Page 11 of Grotesque
I nodded, tucking that information away for later. That explained why the manor had been fully stocked when I arrived. Possibly. Groundskeepers typically took care of everythingoutsideof the house.
“Thanks,” I mumbled. For nothing, I added mentally.
“If I were you, I’d sell the place. That or put a match to it.”
My stomach flipped. “That bad?”
Beth nodded. “Too many strange happenings around Glamis. The people that go in either wind up mad or dead. Not trying to scare you, but it’s true. Maxine seemed sweet enough, and forgive me for saying this, may she rest in peace, but there was always something off about her.”
This was the first person that wasn’t a family member to say she was a little off. Maybe Mom hadn’t been overreaching with her tall tales.
“I can’t sell it. Not yet.” I waved my hand in the air. “There’s too many legalities behind it.”
Beth’s finger traced over the space bar of her keyboard. Her large dark eyes narrowed with concern. “Just be careful. Stories’ gotta start from somewhere, right?”
I nodded. “Speaking of… the murder?”
“Oh, right. That,” she released a breath, her cheeks puffing out. “Glamis Manor was built by Gerald Thatcher and Rosaline O’Connor – maybe, in the early 1800s? You can do a quick search on the internet, but I’ll save you the trouble. Anyways, something wasn’t quite right with Rosaline, just as soon as they’d moved in. She started talking about how a monster lived within the walls. Everyone thought she was crazy, of course, I mean, Gerald had built the house himself so he knew there weren’t monsters living anywhere inside. Not that he would have believed in them if there were.”
I blinked slowly, trying to keep up with the random tangents of Beth’s story. Just get to the point, I wanted to say.
“But then Rosaline started getting attacked at night. She would wake up covered in scratches and bite marks. Mmhm, actual teeth marks if you can believe it. At first everyone thought she was doing it to herself, but then, how does one bite their own neck? There was talk about institutionalizing her until one day everything just stopped.
“No more strange marks. No more raving about a monster.”
My brows furrowed so tight together I knew they were touching. “What happened?”
Beth threw out her hands. “She killed him. Took an axe to poor old Gerald and then hung herself from the balcony right after.”
What. The. Fuck.
“Yeah,” she said slowly. “Went from being normal, to mental, to that.”
I let out a long breath. If anyone had mentioned this story to me prior to moving in I don’t think I would have uprooted my life to take on the challenge. Millions of dollars to live in a haunted mansion where someone was murdered and a woman had hung herself? Fuck that.
Except…I couldn’t go home now. Not when I was already here. I had to see it through. It’s just a story…a horrible, awful, terrifying story.
“And the vampire?”
Beth looked over her shoulder, but we were still the only two people in this section. “People get curious, you know. Couple of folks, teenagers and such, have gone up there and there’s been sightings of a creature with horns and big wings. It’s the devil, if you ask me.” She crossed herself and sat back.
The thought crept in unbidden:is that what’s been watching me?I pushed it away, but the prickle of unease spread across my skin anyway.
Beth threaded her fingers together. “Glamis changed hands a couple times before Maxine bought it. As far as I know, she never had any trouble with monsters or ghosts. But it’s true something was different about her once she moved in. I could never put my finger on it, but it always felt like she had some secret the rest of us weren’t allowed to know.”
“Like what?” I pressed.
Beth shrugged. “Hell if I know. Maybe Rosaline’s monster was real, and she met it after all. Anytime anyone asked her aboutliving in Glamis she always had this secret smile and would say it’s been nice. Other times she’d nearly bite your head off for asking at all.”
I audibly gulped as I backed away from the desk. “Was it lead poisoning maybe? Something in the ground, or the water up there?”
Once again Beth shrugged. “I don’t know if anyone has ever tested the place. They’re too afraid. Too superstitious. Once people started getting hurt while snooping around, everyone stopped trying to get answers.”
Had Macky gone crazy before or after she moved into Glamis? And if the house had something wrong with it, why did she choose to stay there instead of moving into one of her other properties?
“Um, thanks,” I said halfheartedly.
“Listen…”
