The Mansion

Chapter Eight

        

Chapter 8

                There were a lot of things to do yet. They were still working on solving the case but now they were also planning a wedding. Kale and Sarah made their way to the mansion and as they drove up the drive way, Sarah pulled out the blue prints that they had printed out and taped together. Kale parked his truck and they got out. Sarah suddenly looked sad. “What’s the matter?” Kale asked her. “If only my grandfather could be here, at our wedding” Sarah said trying to sniff back the tears that were starting to form. “After my parents’ accident, my grandfather and I would talk sometimes about me getting married and how proud he was going to be to give me away.” Now the tears came as Sarah brought back all those memories in her head. Kale walked over to her and hugged her. “I promise I will find out what happened and I promise I will get the bastard” Kale couldn’t express his true feeling on how much he wanted to get the person responsible for Sarah’s families deaths. Suddenly Sarah remembered the threatening letter that was stuck under Kale’s door. “Kale, that letter?” “Don’t think about that honey. I’m not going anywhere. I just found you and I’ll be damned if anyone or anything is taking me away from you” Kale said softly but to the point that Sarah calmed herself. “Ok, let’s go in.” Sarah said as she wiped the tears from her face. Kale grabbed her hand and opened the door. They started to climb the stairs when they heard a noise. Kale put his finger to his lips in gesture to be quiet. Sarah already froze and was in no way going to make any movement at all. Kale mouthed to Sarah that if anything happened she was

to run out and get in his truck and call the police. When Sarah nodded her head Kale walked up the rest of the way. Kale peeked around the top of the stairs and didn’t see anything. As Kale turned the corner he heard the noise again and hugged the wall and inched his way down the hall to the room he heard the noise coming from. Kale kicked in the door and was ready for a fight when he heard a loud screech and a hiss from this little kitten. Kale started laughing and crouched down to pick up the scared kitten. He then came back down to Sarah and handed her the kitten. “This is what was making the noise. Do you know this cat?” “No, I don’t but grandfather said something about getting a pet. Why didn’t we find this little… Sarah paused for a minute to check the sex of the kitten then resumed, boy the first few times we were here?” “Maybe he heard us and was scared and hid, now he’s hungry and came out to find food” Kale suggested. “Maybe, let’s go on.” Sarah put the kitten down and continued up the stairs with Kale. They made their way to the attic with the kitten right along beside them. Kale looked over the blue prints and found the wall that should have the secret panel. Kale felt around for a button or some type of thing to trigger the door but didn’t find anything. Sarah looked around for something to ram through the wall and when she stopped looking she rested against a chair that was backed up to the wall and the chair moved with them on the flooring by the chair. The whole wall and part of the floor spun to the left. “Your grandfather is a genius” Kale said. Sarah grabbed the flashlights from her backpack. They turned them on and headed down the stairs of the secret passageway.

           Kale followed and then told Sarah to get behind him. They continued to go down the stairs until it came to a door. Kale opened the door and found it went to the formal dining room. “Nope, next floor” Kale said with amazement. When they came to another door Kale opened that one “This is in the basement, why would he have steps going into the basement?” “I don’t know, there are more steps, let’s keep looking” Sarah said with curiosity. Kale and Sarah continued down the stairs until they fully stopped. No door was in sight. “Maybe he didn’t finish?” Kale said. “It shows on the blueprints there is a room beyond this wall” Sarah said and showed Kale the blueprint. “Ok then. Do your thing” Kale said and pointed to the wall. “What thing?” Sarah whispered to him. “Open the wall like you did upstairs” Kale said back in a whisper. Sarah and Kale both started feeling the wall. “Ok grandfather, how do we o…” Sarah started saying when Kale found a loose brick and pushed it in and the wall started to open. “Open,” Sarah finished saying “Ok then” She added. Kale shinned the flashlight into the room. “This must be your grandfathers work room” Kale said as he stepped into the room. As soon as Kale stepped into the room, the lights came on. “Must be a sensor to trigger the lights, brilliant” Kale said Sarah just looked around the room at all the papers her grandfather had spread all over the place. Papers from newspaper articles and papers he himself had been writing. So many notes and pictures her grandfather had done and taken. “Who are these people?” Sarah said. Kale came over and took a look. “I don’t know but let’s grab what we can and take it back to the house.” Kale grabbed stuff from one end of the room and Sarah grabbed stuff from the other end. the kitten followed her everywhere she went. Kale looked down at the kitten and said to Sarah “Looks like you got a buddy.” “He’s adorable; can I take him with us?” “I guess Sugar could use a play mate. What are you going to name him?” “I don’t know, let me think about that” Sarah said in thought. He’s all white and fluffy with a little gray in him and big beautiful blue eyes. They grabbed everything they wanted to get and hauled it all up and out to the truck. They made several trips back and forth and then Sarah grabbed her grandmothers wedding dress and the kitten. They got in Kale’s truck and started back to his house. “We need to stop at the pet store and get this little guy some stuff” Kale said as he reached over and petted the kitten on his head. “Ok, let’s go. You need a collar with a bell; you need some food, a litter box and some toys.” Sarah said in a baby voice holding the kitten in the air to her face. Sarah turned the station on the radio a few times and a song she remembered her grandfather liked was playing. “That’s it!” Sarah said loudly. “What?” Kale jumped. “That’s what I’m going to call him” Sarah said enthusiastically. “Call him what?” Kale said confused. “Frankie. After Frank Sinatra. Old Blue Eyes” Sarah exclaimed. “That sounds cool” Kale looked at the kitten and then back on the road. “Ya know; that fits him. Frankie. I like that.” Sarah held the kitten up to her face again and looked at him. “Your name is Frankie. Now let’s go get you some stuff.”