Chapter Twenty-Five #2
“Go!” she said to Jacko. “Go faster.”
Jacko gave the Fiat more gas and it bucked forward.
He rounded the corner tower, and the stench of guano disappeared.
The grass was still overgrown in the front of the castle, but a drive court had survived the neglect.
There was a cobblestone parking area adjacent to a circular drive, and a driveway led out through the woods.
“I think we might have taken the hard way to the castle,” Gabriela said.
“No one told me about a second driveway,” Jacko said, idling in the drive court. “I hope it connects to a real road because my Fiat is never going to leave the way that it came in.”
“I want to investigate the castle,” Gabriela said, “but first let’s see where this driveway takes us.”
Jacko eased the Fiat over the cobblestone driveway and entered the wooded area.
The driveway narrowed to a single lane and the cobblestones gave way to packed gravel.
The drive had a slight curve and downward slope.
After a half mile there was light at the end of the hardwood-and-evergreen tunnel and the driveway ended at a paved two-lane road.
There were posts on both sides of the driveway.
A heavy metal chain was attached to one of the posts, with the rest of the chain and a padlock coiled on the ground next to it.
Thirty or forty feet up the road was a patch of beaten-down grass and a scenic overlook.
Jacko drove to the overlook. “Do you want me to go further on this road, or do you want me to go back to the castle?”
“Back to the castle,” Gabriela said.
Minutes later, they were parked on the circular drive. Everyone got out and looked at the car. It was missing a mirror and a headlight. The right front quarter panel was bashed in, and its entire left side was scraped and dented.
“Look on the bright side,” Rafer said to Jacko. “No one is going to try to steal it.”
“And it appears that I didn’t wet myself,” Jacko said.
“It’s all good news,” Gabriela said, heading for the massive front door.
“Let’s see if the guy with the long nails is sacrificing a goat.
” She reached the door and looked around.
No Ring camera or doorbell. Just a huge brass door knocker.
She tried the door knocker three times. No answer.
She tried the handle, and the door swung open.
“Just barge right in,” Rafer said to Gabriela. “Don’t worry about a thing. I’m right behind you.”
Gabriela stepped inside and called, “Hello. Anybody home?”
No answer.
She was standing in a cavernous two-story entry. There was some light coming through the windows, but the windows were small and far apart. A large chandelier hung overhead. It consisted of three tiers of concentric iron circles holding electric candle lights draped in cobwebs.
“It’s hard to get good household help these days,” Rafer said, looking up at the cobwebs.
A large round center hall table was positioned under the chandelier.
Tapestries and ornately framed oil paintings covered the walls.
Antique upholstered settees were scattered around the room.
Fabric was faded, and cushions were tired.
Floors were bare stone. Wall sconces matched the chandelier in style.
Wide halls led off from both sides of the room.
An impressive stone staircase was located toward the back of the hall and a wide arch carved out of the back wall opened to another room.
“We have a lot of ground to cover here,” Gabriela said. “I’m going to take the left hall. Rafer, you go right, and make sure you check the towers. Jacko, you drive back to the overlook on the road and watch the driveway. Call us if anyone turns in. We have cell service, so we can keep in touch.”
Rafer ambled off. Jacko headed back to the Fiat.
Gabriela power walked down the hall. She did a fast check on several smaller rooms opening off the hall.
Mostly sitting rooms. One had a dated television.
One contained a baby grand piano. One was a library.
Most of the furniture was circa 1950. She opened the door to the tower and listened.
Silence. She climbed the stone steps to the top of the tower and walked into a small round room.
Empty. One of the windows was broken and the skeleton and some feathers of what looked like a large owl was on the floor by the window.
She left the room and returned to the first floor, walking along a narrow, windowless corridor.
Rooms opened off the corridor. A laundry with a washer and dryer and deep utility sink.
A room that had shelves and might have been used for storage or a pantry but was now empty.
She investigated the second tower and found nothing.
She wandered through a collection of larger rooms with windows looking out at the back meadow.
A sitting room with a fireplace. A room that might have been for family dining at one time but was now empty, with the exception of a glass-faced china closet.
Next came the kitchen. It wasn’t medieval but it wasn’t modern either.
From the sink and countertop choice she was guessing 1950s.
The refrigerator and stove were newer. A vintage toaster and a drip coffee maker were the only appliances on the counter.
There was a small square wood table with four straight-backed wood side chairs in the middle of the room.
The table was covered with a faded red and white checked plastic tablecloth.
Gabriela thought it wasn’t the classic castle kitchen designed for hosting large banquets.
It was more appropriate for a family of four or maybe an eccentric hermit.
An over-the-counter cabinet held inexpensive china and glassware.
Another cabinet contained crackers, salt, sugar, a box of whole wheat cereal.
Jars with herbs. Packets of pasta. Canned tomato sauce.
Gabriela looked in the refrigerator. Half a loaf of bread. Some condiments. A wedge of hard cheese. A couple apples in the crisper. The apples looked old, and the bread felt stale.
Rafer walked into the kitchen. “Did you find anything?”
“Nothing worthwhile,” Gabriela said. “The entire left side of the building is empty of people and filled with furniture that doesn’t look recently used.
I don’t think this is a real castle at all.
It’s more like a country house somebody built to look like a medieval castle.
I’ll bet nothing here is more than a hundred years old at the most. Except maybe some of the guano. ”
“There’s a mudroom in the back that has a couple pairs of rubber boots by the door and a heavy canvas jacket on a hook. The door opens to a short path to the goat shed. And there’s a second shed behind the goat shed. It looks like it’s where goats were butchered.”
“The sacrificial altar?” Gabriela asked.
“Yeah. And I don’t think anybody drank the blood. It looks like it was used to make sausage.”
“Yum.”
“Seriously. Whoever lives here has a pretty decent sausage operation. Cara Scalucci Sausage.” Rafer pulled a label out of his pocket and handed it to Gabriela.
“I didn’t see any sausages or goat parts in the fridge or freezer.”
“There’s a garage on this side, too. Got an ancient truck in it,” Rafer said.
“So, where’s the driver of the truck?”
“Good question,” Rafer said. “There are stairs going up to a second floor and probably a third, and I found a door that leads to a cellar or maybe a dungeon.”
“That sounds promising,” Gabriela said. “I’ll take the dungeon, and you take the upstairs.”
“You always get the good jobs,” Rafer said.
“Do you want the dungeon?”
“Yes.”
“Great. You take the dungeon,” Gabriela said. “The guy with the creepy long nails is probably dead down there. Half-rotted and bloated. And it’s probably filled with snakes and spiders.”
“Okay, you can have the dungeon,” Rafer said. “I know how much you love to find the dead guy.”
“No way,” Gabriela said. “You want it. You can have it.”
“You’re giving it up because you’re afraid of the spiders,” Rafer said.
“Get real. You’re the one who’s afraid of spiders.”
“Who was the one screaming like a little girl when she got a spider stuck in her hair on the eighth-grade hayride?”
“It was in my hair!”
“Yeah, and who got it out?”
“Ugh!” Gabriela said. “Fine. Wonderful. I’ll take the dungeon.”
“Are you sure you really, really want it?”
“Good thing I haven’t got a gun,” Gabriela said, “because I’d shoot you. Where are the stairs to the dungeon?”
Rafer pointed to a hallway. “It’s just past the big archway that opens to the formal dining room.”
Gabriela found the cellar door, flipped the lights on, and cautiously went down the stairs. She reached the bottom, and Rafer called to her.
“Are you okay? Is there a dungeon?”
“No dungeon. And it looks like the cellar is only under part of the building. You should check out the upstairs.”
The cellar floor was dirt, the walls were concrete block, the ceiling was unfinished with pipes and wires running between beams. Gabriela thought this supported the theory that the castle was a fairly recent build as opposed to dating back to the fifteenth century.
A wheelbarrow, some garden tools, a shovel, and a coiled hose were positioned by a rough wood door secured with a padlock.
A crate of red wine, a bushel basket of potatoes, and a sack of rags had been placed not far off.
A work bench with a vise and a chest freezer backed up to a wall.
Gabriela looked in the freezer. Boxes of Cara Scalucci sausages and a goat leg wrapped in white butcher’s paper.
She closed the freezer and turned her attention to the other side of the cellar.
A hot water heater and a vintage furnace were positioned several feet from the wall.
Bales of hay were stacked in front of them.
Gabriela was about to leave the cellar when Jacko called.