Okay now my other story is done I will take the plunge here.

Here is the intro


Something whispery soft and sticky tickled her face and she jumped back in disgust, wiping the remnants of the spider web from her skin. She shuddered with distaste and peered into the gloomy interior of the abandoned house. She’d come here on a whim – following a nearly non-existent lead on a case that was rapidly turning cold – and now she was regretting it. She should have reported in. Waited for someone to come with her. The flashlight she had brought was next to useless – it’s weak beam barely highlighting the dust particles that rose into the air as she walked down the hallway. There was just enough light to make out the dust-covered furniture in the expansive great room. Her imagination began to run wild as her eyes skirted over the grotesque shapes. A couch or settee, a table…even a grand piano – all cascaded with stark white sheets that fluttered eerily in the autumn breeze coming in from the front door which she had carefully left open.

“There are no such things as ghosts,” she told herself sternly, forcing one foot in front of the other as she moved into the shrouded room. She was here, she might as well do a preliminary check and then, if she found what she was hoping to, she’d go back to the car and call in. Unable to shake the creepy feeling that was only growing with each second she spent in the deserted house, she carefully directed her flashlight around the perimeter of the room first. Determined to take her time and do a thorough job she failed to notice two things. First, the dust-smudged footprint in front of the piano and second, the sudden blast of wind that shut the door with a resounding thud.



Right here we go.....

She walked through the vast room until she came to the staircase, where she ascended the stairs, the bedrooms were much the same as downstairs, covered with dust covers and probably quite grand underneath, she fingered a small brown handle in the midst of the wood panelling which surrounded the landing, it gave to reveal a further staircase, her curiosity got the better of her and she went up, it was very dusty as if nobody had set foot on the stairs for years, cobwebs hung everywhere and she brushed them out of her face, coughing as the dust began to get down her throat. When she reached the top she found herself in an attic room, just as dusty and cobwebby as the stairs. It was furnished sparsely with an old rocking chair and one very old trunk. She peeked out of the window to check on her car below and was going to leave but the trunk drew her and she didn’t know why and before she knew it she was sitting in front of it, her hand resting on the gold coloured clasp, when she lifted the ornate and inlaid lid, she gasped at the contents inside.

Ooohhhh, Rosa, I'm scared already!! Who is this???

I'm excited about another of your stories!!!

Joy

Is she one of the team?? I'm starting to get goosebumps and is not just from the weather!!

Sam :hid:

i'm intrigued, looking forward to more

cath

interesting very interesting

Great start Rosa! Can't wait to see where you take us!

Em

wow what a start, can't wait formore

Great start! I'm looking forward to more.

Thanks for your replies on my short first post. Here is a bit more

The man pulled over and parked his car, he saw the woman’s car and peered inside everything looked as it should, he shrugged and standing at the gate looked at the house before him. The house was situated in the Cleveland Park district of DC. It had been built in the 1890’s for a prestigious family who had a least one member of the family living there until about four years ago. It was empty despite the fact that the owner had attempted to rent it out several times since, as it was rumoured to be haunted. In the last four years no one had stayed more than a year or so, the ghost having scared them off or so the story went.

The house was magnificent still, but decay was showing through it’s unkempt appearance, it had been designed individually by a local architect of the day. The house was constructed of wood as were the neighbouring homes, it displayed a variety of decorative details, from turrets to steep gables, oriel windows, ornamental brackets and wrap around porches to give it the uniqueness that the artist revelled in and the builders specialized in. It was huge compared to the dwellings that were contempory of the modern age and boasted ten bedrooms and five reception rooms and the gardens were spacious. The grand house badly needed modernising, having one downstairs cloakroom and one upstairs bath. Both very turn of the century, that is the from 1899 to 1900, not 1999 to 2000.

He pushed the door it opened easily and his eyes wandered over all the things that the woman looked at previously, the man pulled a flashlight from his pocket and scanned the room noticing at once the woman’s footprints but like her missed the larger footprint by the piano so intent was he in seeking out the woman.

^^^^^

The woman was completely absorbed in the contents of the trunk, she fingered a wad of sepia photographs done up with a faded blue ribbon and ran her fingers across the top picture, it’s faded image staring back at her in the dim light. It was of a young man, a soldier and from his attire it was apparent he was or had been a corporal in the first world war. He looked so young that it made her feel old as he stared back at her, youth and innocence stared at her through his image but she knew that if the atrocities that she had read about were anything to go by innocent he was not. Unless this picture had been taken before he was sent to the front. She couldn’t get over how young he looked, perhaps, eighteen but certainly not more than twenty and she was aching to find out more. His picture, his face compelling her to discover all there was to know about him.
^^^^^^

The man had reached the confines of the attic and stood in it’s doorway watching the woman lost in her own world her hand wrapped around a picture and the other holding a flashlight so that she could see. He didn’t want to alarm her but her had to make her aware that she wasn’t alone. He raised his flashlight in her direction and turned it on and off several times. She turned then and looked at him, shock registering on her face, surprised that he had found her.

Rosa, what an enthralling start!!!! I can't wait to see where you take this!!

Jen

i think i know who it is but i'm probably wrong, but since it's the weekend you could always whack up a few more posts

looks for begging icon.........

will that do?

fab story

cath

I have an idea who they are, but who made the footprint??

Post again Rosa!! Please!!!!!!!!!

Sam

Great story cant wait for the next post - please make it soon

It has to be Sue, because he didn't call out to her...he used the flashlight. And I'm hoping it's Jack...but.... maybe it's not.

kav

As it is Saturday and you asked so nicely for another post and because I know you want to know who they are and to set the story a bit more, here we go

“Jack” she said as he knelt down beside her in the dust.

He shone the flashlight on his face and replied “What’ya doing?”

“Looking at pictures” she answered quirking her mouth at the corners into a smile and he couldn’t help but return it his lips curling at the edges.

“What I meant was? Here this house”

“Oh that” she said innocently as possible knowing that he didn’t believe her for one second

“I thought I’d check out the address Lucy gave me”

“Why didn’t you wait for me? We‘ve got more leads on the case now, thanks to a neighbour”

“You know I had to drop Levi off at the vet and I sort of came by after that”

“Sort of came by? Sue this is a long way out of the way back to work”

“I know that, I wasn’t about to do anything stupid and you were in court and D, Myles and Bobby were busy with another case, so I….”

“Thought you go it alone huh?”

“Something like that”

“Sue this man, he’s dangerous anything could have happened to you and I…”

“Nothing happened I’m fine”

“But next time don’t go off without me…or someone” he added thinking he was being overprotective even to his way of thinking and he had no claim on her did he?

“We don’t know he’s dangerous” she added quietly

“He is our prime suspect for the explosion, which occurred last week and there has been no sign of him since”

“So you say I’m not convinced”

“How can you not be?”

“Jack, the witness said that the suspect looked sort of like Robin Bakeman who he, the witness lived next door to, whom he didn’t get on with”

“His DNA was found on the remains of the bodies Sue”

“That does not prove anything, after all he knew the victims they were we assume, we don’t know for sure, his wife, his mother , his sister and his children, it’s not surprising that the DNA was found on them is it?”

“No but we have no other leads right now and even if he didn’t murder them he must have something which might lead us to the person who did, sometimes you don’t know you’re holding the key until you talk about it. You know as well as I do that he might know someone who had made a death threat against him or his family”

“Okay”

“You coming back with me now?”

“No”

“Why?” he asked puzzled

“I … I don’t know there’s something about this house….”

“And the case? Sue I walked all over the house before I came up here there was nothing”

“To you maybe but I am not so sure” she replied

He sighed heavily and stood saying at she looked at him “Don’t stay here too long or I hav’ta come looking for you again, wouldn’t want you putting your foot through one of the loose floorboards in the kitchen”

Their eyes locked for the briefest of moments and then he was gone. Sue felt oddly bereft without his solid presence but the pull to delve further into the trunk was greater. With shaking fingers she carefully undid the blue ribbon and shuffled through the pictures, there were about a dozen, several of the young soldier alone and with a group of fellow soldiers and the rest of a young woman called Rosie or so the back inscription said. Sue felt as if she was transported back in time, one with a picture of Rosie read. ‘Dearest Will, All my love, now and forever, Rosie’. Another on the back on the soldier and his mates read. ‘My brother Will with his friends’. It was not signed by Will’s sibling and so Sue’s curiosity grew, she wanted to know all about Will and Rosie and she knew that without a doubt this box held many of the answers.

makes me feel better knowing it was jack and sue hope he won't just leave her there alone

cath

I am so glad you are starting another story. I am also glad that it was Jack and Sue. I'm just...glad!

Kim

I'm glad too...but he left her alone in a house reported to be haunted. Was that really wise?

kav

I had guessed that it was Sue and was very glad to know the man is Jack!! I don't think he left her totally alone - hopefully he just went downstairs to wait for her!!!

The mystery of Will and Rosie sounds very interesting!! Can't wait to see where you are taking us, Rosa!!!

Joy

*Flip settles back to enjoy a good J/S tale*

But, um, Rosa, why did you let Jack leave? I mean, my goodness, he drove all that way to find her. He should stay with her. I have a feeling I'm gonna be

Me too Flip, me too!!

Thanks for posting again Rosa, can we have another please?!

Sam :hide:

A box? Me have an inkling that Jack should have stayed...

Thanks for your feedback, I expect you think I'm nuts starting another story so soon but I am not sure how long it will be so thought I better start posting it now. Hope this post isn't confusing



She knew it wasn’t right but she couldn’t help herself as she told herself it wasn’t stealing it was only borrowing and who loved and cared for the house now anyway. Sue fitted a handful of letters and other document into her purse with the intention to return them at the earliest convenient time to the house which ,most people wouldn’t set foot in anyway claiming it to be haunted. Sue was not aware of the man who watched her leave. The man who left the footprint by the piano, the man who didn’t mind the pretty blond woman coming into his home and looking at the antiques in the attic as long as she didn’t discover his secret. And along with that his hiding place, a small set of rooms off the drawing room by the back staircase, which were concealed safely away hidden by a painting covering the catch to the door which would reveal his life and everything he held dear.

The man watched as the dark haired man, who had waited in his car got out and spoke to her, before climbing back in his own vehicle and driving away. As the woman drove away the man in the house stood at the window obscured, wondering what the man who had come looking for the woman, meant to her. He took in the way they looked at each other, the way the man’s hand strayed to the small of the woman’s back. He stood by the piano fingering the cloth and longing to run his fingers across the smooth keys, the keys that he had played as a child growing up in this wonderful old house. Things changed, people move on and with time the house had become almost derelict and he knew that when it was sold it would have to be pulled down, so bad was the state of repair which saddened his heart further and a lone tear escaped and ran down his face without him really knowing why.

itching to know who the man is and hoping jack and sue went to the same place

cath

Rosa, this is sooo good!!!

Joy

Okay. I am officially hooked on another Rosa story. Pray continue when you can.

Kim

Wow! This is so good. I am really hooked.
thanks,
Terie

OOOOHHH AWWW. I'm so hooked. I'm waiting for more


~laura michelle~

Ditto. I just HAVE to know who he is. I know, I'm sooo impatient!!! I hope they keep each other safe!!!

Jen

Thank you for your comments

Sue sat at her desk half working and half looking up information about world war one and trying to guess what Will had done in the war where he had been stationed, perhaps he had been moved about all over the place. After a long spell of waving and not getting Sue’s attention Jack walked over to her desk and sat on it, she hurriedly changed the page she had been looking at and gazed up at him hoping she didn’t look as guilty as she felt, she saw amusement in his expression and guessed that he knew she hadn‘t been doing exactly what she ought to have been.

“Something wrong?” she asked

“No, we‘re about to run through the case“

“Okay“ she replied

“Sue…Are you okay, it‘s just you‘ve been distant ever since you came back from Cleveland Park“

“I‘m good Jack“ she told him with a smile

He didn‘t quite believe her but for now would let it go, his hand moved inches from here and he hesitated almost covering her hand lightly with his, but in the indecision the moment was gone as Myles called him and asked him if he was ready to start talking through the case.

^^^^^

“What we have so far is the explosion two days ago at the home of the Bakeman family , we believe it to have wiped them all out except for Robin Bakeman who was seen walking down his driveway and opening his car door five minutes before the explosion. The victims we understand but are waiting for confirmation are Daisy Bakeman, Robin’s mother. Alison his sister, Darlene his wife and Jeremy and Caitlin his children”

“His children with his wife?” asked Myles

“Yes, I am not aware that he has been married before or had other children Tara?”

“Not as far as I know but I will check it out further”

“Good“ Jack continued “He was last seen as I just said by his car by his neighbour who waved apparently Robin didn’t acknowledge him. He has no record, a model citizen and works for a software company. These are not the only deaths in his family recently that were suspicious his brother died in what was at the time considered an accidental shooting whilst out on a hunting expedition and his Aunt by marriage , name Sylvia Kearton was killed with a single bullet through her heart last year. Initially it was thought it was a suicide but there was no note and she was not depressed, she apparently was in a good frame of mind the night before she died”

“We found out that there are four cousins, children of Sylvia and Henry Kearton. Henry died of natural causes about sixteen years ago. The children are all still living, Tara has got all their addresses and we hope maybe along with you and Sue we can speak to them all in the next day or so” said Bobby

“Sue, was there anything at the house?” Myles asked her

‘Oh yes ’ she thought ’there was plenty at the house but not necessarily to do with the case’ but said “I think it’s worth another visit, there was something I couldn’t quite put my finger on, a hunch perhaps”

“Okay well we can go back there and check out these cousins and also we need to speak with the software company and other neighbours, see if we can get a list of close friends and such too and Tara I know it's difficult but please ask Darlene's parents for a family photograph. Any questions? Sue you look like you want to ask me a question” added Jack

“What if it isn’t Robin Bakeman” she said thoughtfully

“I don’t see who else it could be, right now the odds are stacked against him ever making it out this side of never” said Myles

“I know but Myles you know things aren’t always what they first seem to be” she replied, looking back to the computer and flicking the world war one site back up on her screen to study and wonder who Will and Rosie had really been.

can't wait for this story to continue, i'm already seated on the edge of my seat.

Wow, Rosa, you are really getting me in the mood for Halloween!!!

Joy

very intriguing

jack next time just go with the moment, quit dithering

cath

I just love a good mystery.
thanks,
Terie

Thank you

Sue sat in bed with the letters she had ‘borrowed’ from the trunk in the house. She fingered them softly, they must have meant so much to someone at some point in time, to be kept all this time, it was heart wrenching just thinking about it, but by now she couldn’t have stopped herself reading them if her life depended on it.

She took the smaller package undid the twine that bound them, and the letters, five in all fell onto her lap. Sue read the envelopes, they were all addressed to Corporal William J Kearton, with his full regimental number and unit and location, in France. On the last letter the address had been crossed out and written in it’s place were the words wounded, address unknown, that too was crossed out and another address featuring a field hospital was squeezed onto the already full piece of paper. The date was almost illegible but she could just make out 1918.

Opening that particular letter Sue read:

Dear Will,

Hope today finds you well. I often think about what you are doing when I go to bed at night, I know that the time is different in France that when it is night here it is perhaps morning for you. Have you got my last letter, you didn’t reply and so I wonder whether they move you around a lot, and you don’t stay in one place all the time.

Will, I wish you could be here with me now, remember our last summer together and all the plans we made, to get married and raise a family. Will I love you. I will wait for you, until my dying day you know that don’t you.

I think about the conditions you are in, we read about it as you know in the newspapers here, many days later and I sometimes wonder why you felt you had to go and fight in a land which is so far from here.

I saw your mother the other day in town and she said if I was writing you to send her love and the love too of your father and brother and sister. She told me you wrote her last week and that you were fine, although tired. I do so hope that's true Will. You are my heart and I know that I am yours, forever.

Will you make me happy, like no one has ever done before. I look at your picture of the one in your uniform, taken days before you left. I kiss it at night and dream that I am really kissing you. I imagine that I can feel your lips against mine. Is that wicked? To think of you that way before we are married. All I know is the love I have for you in my heart Will. Stay safe I pray.

Love forever

Rosie

The other letters read much the same and Sue had a yearning to find out what became of Will Kearton and Rosie. Rosie, and Sue had no idea what her surname could possibly be, but she was sure that before the case was through she would find out. Tying the letters up and placing them back in her purse she lay down to sleep and dreamt a strange dream about Jack, who morphed into Will and back again, making her even more determined to find out the complete truth of the mystery of the house in Cleveland Park.

hoping she does more than think about jack

beautiful letter

cath

Great intriguing post Rosa, I can't wait to see where you take this!!!

Jen

Will and Rosie have me very intrigued!!!

Joy

Very excited about seeing where this is going!!!!
thanks,
Terie

just caught up! i loe the loove story b/t rsie and will! looking forward to more

Thank you, their tale will be revealed gradually through the story

The next day before work Sue and Levi who had gained a full bill of health from the vet went back to the house in Cleveland park, she was keeping her promise, this time she wasn’t alone. Although she was aware that Levi wasn’t what Jack meant when he said she shouldn’t go there alone. The house was as it was the previous day and once in the attic room Sue began to look in the trunk. She lifted out hand made infant clothes, the stitching so fine so intricate and she guessed that they had been Wills’ and maybe worn by his brothers and sisters too, as children living in a house as such as this would have worn dresses up to the age of four or five whether they were male or female.. She laid them all in the lid so that they did not get dirty on the dusty floor. She then picked up a tattered brown envelope and what she read made her heart bleed for the family of William J Kearton.

There stored away in the safety of the box was a telegram from the war office to announce the demise of Corporal William Kearton, from shrapnel wounds to the thigh, she only imagined that his death had been painful, and not just in the physical sense but he had been away from the heart of his family and the woman he loved and who loved him in return. He had died in a field hospital days after the letter Rosie had sent, had he ever read the letter? Perhaps his mother had read the letter when all his personal belongings were sent home, she sadly thought. There was a letter from the Chaplin at the hospital telling his mother how sorry he was for her loss and what a brave man her son had been. In fact there were many things too many for Sue to take in right at that minute all about the death of William John Kearton. She carefully placed the large envelope in her bag, she needed more time to go over everything to try and piece tighter the life of this brave young man and his sweetheart Rosie.

^^^^^

They were standing in the great entrance hall when Levi barked and gained Sue’s attention, Sue turned around as if sensing some one behind her but there was nothing there. Sue slightly scared walked toward the kitchen which was the direction that Levi was pulling her to. Sue opened the kitchen door, Jack had been right about the floor, half of it was missing the rest didn’t look like it would last if she trod on it. However by the old sink stood a little girl. Sue didn’t believe in ghosts and this little girl didn’t look like one anyway, she wore jeans and a white blouse with small winnie the pooh‘s on it and sneakers on her feet. She had long blond hair which flowed down to her waist and when she turned she smiled, not shy, not scared. Levi gave a little woof and she walked up to him and petted him on the head before carefully picking her way across the broken floor to fetch her glass of water.

Beofre she left the room completely the girl who was no more than six or seven, stood in another doorway which Sue knew led round to the back stairs and said “You look like my Mommy”

“Did you say something?” asked Sue who couldn’t really read the child’s lips properly as she stood in the shadows “I’m deaf, I need to see you to read what you say to me”

The child moved then into a direct path of sunlight from the broken window making her look like an angel as she said “You look like my Mommy, a bit, your hair, uh oh, Daddy’s calling I hav’ta go. Will you come back here?”

“Maybe, I don’t know” said Sue remembering the things she had taken to look through adding “Yes I’ll come back here”

"Cool” the child replied, before turning and slipping through the doorway.

Sue ordered Levi to stay and picked her way across the dangerous floor, there was no sign as to where the child had disappeared to but one thing was for sure she wasn’t a ghost.

very intriguing

cath

Ooh, the suspense is killing me!!! *choke* *gasp*

Just kidding! Great post, so intriguing!!!

Jen

oh my well i can't wait for more i have a feeeling, this is going to be much more complacated then sue originaly thought

Very intriguing for sure. I'm not sure what to think...but I want to read more!!!

kav

I would not jump to the conclusion she is not a ghost too quick there. This is very intriguing.
thanks,
Terie

This is getting better and better!!!

Joy

Thank you

“You’re late” commented Lucy as Sue walked into the bullpen. Sue shrugged and Lucy continued “I assumed as you left so early you would already be here”

"I had something to do” she replied evasively

“I know that look ,what are you hiding?” Lucy asked not giving up

“Nothing” Sue said nonchalantly

“Doesn’t look like nothing to me either” said Jack coming in on the conversation “New development on the case?”

“Not exactly” Sue told them giving nothing more as she switched on her PC and began to run through her mail.

Jack and Lucy shared a look, Jack shrugged as Lucy said “talk with her, find out what’s going on”

“Yes ma’am” said Jack with a grin saluting Lucy which Lucy chose to ignore

Jack called the meeting to attention and they ran through the previous day events, Tara had managed to find pictures of Darlene Bakeman, her mother in law Daisy and sister in law Alison but not any of the children of Robin.

Before long Sue and Jack were travelling out of town for a meeting with Mark Kearton, Robin Bakeman’s cousin. They went to his place of work where they knew he was a partner in a fairly large architect firm which was well known and respected outside of the city.

When they were finally sitting in his lavish office and had introduced themselves Jack asked “Tell me about your cousin Robin”

Mark shrugged “He was just a regular guy, we didn’t see each other much, not since we were adults busy life and everything that goes with it”

“When was the last time you saw him?” asked Sue

“That would be….” Mark paused to think “My mother’s funeral and of course his brother died last year too”

“I’m sorry for all your losses” said Sue empathic

“Yeah well it was a bit of a shock for all of us”

“Did you know of anyone who had a grudge against your cousin?” asked Jack

“No he was well liked”

“What do you think happened?”

“With the explosion?” asked Mark

Yes” said Jack

Mark shrugged “I don’t know he had everything, a nice home, loving family, good job, many assets he had nothing to gain by killing his family”

“And you don’t know anyone else who might gain something by killing Robin’s family?” asked Sue

Mark looked visibly hurt and said “No why would anyone want to do that”

“There are some very sick people in this world” said Jack softly “Who would do far greater and horrendous things than what has happened unfortunately to your family”

“I’m just worried we’ll be next” said Mark

“What do you mean by that?” asked Sue

“Well as you probably know in the last few years many of my close family members have died. I am just worried that my wife, kids will be next or perhaps it will be my sisters or brother and their families, I lie awake at night thinking about it”

“Well Mr Kearton” said Jack “I can assure you that whoever was responsible for the explosion we will find and if we discover that there is a link between that and the death of your mother and cousin, we will solve that mystery too. Thank you for your time”

They bid him farewell and walked back to the car, Jack said “What do you think?”

Sue slid into the car as he opened the door for her, after securing Levi in the back, when Jack sat beside her she said “I know what you think?”

“That didn’t answer my question” he said grinning “But I like your style, so what did I think?”

“That he knows nothing more than he told us”

“And what do you think?”

“I think” she said looking at the elegant office block “That’s there is more than meets the eye. It was his eyes “

“What was his eyes?”

“There was something in his expression, a look in his eyes and I know it’s not enough to just say that but I don’t trust him Jack”

“Well, I’ll get Lucy to run a background check on him, how’s that?”

“A start”

Jack looked at her and their eyes locked for a fraction of a second before he signed “Hungry”

“You paying?” she asked “I think it’s your turn”

“Hey it’s always seems to be my turn”

Sue smiled at him “I…I can pay”

“No” he said with a sigh “I’ll pay but next time you pay and I’ll make sure we eat someplace good to make up for all the times I pay”

Sue shook her head at him and laughed “You’ll forget”

“I never forget”

“No you always forget, you say that every time”

He grinned and guessed that perhaps he did but that was only because he wanted to spend as much time as he could with her and if that meant he paid, so what? He didn’t have anyone else to spend his money on and to be honest he didn’t want to spend it on anyone other than Sue.

trust her intuition jack, she's a woman and we're not often wrong!!!!!!!!!

feeling kinda sad for jack woth those last few lines

cath

This is so good Rosa! It's so interesting and I can't wait to see where this all leads... And the Jack and Sue moments so far

Can't wait for more!!!!

Em