Page 16 of The Silence of Hell

“Yes, but without cataloguing them, I couldn’t tell you which. But there’s certainly some in the entrance hall alone. There was an original nineteen-fifty-nine Barbie in this room, which is worth about twenty-five thousand. The packing and everything were pristine. There’re a couple of other dolls of high value. And several Simon and Halbig dolls worth a small fortune. There was also a massive stack of about thirty cabbage patch dolls from before nineteen-eighty-two. They’re worth about five thousand a piece,” I explained.

Sunny’s eyes opened wide.

“Basically, you’re sitting on a fortune here,” he said. “Who the hell knew dolls would be so valuable?”

“There’re a lot of collectors out there, Sunny, and they’d kill to get their hands on this. Before my team enters the house in the morning, they’ll be signing NDAs and being warned. They will be prosecuted should they breach it.”

“That’s cutthroat,” Fanatic murmured. Good, he was feeling better despite jolting with an occasional twitch.

“That’s fact. They won’t even be allowed to work in a room alone, although that would probably make things quicker. All too easy to slip a valuable doll out, and it’s happened. Not to me, but yeah, I know colleagues who’ve had items stolen,” I replied.

“Perhaps someone’s listened to rumours and is trying to discover the truth?” Fanatic asked.

“No. Because apart from you two, Chance and Chatter, no one else has visited. I did have a team in to clean the kitchen today. But they entered through the kitchen door. The doors leading to the house and cellars were locked. They were constantly under surveillance by my camera. Nobody knows about this other than me,” I said.

“Somebody knows something,” Sunny stated ominously.

I couldn’t disagree as much as I wished to.

Chapter Four.

Lavender

The team arrived, and I was pleased to see them all looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. My eyes, however, were bloodshot. Fanatic and Sunny had returned home, and Jinx and I returned to bed. We felt nervous and tense. Jinx had gone back to the clubhouse this morning, promising to return later.

None of the kids arriving knew why they were here, except for the fact I had requested them. This was the batch of students I was planning to offer the scholarship to. There were only five of them, and they were all chatting as they got out of the car I’d ordered to fetch them from the airport. The group consisted of three girls and two boys. They’d been the most eager to learn and asked pertinent questions in my class.

“Hey, Miss Bloodsworth!” Harriet called with a wave as Heidi turned and offered me a cheeky smile. Kelly climbed out and offered me his trademark grin, and I rolled my eyes. After Kelly came Dan and then Emory.

“Is it true what the uni told us?” Dan questioned as he approached. All five students hugged me as they gazed around with wide eyes.

I sighed inwardly. Trust the damn university to jump the gun. “What did they tell you?” I asked.

“The Dean claimed that you’d requested us personally,” Dan answered.

“That’s true.”

“He also said that you weren’t coming back but had moved here. Which we all complained about because we had so much more to learn. Then he told us there was a three-month addition, which had been approved for our course. And that it involved staying with you and gaining experience in a working environment,” Hiedi continued.

“All true,” I agreed again.

“And he said costs were covered. That you had a huge house, and we would stay with you and meals and everything was sorted. And we’d also get a small allowance paid as a wage?” Kelly asked.

“Yes. You’ll be learning and working with me as apprentices. The course the university approved is a four-month one. Basically, you have all the information you need. You’ll work from eight in the morning till six at night. With breaks allowed. You are to be given boarding with me, but there’s a catch. One that shall become obvious shortly.

“You’ll get weekends off and will be paid as an apprentice. This course is in addition to the one you just finished. So, while everyone else headed home to find jobs or take further courses, you guys were offered this. If you mess up, I’ll ship you back. Meals and everything you need will be provided for. There is also an NDA to sign. And contracts. All in very basic plain language, so even a fool could understand them,” I said.

The students held their hands out and, within minutes, had signed them.

“Okay, now onto the problem about staying with me…” I opened the door and waved them in.

“Holy shit!” Dan exclaimed.

“Yup,” I agreed.

“Where do we start?” Harriet inquired. Emory, however, looked at me knowingly.

“How many rooms are similar?” she questioned.

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