Chapter Three
The Haunted House
“Mr Hinds, I am all too willing to be of assistance to the forces of law and order, however now that I have had the time to think about it, your involvement in this weekend`s event does cause me some disquiet.” The managing director, Mr Thomas Hillmore said anxiously. “Tell me, are terrorists involved somehow, or is it organised crime?”
“No, Mr Hillmore, nothing like that, it is something more up your street actually, a personal invitation from beyond the grave. We simply want to be on hand to see if it really is a genuine paranormal event, or as we expect just a prank. We just want to check the place over today so that we are not taken by surprise on the night.” Rob explained diplomatically.
“So we should not cancel the event then Mr Hinds, there will not be any danger to our customers?” Hillmore asked for he wanted the situation clarified because of the financial risks to his company arising from injury, or even death, to one of the customers over the weekend.
“Well surely you would know more about that Mr Hillmore, our department does not even believe in spooks and the like.” Rob answered. “All that I can tell you is that neither organised crime nor terrorists are thought to be involved. We believe it to be the work of pranksters, like the lightning that supposedly happened in a London rail station, cleverly done I must admit, but not the real thing.”
Rob felt his conscience pricking him after such a bare faced lie, but if he told Hillmore the truth, then the man would believe him to be an imbecile.
“Yes, well it does sound much like a prankster, and as you say, we are the paranormal experts.” Hillmore replied pompously. “Here are the keys Mr Hinds, please remember that we will need them back by Saturday, just drop them through the letterbox if we are closed when you return. You will find the fuse box under the staircase in the hall of Themis House, please remember to turn it off when you leave. Good bye gentlemen, I will see you at the house, if after your visit you still decide to come along on our haunted house weekend.”
Rob and Father Pritchard drove down to Petworth in silence until Father Pritchard broke it. “Rob, why did you not mention Moira Bourbon to Mr Hillmore?”
“Mr Hillmore does not believe in the paranormal so he would not believe in Moira Bourbon, he would have simply kept the keys rather than give them to a madman, no, make that two madmen.” Rob replied.
Rob now made his mistake, he looked Father Pritchard in the eyes, and he saw the strong look of reproach there.
“OK David, I will tell him that his customers could be in danger if they go to the haunted house, I`ll tell him when we return the keys, OK?” Rob replied.
“Thank you Rob, it is the right thing to do, how do you expect the fates to fight for you if you put innocent lives at risk?” Father Pritchard asked.
Rob glanced at his friend who was trying to hide a grin, but after meeting so many mythological beings out of Greek mythology, Rob wondered if the fates actually existed, that they carved out his future no matter what he did.
“Did you know Rob that the Greek name for the Fates was Moirai in the plural, Moira is the singular term, strange seeing as our enemy is called Moira?” Father Pritchard said.
Rob did not answer but his friend was right it was strange, he wondered if this was why their two lives had become so entwined, why they constantly fought one another and lived to fight again no matter how hard they tried to kill one another. She was fated to be his enemy until Rob found the correct way out for both of them, until then they must endure this seemingly eternal war.
Now unlike Mr Hillmore, Rob believed in ghosts, he had seen the souls of the wicked in Tartarus, and also what was left of those who had been sent to the world he knew as the Dreamscape. Of the two hells he did not know which group was undergoing the worst torment, but both must have been evil in life to deserve either fate. He had only seen one soul that had belonged to a good man, the soul of Gerry Handley, and it looked far different from the others, it could almost be said to be alive, for it had been lit by an inner glow as it headed for a better place than Tartarus, where his friend had died saving Rob`s life.
They finally arrived at the old haunted house, it had been built during the early years of Queen Victoria`s reign and was best described as a large rambling gothic style building, looking old and grey, however it definitely had a haunted look about it. It was set in a small walled garden, almost filling it, as for what there was of the garden, it was going to weed, the caretaker obviously did not have any horticultural leanings.
Father Pritchard had to unlock the pair of ornamental gates that led into the driveway so that Rob could drive in, when the way ahead was clear Rob drove in, parking his car in front of the house upon the small gravelled drive way that was also losing its own battle with the weeds. The windows of the house looked bleak and dark, and much unwashed, making the house appear all the more as Paranormal Investigators.Com portrayed it to be, haunted. The house played its part well, seemingly waiting impatiently for its next victims to arrive, so that it could either keep a hold on them or, send them to the afterlife that the Moirai had ordained for them.
They stood in the porch looking at the glazed front door which had a stained glass panel in the middle of it showing three girls, one of whom was shown spinning a thread onto a spindle.
“Could they be the Fates as well David?” Rob asked quizzically.
“It does seem likely Rob, it certainly is most strange.” Father Pritchard answered rather apprehensively. “I have seen a similar picture of the Fates in one of Ulysses Bourbon`s books, the woman is spinning the thread of life for a mortal.” Father Pritchard said. “The name of the house is Themis, which is a strange name for a house in Sussex. In one story Themis was the mother of the Fates, Zeus being the father, so yet another link to Moira.”
With a feeling that nothing they did could change the future ordained for them in any way, they unlocked the front door and walked into the house, into a dark forbidding hallway. Hillmore had told them where the fuse box was situated, and the first thing that Rob did was to seek it out, it was in a cupboard under the open staircase that went up to the next floor. When lit up, the hall looked no better; it looked to be straight out of a horror film, shadows were everywhere and on the walls were pictures of the former master and mistress, both of whom were straight out of the Addams family. The hall also had a fair sprinkling of dust, and cobwebs hung at every corner, the caretaker certainly did not spend too much time within the building, Rob wondered why, could it really be haunted or was he just lazy? It was lit by a massive chandelier, of course, its crystal was glittering now that Rob had turned on the power, but there was no sign of cobwebs here, maybe the house was being readied for the coming weekend.
Neither of them was keen on investigating the house alone, not after their past experiences with the ungodly. Therefore, they set off together to check out one of the two doorways that led off the hall, it took them into a large dining room, one that was lit by two smaller chandeliers, one above either end of a long mahogany dining table, it along with the two chandeliers had also been dusted. There were two more doorways leading into this room; one led them into a dusty library that caused Father Pritchard to have a sneezing attack. The library was filled with old books, all rather dusty and from the look of them of no interest to them whatsoever. The other doorway in the dining room led them into a short hallway that led in turn to the kitchen. It was a large room with a modern fridge freezer, obviously installed by the organisers for the use of the paying customers, the original fireclay sink was still there, for effect maybe, it had two chrome bib taps set above it to supply the customers with water. Above the sink was a grimy window that looked out upon the small garden that did not look the least bit inviting. An old kitchen range was against one wall but Rob reckoned that the modern microwave set on the worktop next to the range would be the most used item in the kitchen. A large kitchen table took up the space in the middle of the room and an assortment of pots
and pans hung from a framework above it. A door led from the kitchen into the small garden, and a second door was just inside the kitchen and this led down to the cellar, which they decided to leave for later. Instead they retraced their steps and tried the second doorway off the large front hall, and they found that it led into the sitting room. A number of chairs were laid out along with some old wooden coffee tables, the room was lit by a number of wall lamps, all showing a liberal amount of dust, so this room was obviously still to be cleaned by whoever had done the mahogany table and the chandeliers. Two large sash windows looked out upon the small driveway; it was now that they noticed a child standing outside of the windows, looking up at something, or someone, in one of the upper rooms. Rob struggled to open the heavy sash window, which resisted his efforts until Father Pritchard gave a hand, and then it shot up, but by then there was no sign of the child.
Rob and Father Pritchard looked at one another. “He must have run off when he realised that there was someone in the house.” Father Pritchard said and to this reasonable explanation Rob could only agree.
There was a second door in the sitting room, it took them into a long winding hallway, and on investigating it they found another door leading off on the right, on opening the door they found that inside was a toilet and wash basin. Leaving it they followed the hallway round and found that it ended at a door that also led into the small garden.
They decided to leave the garden until last so they returned to the entrance hall and climbed up the staircase to the first floor, however they found little of interest here, eight bedrooms and two bathrooms, and a couple of large cupboards. The bedrooms were very clean and dust free, each possessing a double bed and a few pieces of rather old furniture; obviously the rooms had been readied for the weekend guests.
“David, this house is remarkably similar to the one in my nightmares; in fact it could even be the same place.” Rob declared just a little apprehensively. “Except for the fact that this place has electricity.”
“Could you perhaps have seen a photograph of this house?” Father Pritchard suggested.
“Until I met the Bourbon family, I had no interest in haunted houses, my interests centred on spies and terrorists.” Rob replied grimly.
“Well this house is the sort of house one thinks of when you think about haunted houses, it is just a coincidence.” Father Pritchard said.
They moved on up to the next floor with Rob`s imagination going into overdrive, he would not have been surprised to bump into one of the monsters from his nightmares. Thankfully, all they found were four more bedrooms and one bathroom, but on this floor there were not any cupboards, this floor might have once been for the use of the servants, when the house had been much younger. There was a small staircase that led up to the attic, which was empty except for a lot more dust and some animal droppings. They finally decided to check on the cellar, the entrance to it was from the kitchen, ongoing down to it they found that the cellar was empty apart from a large pile of coal that must have been left over from the last owner of the house, unknown to them the owner had disappeared one stormy night and was never heard of again. Apart from the coal the only other thing was an empty wine rack. However, after his experiences with hidden satanic temples Rob made a thorough search of the cellar, but he found no sign of a secret door, or a satanic temple.
While Father Pritchard checked out the garden, Rob spent some time looking for cameras or loudspeakers, tools to scare the punters, he found it empty of such modern equipment, it was just an old house in need of a lot of work.
“Well Rob, while the house is old and in need of some repair, I would be very surprised to find out that it was haunted, I normally feel something when I come up against the paranormal, but I feel nothing here, Paranormal Investigators.Com must be relying upon the gullibility of their customers to provide the haunted house effect.” Father Pritchard said.
“I only hope that you are correct David, but if Moira Bourbon is involved then I am sure that she will be happy to provide the ghosts.” Rob replied glumly.
The two men exchanged worried looks and then they switched off the fuse box and locked up the house, then they returned to Paranormal Investigators.Com and handed over the keys, Rob now warned Mr Hillmore about the possibility of paranormal dangers at the house that weekend.
“Mr Hillmore, I was not frank with you this morning, there is every chance that a Satanist will attempt to use your event for reasons currently unknown to us. Believe me when I say that she is the real thing, your customers and staff could be injured, maybe even killed if you go ahead with the event.” Rob warned.
Hillmore looked at Rob and Father Pritchard quizzically. “Is this some kind of a joke gentlemen?” Hillmore asked. “Please let me see your credentials again.” Hillmore demanded.
Rob looked at Father Pritchard as if to say I told you so, then he handed over his identity card to Hillmore, who studied it for a minute before asking. “Gentlemen, since when has the government believed in the supernatural?”
“Officially they do not, but over the last three years we have been involved in two other cases that resulted in the deaths of some innocent parties, Father Pritchard and I know what we are talking about, and we both think that it would be safer to cancel your weekend event.” Rob said.
“Does this mean that you will not be attending this weekend`s event?” Hillmore asked. He was still not convinced of the veracity of what he was being told; he suspected a scam of some sort, although he could not imagine what sort.
“Unfortunately we will have to attend, whatever the danger to our lives.” Father Pritchard answered his question, for Hillmore had been casting glances his way wondering if the priest could actually speak.
“I must admit that I was sceptical at first, but you have begun to worry me, so I will phone my customers and advise them of the situation, I will leave it up to them.” Hillmore replied wanting to cover his firm against any insurance claims more than anything else.
As they were leaving the office Father Pritchard asked Hillmore a question. “Mr Hillmore how many of us will be at the haunted house?”
“Including the three of us there will be twelve of us in total, why do you want to know?” Hillmore replied.
“No reason, I just wondered.” Father Pritchard replied.
Outside of the office Father Pritchard turned to Rob and said. “Thirteen with Moira, supposedly the ideal number for a coven.”
Rob and Father Pritchard left it like that and returned to the SIS headquarters to see how the others had fared. Agers and Markman had come up with absolutely nothing, which is what Rob expected them to find, for this was Moira Bourbon`s show, everyone else was merely a pawn. He then phoned his wife Christina, and she also reported having had no luck, it seemed that Rob and Father Pritchard would just have to wait to see what Moira had planned for them for the coming weekend, if indeed it was Moira who was behind it all.
Mr Hillmore was feeling decidedly shaken by this unexpected turn of events, he did not believe for a moment that the said Satanist existed, but obviously something was going on. He therefore phoned Professor Inglis, Inglis was a lecturer at Walchester University, he was the leader of a group of students who had booked tickets for this paranormal weekend, Inglis had informed him that they would be searching for proof that the paranormal really existed. Mr Hillmore related to Professor Inglis all that he had been told, and then he asked him if he wanted to cancel on behalf of his group. The group comprised of Inglis and five of his students, they had formed a paranormal club at Walchester University, and this was to be their first club outing.
“Are you kidding me, you tell me that we might actually experience exactly what we paid you for, and then you expect us to cancel, no way Mr Hillmore, we shall see you on Saturday afternoon.” Inglis said the excitement in his voice plain for Hillmore to hear. “If you try and keep us out of your house I will sue your firm for every penny you have.” Inglis threatened.
Hillmore was so flust
ered by this unexpected turn of events that he forgot to telephone his other two customers, Mr Masters and Ms Lang.