Chapter 3 – Case of the Manor's Curse
Outside the servant's quarters a woman waits for Oswald's arrival. The woman has been previously warned by the butler over the manor's telephone system. This system links the main house, the servant's quarters, and the farm so communication and news can travel seamlessly through the grounds.
Oswald approaches the servant's quarters and the woman. The woman has a worried and confused look which seeps through her professionalism. Her garbs tell Oswald that she is a maid, but higher paid since the fabrics are finer material. She has a small barouche with an ivory silhouette in it, spectacles on a gold chain, and a small pocket watch which also has a gold chain.
Oswald stops before he gets too close to her and stomps out his cigarette. He then approaches her with a small bow, "Hello, miss."
"Hello sir," she says with an apprehensive courtesy, "I am Martha Snol, the head maid of the Travult Manor. I understand you have come to ask us some questions."
"It's just a formality. I am just here to rule out any false road in the unfortunate accident of Mr. Timbule."
"I knew the groundskeeper, that Douglas." She says with a grimacing face, "I didn't much appreciate that man. I adore Gretta, the widow, she works twice as anyone here. She never deserved that savage man beating her."
"Did you know if anyone here was close to Douglas?"
"Douglas kept to himself a lot." Martha says as she looks toward the manor. "I couldn't say that he was right out hated by anyone, but then again I couldn't say that he was a well liked man either. He fell out of grace with many of the staff after we found out that he was beating his wife."
"That seems to be something which people strongly disapprove of." Oswald says as he mentally notes it in his mind.
"He also had a strange habit with leaving for days even weeks at a time. This was at to the disapproval by the lord of the house. Also, I had reported to Lord Travult that Douglas was inebriated several times while he was supposed to be working. Then there was the stealing. Mr. Bonpoint, the head butler, and I had caught Douglas stealing once. It was hardly anything too significant but as our grandmothers warn; once you get away with a little thing, it is only matter of time you do something big."
"Always a wise thing to take charge of then," Agreed Oswald.
"I clearly told the lord that this was happening. The head butler had told me that before that time Douglas had been caught stealing other things from the manor."
"What type of small things?" Oswald seems curious that a man with a well paid job would start stealing from his employer.
"Small things, like some sliver spoons, wine openers, and apparently a small ornate letter opener. But as I said about small things..."
Oswald thinks for a moment and lets the information settle in his mind. "Thank you for the information. I think it will aid us in this horrible accident. Now, can I see widow?"
"Of course, sir." She says with a small courtesy as she takes out a key ring with many keys on it. "Let me show you to her room."
She unlocks the servant's quarters and lets Oswald in. The servant quarter's building is a two story buildings but it looks it can fit at least three dozen people within its walls. The inside is nicely decorated and has electric lamps buzzing, making the place seem cheery. Nice paintings by up and coming artists adorn the walls, as the soft carpet cushions each foot fall. Oswald admits to himself that this was nicer then some higher income apartments in the downtown district.
Martha guides Oswald up a flight of stairs. Each door marked with a number and with a mail slot. Some doors have eye holes installed, some have flowered wreaths hung on them, and one even have a metal silhouette of a duck on it. Finally they get to Gretta's door. The door looks well used. Unlike the other door, it seems to be slightly dented up.
Martha knocks on the door and waits. After a moment of silence there's an answer within the room. Martha opens the door and Oswald walks into a quaintly decorated room.
Martha sits at the furthest wall by a window looking out on the grounds. The bed looks still made as if no one had slept in it. There's a dresser in the room with a black and white photo of the happy couple. Also, there's a small liquor cabinet. In a corner, a small writing desk sits; it is mostly unused except for a note which Gretta had tried to start. There's also a closet which sits open and men's clothing can plainly be seen.
Oswald gets close to Gretta and notices that she looks extremely sad. She has small scars on her face from previous beatings, but also what looks like the remains of a black eye which occurred within the past few days. Also, by the smearing of her makeup, she was crying recently.
"My condolences on your late husband," Oswald comes beside her within her view and speaks softly and gently. He takes off his small rounded sunglasses and looks her sincerely in the eyes. "I am sorry I have to do this, but I am here on a formality which I must uphold. I must investigate this accident and I must find all the information I can. Though, once my team has all the information we can put everyone at ease and find peace."
She shakes her head as she sniffles a little. She brings a delicately laced handkerchief up to her face and tries to hold back tears. "Well, with his behavior lately, it's not a wonder that he ended up dead. He had been drinking more, he had been more erratic. He used just disappear for a few days but he always had a reasonable excuse like family matters. But the last three months he had just been disappearing randomly. I tried to talk about it, but when I confronted him he got very mad."
"Do have any suspicions what kind of trouble he was getting into at all?"
She shakes her head as a tear finds its' way to roll out her eye. She takes a breath and calms herself down. "The night of his death he was fixated on the geese in the farm."
"On geese?"
"Yes! Geese! In a drunken rage he swore that one got away from him and his very last words were, ‘The Goose will tell them what I did.' And he rushed out the door. I followed him as far as the tool shed where he grabbed an axe and I tired asking him, I tried begging him to stop, but he went off to kill the goose."
"Do you know if the axe has been recovered?"
"We did not find the axe at all. But I don't know why it is important."
Oswald pauses and thinks, "It's just a routine question, it might even lead to a clue. After the tool shed, what direction did he go?"
"From what I could tell he went to the livestock pens, but I didn't follow in fear that he would kill me."
"Do you have any friends or good acquaintances on the grounds which might have known about any of this?"
"Douglas kept to himself mostly. That is how he has been since I have met him years ago. He never struck me as a social butterfly. And after he came back from any trip I always asked him what he did and he always answered family business. Apparently, he had a sick mother to take of and there had been legal issues with her estates."
Oswald thinks for a moment, "Do you know where his mother lives?"
"I am not sure. I suppose it is far away because whenever business about his mother came up he was gone for three or four days."
Oswald shakes his head and smiles but deep down inside he can feel that something is terribly off. He let's the feeling of doubt slip away and he looks around, "Miss do you mind if I just examine the room. I may not be as good as my colleagues, but we have a knack of telling certain things about people how people are by how they arrange things."
"I guess if it helps you can. But you can also have the picture of us," she says with a small smile as if she has some hope. "I can't stand to have his smiling face looking at me anymore."
Oswald looks around and sees the objects of a married couple. Around on top of the dresser, the liquor cabinet, and spaces where one couldn't write any letters on the writing desk, there are momentous of trips, holidays and other events which are important in a couple's lives. He takes the picture and looks at it and then sets it back.
He thanks Gretta for her cooperation and heads out of the servant quarters. He starts to trace what could have been the path and final steps of Douglas Timbule. He goes out and sees a small shed, he causal strolls up to it and peeks inside. He sees it is the tool shed and along the wall are several hangers with outlined silhouettes where tools belong. There are a few rakes missing, a shovel, and then a large axe.
He then goes toward the area with the livestock. There are chickens, goats, geese, boars, yaks, and sheep. A typical farm yard for any house trying to be fully self sustained. Oswald goes toward the area where the geese are and looks. It is an octagonal shape wooden fence that a person could easily climb, especially with a tool in hand. He can notice in the ground, which is muddy, that there are many foot prints of people going in and out. One specifically looks like it has jumped over the fence, despite the easily accessible door six feet away.
The geese themselves look normal, except for the single black goose which stands out from the gray and white ones. The black goose stands out more so since it is not acting as lively as the others and drinking a lot of water.
"So you're looking at geese?" Morgan says as he leans on the fence next to his cohort. "What extraordinary clue does this give us?"
"It confirms the widow's story," Oswald says as he takes out a cigarette and lights it. He sucks in the smoke and then puffs out a few rings. First Morgan tells him of his findings from the coachman and Maxwell's examination and then Oswald recounts the conversation he had with both the head maid and Gretta. "And that led me here to the goose pit."
A man comes up to the two and says in a light hearted way, "Admiring my beautiful geese?"
Both Morgan and Oswald turn toward this man. The man's appearance is the least regal of all the servants. He has a round, red, large face that is rudely interrupted by mousy, brown, thick, messy hair. His eyebrows are thick and seem to almost touch in the middle of his forehead. He wears a shirt, overalls, and very heavy boots that are all caked in mud, or what one hopes is mud. He has rough calloused hands and scars up and down his arms. In short, he looks like a typical farmer.
"Hello there," Oswald says as he gets out his cigarette case, "would you like one?"
The Farmer looks at the smoke from Oswald's cigarettes and then takes one. He sniffs it and he shakes his head approvingly. He let's Oswald light his cigarette and the farmer takes a few puffs, "Well, it seems there's something extra to this."
Morgan rolls his eyes and shakes his head.
"It's is that little extra I like to call love." Oswald says with a laugh.
"Well, I know that certain types of plants are affected by the type of manure and soil their grown in. So, if you want to get more kick out of your love, just ask. But I am guessing that is neither her nor there." The farmer takes another puff and lets it billow out of his mouth. "I bet you two are investigators of some sort."
"It is just a formality that we ask about the death of the late grounds..."
"Late bastard, more like it," Interrupts the farmer.
"I can sense you didn't like him very well," calmly replies Oswald. Morgan listens in as he leans on the fence.
"Well, who likes a wife beater?" The farmer says as he scowls up at the room which the Timbules resided in.
"You know I heard the oddest thing about him," Oswald says as he looks toward the geese, "that this Douglas character went off into the woods to go goose hunting."
"That is an odd thing," the farmer says as he scratches his head. "The day before we used to have two black geese and now there's one. What is really strange is that Douglas would have nothing to do with the animals until recently. From what I know, he was very drunk. And I can tell a drunken man from a man who is on other substances."
"Then you think that only alcohol was involved?" Morgan says as he looks toward the two smoking men.
The farmer shakes his head, "Everyone could hear him yelling during the night. I don't think there is a soul in the servant's quarters that didn't hear him. I know I at least stuck my head out of the window to see poor Gretta trying to stop Douglas from running into the woods with an axe. It's rather concerning, if you think about it."
The three men chuckle about it, as if there was a grim joke they all understood.
"What I find odd about this whole Douglas thing," the farmer says as he points toward the geese, "is that he only took an interest in the geese two days ago when he returned during the afternoon. The night of his return, the night before last, he asked me if the geese were all there. Me, being a man of jovial nature, joked that they were all gone and he became furious and almost insane with rage. Being a farmer myself, I could see another farmer reacting this way. Though, Douglas was a groundskeeper. I would think he would be more concerned if the hedges were missing."
"You said earlier about two black geese?" Oswald looks at the geese again and counts the number of black geese.
"Yep, yesterday we had two black geese. Easy to spot in that crowd of white and gray."
"What happened to the other one?"
"I guess he ran away because that was the one that Douglas chased into the woods." The Farmer shrugs.
"What is the deal with the other black goose?" Oswald asks as he watches the lethargic goose make its' way over to the trough where the geese's water is kept.
"Oh don't worry about that," The farmer says with little concern, "there's an object stuck in the goose's crop. It just swallowed something wrong. It is an easy fix."
"Just think for a moment," Oswald says as he tips his glasses down and looks into the farmer's eyes. "Is there any reason, even small, that Douglas would be interested in the geese?"
"If he was another farmer, I would understand his concern." The farmer says as he takes his final puff and stamps out the cigarette out with his large boot. "But he was the groundskeeper and he hated most of the animals. If we even let them roam outside the designated livestock area, Douglas would have had a fit. The geese especially since, they have a tendency to mess up lawns."
"Did you notice if he was just interested in the geese or the black geese specifically." Morgan finally asks.
"It seems that the black geese were more of his concern," the farmer says with a shrug.
"Thanks for your time," Oswald says with a charming smile. Then both he and Morgan travel a ways from the goose pit.
"So did you grab the photo of the widow and the victim?"
"No," Oswald says as he finally finishes his cigarette. "Thought I would let her keep it. In some insane way she must have loved him."
"Well I think I have developed some more questions," Morgan says with a tug on his hat. "Why don't you find some more of the main servants? I am going to question the wife."
Oswald shakes his head and travels toward the manor as Morgan goes back to the servant's quarters.
Outside the servant's quarters a woman waits for Oswald's arrival. The woman has been previously warned by the butler over the manor's telephone system. This system links the main house, the servant's quarters, and the farm so communication and news can travel seamlessly through the grounds.
Oswald approaches the servant's quarters and the woman. The woman has a worried and confused look which seeps through her professionalism. Her garbs tell Oswald that she is a maid, but higher paid since the fabrics are finer material. She has a small barouche with an ivory silhouette in it, spectacles on a gold chain, and a small pocket watch which also has a gold chain.
Oswald stops before he gets too close to her and stomps out his cigarette. He then approaches her with a small bow, "Hello, miss."
"Hello sir," she says with an apprehensive courtesy, "I am Martha Snol, the head maid of the Travult Manor. I understand you have come to ask us some questions."
"It's just a formality. I am just here to rule out any false road in the unfortunate accident of Mr. Timbule."
"I knew the groundskeeper, that Douglas." She says with a grimacing face, "I didn't much appreciate that man. I adore Gretta, the widow, she works twice as anyone here. She never deserved that savage man beating her."
"Did you know if anyone here was close to Douglas?"
"Douglas kept to himself a lot." Martha says as she looks toward the manor. "I couldn't say that he was right out hated by anyone, but then again I couldn't say that he was a well liked man either. He fell out of grace with many of the staff after we found out that he was beating his wife."
"That seems to be something which people strongly disapprove of." Oswald says as he mentally notes it in his mind.
"He also had a strange habit with leaving for days even weeks at a time. This was at to the disapproval by the lord of the house. Also, I had reported to Lord Travult that Douglas was inebriated several times while he was supposed to be working. Then there was the stealing. Mr. Bonpoint, the head butler, and I had caught Douglas stealing once. It was hardly anything too significant but as our grandmothers warn; once you get away with a little thing, it is only matter of time you do something big."
"Always a wise thing to take charge of then," Agreed Oswald.
"I clearly told the lord that this was happening. The head butler had told me that before that time Douglas had been caught stealing other things from the manor."
"What type of small things?" Oswald seems curious that a man with a well paid job would start stealing from his employer.
"Small things, like some sliver spoons, wine openers, and apparently a small ornate letter opener. But as I said about small things..."
Oswald thinks for a moment and lets the information settle in his mind. "Thank you for the information. I think it will aid us in this horrible accident. Now, can I see widow?"
"Of course, sir." She says with a small courtesy as she takes out a key ring with many keys on it. "Let me show you to her room."
She unlocks the servant's quarters and lets Oswald in. The servant quarter's building is a two story buildings but it looks it can fit at least three dozen people within its walls. The inside is nicely decorated and has electric lamps buzzing, making the place seem cheery. Nice paintings by up and coming artists adorn the walls, as the soft carpet cushions each foot fall. Oswald admits to himself that this was nicer then some higher income apartments in the downtown district.
Martha guides Oswald up a flight of stairs. Each door marked with a number and with a mail slot. Some doors have eye holes installed, some have flowered wreaths hung on them, and one even have a metal silhouette of a duck on it. Finally they get to Gretta's door. The door looks well used. Unlike the other door, it seems to be slightly dented up.
Martha knocks on the door and waits. After a moment of silence there's an answer within the room. Martha opens the door and Oswald walks into a quaintly decorated room.
Martha sits at the furthest wall by a window looking out on the grounds. The bed looks still made as if no one had slept in it. There's a dresser in the room with a black and white photo of the happy couple. Also, there's a small liquor cabinet. In a corner, a small writing desk sits; it is mostly unused except for a note which Gretta had tried to start. There's also a closet which sits open and men's clothing can plainly be seen.
Oswald gets close to Gretta and notices that she looks extremely sad. She has small scars on her face from previous beatings, but also what looks like the remains of a black eye which occurred within the past few days. Also, by the smearing of her makeup, she was crying recently.
"My condolences on your late husband," Oswald comes beside her within her view and speaks softly and gently. He takes off his small rounded sunglasses and looks her sincerely in the eyes. "I am sorry I have to do this, but I am here on a formality which I must uphold. I must investigate this accident and I must find all the information I can. Though, once my team has all the information we can put everyone at ease and find peace."
She shakes her head as she sniffles a little. She brings a delicately laced handkerchief up to her face and tries to hold back tears. "Well, with his behavior lately, it's not a wonder that he ended up dead. He had been drinking more, he had been more erratic. He used just disappear for a few days but he always had a reasonable excuse like family matters. But the last three months he had just been disappearing randomly. I tried to talk about it, but when I confronted him he got very mad."
"Do have any suspicions what kind of trouble he was getting into at all?"
She shakes her head as a tear finds its' way to roll out her eye. She takes a breath and calms herself down. "The night of his death he was fixated on the geese in the farm."
"On geese?"
"Yes! Geese! In a drunken rage he swore that one got away from him and his very last words were, ‘The Goose will tell them what I did.' And he rushed out the door. I followed him as far as the tool shed where he grabbed an axe and I tired asking him, I tried begging him to stop, but he went off to kill the goose."
"Do you know if the axe has been recovered?"
"We did not find the axe at all. But I don't know why it is important."
Oswald pauses and thinks, "It's just a routine question, it might even lead to a clue. After the tool shed, what direction did he go?"
"From what I could tell he went to the livestock pens, but I didn't follow in fear that he would kill me."
"Do you have any friends or good acquaintances on the grounds which might have known about any of this?"
"Douglas kept to himself mostly. That is how he has been since I have met him years ago. He never struck me as a social butterfly. And after he came back from any trip I always asked him what he did and he always answered family business. Apparently, he had a sick mother to take of and there had been legal issues with her estates."
Oswald thinks for a moment, "Do you know where his mother lives?"
"I am not sure. I suppose it is far away because whenever business about his mother came up he was gone for three or four days."
Oswald shakes his head and smiles but deep down inside he can feel that something is terribly off. He let's the feeling of doubt slip away and he looks around, "Miss do you mind if I just examine the room. I may not be as good as my colleagues, but we have a knack of telling certain things about people how people are by how they arrange things."
"I guess if it helps you can. But you can also have the picture of us," she says with a small smile as if she has some hope. "I can't stand to have his smiling face looking at me anymore."
Oswald looks around and sees the objects of a married couple. Around on top of the dresser, the liquor cabinet, and spaces where one couldn't write any letters on the writing desk, there are momentous of trips, holidays and other events which are important in a couple's lives. He takes the picture and looks at it and then sets it back.
He thanks Gretta for her cooperation and heads out of the servant quarters. He starts to trace what could have been the path and final steps of Douglas Timbule. He goes out and sees a small shed, he causal strolls up to it and peeks inside. He sees it is the tool shed and along the wall are several hangers with outlined silhouettes where tools belong. There are a few rakes missing, a shovel, and then a large axe.
He then goes toward the area with the livestock. There are chickens, goats, geese, boars, yaks, and sheep. A typical farm yard for any house trying to be fully self sustained. Oswald goes toward the area where the geese are and looks. It is an octagonal shape wooden fence that a person could easily climb, especially with a tool in hand. He can notice in the ground, which is muddy, that there are many foot prints of people going in and out. One specifically looks like it has jumped over the fence, despite the easily accessible door six feet away.
The geese themselves look normal, except for the single black goose which stands out from the gray and white ones. The black goose stands out more so since it is not acting as lively as the others and drinking a lot of water.
"So you're looking at geese?" Morgan says as he leans on the fence next to his cohort. "What extraordinary clue does this give us?"
"It confirms the widow's story," Oswald says as he takes out a cigarette and lights it. He sucks in the smoke and then puffs out a few rings. First Morgan tells him of his findings from the coachman and Maxwell's examination and then Oswald recounts the conversation he had with both the head maid and Gretta. "And that led me here to the goose pit."
A man comes up to the two and says in a light hearted way, "Admiring my beautiful geese?"
Both Morgan and Oswald turn toward this man. The man's appearance is the least regal of all the servants. He has a round, red, large face that is rudely interrupted by mousy, brown, thick, messy hair. His eyebrows are thick and seem to almost touch in the middle of his forehead. He wears a shirt, overalls, and very heavy boots that are all caked in mud, or what one hopes is mud. He has rough calloused hands and scars up and down his arms. In short, he looks like a typical farmer.
"Hello there," Oswald says as he gets out his cigarette case, "would you like one?"
The Farmer looks at the smoke from Oswald's cigarettes and then takes one. He sniffs it and he shakes his head approvingly. He let's Oswald light his cigarette and the farmer takes a few puffs, "Well, it seems there's something extra to this."
Morgan rolls his eyes and shakes his head.
"It's is that little extra I like to call love." Oswald says with a laugh.
"Well, I know that certain types of plants are affected by the type of manure and soil their grown in. So, if you want to get more kick out of your love, just ask. But I am guessing that is neither her nor there." The farmer takes another puff and lets it billow out of his mouth. "I bet you two are investigators of some sort."
"It is just a formality that we ask about the death of the late grounds..."
"Late bastard, more like it," Interrupts the farmer.
"I can sense you didn't like him very well," calmly replies Oswald. Morgan listens in as he leans on the fence.
"Well, who likes a wife beater?" The farmer says as he scowls up at the room which the Timbules resided in.
"You know I heard the oddest thing about him," Oswald says as he looks toward the geese, "that this Douglas character went off into the woods to go goose hunting."
"That is an odd thing," the farmer says as he scratches his head. "The day before we used to have two black geese and now there's one. What is really strange is that Douglas would have nothing to do with the animals until recently. From what I know, he was very drunk. And I can tell a drunken man from a man who is on other substances."
"Then you think that only alcohol was involved?" Morgan says as he looks toward the two smoking men.
The farmer shakes his head, "Everyone could hear him yelling during the night. I don't think there is a soul in the servant's quarters that didn't hear him. I know I at least stuck my head out of the window to see poor Gretta trying to stop Douglas from running into the woods with an axe. It's rather concerning, if you think about it."
The three men chuckle about it, as if there was a grim joke they all understood.
"What I find odd about this whole Douglas thing," the farmer says as he points toward the geese, "is that he only took an interest in the geese two days ago when he returned during the afternoon. The night of his return, the night before last, he asked me if the geese were all there. Me, being a man of jovial nature, joked that they were all gone and he became furious and almost insane with rage. Being a farmer myself, I could see another farmer reacting this way. Though, Douglas was a groundskeeper. I would think he would be more concerned if the hedges were missing."
"You said earlier about two black geese?" Oswald looks at the geese again and counts the number of black geese.
"Yep, yesterday we had two black geese. Easy to spot in that crowd of white and gray."
"What happened to the other one?"
"I guess he ran away because that was the one that Douglas chased into the woods." The Farmer shrugs.
"What is the deal with the other black goose?" Oswald asks as he watches the lethargic goose make its' way over to the trough where the geese's water is kept.
"Oh don't worry about that," The farmer says with little concern, "there's an object stuck in the goose's crop. It just swallowed something wrong. It is an easy fix."
"Just think for a moment," Oswald says as he tips his glasses down and looks into the farmer's eyes. "Is there any reason, even small, that Douglas would be interested in the geese?"
"If he was another farmer, I would understand his concern." The farmer says as he takes his final puff and stamps out the cigarette out with his large boot. "But he was the groundskeeper and he hated most of the animals. If we even let them roam outside the designated livestock area, Douglas would have had a fit. The geese especially since, they have a tendency to mess up lawns."
"Did you notice if he was just interested in the geese or the black geese specifically." Morgan finally asks.
"It seems that the black geese were more of his concern," the farmer says with a shrug.
"Thanks for your time," Oswald says with a charming smile. Then both he and Morgan travel a ways from the goose pit.
"So did you grab the photo of the widow and the victim?"
"No," Oswald says as he finally finishes his cigarette. "Thought I would let her keep it. In some insane way she must have loved him."
"Well I think I have developed some more questions," Morgan says with a tug on his hat. "Why don't you find some more of the main servants? I am going to question the wife."
Oswald shakes his head and travels toward the manor as Morgan goes back to the servant's quarters.
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