Читать книгу The Ghost Of Margaret Houg - Elton Varfi - Страница 10

It had been three days and Roni had not showed up. Ernest was in a confused state; he could not remember how many liters of beer he had been drinking, but certainly it had to be many, since he was feeling awful. He was sitting, his eyes stared into space and he did not want to do anything, he did not even want to move, and he remained motionless even when the door opened and Roni came in.

“ For Christ's sake! I had never seen so many empty beer bottles in one single room!” Roni exclaimed, impressed by the scene in front of his eyes.

“ Finally my friend Roni showed up! But where the hell have you been all this time?” Ernest asked, trying to tidy up a little bit the mess surrounding him.

“ I had things to do, but I can see that you did not waste any time and you tried to give your life an aim.”

“ I beg you, Roni, I'm ashamed enough and I don’t think I deserve your stupid comments. These three days I have been alone just like a dog and I thought...”

“ You have seen fit to drink until losing consciousness.” Roni interrupted him, and, without giving him time to answer, he continued, “Anyway, I'm not here to judge you, but to tell you that in less than two hours we must be over Houg. Now get up and firstly get a shave and then take a good shower. Is that clear?”

Ernest obeyed without saying a word.

While he was in the shower he could hear Roni’s upset voice.

“ And yet I remember perfectly well I told you to improve your appearance. When I saw you, you've looked like a zombie, and you made me a very bad impression. Luckily I know you, but if a stranger had seen you, he would have thought you were a suspicious individual escaped from an asylum.”

Ernest was slowly and quietly dressing up, not caring about what Roni was saying because he didn’t want to argue with him. When he was done, he simply said he was ready. Even Roni looked calmer; besides he worried about his friend and he felt bad when he saw him in that state.

They both went out silently and only when they got in the car Roni said: “Houg lives out of town, on the hills where he has his family residence. Please, Ernest, listen to him carefully and in the end you’ll be the one to decide if you want to accept it or not.”

“ Don't worry; I won’t ever make you look bad. Firstly I’ll listen carefully to your friend Houg and then we’ll see what happens.”

In Ernest’s words there was a bit of irony and Roni decided that it probably was better not to speak anymore, at least not until the arrival at Houg’s house.

Ernest had tried to imagine how the house of a millionaire could be, but as soon as he saw it he was amazed. That house looked like a castle and all around there was a green well-maintained lawn. Ernest noticed how Roni wasn’t impressed at all and that’s why he thought that he had been in that house several times. They got through the opened main gate and headed towards the house. From the gate to the house there was a distance of about half a mile and the two friends were walking on a small street which was the only paved part among all that green. When they arrived in front of the door, Roni rang the bell and someone opened the door. A woman appeared who had to be the maid, given the way she was dressed up.

As soon as the woman saw Roni she exclaimed: “Good morning, Mr. Ewin! Please, come on in, I'll tell Mr. Houg right away.”

“ I see you’re known here.” Ernest told his friend as soon as they entered.

“ Yeah, lately I’ve been coming here quite often.” Roni answered.

They got in and Ernest was more and more impressed from the beauty of that house. His attention had been caught by a huge painting hung on one of the walls representing a beautiful woman with long black hair; she was wearing a white dress holding a red rose in her hands; but her gaze was attracting him the most, it was so intense and penetrating that Ernest couldn’t stop looking at it.

“ It is the portrait of my dead wife.” A voice said behind his back.

Ernest turned and saw a tall man, with white hair and beard, dressed in a very elegant way.

“ Let me introduce myself, James Houg. You must be Mr. Devon, if I’m not wrong.”

“ Please, call me Ernest, sir” the investigator said.

“ Very good. Well, Ernest, it’s a big pleasure meeting you.” Houg said and he shook his hand. Ernest was embarrassed and stuttered something like “My pleasure”. Houg turned to Roni and said: “This is my dear and good friend Roni. You’re looking good.”

“ Yes, luckily I’m quite good, thanks. As you can see I kept my promise and I brought you Ernest. I’m sure he will be a big help for you.”

“ I hope so as well, to be honest.” Houg said and continued “Can I offer you something to drink?”

“ Not for me, thank you.” Ernest answered while still standing focused on appreciating that extraordinary house.

Houg grabbed a bottle and filled up two glasses, one for Roni and the other one for himself. Then he finally noticed that Ernest was still standing and invited him to have a seat.

“ Please, take a seat. I need to talk to you.”

That's what I'm here for.” Ernest said, very curious to know what it was about.

“ Well… it’s a pretty funny situation, to be honest, but it could be pretty dangerous for my son” Houg started and continued after taking a sip from the glass he was holding, “Less than a month ago, to be exact on the night of 13 October, my son got rushed into emergency to the hospital, in a state of total shock. He didn't say a word for weeks. Until a few days ago. The first person he had talked to right after what happened was me and when I knew the reason why my son was in such a state, I was stunned. Anyway...It seems that he's seen a ghost.”

“ A ghost?!” Ernest exclaimed being not able to believe his ears.

“ I see that our friend Roni didn’t tell you anything about that.” Houg said turning to Ernest who was still surprised for what he had heard.

“ No, to be honest he didn’t tell me anything at all.” Ernest replied, confirming Houg’s hypothesis.

“ I didn’t say anything ‘cause I didn't want to spread any rumors, considering the bad events of last year.” Roni said looking into Houg’s eyes.

“ Sure, but I see no reason why Ernest shouldn’t know about it, considering that he is your dearest friend and also the man who can help us.” Houg piled on in a disapproving tone.

“ To be honest, I don’t see how I could help you.” Ernest intervened, who didn’t really understand why he was involved in that situation.

Houg stayed silent for a while; then, turning to Ernest said: “You could help me because I’m a very rational person and I don’t believe in ghosts; so, either imagination played a trick on my son and therefore he believed he had seen his mother’s ghost, or there is something else; anyway, I think that in all of this there is a logical explanation and I would like you to find out what it is.”

“ Well, your son saw his mother’s ghost’ Ernest asked, surprised of that sentence said almost in a rush.

“ Yes, that’s right, I apologize for not saying it earlier, but I almost forgot it.” Houg replied.

“ But, you can’t forget that easily that is your wife’s ghost.” the investigator made notice with a provocative tone, and instinctively his eyes landed on the painting representing Houg’s wife.

There was a moment of silence and the banker lowered his eyes but Ernest, who looked very sure of himself, deep down he was feeling uncomfortable with being in front of that man so massive who even when he was talking about ghosts it seemed like he was talking about the most natural thing of the world.

“ You’re right, but this story embarrasses me and I can’t wait for you to accept my offer and resolve the mystery.” Houg said as to justify his embarrassment and his strange ways.

“ First of all I haven’t received any offer yet and in second place I don’t think I’ll resolve everything with a magic wand.” Ernest answered.

“ If you had to decide to accept my offer you can put yourself the amount on the check; I'm fine with it. I really hope you’ll accept because your friend and I have faith in you.” Houg concluded.

Ernest was about to answer when a girl came into the living room. From the looks of her uniform she had to be a maid. She was a really pretty girl with short blonde hair. As soon as she saw the two men who were talking to Houg, she took a step back, almost scared.

“ Tell me Rebecca, what’s up?” Houg asked.

“ Oh… I apologize. I thought you were alone. I won't intrude any longer,” the girl muttered and she quickly got out of the room.

“ She’s my children’s nanny and she was the one to find my son in the shocked condition I was telling you about.” Houg said and then continued “I’ll give you the other explanations only in case you accept my offer.”

“ In that case, I’ll let you know” Ernest answered and motioned towards Roni that the visit was done.

“ I hope to have your news as soon as possible” Houg said escorting them to the door.

Ernest nodded his head and got out heading towards the car. Roni instead stayed behind and he stopped to talk with Houg.

“ This is all a bit weird.” Ernest commented with Roni once they had left.

“ What?” Roni asked.

“ Everything. The ghost story; Houg who wants to engage me to solve the problem. Doesn’t it make any sense to you?”

“ No, personally I don’t see anything weird about it. I just hope you're not sore at me for not telling you anything.” Roni answered.

Listen, I don't understand something. Why would a person with Houg’s influence and power want to hire me for this case? If he wanted, he could have an army of investigators, not to mention the fact that he can count on the total availability of Scotland Yard. Why just one man? Why?” Ernest wondered again, muttering to himself.

Roni felt anyway as if he wanted to talk: “Yes, all that you're saying it's true, but if you paid attention you must've guessed he had a bad experience a year ago, when his wife died. The majority of the press talked about that for a long time and some newspapers even wrote that the fault of his wife's death was his, Houg’s.”

“ What do you mean by it was Houg’s fault?” Ernest asked intrigued.

“ Well…it’s not very clear. I only know that his wife spent her last months of life in a psychiatric hospital because she was suffering from a major depression. It seems that she had become violent and dangerous so it wasn’t possible to keep her at home. The official version on her death is that she died after a strong nervous breakdown that caused her a heart attack. In certain articles it even came out that it was suicide and that Houg had given her a hand.”

“ In other words: a murder.” Ernest interrupted him, then asking “But why on earth would he do that?”

“ Nobody knows it. Someone wrote that being him a famous businessman, a wife in a state like that represented an embarrassment.”

“ This fails to convince me. How can a man kill his own wife just because he feels embarrassed?” Ernest muttered shaking his head.

“ In fact that's all talk. After a while they didn’t speak about the case anymore and Houg declared that he would have sued all the journalists who did similar insinuations. After all, it was clear to everyone he loved his wife.”

“ Even this is really weird.” Ernest said and continued “Why did the newspapers write that a suicide was simulated?”

“ I don’t know this.” Roni replied.

“ But is it possible that a strong nervous breakdown can cause a heart attack?

“ I don’t know Ernest, that is why you have to talk with a doctor, I can’t tell you anything. But why are you so interested in this story?” Roni asked who couldn’t understand where his friend was going with that.

“ Our Mr. Houg is full of enigmas, don’t you think?” Ernest considered.

“ He’s just a rich man, and like all the other rich men he is very envied and much attacked. Naturally he has made some mistakes, but saying that he is a murderer it’s a bit exaggerated.” Roni replied.

“ But why did the newspapers write that a suicide was simulated, how does this make sense? If the cause of death was a heart attack why should've a suicide been simulated?” Ernest asked again, demonstrating he didn’t care about Roni’s words.

The latter was becoming nervous for his friend's obsession. To Roni the story of how Houg’s wife died was the past and now cleared. He wanted to change subject, but he knew that with Ernest this was very difficult. Once he set his mind on something he didn't hear the end of it.

“ But it’s very weird, don't you think? Really weird! Thinking about it, the official version doesn't make sense… I mean… on Mrs. Houg’s death certificate I suppose it’s written that she died after a heart attack, but someone wrote that a suicide was simulated. I keep asking myself why.” Ernest kept talking and it looked like he was waiting a reply from Roni.

“ Please, Ernest, stop repeating the same thing a hundred times! However, that is history, and it doesn’t matter and after all they were all talks and nothing more!” Roni exclaimed and to change subject asked “Anyway, did you see what a beautiful nanny has Mr. Houg?”

“ Yes, she’s a really pretty girl. When I saw her she looked like someone I know; maybe I’ve already seen her somewhere, but I don’t remember where.”

“ She gave me the same impression as well when I saw her for the first time. But this happens because she has a too common face.” Roni said, happy that the conversation was taking another turn.

But he didn’t calculate Ernest's ability to keep anchored to a subject until he didn’t see the light.

“ I guess you know which newspapers wrote about Houg and his wife's death, right?”

“ Pretty much all of them, but now I don’t really remember which ones because it was more than a year ago. Tell me the truth Ernest, why are you asking me all these questions now? Why are you so interested in how Margaret Houg died?” Roni asked to his friend.

“ Because I’ll be the one to face Mrs. Houg’s ghost and I believe I should know how she died, don't you think?” the detective answered, staring at his friend’s eyes.

“ So that means you’ll accept the offer?” Roni asked impatiently.

“ Of course. How could I reuse an offer like this? I won’t even have to work a lot, since Houg already gave me two trails to follow.”

“ What would these two trails be?” Roni asked again.

“ One: there will have to be a logic explanation. Two: his son’s imagination could have caused everything…” Ernest replied, who looked a bit too nervous.

“ You don’t really like Mr. Houg, or am I wrong?”

“ Especially, he doesn't look like a very clean person.” Ernest replied again and continued “I’ve known him for a short while, but I think he’s not saying all the truth and I don’t like his arrogant way of speaking.”

“ Personally I think he’s very kind.” Roni commented.

“ It could be. But I didn’t like him trying to affect me, saying that maybe his son imagined everything.”

“ I don’t think Houg wanted to affect you. He’s just worried about the situation and he tried to give you his opinion about it. I don't see anything bad in this. Anyway when you think you’ll communicate your decision to Houg?”

“ As soon as possible; even though the story Houg is telling doesn't really convince me.”

“ Should you need my help, just ask me and I’ll be glad to give it to you.” Roni said, but Ernest was thinking and it seemed like he wasn't listening to him at all.

“ Okay, I understood, I won't talk anymore.” Roni replied and stayed silent.

At the same moment the phone rang and James Houg picked it up.

“ So?” voice asked from the other side of the line.

“ I think we can do it. I’ll give you an answer very soon.” Houg said.

“ Very good, Mr. Houg, I see you’re starting to understand.” His interlocutor replied and brutally hung up.

Houg was left with the phone in his hand for a few minutes, and then he put it down and gout out of the study.