“Of course I have.“
There was something in the way he spoke that she didn’t like. Her instincts were telling her to run, but her heart wouldn’t let her. She had no reason to fear this man, just because he was acting strange didn’t mean that she should be in danger. Besides, if she ran - where would she go? There was no-one else in the house save for a housekeeper. Old Mary wouldn’t be of much use, she was sixty if she was a day. Everyone else wouldn’t be back for hours yet, they were busy with the preparations. She couldn’t hide from him for that long.
He took another step, this time she didn’t move. He continued over and stood right in front of her. She could feel her heart thumping hard in her chest, she hoped it wasn’t as loud as she imagined it was. She raised her head to meet his eyes, they had changed, now they were the eyes that she loved - bright blue and looking at her with tenderness. She relaxed and exhaled the breath she was holding.
He took a step closer, he could feel the warmth from her body. With his left hand he gently stroked her arm, starting at the shoulder and working down to her wrist. He felt her shiver, he enjoyed her reaction to his touch. He liked being able to affect her, it gave him a sense of power. Not that it was difficult, she was a young woman and he was an older man after all. He dropped his arm to his side again. Not a word was spoken between the two yet their looks exchanged everything they wanted to convey.
For a moment she thought he was going to kiss her, his face was so close to hers. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her and embraced her, pulling her even closer to his body. She could feel the strong muscles in his arms, they felt protective around her. She put her hands on his back and never wanted to move again. They stood there for what seemed like an eternity, neither wanting to let go. Eventually he relaxed his hold on her, she followed his lead and let her arms fall to her sides.
He took a deep breath, he still had his arms around her loosely. He moved them up, past her shoulders, past her head, until he had one hand on either side of her head. He looked into her eyes, they were so full of love for him, they reminded him of a puppy dog. He used his hands to tilt her head up and bent down to plant a soft kiss on her lips. Pulling back, he closed his eyes for a moment and returned his gaze back to hers.
After taking another final deep breath, he used all the muscles in his arms to tighten his grip. With one swift movement, he snapped her neck. She had only a moment to realize what was happening, her eyes widened in shock and terror before her life was taken away from her. He let go of her head and she fell to the floor in a crumpled heap. He stepped over her body and calmly left.
* * *
Charlie awoke and sat straight up in bed, gasping for breath. She could still feel the man’s hands on her head. Instinctively she felt her neck, reassuring herself that it had all just been a bad dream. Her heart was hammering away in her ribcage, the dream had seemed so incredibly real. She wiped away the sweat from her forehead and checked to make sure Blair was still there - he was sleeping soundly facing away from her. She patted him on the shoulder.
“Blair, wake up,” she desperately whispered. She continued patting him until he finally stirred from his sleep. He turned over to face her.
“What’s wrong?” he mumbled, his eyes blinking in the moonlight.
“I just had a really bad dream.”
“Come here,” he pulled at her arm until she laid back down in the bed and snuggled into his side. “It’s just a dream, it can’t hurt you. What was it about?”
“About a girl being murdered.”
“It’s probably because we were talking about a murder yesterday. It’s just your mind’s way of clearing everything out. Go back to sleep and don’t worry about it.”
“It was so real, you have no idea.”
“It’s just a dream,” he closed his eyes, hoping that she would do the same.
Charlie lay there until morning, refusing to go back to sleep. She didn’t want to risk going back to that place again. She couldn’t stop thinking about the pain and hearing the crack of her neck when it broke. Once had been more than enough. Her only company was the steady breathing coming from Blair. She was relieved when the moonlight was replaced by sunrise.
Chapter 5
Charlie was sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee, trying to find some energy. Though she’d had half a night’s sleep before the dream started, it still felt like she’d been run over by a truck. She’d recounted the dream to Blair as soon as he had woken up that morning. He had reassured her again it was just her mind clearing itself out. If he told her that one more time, she thought she was going to explode. It was beyond a joke now, too many things had been going on in the house and she was sick and tired of it - literally.
The worse part of it all was trying to put on a normal face for Cate and Rahni. She had no intention of worrying her sister with the revelation her house was haunted and didn’t want to scare little Rahni. So she explained away her fatigue as having insomnia and made Blair swear to the same lie. Luckily, Cate was busy with projects of her own to notice anything was up. She had mentioned over breakfast she was still in the pursuit of exactly what James’ key opened and was going to talk it over with a locksmith. She had bustled out of the door bright and early, Rahni in tow. Now only Charlie and Blair were left to go about their day’s errands.
“So... where do we start today?” Blair asked, rubbing Charlie’s back and hoping it would make her feel better.
“I was thinking we go to the library in town. It’s only small, from memory, but it should have some local documents. If we can find out anything about this house, it should lead us somewhere.”
“Why would they have anything on this house? It’s not special or anything.”
“It’s one of the first houses built in the area, and one of the largest. Trust me, a house like this would have had some pretty upstanding members of the community owning it in the olden days. With nothing else to report on, they would have been local celebrities. Remember, this was way before television. They had to gossip about people they actually knew.”
“True, okay public library it is then. Ready?”
“I was born ready. Let’s go.”
They locked the house and drove into town. Charlie hoped they wouldn’t run into Cate, it would be hard to explain what they were doing at the library of all places. She tried to think of an excuse, should the inevitable happen. She decided they would say they were picking up a “how-to” book on renovating. It seemed like a legitimate enough excuse.
The public library was indeed small, it consisted of only two rooms - one for adults and the other for children. The single librarian oversaw both rooms and the media corner which held just one computer. Charlie smiled as she approached the counter. The librarian was a short round woman, dressed appropriately for a library in a tweed suit. She turned to face her customers, giving them her full attention.
“Good morning, how can I help you?”
“I was wondering if you had any local history documents?” Charlie asked.
“We do, it’s all on the computer. The originals are stored off-site in a secure location, it helps preserve them. Are you looking for anything in particular?”
“We’re staying at Sage Manor so we were hoping we might find out something about its past.”
“Oh, Sage Manor house. There’s bound to be something about that house, it’s quite famous around here you know.”
“That’s good to hear. Why is it famous?”
“Only because of who’s lived there. A Lord built it, did you know that? A real living, breathing, Lord, fresh from the English countryside.”
“I didn’t know that. I knew the house next door was, but I didn’t know Sage Manor was too.” As Charlie answered, the woman stepped out from behind the counter and led them across to the computer. It was sitting on a desk in the corner, the screen blank. The Librarian moved the mouse and the screen lit up with the familiar Windows desktop. She clicked on one of the icons and a program started.
/> “This is our database of scanned documents. You can search for a word or just look through each one in turn. I would probably start with a search - there are a lot of pages saved in there. I’ll leave you to it. If you need me, I’ll be just over there,” she pointed to the front counter and toddled off. Blair pulled a seat over from the wall and they both sat down at the desk.
Charlie typed “Sage Manor” into the search field and hit SEARCH. The cursor changed to an hourglass and they waited for the results. It was a slow computer, they waited for five long minutes before the search results appeared. There were a total of three hits, each one a newspaper article. They started with the first one:
REIGN FAMILY OPEN HOUSE FOR MAY DAY
The Reign family yesterday opened their house and garden to the public for a rare insight into their estate. Otherwise known as Sage Manor, the large house has recently been furnished in all the modern decor you would expect from an English family.
Addressing the public from the stairs of their grand staircase, Lord Richard Reign commenced a tour of their eight bedroom manor house before proceeding outside to the lush gardens that was filled with bright red roses. Lady Elizabeth Reign accompanied her husband, along with their three children. The public were then treated to tea and scones upon completion of the tour.
Lord and Lady Reign built the house only 9 months ago and this was their first opening to the public.
The article was short, obviously a filler for a slow news day. Charlie wrote down the two names, Richard and Elizabeth Reign. At least it was a start. They scrolled through to the next article which was another small blurb. This one was about the Reign’s charity work. They were commended for their efforts in helping the hospital have a fundraising event. They had raised two hundred pounds, quite a feat for a small town. All the money had gone towards building a new wing at the hospital specifically for women. There was only a reference to Sage Manor as they addressed the Reign’s as “Lord and Lady Reign of Sage Manor.”
They moved on to the third article, hoping it held more of the information they were looking for. While it was good to know the previous occupants were good members of the community, it told them nothing of the house. The third and last article looked promising as they read the headline.
BREAK IN AT SAGE MANOR
Police were called to Sage Manor yesterday afternoon at approximately 3:10pm for an apparent burglary.
Police received the call from the distressed housekeeper and immediately sped to the scene. The glass in the front door had been broken, allowing the intruder to slide his hand through and open the door. Witnesses say they heard glass shattering at approximately 2pm but did not think anything untoward.
The housekeeper, Mrs Betty Scale, arrived home from the market to discover the door wide open. Upon further inspection, several pieces of fine silverware were missing along with one of their most valuable paintings - The Red Field of Flowers by Henry Schuber.
The Manor’s current owners, Mr and Mrs Rudolph, are apparently ‘devastated’ at the stolen items. The pieces have all been in the family for many generations, making them priceless. They were unavailable for comment today, however they did release a statement yesterday pleading with the criminals to come forward.
Anyone with information on the crime or the whereabouts of the stolen property are urged to contact the police immediately. A generous reward is being offered by the Rudolph family for the safe return of their heirlooms.
The article was dated August 16th 1857. They now had the name of a second family that had owned and lived in the house. It still didn’t give any secrets away that might explain the weird occurrences though. Charlie had hoped there would be articles about a murder, she almost expected there to be one where the victim had a snapped neck.
“Well, that leaves us back at square one,” Blair sighed. The Librarian had built up his hopes of finding so much information that they would be there all day looking through it all.
“Not quite, we have a few names now,” Charlie consoled. She went back to the search box and typed in “Reign”. The same two articles were found. Next she typed in “Rudolph”. An additional article came up in the hits:
RUDOLPH FAMILY TO LEAVE
Jack and Helen Rudolph have decided to leave Pickerton after almost seventy years of residence.
The couple, both aged in their nineties, have put their house on the market and are retiring to the seaside town of Annerley in Tasmania. Their daughter, Sophie, lives nearby the retirement complex they will soon be calling home.
The Rudolph family has been much loved by the community since they moved here in 1887 and are well-known for their active interest in local politics. One memorable moment included the time when Jack chained himself to an old oak tree in Baker’s forest to protect it from the bulldozers.
A going away party is to be held in the community hall from 12pm tomorrow. All are welcome to attend and wish a happy farewell to the Rudolph’s.
Disappointed, Charlie closed the screen. They had hit a dead-end with the records. Unless they found some more names to search, they were getting nowhere.
She swivelled her chair around. “Feel like a coffee?”
Blair nodded. They thanked the librarian and left the public library for the coffee shop over the road. Feeling deflated, they ordered a big piece of cake each along with a sandwich. They sat eating in silence for most of their lunch, each lost in their own thoughts. Eventually Charlie broke the silence.
“Where else would have records?”
“No idea. Some towns have like a historical society or something. They see it as their mission to preserve history. Could this place have one of those?”
“Maybe, there are a lot of old people here - they like keeping history alive.”
“That’s a generalisation if ever I heard one.”
“I didn’t mean it in a bad way. It’s just you usually see old people running things like that.”
“They’re probably the only ones with enough time on their hands.”
“See, I wasn’t mocking - I was stating a fact. The Rudolphs sounded like a pair of characters, didn’t they?”
“They did. I wonder how old Jack was when he chained himself to a tree? It must have been a sight. A stately family taking on bulldozers in the forest.”
“It had to have worked though. Baker’s forest is still standing, it’s beautiful down there.”
“Good on him then. They sounded completely different to the Reigns, they sounded like they were all pomp and ceremony.”
“I’d say the longer the house existed, the less grand it became. I imagine houses just kept sprouting up around it that were more modern so Sage Manor became less exclusive. Still, it’s nice to think that a Lord and Lady once lived there. I wonder if Cate knows?”
“Hmm, don’t know.”
“We should probably get back to the house and do some work this afternoon. Cate will think we’re slacking off. Do we need anything to finish the upstairs living room?”
Blair thought about it for a moment. “No, I think we just need to tidy up the fireplace and possibly the cornices. Then that room is done and dusted.”
“Excellent, another one down.” They went to the counter to pay for their meal. Seeing her opportunity, Charlie eyed the shop attendant - a woman in her mid-thirties. “Excuse me, does Pickerton have a historical society at all?”
The women pressed her lips together in thought. “I think we do. It’s run by Mrs White. Brenda at the library will have her contact details.”
They thanked her and crossed the road again, they were headed back into the library. The Librarian, Brenda, was still behind the counter smiling.
“You’re back.”
“Yeah, we heard you might be able to give us Mrs White’s phone number? We’d like to talk to her about the historical society, if that’s okay?”
“Of course, I’ll write it down for you. You didn’t find what you were looking for this morning?” She took out a small piece
of paper and wrote the phone number on it in black pen.
“No, we didn’t. We were hoping Mrs White might be able to help us find out some more.”
“Mrs White knows everything about this town. I’m sure she’ll be able to tell you a few good stories,” Brenda handed the piece of paper over to Charlie. They thanked her again and went back to their car. They drove straight back to the Manor. Mrs White would have to wait until tomorrow, this afternoon there was work to be done.
Cate’s car was still missing from the driveway. Blair collected the mail from the letterbox and they went inside. Instead of the usual dark foyer, it was ablaze with light. The chandelier that hung from the second storey down through to the foyer was twinkling with light. Charlie walked to the light switch and turned it off.
“Cate? You here? We’re home.” She yelled but received no answer. Both she and Blair walked into the kitchen. Again, the light was on. Building momentum, they crossed over into the living room. The light was on in there too. They moved from room to room, each light was switched on. They turned them off one by one as they entered each room.
“That’s strange,” Blair commented. “Could Cate have come home and turned the lights on?”
“I don’t see why she would. We were the last to leave this morning and they weren’t on then.”
“Could be an electrical fault. Maybe there was a surge while we were out, turned them all on. Do you think upstairs is the same?”
“Let’s find out.” Once all the first floor lights had been turned off, they went upstairs. In each and every room, the light was glowing from the bulbs. They switched them off in turn and went back downstairs.
“It’s got to be something electrical for them all to have been on,” Blair reasoned. “I’ll check the electricity box.”
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