again," Antony said.

"Well of course,, I am. But..."

"But what? Lina, be honest. You don't trust Archbishop Delahanty. Do you want to tell me why?"

"I wasn't going to tell you this. The "Archbishop" had to know his brother impregnated Cara Sharpe and has a child, a son, an adult by now out there somewhere."

"What are you saying?"

"Cara Sharpe told me she and Bob Delahanty had an affair and a child together. Then, he disappeared."

"Lina, maybe Bob Delahanty never told his brother and maybe his brother didn't know he disappeared at the time."

"No. Bob Delahanty never knew about son. I got the impression from Cara Sharpe that Bob Delahanty left the military under shadowy circumstances," Lina said.

"If they had a son, he would be an adult now and probably have children of his own possibly even grandchildren," Antony said.

"Did you ask Richard about his visit to Oakwood Cemetery across town?" Antony asked.

"No. I almost forgotten about that."

"How is it a van Helm has never ventured to see Oakwood when it is practically a historic cemetery?" Antony asked.

"He's third generation van Helm. He would not have the kind of Aptonia historical background information his father and grandfather had," Lina said.

"What was it about Carl Sharpe that links him to Bob Delahanty? Or for that matter, the Archbishop?"

"It's a bit vague to me now, but I recall discussing Carl Sharpe's being buried in St. Gertude's with Papa. Sharpe was something of a shady character. I was much younger, but I think Papa knew something about how Carl Sharpe misused public funds in Aptonia. It began was over a land deal that went bad," Lina said.

That shows how long ago that was. There is so little land left in Aptonia. Not like when your Papa and Mama first lived in Morlando mansion," Antony said.

Lina went silent. Antony knew her well enough to figure out something he'd said had jogged a memory of Carl Sharpe.

"What are you thinking?" Antony asked.

"The first time we saw those "ghosts" was near the graves of Buck Delahanty, Richard van Helm Sr. and Charles Apton. I think the ghosts appear over only certain graves as a clue," Lina said

"A clue? To what? Like the board game we played with Gina and Antony?"

"No, not like that. I'm sure it can't be game. All I know is there is something or someone from deep in the past tied to these "ghosts."

Antony, in all the years of their marriage, had never been able to follow his wife's thought patterns. Now that they had more free time with their children grown, Lina's obsession with those eerie visions had also grown. This worried Antony.

How much could he protect her from uncovering some other town scandal that may endanger her life or that of Gina, Dennis, Gina Marie, Richard and their new grandchild soon to arrive?

"What are you thinking?" Lina asked.

"Lina, you know I love you and always have. I am just not so sure you are not going too far afield in your digging into those visions out there in St. Gertrude's."

"Antony, to relieve your mind, I am not altogether sure those things are ghosts. What if someone has a grudge against the Morlando family? Or, maybe, John or Papa had enemies they didn't know about?"

"My point precisely, Lina. We can't know who in Aptonia may be plotting against our family or...for that matter...our business."

"They can't be after Morlando land. That would be fool hardy. Besides, the only land remaining that is available will be used to expand the cemetery. Who would want land adjacent to a cemetery?"

"Who indeed! Do you doubt that His Reverence had or may still have, designs on a piece of the cemetery property several years ago? And, Richard told all of us the Archbishop was planning on getting his hands on the flower shop and property. That could be why he wanted our Antony Jr. at his cathedral for a reason."

"That may be true. But, His Reverence is an old man now. All of the contacts in Aptonia he was once inked to are gone, Antony said."

"You know old Buck Delahanty's property was donated to the church so it couldn't be developed," Antony continued.

"And we both know that that property was sold to a developer as soon as Archbishop Delahanty realized the church had no use for it..." Lina started.

"And the Monsignor also realized a tidy little sum of profit from the sale he made," Antony said.

Lina suddenly went quiet.

"What is it? Antony asked.

"Look, the mist is forming again out there...over those graves," Lina said.

Antony went to the windows of the double French doors to get a better look.

"I noticed something about those mists...they are clearly visible from the main road," Antony said.

Lina wasn't sure where Antony's thoughts were heading. The expression on her heart shaped face was quizzical. Whenever she was puzzled, her darkly arched eyebrows knitted over her deep brown eyes.

"It's as if those "ghosts" want to be seen," Antony said.

"Anyone responsible for creating those mists, if we believe they are man made, must have a way to get into the cemetery. As we both know, St. Gertrude's is gated on all sides and locked at dusk. How would anyone get in?" Lina asked.

"So we are both in agreement these ghosts are man made?"

"It seems so. You can see why I have to keep digging to find out "who" is behind them," Lina.

Lina could tell by the expression on her husband's face what he was about to say.

"Lina, I admire your desire to get to the bottom of this. But, I worry you will end up in danger."

"From whom?"

"It depends on the reason why anyone would want to create these things. There could be any number of  people in Aptonia with a grudge against the Morlando family."

"I doubt any of our customers, past or present have a grudge against Papa or John or any of us. Especially now that Richard van Helm is part of our family," Lina said.

"Which reminds me, are the Morlando women planning a baby shower for Gina Marie and Richard's baby?"

"Gina and I thought about it. Gina Marie and Richard don't really have many friends they grew up with here in Aptonia. Most of the are grown and live elsewhere. The family business has never  generated many close friends," Lina said.

"What did you decide then?"

"We thought it would be fun to take Gina Marie on a shopping spree for the baby things she'll need," Lina said.

Out of the corner of his eye, Antony saw those visions dancing over the graves,.

"What if we went out there when we see those things and tried to corner the culprit?" Antony asked.

"I did that once and you saw what happened to my hair and how wet my clothes were."

"Thank goodness you were able to restore your hair color," Antony joked.

"You mean my hairdresser restored it," Lina said, grinning.

"Don't forget the family Thanksgiving Dinner coming up in a few weeks," Lina said.

"How can I forget? You remind me every day!"

Aptonia in November had its long, grey days and sometimes, a light dusting of snow. The Morlando family business usually had its slow down during the month of October. But as the winter holidays approached, St. Gertrude's and Morlando Flower Shop were as busy as ever.

Gina Marie and Richard were doing a fine job managing the flower shop, while Gina and Dennis took over the sale of tombstones.

There hadn't been the sale of a mausoleum in St. Gertrude's for over a decade. Gina and Dennis attributed this to the fact that the older Aptonia families were mostly deceased and younger families moving into town were not as fond of mausoleums as they were the above ground building on the west side of St. Gertrude's cemetery that housed 100 hundred sarcophagi.

Lina and Antony were glad they made the decision to expand to an above ground building. For one thing, it was a great way to save on what little land remained of the Morlando property.

The family's biggest worry was that St. Gertrude's would be completely occupied like Oakwood Cemetery was across town.

The day before Thanksgiving, the family was deadly tired from long, pre-holiday business hours and glad a light snow had begun to reduce the onslaught of customers.

"We should be glad there are no funerals," Antony said.

"Hush! You'll conjure them up. Let's try to enjoy our Thanksgiving dinner without interruption," Lina said.

But, there was to be an interruption none of the family would ever forget.

The women in the family dispensed with cooking, except for a few traditional favorites like antipasto and a batch of Italian cookies. The rest of the feast was prepared at Morlando Mansion by Lina's part-time cook. The men in the family spent time in the wine cellar choosing four different kinds of wine.

When their sumptuous meal was over, they retired to the cozy, comfort of the library where Antony had a blazing fire going.

The library was not as spacious as the living room. But, it was also not as drafty even with a fire going and the central heating set at a comfortable temperature.

"Mama? How many of these books have you and Papa actually read?" Gina asked.

"It isn't possible to get through Grandfather Morlando's entire collection," Lina said,

"Your Uncle John also added to it," Antony said.

The wind began to swirl outside Morlando Mansion as the family cozied themselves around the fire.

"Gran, has anyone seen the "ghosts" lately?" Gina Marie asked.

"Not in recent weeks," Lina said.

"Maybe, they are gone for good," Richard said.

"We can only hope. This past summer, several people who arrived at St. Gertrude's at dusk ran screaming when they saw one," Antony said.

"There has to be a reason for those things," Dennis said.

"Your father-in-law and I agree they are a prank or some sort of revenge," Lina said

"Well, I'm glad you both came to that conclusion," Gina put in.

"Which reminds me. I kept forgetting to tell you what exactly I saw over at Oakwood Cemetery," Richard said.

"You never told me you went to Oakwood," Gina Marie said.

"I'm sorry. It just slipped my mind."

"Richard, tell us what it was you saw at Oakwood," Gina said, impatiently.

"There was a woman who arrived shortly after I did. She had a small bunch of flowers in her hand. She didn't see me at first. She was average height and wore a scarf on her head and a long coat. I though that odd since it was summer and fairly hot. Anyway, the minute she saw me, she took off in her car. She parked it outside the cemetery's wrought iron gates," Richard said.

"Do you get a good look at her license plates?" Lina asked.

"No. She sped off too quickly and from my vantage point I couldn't tell much about the car other than it was an older, dark color sedan," Richard went on.

"Were the flowers in her hands from our shop? Lina asked.

"From what I could see? They were those late summer nasturtiums. She placed them on the grave and hurried off. I walked over to see whose grave it was and the name on the gravestone was, "Sharpe." I only remembered that name because later I saw it on some old invoices we were discarding."

Gina Marie, now swollen with child, grimaced and complained of "cramping" in her lower abdomen. Gina and her mother looked at each other.

"I think this is the beginning of labor for you, Gina Marie. Richard, maybe you'd better run over and pick up some things Gina Marie will need. This may be a long night and she may end up in full labor," Gina cautioned.

"You mean? It's time? I'm about to be a father?" Richard said.

"Son, your life will never be the same," Antony said, grinning widely.

Richard hurried out to his car. As he opened the car door, he saw the familiar column of mist over a grave in the distance. He decided to turn the car around and hurried toward the main road. He'd deal with the ghost when he returned. All he could think of now was his wife and soon to be first child.

As suspected, Gina Marie had begun the first stage of labor. Lina called her granddaughter's doctor. He told Lina Gina Marie's pains should be timed and as soon as they grew ten minutes apart, she should be brought to the hospital.

"I wish Richard hurry back. What can be taking him so long?" Gina Marie asked.

"The roads may be a bit slick, Better safe, then sorry," Lina said

They heard Richard's car pull into the long driveway. He rushed inside breathless.

"They are out there again!" Richard said.

"The ghosts?" Antony asked.

"Yes. I saw it as I was getting into the car and now there are two of them," Richard said.

"Richard, we can't deal with that now," Antony said.

"Richard, did you bring my bag?" Gina Marie asked.

Richard raised the bag into the air. His wife felt relieved. She hadn't told him it was in the hall closet. Now she realized why it took him so long to get back to Morlando Mansion. He must have had to hunt for it.

Lina and Antony felt so excited. They were about to have their first great grandchild. Labor pains were coming every ten minutes.

As the family all headed for their vehicles, Lina saw the two ghosts Richard said he'd seen.

When they all reached the hospital, Richard spirited his wife off to the emergency entrance where she was taken upstairs to await her doctor.

Lina, Antony, Gina and Dennis waited in the large downstairs waiting room. Dennis and Antony paced back and forth as if they were the expectant fathers.

"You two need to sit down and relax. It could be hours before we hear any news," Gina said.

"Do you believe this? I'm about to be a grandfather and my wife wants me to relax," Dennis said.

The family didn't have long to wait. After about two hours, Gina Marie's doctor walked toward them with a wide grin.

"You have a grandson....and a grandaughter," the doctor said.

"Oh my Lord! Twins!" Dennis said.

"How is my daughter?" Gina asked.

"She's fine. In fact, she is asking to see all of you. Give her a few minutes," the doctor said.

Gina and her mother mused over the fact that there had never been any twins in the Morlando family.

"Must be on Richard's side of the family," Gina said.

The family gushed with joy over the new additions to their family.

"Richard, why not come and stay with us tonight?" Lina asked.

"I think I might take you up on that offer," Richard said.

Given the snowy weather, Gina and Dennis decided to do the same. Once inside Morlando Mansion, Lina prepared a late evening snack and Antony poured wine as they settled around the fireplace in the library Dennis lit earlier. It took the the chill out of the night air once inside the mansion.

From the kitchen window, Lina saw the "ghosts" again. She felt annoyed they'd make an appearance on the very night the family was celebrating the birth of twins.

"Richard, Morlandos and Bucafusos don't have any twins in our families, do the van Helms?"

"Actually, my Mom told me I had twin brother who died at birth," Richard said.

"Oh. that's sad. But, it does explain your twins babies," Gina said.

The birth of the Van Helm twins caused a slight change in the operation of the two Morlando businesses.

Lina and her daughter wanted to be as helpful to Gina Marie as possible. So, business duties were shared between the Flower Shop and St. Gertrude's office.

"I don't think Gina Marie will want to be at the Flower  Shop now that she has two babies to care for," Lina said.

"Do you think I should get a Nanny so my wife can resume her duties here at the Flower Shop?" Richard asked.

"We both know she will not put the shop before her babies," Lina said.

"Should I consider hiring a sales person for the front desk and a floral arranger for the back room?" Richard asked.

"That might be a good idea. The shop has done very well since you and Gina Marie managed it. You can afford to hire employees you need. That's what my husband did and Janette has worked out well," Lina said.

As winter settled in, business at the flower shop increased due to the high volume of sales for holiday evergreen blankets for graves and wreaths for mausoleums. Usually, these are removed one the last spring frost is over.

John Morlando hired a regular groundskeeper, Sam Granthal, to tend to the upkeep of the graves. Over time and after John's death, Antony promoted Sam to manager and added on the job of the hiring a crew to dig burial plots.

With Janette Lyons on the embalming staff and Sam's crew maintaining St. Gertrude's grounds and burial plots, Antony felt he was well staffed.

Lina had become the "go to" at the flower shop and left most of the duties at St. Gertrude's office in Antony's capable hands.

As snow blanketed most of the graves, Lina planned her holiday family traditions as her own mother and father had done.

As Christmas Eve arrived, so too did an unusually heavy snow storm. By six that evening as Antony closed up shop, the sky was already dark and snow was piling up. Antony was uncertain if the main gates should remain open and unlocked.

Who would be visiting graves in such a storm?  He decided they should be locked since he could see there was virtually no traffic out on the main road in front of St. Gertrude's. He knew Sam Granthal would lock them. There was no need to remind him. Sam normally locked them when he left for the day around seven or eight every evening.

On Christmas morning, Sam knocked at the kitchen door as Lina and her daughter and granddaughter were preparing a sumptuous holiday breakfast.

"Sam! What's the matter?" Gina asked.

Same Granthal looked as if he'd seen one of those ghosts out in the cemetery.

"You better call the police!" Sam said.

"What? Why?"

"There's a dead body lying out there!"

"Oh my Lord!" Lina said.

Hearing the commotion in the kitchen from the women, Antony, Dennis and Richard left their comfortable places near the fireplace in the living room

"What's the matter here Lina?" Antony asked.

"Sam says there is a dead body out there!" Lina said.

"Sam, show us where. Dennis...Richard. Better come with us," Antony said.

Sure enough, there was a dead body near the grave of Buck Delahanty. It was barely identifiable for all of the snow.

Richard moved toward it planning to remove the snow from the dead man's face.

"Richard! No! Don't touch it! We better call the police!" Antony said.

"Sam, do you think the man was out here all night and froze to death?" Dennis asked.

"It kind of looks that way. But, what on earth would he be doing out here at night?"

"Lina and I didn't hear any cars last night. The man must have walked into St. Gertrude's," Antony said.

"The gates were locked last night at seven. I am certain they were, because I locked them a little earlier than usual because snow was falling pretty heavy," Sam Granthal said.

"Richard go back to the house and call the police. This is an awful thing," Antony said.

While Richard went back to the house, Sam, Antony and Dennis stood silently a few feet from a dead man's body.

"Well, there is nothing we can do for him standing out here in this storm. I confess my feet are beginning to feel numb," Dennis said.

The police arrived not more than five minutes after all of the men re-entered Morlando mansion.

The family waited until police finished inspecting the body and Aptonia medical examiner had a chance to inspect the body and have it removed to the morgue.

Two Aptonia police appeared at the kitchen door. Lina bid them enter.

Antony and Lina knew Aptonia's chief of police, Al Dyson Jr.,  on sight.

"Did any of you hear anything last night?" Al Dyson asked.

"No, but then we were all busy for our family's holiday celebration. I went to bed around 10 PM," Antony said.

"I finished up in the kitchen and went upstairs at 11 PM," Lina said.

"And the rest of you?"

"We don't live here in Morlando Mansion and neither does my daughter and our son-in-law. We arrived early this morning," Dennis said.

Al Dyson was clearly embarrassed at his faux pas.

"Who is the man out there?" Lina asked.

"We won't know that until we get him to the morgue and an autopsy is done on the cause of death and his relatives are found," Al Dyson said.

"I'm sorry to have this happen on Christmas Day," Al added.

It was difficult for the family to discuss anything but this strange event.

When they didn't hear from the Aptonia police department for nearly five days, they assumed it was due to the New Year's holiday.

"As soon as New Year's celebrations are over, I'm going to call Al Dyson and find out who that man is...was," Lina said.

"You may not need to. If he is a Catholic, his family will contact us about his burial," Antony said.

Lina did as she said. She called and asked to speak to Chief Al Dyson.

"Mrs. Morlando, I'm afraid..." Al Dyson began before Lina corrected him.

"It's Mrs. Bucafuso," Lina said.

"I'm sorry. Mrs. Bucafuso. I'm afraid we've haven't found his relatives yet. But, might I ask you a question?"

"Certainly."

"Do your embalmers ever use phosphorus?

"No. Not that I am aware of.  Mostly formaldehyde and sodium sulphite. Why?"

"The dead man had trace amounts of phosphorus on his clothing. Of course, it could be from where he is employed."

Lina said nothing. She felt confused by the question.

"Can you please tell us who he is...was...when you identify the body?" Lina asked.

"I am sure since he was in St. Gertrude's for a reason in the worst snow storm this winter, you'll hear from his family soon enough," Al Dyson said.

Lina rang off feeling as if Al Dyson was hiding something.

"Imagine! Al Dyson, a member of the oldest Aptonia families hiding that dead man's identity," Lina sniffed.

"Now Lina! You don't know for certain he is hiding anything," Antony said.

"I just have a feeling as if the "the other shoe is about to drop. Who visits a grave in the dead of the night?" Lina asked.

"The heaviest snow fall didn't begin until around dinner hour on Christmas Eve. Could be the man walked to St. Gertrude's and didn't arrive until the snow began to fall heaviest," Antony said.

"Al Dyson asked me a strange question," Lina said.

"Yes and what was his question?"

"He wanted to know if we use phosphorus in embalming chemicals," Lina said.

"No. We don't. I believe Janette and the embalming staff are using some of the newer chemicals. Youi know? The younger generation is so aware of chemicals getting into the soil and water.

Why did he ask that? Did he say?"

"He said there were trace amounts of the stuff on the dead man's clothing. He wouldn't give me more information. He said the man's family hadn't been contacted yet," Lina added.

"There shouldn't be any trace amounts of that. I'll check with Sam Granthal. He might be using fertilizer with ammonium phosphorus in it. He only uses fertilizer once in the spring and again in late summer. We've had enough rain and moisture since last August for any of that to have been well absorbed into the soil," Antony said.

"What did Al Dyson mean...trace amounts?" Lina asked.

"Could mean anything. Certainly not that the man picked it up from the grass with all that snow," Antony said.

"Al Dyson suggested it came from the man's job. Maybe, he worked where they make fertilizer or bag it?" Lina asked.

"We will just have to wait to find out the man's identity," Antony said.

"First, Richard sees that odd woman over in Oakwood and now we end up with a dead man in St. Gertrude's," Lina said.

"Now Lina. Don't go making a big feast of these things like you did over Bob Delahanty and Carl Sharpe," Antony said.

Without realizing it, Antony had pieced together events that made Lina even more suspicious. Antony shrugged and went back to reading his newspaper.

Since Al Dyson hadn't informed them of the man's identity, Antony made a habit of checking obituaries in the Aptonia paper.

It had been over a month and Antony had to agree with Lina that Dyson, by now, had to know the dead man's identity and was refusing to disclose it even to the people who found his body.

With the holidays past, January, February and March proved to slow business at St. Gertrude's and the flower shop. Richard came up with the idea to offer to sell flowers to hospitals for their gift shops. That kept the business steady through the slow months.

Lina, Antony, Gina, Dennis and Richard were looking forward to spring.

It's true cemeteries always tell a story of those who lie within. But, Lina was more certain than ever  there was something rather conspiratorial about the ghostly appearances. Something so covert that was tied to Aptonia, the Morlandos and others hidden in obscurity.

Aptonia had changed from a relatively benign enclave of blue collar families to its now burgeoning white collar,, upper income city people. Few of those interred at St. Gertrude's in recent days lived in Aptonia longer than a decade.

Yet, something in Lina's mind told her there was a link to an old and long standing issue. She had already spent time going through her father and mother's records and found nothing out of the ordinary. She felt certain there was something about the woman at Oakwood and the dead man in St. Gertrude's that were links. She knew there was virtually no way to know his identity if Dyson didn't want it revealed.

But, the question is why would he want it to be kept a secret? She knew the history of the Dyson family. Or, at least most of it. Al Dyson's father was most respected in town. Lina knew there had to be clues that tied it all together. But the question is, "where?"

Lina was quite adept at objectivity, insight and intuition. Since the dead man had been lying in the morgue for over three months, Lina decided to try a different tack.

"Chief Dyson, please," Lina said into the phone.

"May I say who is calling?" the female voice asked.

"Lina Morlando Bucafuso."

After about four minutes, she recognized the voice as Al Dyson's.

"Yes, Mrs. Bucafuso, What can I do for you?"

"I was just wondering if that man you found in St. Gertrude's has been identified yet."

"You know I can't discuss an open case."

"Yes. Yes. I'm sorry. It slipped my mind. The real reason I'm calling is to ask if anyone has considered where he is to be interred."

"So far, no family members have claimed the body.Why?"

"Well, since he was found in St. Gertrude's, would it be permissible to inter him here?"

"Why would you want to do that?"

"I can't really say why. Just a feeling of parity with a strange man dying on our property. As if maybe, he wanted to be buried here."

"That's odd. Don't you think?"

"Well, I'll leave my offer on the table. It will cost taxpayers less to allow St. Gertrude's to bury him than to bury him in Potter's field somewhere."

After Lina hung up, Al Dyson had to agree it would save the town money. He decided to think on it for a while.

At dinner that night, Lina discussed it with Antony.

"I can't see why he has to think about it," Antony said.

"He's a Dyson. They never were known to be impulsive about anything."

"The one thing that seems to continue to stick in my craw is that embalming fluid," Lina said.

"How so?"

"We know we've all seen those apparitions out there over certain graves. It just seems to make no sense a man entered St. Gertrude's, froze to death and yet there have been no recent signs of the "ghosts" that haunt those graves."

"Where are you going with this, Lina?"

"Remember when Richard said he saw that odd woman over at Oakwood Cemetery? He said she seemed to hurry off when she realized she was not alone."

"True. But what has that to do with embalming fluid?"

"What if that woman is a relative of Cara Sharpe? All we know is that Cara Sharpe had a child out of wedlock with Bob Delahanty. Cara Sharpe was still living at the time Richard saw that woman in Oakwood cemetery."

"Lina, this is getting far too confusing to follow."

"Not really. Cara Sharpe had a baby boy with Bob Delahanty. She said he was adopted out."

"It would not be possible for you to find out who that baby's adoptive parents are. Even if you could locate the adoption agency, you wouldn't get the names of the adoptive parents of that child, now a grown man."

"Yes. A grown man with a name very different from Sharpe," Lina said.

"Most likely."

Antony never liked when his beloved wife went silent in any discussion. It meant she was already miles ahead in planning her next move.

He was right. Lina needed to know who was buried with the Sharpe name in Oakwood. And why Oakwood and not St. Gertrude's where Carl Sharpe was buried with his wife?

Lina sensed a picture was coming together. She considered the facts she knew already. Bob Delahanty was dishonorably discharged, never knowing he had a son with Cara Sharpe.

Then, there was that woman in Oakwood visiting the Sharpe grave. The pieces that didn't fit were the apparitions in St. Gertrude's. Lina sensed in the depths of her marrow that it all related somehow to an old issue with the Morlando's.

Then, there was the matter of the dead man who froze to death and trace amounts of phosphorus. There it was again...phosphorus.

The next day, Lina went to the library to look up the uses of phosphorus. She was directed to the book shelves where she would find the information she was looking for.

Apparently, phosphorus was not used commercially as much as it had been in the early part of the century. It was used to make matches and added as a nutrient to lawn fertilizer.

Antony said their groundskeeper manager, Sam Granthal, had the crew use fertilizers on the grassy around the graves. Still, that wouldn't explain the ghosts. Lina sat down at the wooden library table to think about what she had read.

Antony had said even if Sam had put applications of fertilizer with the ammonium phosphorous on the grassy areas in St. Gertrude's, it was not create gaseous vapors the size of those ghosts. Lina herself had seen more than one at different times but always at dusk or at night.

She decided to speak to Sam herself. She caught up with him as she returned to Morlando Mansion.

"Sam? May I have a word?"

"Certainly, Mrs. Bucafuso. What can I do for you?"

"Where do you keep the fertilizer when it isn't in use?"

"Well, with the Aptonia fire laws the way they are, we can't store it for longer than a few days. It can be a fire hazard if the temperatures get too high."

"No. I meant, literally, where do you store it?"

"Why we keep all of our grounds equipment and supplies over in the old garage over there. Due to fire safety regulations we can't keep more than a few sacks of it. Fertilizer in large amounts cause methane gas buildup."

Lina knew he referred to the old shed her father had used to store his first car. Before that, her uncle and father kept a horse and wagon in there.

"Why do you ask, Mrs. Bucafuso?"

"Not sure. I've just been to the library and I was checking on how phosphorus is used."

"Well, it originally had a lot of uses. In fact, one of the strangest uses was for "disappearing ink."

Lina looked puzzled.

"Back when I was a boy in school in the 40s, we had a lot of fun buying ink that could disappear. All you had to do was brush it over anything you wrote and it was gone."

"Weren't your parents afraid you'd get it on your clothing?"

"I actually did just that once. It was nigh impossible for my mother to remove it. She finally threw away the jacket I was wearing. But you know what? She put in out for the charity people to come and take it away, but they wouldn't touch it."

"No? Why not"

"Danged stuff scared them silly. The ink spot glowed as if it was an electric light bulb!"

"Sam, I could kiss you! But ..I won't. Antony wouldn't approve," Lina said.

Sam had no idea what Mrs. Bucafuso was so thrilled about.

"Sam, do you know if the fertilizer we use has phosphorus in it?"

"Oh, I am fairly sure it might. Phosphorus can be naturally occurring depending on where the soil comes from.

Course we never leave fertilizer bags open to the air or it dries badly fast and loses all its nutrients for the grass and soil."

When Lina left Sam puzzling about her questions about the fertilizer, he began to wonder now what she was thinking.

Mrs. Bucafuso had spent a lot of time trying to figure out the cause of those apparitions in St. Gertrude's and yet nothing seemed to form a true picture.

Lina was abuzz with what she learned from Sam. The question still remained about who it was who had a reason to haunt St. Gertrude's Cemetery.

She tossed and turned all night thinking about what she learned.

"Lina, my darling wife, why are you so restless?" Antony asked.

"It's nothing. Just one of those nights when I have too much on my mind," Lina answered.

"Dare I ask?" Antony said, smirking.

"It's the baby shower. You know those things can be. Not to mention Gina and Dennis want to plan for the christening. The great grand twins are six weeks old and it's time," Lina said.

"I should think Gina would know most of the guests to be invited to Gina Marie's baby shower. Why does she need one anyway? We can buy anything she needs," Antony said.

"On Antony! How can you be so ignorant?"

"I? Ignorant? Who is it who keeps the business records around here?"

"It's just a tradition for a young mother to have a baby shower. Some people do it before the baby is born. But, since Gina Marie has twins, her mother and I thought it would be easier on the guests if they knew there were two to buy gifts for," Lina said.

Antony had already fallen asleep. He didn't hear Lina's next question,

"Antony, do any of the employees but Sam Granthal have access to the fertilizer?"

Lina heard her husband snoring and rolled her eyes. She realized her question might have sounded daft. Sam has a staff of groundskeepers now. Surely they'd have access to the shed and fertilizer.

She knew she had to consider all of the possibilities. It didn't escape her mind that the police were in no hurry to identify the man who froze to death in St. Gertrude's at Christmas. She did know he had traces of phosphorus on his clothes.

With spring coming, the baby shower and a christening, Lina realized since that man's death, there had been no sightings of ghosts over the graves since the end of December. Was it possible that the dead man was the one who was using phosphorus to create those eerie columns?

No. That can't be right, Lina thought. How could anyone create columns of phosphorous large enough to look like ghosts? And it still came down to who had done that?

At this point, Archbishop Delahanty was about to retire from his post at the cathedral. So the twins baptismal rite would be performed by one of the priests in service there.

On the day of the twins baptism,  Lina and Antony, Gina and Dennis and Gina Marie, Richard and their twins arrived at the cathedral on chilly, but bright sunny day. They entered the white marble, Greek styled church and headed down the side aisle toward the large Baptismal fount.

They gasped when they saw who the priest was who would baptize the twins! It was Lina's son Antony Jr. now Father Antony Bucafuso.

"I requested this baptismal service," Father Antony said.

He embraced his mother, father, sister and her husband and his grand niece, Gina Marie.

Richard extended his hand to Father Antony.

"This must be my grand niece's husband, Richard?"

"Yes, Father," Richard answered.

After the service, the entire family retired to Morlando Mansion. Lina and Antony were so proud of their son and felt thrilled he was able to have dinner with his family once again.

"So, tell us Father Antony. It's been months since we heard from you," Antony Sr. asked.

"I'm with a new parish in  Archbishop Delahanty's diocese. I'm Vicar there now. It was only conferred one month ago. It's been so hectic. But, I am managing."

"Where is it located, your new parish?" Lina asked.

"Upper Dover Township. But, Mama you'd find this interesting. There is an old, old historic war memorial cemetery there. Not that anyone is still interred there. It has to be from the Revolutionary War days from some of the dates on the grave stones," Father Antony said.

Gina, ever the ambitious business woman, asked,
"Is there a monument business there?

"No, sis. Not near that cemetery anyway. I'm sure there are some located somewhere in Dover Township. It's still somewhat rural compared to Aptonia."

Father Antony was a little taken aback that his sister was after expanding Morlando business into Dover Township. This spurred his mother to ask a similar question.

"Is there a florist in Upper Dover Township?" Lina asked.

"Why yes. It's a place called, "Cara's Flowers."

"No kidding?" Lina asked.

"Why is that unusual?" Father Antony asked.

"Because your mother once visited a woman named Cara Sharpe. She was the daughter of Carl Sharpe with whom your grandfather had not been on the best of terms," Antony Sr. said.

"That's not a name that is very common. It just reminded me of my visit with Cara Sharpe in the nursing home," Lina said.

"Why would you visit someone whom Grandfather Morlando had difficulties with?" Father Antony asked.

"Your mother thinks she is a mystery hunter. She has been spending the last decade trying to track down the cause of those strange ghostly apparitions out there in St. Gertrude's," Antony Sr. said.

Gina and Dennis glanced at each other quizzically not realizing Lina was still obsessed with getting to the bottom of those apparitions.

"Gran, not to be facetious or anything but are you any closer to answers to the mystery? Even when you know it hasn't hurt but rather helped the notoriety of St. Gertrude's?" Gina Marie asked.

"Actually, yes. I am quite sure that whoever that dead man was who froze to death out there was not the one who was the cause of those strange apparitions," Lina said.

Antony Sr. rolled his eyes.

Lina then explained to Father Antony about the dead man found in the snow.

"Well Mama, it is reassuring to know you don't believe in ghosts," Father Antony said.

"Not those made of fertilizer. But, ghosts of the past trying to exact revenge on the Morlando name," Lina said.

"Oh Mama! Surely you don't believe in one of those ancient Italian fables of rivalry, do you?"

"No, of course not. But I do believe there is a very hidden reason for those apparitions."

"Lina, it's been months since anyone has seen them," Antony Sr. said.

"That may be true. But, I don't believe that dead man was the one creating them. The phosphorus on his clothes was too small to create a large enough volume of phosphorous to appear to be the size of humans," Lina said.

Father Antony tired of the subject of the ghosts of St. Gertrude's.

"Did you know Archbishop Delahanty retired? The diocese plans a formal farewell. He has been in the priesthood since he was out of high school" Father Antony said.

"Yes, we'd heard such rumors. Where will he go after he retires?"  Dennis asked.

"He's not been well lately. Something to do with his lungs. I believe he will be a resident at a retirement home for priests. We do have them, you know,"

Lina and Antony Sr. noted their son had changed over the years more than they realized. He had a bit of grey at the temples and spoke in a very mature way.

"Who do you think will replace Archbishop Delahanty?" Gina asked.

"Well, we always hope it will be one of us. The priests who have served in his diocese. But, that is always up to the the Holy Father and the Cardinals," Father Antony said.

"Really? That far up the ladder?" Dennis asked.

"It's a chain of command, even in the church.," Father Antony said, wryly.

"Mother, Father...I do hope you consider your own future retirement soon. You are not getting any younger and you've both worked so hard on the family business. I'm sure you could easily sell this old mansion and the business," their son said.

"Sell? Son, this is a family business that is generations old. Why would we sell? This mansion belonged to your grandfather. It has historic value even if it didn't have the Morlando name," Lina said.

"Well, you could always donate it to the church. "

Antony Sr. felt his stomach churning.

"We've donated quite enough to the church and so did your grandparents. We plan to leave everything to Gina Marie's children. I am sure Gina and Dennis will one day occupy Morlando Mansion and Gina Marie and Richard will take over the family business," Lina said.

It was as if Lina had suddenly hit a discordant nerve in her son.

"I have to be getting back," Father Antony said, abruptly.

"Do you have to rush off so soon?" Antony Sr. asked.

"Yes. now that I am Vicar, I have more than my own parish's responsibilities to deal with. I take part in most diocesan activities."

Richard van Helm offered to drive his wife's uncle back to his parish. But, Father Antony said he would place a call and have his driver come for him.

Lina and Antony Sr. glanced furtively at each other as they heard their son phoning for a driver.

"Lina, does it seem to you our son is not himself?"

"I am not sure what you mean," Lina responded.

"He just seem to be officious...more so than I remember."

"Yes I also noticed that as well. He has a lot more responsibilities and I am sure he has matured in the days and years we have not seen him."

"Mother, Father, I do wish you would consider that we talked about at dinner about your donation," Father Antony said, donning his long black overcoat,

Lina noticed something shiny on the back collar of his coat. But when Antony moved toward the door, the sheen seemed to dull and disappear.

Lina knew she saw this before. Then, it came to her...the dead man also had it on his clothing. She tossed and turned all night until she woke her husband.

She dreaded what she was thinking. Did her son know the dead man? If so, how?

"Lina, if you do not tell me what you are brooding over, I will never get a wink of sleep this night," Antony said, his voice slightly hoarse.

Lina turned and rested her head on her arm. She didn't want her husband to know what she saw on their son's coat.

"It's what Antony said tonight about donating the mansion and business to the church," Lina said.

"Lina, my dear wife, it was only dinner chatter. Of no consequence. Although, I think perhaps it would help Antony move up the clerical ladder. That may be why he suggested it."

"You think so? Antony has never been one to calculate or scheme."

"That's true; but, he is a grown man now and we do not have the advantage of seeing changes in him every day as we once might have when he was growing up."

Antony knew his wife well enough to know she had a bee in her bonnet.

"Lina, what you said about those ghosts out there in the cemetery...did you mean it?"

"Mean it?"

"You said "ghosts of the past trying to exact revenge on the Morlando name," Antony said.

Lina didn't answer him. She had fallen back to sleep thinking about that shiny silvery spot on her son's overcoat.

For the next week, Lina was uncharacteristically quiet and totally mentally distracted. It was true there had not been any sightings of those ghosts in more than three months. She wondered why.

One summer afternoon, she was going over the accounting books for the cemetery's burials and lost track of the time. As the sky turned a lovely melon, pink and purple color, she saw Sam Granthal taking tool out to the tool shed.

Something in her mind seemed to swirl around as she thought about her last conversation with Sam about the phosphorus.

The phosphorus! That's it! That is what she saw on her son's overcoat. Phosphorus? But why? her son had not been serving at funerals. Lina didn't like what she was thinking about her own son.

Could it be? Could Antony be the ghost? But then who were the other ghosts seen over the graves?

Lina was not the kind of person who tolerates mysteries that seemingly have so many clues and yet no resolution.

It was true her son had spent almost two decades away from home studying for the priesthood, taking his vows and serving as an assistant to Archbishop Delahanty.

Her mind scrambled back to his youth. Antony Jr. was a relatively quiet sort who seemed to prefer solitude. Lina recalled that Antony Jr. was not so very close to his sister Gina. But, Antony Sr. had said that was not so unusual given how close Lina had been to her brother, John.

In those days of Lina and John's youth, Italian families could be very insular. Especially if they owned a non-standard type of business like a cemetery. Lena and John both attended Catholic school and Antony Jr. and Gina attended the same school.

Antony Sr. knew Lina was stewing about something. He also wondered about his son's strange request to donate Morlando Mansion to the church. Was he also suggesting they sell St. Gertrude's as well? And the flower shop? And the monument business?

Antony took a much different, less flexible view of his son's remarks than his wife. Antony Sr. wondered if there was more to his son's request than there appeared.

Summer came with a never ending oppressive heat and humidity. There had been no sign of those strange apparitions for over a year. All of the Morlandos except Lina hoped whatever it was had finally gone.

Antony Sr. decided to do some sleuthing of his own since the day Father Antony left. His son was a changed man, more worldly than he had ever been. While the ghosts might be gone, the name of the dead man found in St. Gertrude's was being withheld from the Morlando family. There were just too many things hanging in the air. Antony needed answers.

With the Archbishop failing in health and the ghosts seemingly gone, Antony felt it was less likely to cause a scandal. Antony knew his wife would never rest until the entire episode was resolve.

He contacted the seminary where his son had studied. He told Lina a fib and said he was just going into town on business and might be late for dinner that evening.

Antony Jr. had studied in a monastery at Fortendale which was three hours from Aptonia. Antony Sr. drove to the train station and decided to take the train which would drop him off almost at the doorstep of St. John of the Cross's monastery.

The monastery was a foreboding sort of building of very old, dark brown stone. There was only one floor of the entire expanse of the building. The main entrance was a chapel with a Gothic arched entrance.

As he approached, he could see several young men slowly walking with small books in hand. Antony realized it must be near noon and they would be praying the Angelus as soon as the bells chimed.

He entered through a side door with the word, "Office" on a small black sign with gold letters.

"May I help you sir?" a young priest asked him cautiously.

"Yes. I am looking for some information about a former seminarian who studied here," Antony said.

"Please follow me to our Prefect's office," the seminarian said.

He was ushered into a small office no bigger than the alcove of the front door in Morlando Mansion.

"How can I help you?" the older priest said as soon as Antony appeared.

"I am looking for information about a seminarian who studied here. I am trying to locate him," Antony fibbed.

"Certainly and what is...was the seminarian's name?"

"Antony Bucafuso."

"I see. And for what purpose have you for this information?"

"I'm his .., uncle. We lost touch after his ordination. I am not well and would like to see him once more before I..."

"I see. Well, let me see if we can find his file. He was here quite some time ago."

Antony noted that the prefect's name was on a small desk plate, "Reverend Simeon Warman."

Antony made a mental note to ask his wife if that name was familiar to her.

When Reverend Warman returned, he had a small manila folder in his hand.

"I see that your nephew studied here as you stated. What is it you wish to know?"

"Was he transferred to a parish and if so by whom?"

The tall, stately prefect's thick salt and pepper eyebrows knitted together tightly.

"It appears from these records that after your nephew was ordained, Archbishop Delahanty requested your nephew be installed at St. Angela's."

"But, I thought my nephew said he would be sent to St. Mark's?"

"Well, he was, but the Archbishop is allowed to move the newly ordained as they see fit and as needed."

"Was my nephew especially close to anyone here?"

"Of course not. We discourage any personal relationships. But, I do recall that there was talk that Father Antony Bucafuso befriended or perhaps, more accurately, counseled the groundskeeper at that time."

"The groundskeeper?"

"Yes. We didn't discourage it because the groundskeeper was not a practicing Catholic. He had been in the war and from what we had been told had old shell shock problems. Our prefect at that time felt it was the charitable thing to do to hire him and give him a safe place to sleep and food to eat."

"I see."

"World War II left a lot of men with serious physical and mental problems if they survived at all. But, this soldier had an advantage in that his brother was Archbishop Delahanty."

"You mean Bob Delahanty served as a groundskeeper here? We in Aptonia all thought he was killed in the war." Antony said.

"I can assure you though he may have been mentally impaired to some degree, he was quite alive."

"I don't have any more information on your nephew. Perhaps if you try at St. Angela's they may have more recent records."

Antony thanked the Reverend and couldn't wait to return to Morlando Mansion to tell Lina what he learned.

Lina had also been doing some sleuthing of her own. Lina scoured the Morlando mansion attic and the old trunks where she'd stashed most of her children's memorabilia. She was glad her husband was not at home while she was poking around those old trunks.

She found drawings from her son and daughter's earliest school days as well as their class yearbooks. She flipped through her son's and saw something she hadn't noticed before, a signature from Archbishop Delahanty!

Her son never mentioned he'd gotten that autograph. It could have been when he graduated from 8th grade. It was the Archbishop who performed the graduates' mass and distribution of diplomas.

Why had she forgotten that? She flipped to the back pages of her son's graduation yearbook to the patrons who made contributions to the printing of the book.

She saw that her son had circled the Archbishop's name.

Antony Sr. arrived home in time for dinner. He was accustomed to seeing the dining room table set and ready for their usual 6 P.M. meal. He poked his head into the kitchen.

"Have you seen Mrs. Bucafuso, Mrs. Anginelli," Antony asked their cook.

"No. Mr. B...I haven't. She didn't ask for lunch. But, I know she is here at home."

Antony wandered to the second floor of the mansion poking his head into each bedroom. No sign of his wife anywhere. He thought he heard footsteps in the attic.

"Lina, are you there?" Antony called from the foot of the attic stairs.

Lina heard Antony's muffled voice from the bottom of the stairs. She was so absorbed in her search that she forgot the time. She looked at her wristwatch.

"My gosh! It's nearly 6 P.M. and I haven't even spoken to our cook about dinner."

Lina hurried down the stairs where Antony was still standing.

"Lina what on earth were you doing up there? You look a dusty sight!"

"I can't talk now. I forgot to give Mrs. Anginelli the menu for our dinner!"

"Don't worry about dinner. Mrs. Anginelli probably has it ready."

Lina was undeterred and headed to the kitchen.

"Mrs. B, I had no instructions. I hope you don't mind. I made a nice thick steak for each of you, a fresh salad and baked potatoes. For dessert, apple cloufouti and coffee."

"I'm so sorry Mrs. Anginelli. Yes. that's fine. I could do with a juicy steak.Sounds perfect!"

Antony following behind his wife was brimming with what he learned about their son,not realizing she also had found interesting information from her afternoon in the attic.

As dinner was served, both Antony and Lina were preoccupied, each with their own thoughts. When their meal ended, they retired to the lush, green conservatory where there was a cool breeze passing.

"I must say Lina you do look a sight better than you did when I arrived."

"I didn't realize how hot the attic could be in late summer," Lina said evasively.

"What were you looking for up there?"

"I...was..I felt a wave of nostalgia seeing our son and realized how little attention I paid to his school days."

"Why Antony and not Gina?"

"Maybe because I realize since the moment he was ordained, he had a whole other life we were not part of."

Lina rose and walk toward the white cross paned French doors and opened them wide.
"Antony! Come here! Quickly!"

"What is it?"

"You know what it is...it's back! The apparition!"

"My God! We haven't seen this since...since.."

"Since that man was found frozen to death..." Lina finished his thought.

The two watched in awe.

"I'm going out there. This has to stop," Antony said.

"No. Antony. Please. You remember what happened the last time I went out there."

Antony remembered how his wife looked when she went out to the graves where the ghosts hovered Gina was just entering college and Antony was...a senior in high school.

Antony's mind wandered from the apparition that now seemed to fade to the gnawing feelings about his son.

"Lina, I fibbed today when I told you I was going into town."

"Whaaaat? Why?"

"Because something our son said when last he was here sticks in my mind. You know? All that business about donating to the church?"

"I have a confession to make too. I was in the attic for the same reason. Only I didn't fib as you did. I really did think about how much our son changed since he was ordained.

"Antony, did you know our son had gotten the then Monsignor Delahanty to sign his class yearbook?

"No. But that isn't such a remarkable thing, is it?"

"No...But this is. It's a letter written to our Antony from the Archbishop encouraging him to join the priesthood. Archbishop Delahanty even to offered to pay for his college education," Lina said.

"I don't see what that..."

"Why didn't we know our Antony was in touch with Archbishop Delahanty back then? When Gina and I invited him for dinner years ago, I don't recall him  paying any special attention to Antony. In fact, Antony made himself scarce when he was here. Was it intentional?"

"Well, why would a high school boy be interested in a man of the cloth? You know how teens are. Have you forgotten how many times we had to get him out of bed for Sunday Mass?"

"Sure, but no kid of that age wants to be out of bed at six in the morning to go to church."

"He never seemed to mind serving as an altar boy, I must say," Lina responded.

"No. That's true. You think maybe that was when he decided to become a priest?"

"I think it was to avoid four years of college. Didn't do him any good. He had to take college courses in the seminary anyway before he could be ordained."

"In the meanwhile, what do we do about these apparitions? We are not the only ones seeing them and St. Gertrude's has been less a place of eternal rest and more of an infernal ghost attraction," Lina said.

"I wish I knew what to do, my darling wife. Do you remember back when your brother John was so unnerved by the sight of those things?"

"Yes. It nearly drove him off the deep end."

"Didn't you tell me his daughter also thought she saw them?"

"Yes. Adrianna said she saw them at night when she was getting ready for bed. I'm not sure my sister-in-law, Donna, believed it. But, we can never know now can we?"

"What was it about those apparitions then John was so afraid of?"

Lina sat quietly thinking about her husband's question. Her oval shaped face and her dark eyes glanced toward the French doors.

"I'm not so sure he was afraid. I think he felt it was some kind of omen..you know? Like a warning of some kind."

"That was after Donna and Adrianna..."

"Yes. I think I'd forgotten how long ago that was and how much has changed. Yet, these things are still with us."

"What has changed so very much, Lina?"

"The size of our family for one thing. The growth of our business and our place in Aptonia for another. The Morlando name is a hallowed thing my father and Uncle could never have begun to imagine."

"To think...Your Uncle Arturo thought this entire property would be farmland."

"Well, there really wasn't a need, considering how many farms there already were in Aptonia."

"Now, there are none."

"No. Morlando land is now the largest and contributes the most to the town in taxes as a funereal business," Lina said.

"Antony, when I was in the attic, I had a streak of nostalgia looking at all those old photo albums. It was strange to see those old sepia photos of Uncle Arturo. He cut quite a dashing figure. My father and mother must have struggled to hold onto this mansion and the land. It couldn't have been easy in those days."

"That's true. The Great Depression was difficult for everyone. And then, came the war," Antony said.

"John was not quite old enough to serve in the military and I'm not sure, being the only son to carry on the family name, the military would have allowed it. I was barely in my preteens at the time."

"When you and I married, weren't we the lucky ones to be a little better off than our parents? Now, our children are even more well off. Except, for our son. Who knew he would be a priest?"

"I know what you mean. I had no idea he was more than mildly interested in religion, much less pursue such a vocation. But, he seems to have adapted to a life of poverty and other religious sacrifices quite well," Lina replied.

"I'm not so sure he is all that adapted, Lina. I hadn't wanted to bring this up, but our son is quite worldly in his aspirations. A kind of "ladder climber, if you know what I mean," Antony said.

"No. I don't know what you mean."

"When he last visited us, he seemed quite hopeful he would replace Archbishop Delahanty. He even declined to allow Richard to drive him back to the rectory of his parish," Antony said.

"I did find that kind of odd. I thought the vow of poverty extended to having to live on the good graces of others and not have the luxury of "calling a car." as Antony said that night," Lina answered.

"Lina what are your feelings about old Archbishop Delahanty?"

"I found him to be what you call a "ladder climber. Many of his parishioners who have family buried here in St. Gertrude's told of his being "quite an ambitious priest."

"Oh?"

"Yes. Don't you recall that he asked about donating Morlando land on more than one occasion?"

"What would force that to happen? Something like those apparitions?"

"Oh no. I am sure he never had a hand in any of that," Lina said.

Lina knew her husband of four decades well enough to know what he was thinking. She wondered if her maternal instinct to protect the young was obliterating her ability to consider all possibilities.

"Then you also think those ghosts are not some ethereal beings?"

"I think I know what creates them, I am just unsure of who..." Lina said."

"If you draw a line to the fact that your brother thought he saw those things over the graves of certain Aptonia old timers, to the fact there have at times been several apparitions, a unnamed dead man found frozen in a snowstorm, an odd woman in Oakwood cemetery visiting another grave with the name Sharpe, stranger who walked into the Flower Shop and a love affair between Bob Delahanty who was supposed to be dead and their love child, that is one huge bunch of clues.

By the way, does the name Simeon Warman mean anything to you?" Antony said.

"It's an old Aptonia family name. Why?" Lina asked.

"Simeon Warman is now a priest prefect at the old monastery where our son was a seminarian. Bob Delahanty was a groundskeeper at the monastery at his brother's orders?

Or did Father Antony tell you that he was moved to St. Angela's at the specific request of the Archbishop?"

"Is that the information you found when you fibbed to me?" Lina asked.

"Yes. And, I also fibbed to Reverend Simeon Warman."

"Get thee to a confessional..." Lina joked.

"That's it! Lina! What you just said. About a confessional..."

"Antony Bucafuso you've lost me."

"The confessional. Archbishop Delahanty had to know his brother was alive, was dishonorably discharged and had a love child. So he secreted him off to that monastery to protect himself from a scandal that might have dirtied his position in the church."

"But why a dead man with no name? A strange woman and all of those other clues?"

"I think there is a network we are not seeing."

"Such as?"

"Take the dead man for example. He comes to visit a grave after hours and ends up frozen to death. Why? What was the reason he spent so much time over a grave? He had to know the Delahantys . I know you don't believe in women's intuition, but what if..." Lina started.

"What if what, Lina"

"What if the man was the son of Bob Delahanty? We all saw the dead man's body. He was slightly older than our Antony. It's possible isn't it?"

"What would make him visit a grave in a storm?"

Lina looked as if she was so deep in thought she didn't hear the question.

"We know the police will never tell us who he was. There has to be a reason for that. I wonder if the dead man had Cara Sharpe's last name. Wouldn't he have?" she asked.

"No. Not if he was adopted as Cara Sharpe told you."

"Antony, what was that you asked about the old Warman family?"

"I asked if you knew the family. Weren't you paying attention? I told you a man named Simeon Warman was prefect at the seminary where our Antony studied."

"Hmmm. The only thing I recall about the name Warman was that the elder Warman was on the Aptonia town council. Strange, don't you think? Archbishop Delahanty is linked to two families in Aptonia whose sons became priests."

Lina walked over to the book shelf in the library and retrieved her father's old diary. She flipped through the pages quickly and then stopped abruptly before she reached the mid section of the book.

"Antony! Here is it. Papa's account of the town council back then. They planned to buy Papa's land to build houses but Papa threatened to dump St. Gertrude's cemetery on the town and they'd have to pay the costs. Thomas Warman was one of those who agreed not to burden the town with that kind of financial debt. Charles Apton, being the wealthiest and a town founder was the only one who disagreed."

"So in a way, the Reverend Warman's father was saving Aptonia from financial disaster. I don't see the link to the Delahantys."

"Wait, wait. Here's more...The town council decided to allow Richard Van Helm to build over near the old Manford farm. I see now why our grandson-in-law, Richard, wants not part of the real estate business," Lina said.

"Something we might have overlooked. Remember the older man who came into the flower shop and quickly disappeared. Gina Marie said she didn't get a good look at him but thought he was younger than I," Antony said.

"He must have realized Gina Marie was too young to provide him with any answers he was after. If he disappeared as Gina Marie said the minute another customer walked in to place an order, he wasn't there to order flowers."

"Yes. Yes. That's it. He probably wanted to ask if she knew where the Delahanty grave was. He wouldn't have come into the office here in St. Gertrude's because we might ask too many questions. So he had to know the Morlando family had owned St. Gertrude's for three generations," Lina said.

"Hmm. Lina, my dear, you are truly a wonder at this sleuthing. But what if the man was a detective?

Not one with a license but maybe one with ties to someone who wants information about ownership of Morlando properties and businesses."

Lina and Antony didn't know how close they were to the truth until the following spring when Father Antony called to ask if they knew Archbishop Delahanty had passed on.

"No son. We didn't know. We'd heard rumors he was very sickly. But after all, a man of his age can't live forever," Antony said.

"Father! Really! How can you be so glib?"

"I didn't think I was being glib."

"May I speak to Mother?"

Antony didn't like his son's tone but he knew not to pursue the issue.

"Lina! Our son's on the phone!" Antony called.

Lina was in the kitchen preparing breakfast.

"Oh? Antony, I'll be right there."

Lina took the call and also sensed Father Antony's tone.

"Mother I am calling to remind that it is very important that a member of the Morlando family attend the Archbishop's memorial service. Oh and please have Gina Marie and Richard send off the biggest flower arrangement for the altar," Father Antony said.

"We will need the information...date, etc."  Lina said.
"You can get it all from the diocesan office."

Father Antony rang off abruptly with Lina holding the phone with a puzzled expression on her face Antony didn't miss.

"Did you ever know our son to be so full of himself?" Antony asked.

"No. I detected an authoritarian tone and it was unmistakable he expects to use our family name to make points with those above him," Lina said.

"You mean you think he is hoping to be Archbishop?"

"Could be. We have to hurry off to business. With Memorial Day just ahead, we may be swamped with orders for those buried in St. Gertrude's who served in the military," Lina said.

Lina made a point of calling the diocesan office to get the details for Archbishop Delahanty's funeral. She then passed it on to Gina, Gina Marie and Richard.

"No kidding, the old boy is dead? He had to be ninety by now," Gina said.

"Not far from it," Lina answered.

"Will we be expected to make an appearance at his memorial?" Gina asked.

"It sounded as if your brother expects all of us to be there," Lina said.

The Memorial service was held at the cathedral as expected. Father Antony had provided his family members with tickets reserved for them in the front section of the church.

"Good heavens! It looks as if the entire Catholic Church is here," Antony said.

"Well at least we are not seated near the army of Roman collars in the first four pews," Lina answered.

Gina and Dennis tried to stifle amused smiles while Gina Marie and Richard watched the stragglers searching for their seats.

"That's the mystery man who came into the flower shop," Gina Marie said.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. I couldn't see his face clearly but I did notice a tiny scar under his right ear," Gina Marie continued.

"It wouldn't surprise me if that odd looking woman I saw at Oakwood turned up too," Richard said.

"Shhhhh...the memorial service is about to begin," Dennis cautioned.

The Morlando family was not prepared for what they saw next...their son dressed in full archbishop vestments!

"Mother, do you see what I see?" Gina asked.

Lina looked at Antony who shrugged his shoulders at what he saw.

"Look Gran, we have an archbishop in the family now," Gina Marie said.

Father Antony Morlando was now Archbishop Morlando.

When the Memorial Service ended with a recessional, Gina Marie kept her eyes on the mystery man. He had aged quite a bit but that small scar under his right ear marked him as the same man who came into the Flower Shop that day years ago.

Gina Marie made sure she stayed behind the man until they reached the marble steps of the Cathedral and then she pretended to "accidentally" bump into him.

"Oh I am so sorry. Are you okay? This marble steps are treacherous.." she said.

"I am fine," the man answered.

"Wait. Aren't you the man who came into our shop some years ago?" Gina Marie asked.

"Why yes. I'm surprised you remember. You are the niece of the new archbishop are you not?"

"Yes. That's right. Father Antony is my uncle," she answered.

"Have your grandparents turned their property over to the diocese yet?"

"Why no. What do you mean?"

"Well, you know how the church is and your uncle taking over Archbishop Delahanty's position is contingent upon his inheriting Morlando property and business," the man said.

"I'm sorry, what did you say your name is?" Gina Marie asked.

"George...George Apton. I'm sure you can guess who my father is from my last name."

"Well certainly. Apton is the family that founded Aptonia," Gina Marie

By this time, Richard was at his wife's elbow with her mother, father and grandparents heading toward the two.

"Mother, this is George Apton of the Apton family?"

Gina looked puzzled but she knew the Apton name. It was Charles Apton who was after Morlando property when Pietro Morlando balked at selling it.

"He's the myst...the man who came into our shop years ago..remember Mother?" Gina Marie asked.

"I'm sorry we were not able to serve you. You left so quickly. Who were you ordering flowers for?" Gina asked.

"Oh I wasn't there to order flowers at all. I was there to assess the value of the vast land holdings of the Morlando family for Archbishop Delahanty. My sister was engaged to his brother before he went missing. She never got over him and never married," George Apton said.

"Your sister was Cara Sharpe?" Lina interrupted.

"Oh no. My sister is Dora...Dora Apton. I must take my leave now."

And the man was gone.

"Dora Apton was engaged to Bobby Delahanty?" Lina said after the man left.

"Why is that strange to you, Lina?" Antony asked.

"Don't you remember? Cara Sharpe said she was engaged to Bobby Delahanty. Dora Apton is president of the Aptonia Historical Society and Museum. The Museum was donated by the church. And the church was donated by your grandfather. The Reverend Albert van Helm..."

"Yes Mother Lina. I know he was minister at Oakwood Church," Richard added.

"Why didn't you mention it to us when you said you went to Oakwood?" Gina asked.

"I had forgotten all about it. There was bad blood in the van Helm family over that donation of land for the church and also for the museum. I was in college at the time and couldn't spend time getting into family disputes," Richard said.

He felt as if there was a world of suspicion on him.

"What does this woman Dora Apton look like, Mother Lina?"

"An ordinary sort of woman in his late 60s or 70s but she doesn't look her age. Why do you ask?"

"I want to see if she fits the description of the woman I saw that day in Oakwood cemetery," Richard said.

"I doubt if she was jilted by Archbishop Delahanty's brother, Bob, she would show up at his memorial service today," Lina said.

Richard didn't like the feeling of suspicion Lina had aroused. When they went back to Morlando Mansion, a light dinner was ready and waiting thanks to Mrs. Anginelli,

As they sat around the table in a dead silence, Antony said, "Well this was quite a day! Wasn't it?"

"Mother you heard what George Apton said. Father err...Archbishop Morlando made a deal to wrest the Morlando properties and businesses from us in exchange for his becoming archbishop,"Gina said.

"I'm sure he misunderstood," Lina said.

"Why would he lie? You heard what he said about being in the flower shop...He was there to assess the value of our assets for Archbishop Delanty," Gina Marie added.

Antony rose and went into the library to retrieve the Bucafuso will he kept in the safe.

"Here is our will. Your mother's and mine, Gina. As you will read, everything goes to whomever dies first as spouses according to state law. Then it goes to you and Dennis with the businesses remaining in yours, Dennis's, Gina Marie's and Richard's hands. We made no provision for your brother, Gina. He took the vow of poverty and your mother and I are Sunday Catholics only. So our assets will not in any way be in the hands of the church," Antony said.

"Well, Papa that's good to know. Are there copies of this will?" she asked

"Yes. With our lawyer. Upon both of our deaths, you need to make sure you speak to him immediately."

"Does Father Antony..er the Archbishop know about this will?" Gina Marie asked.

"No. I am sure he knows a will exists but he has never seen it nor have we discussed it with him," Lina said.

Richard was certain the woman visiting that Sharpe grave was Dora Apton. The puzzling thing is which Sharpe was buried in that grave? The grave stone had only the name and date. That too was puzzling.

"I'm a van Helm and I should be able to know who is in that grave. I plan to go to the historical society to see this Dora Apton woman and to discover who is buried in that grave," he told himself.

When he arrived at the Aptonia Historical Museum, he was met by Dora Apton herself.

"Can I help you sir?" she asked.

"I'm looking for Dora Apton," he said.

"I am she. How can I help you?"

"I'm looking for the first name of the person named "Sharpe" buried out there in Oakwood Cemetery," Richard said, to see if the woman would react.

"I'm sorry but the museum doesn't keep records here of burials. Only family Bibles. What you want to do is go over to Oakwood's records. The answer should be there. But, why do you want to know?"

"It's the only grave with only a name and date. The rest all have a first and last name. It's just curious to me is all," Richard said.

"Where will I find the Oakwood records of burials?"

"I'm not sure who is managing that these days. I know in the past Reverend van Helm obliged us by keeping those records," Dora said.

"Reverend van Helm is my uncle. I am Richard van Helm. I think I saw you visiting that grave. And you don't know who is buried there?"

Dora Apton realized anything she said could easily be checked by any one of the Morlando family given their origin in Aptonia. She quickly recalled meeting Lina Bucafuso, the Morlando's daughter.

She felt trapped into having to choose her words carefully and not appear to be protecting anyone.

"I...uh..well. Yes. I do go out there to that grave now and again. Look, I'll tell you who is in that grave. But you must promise not to allow anyone us to know," Dora said.

"I cannot agree to such a promise. I am married to the grand niece of the Morlando family and I keep no secrets from my wife."

Dora knew the minute she responded Richard van Helm's wife would certainly tell her parents and grandparents.

Her facial expression turned as pale as a ghost's.

"The person...buried there is a child of Carl Sharpe. Now, most know he had no children with his legal wife. But, he kept it secret that he had an affair with another woman who bore him a child," Dora said.

"Old Carl Sharpe had an affair?"

"When he was a younger man, yes. He had several affairs. The child buried there is mine. After I lost the love of my life to that horrid niece of Carl's and Bobby Delahanty broke our engagement, I met Carl in a bar one night and we just hit it off. I was in a bad place at that time and very weak and vulnerable. I had a little too much to drink and things went a little too far. But, an illegitimate child to an Apton would have been a town scandal never forgotten."

"Why was your brother involved with the Archbishop Delahanty?"

"That's an old story best left forgotten. You see my father, Charles Apton III wanted Morlando land. But they refused to give it up. By the time Bobby's brother became a Monsignor he was obsessed with getting his hands on that property, come hell or high water. So he asked my brother and several others to "work on the Morlandos" to get them to hand over the property to the church."

"Others?" Richard asked.

"I was so broken hearted and then with trying to keep an illegitimate baby a secret from the town, I can't say who else may have been involved in the scheme. Besides I've already told you more than I should have. Now is there anything else?"

With that, Richard left feeling as if he uncovered the secret to nuclear fusion. The one word in all of what Dora Apton relayed was "others."

So it was true what Lina said about the town's old timers including his own grandfather. Why were they so desperate to take control of Morlando land? Richard pondered this all the way home to his wife, Gina Marie and their twins.

When he arrived home, Gina Marie was feeding their babies their dinner. He must have lost track of time.

"Finally! You are home! I was beginning to worry something happened to you," Gina Marie said.

"Something did. But let's get the twins ready for bed before I tell you all about it," Richard said.

Gina Marie was not quite the cook her mother or grandmother were but she managed to rustle up a decent supper. Richard reminded himself to look into a part-time cook for his family meals. Gina Marie had her hands full caring for the twins. But, she refused to allow him to hire a nanny.

After their evening meal, Richard told Gina Marie everything Dora Apton told him.

"OMG! How did you ever manage to get her to tell you all that?"

"My handsome face? My irresistible charm?"

Gina Marie gave him a loving nudge.

"Richard, you know we must tell my parents and grandparents."

"Of course. Let's ask them to come over for dessert."

"Richard I don't have any dessert to offer them."

"I am sure your Gran has a treasure trove of those amazing Italian cookies. Put on a pot of coffee and I'll call them."

After Richard called Gina and Dennis and Lina and Antony, Lina hurriedly called Gina.

"What on earth is the big important rush for us to go to the van Helms?" Lina asked.

"Don't know Mom. Maybe Gina Marie is with child again?"

When the Bucafusos and Fortunados arrived at Richard and Gina Marie's home, all four sat in the spacious living room. While they waited for coffee, Lina and Gina hurried off to the nursery to check on the twins who were sleeping peacefully.

Gina Marie brought in the coffee and set out the cannoli Lina brought with her.

"What was so important we had to rush over here?" Lina asked

The four were so stunned by what Richard had been told by Dora Apton that there was a long, long silence before Lina spoke up.

"Why was she so effusive? Why did she tell you all of this?" Lina asked.

"I'd told her I saw her at Oakwood Cemetery. I think that kind of shook her up. She didn't deny it. I think she realized that anything she told me could easily be proven by anyone in the Morlando family. Except of course, her affair with old Carl Sharpe. I am still having a problem wrapping my mind around that relationship."

"Why?" Gina asked.

"She had to be much younger when she had that affair. How old would you say she is now?" Richard asked.

"I'm guessing in her middle fifties. But, you are right. She couldn't have been more than eighteen at that time," Lina said.

"That sounds about right. She claims Cara Sharpe stole Bobby Delahanty from her?" Antony asked.

"But Cara Sharpe was an old woman. Dora Apton seems much younger, don't you think?"

"It could be Cara Sharpe only looked much older at that nursing home due to illness," Lina said.

"Still, they were old enough to be lovers of Bobby Delahanty," Dennis put in.

"True. But what was that she said about the Archbishop desperate to lay claim to Morlando land?" Antony asked.

"Near as I can remember, this started way back when my father refused to allow the town councilmen to force him to hand over part of our property."

"There weren't any of those apparitions when your father and mother started St. Gertrude's, was there?"

"No. Of course not. That only began after my brother John married Donna," Lina said.

"So the timeline is that the apparitions were not there when that dispute happened with your father. What then was the reason it started after your father died?" Richard asked.

"It must have something to do with the fact that after both of my parents died, his children inherited their assets which included the property Archbishop Delahanty was after," Lina said.

"Well, that is a possibility, Lina, but where do those ghosts come in?"

Suddenly everyone went silent.

"Mama, didn't you tell me once that Grandfather Morlando told you and Uncle John that Carl Sharpe was involved in a scandal?" Gina asked.

"Yes. He was a Senator and forced to resign over misuse of public lands," Lina said.

"Whose public lands?" Gina asked.

"I assumed it was owned by the state. Why?"

"What if it was owned by Charles Apton?" Gina asked.

"Hmmm...Charles Apton did own quite a bit of land in Aptonia. And it is true the Apton family were the first settlers who named the town," Lina said.
 "Where was...is the land he owned?" Gina continued.

"I believe it is still located on the original site and owned by one of the Apton children."

"I believe something I heard my grandfather say might be an answer. My grandfather was a money hungry old fool by my standards. But, he and Charles D. Apton were after getting rid of all of the farms in Aptonia so they could make it more of a suburban community. Is it possible they were involved with Carl Sharpe regarding one of those land deals and Sharpe took the blame for the deal being exposed for fraud?" Richard asked.

"But how would we prove that and where does the Archbishop and those ghosts fit into this?"

"So many pieces of the puzzle and yet no picture forms," Antony said.

"It was so long ago. I don't understand why since John and Donna occupied Morlando mansion those ghosts are still with us."

"There is a key piece to this puzzle that is missing," Dennis said.

"Such as?" Gina asked.

"Such as what the ghost, Carl Sharpe, the Archbishop, his brother jilting Dora Apton and then planning to marry Cara Sharpe who was about to have his child. And what about the fact that Cara Sharpe said the day they went to buy their wedding rings, Bob Delahanty was spooked by a face he saw in the reflection in the jewelry store window? And who was the man who came into the Flower Shop that Gina Marie saw? See? Something ties all of this together," Dennis said.

"Yes. But what is it?" Gina asked, impatiently.

"Well, let's look at this as if we were not a family. We know there are a lot of secrets and scandals in all towns. In Aptonia, there are as well. What if someone wanted to get even with the Morlando family for refusing to hand over their property to the church?" Dennis asked.

"And?" Lina said.

"What would it take to force the decision to sell? Given that the only possible authority who could find a way to do that, the former Senator Carl Sharpe, is long dead? Who else has the kind of influence and authority to do that? Don't you see the key is and probably has been the Archbishop?" Dennis asked.

"But he's also passed on," Lina said.

"Yes. But his kind of ambition is always a legacy he would want carried on. Is that not so?" Dennis asked

"I just don't see where this ties to his brother and his brother's illegitimate child of Cara Sharpe or the those ghosts?" Gina said.

"Power is a funny and very dangerous thing, depending on the perception of who has the power. This town has always had mixed feelings about the Morlando land holdings that grew into several businesses from the cemetery your father created, Lina," Antony said.

"If as Richard said, Charles Apton and Richard's grandfather had some kind of irregular back room deal to get Morlando land, they must have seen those land holdings as more than just St. Gertrude's cemetery as a solo business. They may have seen that eventually Morlandos would expand their business in Aptonia and become all too powerful," Antony said.

Once again, the room fell silent. Then, Lina spoke up.

"So, a shady land grab would easily have been exposed quickly if the word got out that Bob Delahanty was dishonorably discharged from the military and also had an illegitimate child. The son of Bob Delahanty and Cara Sharpe," Lina said.

"Dennis, what was that you said before about the Archbishop? About his legacy?" Antony asked.

"I believe the answer to the ghosts have been staring all of us in the face. Or, at least had until Gina's brother became a priest. He now has the same title as the Archbishop, does he not? So he also would be as ambitious about fulfilling the Archbishop's legacy to add to his own," Dennis said.

"Dennis! That's not fair! Father Antony would not be involved in trying to force us to sell our land holdings," Lina protested.

"Wait a minute, Lina. You said yourself you saw a shiny spot on our son's collar when last he was here. Where did that come from?" Antony asked.

"Well, I...I can't say. But it's absurd to think our own son is in on some bizarre plot to force us to sell. And we have all seen more than one ghost out there in St. Gertrude's, have we not?" Lina asked.

"It's getting late and we all have work tomorrow. Let's just let this lie for now," Antony said.

The six members of the Morlando family each returned home in a stony silence. Lina felt as if Dennis was accusing wife's brother of a plot. Antony felt so mixed up and the thoughts and ideas of the evening swirled in his sleep.

Dennis felt that his wife misunderstood his point he was trying to make and she too thought the idea that her brother would be involved in such a plot against his own family was utterly without merit.

Gina Marie and Richard didn't have much time to discuss the events of the evening. But, Richard couldn't help feeling as if his wife was a little suspicious of his motives for agreeing with her father about about her uncle.

Life seemed to go on normally until the following summer. Lina and Antony were working at St. Gertrude's office when a tall, slim man in a suit and tie approached the front reception desk.

"I'd like to speak to Lina Bucafuso," the man said.

"I'm Mrs. Bucafuso," Lina answered.

"I'm Detective Robert Dyson," he said.

"Yes? What can I do for you?" Lina asked.

"I'm working on an unsolved murder," he answered.

"Murder?" Lina said.

"Yes. Some years ago, your groundskeeper found a dead body in St. Gertrude's cemetery?"

"Yes. Sam Granthal found the body. We thought the man died of exposure because it had snowed so heavily the night before," Lina said.

"Where is your groundskeeper now?"

"Surely you don't think Sam is a murderer? He's been our employee for more than three decades," Antony interjected.

"No, sir. We know who the murderer is. We just want to know the details of how the man's body was found," Detective Dyson said.

"Wait. You said your family name is Dyson? Are you related to Chief of Police Dyson?" Lina asked.

"Yes. He is my grandfather."

Antony dialed the intercom number to Sam Granthal's office.

Lina eyed Detective Dyson suspiciously.

"Do you know the dead man's name?"

"Yes. But we need to know if your groundskeeper knows him," Dyson said.

Sam Granthal walked into the office startled by the sight of the officious looking stranger.

"Sam, this is Detective Dyson  He wants to ask you a few questions," Antony said.

"Certainly," Sam answered.

"Would you prefer to question Sam privately in my office?" Antony asked.

"No, I would prefer to have witnesses to his answers should it become necessary," Dyson said.

He turned to Sam with dead pan seriousness.

"Mr. Granthal, on the morning you found a dead body out in St. Gertrude's was there anything else you notice that seemed out of the ordinary?" Dyson asked.

Sam asked if he could sit down and think about it.

"It was some years ago. I'm trying to remember. I went out to brush the snow off the holiday wreaths in case there were any visitors to St. Gertrude's that morning. I had a small brush in my gloved hand and let me see. I walked over to the row of graves at the east side of the cemetery first," Sam said.

"How long did that take?"

"You mean how long was I out there before I saw the dead man's body?"

"Yes."

"Not very long. The snow was still falling, although it was much lighter in the early morning and so it was cold enough for my feet to start to feel numb. I'd say not more than 45 minutes before I realized trying to get to all the graves might mean a case of frost bite," Sam said.

"Was the dead body the last grave you planned to tend to?" Dyson asked.

"Yes. I was kind of annoyed when I saw from a short distance someone had left a large grave cover. When I went over to the grave of Buck Delahanty, I saw it was a dead body. That's when I hurried to tell the Morlandos to call the police," Sam said.

"So the body was totally covered in snow?" Dyson asked.

"Yes."

"Were there any footprints or anything else unusual you remember seeing?"

Sam went quiet.

"My mind is not as sharp as when I was younger but now that you ask, there was something odd. I guess I didn't notice it with all of the commotion and then the police coming and all," Sam said.

"Yes and what was it?"

"There was a small bunch of dried thorns sitting on the base of the gravestone. I just assumed someone had put roses there earlier on and they dried out and only the thorns remained," Sam said.

"Mrs. Bucafuso, do you keep a record of those who visit the graves?"

"No sir. That wouldn't be possible and we wouldn't like the families of the deceased to feel their have no privacy to pay their respects," Lina said.

The detective looked disgusted.

"The dead man's name" Antony asked.H

"He's a relative of Buck Delahanty. His name is Robert Carason from what we gathered. about him."

Lina and Antony glanced at each other furtively.

"May I go back to work now?" Sam asked.

"Yes. But if you can remember anything else, here is my card,"

"There is one other thing..." Sam started.

"What is it?" Dyson asked.

"About a week later, I went to check on our supply of fertilizer. I can't be certain but one of my assistants may have accidentally mistaken it for insecticide and tried to dilute it in water. There was a small bottle of it. We usually put a small amount into our sprayers to stop insects and the like," Sam said.

"Funny thing about that, I warned them to be more careful about mixing chemicals into fertilizer. I mean...I'm not chemist but even I know it can produce the strangest results. I was really annoyed when last year, one of them forgot that warning," Sam continued.

When Detective Robert Dyson left, Antony and Lina were almost in shock.

"How could Robert Carason be a relative of Buck Delahanty?" Lina asked.

"I don't know but I am sure you will try to find out," Antony said laughing.

"Antony, this is no laughing matter.  The Aptonia police know Robert Carason was murdered. Here in St. Gertrude's? If that ever got out, out business would be devastated. Bad enough we have ghost watchers. Now this," Lina said.

"Now Lina, we don't know he was murdered in St. Gertrude's."

"Well no one could drive a car in that snow that night and dump off a body.We'd have heard it for sure," Lina said.

Antony knew his wife better than he realized. The minute he was out of sight Lina started her sleuthing. The only distraction for Lina was the centennial celebration of St. Angela's Cathedral.
The Morlandos were invited to attend. None planned to go.

One late summer evening, the phone rang in Morlando Mansion as Lina and Antony were about to retire for the night.

"How can that be at this hour?" Lina asked.

"You won't know till you answer," Antony said.

"Hello? Who is calling?" Lina asked.

"The Archbishop Bucafuso," the male voice answered.

"Father Antony?"

"Yes. Mama, It is I."

"How are you? We don't get to speak with you now that you have been elevated to Archbishop," Lina said.

"Did you receive the invitation to the centennial?"

"Yes. But, we don't plan to attend," Lina said.

"You must! Your archbishop insists," Antony Jr. said.

"Why?"

"Is it too much to ask that the most prominent oldest family in Lyton County be present for the celebration?"

"Let me discuss it with your father. While have you on the phone, do you recall a relative of Archbishop Delahanty mentioning Robert Carason?" Lina asked.

"Let me think. I do recall him saying he had a nephew named Robert who entered the priesthood. I think he became a missionary in some foreign country," Antony Jr. said.

"Do you recall when Sam the groundskeeper found a dead man near the grave of Buck Delahanty?"

"Vaguely."

"According to Detective Robert Dyson, that was Robert Carason," Lina said.

"Mama, I have to go. See you at the centennial. Make sure the rest of the Morlando clan is there," Antony said.

"What on earth was that all about?" Antony Sr. asked.

"Robert was a nephew of Archbishop Delahanty. Your son said he was a priest. Who would murder a priest?" Lina asked.

"Someone whom he was a threat to and was silenced for whatever reason," Antony said.

What did "your" son say about it when you told him Carason was dead?"

"He's my son when he is acting suspicious? Antony Jr. was in an awful hurry to get off the phone," Lina said.

The Archbishop Antony Bucafuso knew who Robert Carason was. His predecessor Archbishop Delahanty also knew all too well who his nephew was. But in the church, protecting its brethen priesthood was a sacred tenet of faith.

He quickly dialed the phone number for his old seminary in Fortendale and asked to speak to Simeon Warman.

"Simmy? Antony here. We've got a problem. What happened to Father Carason? I thought you had assured me he would not make himself visible in Lyton County?"

"I'm not sure what you mean."

"I just spoke with my mother. Some young Aptonia detective is reopening the case of that dead man found in St. Gertrude's years ago. The detective investigating the case told Mother his name is Robert Carason. They know he was murdered. I thought you said he was doing missionary work abroad?"

"You are behind the times Tony my boy. Father Robert has not been here or doing missionary work since he left the priesthood. Your predecessor knew that. Didn't he tell you?"

"He only said that if Carason ever went public, it would be the worst scandal in the history of St. Angela's Cathedral."

"Tony, calm down. There's nothing to tie us to that murder. Trust me. it was all done on the up and up."

"This detective could be one of their ambitious types looking for a promotion," Antony Jr. said.

"You mean like we all were before we became the older generation of priests?"

"If it ever comes out that we were in on the archbishop's plot to make a land grab for the Morlando assets and Carason was in on it and silenced, we could end up in prison! Be sensible man!" Antony Jr. said.

"They won 't jail an archbishop. The Church won't allow that. The church has enough money for lots of get out of jail free cards," Simeon Warman said.

None of the Morlando clan was thrilled about having to attend the centennial Mass at St. Angela's Cathedral.

As soon as Archbishop Bucafuso began to descend the altar steps for the recessional, he knew something was wrong the minute he saw police waiting at the back of the church.

"Archbishop Bucafuso? I am here to arrest you as an accessory to the murder of Robert Carason," Detective Dyson said.

In his jail house confession when Lina and Antony Bucafuso finally mustered the courage to visit their son in jail, Antony Jr. confessed to being part of a plot to hand over the Morlando assets to the church.

Antony Bucafuso Jr,, Robert Carason and Simeon Warman were all in on the ghosts at St. Gertrude's to aid the Archbishop Delahanty in his plan to enrich St. Angela's. In fact, they were the ghosts slathered in phosphorus from the time they were young seminarians looking for fun.

The news reports went wild that the Archbishop's brother was not only dishonorably discharged for cowardice but had jilted Aptonia's town royalty, Dora Apton for Cara Sharpe. When Bob Delahanty saw the stranger's reflection in the jewelry store window, he knew it was a military investigator hunting for him to answer to other military charges against him.

The stranger who showed up at the Morlando Flower shop was Robert Carason trying to get information on the family so he could blackmail them into giving his uncle Archbishop Delahanty their assets.

For a few months, the usual scandal mongers hurried to St. Gertrude's to see the place where a former priest was murdered and the grandfather he never met in the years his adopted parents raised him. He changed his name when he found out who his real mother was. But by then, Cara Sharpe was as dead as his father Bobby Delahanty.

Such are the tales of St. Gertrude's Cemetery.






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