“We’re heading towards the Bronze Lady statue,” I said to the others. Jack and I had agreed to check that out next.
“Okay,” Callum agreed.
“Could you tell us a detail about it?” Hugo asked.
“Ann Thomas created her to honour her husband, General Samuel Thomas. She didn’t think his mausoleum was grand enough. She hired Andrew O’Connor to create something fitting. He fashioned a lady sitting on a bench who looked mournful. The legend is that Ann hated it and ordered a happier-looking head. O’Connor made it, but when Ann showed approval, he smashed it and berated her for trying to force him to destroy his work.
“The statue was placed between two pine trees and has a variety of myths surrounding it. Some say if you sit in her lap, you’ll be cursed; others say sitting in her lap breaks the curse. People have witnessed her crying, and some have seen orbs. Others report that if you treat the statue with respect, she’ll bless you with good luck,” I explained.
“Lots of urban legends,” Callum surmised.
“Indeed. And some we can no doubt debunk,” Connor agreed.
“Can you disprove that?” Phil asked and pointed.
To my surprise, I saw a figure wearing an old-fashioned lavender dress standing between two graves. She was in her early twenties, with long, flowing hair. She had a slender figure and gazed at us as we stared at her.
“Are we near the Bronze Lady?” Hugo whispered.
“No.” Connor shook his head as I moved forward.
The young woman watched me and then slowly faded away.
“I don’t think we’ve ever captured a sudden appearance so clearly,” Phil muttered as she checked his camera.
“Tell me you have that!” I demanded, spinning on him.
Phil glanced up, grinning, and nodded. “Clear as day,” he exclaimed.
“Fantastic. I want to check whose grave she was standing by,” I said and wandered over. I frowned as I stared at the headstone.
“That doesn’t make sense,” Connor murmured.
“No,” I agreed. The inscription read, ‘Unknown soldier.’
“What?” Hugo muttered, surprised. “She most certainly wasn’t the figure of a soldier.”
“His wife?” Callum suggested.
“He’s unknown, so how would she have found him?” I drawled, trying to puzzle this out.
“It would be great to know if she wanders the cemetery,” Phil said, and I nodded.
“We’ll head over to the Bronze Lady,” I said half an hour later. I’d used the voice recorder to engage her, but all we got was silence.
“Yeah,” Connor agreed.
We found the Bronze Lady fairly easily and set up some temperature-change monitors and Rem-Pods around her. We tried everything to get a reaction, but there was nothing. Of course, we didn’t treat her with disrespect; that went against everything we believed in. Finally, before dawn, we agreed to return to base.
“Let’s check it out,” I said to Connor.
He didn’t ask what, but sent me a sideways look and shook his head. “Really?”
“Come on, we have to,” I pushed.
Everyone swapped glances.
“We’ve got half an hour till sunrise,” Phil stated and grinned.
