The Baron and his Lady

Four: Baron Lucian

I followed Kelly while Dad was just behind me. I don't know what to expect, no one spoke as we trudged along the hallways. Even here the electrical wires have been carefully placed that you could barely see how the cables were attached. There were still candlesticks on the walls but they appeared to be totally neglected. If Kelly was faking the house, he's doing a good job at it.

He stopped at a door and extracted a key from his breast pocket. Even the key looked old and intricate.

"Why wasn't I given the keys?" I heard dad asked.

Kelly turned his head and smiled, "I thought you'd want to see the Baron's residence only when you're ready. I plan to hand over the keys once I show you around. But please," he opened the door and flipped the switch, "after you."

That meant me. So I stepped thru and looked around. Great, another ancient looking room.

"This was the Baron's study." Kelly explained.

I thought it was a library, but then it only had two book shelves facing the fireplace. So yeah, it was a private study. There was a desk made of oak with a beautiful chair. It was handcrafted and probably weighed a ton. A fur coat lay on its back. It was a man's chair from the looks of it. Or better yet, a Baron.

"Interesting.." I heard my dad said.

"How do we know its his?" I don't know why I didn't want to blurt out his name, but they know who I meant.

Kelly gave me another cold stare but appeared unaffected. "Well, I see you are not convinced."

"Indeed." I crossed arms on my chest. "How do we know you aren't tricking my dad into buying this house?"

"Krista!"

"Its alright Patrick. She's not the first one to doubt."

"Oh yeah? Others have ogled you too?" I was feeling really pissed.

"Krista, no need to yell." Dad was getting on my nerves too. But his voice had calmed me bit.

"I just.. the house is too good to be true. My father has been looking for any clues that could lead us to the Baron. Then suddenly you come up and sell this house."

"He didn't just 'come up' Krista. I found Tristane while following a clue."

I stared at my father, "Pray tell how you met him."

"Why, the internet of course!" He appeared really amused, as if it was most common thing to do. Well, the internet is common but my dad didn't use computers before. So I get it if he's amused. But still..

"Really dad? The internet?" I stared at Kelly, "What were you like? Chatmates?"

"We exchanged emails Krista."

"Perhaps I should explain," Kelly inserted. He moved forward so he would face me and dad at the same time. "I posted the house up for sale online, it was a legit site. All about house leasing, selling and buying. That kind of stuff. The title had been drafted by a lawyer. All of this is legal."

"But is the house really his?" I insisted.

"It is. Let me tell you how I came in property with the house," he offered me a chair while dad took up the couch. Kelly remained standing, as if he was a professor ready for his lecture. "My family are descendants of Letecia Mayers, who is she?" He took out an old photo and gave it to me, it was actually an enhanced photo of a portrait. The only way to save her face was to take a photo of the painting, smart. But the artist looked inexperienced, you can clearly see how common the woman looked. It failed to capture her real beauty. If I were to meet her in person, I wiuld probably not recognize her. I let Kelly continue, "Letecia was the governess of Galbraith Norwood. Who was known as —"