Johanna's Secret

By Maya Northen Augelli

After experiencing a painful breakup of a long-term relationship, therapist and part time author Hennie Barritt decides to finally pursue her long held dream of writing a novel. While traveling up the coast of New England, she comes across a garden cottage that she feels drawn to, and on a whim, decides it is perfect location for her to make a fresh start, get away from the busy city life in Baltimore, and work on her book. As Hennie settles into her new life in Massachusetts, she learns of the unsolved disappearance of an entire family nearly a century ago - a family that vanished from the very cottage that she's now renting. Naturally curious and easily intrigued, Hennie becomes determined to discover more about the history of her house and family who once called it home. As she begins to investigate, with she's drawn into a world of secrets deeper than she could have imagined.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jul 16, 2019
• ISBN: 9781543972962

Book preview

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1

As I push open the door to the cottage, a damp, musty smell, reminiscent of my grandmother’s basement, hits me hard. While it’s an odor that offends most people, it’s one I enjoy. It brings me back to my childhood, to the old home that my grandma lived in, my cousins and I hollering through the laundry shoots, enthralled as if they held some secret passageway. Though I guess by today’s standards, perhaps they did. As I walk into the corridor, I get a feeling of familiarity, almost as if I’d been here before, or perhaps experienced it through a movie or book. But I haven’t, of course. I found this cottage on a whim, driving through town, daydreaming about living in a charming little village, finding the perfect inspiration for my book. I’m using the phrase ‘my book’ liberally here. I’m not a published author, at least not in fiction novels anyways. But it’s been a dream of mine, and I’ve finally decided to pursue it. I felt the need for a shift in life, and an impromptu road trip brought me here. And yes, I do feel the town, the cottage, drew me in, not the other way around. I’m a semi-believer in past lives, and when I get pulled by that sense of belonging to a place or a situation, I’m almost certain the reason can be found in the past.

I look around the room, my eyes scanning over an old candle lantern, a wood burning fireplace, a modest but large-enough kitchen just past the living room, and oddly, a stack of old books. I can’t help myself. I wander over and dust off the top one. They look like they haven’t been touched in years, and yet with the way they’re arranged – neatly, and clearly in some sort of order that I haven’t yet figured out - they were well loved. Or at least well-used. Hennie… I hear my sister calling as she entered the doorway. Oh, of course. The books, she jests, as she strolls over to the kitchen. I see her eyes land on the coffee pot that the landlord left for me. Thankfully, he also left a can of coffee on the counter. Come on, Nan I teased her. You know I can’t resist. These look like they’re hiding something especially interesting. Hiding?" my sister questions, looking skeptical. I just smile. She knows my propensity to get so lost in a story, especially a historical one, that she’ll have to practically drag me away by the heels.

I come by it honestly. My parents are so into British royal history that my sisters and I are named after King Henry VIII and his wives. They were certain I’d be a boy and had picked out the name Henry. Not wanting to completely humiliate me through my youth, they lovingly changed it to Henrietta when they learned I was a girl. To my family, though, I’m Hennie, courtesy of Anna. She’s two years younger, and as a child she couldn’t pronounce the r, so Henri became Hennie and it stuck. I, in return, call her Nan, the nickname for her namesake, Anne Boleyn (my parents thought it to be foreboding to name her exactly for a woman beheaded for witchcraft, and gracefully turned Anne into Anna – a wise move in my opinion). True to her name, Nan is the family trendsetter. She’s sleeker and more fashionable than myself or Cathryn, our baby sister, and no doubt just as outspoken as the former Queen Anne herself. And yes, I realize society would dictate that I not call her Queen, yet she’s so fascinating a creature that I must. Cathryn, or Cat, is six years younger than me and a perfect combination of the three Queens whose name she bears. She’s book-wormish and curious like me, and a person of incredible inner strength. On occasion, she has a slightly wilder side, and as the youngest, gets away with much more than Nan and I ever did. She’s currently doing an exchange program at Oxford as part of her graduate studies. If you’re somehow as well versed in Tudor History as my family, and wondering how my parents managed to leave Jane Seymour out of the naming process, they didn’t. We have a labrodoodle named Janey who resides at their house now that we’ve all grown up and moved away.

I leave the books for now, moving to investigate the floor where the bedrooms and the main bathroom sit. My room, in the front of the house, overlooks the colorful gardens that first drew my attention to the place a couple of months back. As I peer out the windows into the grounds below, I once again get that feeling that the house knows something I’ve yet to discover. It’s not uncomfortable, really. It’s more a sense of understanding. I hear footsteps and turn to see Nan entering the room with two steaming cups. I see you got the coffee pot working. I reach for one, assuming she hasn’t made them both for herself. Thanks. Be careful, it’s hot. She smiles, realizing how much she sounds like our mother. Where’s the guest room? Right across the hall, I point to the half-open door directly facing mine.

I hear Nan plop down her bags, and then a slightly muffled ‘hmm’. What? I call across the hall. Oh it’s nothing… she assures me, but not wholeheartedly. Nan doesn’t hmm for no reason. I walk over to see her peering at a small doorway on the opposite wall. Probably just a storage area, she says, wrestling with the antique-looking lock and knob on its front. Nan’s not one to be particularly curious about these kinds of things. In fact, she tends to tease me about getting lost in exploration of what she considers silly. So if she’s paying it more than a passing glance, it must be intriguing – though why, I’m not yet sure. It reminds me of the laundry shoots at grandma and grandpa’s. Remember that time we were playing hide and seek and Cat hid in the laundry shoot and got stuck? she grins. I laugh and nod. It took at least twenty minutes to pull her out. Now that I think about it, she really was lucky that she didn’t slide down and get stuck in the center of it. Nan gave up on the lock. I’ll leave that exploring to you, she shrugged, and I knew she was right. I couldn’t let a little door randomly placed in a spare bedroom, locked with such an ornate and effective lock, go uninvestigated. Well, when Cat comes to visit I’ll tell her she’s not allowed to hide in there, I joke, to cover up the weird feeling of disorientation that suddenly comes over me. Nan, always astute, notices anyway.

What’s wrong?

Nothing, I assure her. I just got dizzy for a second. You know how I get that sometimes.

She just nods. I get occasional spells of dizziness that often last just a few seconds, but sometimes put me on my butt for more than an hour. This momentary spell, though, felt different, almost as if I’d lost a second or two. I wave it off as lack of sleep, which often makes my vertigo worse.

I’m starving, Nan says, bringing me back to the present. Is there some place to get lunch?

Sure, there’s a little downtown about a ten minute walk from here. We could drive, but I wouldn’t mind stretching my legs. The drive from Baltimore had been about seven hours, with us switching driving duty every couple hours to give the other a break.

Walking out through the garden, I feel that pull again. As a writer, it’s a feeling I get seemingly out of nowhere. There’s a story here. I’ll have to ask the landlord further about the history. He’d only told me that the previous tenant had been a sixty-year old woman, widowed too early in life. The gardens, I was told, were her handiwork, and I hoped I would not completely destroy them with my less-than-green thumb. She’d loved the place, and had left only because her daughter had gotten a job over in Italy and she moved with them to be near her only grandchild. Linda, I believe the tenant’s name was. I made a mental note to visit Billy Chaven, the landlord, in the next couple of days. He lived on his own and, friendly and warm but lonely, he seemed to always welcome a visit. His place was just on the other side of Harbour Street, where we were headed now.

You’re lost in thought, Nan half asks half states. She knows me too well to be fooled. I’m just wondering about the house’s history, that’s all. I realize I don’t know much about it. And you know me… I trail off. She does, and there is no point in finishing the sentence.

I’d found the little town inviting when I’d stopped in the first time. It seemed everyone knew everyone else, and they each seemed to have some knowledge on a topic I’d never have expected. Like the bakery owner and his vast knowledge of WWII planes, despite the fact that he’d never been in the military. The owner of the little convenience market who, much to my excitement, was as curious about British royal history as I was. Or the dry cleaner who had an architecture degree and had once taught at a nearby college, but decided to take over the family business instead when his father had fallen ill, to keep it from going under.

Walking back from lunch, we pass a used bookstore. Without asking Nan, I open the door and start in. She might be more strong-willed, but when it comes to books, it’s pointless to argue with me. Still, she can’t resist a friendly jab, You don’t have enough books in the corner of your new living room? She has a point. I’d discovered all of those dusty books that I hadn’t yet sorted through. Perhaps I should check them first to avoid duplicates. Reason almost wins out, but I scold myself silently. There is no such thing as too many books. Finding the Local section, my eye is immediately caught by two titles: Unsolved Village Mysteries and Local Haunts, the obvious play on words alluding not to the best places to go to eat and drink, but the best places to go to experience a ghostly presence. Despite my love of history, I’m not a ghost-hunting fanatic. But I do know that where people experience ghosts, or believe they do, there’s usually a good story. It’s not true across the board, of course. You may feel the presence of your favorite grandparent who helps guide you through life’s tough times, but usually those stories are kept to oneself. Quite frankly, it’s because it doesn’t matter much to anyone else. It’s the big ghost stories, where someone disappeared or died in an appalling manner. Those are the hauntings whispered about all over town, shrouded in mystery. And where there’s mystery, there’s a good story to explore.

I pick up the books, a mere five dollars for the two of them, and check out. Ah, nothing like living in an unknown place by yourself that’s been vacant and covered in dust, reading ghost stories and unsolved mysteries to make you feel cozy. I couldn’t have said it better myself. Nan rolls her eyes in mock disdain. Well, I suppose for you, that’s probably true. But do me a favor. If you find out someone was stabbed or shot to death in that house, please get the hell out?. Ok, stabbed or shot, I’ll get out. But if they were smothered with a pillow or killed by arson, I can stay, right? I expect another eye roll, but instead, she looks puzzled. Arson? Nan asks. I think we would have heard about that, wouldn’t we? I’m surprised by her serious tone. For all of her teasing, Nan and I are very close, and I know she’d physically force me out of the cottage if she thought I was in harm’s way. First thing that came to mind, I say lightly. Though admittedly, it was a rather bizarre choice. Hmm, weird, she muses. It was unlike my sister to think about something like this past the surface level of a joke, and it throws me off for a moment. I guess so. Must be all those books I read. I’m sure someone was killed by arson in one of them, though I can’t actually recall one off the top of my head.

As we start to settle back into the cottage, I see Nan taking another look at the door inside of her room. She knocks on it and gets what almost sounds like an echo in return. Any luck?. She jumps slightly, not realizing I’d walked up behind her. It’s something hollow is all she says, though I see her fiddling with the lock again. I’m surprised you’re so curious. As if she realizes suddenly that she’s betraying her persona, she lightly rebuffs it’s just a very pretty lock, and you know me with pretty things. I do, but thirty years of living with her and I am astute enough to know when she’s downplaying things. Something about the door is bothering her, though I get the impression that even she might not know why. It happens to me all the time, that pull to a place or object, and only later, after much investigation, do I understand the reason behind it. Nan, however, doesn’t believe in such things and won’t admit the full extent of her interest. I know I’ll do more research on the house itself, if possible, to determine why such a door might be there, and what it might be lead to… or hide. For now, I let the matter rest. The journey, and the move itself, has made me a little weary, and Nan looks like she’s about to fall asleep where she sits.

Leaving her to her curiosities, I head to my room to attempt to write before bed. No sooner do I open my book draft than a message from Cat pops up. Hennie, love, I hope you are safe and sound at your new cottage?. I am, I assure her. Excellent. I found some interesting information on that new town of yours. I know it’s late, I’ll send it in an email. No, no. Now you’ve piqued my interest, go ahead. Well, it seems there was some controversy. A French au pair – I have to reconfirm the name but I think it’s Julienne – went there to live with a family of three kids. Girls, I think. An English fellow from here at Oxford followed her, though possibly not by invitation, and was planning to stay a week but never came back. Seems he fell off the face of the earth. And so, for that manner, did your au pair. If she were in front of me, I was sure I’d see a triumphant grin on Cat’s face. She loves finding out gossip like this. Maybe they ran off and got married, I suggest. He left here in a hurry, it’s said. He had two papers to be turned in, and was supposedly fastidious about his studies. Hmm. What was his name? I ask her. Edward Sharpe, she replies. He’s rather famous here at Oxford.

‘Edward Sharpe.’ I jot down the name in my miscellaneous notes book that I keep for such purposes – pieces of information I glean at unexpected moments or words and scenes that come to me when I am not prepared to be writing. What year was this? I asked Cat. 1925, I believe, she replied. So we’re going back about 90 years or so. I’m assuming he came over by boat. Must have, I agree. And the au pair, you said her name was Julienne? Yes, something like that anyways. I’d have to look for the spelling, Cat confirmed. It’s a start. I’ll check with my landlord. He’s been here quite a while and I’m sure if there’s a story he’s heard it. And coincidentally, I just picked up a book on unsolved local mysteries today at the bookstore here in town. Excellent!! Let me know what you find! I could practically see Cat’s enthusiasm through the chat window, and I knew she was genuinely excited. She has a curiosity like mine, though hers is more of a personality trait, whereas mine seems to hone in almost exclusively on historical matters. Still, I feel like I have a bit of a partner in crime, pun only half intended, for my unofficial investigation.

Chapter 2

As I wake from my nap, I can see Nan is still sleeping. I decide to take advantage of the free time and visit my landlord to see what he can offer in the way of local history. I dial his number, feeling anticipation I can’t explain. Billy, it’s Hennie, your new tenant. Hennie! Good to hear from you, dear. How’s it going? Everything all right with the cottage?. It’s great, I assure him. I was actually wondering if I could stop by today. I have a few questions about the town and it’s background that I was hoping you could help me with. Sure! Come on over any time. You know where it is, don’t you? Door’s unlocked so just come on in. I’m not used to this small town idea of leaving everything unlocked and others just letting themselves in. If you leave your place unlocked in parts of Baltimore, you’d come home to a bunch of empty rooms. I leave Nan a quick note to text me when she gets up, and head out on a stroll.

As I step into Billy’s living room, despite the fact that it looks exactly like mine in layout, it has a completely different feel. Billy is seventy two years old and has lived here for almost thirty years since he and his ex-wife got divorced. She lives two towns over, and apparently they have now become rather good friends. His kids are both in New England, so able to visit their father regularly, but the house has a lonely vibe about it.

The air in Billy’s house feels clean - old and dusty, but clean. It has been touched by only this man and the company he keeps for almost three decades. Mine, on the other hand, feels...busy. There is no other way to explain it. It isn’t humid or smothering, but you can feel all of the people who have walked through those doors almost hovering in the room. Something is stirring in the air at my place. Not ghosts, per se, but untold stories that someone desperately needs to tell. Each minute that I spend at Billy’s convinces me that there are discoveries to be made about my little cottage with the colorful garden.

Have a seat, Billy gestures to the chair next to his. I see the glass on the small end table that separates the two. Fancy a drink? he offers. I shake my head, No thank you. Though it looks tempting. So, you’re wanting a history lesson, are you? he smiles. You more interested in the one in the books, or the one in the walls? Billy worked as a handyman for most of his life and was in and out of most of the homes in the town. So not only does he know the official history, but he’s heard a lot of what’s been said inside the homes too. I return his smile, amused at seeing him light up at the suggestion of sharing the town gossip. Well, I just realized that I know very little about the town’s past. I picked up two books today at the bookstore on Harbour St. One’s about ghosts and the other is unsolved local mysteries.

Why then, you’ll probably be reading about your carriage house, he says. I don’t have a carriage house, I puzzle. Not any more. But you did, many years ago, before I lived here. Remember I told you there was a fire, back in the 20s? Well, that fire was in the carriage house. Burned it clean to the ground. I nod. I’d forgotten until now that he’d told me that. At the time, it hadn’t really concerned me. Houses had fires all the time, especially back then, with less efficient appliances and such. But now, my seemingly impromptu arson comment makes more sense. Was anyone hurt? Nope. Stroke of luck. The family had an au pair. A nineteen year old girl, beautiful they say, came from France. She usually slept in the carriage house, but that night the parents had been visiting family out of town so Julienne, the au pair, slept in the house with the girls. A slumber party, as the young girls would call it these days. So when the parents got home their carriage house had burnt to the ground? They must have been so relieved that Julienne had been safely with the girls! Billy takes a second before answering. I can almost see his brain working, thinking about how to phrase what he is about to say next. Well, that’s the thing. They didn’t. They didn’t what? I’m afraid I already know the answer. Come home. They disappeared that night. Nobody ever saw them again. Oh no! I can’t keep the emotion from my voice. This story is getting a bit spooky, considering that it centers around the house I am now living in.

I can tell Billy wants to tell me more, despite the macabre turn the story is taking. Much later, two bodies were found by the shore a couple of hours north of here, but they couldn’t confirm the identities. Back then, there was no DNA testing and all that fancy stuff. So what happened to Julienne and the girls? Nobody knows that either. They lived in the house for a little while. It was thought that Julienne didn’t know what to do, being only nineteen herself, and didn’t want to make too many changes for the girls at once. The four had gotten very close in the days after their mother and father vanished, and they clung to her like she was a third parent, or so it’s said. Then one day, they were all gone. Vanished just like their parents. When the police searched the house, there was no sign of any violence or break in, and there was no note or indication of where they may have gone. Years later, a stranger would turn up here or there, and it would be whispered for a while that she was one of the missing Sheffield girls, but if it was, she wasn’t talking. Technically, the case is still open, but I think people have given up. That was in 1926, and the girls were ten, eight, and four, so the youngest would be ninety-two now, if she were still alive. Julienne almost certainly has passed. She would have to be 107 to be alive today.

That’s so awful, I inhale, thinking of the three little girls. They were the same ages apart as me, Nan, and Cat. Suddenly I think of something. Have you heard of an Edward Sharpe? He supposedly came over from Oxford to see an au pair named Julienne, and never returned to England. My sister’s studying at Oxford now and says it’s a rather famous story over there. Billy looks thoughtful for a moment. Yes, the name is familiar, but I don’t know much about him. Not much other than what you’ll read in the books. I can tell from his tone that he isn’t fond of whatever it was that I’d ‘read in the books’.

I try to mentally piece together what I know. A fire burnt down the carriage house where Julienne usually slept, but that night she happened to not be there. That same night, both parents disappeared after visiting family, and shortly after, Julienne and all three girls vanished into thin air. At some point, Edward Sharpe also fell off the face of the earth, although, since so little is known about him, perhaps he just moved and nobody knew who he was. I can’t yet consider the fact that he never returned suspicious. Were they all connected? Was it intentional – some scheme by the family to change identity? Or could the parents, in a moment of grief after hearing about the fire, perhaps thinking that their children were dead, jumped from the cliffs into the waters below. Maybe they were speeding home to see what had happened, taken a turn too sharply, and gone off the edge of the road and into the sea. But I don’t even know if the parents had heard about the fire, and no car had been found. And why had Edward Sharpe sailed all the way across the Atlantic Ocean for Julienne? Was it out of love? Out of hate - a jilted lover? Could he have set the fire, not knowing she wasn’t in the carriage house, and then