Fall of the House of Crain Read online

  “I go by Theo, not Theodora.”

  He shrugged his shoulders. “Okay. Theo, can you please answer the question?”

  “What is this about?” she asked.

  “I can’t tell you.”

  “Why not?”

  “It would ruin the experiment.”

  With a heavy sigh, Theo leaned back into her chair. Why had she agreed to do this? What a waste of time. She crossed her legs. Her rose-colored flapper dress rose a few inches above the knee as she did so, revealing a swath of skin. She smirked as she caught the lab technician staring. Hope that doesn’t put a kink in his experiment. She pushed her short, dark hair, bobbed fashionably, behind one ear, baring her long neck and releasing the scent of her perfume—floral to match the color of her dress.

  “Now. What do you think is pictured on the other side of this card?” The technician held up a large blue card, identical to all the rest, faced away from her so she couldn’t see the other side.

  “I don’t know. Three wavy lines?” She was merely guessing, but he seemed pleased.

  “And this one?” he asked, pointing.

  “A pentagram?”

  “Last one.”

  “Hmmm…” she thought. She glanced at the ceiling, her foot tapping on the tile floor. Her eyes flitted back toward the technician. “How about a shooting star?”

  “Well, that’s it.” The technician placed the card down on the table. “You’re free to go.”

  “That’s all?”

  “Yes. That’s all.”

  “Now that we’re done, can you tell me what this was about?”

  “No, sorry. Dr. Montague prefers to stay silent on the matter for the time being.”

  Theo rolled her eyes. She had entered the study on a whim when the bulletin told her a job would be offered upon said results. She was growing tired of helping bluenose housewives update their wardrobes.

  “Just as well,” she told the technician. “I have plans anyway and I’m late. See ya around. Or not.” She stood and walked towards the doorway, her black pumps clacking as she moved across the tiled floor.

  “Wait. What plans?”

  She almost didn’t answer. What business was it of his what plans she had? “I am going to a speakeasy.” She was rather hoping that this bit of scandalous information would deter him.

  “Maybe I can meet you there,” he said. “My shift ends in an hour.”

  Theo exited the room without looking back. He was so not her type. Despite her penchant to tease, she didn’t want to lie, lead him on, or see his hurt expression. Silence was best for everyone involved.

  The weather was brisk this time of night in early fall. Wrapping her arms around herself for what little warmth it could afford her, she hurried down to the trolly station and caught the first streetcar downtown.

  The blare of Jazz music that floated in the air as she entered the speakeasy gave her the urge to start dancing, but she needed to find her roommate, Dorothy, first. Her shoes stuck to the dirty floor with each step she took. The dim lighting and puffs of smoke from dozens of cigarettes made it difficult to see.

  “Where have you been?” Dorothy hissed the second Theo came to her attention, flicking her curly red hair over her right shoulder. “I’ve been chatting up these fellas for almost an hour, telling them my stunning friend was on her way.”

  Judging by the way her words slurred and the unsteadiness in her gait, the men had also been plying Dorothy with drinks.

  “Well, I’m here now.”

  Theo followed her roommate to a small round table in the corner and took a seat. The fellows that Dorothy had been drooling over weren’t very attractive in Theo’s opinion. Alcohol was likely the culprit in making Dorothy think they were. That and the fact that Dorothy found most single fellows “irresistible.”

  Both men’s eyes roved over Theo from head to toe, and they nodded in approval. Theo got this response from men so often it no longer fazed her. She sipped at her gin while watching the band play.

  Dorothy pulled her cigarette holder away from her mouth and puffed out a cloud of gray smoke before introducing Theo to the young man sitting across from her.

  He asked, “So, Theo, do you work?”

  Theo tried to gauge whether or not she was being made fun of. “Yes. I am a store clerk at a women’s clothing store.”

  “Yeah? How do you like it?”

  “I like it just fine.” She began tapping her foot on the metal bar of her stool, and her eyes wandered to the dance floor. No longer in the mood to make small talk with a stranger, particularly when that stranger was neither attractive nor interesting, Theo decided to bail. She would make it up to Dorothy later.

  “Can you excuse me? I’m in the mood for a little dancing.” She stood and walked away. Finding a nice-looking fella on the other side of the Jazz club, she grabbed a hold of his arm and dragged him onto the dance floor.

  He didn’t seem to mind. As his buddies whistled and jeered, they began to dance the Charleston. The fringe on her flapper dress danced wildly as she moved, and Theo grinned. She was never as happy as when she was dancing. When the song ended and a new one started, she began to jitterbug. The fella followed suit. She had a gay time but soon grew tired and called it quits. Walking back to the table to find Dorothy and tell her she was leaving, she discovered that her friend was no longer there.

  “Where’s Dorothy?” she asked the young man that was supposed to have been Theo’s date for the evening. She should apologize for leaving so abruptly but thought better of it. Life was too short to be wasted on such things when she couldn’t muster enough true emotion to make her remorse appear genuine.

  Looking glum, the fellow only shrugged. Knowing Dorothy the way she did, Theo concluded that she was probably necking with her own date in a dark corner. Not wanting to wait for her to resurface, Theo headed to the exit.

  On the trolley ride home, Theo wondered once again what the results would be of the tests she had taken earlier. She hadn’t much cared at first, but the more she thought about it, the more intrigued she became by the idea. Judging by the questions asked by the technician, she knew it must have something to do with ‘the other side.’ Her little brother had passed away when they were kids. She often wondered if he was still out there somewhere, if death wasn’t the end. Perhaps this job offer would be her chance to know once and for all if there was an afterlife after all.

  The streetcar came to a stop and she got off, walking the short three blocks to her apartment building.

  As Theo opened the door, her upright telephone began to ring. She walked over and picked up the small bell-shaped receiver from its cradle and placed it to her ear.

  “Hello?” she spoke into the transmitter.

  “I’m patching you through to a Mr. Montague,” came the operator’s voice.

  After a short pause she heard, “Is this Theodora?”

  “Just Theo.” She wrapped her finger around the cord of the telephone.

  “This is Dr. Montague.”

  “Oh. Hi.” That was fast.

  Getting straight to the point, Dr. Montague said, “I have looked over your scores from the experiment, and I am most pleased with the results. I take it that you have some psychic abilities?”

  What?

  She dropped the receiver, where it dangled from the rest of the phone apparatus. She picked it up and placed it back to her ear.

  “Miss? Are you still there?”

  “Yes, I’m here. Sorry. Um…no, not that I am aware of,” she said.

  There was a short silence. “No? Well from what I have seen, you do. The card reading at the end was especially enlightening. You were able to correctly perceive eighteen out of the twenty.”

  “So, what does that mean?”

  “It means that I am interested in offering you employment.”

  She leaned against the wall. “A job? Oh, yes. Your sign indicated as much.”

  “Only for a short time, mind you, but I will pay you well.�
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  “What does the job entail?” Theo asked.

  “I’ve rented out Hill House for three months in the hopes of discovering and documenting paranormal activity. I believe your hidden talents may aid me in this venture.”

  “Hill House? Where is that?”

  “It’s located in the small town of Hillsdale.”

  Was this truly what the job offer was? Sitting around in a haunted house? Her first instinct was to tell Dr. Montague to go chase himself, but then she stopped for a moment to consider. He said it paid well and she could use the money. And a change of scene. Thinking over the last shift she had endured at the shop drove home the fact that she was tired of her job and ready for something new. She could always quit if the job wasn’t to her liking.

  “If you’re interested, come back to where you took the tests and the technician will give you detailed written directions,” Dr. Montague was saying. “It’s not advisable to get them from the townsfolk. There is a bit of superstition and uneasiness associated with the property, and I am afraid that the good folks of Hillsdale do not act kindly towards people inquiring about Hill House.”

  That sounded rather ominous, but she was no stranger to small town eccentricities, having grown up in one herself. “Great! I look forward to it.”

  “Does that mean you accept?”

  “Yes.”

  “Excellent! I’ll mail you more details: the date and time you should arrive, what your salary will be, a loose itinerary, etc. Or better yet, you can get that from the technician as well. I’ll let him know. Room and board are included, of course.”

  “Okay. Thank you.”

  Theo hung up the telephone.

  Just then, the front door opened, and Dorothy accosted her. “You’ve used that trick before. You need some more material.”

  Theo jumped back, smacking her arm on the wall. “Dorothy! You scared me!” She rubbed at the sore spot on her elbow.

  “I went to the trouble of finding a good-looking fella for you tonight, and you ran off like he was some kinda dewdropper!”

  “He wasn’t that good-looking,” Theo said.

  Dorothy glared at her, placing her hands on her hips. “Balderdash! You’re just afraid to get close to anyone. I wasn’t asking you to marry the fella. I just wanted you to meet someone nice for once.”

  Theo threw her arms up in the air. “I do. I did. Didn’t you see me dancing?”

  “Yeah. With some nobody. You know that if you keep dancing, you won’t have to ever talk. And if a man does try to get to know you, you bail.”

  “No, I don’t,” said Theo, although she knew it was true. She headed toward her bedroom.

  “If you aren’t careful, you’re going to end up an old spinster,” Dorothy spat at her.

  Theo’s steps faltered. It was a fear she often felt. She knew men found her attractive, but would they stick around after getting to know her? Would they like her for her personality? Or was she bound to find herself either a lonely old maid or some schmuck’s trophy wife. After all, her fears weren’t unprecedented.

  As though hearing her thoughts, Dorothy added, “If I had your killer good looks, I wouldn’t waste them.”

  “At least I don’t ruin my reputation by necking with every boy I come into contact with!” Theo retorted.

  Dorothy’s face reddened. “At least I know how to keep my fella happy!”

  With a growl, Theo finished her trek to her bedroom, grabbed the snow globe that Dorothy had given her for Christmas last year, and walked back into the living space.

  “What are you doing?” Dorothy asked.

  Without answering, Theo hurled it onto the kitchenette floor, where it shattered into a hundred pieces.

  “No wonder your boyfriend left you. You’re crazy! It’s been a year. Get over it already,” Dorothy sneered.

  “How dare you say that to me! He was days away from proposing. I could feel it. Have you ever lost anyone close to you? NO! So you have no idea how long it’s supposed to take to ‘get over it’!”

  Dorothy grabbed a book off the small bookshelf in the corner of the living room. “I don’t keep forgetting to start the book you gave me,” she said. “It’s boring and stupid and reading is for ugly people who have nothing better to do!” Dorothy grabbed a hold of the front cover and ripped it clean off. Continuing her destruction, she ripped out page after page and threw the paper in Theo’s direction.

  If Theo hadn’t already decided to go to Hill House, this would have changed her mind.

  She couldn’t stand to be in the same apartment with Dorothy, even for one more night. She would rather sleep in a seedy hotel than endure weeks of Dorothy’s silent treatments, coupled with bouts of her surliness.

  Packing what little she needed, she was out the door in an hour. When morning came, she hailed a taxi, traveled back to the college, received all the information she needed from the technician, and was on her way to Hill House.

  * * *

  Dr. Montague hung up the phone, finished with his conversation with Theo. He picked up the stack of papers on his desk and shuffled through them once more.

  One? Only one!?

  He had contacted dozens of people he thought would make good candidates for his experiment into the supernatural. Dozens of people who—based on his tests—should love nothing more than to bear witness to ghostly visitations. Yet only one person who partook in his initial assessment had agreed to his offer.

  And the personal ad he had placed in the newspaper inquiring after assistants only yielded one additional person. With the owner’s nephew joining them, it gave him a grand total of three people who had agreed to travel to Hill House with him. He closed his eyes and rubbed at his temples. Oh well, he would have to make do with what he had.

  Theodora—she had given no last name—seemed the most promising. Someone with possible psychic, even telepathic, abilities; how exciting!

  Then there was Eleanor Vance. She was a bit of an enigma and seemed a bit unstable, but according to his research into her background, she may have been witness to actual poltergeist activity.

  Luke Sanderson was a bit of a wild card, but he was obligated to take the boy, otherwise he couldn’t rent the house. Perhaps he would get lucky, and Luke would turn out to be an asset in spite of his reluctance.

  Hmmm…there was one other person he could contact. His friend, Ernest Valdemar, had in recent years begun to come around to Dr. Montague’s way of thinking. However, he wasn’t sure that Valdemar would agree to tag along on this venture.

  Dr. Montague had started out as a student—and then professor—of anthropology, and although he still loved the subject and believed it had merit, his interests had turned towards another subject entirely.

  Ernest Valdemar was a colleague of his and when he discovered that Dr. Montague had turned towards this pseudoscience, he was shall we say…flabbergasted, to say the least. Valdemar had tried to talk some sense into his friend, warning Dr. Montague that no one in the academic world would take him seriously again if he continued to fool around with ghosts.

  In time, though, Valdemar had admitted that Dr. Montague’s ideas about mesmerism had some value, even going so far as to allow his friend to perform it on him once. Otherwise, he had not changed his mind pertaining to the supernatural.

  But Dr. Montague was convinced he was onto something this time. Perhaps he should give Valdemar a call. What could it hurt? Valdemar already knew of his inclination. Besides, it had been quite a while since he had seen his old friend, and he would rather like to spend some time with him.

  His mind made up, he made the call to the operator. After several rings, Valdemar picked up.

  “Hello?”

  “Valdemar. It’s me.”

  There was silence on the line. “It’s been a long time.”

  Dr. Montague nodded before he remembered that his friend couldn’t see him. “I know. I regret that. We used to be so close. I didn’t mean to let our friendship atrophy.”


  “Life gets busy, I suppose.”

  “Exactly. The reason I’m calling is I need your help.” He knew he would have an easier time convincing his friend to join the group at Hill House if he phrased it as though he were in dire need of his assistance.

  “With what, precisely?”

  “A new project of mine.”

  “What foolhardy venture have you gotten yourself into this time?” Valdemar said with some heat in his voice.

  “I plan to attempt to prove scientifically,” he hoped by putting an emphasis on the science aspect it would soften Valdemar, “that ghosts exist.”

  “How do you plan on doing this?”

  “I have rented out a building that is purported to be haunted and I, along with three other like-minded people, will live there for three months.”

  To his surprise, Valdemar agreed. “Fine. I’ll help you out. Mainly because I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something anyway.”

  Normally, Dr. Montague would be curious to know just what that something was, but he figured it was wise to get off the telephone as soon as possible, before Valdemar could change his mind.

  “Thank you, old sport. It’s at the old Hill House property. You know the one.”

  “The one you have been researching?”

  “The very same.”

  He hung up, and with a new spring in his step, began packing. Not wanting his assistants to arrive before him, Dr. Montague decided he would drive all night and arrive at Hill House in time to greet his guests.

  Chapter Three

  Eleanor stood by her roadster, looking up at Hill House. The large iron gates had been open when she pulled into the driveway, so she had driven on through. She was at a loss for words to describe why she did not want to venture any closer to the house. As soon as she had pulled up to the property, she had nearly been overwhelmed by a feeling of foreboding. The architecture itself lent an ominous quality to the air; it was a curious mix of all sorts of different styles from different eras. The wraparound porch and second story dormer windows had a Queen Anne’s look to them, which clashed with the antebellum columns that graced the other side of the house, as though they had been tacked on later. Yet as her eyes roamed higher up, she noticed medieval parapets and battlements, complete with stone gargoyles, above the Victorian stylings of the front.