Chapter 19 #2
The librarian shook her head. “And the trouble is, it’ll be almost impossible to sell it again.”
“That’s just great,” she muttered, followed by a groan, “because I don’t have money or anything. I mean, I went all in-and took it on because I was desperately in need of a place to raise these kids. And now?” She gave her a headshake. “I just don’t even know what to say.”
“Gosh, that is just so crazy. Yet there is one woman here in town who might know more. She’s down at the old folks’ home on the river, called River’s End.
Her name is Marjorie. I know she was really good friends with the mother, and I know she took it very hard at the time.
She’d been there with the mom a lot and had shared lots of family events together.
You know, their kids were always over at each other’s houses, that kind of thing. I know she took it really terribly.”
“Oh dear,” Devon muttered, “I’m sure that had to be one of the roughest things to find out.”
“Oh, it absolutely was. She took it badly, finding it very difficult and hard for her to get beyond that. I can tell you that a lot of people really suffered because they were very close to those kids. Nearly every family in town was affected one way or another because their kids would have gone to school with at least one of them.”
Devon couldn’t imagine. “That would be one of the hardest things.”
The librarian nodded. “The whole town mourned, and then it became something the entire town was fascinated with. Everybody wanted news. Everybody wanted updates. The police just never seemed to find anybody. Over time, I think it was just assumed that it was the one son, but he kept protesting his innocence.”
The librarian shook her head. “He was never quite the same again. And, of course, there was very little sympathy for him because there was a certain amount of suspicion that he’d been the killer. He supposedly had an alibi at the time, but people just didn’t believe it.”
The librarian winced. “And then there was a certain group who wanted to believe it was more supernatural—meaning the devil’s work, that kind of thing.
And that, in its own way, caused quite a bit more trouble too.
Then the churches got involved. All the churches were very strict at the time about doing God’s work and not leaving yourself open to evil.
And that case was often held up as what happens when you’re open to evil.
Other people were like, Well, if that’s what happens when you’re evil, what did those poor kids do that made them evil?
It was a very difficult and divisive time. ”
She shuddered and continued. “But all the misinformation aside, if you want more insight into any of it, Marjorie would be the one I would go to.”
Thanking her, Devon walked back out to her car. Even as she got inside, she looked back, and there was the librarian, staring at her. She gave her a half-hearted wave and headed down toward the old folks’ home. As soon as she walked in, she asked if it was possible to see Marjorie.
The receptionist remarked, “She hasn’t had a visitor in a very long time.”
Devon just smiled and asked, “Is it possible?”
“Let me go see.” She left her standing there at the front desk.
When she came back a few minutes later, she said, “Marjorie doesn’t know why anybody would want to see her, but she says she’s open to a visitor.
So, if you want to follow me, I’ll show you the way.
” She led her down to this absolutely tiny lady with pure white hair.
However, more pink skin showed through than the hair covering her scalp.
The woman faced her with bright quizzical eyes and said, “I don’t know you.”
Devon smiled at her and sat down on the chair across from her. “Right,” she replied, with a smile. “We’ve never met.”
The woman just nodded and then chirped happily, “That’s okay. I never get visitors, so I’m always happy to see somebody new and a new face in town too.”
Devon politely corrected her. “I’ve been here in town for a while.” She then chatted about her job and the apartment building where she used to live.
The other woman nodded. “That’s wonderful, and now you’re here to see me,” she exclaimed, quite happily. “So, what can I do for you?”
Devon hesitated because she didn’t want to ruin this woman’s day, but she didn’t know how else to get to the truth of this.
“I find myself in a very uncomfortable position,” she began cautiously.
“I recently bought a house and have just now discovered some things about it. I rather desperately need to find out more.”
“Oh my, that sounds exciting,” Majorie replied.
“But what on earth could I possibly tell you?” She spoke with an almost birdlike chirp.
“I mean, I lived in the same house for many, many years, and you didn’t buy it off me because my son lives there,” she shared, with a bright smile. “Now, what house could it possibly be?”
Again Devon hesitated. “I’m sorry to say it’s the one where all the murders happened. The parents and the kids too. Six people to be exact.”
At that, Marjorie, her hand clutching her chest, stared at her in shock. “Oh, that’s not right. That can’t be right.”
Devon nodded. “I have taken on the care of my best friend’s two children.
Twins, … eleven years old,” she shared, “and I desperately needed a larger place to live. My Realtor told me that this one had just gone on the market, and it was cheap, and I needed to move quickly because the new owner had just inherited it and was looking for a quick sale.”
Devon shrugged, then continued. “I didn’t think I would even get the house because I doubted that the bank would see me as a viable mortgage holder,” she explained.
“So I was absolutely shocked and delighted when they approved my application. Sadly I’ve only just now found out about the horrors that happened there. ”
“And the real estate agent who listed the property for the seller didn’t say anything to you?” Marjorie asked.
“No, and I haven’t tried to contact her yet, but a big part of me thinks she owes me an explanation.”
“And your money back,” she stated, tears filling her eyes.
“Nobody has lived in that house since it happened. So, I don’t know who she thinks she is to sell that to some poor unsuspecting single mother,” she muttered, with a heavy downcast look on her face.
“This isn’t the world I used to live in.
It used to be that we looked after and helped each other,” she noted, true sadness in her tone, “but things have changed so much.”
“I agree.” Devon nodded. “That’s one of the reasons why, when I hadn’t been able to secure a place to take the three of us, I jumped at this house. I mean, my best friend died recently, and so I really just wanted a nice safe place for us to make a fresh start.”
“Oh my.” Marjorie shook her head. “That is so not right.”
“Exactly, and I’m starting to realize that somebody did me wrong in this instance. I just don’t know how bad it is, and that’s why somebody suggested you might know more about the circumstances and whether it’s something that—I don’t want to be superstitious but—”
“Oh, you should be,” Marjorie declared, her eyes opening wide.
She clutched a necklace around her neck.
“You really should be because I’m pretty sure that place …
is haunted,” she whispered, urging her closer.
Then she quickly glanced around at the other residents.
“Most people, unless they were there at the time, they just don’t understand what it can be like,” she explained, “but something is wrong there.”
“Have you been in the house since it happened?” Devon asked her.
“I was there for the first little bit,” she replied.
“I can’t even remember why, but I know the son wanted help trying to get things back in order—although we all had our reservations, and nobody really understood what had happened and who was involved.
However, I’d known that boy since he was little, and I never thought he was the killer. ”
Marjorie shook her head. “But everybody else seemed to think that I was wrong and that I didn’t understand.
They thought I was just feeling pity for him because he lost his entire family.
” And she shrugged, adding, “And that’s quite true, but nobody ever thought about what he was going through because he did lose his entire family.
And, if he wasn’t guilty, the shock had to have been absolutely brutal.
Still, everybody just viewed him with suspicion, and I don’t think that ever, ever changed in all his lifetime. ”
She sighed, staring at Devon. “He just wasted away, a very unhappy person, and I don’t think anybody saw him as a grieving person, beyond the killer they believed him to be.”
Devon grimaced. “That’s sad but understandable.”
“Maybe. … I kept trying to tell people I didn’t think it was him, but—”
“What happened to him?” Devon asked.
“He got cancer, and he finally passed away.” Marjorie pondered that for a moment and added, “I don’t remember for sure, but I think it was maybe a decade or so ago.
At the time, everybody breathed a sigh of relief, as if to say, Good riddance, and they just parked the whole mystery.
I felt as if that was the wrong thing to do because I still don’t feel that the real killer was ever caught.
And, if the killer was never caught, he’s still out there somewhere, and—” Her bottom lip trembled.
“And the last thing I want to do at this stage of my life is deal with that.”
“Yes, I understand, and I’m so sorry,” Devon muttered. “I wasn’t sure if I should even contact you because I didn’t want to upset you again over this matter.”
Marjorie nodded but continued to stare at her, then asked abruptly, “Have you seen any ghosts there?”
Devon felt her heart slam shut, and she muttered in a low voice, “I’m not sure.”