The Room Within a Room

The house itself was one of those long ago forgotten mansions that lay empty for at least a dozen years and reminded Henry of something akin to one of those creepy old houses they used in those old horror movies from the 60's where some old caretaker who should have died years ago still resides.

Fortunately, there was no old caretaker, just a job order to remove anything salvageable, which, with the house sitting there empty for 12 years wouldn't be a whole lot. But he had his work orders, so he took his two Mexican workers (Hosea & Philippe) with him, even though he knew it would just be a lazy walk through the house.

The three started in the attic, where the only thing of real value was a stack of Playboys from the 1980's, including one from August 1985 that read; The “Waltons” girl Judy Norton-Taylor in a grown-up nude pictorial. He opened it to her nude pictures exposing herself for all to see. “Good night, Mary Ellen!”

“Ay Caramba!” Hosea looked over at one of the pictures and smiled.

“He visto mejores. (I've seen better.)” Philippe frowned.

“Here's a magazine just for you,” Henry pulled out a Playgirl magazine and handed it to Philippe.

Philippe opened to the centerfold of a man who was nude and showing signs of significant arousal, which in turn was getting Philippe aroused. “Ahora esto es mejor! (Now this is better!)”

“You can enjoy the picture in your own time,” Henry turned around just to find things that were old and decaying. He picked something of interest up and it crumbled away at his touch. “Moving on.”

---

A short time later, they were in the only room on the second floor that had anything of any value, and Philippe had come across some jewelry; a diamond tiara and a matching necklace. “How do I look?”

“Like a fairy... uh... princess,” Henry said.

“Can I keep?” Philippe asked pleadingly.

“This is a wasted trip anyway,” Henry frowned, “even the jewelry isn't worth too much.”

“Huh?”

“Whatever we find here today is ours to keep.”

“So I can keep?”

“Yes, Philippe, you can keep them.”

While they continued going through the room, Hosea was out in the hallway looking at a rotting old bookshelf. There seemed to be something odd about its placement. Firstly, it wasn't even serving the purpose it was supposed to be there for, there were no books or anything else there, the shelves just lay empty. Secondly the shelf was not fully up against the wall.

“Boss,” Hosea said, “look at this.”

Henry followed Hosea out to the hallway, he looked at the crappy old bookshelf. “This is no good!”

Hosea looked at the bookshelf that was empty and falling apart, then at Henry.

“You discovered an empty bookshelf! Well, la-dee-da!”

“La-dee-dah?” Hosea repeated, trying to figure out what was meant by those strange sounding words.

“So what!?”

“I mean,” Hosea tried to look behind the bookshelf, “there's something there.”

“Most likely the wall,” Henry said dismissively.

“No, no. No wall,” Hosea began to pull at the shelf, he managed to pull it out just by an inch, he peered into the space he created, “door.”

Philippe finally came out of the room wearing not only the tiara and necklace but managed to fit himself into a gold sequin dress, his hairy chest popped out of the low-cut top. “How you like me now, eh?”

Hosea let out a low whistle.

“OK, Hosea,” Henry turned away from Philippe, knowing the guy's mind wasn't fully on the job today, but why should he? There wasn't much of anything of value to salvage, and it was a lazy workday. “Let's see what's behind this bookshelf.”

The two pulled the bookshelf forward, indeed there was a door there. But it was locked. “No key,”

“No shit!” Henry held out his hand in Philippe's direction. “Give me the pry bar.”

“What pry-bar?” Philippe asked.

“The pry-bar you were supposed to bring in with you!”

“Oh, that pry-bar,”

“Well?” Henry said expectantly. “Where is it?”

“It's out on the truck!”

“Then go get it!”

“Now?”

“NO!” Henry barked into Philippe's face. “Why don't you wait until after Christmas!”

“The house will be demolished by then!”

“Really?” Henry growled. “Then you'd better get it now!”

Philippe stood there. “Now?”

“Are you going to start that again?” Henry pushed Philippe in the general direction of the stairs.

“I'm going,” because of wearing the tight sequin dress; Philippe took small, deliberate steps, keeping his posture tall and his feet pointed slightly, gliding his foot from heel to toe with each step.

---

Several long minutes later, Philippe returned with the pry-bar, stumbling up the steps as he came.

“It's about time!” with Philippe being only halfway up the steps, he leaned over the railing to grab the pry-bar. Leaving Philippe go off balance and back down the steps. Henry turned back to Hosea. “Forget about him!”

Hosea took the crowbar and began to pry at the door around the lock, with just a little effort, the door swung open into the room.

Henry was the first into the room whose only light came from his flashlight. The walls had wallpaper that was peeling from the walls and some randomly and oddly placed furniture, suggesting that at one point the room was used for something.

“Hello,” Hosea called into the room, “anybody here?”

“There better not be!” Henry swung his flashlight around, something moved to the corner of the room. He put what was moving around in the spotlight, it was just a large gray rat. “Nothing's in here of interest.”

“Boss look,” Hosea shown a light on a door that seemed to lead to a room within the room.

Henry slowly made his way to the door. It was constructed differently from the other doors, which were all made of thick wood, but this one was made of solid metal.

“Safe maybe?” Hosea said hopefully, as he suddenly had visions of opening the door to find more gold in it than El Dorado.

“Not the right construction for a safe door,” Henry inspected the door.

“Tumba?”

“Could be,” Henry said. “The lady who used to live here disappeared 12 years ago, and they never found neither her nor her body. Since the construction is newer than that of the rest of the house it could have been built as a tomb.”

“Why in the middle of the house, though?”

“I guess we're about to find out,” Henry took the pry-bar and began to pry at the door. It was a bit harder to use on this door than the other one. “Help me out here.”

Hosea helped Henry apply enough pressure to the pry-bar to make the door pop open, and when it did, it opened very slightly. Hosea tried to peer through the opening.

“Let me see what's in there first.”

“You get no argument from me!” Hosea stepped back.

Henry stepped into the tiny room where he saw a skeleton shackled to an oddly shaped iron chair. He shown his light onto it, the skeletal figure wore a sequin dress similar to the one that Philippe was parading around in.

“Is that real?”

“I think we found out what happened to the old lady who used to live,” Henry sighed then pulled out his cellphone.

“Who are you calling?”

“The police of course,” Henry could see the look of worry on Hosea's face, “don't worry, they won't be here looking for you.”

Just out of curiosity, Hosea reached out to touch the skeleton.

“Don't touch anything, in fact we'll even have to stop working,” Hosea said as he made the call.

---

Within 5 minutes of the call being made, several police cars were outside the house and Henry was explaining to the Sergeant how he discovered the skeleton, as he led them to the room within a room.

“Well,” the Sergeant looked at the skeletal remains, “we can already ascertain who she was and how she died and based on what you already told us when she died.”

“But who would do this to her?”

The Sergeant called up the police report from 12 years prior. “The woman was listed as a missing person, and there was a person of suspicion in connection to her alleged disappearance.”

“Who are they and where can you find them?”

“It was her granddaughter, but she died of a drug overdose five years ago.”

“I see,” Henry said. “How long will your investigation take?”

“A few days or so. Why?”

“Well this place is scheduled for demolition in a few days.”

“Well you can't do anything until we're through,” the Sergeant said.

“Can you give my company a call when your investigation is through?” Henry handed the Sergeant a business card.

“Of course,”

“OK,” Henry turned to Hosea & Philippe, “looks like our work for the next few days is at a standstill.”

“So, I can go home and enjoy?” Philippe held up the Playgirl magazine filled with well-endowed and aroused men.

“Yes,” Henry said, as he looked at the August 1985 issue of Playboy with Judy Norton-Taylor on it, “in the meantime, I'll be enjoying this magazine.”