Chapter 19 #2
My husband joined me in sighing. “Well, that’s disturbing, but it also helps explain a great deal about death, doesn’t it? We’re always arguing when the true point of death is.”
Life had taught me numerous painful lessons, and a better understanding of death happened to be one of them.
“It’s when the soul leaves the body, and that isn’t a reliable measure.
Every person is different. Some souls give up sooner than others.
Some cling until their body is no longer compatible with life.
Some flee the body at the first stutter of their heartbeat.
It’s never the same. We don’t have to understand the nature of death.
It just is. Death is when the soul departs, and no soul is the same.
And I suspect haunters are the souls of those who clung until their body was no longer compatible with life, driven to accomplish their last wishes despite lacking a living body. ”
Of all the theories I’ve heard, after the thinking I’d done after my trip to Death Mile, after witnessing Adam Merorie’s tragic death, my beliefs about haunters made sense.
It fit all the pieces I had, snapping together to form a cohesive picture.
Perhaps not a complete picture but identifiable all the same.
Life rarely provided all the pieces to the puzzle, leaving a few gaps here and there, often in the shape of a life.
“How many times have you witnessed the moment of death?” Erik asked in a troubled tone.
“More times than I prefer, fewer times than you might expect, truth be told. Sometimes, the hardest part was not telling first responders the person had no hope and just watching them struggle in a battle they’d already lost. But I often think about it, and I realize even though we lost the battle, we were there with them at the bitter end.
I like to think just being there helps. Death is scary.
When I go, I’d want someone with me, too. ”
Witnessing Krikolios return to the ice had changed me, and if my mother was right and I, too, would seek out the ice in my final moments, I would want someone accompanying me on that final journey.
Little frightened me more than the thought of dying alone.
“I see. Well, let us know if you see anything, no matter how insignificant.”
I eyed my husband. “Everything I see of someone’s death is significant, Erik. I can’t promise what I see will help us, if I see anything at all, but every last one of those moments is significant. Sometimes, we just don’t understand why.”
He held his hands up in surrender. “As usual, you’re right. All right, Lan. Let’s start with the largest of the secret spaces, if possible.”
“That will be on the third floor, where we estimate approximately half of the mansion is hidden away somehow. We haven’t searched much beyond putting together the floor plan based on room measurements, but the entire interior of the floor hasn’t been found yet.
It’s approximately five thousand feet of floor space. ”
“Just how big is this place?” I blurted.
“Each floor has a minimum of eight thousand square feet. The fifth floor is the smallest, as there’s an open courtyard in the center of the space, which isn’t visible from the ground.
The fourth floor has twelve thousand square feet, as does the third floor.
The second floor has thirteen thousand, and the ground floor has seventeen thousand,” Lan reported.
I stared at the older man, probably a dragon, my mouth hanging open. “And the basement?”
“We’ve uncovered twenty thousand square feet in the basement.”
I spluttered. “That is way too much space. It’s not really that big, is it?”
“It’s really that big,” Lan confirmed. “This home was for an entire clan of dragons, and an estimated thirty-five people were living here when the raid occurred. Unfortunately, all were killed, as they had gone mad and were too dangerous to capture alive.”
I winced at the death toll, although I’d been aware Madam Merorie had faced her death at my father’s claws. But for thirty-four others to have perished would bother me for quite some time. “Are any of them haunters?”
“No,” Erik replied. “The police force brought in a few purples with a knack for telling if there are haunters at a place of death. The mercury dragons all moved on after their demise.”
That was something. “Erik, I don’t know if I’m going to have enough money to renovate this place.
I was expecting maybe ten thousand square feet.
I was not expecting close to that per floor.
” I bowed my head and muttered curses. “Just show us the place, Lan, before I start crying over the amount of work I’m going to have to do to turn this into a home. ”
“You’ll be able to readily pay for the renovations just through selling a few of the paintings,” Lan replied, and he offered me a consoling smile.
“You’re marrying a yellow hatchling. Yellows love children more than life itself.
You’ll want the space, and you can dedicate entire wings of the place to each clutch.
You’ll be challenged keeping them from becoming spoiled, but this place is perfect for yellows.
You could also open parts of the home to your family members as permanent guest rooms and things like that.
Dragons don’t do well alone, and I think that’s one thing the mercury dragons truly understood.
They were twisted and vile, but they understood family. ”
That I believed. “Erik, I need therapy.”
“Me, too. I’ll get us booked in for some sessions so we can work through this.
If you don’t want to sell the paintings, we can make a museum on the ground floor so people can come to enjoy the art.
Admission can be free with the option for donations, and we can even have an entire section dedicated to rocks our carbunclo found. ”
I checked on the kittens and the hummingbird to discover the trio had located a small chair to claim as theirs, talking to each other in mews, squeaks, chirps, and other sounds. The carbunclo had shifted to their kitten forms, and the tips of their tails twitched.
“I wonder what they’re discussing.” I smiled at the trio, who seemed at ease with the situation and enjoying our visit to the manor. “Sometimes, I wish I could truly understand them.”
“They’re surely plotting our downfall if we fail to provide them with mashed potatoes for dinner,” Erik muttered, soft enough I doubted our beasts could hear him. “They’re clearly discussing how to take over the universe.”
“We should teach them that taking over the entire universe is far too much work.” I whistled for our pets, and in a louder voice, I said, “Come along, babies. We’re going to look for secret rooms upstairs.”
That got all three zipping over, and the carbunclo opted to transform into their wisp shapes, and they darted to and fro in their excitement.
“If we could bottle their energy, we’d be rich,” Erik commented as Lan led us through the mansion while the rest of the forensics team returned to their work. “I’m trying to figure out how everyone registered all the evidence so quickly.”
“Many invested hours,” Lan replied, and he grinned at me. “The FBI sent a lot of bodies to help upon learning how large this place is and the probable connection with traffickers. Otherwise, we would have been here for at least two or three months collecting evidence.”
I shuddered at the thought of the case being lost in limbo for so long. “Please thank the FBI for me. I’ll also thank Pascal.”
I doubted Pascal would leave the hotel for a while; he wanted to conquer the paperwork before it bred.
He thought I would benefit us better through exploring the Merorie property and attempting to ferret out any additional secrets.
“I will. Just so you are aware, we only learned of the secret spaces recently; it was mostly luck, as one of our teammates had a gut feeling something was off on the third floor. They finished far before any other floor, which is a pretty good indication something wasn’t quite right.
A quick check with some measuring tape later, and you have quite the mystery on your hands. ”
No kidding. “The first mystery is finding out how to get into the space. The second is to discover what was hidden in there and why.”
Erik snickered. “There are more mysteries about this place than we can shake sticks at, Kinsley. Let’s start with figuring out how to get into the space without damaging the house and ease ourselves into any additional mysteries.
We have plenty of mystery in our life right now.
We do not need even more mysteries adding to our current collection.
I do not wish to hoard mysteries, especially of the unsolved nature.
Now, if you wanted to start hoarding mystery novels, I will support you in this quest and accompany you on Fridays to earn mystery book money. ”
As a general rule, while Erik enjoyed reading, he tended to avoid mystery novels; in reality, the criminals were far dumber than in most books, and the discrepancy between reality and fiction tended to drive him right up a wall.
“I don’t think we should hoard books if we have zero intention of reading them.
How about a good selection of non-fiction titles, some action-adventure books, and perhaps a few outlandish thrillers? ”
“I could work with that. Is there an elevator in this place, Lan?”
“Fortunately for us, there is, but it’s a hike across the mansion to get to it. There’s a closer stairwell, but I’ve been sufficiently exercised for one day.”
“Are you a dragon or dragon-kin?” I asked, my curiosity finally getting the better of me.
“I’m an iron dragon,” Lan reported. “Honestly, my magic is unsuited for forensics work, but I was hired for my brain rather than my metalworking ability. I am a blacksmith, but I only do artistic work. I make statuettes and things of that nature.”
Huh. I’d heard there were iron dragons who broke the mold and worked with the metal outside of weaponry, but I hadn’t thought I would actually get to meet one. “Do you just like torturing yourself?”
Lan snickered. “After this case, apparently, I do. We have a few babies with us, and their eyes have been fully opened to the nature of forensics work. When they found out they absolutely could not, under any circumstances, vomit on the evidence, we had a mass exodus of the novices. Just be glad we opted to use magic to clean up your front yard.”
Vomit happened at crime scenes, and I’d learned from bitter experience there was little worse than the stench of rotting vomit on a hot and humid day. “Erik, are we allowed to issue those poor people bonuses?”
“No.”
I scowled. “Why not?”
“They’re paid well and do not need pity from us. They’re the reason you have to deal with owning paintings valued at millions of dollars each.”
I paled at the thought of having to deal with such a mess. “Surely there aren’t many of those here, right?”
Lan snickered, and he patted my shoulder. “Ask how many of the paintings are valued below a million dollars.”
“Fine. How many are valued beneath a million dollars?”
“None of them. The Merorie clan went big or went home. All the paintings are from famous painters, and most of them are well over a hundred years old. A painting’s value is often determined by who will buy, but the art appraiser we had in was confident just about anyone could get at least a million dollars for every painting in here.
We also found all the purchase records for the paintings and the financial trail for how they were purchased, and they’re all legitimate sales or gifts. ”
I narrowed my eyes. “Gifts? Do you have a list of those who gave Madam Merorie paintings valued at over a million each?”
“The FBI has the full list and is looking into it. Honestly, some of these paintings she got for an absolute steal. One of the paintings is actually a rescued piece of cave art after an earthquake destroyed most of the site, taken from an island in Indonesia. That was gifted to the Merorie clan over a hundred years ago from the government of Indonesia. Why? We’re not sure.
But the painting is over forty-five thousand years old, and it’s priceless.
There are records of Madam Merorie allowing historians to study the piece as long as they took precautions to prevent it from being damaged.
She was many things, but she was a lover of antiquities.
Unfortunately, paintings aren’t the only antiquities she’s collected, and some of them are worth even more. ”
Then, with a rather wicked smile, Lan patted my shoulder again.
“Erik, console me,” I ordered.
“Tonight,” he promised with a rather saucy smirk. “Does her collection have any rocks in it?”
“There is a room dedicated to rocks on the third floor,” he replied. “Everything has been appraised and validated for origin, so those are also safe for you to take into your possession at any time.”
While it took him a few minutes, Erik managed to herd the two carbunclo and my hummingbird together so he could have a talk with them.
“Garnet, Citrine, you can each pick a single rock from the rock room if you help us look for secret rooms in here without wandering far. If you find anything, you have to come get one of us, okay? Tourmaline, you can have a rock if you want, but if you don’t want a rock, we’ll take you to the flower store and you can pick a plant. ”
We were either the best or the worst pet parents, and I couldn’t tell which. “If you three are extra good, you can each have a rock and a flower.”
That earned me a chorus of chirps, mews, and excited squeaks.
Smirking, I raised a brow at my husband.
“I definitely lost that exchange and offer my surrender. All I ask is that you keep the chaos to manageable levels, okay?”
“I’ll do my best, but you should know better than to ask for miracles.”