The Haunting Within (16 page)

50

Aiden opened the door to a rotund pleasant-looking fellow in a dark brown trilby hat and a long dark brown overcoat that covered his dark brown suit. It was like they had gone back in time staring at the man in his old-fashioned clothes. He was very dull looking from the neck down. He could have been a sepia photograph had he not been breathing heavily and wiping his brow with a handkerchief. Only his face gave him some depth. He looked at them with a friendly smile playing round his mouth that pushed up his red chubby cheeks. It was the most welcoming sight any of them had seen since they had been here, apart from the garden of course.

“You live way out don’t you? I had a bit of trouble finding this place, but never mind, I’m here now.” The man finished with another smile, not at all forced. “I’m Richard Matlock. I’ve come to value the house?” he told them seeming unsure as to whether they were expecting him after the phone call his partner had. The young man smiled at him and extended his hand and he knew they were expecting him after all.

“I’m Aiden. Pleased to meet you. This is my mum, and this is my sister Lisa. Come in.” They stepped into the house and Mr. Matlock followed.

“What a lovely old house this is. I expect you will miss it once it has been sold.” The estate agent said this as more of a statement than a question. He was genuinely impressed with the manor house. His salary would get him nothing close to such grandeur though. Such a shame as he would love to live here. When his partner had informed him he was coming here for this appointment he been gob smacked. He had known of the house for a long time, but had never seen it in person so to speak. He could never have dreamed of having the opportunity to sell such a house. He could not wait to get inside and have a look around.

Once inside the house, Mr. Matlock took off his coat and removed his hat for Aiden to see that his mental image was correct, just for the wrong partner, unless they both looked like that. The light from the crystal chandelier in the foyer bounced off his rather large bald head. He wasn’t completely bald, there were a few wisps of dark brown hair on the shiny scalp, but only a few.

“No, we won’t miss it at all!” exclaimed Aiden. Lisa knew they had to be careful about what they said, after all who would want to buy a house with a past such as this?

She stepped in quickly to back up what her brother had said “We won’t miss it because it’s not our home, our mum inherited it from her father in his will. It’s too big for us. We just want to sell it as quickly as possible.”

“I understand. And by the way, I’m very sorry to hear about your father.” He was looking at Debbie as he said this.

“It’s okay. He’s still here you know.” Debbie told him with a knowing smile. A worried look crossed his face for a fleeting second and it didn’t go unnoticed by Lisa.

Ever the tactful one she added “Mum is a great believer in the after-life Mr. Matlock. What she meant was that she still feels him around her.”

“Oh, I see.” Richard replied looking relieved. “Of course, of course.”

After offering him a cup of tea which he graciously accepted, Lisa took Mr. Matlock by the arm and led him away from her mother slightly “If you don’t mind, it will be me showing you around. My mum has had a hard time coming to terms with her father’s death and we all think it would be better all-round if I were to go with you. If that is alright with you?” Lisa asked him.

“That would be absolutely fine my dear he replied patting her hand in a grandfatherly way. “Let your mother stay down here and rest.” Lord knows she looked like she could do with one. He would never be so impolite as to ask what had happened but it was clear from the state of her that she had been in some sort of accident, maybe a car accident. Poor woman. As if she didn’t have enough problems at the moment.

Lisa asked Aiden to take her in the lounge while she showed Mr. Matlock around.

51

They started upstairs. Richard was making notes about all the rooms, what condition the fittings in the bathroom were in, which he told Lisa that for such an old house were in excellent condition, and whether there were any original features in the rooms - which he was pleased to see that all the original features were still intact, even if some did need a bit of maintenance work. He welcomed the opportunity to stop to make his notes as he was able to rest and catch his breath after the climb up the long staircase. His breathing was very fast and he had to keep taking deep gulps of air in between his shallow puffs and pants. He thought, as he reached in his pocket and retrieved his old handkerchief to dab the sweat from his forehead, that he would have to come up here many times in the near future to show possible buyers around and he certainly wasn’t looking forward to that prospect. He was afraid that he might have a heart attack if he climbed the stairs too many times in one day. The estate agent was still very much out of breath and he was still sweating a lot; he could feel the beads of perspiration forming on his wide brow and running down his temples. In between taking the notes he would wipe his forehead with the handkerchief which was by now becoming damp, enjoying the coldness of the wet cloth on his skin. He looked up and saw the young lady looking at him in an odd manner.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, yes dear, I’m fine. Just a bit worn out by the stairs. Too many steak and ale pies I’m afraid.” Mr. Matlock gave a hearty chuckle and patted his expansive stomach before continuing to jot down his findings on his small note pad, the pen he held dwarfed by his thick fingers.

He told Lisa that the fact that all of the original features were still intact and in decent condition would up the value of the property considerably as there were not many homes that still had them and there were quite a few people that were searching for homes that did have them. It seemed the eras and their traditions of long ago were popular in this modern day and age. He was counting the number of rooms as they went and both he and Lisa were amazed to find there were sixteen bedrooms on the second and third floors and no less than nine bathrooms, some of which were en-suite. The attic, which Lisa dared not venture into was absolutely huge according to Mr. Matlock who only stuck his head through the opening because he could neither fit his body into the hole, nor lift his bulk through. He was also very impressed by the library-come-study room. He said a lot of people wanted a room like this, but not wishing to go through all the work of building it themselves. The more of the house he saw, the more immensely impressed and excited he became.

“I have never seen a house like this in all my twenty three years in this business! This is going to fetch you and your family an awful lot of money Miss Adams.”

At least we’ll be
getting paid for this then
she thought to herself.

As they headed back downstairs after searching the upper three floors, Mr. Matlock was intrigued by the features on the stairs. He couldn’t get over the fact that everywhere he looked he saw original features. Even in other houses that had a lot of the original building work, all of them had had at least four or five things replaced with a more modern piece.

Not the case here though!
He thought happily.

He was happy that the family would be getting an indecent amount of money from selling the house. He knew that much after only looking upstairs, he was sure the downstairs would add a heck of a lot more money to the asking price. He was also a very happy man because he had the privilege of looking round such a beautiful stately house like this.

“To say I am in awe would be a major understatement!” he chuckled to the young lady leading him down the stairs.

Lisa had no idea what he saw in the horrible dreary house, and she didn’t really care. She just wanted to get out of here as fast as possible, but she knew she had to wait until morning now. She could put up with it one more night if she knew they would be gone in the morning. She would have to grit her teeth and bear it. It wasn’t the house that bothered her so much now, she had seen a couple of parts she liked; the kitchen, the garden; it was the way her mother was behaving that really unsettled her now. 

Lisa led Mr. Matlock into the lounge where her mum and brother were sat drinking a cup of tea.

“Would you like a cup of tea? Or maybe a coffee Mr. Matlock?” Debbie asked him.

“Only if it’s no trouble to you Mrs.…?” he trailed off, forgetting the family name.

“Adams. And no, it’s no trouble at all. I’ll make us all a pot of tea shall I?” she asked smiling into the faces of everyone in the room.

Mr. Matlock was happy to accept the offer of a drink and a sit down to rest his legs. Debbie rose from her chair and went into the kitchen. While the agent was peering in amazement at the view through the floor to ceiling windows, Lisa asked Aiden if she was okay now without him over hearing. Apparently she was. Richard caught a snippet of their conversation and his heart went out to the poor woman. He knew how she felt. He himself had lost his father almost seven years ago. It was he whom he had inherited the business from. Seven years is a long time in most people’s eyes, but not for someone who had lost somebody very dear to them. He still missed his father every day and every sale of a house he made, he did it for him. He would have loved to of been around for the sale of this house but Richard knew he was looking down on him with pride. He quickly shook off the feelings that were threatening to pull him into an underworld, an abyss of his sorrow and grief which had more than once threatened to drown him and concentrated on the fabulous lounge. The large grey marble fireplace and integrated mirror above with its open grate log fire were the originals, as too was the cornice that ordained the centre of the high ceiling around the chandelier. He just could not believe his luck. Yes, the commission he would get from such a huge sale would be enormous for someone like him but it wasn’t only that which got his pulse racing, nor was it the amount of seemingly endless stairs. It was the fact that he had the honour of pricing it and getting to peek, if only for an hour or so, at the world in which “the others” lived. It is something he would begrudge nobody and he certainly did not feel envious of people with money but what he wouldn’t give to own a home such as where he now stood. He fully understood the house being too big for the family. There would be nothing worse than to ramble around in the dead of winter in a house so immense with not enough life inside to warm its high ceilings and long corridors. But he couldn’t help but feel like they were in a rush to sell it. This he could not understand. But then again, maybe getting rid of it would help their grief. He made some more notes before being shown into the dining room by both the young lady and her brother.

52

As they entered the room something caught his eye near the door that led into the kitchen. He turned to ask them what it was when he realised it was the door that led to the corridor between the room and the kitchen and Mrs. Adams was in the kitchen making a pot of tea for them. Mr. Matlock thought nothing of it and continued to look with reverence around the dining room. The features were just wonderful. The fireplace that matched the one in the front room, the ceiling rose that encircled an even more elaborate and ornate crystal chandelier, the large floor-to-ceiling mullioned windows, the dado rail around the top of the walls, the old high skirting boards instead of the flimsy-looking modern ones most people seemed to prefer nowadays. Everything was perfect. It made him wonder why people had started putting the dado rails half-way up the walls when they were just so vintage and beautifully placed near the ceiling as this room proved.

He was still writing as they wandered into the kitchen just as Debbie was returning from the toilet. She took her place in front of the aga while she waited for the kettle to boil.

“You gave me quite a startle a few seconds ago when you passed the door there Mrs. Adams. I quite forgot you were in here.” he gave a slight shake of his head and an endearing chuckle.             

“I’ve been to the bathroom Mr. Matlock. I went as soon as I put the kettle on” Debbie replied “I didn’t pass that door.”

Seeing his confusion Lisa added hastily “It’s the lighting Mr. Matlock. It was probably a shadow of one of us you saw. It can take some getting used to.” She forced a smile.

Nodding his head in agreement Richard made some more notes on the kitchen. Lisa sighed inwardly. She was on edge in case her mum decided to go off on one again in front of the estate agent. She didn’t know how he would feel about selling a house that was owned by a crazy woman. God, what a bitch she was for thinking like that. Her mum wasn’t crazy. She was just having a hard time. It was probably because she had just lost her father. Lisa was saddened when it dawned on her that her mum was now an orphan. She supposed it came to everyone eventually but still, it wasn’t a nice thought. And for her to be labelling her as crazy was horrible. She needed to start trying to understand her and help her as much as she could.

While Lisa was lost in her thoughts Mr. Matlock continued gazing around him in child-like wonder. The old stone inglenook was exquisite. So too was the enormous built-in aga range that Debbie stood in front of. He could imagine how cosy the room would be in winter when the aga was on and the fire was burning in the inglenook. Perfect. He was amazed to see a walk-in larder with the old marble shelves that were used in the days before fridge-freezers were invented to keep fresh meat and eggs and such cool. Even the butlers’ kitchen sink looked original; it wasn’t made from steel like the modern sinks were. This was made from clay. Of course, it was not to be confused with a Belfast sink which in essence is also a butlers’ sink but one made in Belfast. Belfast sinks have a Weir overflow built in. Richard didn’t think he would ever be able to remember the difference as it was so very long ago he learned about the types of sinks and the differences between them so he was feeling very pleased with himself. He almost wanted to tell the family just so that he could explain some of the original features to them but he didn’t think they would be interested, not a young family like this. Plus it would be quite tactless of him to blabber on about something they will probably find so trivial when their worlds had been turned upside down by such loss. So he kept his mouth shut and got on with his job. Everything in this house pointed to early or even pre-Victorian-times and this just pleased him even more. He knew how hard it was to come across houses with such fine Victorian details these days. It didn’t matter to him that the wallpaper was peeling from the walls or that the carpets were frayed and thread-bare in places or that the parquet floor was a little scuffed in parts. If a buyer came along with a love for original detail, they would snap this house up straight away. They could change the carpets and wallpaper, they could re-varnish the floors; they couldn’t find original features like these no matter where they looked or how hard. There just wasn’t much call for them anymore.

Mr. Matlock tailed Lisa and Aiden back out of the kitchen through the hallway to the downstairs bathroom. Again this room consisted of an old-fashioned enamel bath on wrought iron feet, a basic toilet and wash basin, and also an old-fashioned bidet. Following on from the bathroom they entered the morning room. Floral prints and bright late afternoon sunshine streaming in made it seem like summer inside. He imagined taking tea in here. How marvellous that would be. Much better than having a cup of earl grey in his pokey, over stuffed sitting room while his wife watched her tacky morning television. After making notes they came back into the hall and moved onto the next room.             

Lisa opened the door to an unusual looking room. At first glance it appeared to be some sort of chapel with wooden pews on either side of a wide aisle. Frowning, Mr. Matlock took in the rest of the room, the wooden panelled walls, the long table at the far end, the lone chair in its own wooden surround.

“Oh, my!” he exclaimed in a mixture of excitement and awe. “I cannot believe I’m seeing this!” He turned towards Lisa, his bright red cheeks puffed into a huge, delighted smile. “It is a genuine nineteenth century courthouse! Just look at the details here. Nothing has been removed or modernised. Oh, it is just positively fantastic!” as he grinned at them his ruddy cheeks were being pushed higher up into his eyes so that he appeared to only have tiny slits. He scribbled frantically in his notebook with his chubby fingers curled around his biro, only hesitating to look around him once more before commencing his notes. 

He strode ahead, leaning over the solid wood seats and desks at the front of the long room to get a better view, running his fingers along the carving of the woodwork. He walked around to the back of the huge table that lay right in the very centre of the back wall and heaved himself up - which was no easy task - onto the platform and then, squeezing his large bulk into the chair he looked out over the room from a view he had never had the honour to see before. For a few short seconds he imagined all the prisoners being sentenced right there in the room by a judge who would have been sat where he was sat right this very minute. To say he felt humbled by this was an understatement. Pulling himself with difficulty out of the chair he walked behind the smaller raised platform where the condemned would have sat and to the door in the far corner of the room.             

Looking at Lisa, Aiden shook his head slightly and whispered “I’m not going back in there Lis, I can’t.” He looked to his big sister with pleading eyes.

“I know. You wait with mum, we won’t be long.” She returned his smile and reassuringly rubbed his arm before walking over to the plump estate agent who looked as though he could very easily have a heart attack at any moment.

Smiling at the pretty young lady, Mr. Matlock nodded over to Aiden “Isn’t your brother joining us?”

“No, we don’t want to venture too far where mum can’t find us. She’s not coping with things very well.” As she said this, a flicker of sheer sadness flitted through her eyes and Mr. Matlock was almost overwhelmed by the girl’s grief. He thought he understood her anguish, after all, he knew what it was like to lose someone dear to you, but what he didn’t know was she wasn’t grieving for her grandfather at all, but for her mother who she could feel was slipping away from them. It was like she had fallen through an iced over pond and they had her by the sleeve of her coat, but as they were trying to pull her out, so was the undercurrent of the icy cold waters trying to tug her under. It’s freezing waves being its hands grappling with her, removing her strength, stripping her of her will to survive. She didn’t realise until it was too late that a tear had escaped her eye and was making its way down her cheek to the soft curve of her chin. Brushing it away with the sleeve of her top she cast an apologetic glance at Mr. Matlock who, although a little uncomfortable, returned her glance with one of compassion.

Putting a stumpy, but warm and gentle arm around her shoulders he asked gently “Would you like me to continue looking on my own dear? You could go and sit with your family until I’m done. Really I don’t mind.”             

Regaining her composure she said she would do just that, but if he needed anything to just shout. He assured her he would.

Lisa had really taken an instant liking to the friendly father-figure Mr. Matlock seemed to be.