The Haunting of Quenby Mansion Omnibus: A Haunted House Mystery by Donovan J.S

Author:Donovan, J.S [Donovan, J.S]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2017-11-16T05:00:00+00:00

19

Crawl Space

Evelyn and Terrence followed the noise through the creaking hallway. The old house groaned. They tried the light switch. Click. Nothing. They would be walking through the abyss. Evelyn relied on the ancient oil lamp and matches to guide her through the long halls of Quenby House. They whispered the names of the phantoms. No reply.

Terrence coiled his fingers around a bat. Evelyn kept one hand on her heavy baton and the other hand on an oil lamp. The puny flame cast its orange and yellow glow across the old wallpaper and thin red carpet. A chilling breeze coasted through the house and painted Evelyn with goose bumps. They reached the inner balcony of the foyer. The firelight reflected off the massive multi-tiered chandelier at the center of the domed ceiling.

Standing beneath it were all seven ghosts: Zoey, Barker, Winslow, Andrew, Alannah, Mary, and Peter. They stared at Evelyn.

Evelyn loomed above the railing. “What?”

In unison, the phantoms raised their left hands and pointed to the hall of portraits. Evelyn gulped and hiked down the steps. The phantoms kept pointing. Evelyn pressed her back against the wall by the threshold. She peeked around the corner. At the far end, past the great patriarchs of the Quenby family and one female portrait of the plantation’s founder, the kitchen door was flung open. Evelyn and Terrence walked that way.

They reached the kitchen. The room could fit multiple cooks and had spacious cabinets and multiple walk-in pantries. A wooden island marked the room’s center, where the servants and slaves would prep meals for dozens of esteemed guests. The metal-faced refrigerator upgraded the old icebox and an electric stove stood in the spot where the old gas stove sat. The mansion’s first brick stove remained. Soot blackened its mouth like a child after having ice cream. Like when Terrence and Evelyn moved in, most of the kitchen remained untouched. They investigated cabinets and pantries but had never used them, which was why the open pantry door terrified them.

Terrence stepped ahead of Evelyn. He held the bat at the ready and used the side of his foot to scoot the door open the rest of the way. Empty shelves lined three of the four sides. Dust bunnies gathered on the upper one. A squashed cockroach twitched its last remaining leg at the foot of the doorway. Terrence leaned his head inside of the confined space. He tapped the bat on the floor, tilting his head slightly as he listened for hollowness.

“The wall,” Evelyn pointed at the left wall.

Terrence tapped his bat on the upper tier shelf, middle tier, and then just below the bottom shelf. The wood sounded different there. In his boxers and white t-shirt, Terrence squatted and brushed a hand over the lower portion of the wall. A small section pushed in. With a click, it pushed back out to Terrence an inch. He glanced up at Evelyn and then pulled it open. Evelyn crouched next to him. She outstretched the flickering oil wick, looking into the dusty crawl space: about three and half square feet.

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