Subj: Strangers on a Train chapter three the second reading
Date: 11/29/00 1:01:40 AM Central Standard Time
From: Melissa
The Second Reading or "Lose Your Way"
Angèlique walked into her office, "Good morning, Miss Bouchard. Your messages are on your desk."
"Thank you Margo," she said.
In her office she flipped through her messages stopping at one, "Margo," she called into the intercom, "Could you come here I have a question for you."
"Of course Miss Bouchard." Margo came into Angèlique's office, "Yes?"
"Who left this message?"
"Oh a Mr. Fowler,"
"How did he sound?" Angèlique asked excitedly.
"Well he seemed quite pleased."
"Oh thank you," Angèlique said.
"Your welcome, can I ask why it's so important?"
"You know I had to sell my families house years ago. Well I was able to buy it back!"
"That's wonderful, where is this house?"
"It's on a island off England," Angèlique replied.
"How long has it been since you've seen it?"
"I had to sell it after my parents death, so it's been like 15 years. It was beautiful," she said, "I have to call Kevin right away.
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Angèlique stared at the large house. It was just as she remembered, maybe a little run down. The trip took a lot of her, which reminded her of when she left it so many years ago.
The front door opened and an older woman came out. "You must be Angèlique Bouchard. I'm so glad you here. Come in, come in."
Angèlique followed the woman in to the house, "I'm Lady Marjorie Stratford."
"It's a pleasure to meet you. You know the house looks exactly as I remember it."
"Well I haven't done much, and since my husband's death I thought it was time for me to leave it," Lady Marjorie said.
"I'm sorry about your loss, but I can't tell you how much it means to me to be able to live in this house again," Angèlique said.
"My husband and I always like the look of the 1700's, we never had the heart to change anything. And we never thought the house belonged in a time like this."
"Your right, it doesn't fit in, in the modern world," Angèlique agreed.
"Would you like a tour, or do you think you can remember it well enough to go on your own?"
"If you wouldn't mind I think I would like to take a nap first, but I would love a tour later," Angèlique.
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Angèlique slept longer than she wanted to, but she wasn't used to the time change yet. She went down stairs and found Lady Marjorie in the drawing room.
"Did you have a nice nap?"
"Yes I did, I hope I didn't sleep too long."
"Not at all, dinner will be ready in a few moments. Have a set," Lady Marjorie said. Angèlique sat down and gazed into the fireplace, "I wanted to ask you when you planned on moving in," she asked.
"Oh I hadn't really thought about it yet," Angèlique admitted. "I have to go back to California, it's going to be a busy month, but I was thinking of working from here."
"I see the thing is that I won't have my new house until the end of November, if it wouldn't be too much trouble I was wondering if I could stay here until then."
"That's fine I don't think I'll move in until the New Year," Angèlique said.
"Thank you," Lady Marjorie said relieved.
"Dinner's ready Ma'am," said the cook that Angèlique hadn't met, said from the door.
"Thank you Ellen. That's Ellen, I've had her for years, I don't know what I'd do without her," Lady Marjorie told Angèlique leading her into the dinning room.
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Angèlique woke up with a start, she went to the window, there was nothing there. She thought she had heard an animal of some kind howl. She tried to go back to sleep, but it was no use. She got up and sat at the little desk with her sketchbook. It calmed her to draw, and she had a lot of plans for this place, why not use her talents to use. She would definitely change that dining room, it was a mess, the colors and the scheme were not what she wanted to live in.
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Over breakfast the next morning Angèlique asked Lady Marjorie about the noise.
"Do you have a dog?"
"No, why do you ask?"
"I woke up this morning to something like howling, I'm not sure what it was."
"It's possible it could be a stray or some wild animal. I'll talk to Barton, he's the groundskeeper if you want, perhaps he's seem something."
"Thank you," Angèlique said.
Lady Marjorie took Angèlique around the house on the tour, she remembered very little of the house, she realized, just the downstairs, and the outside.
In the afternoon, Lady Marjorie left her to explore on her own, Angèlique went up to the attic and found all sorts of antiques, some she fell in love with, others she couldn't wait to get rid of. She turned to a mirror; it looked like something was behind it. When she moved it she found a door.
"It must be a closet or something," she said to herself.
She turned the knob, but it wouldn't open, "Maybe Barton has the key," she said.
She went downstairs and into the garden, "Barton?"
"Yes Miss?"
"Do you have the keys for the house?"
"Yes Miss," Barton said.
"Do you have the key for the attic closet?"
"I don't know Miss," he said.
"Could you check?" Angèlique asked, Barton moved slowly to the house Angèlique following him.
"I didn't even know there was a closet up here," he said when he stood before the closet," he tried a few of his keys, "None of these work."
"Is there anything you can do?" she asked.
"I'll go get the skeleton key," Barton said, Angèlique thought she detected a hint of reluctance in his voice, she shrugged it off.
He came back with the key and put it in the lock, it opened, "Thank you Barton," Angèlique said as he stepped away.
She turned the knob and pulled the door open. There was nothing inside, she was a little disappointed, a locket closet in an old attic, it had to have something in it.
She closed it and went down stairs, "I'm sorry to take you away from your work," she said.
"It was no problem," Barton said.
At dinner Angèlique told Lady Marjorie about the closet, "I was hoping to find something, like letters or something."
Lady Marjorie laughed.
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Angèlique woke up again with a start, she looked at her clock; 2:30 am.
"What woke me up," she mumbled.
Then suddenly a blood-curdling scream echoed throughout the house. It was not the scream of a human, but of some kind of animal. Angèlique was sure that it came from somewhere inside the house.
She ran out of her room, and found Barton running up the stairs.
"What was that?" Angèlique cried.
"I don't know Miss, but I think it came from upstairs."
"What's going on?" asked Lady Marjorie coming out of her room.
"Something's in the house," Barton told her, as he went up the stairs. Angèlique and Lady Marjorie following close behind.
They search the upstairs room, but found nothing. Then they climbed the little flight of stairs that lead to the attic.
Nothing seemed wrong, just as they were heading back down, Lady Marjorie screamed. Angèlique and Barton turned to see what was wrong.
"What is that?" Angèlique asked. Running from under the closet door was something wet and sticky.
Angèlique bent down and touched it, "Oh my god," she whispered, "It's blood."
Barton pushed her out of the way and opened the closet door. Inside, propped up was Ellen.
Lady Marjorie put her hands over her mouth and began to scream. Angèlique turned away. She saw that Ellen's throat had been ripped out.
"I'm going for the police," Barton said helping Angèlique lead Lady Marjorie out of the attic, and to her room.
Angèlique put her to bed, and left closing the door quietly as soon as Lady Marjorie had fallen asleep.
She was scared and hoped Barton wouldn't be too long.
There was no way she would be able to sleep, not that she would even try after what she saw.
She paced the room, "I wish I had listened to Kevin," Angèlique said to herself. He had told her that she shouldn't buy the place.
She looked at the clock, Barton had been gone over an hour, he had to be on his way back to the house by now.
Then another scream filled the house, Angèlique ran up the stairs, and into Lady Marjorie's room.
"Lady Marjorie?" she called out, no one was there. Where did she go? How could she have gotten past her? Angèlique wondered.
A noise behind her made her spin around, she found nothing. Angèlique hurried back down stairs to the drawing room.
What was going on here, she thought. Why isn't Barton back? A low growling sound made Angèlique turn slowly, in the corner of the room, hidden in the shadows was Lady Marjorie.
She was standing very still, her hands were at her sides, and her fingers were extended like claws. Her hair was covering her face, her eyes were wild. Her lips were drawn back, so her teeth were pulled back like some king of animal.
"Lady Marjorie?"
There was no response from her, her eyes seemed to glow. Then she began to move closer to Angèlique her arms raised before her.
Before Angèlique could cry out Lady Marjorie leaped at her.
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When Barton returned with the police, the house stood silent. Lady Marjorie was gone. Angèlique's body lays on the drawing room floor, her blood spread out around her. The only thing left of Lady Marjorie was a bloody footprint that leads out into the wood.
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Dr. Schrek looked up from the cards, Angèlique's face was white.
"How do I avoid this," she asked.
He flipped over the last card. He wouldn't let anyone see the card, but before he could return it to the deck, Julia stopped him.
"Show the card," he set it down slowly.
"What is it?" Burke asked looking at the card.
"The death card," Angèlique whispered.
"Is that the card I had?" Peter questioned.
"Yes," Dr. Schrek replied.
"Where are you going?" Peter asked her.
"To a small island off England, to my families estate, that I just purchased."
The car was silent, then braking the silence Burke said that he would like to try.
Dr. Schrek held out the cards. Burke did just as Peter and Angèlique had done. And Dr. Schrek set down the cards and relieved to the car what they said.
To be continued. . .