Page 42 of Eldritch

Sybil took it all in as they advanced into the vast room.

“I thought this place looked large from what I could see of the windows when I was outside the house,” he said.

Sybil scanned the place as the apprehension she experienced before opening the place subsided. “It’s not as cluttered as I expected.”

Crimson velvet curtains hung on either side of the tall, peaked window and allowed murky light inside. The window needed a good cleaning, although Sybil suspected Clarice would need to hire window washers who could crawl along high places safely. Tall bookshelves on one side held leather books, some fiction and some not.

“These books should be in a museum,” Sybil said.

Someone had stacked boxes two deep and four high along the other side, most of them taped up but without labels to identify content.

As expected, thick dust lay on everything, including the dark hardwood floor. To the left side of the window, a small staircase led to another set of shelves stuffed with books.

“That staircase is amazing.” Doug’s voice was hushed.

“Looks like it could be unstable,” Sybil said.

“Ah come on,” Pauline said. “It’s fine.”

Pauline walked that direction, but Doug barked out. “Stop.”

The sharpness of his voice halted Pauline and startled Sybil.

Pauline planted her hands on her hips. “Excuse me?”

He moved forward and then pointed at the dusty floor in front of the window. “I don’t think you’ll want to step on these.”

He lifted his phone and started clicking photos.

“What is it?” Sybil approached the area.

“Might be a prank from a long time ago,” he said.

Curious, she took a few more steps and realized what he meant. An undulating track in the dust under the window. More than that, there were some sort of reptilian tracks, like an alligator or croc.

Pauline’s mouth dropped open as she glanced around. “You have got to be kidding me. There’s no way someone once kept some damned lizard up here. You’d think Clarice would’ve mentioned that.”

Sybil defaulted to, “I vote for kid prank. Or maybe an adult.”

Sybil also took photos of the marks and tracks.

“Yeah, I’ve seen some strange things in my life, but this house tops them all.” Doug smiled at Sybil.

That darkness Sybil noted earlier grew thicker as she stared at the tracks.

“What type of lizard is it?” Pauline directed the question at Doug.

He shrugged. “Beats me. There are some salamanders in China that are as big as a man. And the biggest gecko is about fourteen inches. Neither of those would live in this area.”

Pauline sidled a little closer to him. “Wow. You know a lot about lizards.”

He smiled. “Nah. I was a big lizard freak when I was a kid. Thought at one point I even wanted to be a zoologist. That wore off. Come on, let’s get the measurements.”

“I can help,” Pauline said.

“That’s okay.” Doug kept a straight face. “I’ve got it.”

Sybil couldn’t help but enjoy the dissatisfaction that marched over Pauline’s face at his gentle but definitive rejection of her help.

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