Sheeley House was, without doubt, intended to prove affluence. It would also prove to be a house of horrors.
Sheeley House was a large, five-bedroom structure with a two-car garage, two oak front doors with four inlaid panels and two window lights at the top. It was built in 1966 near a pokey, two-lane state highway. At the time it was built, the highway wasn't visible from the second floor due to a large treed frontage of scrub pines, maple and oak trees and a smattering of tall brush.
The exterior decor of the house was set with antique bricks along the first floor and etched wood siding painted in muted grayish blue on the second floor. The property itself was approximately two acres in size with equal frontage at the rear. The house appeared to sit on its own small land bound island.
To accent affluence, there was a generous embankment of expensive shrubs like rhododendron and hybrid fuchsia azaleas beneath cross paned windows on the left side of the house. On the right side beneath the windows was a perennial and annual flower garden, both carefully tended by a gardener.
THE SHEELEYS
When Arthur Sheeley purchased this home, he did so as a gesture of satisfaction that he had reached a level in business where he could begin to live in a relative state of luxury. He indulged his wife, Catherine and two children, Arlett and Stefan. They wore designer clothes and enjoyed taking limos to New York City at least three or four times a week to take in dinner or entertainment. Arthur indulged himself when he purchased a bluish gray Mercedes which he used only as another of his symbols of affluence to attend parties and business functions.
Arthur indulged Catherine when she asked to allow her aging parents, Frederick and Alicia Clarke, to live at Sheeley House.
For the most part Arthur agreed to this arrangement. He wasn't particularly fond of Fred Clarke and considered the couple two old people who hadn't planned very well for their golden years. Arthur believed that no matter what a couple's income had been, they should always have enough money to cover their needs as they aged.
Fred Clarke was a simple man who worked long hours at a metal fabrication shop in Halloway to put his son, Fred, Jr. and Catherine through college. Alicia did her part by working as a seamstress in a sewing factory in their hometown of South Branch.
Sheeley House was located in Mount Royal, a fairly new, partially developed area. Arthur chose Mount Royal because it had an aura of upscale people and affluent living. South Branch was only ten miles from Mount Royal. But, it could have been millions of miles in terms of economic stability and income.
South Branch was actually founded in the 1700s. Mount Royal was founded in 1950, almost an afterthought. South Branch was home to a variety of immigrants who struggled to keep their bills paid and their children fed. Mount Royal was targeted mostly by wealthy urbanites from New York City who wanted a quiet getaway and more privacy.
Arthur's family always had money from the day his blue blood ancestors arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Not that many of Arthur Sheeley's family still remained in Massachusetts. They became urbanites to their very souls.
Arthur's father loved New York City and all of its teeming businesses. Raymond Sheeley very quickly embedded himself in Wall Street and made sure his son, Arthur, and two daughters were educated at the finest schools. Arthur was sent to St. Andrew's Prep, an ivy league school upstate. His sisters, Jessica and Mara attended Miss Landing's Finishing School before they were sent off to France to finish their educations.
In his youth, Arthur already saw the vitality and thrill Wall Street seemed to inspire in his father. As soon as he finished college, he knew exactly where he was going to find his first job: with a Wall Street investment firm. Of course, had it not been for his father's numerous investment cronies, Arthur would never have been hired by a Big Five firm.
When Sheeley House was built, Arthur saw to the layout of the interior floor plan. As you walked through the front door, there were two large, unobstructed rooms to the right and left. He felt these rooms would provide an area large enough for cocktail parties for business associates. Consequently, he wanted no walls separating them. Five steps up from the center of this first floor level was a formal dining room, a great room and kitchen, each separated by walls. The five bedrooms were accessed by another set of stairs in the hall outside of the dining room. Each bedroom had its own full bathroom. While the interior appeared to be three separate levels, in reality, the entrance level was built on a slab. Without a full basement below, the living area of Sheeley House was actually only two levels.
SHEELEY HOUSE - FOR SALE
No one, least of all Arthur Sheeley, expected Mount Royal to grow into a suburban mecca so quickly. Arthur complained constantly that the once barely traveled highway was now noisy and annoying to his sense of domestic tranquility. Catherine was so rarely home due to her numerous memberships in the Mount Royal Ladies Guild, the Mount Royal Gardening Club and St. Aloysius Church Choir. Arlett and Stefan were also kept equally busy. Arlett studied ballet, piano and fencing. Stefan was a member of the Mount Royal Boys Soccer team and also the Chess Club at school.
Fred and Alicia spent most of their time at Sheeley House. For the first ten years that the family occupied the manse-like home, only Arthur was distinctly disgruntled, especially when he saw that Quartiere Drive, the undeveloped street to the right of Sheeley House, had been tarred and part of the lush woods had been cut down. He satisfied himself that the wooded frontage of Sheeley House remained intact. It wouldn't for much longer. By 1976, residences along the highway began to be sold to commercial developers. He wondered how much longer Sheeley House would be protected from unwanted development.
On the outside chance that the commercial developers did try to buy up property too close to his home, Arthur Sheeley bought a large piece of property, "Rohonset," a parcel in a New England state north of Mount Royal, New Jersey. This property would never suffer from commercial over development. There were miles and miles of forest surrounding it. Catherine was aghast when Arthur informed her of the purchase.
"What are we going to do in such a remote place?" she asked.
"Live in peace and quiet. Surely you can see that our lovely home is being bombarded all around us by shopping malls and strip malls. Why, residents are moving away as fast as they can or else, the commercial developers are forcing them out by surrounding them with noise and paved parking lots with all manner of traffic all hours of day and night," he said.
"But what about Arlett and Stefan and their schools?" she asked.
"What about that? Stefan heads to college in the fall and Arlett will be starting college two years following," Arthur said.
He knew his wife was really thinking about her parents, not their children.
"If it's your parents you are concerned about, Rohonset has six bedrooms. Anyway, it's up to them if they want to move with us, isn't it?" Arthur asked.
Catherine shrugged. Her father had not been so well the past six months. He was seventy-five years old. Alicia was three years his junior. Catherine was right to worry about her parents. She couldn't know what he husband really planned. He didn't want Fred and Alicia to become a burden to himself or his wife in the best, remaining years of their lives.
Once both Arlett and Stefan were away at college, Arthur was intent on retiring to a life of country clubs, golfing and tennis with his upper class friends. With six bedrooms, he could have as many parties and sporting events as he wished.
Rohonset Estate didn't need much work. It was sold to Arthur Sheeley by one of his wealthiest clients. It was owned by the client's parents. When it lay empty after their deaths for a couple of years, it became an albatross to maintain. Arthur snapped it up just in time.
As the new owner of Rohonset, he spent several months upgrading the swimming pool, tennis courts and scoping out the elite country club he planned to join.
Now, Sheeley House was becoming a noose around his neck. Already the frontage had been cut by several yards to widen the highway to three lanes instead of the former two. As a result, the trees that provided privacy were thinned. Huge tractor trailers daily drove up and down the highway at mind-boggling speeds.
Arthur knew it was time to sell. Just as he approached a real estate agent, Fred Clarke had a severe stroke. He became bed-ridden. Having only limited financial means that couldn't stretch to afford nursing care, Alicia took over the burden of caring for her husband.
"Mama, you need to get Daddy into a nursing facility so he can have round the clock care. You are no spring chicken. You can't bathe him, shave him, feed and dress him much longer. What if you become too ill to care for him?" Catherine asked.
She hadn't told her parents about Arthur's plans to sell Sheeley House.
"He is my husband. I married him until death do us part. That is what I will do," Alicia said, defiantly to her daughter, Arlett.
"Mama, Arthur plans to sell this place. He's already bought our new home out of state," Catherine said, announcing the move.
"Catherine! How could he? Your father is in no condition to travel," Alicia said, her face ashen.
"Mama, I am sure Arthur will make provisions for Daddy. Don't worry. Besides, we can't really stay here in this house much longer. Daddy should have a quiet place where he can really rest and feel safe," Catherine said.
"Why can't isn't he safe in this house?"
"You have but to look out the window to see how the traffic on that highway has grown out of control," Catherine said.
Like most aging folks, Alicia felt at her and Fred's ages, they prized familiarity most. A new home out of state was a radical change she wasn't sure they could adapt to. She needn't have worried about that. Arthur's plans would see to it they enjoyed all the familiarity they wanted.
After trying for nearly a year, Tom Bricker, Arthur's real estate agent was having grave difficulty selling Sheeley House. It was as Arthur believed, too close to a now major, heavily traveled highway and so many commercial properties within walking distance.
For Arthur's part, he couldn't afford to keep Sheeley House and pay for its upkeep and also Rohonset. He was furious Tom hadn't found a buyer. He argued with Tom over this situation vehemently.
"I want Sheeley House sold by the end of this month! I have to move our furnishings to our new home. I can't do that if Sheeley House isn't sold. Why don't you understand that?" Arthur said.
"Arthur, I do understand it. I can't force someone to buy your home," Tom said.
At dinner that evening, Arthur informed Catherine of his discussion with Tom Bricker. Alicia sat listening silently and intently, if not pleased for the delay. Fred's health had worsened. Now, he barely ate and all of his care was left to Alicia. Catherine found many excuses to be away from Sheeley House to avoid helping with her father's care.
"I don't know what happened to our daughter, dear. But, she is just making excuses so she doesn't have to help care for you," Alicia told her husband.
Fred didn't hear her. He had been "gone" for almost three days. Whenever he awoke from these long sleeps, he was always in grave pain. Alicia tried to move him to avoid bedsores. She pulled a muscle in her back doing so.
Arthur already gave notice of his early retirement to his business associates. He spent his time winding up client business and packing up his office belongings accrued over nearly three decades. It occurred to him that if Sheeley House wasn't sold, he could send Catherine up to Rohonset in advance while he saw to the sale of their Mount Royal home. Ironically, Tom Bricker phoned the very last day Arthur was present in his office.
"Arthur, I have a buyer for your house. But, I need to tell you something about them. Does the name Chancellor Argent mean anything to you?" Tom asked.
"I know they are land developers. Why?"
"They want to buy your property," Tom said.
"Absolutely not!" Arthur said.
"Wait, Arthur. Hear me out. They are willing to pay you twice what your selling price is. You won't get a better offer from residential buyers," Tom said.
"Twice the selling price you say?" Arthur asked.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because the buyer of the property has plans for your home and the home half way down the highway that is nearest your property."
"What kind of plans?"
"I can't answer that. It doesn't sound as if he knows. I think he is buying up the properties all along the highway for some huge commercial venture."
"What kind of commercial venture?" Arthur asked.
"Again. I don't have the answers to that. I just know he approached me about three other properties all fronting the highway," Tom said.
"My Gawd! That's nearly fifteen acres of land!"
"Well? What do you say to his offer, Arthur?"
"How can I turn it down? But, ask him if he is interested in my becoming an investor in his commercial venture. You know I am always on the lookout for a good deal," Arthur said.
Tom Bricker rang off thinking Arthur was a crafty guy who would get double the selling price and still have an investor's share, if the new property owner allowed Arthur to invest in it.
A PLOT TO TWO CRUEL DEATHS
Arthur told Catherine he was sending her on to their new home so she could get a "head start" on redecorating and getting acquainted with Rohonset.
"What about Mama and Daddy?" she asked.
"They will be along shortly after you arrive. I'll look after them until arrangements for their move to Rohonset are all in order. Your father will need an ambulance and medical staff to move him. Besides, someone has to be here when the movers arrive to take our things to our new home. Spend the next day or two boxing the things you plan to take with you. The rest can be left here for the next owner. None of the furniture will be suitable for Rohonset anyway. Make arrangements to remove the furnishings at Rohonset you don't want and buy new."
"You don't want to help me decide on the new furnishings?"
"I'm sure you will manage just fine. I have too many loose ends to tie up here at Sheeley House. Don't make a meal out of goodbyes to your parents. They are in no condition to be upset by your leaving. Just let them know I will be looking after them until their arrangements are ready," Arthur said.
Alicia was worried when she saw Catherine's limo pull away from Sheeley House on the day of her final departure. She was even more worried when movers came to take away the boxes Catherine packed. Arthur directed them to leave most of the furniture.
"Do you plan to sell it, sir?" the mover asked.
"Sheeley House is being purchased by a commercial developer. What he does with it is of no concern to me," Arthur said.
The mover turned toward his two fellow partners and rolled his eyes and winked. Bellows Movers was not exactly the cream of the crop of moving companies. Arthur figured since there were only little more than a half dozen boxes of clothing and pieces of artwork, he wasn't going to break the bank on a more exclusive moving company. Big mistake.
One of those movers was Jimmy Tandy. Jimmy had a "sideline" business of coming back to the homes the company had transported contents for and ripping out copper piping and making off with anything left behind.
When he heard Arthur say all of those furnishings would be left behind, he saw dollar signs. He would make a tidy little sum selling them to various overstock auction buyers. When he put his plan in action, he used the excuse he needed to help move a family member or friend's things to get free use of smaller moving trucks the company owned.
Alicia hadn't seen Arthur in two days. She wondered if he remembered they were still in the house. She glanced at her husband. He'd been "out" for two days. She headed down the stairs to the kitchen to prepare something for him to eat.
Catherine didn't even bother to take any of the groceries or meat out of the walk-in freezer.
"Well at least, Fred and I won't starve just in case Arthur doesn't isn't back soon," she told herself.
Arthur had no intentions of coming back. He planned to tell Catherine that both of her parents died, if she asked, and didn't want her to have to deal with funeral arrangements. It was only half true. They would be dead in several months. Till then, Arthur would hole up in his gentlemen's club in New York City.
He phoned Catherine two weeks later.
"Arthur what on earth happened to you? I've been on pins and needles waiting for you and my parents to arrive," she said.
"Uh...Catherine. I have some rather bad news for you. Your father took a turn for the worse the very day the movers came to pick up the boxes.
I guess it was too much for your mother too. I was about to make arrangements for her to travel to Rohonset. She was taken by ambulance to the hospital in Seton four days after your father passed away. She died within hours of entering the hospital from a massive heart attack," Arthur said.
"My parents are both dead? Arthur! Why was I not informed sooner?"
"Catherine you know how you are about funerals. I took care of all of the arrangements. I didn't think you'd want to spoil the move into our new home with grief and loss."
"But, Arthur! I didn't even get to say goodbye to them. Where are they buried?"
"You know your parents both wanted to be cremated. I have their ashes in urns for you. I'll bring them when I arrive tomorrow," Arthur said.
"Oh. Alright. I guess."
Arthur bought two funeral urns and filled them with a mixture of wood ash and sand. It looked exactly like cremated human remains. He'd tossed his own father and mother's into a lake near their home after their deaths. He'd convince Catherine to do the same.
As the first month passed at Sheeley House, Alicia worried the supply of food would run out. She knew now Arthur never planned to move them to his new home. But, she wondered how her own flesh and blood could do such a horrible thing as to leave her sickly father and elderly mother all alone in an empty house.
Jimmy Tandy drove passed Sheeley House nearly every day that first month. He wanted to make sure no one returned to remove more furnishings.
Alicia started down the stairs when she heard Jimmy jiggling the lock on the kitchen door.
She stood frozen in her place. She hurried back to her and Fred's room. She groped around in the dark Fred was asleep again. She was sure his labored breathing would be heard by the intruder. She heard the intruder rustling about in the living room and dining room. She sat down on the floor near the bedroom door. She reached up to make sure it was locked. Then, she heard the intruder coming up the second floor stairs. If the door was locked, he might break it down. She unlocked it again.
She decided to play dead.
When Jimmy opened each bedroom door, he saw four still furnished bedrooms.
Wow. The owner of this place really did leave "everything." He rifled bureau drawers and closets, but these were empty.
Alicia's heart pounded when Jimmy entered their bedroom.
"Oh my Gawd!" he yelled.
"Two dead bodies!" he screamed into the empty air.
He rushed out the door, leaving behind the items he planned to take. He thought he should call the police. But if he did that, they would ask too many questions and he could go to jail for breaking and entering. So, he kept silent and never returned.
After nearly a month, Alicia realized what Arthur had done. He deliberately left her and Fred behind. He never intended to take them to Rohonset. She hid her tears from her husband.
Fred was in and out of his long sleeps so often that Alicia knew he would likely not last through the winter. No word was heard from Arthur or Catherine. By August, Alicia knew colder weather in Mount Royal was two months away.
Alicia needn't have worried about her or Fred freezing to death. Arthur left all the utilities in working order due to the new property owner's plan to use the house as an office while the rest of the property was developed. This wouldn't happen for nearly six years.
GHOSTLY RUMORS
Joss Lemmick, owner and partner of Lemmick, Krauwitz and Bonsiger Properties, went out to Mount Royal to inspect the properties they'd bought and make sure Sheeley House hadn't been vandalized.
How could it be? People passing by on the highway swore they saw ghosts moving about inside Sheeley House. Joss was not the man to believe in ghosts. He pulled his car into the long curved drive at the front of the house and panicked.
He distinctly saw what appeared to be an old woman standing at the window in the second floor bedroom to the right of the house. He decided to get out of his car and get a closer look. The figure in the window was gone.
Just as I thought. Wild imaginings!
He told himself he was buying into rumors about Sheeley House being haunted.
The end for Fred Clarke came in October of the following year. They'd made it through the prior winter and spring. By time of his death, Alicia was unable to care for him. His bed sores were so bad he screamed out at her slightest touch when she tried to bathe him or tend to his bed sores.
Worse, the supply of food dwindled. She had taken great care to portion what remained so it would last longer. She knew both of them would die from starvation without food. She refused to accept that Fred was already near death.
Each day, she carried on her caregiving routine as best she could. Each night, she prayed hard her beloved Fred would be alive in the morning. On October 30th, after spending most of the day moaning and screaming in agony and grotesque pain, he fell into a deep sleep.
Alicia always sat by his bedside in a large, overstuffed chair. Most nights she fell asleep and woke the next morning still slumped over in the chair.
THE SHEELEY HOUSE CURSE
On Halloween morning, Alicia brought Fred warm milk to soothe him. She saw his head slumped onto his shoulder. Fred Clarke died in the night.
Alicia was petrified. She was all alone. She ran to the bedroom window and screamed for help. She thought about running out the front door to get help, but knew anyone in speeding traffic would ignore her. She was so thin that her wraithlike figure would only contribute to the claims of a ghost. Who'd believe an old woman was left to die in Sheeley House anyway?
There was no answer to her screams. Only a thick fog and the sound of the highway in the distance. She paced back and forth in front of the window frantically.
"Fred, I won't let you go without me," she told her dead husband tearfully.
She ran to their bathroom medicine cabinet and found what remained of Fred's few meager prescriptions.
"My poor husband. I curse you Catherine and Arthur for what you did to us. I curse you and your children for the rest of your lives. I curse this Godforsaken house. May you all suffer as you made my Fred suffer!"
Alicia swallowed all of the pills and hurried to the chair beside the bed where her dead husband lay. She reached for his hand as life began to slip from her body. She fell into the same kind of deep sleep as her husband, their hands forever joined as they traveled through eternity.
The deals for developing Sheeley House and surrounding properties fell through so often Joss Lemmick almost believed the place was cursed. He and his partners had made a really bad deal that was now costing them tens of thousands every month.
To save money on Sheeley House, they turned off the utilities, boarded up the first floor windows at the back of the house, the garage windows and boarded up the back door entrance to prevent intruders or vandals from destroying the property.
They needn't have worried about that. Reports from vagrants who passed by Sheeley House were that there were ghosts moaning and screaming from within and an old woman pacing back and forth at the second floor bedroom window.
"This ghost nonsense has to stop! We'll never be able to sell that property until we prove there are no ghosts in that house!" Joss told his partners.
They shook their heads in agreement.
"So, uh, Joss...when are you planning to check the inside of Sheeley House for ghosts?" Paul Bonsiger asked, with a smirk.
"Why must I be the one?" Joss asked.
"Well, you set up the deal to buy this place from Arthur Sheeley. You should be the "ghost rumors buster."
"I'm certainly not afraid of ghosts!" Joss yelled.
"Okay. Let us know what you find inside that house." Simon Krauwitz said.
Joss was so annoyed that he drove out to Sheeley House the very next day. He had the key to the double front door. When he opened it, the air was so putrid, he began to wretch. He ran back outside and vomited on the grass.
He went back inside.
"What in the hell smells so bad?" he said aloud.
He didn't open any window because the windows at the rear of the house were boarded up from the outside. So, he tried to open the windows on the first floor. There wasn't a need to board these up since any intruder wouldn't chance being seen breaking and entering.
Next, he headed upstairs. He checked the kitchen. Nothing remained in the refrigerator and freezer that would cause such a horrific odor. In fact, there was only an empty bottle of mustard and ketchup and a molded slice of bread. He closed the door to the refrigerator.
His nose told him, as he neared the stairs to the upstairs bedrooms, here the odor was worse. He started looking into each bedroom and bathroom. He reached the bedroom of Fred and Alicia Clarke last. The odor was so powerful from this room, he used his handkerchief to cover his nose to avoid vomiting all over again.
He flipped on the light and screamed.
"Oh my Gawd! Oh my Gawd!" was all he could say at the first sight of two badly decomposed bodies.
He ran out of the room and called the police. When the Mount Royal police came, they were full of questions.
"No. I have no idea who these two people are," Joss told them.
"Do you know why they are here?" the detective asked.
"No. For heaven's sake. They are probably intruders," Joss answered.
"How can that be? This place is all boarded up. They'd had to have a key like you did to gain access," the detective said.
The bodies of Fred and Alicia Clarke were removed with the hour Joss found them.
"That odor isn't going to go away for the next ten years!" Joss said.
"Call in a professional fumigator. There's one in South Branch. We recommend them to people who have odor problems like this," the detective said.
"How many cases of two decomposed dead bodies do you have?" Joss asked.
The detective's bravado decreased somewhat.
"On occasion. By the way, are you the owner of this place?"
"Yes. Or, rather, I and my partners are. We've been trying to sell it to commercial developers."
"No buyers?"
"No."
"Why?
"Those rumors about ghosts. Now, at least we know there are no ghosts. It was just two old, homeless people."
With nothing more to add, Joss returned to his office with the story of his horrific find and the police were puzzled as to how two old vagrants managed to get into Sheeley House and not be noticed at all.
Their bodies lay unclaimed in the morgue for two years. They were finally identified when Fred's wallet was found tucked beneath the mattress Joss had removed by Bellows Movers. Jimmy Tandy refused to enter Sheeley House.
THE DEATH TOLL BEGINS
Fred had the habit of putting his wallet under the mattress his entire life. He figured if an intruder came in while he was sleeping, they wouldn't look under the mattress upon which he lay.
Fifteen years passed and Mount Royal police were hard put to locate the former owners of Sheeley House. They wouldn't have. Arthur planned it that way. He knew he could be held negligent for Fred and Alicia Clarke's death.
He'd chosen Rohonset for its seclusion and ability to only allow certain people to be invited to his mansion. Rohonset had always had a security camera at the two large cement posts at the foot of the drive that were part of a fourteen foot high, black wrought iron fence surrounding the entire property.
The detective tried to locate Arthur through his former business associates. They all claimed Arthur seemed to just "disappear" after he retired. None of them had contact with him from the day he left the business. That too was as he planned.
Joss Lemmick called the fumigator and immediately began to pitch the sale of Sheeley House. Nothing was mentioned to prospective buyers about the two dead bodies found in the house.
In 1988, a buyer finally expressed interest in the entire expanse of property and Sheeley House. Joss was thrilled. He and his partners already lost more than a million dollars to property taxes.
J. Samuels Grenier was a well known commercial developer. He had big plans for the property. First, he removed all of the trees and shrubbery at the front, back and sides of the land. Two homes further down the highway from Sheeley House were bulldozed. He left only two homes, Sheeley House and one about five acres away. He paved the entire frontage of the property. Now, he felt it looked more like saleable commercial property.
Joss was miffed at what Grenier planned.
"What are you going to do with that property?" Joss asked, after the sale was closed.
"Build the biggest shopping mall in the area."
Grenier placed a "For Sale/Commercial Acreage" near the highway. Within one month, he had a buyer. He sold the property for $2.8 million to Barnaby Brothers Enterprises.
Jack Barnaby saw clearly what he wanted the property to look like. He'd build a huge three-story building and use those two standing houses as demos for furnishings and accessories. Those two houses were ideal for his residential real estate interests.
He wanted the prestige of naming the property Barnaby Plaza.
The ear-splitting noise from the construction of the behemoth building ceased only when workers swore they saw two ghosts. Twice, workmen were seriously injured while working on the exterior of the building nearest Sheeley House.
As soon as construction was finished, Barnaby started renting out the space within.
A large Canadian furniture dealer occupied the entire first floor. The second floor was comprised of several related businesses like lighting, flooring and carpeting. The third floor was rented as office space for medical diagnostic equipment supplies, management consulting, real estate and legal firms.
The lighting on the exterior building was brighter than that of the White House or Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. and the parking lot was so brightly lit that Jack Barnaby's dream of a showplace became reality.
Ironically, Sheeley House remained dark and unoccupied. Worse, there were still rumors of wraithlike figures at the upstairs bedroom windows. Several times, patrons of Barnaby Plaza became distracted while entering or existing the parking lot and automobile accidents, mostly fender benders, ensued.
Due to its off-highway location, Jack Barnaby thought the site should have attracted far more patronage. He was forced to raise rents to compensate for the loss of several renters who claimed they heard ghosts in Sheeley House next door to the Barnaby Plaza.
By 1998, Jack Barnaby decided with so few renters left, he had to sell the property. When the last of the second and third floor tenants vacated, the furniture business hung on for only a few more months before it too had a "Close Out sale." Now Barnaby Plaza was totally empty. The showplace was more like an urban ghost town.
Stefan Sheeley wanted to take his two sons and wife to see his former childhood home. He hadn't been back to Mount Royal in over twenty years. He heard rumors the property was sold to a commercial developer. Stefan was shocked when he and his family pulled up in their RV onto a paved parking lot with an enormous building not more than 100 feet from Sheeley House.
"Rhonda, the place is still standing. This other building wasn't here when I was growing up. You know how my father is about privacy. He would never stand for living next door to such a building," Stefan said.
"Yes. I know. Your father and mother are barely hanging onto Rohonset and they refuse to sell because they want "their privacy."
The security system installed on Barnaby Plaza set off an alarm at the Mount Royal police station. A black and white patrol car pulled up behind Stefan's RV.
"What are you doing here?" the policeman asked.
"I used to live here a long, long time ago. We were just passing through and I thought I'd show my wife and sons the place. It appears no one lives here," Stefan said.
"Well, so...you are a Sheeley? Can you prove it?" the cop asked.
Stefan handed the cop his driver's license and registration.
"Wow...you really are a Sheeley."
"Yes."
"You know the history of this place? The ghosts and all?" the cop asked.
"No. What are you talking about?"
"The two bodies found in that bedroom up there. People say they haunt the place. Some claim to have seen the man lying dead in his bed and the old woman clawing at the window," the cop said, pointing toward the second floor bedroom to the right.
"That room? That was my grandparents' room. They died before my parents could move them to their new home," Stefan said.
"Where are your parents now?" the cop asked.
"In Massachusetts, they've lived there ever since they sold this house," Stefan said.
"The man they found dead upstairs was Fred Clarke. You know him?" the cop asked.
"Of course, I do. That was my grandfather. But, he died just before my parents moved to Rohonset. The man you found couldn't be my grandfather," Stefan said.
The cop looked puzzled. If the dead man wasn't Fred Clarke, who was he? Why did he hid another man's wallet under the mattress? The cop made a few notes.
"Well, I guess if the place is empty, there's not much to see inside," Stefan said, nudging his wife.
"It's been boarded up since the second owner bought it. As the sign says on that big empty building, "Barnaby Plaza" was once the owner. They left when the owner raised the rents and the occupants couldn't afford to stay. Most of us think they were really spooked by the ghosts," the cop said.
The cop and his partner drove off as Stefan and his wife began to back the RV out of the parking lot. Stefan was momentarily distracted by a shape he thought saw in the second floor window.
"Rhonda, look! Up there! Am I imaging that?" he yelled.
Before she could answer, Stefan felt as if he'd lost control of the steering wheel.
Seconds later, a dump truck barreling down the highway at top speed smashed into the RV, killing Stefan, his wife and two sons.
The two patrolmen raced back, sirens blaring, to Barnaby Plaza to see the RV folded like an accordion by the dump truck.
"Didn't you see them backing out?" the patrolman demanded.
"Yes sir. I tried to slow down. The RV driver acted as if he didn't see me coming. I was doing the speed limit, honest, sir. Oh my God! I've never had an accident in my life. I am so sorry!"
Stefan Sheeley and his entire family were gone. The Mount Royal police located Arlett Sheeley after nearly one week of a thorough search.
Arlett Sheeley Montmorcey traveled from her home in San Francisco back to Mount Royal to meet with Detective Lorne Alcott. Alcott was the detective who was investigating the deaths of the man and woman found in Sheeley House. The case remained open for so long that Alcott thought he would retire before the case was ever closed.
Now suddenly the son of the owner of Sheeley House shows up with his family and all of them are killed in an accident as bizarre as the deaths of the dead man and woman in Sheeley House. Alcott was hoping to get some more information from Stefan Sheeley on the dead man and woman in Sheeley House.
Arthur and Catherine Sheeley fell into hardship for the last ten years of their lives. While his investments were still doing well, his ability to satiate his guilty conscience was not. His spending sprees left Catherine wondering what void her husband was trying to fill with his constant purchases of things they no longer needed. Their attic and basement at Rohonset became a warehouse of things Arthur "found" need of.
Catherine grew to dislike the massive Rohonset mansion. Mostly, she spent her time drawing landscapes, embroidering and taking photos of nature. She was dreadfully alone. Arthur had distanced her and himself from their children. Arthur worried Stefan and Arlett might be too concerned with their inheritance.
Catherine was now seventy years old and Arthur seventy-five, nearly the same age as Fred and Alicia. Catherine had placed her parents' ashes in the first floor drawing room atop the mantle after many arguments with Arthur that she put their ashes into the pond at the rear of the Rohonset property. Catherine flatly refused. Arthur loathed the sight of the two funeral urns. He demanded she keep them out of his sight.
She knew he was squeamish about having human ashes in any room he would frequent. He rarely spent time in the drawing room.
It was a pleasant summer day with the sun shining brightly over the tall trees that shaded Rohonset. Catherine decided to take some photos in the wooded area just beyond the stone column fence at the rear of the property. Arthur warned her several times not to go venturing back there "at her age" without one of the servants.
Whenever Arthur was away from Rohonset, Catherine felt a freedom she wished she could have every day. Arthur had grown more overbearing in the past five years. He often had nightmares and screamed out in his sleep. She decided separate bedrooms would be best. She now occupied Stefan's former bedroom. She had decorators outfit it to suit her feminine tastes.
While trekking through the woods, she didn't notice a tree root poking out of the pungent soil. She caught her toe beneath the gnarled root, pitching her forward into the ground and twisting her ankle. She managed to limp back to the outdoor patio with help from the butler.
"Madam should see a physician. Shall I call Doctor Rotheny?"
"Yes. Please do. This is so very painful."
Doctor Rotheny said her ankle was just slightly bruised. But, he was more concerned with the deep cut on her forehead.
"Mrs. Sheeley, I am going to suture that cut. It is quite deep and near a vein."
Needless to say when Arthur saw her condition, he blamed it on her refusal to obey his warnings.
Arlett Sheeley Montmorcey met with Detective Alcott as he requested. She had no idea why. She planned to never return to Sheeley House. She always loathed the pretense of her father trying to appear affluent. Now, he was barely hanging onto Rohonset, his cherished prize domicile. The truth was that Rohonset was aging inside and out.
The once beautiful marble facade with its Gothic columns was mostly covered in a putrid greenish hue resulting from the constant dew falling from the foliage of the tall trees that hid the mansion.
"Miss Sheeley? I'm Detective Alcott. I called you here because I have some very bad news."
"Yes? And what is that?"
"Your brother is Stefan Sheeley, correct?"
"Yes. My younger brother. Why?"
"He and his wife and two sons are dead. We need you to identify them in the morgue."
"I haven't had contact with my brother in more than twenty years. Must I do this?"
"Yes. I'm sorry to put you through this."
He led her to the Mount Royal morgue located in the municipal building at the rear. The medical examiner pulled out four stainless slabs.
Arlett and Detective Alcott moved to get a closer look.
"Yes. That's my brother and Rhonda. Those are his two sons. Although, I haven't ever seen them since their births. So, I cannot swear they are Stefan's sons," she said.
"We know they are. The patrolman who saw them in their RV at Sheeley House said your brother introduced them as "his sons."
"Then they must be, mustn't they?" Arlett said.
Detective Alcott couldn't help noticing Arlett's somewhat snarky tone. She turned quickly to leave.
"May I go now?"
"Actually, no. I have several questions I would like to ask you. Back in the late 1980s, two people, an elderly man and a woman were found dead at Sheeley House. From the wallet we discovered under the old man's mattress, we identified him as Fred Clarke. The woman is likely his wife, Alicia. Which we learned much later from checking the birth, marriages and death at the state's Hall of Records," Detective Alcott said.
"Your brother told the two patrolmen who were sent out to Sheeley House the afternoon of your brother's death, that it couldn't be your grandparents. Do you have more information on where your grandparents might have gone?"
"I know they didn't live at Rohonset, the home my parents bought after Sheeley House was sold."
"Do you have any recollection of what happened to them?"
Detective Alcott didn't tell Arlett that her brother said her grandparents died shortly before their parents moved out of Sheeley House.
"No. I don't. My father was never fond of my grandfather. My grandfather had a stroke back in the mid 70s. My grandmother couldn't possibly care for him by herself. It's likely they both entered a nursing home and died there," Arlett said.
"Why didn't your mother take them to their new home when they left Sheeley House?"
"My father always made all the family decisions," Arlett said.
"Are your parents still living at Rohonset?"
"Of course. That was my father's dream to live in an exclusive mansion."
"May I go now? I really do have to board my plane at five tomorrow morning. I plan to be back home by noon, Pacific Time," she said.
Alcott dismissed the woman. She rose to go to the door. Alcott stopped her with one more question.
"Your parents. How old are they now?"
"Daddy is seventy-five and Mama is seventy. Is that all? I really have to go."
Arlett was not in a hurry to get to her hotel room nor was she board a plane the next day. She had something else in mind. She had to see Sheeley House before she left for home.
She hired a limo to drive her out to Sheeley House. She gasped in horror at how the surrounding property changed. There was no longer any sign of a front or back lawn. It was paved completely and an enormous three story building stood not more than a few yards away.
She got out of the limo and tried to peer into the first floor windows covered in highway dust. She thought about how many times the two first floor rooms were filled with her father's business associates. Neither she nor Stefan were allowed downstairs when her parents held cocktail parties.
She walked around to the back of the house. The garage and windows on the first and second floor were all boarded up. Out of curiosity, she jiggled the handle on the back door. The window above the bottom wood panel was boarded up too.
She learned as a child how to pick the lock on Sheeley House's doors. Whenever Catherine didn't want Arlett or her brother in the house, Catherine locked them out.
Arlett hated when her mother did that. But, she knew why Catherine locked the doors. It was so her mother could have time "alone" with her husband. So, Arlett borrowed one of her mother's hat pins and practiced jiggling the lock open to sneak back into her room. Whenever she passed her parents' bedroom, she heard Catherine moaning softly and her father huffing and puffing as if he was running a race.
I have to get into the place. I have to see it now in its present condition...a condition my father would despise.
Arlett moved to California to be as far away from her simpering, cloying mother and her tyrant father. She married a man who wasn't money hungry. He'd contracted mumps as a child. They were unable to have children. Arlett didn't mind and neither did Ty Montmorcey. They were a traveling couple. Arlett took to photography while Ty was becoming quite well known for his travel books.
She glanced around to make sure no one was about. Then, she used the pin on the back of her brooch to unlock the door. She was inside Sheeley House. The light was dim now that it was twilight. She strained her eyes to make her way through the dim light. She wandered around the first floor and then made her way up to the second floor. The place held no sign Sheeleys ever lived there.
She thought she heard a rustling sound and dismissed it. As she neared her grandparents' bedroom, she felt as if someone walked over her grave. The hairs on her neck stood up.
This is silly. Those two dead people couldn't have been my grandparents. Mama has the ashes in the drawing room at Rohonset.
She shook her head and hurried back down the stairs. She heard what she thought was a wailing sound.
Just the wind in the attic. By now the roof has a few holes in it and the air currents make that wailing sound. That was what she told herself even though she felt spooked.
She hurried out the door and walked around to the front of Sheeley House to see a patrolman speaking with her limo driver.
"Is there a problem, officer?" she asked.
"How did you get into the house?" he demanded.
"I'm Arlett Sheeley. I used to live here. It's okay. I didn't steal anything. Trust me. There's nothing in this place I would ever want. I was just curious to see the old place once more before I fly back home. You aren't going to arrest me for that, are you?"
"No. The security cameras caught you just as they'd caught your brother the day he and his family were killed."
"Killed? I thought it was an accident," Arlett said.
"It was. But after your brother's vehicle was inspected, it appears the steering column locked just at the moment of impact. Folks around here call it the "Sheeley House curse."
"That's ridiculous! There's never been a curse on Sheeley House," Arlett protested.
"Folks say the curse began when those two dead people were found up there in that bedroom," the patrolman said, pointing toward the second floor bedroom at the right of the house.
"That's just nonsense," Arlett countered.
"Maybe so. But, how do you account for two workmen who were seriously injured and countless people who swear they saw the old woman clawing at that bedroom window?
For that matter, one of the real estate agents ran out of Sheeley House swearing he heard screaming and wailing. Then, there is your brother's bizarre death," the patrolman said.
"Someone just wants to take over Sheeley House and is scaring everyone into believing it's haunted. That happens all the time," Arlett said.
"Well the next time you want to visit Sheeley House, let Mount Royal police know first," the patrolman warned.
Arlett decided before she returned to Ty and her home in San Francisco, she had to see her mother. She hired a limo for the next morning to drive her to Rohonset. She was terrified of private planes and Rohonset was only four hours away.
Arlett arrived at Rohonset at ten the next morning. The butler announced her to Catherine.
"Why Arlett! What brings you to Rohonset?"
"Enough Mother! I came here to ask you a few questions about Grandmother and Grandfather," Arlett said.
Catherine didn't like Arlett's tone. But then, her daughter always did seem to imitate her father's acerbic tone and belligerent posturing.
"First. Are you aware that Stefan and Rhonda and their two sons were killed at Sheeley House?"
"What? My Gawd! No. When? When did this happen?"
"Over a week and a half ago. Mount Royal police located me through Stefan's license and registration and followed up at the Hall of Records. Mother, how is it you were never contacted. Is this more of Daddy's isolation?"
"Arlett, that's not fair. Your father just likes his privacy," Catherine said.
"Mother, no one needs so much privacy they can't be contacted when next of kin is killed," Arlett snarled.
To Catherine, Arlett's tone was so like her father's.
"Killed? You say Stefan and his family were "killed?"
"They must have been on a trip together. Stefan went out to Sheeley House. According to the police, he was about to leave when a dump truck slammed into their RV and killed all four of them," Arlett said.
"And Mother, please, don't go encouraging father to sue for Stefan's estate. I know you are not exactly rolling in dough these days," Arlett said.
"Arlett, I don't like your tone or your attitude."
"Oh please, Mother. We both know Daddy is an ambitious gold digger and always has been. He won't get a dime from Stefan's estate because the driver of the dump truck wasn't charged. It appears Stefan was backing out onto the highway when the steering wheel locked.
It was a defective steering box that caused their deaths. You know as well as I do, the traffic on that highway was bad even before we moved away. Now, it is ten times more congested and the speed limit is 50 miles per hour now, not 30 like it was," Arlett said.
"Arlett, I am shocked at you! How can you say such mean spirited things about your own father?"
"Wait, there's something else I want to ask you. What happened to Grandmother and Grandfather?"
"Why, you know what happened. Before your father could relocate them to Rohonset, your Grandfather took a turn for the worse on the day your father was to move your grandparents here. Your grandmother was in shock over your grandfather's death and had a heart attack. She died a few days later," Catherine said.
"Mother are you sure? When I spoke with Detective Alcott, he told me a very peculiar story. After Sheeley House sold, vagrants in the area thought the place was haunted because they kept hearing moaning and wailing from inside the house.
Then, a real estate agent went to Sheeley House to check out those ghost stories and he found two dead bodies...a man and a woman in the bedroom that used to be Grandmother and Grandfather's room. How do you know Daddy didn't just leave them behind to die?"
"Now, you are really being absurd, Arlett! Your father had them cremated. You know we have their ashes in those funeral urns in the drawing room," Catherine said.
Something in what Arlett said stuck in the pit of Catherine's stomach. When Arthur told her about her parents' death, it seemed all too coincidental. But since she had the funeral urns, she had no reason for doubt.
The phone rang. It was Arthur.
"Catherine, I will arrive home at six this evening. Make sure cook has our dinner ready for seven."
"Arthur, I have some bad news," Catherine said.
"What is this time? Your entire life is bad news," he answered, stiffly.
"Stefan and his family were killed in an accident a few weeks ago."
Arthur knew all about his son's death. He read it in one of the New York papers he picked up at the airport. He was planning to tell Catherine when he returned home.
"There's more. Arlett is here. Arthur I have some questions to ask you when you arrive," Catherine said, sounding stoic.
"Fine. I'll be there by six. You can fill me in then."
While Catherine was on the phone with Arthur, Arlett sneaked into the drawing room and poured a bit of ash from the funeral urn into a clean tissue. She knew what she intended to do would implicate her father in her grandparents' death if it turned out these were not human ashes as he claimed.
She hurried back to the foyer just as Catherine finished the phone call.
"The place still looks the same. You don't ever change much in Rohonset. Do you?"
"Your father makes all of the decorating decisions. He did allow me to redecorate Stefan's old bedroom upstairs. Your father has nightmares a lot and sometimes screams in his sleep. I moved into Stefan's room to get my sleep."
"I have to be going, Mother."
"You won't stay and have dinner with your father and me?"
"You know Daddy and I do not get along."
"But, that was years ago. I'm sure all is forgiven by now," Catherine said.
"I may forgive many things. I cannot forgive a father who gets drunk and mistakes his daughter for his wife!"
"Arlett! Stop that! That never happened. Your father would never do something so indecent!"
Arlett refused to stand in the presence of the woman who could never admit her husband had any faults or ever did anything wrong. Now, Arlett felt justified for the certain vengeance that would come for Arthur Sheeley.
When Arthur arrived home that night, he fully expected to see his daughter.
"Where's your daughter?" he asked.
"She refused to stay. I don't know what's the matter with her."
Over a sumptuous dinner, Catherine and Arthur exchanged small talk. Then abruptly, Catherine brought up the subject of Stefan's death.
"Did you know about their deaths? she asked.
"Yes. I saw it in the papers while I was away."
"And you saw no reason to inform me?" she said.
"Catherine, don't take that tone with me. Your son has not spoken to you in years. Why would I think you would want to attend his funeral?
Catherine felt frustrated. This was the second time in their marriage that Arthur kept deaths from her. Furious, she tried to maintain her composure.
"Did you also know about the dead man and woman they found in Sheeley House?" she asked.
Arthur's expression changed from placid to rage as if his anger was turned on by a faucet.
"No! I did NOT! Why would I?"
"The investigators found an old man dead in my father's bed and the old woman dead in the chair beside him," Catherine said.
"What has that to do with me? You have your parents' ashes, do you not?"
Catherine had to admit she did.
"Besides, if I'd left your mother and father behind in Sheeley House, what did I have to gain by such a thing? The real estate agent was the only other person who had a key to open the doors from the outside. That old man and woman must have gained access because the movers carelessly left a door unlocked the day I left Sheeley House. That means intruders were not locked in. You forget they could have left of their own accord.
Catherine pondered this. It was true that if Arthur had left her parents behind they could have just left any time they wanted to since they were not locked in. Yet, Catherine knew that so long as her father was bedridden, her mother would never leave his side for a minute.
All of the time Fred and Alicia Clarke lived in Sheeley House, they rarely went outdoors. She also thought that it was not be likely anyone would see her mother even if she could walk the 200 feet to the highway to get help. The nearest neighbors were even further away for an old woman to walk. The wooded frontage at Sheeley House would have hidden her from view. She satisfied herself that she had her parents' ashes as proof that Arthur couldn't have left them to die as Arlett implied.
Ty knew his wife, Arlett, well enough to know when she was upset.
"You've visited your parents again, haven't you?" he asked.
"I have to run something by you. I need you to tell me what you think."
"I'm ready when you are."
"My brother and his entire family was killed in an accident at Sheeley House," Arlett said.
"Oh, I so sorry, my dear."
"No. Wait. I had to identify their bodies. The police say he died when his steering column on his RV locked up. But, Ty when I saw the look on his face at the morgue, I knew he something scared the hell out of him," Arlett said.
"Perhaps, he saw out of the corner of his eye whatever it was that hit the RV," Ty said.
"It wasn't that kind of expression. I tell you it was terror."
"Well that can happen when you realize the vehicle is beyond your control."
"There's more. When I spoke to the Mount Royal police, they told me that an old man and an old woman were found dead in Sheeley House in the very rooms that were my grandparents' bedroom."
Ty didn't seem to understand what his wife was implying.
"I think my father deliberately left my grandparents to die in Sheeley House," she said.
"Arlett, that can't be true. You told me yourself. Your mother has their cremation ashes.
"If they are my grandparents' ashes. You don't know my father like I do. He is quite a crafty man," she said.
"Oh Arlett. Don't let what he did to you in the past cause a scandal you might regret."
"Look! I took some of those ashes out of the urn. I am going to have them tested," she said.
"Then what? Have you seventy-five year old father sent to prison? What good would that do?"
"I want him, no...I want my mother to know her beloved husband is a murderer of her own parents."
"Are you so sure of what you accuse him?"
"No. That's why I intend to find out."
Arlett took the ashes she had to a testing laboratory.
"You want me to test these for what?" the lab manager asked.
"I want to know if these are human ashes. I think maybe the funeral home who performed the cremation may have substituted them," Arlett said, knowing it was a lie.
"I don't think..."
"Please, my mother isn't a wealthy woman and I don't want her to believe these are her parent's ashes if they aren't."
"Do you want me to take a DNA sample from you and see if it's a match?" the lab manager said.
"What is DNA?"
"Deoxyribonucleic acid...We all have it. DNA is just really genetic testing. I take a swab from inside your mouth or a lock of your hair and I match it to the DNA in the cremation ashes."
"How much will it cost?" Arlett asked.
"Why nothing. It only takes a few seconds to take DNA tissue. It will take a few days to get test results. DNA testing is somewhat new. There will be a $100 charge for the test report though. It's how our lab stays in business."
Arlett wasn't happy about having to spend $100. Awaiting test results, she felt so jittery that Ty decided she needed a distraction. He decided to take her to their favorite Italian restaurant.
By the end of the week, the lab called to say the DNA testing was completed and she could pick up the report on Friday. Arlett nearly had two auto accidents on the way to the testing lab. She was so nervous and had to admit she was having second thoughts about finding out precisely who those ashes in the funeral urn belonged to.
The lab manager handed her the report.
"There isn't much to it," she said.
"You'll see why when you read the results. I don't think you will have any questions. But, do look it over before you leave just in case you have questions.
Arlett nodded and opened the first page of the report. The first column list two items: potassium and calcium carbonate. The second column listed SiO2, silicon dioxide.
The lab manager turned to leave.
"Wait. I don't understand these chemical names," Arlett said.
"Go to page six. You'll understand it more clearly," he said.
She flipped to page six and immediately the last sentence in the report caught her eye.
"Therefore, the sample tested cannot be ashes from human remains .
She read the paragraph before this sentence. Testing shows that the ash sample is comprised of ordinary sand and wood ash.
Arlett felt dizzy and sat down.
"Are you alright Miss?" the lab manager asked.
"I...uh...Yes. That is, I will be. Thank you."
Arlett drove back home.
Ty was busy developing some of his photos in his dark room. When he heard Arlett's car pull up in he drive, he wiped his hands and closed the door. Arlett looked as if she'd seen a ghost.
"Honey, what's the matter?" he asked.
"Those ashes. I had them tested. They aren't my grandmother or grandfather's. Those ashes are just wood ash and sand made to look like cremation ashes.
"Arlett, listen to me. If you report that to the police in Mount Royal..." he started.
"No. I won't report him to the police. What can they do? He will tell them my grandparents were stubborn and refused to leave or were just delayed by my grandfather's dying in Sheeley House. I have a better plan. I am going to Rohonset and I am going to make sure my mother knows what her husband did to her parents," Arlett said.
Ty knew there was something eating away at his wife about her mother. He sensed it had to do with what her father had done to his daughter those many years ago. He knew there was no point in trying to dissuade Arlett.
She was back at Rohonset without notice to her mother or father.
"Arlett? Have you come back to apologize for your attitude when last you were here?" Catherine asked.
"No. Mother. I haven't."
Arlett walked into the drawing room with Catherine following behind. Arlett grabbed the two funeral urns.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm setting the record straight for once in your life, Mother!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Daddy...he has lied to you about what he did."
"What did he do and what are you going to do with your grandparents' ashes?"
"This is what I'm going to do!"
Arlett dumped out the contents of both urns on the floor.
"These aren't the ashes of your mother and father. It's just ordinary ash from wood and sand," Arlett said.
"What are you saying?"
"I stole some of the ashes from one of these urns the last time I was here. I had them tested. Daddy is a liar! He left Grandmother and Grandfather to die in Sheeley House and it's time you admitted that!" Arlett said angrily.
Catherine was speechless. She hadn't always trusted her daughter who often had wild imaginings of things. Arlett was a grown woman now. Would she carry such a vendetta against her father for so long a time?
"I don't believe you, Arlett. You are just trying to get even with your father like always."
"I knew you'd say that Mother. Here is the report from the lab that did the testing. I hope you choke on it when you are done reading it!"
Arlett was so angry she ran out the door to the car she rented without a word. Catherine heard the screech of the tires as Arlett drove down the long drive out to the main road.
Catherine sat and read the report. So, it was true. Arthur left her parents behind in Sheeley House to die.
How could he do such a vile thing? He lied to me. All of those lies about how Father died the very day they were supposed to be moved up here to Rohonset and Mother dying of a heart attack. Oh my Gawd! They were left all alone with Father so sickly. Mother must have been out of her mind trying to care for him. Why didn't she try to get help?
Catherine knew the answer to that. Her mother was an old woman who often joked that her legs were not as sturdy as they used to be. It was why she rarely left the house or, for that matter, came downstairs except for meals.
Arthur was away as usual. Catherine suddenly hated Rohonset more than she ever had before. As if in a dream state, she climbed the stairs to her room with the lab report in her hand. She tied several nylon stockings together and made a noose. Then, she tied one end to the bed post and the noose around her neck. She sat on the side of the bed and slipped off to the floor. It took only two minutes before she was dead.
Arthur arrived home that evening to find the maid and butler in a lather.
"Sir, we have some bad news. Madam is dead," the butler said.
"Dead? Catherine? That can't be!" Arthur yelled.
"It happened several hours ago. Your daughter stopped in to see her. They had an argument and your daughter left in a hurry," the butler added.
"Arlett! She always did have a bad effect on her mother. What could she have said to cause her mother to commit suicide?"
"I took the trouble of removing this from Madam's body before the police arrived."
"You called the police? Why didn't you wait for me to return?"
"The odor sir. With the heat of summer and all, the staff were put off by the stench."
"Let me see what you have there," Arthur demanded.
He looked at the cover of the lab report. It read in Catherine's own hand:
"YOU DID THIS ARTHUR! YOU KILLED MY PARENTS!"
"You say you retrieved this before the police arrived?"
"Yes, sir. The police asked that you go directly to identify Madam's body."
Arthur ran upstairs to the room where Catherine died. He wanted to make sure nothing had been filched by the police or that any other evidence might still be there to incriminate him.
Seeing nothing, he hurried to the police station. After identifying Catherine's body, he called the crematorium to make arrangements for her cremation. He refused to notify his daughter.
She doesn't deserve to be at her mother's memorial service. She is responsible for her mother's death.
The following day after her suicide, Arthur hurried back home with her funeral urn. He placed it on the mantel in the drawing room beside the other two funeral urns. He glanced inside both of them. They were empty.
So that's how Arlett got hold of the ashes in Fred and Alicia's funeral urns. Stupid Catherine, as usual, not paying attention. She must have turned her back or left Arlett alone in this drawing room long enough to collect the specimen she needed for testing.
Arthur felt as if the world was closing in around him. Would his daughter reveal what he'd done to his father-in-law and mother-in-law? He studied the situation he was in from all angles. He evaluated his options. He decided not to contact Arlett. That would only confirm his guilt.
Besides, what's the worst that will happen if the police find out? I'll tell them Alicia was stubborn and refused to leave Sheeley House. I'll tell the police I figured they'd leave when the new owner found them there. Yes. That's it. That's what I'll say.
He needn't have worried about Arlett contacting the police. Arlett was next to suffer the curse Alicia Clarke put on the Sheeley family. She decided to hire a private plane to fly her out to Mount Royal. She thought perhaps, if she could just see Sheeley House once more, she might be able to dispel the curse people in Mount Royal believed was cast on her old home.
About twenty miles into the Mount Royal private airport, a storm developed. The pilot of the plane tried desperately to keep it steady and on course. The winds were becoming cyclonic and swirled in every direction.
Arlett was scared out of her wits.
"Can't you do something about this awful turbulence?" she called to the pilot.
"Sorry, m'am. This storm wasn't on the weather screens. It is quite unexpected. But, we are only about five miles now from landing."
That was the last words Arlett Sheeley Montmorcey heard. The plane nose dived into a grassy field just one mile short of the landing strip. The pilot tried to pull Arlett from the plane but flames engulfed the entire passenger area.
Now, Arthur was the only Sheeley alive. But, not for long.
EPILOGUE
Thompson, MacNichol and Rawley were a huge British furniture conglomerate. They paid a commercial property scout to find them an ideal place to open their furniture emporium. They planned it to be bigger than the two biggest London department stores.
TMR corporation had furniture stores in several big US cities. Now, they wanted to create "annex" sites to those in these big cities. Their plan was to buy existing facilities to reduce the cost of new construction, where possible.
When James Horton found Barnaby Plaza or more aptly, it found him, he imagined the huge commission he'd earn from this find.
He found Barnaby Plaza by chance when he saw an old newspaper clipping about the terrible accident that killed an entire family on the parking lot there. He always used old newspapers to get a sense of the demographics of certain areas.
He loved the rapid growth Mount Royal seemed to have experienced in the past four decades. It was now home to two huge multi-national corporations and already had two office towers. It was also ideally situated on a four lane highway that intersected with two major U.S. highways, one of which had only a 45-minute drive to the nearest airport in the east and western parts of the state.
He phoned Ian MacNichol to advise him of a potential site for their new venture. Horton flew out to see Barnaby Plaza. He rented a car and drove out to Mount Royal to get a close up view. He saw that a commercial developer still had an old sign in front of the building. James wondered if they were still the owners of this enormous site.
He drove the entire length of the parking lot and saw that there were two other homes on the site. He wondered if these were privately or commercially owned by the site's owners. He realized TMR could buy the two homes if they were not already part of the package and use them for two model homes to fill with furniture and accessories.
He did a little digging and found that the former owner was none other than a TMR competitor: Barnaby Brothers. The sign at the front of the property faded badly, but there was still a contact name and phone number. James contacted Barnaby Brothers, who seemed thrilled that someone expressed interest in Barnaby Plaza. It had been empty for nearly a decade at a horrendous loss of profit.
"Why hasn't there been any interest in buying the place?" James asked.
"Jack Barnaby used it for several types of businesses. The taxes in Mount Royal are pretty steep and I'll be honest, selling a site that size could only be to a furniture dealer. You do realize there will be some renovations to the third floor? That floor is composed of several smaller offices."
"Just one thing, the two houses, my clients are interested in both of them for furniture models. Are they privately owned?"
"No. We could include them in the deal. Both are in pretty good condition. Jack had plans for them, but they didn't seem to materialize, what with the huge cost of everything else there."
All three of the TMR CEOs loved the photos of Barnaby Plaza and unlike Jack Barnaby, high taxes were easily offset for corporate lawyers who knew the right loopholes.
"It's perfect!" Harry Rawley said.
"Those two houses are great!" Ian MacNichol said.
"We have to snap it up before one of our competitors finds out about it," Charles Thompson said.
That was how Barnaby Plaza became Thom-Mac-Rawley Home Furnishing Sales. It took approximately six months before the huge three story building became three floors that would be filled with home furnishings.
Sheeley House and the house on the opposite side of the three-story building were connected by large exterior and interior walls and interior stairs and elevators that allowed customers to enter these two "model" houses.
Not once was there mention of the wraiths of Sheeley House. There needn't have been. Once again, the minute workmen began constructing the connecting walls from the showroom to Sheeley House, the flooring on the second floor of the connecting column to Sheeley House collapsed, killing two workmen.
It was with great relief when renovations and construction was finalized. Over fifteen workers were injured in six months. They swore they were distracted by "ghosts." The more injuries occurred, the more difficult getting the work done on the three buildings became.
TMR executives worried whether there would ever be a Grand Opening of their new store. Or, if anyone who had heard about the numerous injuries would patronize the place.
In 1995, TMR spent millions on advertising the Grand Opening of their newest store in Mount Royal. By then, Arthur Sheeley was eighty-six years old and rarely left Rohonset. He often muttered to himself, mostly unintelligible things about Catherine or Arlett.
He spent much of his time pouring over his investment reports. He saw that his original investment in Chancellor Argent, which had changed ownership many times in the three four decades, was swallowed up by a new company. He read his financial reports with the same keen eagle eyes he used when he worked on Wall Street.
According to his report, the property owned by Chancellor Argent was sold to Lemmick, Krauwitz and Bonsiger Properties and later J. Samuel Grenier who sold it to Barnaby Enterprises and finally to Thompson, MacNichol and Rawley listed as TMR on the trade sheets.
Accompanying the report was a photo of the newly acquired TMR site. Arthur gasped when he saw it. He'd never bothered to visit Sheeley House after he and Catherine moved to Rohonset. The sight of Sheeley House literally and figuratively connected to a huge three story monster-sized building was a shock to him. His old home was model home for a furniture store!
"How ugly and distasteful. How appalling!" he muttered aloud.
"Sir?" the attendant butler inquired.
"Dawson, get me the magnifying glass on my desk," he said.
The butler brought a large magnifying glass over to Arthur.
"Something wrong, sir?"
"I just wanted to get a closer look at my old home."
The butler was puzzled.
"See here? This is the first home I had built before we came to Rohonset," Arthur said.
The butler remained stock still in his place.
Arthur passed the magnifying glass over the first level of Sheeley House. As he moved it slowly to the second floor, he screamed out,
"No, No, It can't be!"
There in the window of the last bedroom on the right of Sheeley House he saw through the magnifying glass, the image of an old woman's face.
He slumped over dead from the shock.
Thom-Mac-Rawley Home Furnishing Sales remained in business for over a decade. Each time customers walked upstairs to look at home furnishings there were minor accidents. Once Elsie Warren, an elderly black woman thought she heard a noise in the model home across the transom. She walked into the first floor of what had been Sheeley House which was now connected to the main showroom by the transom. Curious about how this house looked as if someone still lived in it, she climbed the stairs to the second floor.
From the second floor of the model home, customers were warned the public address system couldn't be heard. So fascinated was Elsie Warren that she didn't hear the announcement that the store was about to close. As she walked from bedroom to bedroom, she saw from the windows the sky was dark.
"Oh my! I must have lost track of the time," she said.
She turned to hurry down the stairs when she heard the door to the transom slam shut, locking her out of the main showroom. Elsie ran to the windows to see if anyone would realize she was still in the building. The parking lot was empty.
"I couldn't have been up here that long. Elsie Warren was found dead the next morning.
"Just an old woman who wandered. We thought she left the building earlier on," the store manager told the police when her lifeless body was found.
Elsie Warren was the next to die from the curse of Sheeley House. But, she would, by no means, be the last. The price of two cruel deaths will always be exacted by revenge from the wraiths of Sheeley House.
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