The Secret of Three Graves (Chp. 3.1)
Author - Oerath Windsoul
Written on - Tuesday 13th March 2012 (06:07pm)
First of all, my apologies for delaying this chapter for so long, but I've my reasons, and they're not quite common at all.
But I've thought things through, and now I must act and write a third chapter for this story.
No more delays.
The Secret of Three Graves
Chapter 3 : So many buried secrets, but so few sane thoughts
Part 1
17th of May, 1905, Office of William Stanley
Smell of flowers, fresh bread and sounds of birds singing. That's all she wanted to hear, and as the clouds faded from the sight, sun began to shine once more, and from that she knew the time of the day. It was midday, and the streets were full of merchants and people of all sorts.
Wealthy business men, nobles, traveler's, merchants, farmers. Everyday, people from all over the land came to Town of Ravenwood, and it is needless to say why. There is one thing that matters more than anything else in the world, and that is gold.
But as much as she wanted to stop and look at that daily sight, she knew that time is of the essence. And as she turned to face William's office, he was already shouting at her:
'Come on, Eleanor. We don't have all day!' Smiling quite sharply, she shouted back: 'And that's where you're wrong, my friend. We've all the time in this world.'
Smiling back, William unlocked the door of his office with an old silver key, and as they stepped in through the door, Eleanor staggered a little and placed a hand on her mouth, saying:
'So this is why you haven't invited me for a cup of tea for so long time. William, you should be ashamed of yourself.' - Looking a bit confused, William started to wave his hands in the air, and Eleanor bursted out to laugh, as he said: 'Um, um, well, I was about to clean all this, mess, but.. Alright, I admit it. I haven't cleaned this rathole for months, but..'
And before he continued, Eleanor took a more serious look and said: 'It's alright, it's alright. I know you, and I also know that you hate cleaning. I can help you with all this mess. It shouldn't take more than an hour, and then we can sit down and discuss things further. Agreed?'
Nodding, William said: 'Yeah, it's good to have you here, Eleanor. I'll get my old broom and some other stuff, so, I'll be right back.' Nodding, Eleanor took a few steps forward, and looked at all the paintings above William's fireplace. There were so many paintings that she recognized, and as a collector, it brought a smile on her face to see so many rare paintings by notable painters.
And below those paintings, was a fine wooden table, which she had given to William three years ago as a birthday present. Many artifacts and pipes laid on it, and even a box of hand-rolled cigars. She didn't smoke, but she knew the label, and it was expensive. How typical for William, she thought, but before she could look at other things, William returned with his equipment, and as he dropped them to ground, he sighed and said: 'Here is all we need, El. And after we've cleaned this mess. I'll light a fire and heat up some green tea.'
By grabbing a broom, she said: 'That sounds like a fine plan, William. Now, get to work. I'll start from the kitchen, so you should start from the living room. All those spider webs and dust, clean it up. Can you do that?' she smiled grimly.
William looked sharply at her: 'Of course I.. Wait, do you keep me for a fool, El. Darn you. You haven't changed.' 'You neither, Will.' she laughed and so, they started to clean it up.
And after a hour or two, when everything shined once again, the two sat down on chairs. And leaning back and sighing, William said: 'Well, that's about cleaning. I'm glad it's all done now, so I can finally relax.' - 'Yeah, but I did most of it. Still, good job, William. You clean like a man should clean.'
Laughing a bit, he said: 'Thanks, El. Now, that tea should be ready, so I'll get the pot and then we can get to business.' - 'Sounds fine to me.'
And as William returned with a hot pot of tea, he filled two cups and sat down. And as Eleanor tasted it, she said. 'Mm, this is good. Did you buy these tea leaves from the marketplace today?'
'Aye, it's very fresh, ain't it? Now, I will go straight to business.'
He placed his cup on the table, took off his glasses and looked Eleanor into the eyes, and said: 'I hope you know what you're doing, my friend. That case was abandoned for a reason, and you know it too.' - He rose up, walked in a circle, and even hesitated a little, before he continued: 'Three men. All dead. And I even knew all of them. But Edward Blemberg, none knows why he was murdered, but I know that he is somehow linked to all of this. What do you think about this all, Eleanor?'
She had remained silent for a while, but as she finished with her tea, she looked serious as she said to William: 'I think that the solving of this case will take more than just a couple of days, and I also do think that we've a lot of paperwork to do.'
'Yeah, I think so too. Well, let's start from those notes that you found. I hope they will yield some information to us.'
And so, they focused their thoughts and started to search for possible answers. And as William kept smoking his black pipe, they both looked at each other and came to a silent agreement. It would be a long night.
To be continued.
Edit: I meant to post chapter 3.2 last night, but it is still under progress. I have been very tired for past three days, and it's not helping at all. But despite all of this, I will post it in near days. I hope that 3.1 was readable. It was more like a 'pointer' for things to come. Sunday is a whole new thing, and this time, I will do some preparations, so I've plenty of time to write a whole and hopefully long chapter.
