Page 68 of The Silence of Hell

Even through the panelling, I heard the eerie screech that raced through the house. Margaret was warning everyone the heir was in danger. The way Rik stiffened informed me that he wasn’t behind the scream.

“Move,” Rik demanded, poking me in the back with the knife. He glanced over his shoulder in worry.

“Harming me won’t get you what you want. Let me go, and you can run,” I offered.

Rik laughed. “Not until I get what I want, bitch. And that’s half of this pile. Why the fuck should you inherit it all?”

“Because I’m the legal blood heir! You don’t have an ounce of my line in you!”

“Uncle Ronald married into this. That means we should get something, as his family!”

“Uncle Ronald didn’t have a claim on this either! Is that what you thought? Then you are wrong. Everything remained in Aunt Aggie’s hands!”

“You’re lying!” Rik spat.

“No! I’m not. Uncle Ronald was not entitled to any of this. The estate and trust stayed within the Bloodsworth line! Nobody who married in was given any part of the estate or trust. Uncle Ronald would have been given a small widower allowance, but nothing else. He wouldn’t have inherited anything, as he wasn’t a Bloodsworth!”

“He had money!” Rik snarled as he poked me in the back and made me move.

I tried to get my bearings but was confused. I’d never been in these corridors before, and I didn’t even know they existed.

“Aunt Aggie gave Uncle Ronald money!” I explained, trying to be patient.

“I don’t give a shit, I want half of the estate, and you’re going to sign it over,” Rik snarled as we faced a split. Rik forced me into the left-hand-side corridor, which seemed to have had a lot of foot traffic. Namely him.

“How long have you been hiding out here?” I demanded.

“Ever since you arrived. I was behind those footsteps and chains. I placed a small hidden speaker in your room and played those noises. You should have seen your faces.” Rik chortled, thinking himself clever.

“And the hulking figure?”

“He’ll be dealt with,” Rik growled.

Interesting. The strange man wasn’t with Rik. Who was he?

“Aunt Aggie’s ghost?”

“You’ve seen her ghost?” Rik asked, sounding surprised. “Might have guessed that old bat wouldn’t leave this house.”

Rik shoved me into a room, and I fell over my feet and hit the ground hard.

“Where are we?”

“Wow, how can you be the heir when you don’t know about the passageways and rooms?”

“I do! Just not this one,” I answered stiffly as I got up. My back felt pained, and I knew the knife Rik had used had pricked my skin.

“This was an old servant’s quarter. The family, at one point, didn’t want their servants visible, so made the passageways to allow them to move around.”

“How snooty,” I said.

“Makes sense to me. Who wants to be confronted with inferior people?” Rik snapped.

“Oh, drop it. You’re from a middle-class family that came from the working-class. Who are you to judge anyone?” I retorted.

“Same goes for you!”

“But I’m not judging anybody!” I exclaimed, and confusion crossed Rik’s face. He wasn’t the brightest crayon in the box.

---