We had a good, but late, dinner and we asked Jackie a lot of questions about her husband, uncle and this mansion. Her husband worked with a local construction company, so we will have to question people over there too. Apparently he worked for that company for 10 years, so they must know a fair bit about him, even if it is just his work habits.

That can sometimes tell a lot about a person. It was obvious Jackie loved her uncle a lot and really missed him. She had visited her uncle and aunt here at the mansion every year since she was 10, until 4 years ago. That is when she met John and they got married about a year later. Her uncle moved away from the mansion to a smaller place he owned out in California where he could be beside the ocean.

He never mentioned anything special about the mansion however, but she does remember her aunt saying something about a special book in the library that was priceless. But she did not know which book that was. That will be a good job for Cinnamon, she knows all about rare books, except of course the library is quite large. Sigh.

But perhaps the book was kept in a safe somewhere, but Jackie did not know of any safe in the mansion. I believe there must be one though and that might be easier to find than a book. We will start to look for that in the morning too, along with secret passages which must be here for that “ghost” to disappear so fast.

We are finally in our rooms for the night and I went into our bathroom for a bath. Oddly, there are no showers in this big place. “Do not lock that door,” said Crystal. “I will keep it unlocked,” I said, “I know the rules.” “True, but you sometimes forget them,” she reminded me. Kat was lying on the bed relaxing with the cats when Muffin suddenly looked over to the bathroom door.

Meow,meow.=Me hear noise in bathroom. “Steve, are you okay?” asked Kat. No answer. Then she too heard a noise. She went to the door. “Steve, are you okay?” she asked again. Then she tried the door, but it was locked. “Steve, you locked the door, open it now!” she demanded. Then she heard some groaning and a splash.

That was too much and she gave a good kick to the door causing it to fly open. She and the cats ran in and found me unconscious in the bathtub. Kat pulled me out and told Muffin to call Rock. She did so right away. Rock and Frank shared a room and he had been on the phone with Annelie but had just hung up. His watch alarm then went off.

“Steve is hurt!” he yelled, and he and Frank ran to our room. Kat told Rock to put me on the carpet in the bedroom and dry me off. Then he put me in bed. I was awake by then. “Who did it Steve?” asked Rock. “A ghost,” I said. “Steve, that is not funny at all,” said Kat.

“I am not trying to be funny,” I said, “I was looking in the mirror and it fogged up. Then it looked like someone standing behind me, but when I turned around, no one was there. However, the punches came at me fast and hard. Then it picked me up and tossed me into the tub, which is when I hit my head.” “Hmm, you will have quite a bruise there,” said Kat, “and a few others too.”

Frank and the cats were already looking around the bathroom to see how someone could get in, and out. We had already checked our rooms for cameras and listening devices, and we are using our scramblers anyway. They do not help against cameras though, but one of our companies is working on something for that too. Unfortunately they were unable to find a secret door into that bathroom.

“Rock, you and the other guys take turns patrolling the hall tonight,” I told him. “Sure thing Steve,” he said and off they went. The other 3 girls are staying with Jackie to protect her, I have Crystal and the cats with me. For this case Crystal is using the name Kat and pretending to be my wife. I decided to call Benson.

“Good morning Benson,” I said. “What is wrong Steve?” he asked. So I filled him in and told him what I wanted him to do for me. “It is done,” he said and hung up. Then I called Sky. “What is wrong Steve?” she asked. Sigh. “Everything is fine,” I said. “He is not telling the truth Sky,” said Kat, “he just got beat up.”

“What?!” exclaimed Sky, “explain, Steve!” So I told her what happened. “I do not like the sound of that,” she said, “how could no one be there and yet fight you?” “I wish I knew the answer to that one,” I said, “something strange is happening here and we will find out what it is.”

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.