The Mansion

Chapter Three-The Shadows

“This is how we're gonna do it,Matt,you go study the greenhouse.Find out when they built it,find out what kind of plants they planted and the origins."David said to Matt,handing him a notebook.

“Sure thing,boss."Matt playfully said,walking away from where we were reunited which was on the dining room.

“Christina,you and Laura can go to the rooms.Find out how many bedrooms are in the house and which one belonged to who."he said,handing each of them a notebook.They nodded and went up the stairs.

“Eric,Roger,go down the mansions' basement.I'm sure you boys can handle it."They walked away,leaving David and I behind.

“Uhm...Claire-Marie,go to the library.You love books,I don't think you'll have a problem with it.You know what to do,right."Daniel spoke.

“Yep."I replied.He handed me a small notebook,just the way he gave the others,and I immediately took off.The library was on the fifth floor,right next to the attic,so I had a long flight of stairs ahead of me.

By the time I got there,my legs were on fire.I only let David take the lead because he's a man and he has more experience,but if I knew it would be this severe,I would've had my doubts and I would've thought twice.

The library was enormous.It was full of shelves that were at least eight meters tall and they were all against the wall.It was full of various coloured books,different shapes and sizes.It was something you only see in the movies.

I didn't know where to start.There were way too many books.

I decided to start with opening all the drawers and the cupboards,they may have useful information in them.

As a Historian,you always need to know how to obtain information.You have to organize them according to their dates.Dates are very important.

As I was opening one of the drawers,I found a pile of really old newspapers.They were from the early 1720's.Some words were circled with black pen,especially a few names,Jacques Devereux was one of them.

I've read about him before.He was one of the men that colonized DRC.He was also a racist,one of the men that influenced racism.He was a very powerful man,but a bad one as well.He was hated by all but still gained respect.Many attempted to kill him but still worshipped him like a god.That was how the olden days were,The more the money the more the worshipers.

I quickly put it away to read the next one.The date read 12 January 1723.It was a political newspaper.The man in the cover was Viktor Van Scheinberg,the owner of the mansion.That was something I wanted to read.

It was talking about him having something to do with drugs,I know that because it said dwelms and dwelms means 'drugs' in Dutch.

The rest I couldn't understand,it was all written in Dutch.All I could read was the name Germäns Drago.I put it aside to take it to David.He learned a bit of Dutch in high school,he may be able to help me find out what it's all about.

The next one was The Daily Paper.It was different from the others.It was in English.Something cheered my day up.It was talking about a homicide.

The man Germäns Drago was killed on the 22nd of May 1724.They say that the assassin remains unknown.

I've learned that Drago was the town's sheriff.He was investigating a case about drugs when he was killed.I found it strange.The paper about Van Scheinberg said something about drugs and now this one says that Drago was investigating a drug case.What a coincidence.

I continued reading to obtain more information but I found nothing interesting,only a few advertisements.

But the fishy thing is that some of the pages are missing.As a matter of fact,most of the pages are missing.It's number 7,16,24,28,35 and 36.I looked deeper into the drawer,looking for the missing pages but I found none.

I decided to go downstairs to share the information I have obtained.

I ran down the long staircase,and by the time I got to the Hall,my legs were killing me.The stairs are too long.If a killer had to chase me all the way down the stairs I'd rather surrender.

“David....I got....something!"I panted.

He looked up at me and smiled,his dazzling smile.A smile strong enough to knock me over.A smile that spins my world around.A smile to die for.

“Let's see what you got."he said,taking the newspapers from my hands.

“Wow look at this."he said,sounding impressed.I mentally patted myself on the back for looking inside those drawers.What a lucky day.

“Can you read what's on that newspaper?"I asked him,pointing towards the newspaper written in Dutch.

“Not much,but I can understand."he said.I nodded,observing him desperately trying to read the newspaper.He's so beautiful.His eyes are the most beautiful shade of green,his lips are pink and full.His nose is straight.His legs are long,his whole body is in shape.He's perfect.

“I'll read it later."he said,putting down the newspaper “Search the library.See if you can find more clues."

I walked away after he said that.I stopped in front of the staircase and sighed.

Here we go again.

As I was climbing the long flight of stairs,I saw something on top of it.It was a shadow,like a silhouette.It wasn't moving.I stopped for a while to observe the top of the stairs.

It was still there.

I squinted my eyes to take a better look.

It didn't move.

For a split second I thought it was Eric,but it couldn't be.This shadow was way bigger than his.It was  gigantic.

Then,all of a sudden,the shadow was gone.It was almost magical.The shadow that was standing on top of the stairs disappeared in a split second.I'm sure I saw the shadow.

Or am I going crazy?

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