The trio make themselves comfortable in their auto. Morgan sits behind the driver's wheel, Oswald in the passenger seat with one hand sticking out of the window between drags, and Maxwell sitting in the back keeping himself occupied with his own affairs. Though in one vehicle, it seems like each man keeps to themselves as they prepare mentally to go to the scene of the crime. On the other hand, when doubts of directions toward the manor arise, they all seem to place themselves on the same plane of existence. A small debated will break out between the men, usually Morgan and Oswald debating which is the fastest route and Maxwell contradicting his two companions and telling them to turn in the opposite direction. Maxwell is not doing this for his own amusement or out of fear, but because he has no idea where to go.
Once leaving the town, the trees start to become dense and the edges of the road seem to melt into cliffs and gullies. The road becomes treacherous and windy as the branches of the forest close in to blot out the sun. Unfortunately, this is the only road that goes toward the manor. The road also has no other destinations available other than a rock quarry far out of town and a small recreational area on the other side of Fretten Grove.
Originally this was for security measures for Fretten Heights. The original head doctor, who also designed the road and the hospital, believed that his patients would most likely not be able to cope with winding roads which had periodic drops on either side. Though, this lead to more successful escapes as patients found spots to hide underneath bridges or to find their way down from one stretch of road to another below it. After this discovery a series of gates and walls were constructed. Their ghostly remains of large stone archways over the road still exist to this very day, giving the road the name Archway Road.
"I wonder which cliff the servant fell from?" Maxwell says as they pass another cliff edge on the side of the road.
"From what I hear there's even more cliffs, gorges, and holes around the manor." Morgan says as he cautiously makes his way up the road.
They finally turn onto another road where the remains of an immense archway stand. The hinges of a large iron gate still lay embedded in the stone. Some of the stone work still can be seen on the archway despite being badly weathered. It seems the old hospital did not spare any expense when making the archway or the iron gate, which lies on the side of the roadway as it gets entangle in weeds and rusts away.
The road winds up a hill and toward the manor, graveyard, farm, and servant quarters. The Manor is renovated from the house which the rich elderly patients with families were kept when the grounds still belonged to the mental hospital. This was also the only building which wasn't badly destroyed during the Mad Man revolt.
The manor is three stories high and has ornate stone work where brick does not lay. The front door is done in a large archway which at the top of the archway the goddess, Galau, lounges as ducks and other symbols of the goddess frolic and grow on the imposts. Toward the bottom of the imposts, little demons look like they are trying to capture what they can of the goddess's symbols. The door itself is large and made out of hard wood which is reinforced by large iron bands.
The Manor has windows, newer large windows toward the bottom which someone could open and close easily. Though, the further up one looks, there are older windows which are securely shut with bard in front of them. But scaffolding blocks most of the view of the second and third level as it looks like a construction crew is replacing the older windows with newer windows.
There is a new structure next to the Manor which is an auto shed. This one, unlike most around Point Demore, has large windowed doors which open like barn doors. A passerby can see the autos that the Lord of the manor has and all the equipment he has to keep them in full working condition.
The driveway which loops in front of the house and the auto-shed also splits off in two different directions. One past the garage going toward the North and one which seems to goes through a small wooded area to the south. Through the trees, the northern path leads toward a smaller structure.
Morgan parks his auto near the auto shed. He is mindful that his auto does not hinder any transportation on or off the manor's grounds. The investigative team gets out of the auto and looks around.
"Which door are we going to use?" Maxwell says as he fidgets with the handle of his bag.
"What do you mean?" Morgan turns toward Maxwell's direction with a quizzical glance.
"Well, do we use the main entrance or the servant entrance?" He looks at the large imposing manor, "I would hate to seem rude."
"Listen," Morgan says as he comes toward Maxwell and pats him on the shoulder with reassurance, "the Lord of the manor invited us here. So, we knock on the front door."
They all go up to the door; Morgan leads the group with Maxwell by his side. Oswald dawdles behind as he looks around at the scenery and leaves a trail of odd colored smoke behind.
As they get to the door step, Morgan takes one of the large iron knockers and lightly taps the door. The large wooden door drums, despite the light gentle tap, and the Butler answers the door.
The butler is a taller but older gentleman wearing the black and white suit of the trade. His hair is well trimmed, pushed back, and slicked with scented oil. He holds himself strong, stiff, and erect. His hands tell a different story, they are hands of a man who has labored for the majority of his life.
With a look of disdain he says, "Oh, you must be the detective agency here to calm our nerves."
"Could you direct me to the body good sir," Maxwell smiles and gives a small clumsy bow. He is totally oblivious to the scowling butler before him.
The butler rolls his eyes, "I will have the coachman take you where the deceased is located. Mr. Bilus will be with you soon if you can find your way to the auto shed."
"I will accompany you Maxwell," Morgan says as he exchanges a glare with the butler. "Is there a possible way for my man, Oswald, to talk with the staff?"
"I will arrange them to meet your cohort at the servant's quarters." He points out toward the auto shed, "It is that way down the path past the auto shed. It is not hard to miss, probably more obvious to detectives."
He goes back inside and closes the door. Morgan and Maxwell go with Oswald to the auto shed. Oswald keeps going toward the path toward the servant quarters.
"He sure has some high mighty standards for a butler with such calloused hands," Maxwell mumbles to himself as he looks at the manor. "Some butler he is."
"Calluses on his hands?" Morgan says with some interest.
"You didn't see them?"
"I am not the medical doctor."
Just then the coach man, Mr. Bilus, comes out of one of the large side-swinging doors of the auto shed. He is a well built young man. His hands tell that he is a working man and his muscles also tell the same story. His attire at the moment is oil stained coveralls with magnifying goggles dangling from his neck. He takes off his work gloves and sticks them in his back pocket.
Mr. Bilus holds out his hand and shakes Morgan's hand with confidence, "I am Trevor Bilus. I heard you needed to be guided to the graveyard."
Morgan shakes his head and motions with his hand for Trevor to start going. They start to go past the manor again and head south. They enter the small patch of woods and start going up a small hill.
"Why does this manor have a graveyard?" Morgan tries to fill the silence as they go.
"I don't really know, it was here when I got here." Trevor laughs at his own joke.
"It is here because it's where they burry the patients." Maxwell says grimly.
"Who?" Both Trevor and Morgan ask.
"The doctors who were at Fretten Heights. They say at least 100 bodies are in the marked graves and that some of the mausoleums lead to mass graves of the thousands they killed." Maxwell shivers at this thought and seems to change to a new shade of white.
"Let me guess," Morgan says with a small smirk curling on his face, "and all the dead can be seen at night. We're here to collect facts first, Maxwell, then we can tell stories."
It wasn't much longer when Morgan, Maxwell, and Trevor reach the graveyard. Trevor opens up a heavy door of one of the mausoleums and waves them in.
"Come on," he says with a sigh. "I am going to stay out here. I can't stand the sight of Douglas like that anymore."
Maxwell comes into the mausoleum and first sniffs. It smells like a freshly dead and ripped up corpse. Morgan follows and their eyes adjust to see the body of Mr. Douglas Timblue. The body is missing all of its limbs and lower half of the body, the ribs and innards are picked over, and the head still has some flesh on it. Despite the eyes being gauged out an expression on his face still reads one of terror and surprised, as if he wasn't expecting to be torn up. Then again, what sane person ever suspects that kind of event to happen?
The clothing of the man is in tatters, blood splattered, and barely recognizable as clothing.
Maxwell gets over the corpse and starts to sniff the corpse more. He cannot tell if there were any other factors like poison at play, but he can still smell some alcohol on the man which means the man had to be dreadfully drunk.
"I need some light before I can do a full examination!" Maxwell says as he looks for oil lamps or something to illuminate the room.
Morgan joins in the search but sees nothing but the pool of light which is coming from a small ornate window.
"Oh coachman," Maxwell says as politely as he can as he pops his head out of the mausoleum, "can you help us for a moment? We need the body put into the light."
He reluctantly looks over and groans, "Okay. This is the second time I had to handle that damn body."
"You discovered the body?!" Maxwell says with some criticism, "Is that why it is in such a pitiful state?"
He restrains from saying anything back, "Well, Doug was in that condition when we found him in the woods behind the servant's quarters."
"I would have preferred to examine it where it was found." Maxwell says with a humph.
He growls, "If you wanted to fight off the crows and the lions for Doug, we could have just left him there."
Morgan stands and listens to his cohort and Trevor. He just shakes his head and smirks.
Trevor comes in and does not look at the corpse at all. He puts on his gloves, closes his eyes, and then picks up the corpse like a sack of potatoes. He holds his breath and says, "Where would you like him?"
"Wait!" Maxwell says as he motions frantically for Trevor to put down the corpse. "NO NO NO! Put it down, and we will carry the body in the cloth it is laying on."
Trevor sets it down back on the cloth. He picks up his half and Maxwell manages his side and they move the corpse into the light source. They softly set the body down on the floor.
"I will take my leave," he says as he tries to wipe off any piece of corpse on him, "I will be right out side if you need anything else."
Maxwell is already too involved with the body to pay attention to Trevor, but Morgan looks at him and with a nod says, "Thank you for your help."
Maxwell puts on his magnifying goggles and first examines the arms of the victim. He looks closely at the ends and sees the bones and tissue were cut by a blade which was weighted. There's bruising on the skin, which looks like someone was hitting the victim with a large object like a sack. The torso and the ribs on the other hand where torn apart by creatures and the skull is fractured. The most interested thing about the body is that on what remains of the chest there is a gunshot wound.
Maxwell narrates all the findings on the body as Morgan jots it down in a notebook. Maxwell stops after he finds the gunshot wound, "So this wasn't just stumbling off a cliff and being eaten by lions, clearly."
Maxwell examines the wounds a little closer. It seems from the blood stains that the victim has not been fully dead as the murderer chopped of the limbs from the body. Also, by the cut marks on the wounds, it seems the murderer started with the left arm as there are two marks. The first mark shows hesitation, but it seems that was the extent of the hesitation as the right arm is cleanly lobbed off. The extreme blood lost must have been the cause of death. The gun shot seems to be done at a fairly close range before death, but how it struck him he might have survived if he had medical help. As for the skull fracture, that seems to have been done after the victim was dead.
"Do you think that the murderer tried to cover up the murder," Morgan hypothesizes as he scribbles notes in his book, "by making it look like the victim fell from a cliff."
"If they did," Maxwell snorts in amusement, "they were amateurs, not ghosts. Ghosts would have been more professional than this. On a serious note, I determine the death to be about the early evening of yesterday to late last night."
Maxwell starts to examine the remains of clothes on the victim's body. There are remains of black feathers, and also there are some feathers in some lacerations near the bruising.
"We need to find the arms and legs!" Maxwell says as he stands up.
"Let's see if we can arrange that." Morgan says with a smile at his companion's enthusiasm.
They walk out of the mausoleum with Trevor and head down the road back to the house. Morgan looks toward the manor and the house with some apprehension and then down at his fidgety companion.
"I think I will go with you." Morgan says with a tip of his hat so keep the mid-morning rays from blinding him.
"Why would want to do that?" Maxwell says as he trots down the road in an excited shuffle.
"Well, I have to protect you from lions and ghosts," Morgan laughs and pats Maxwell on the shoulder. "Besides I am the only one who has a gun."
"I already told you, we're not dealing with any ghosts." Maxwell says as he clearly does not get the joke. "I am sure that I can protect myself from any lion encounters."
They keep walking and they get to the front of the manor. Maxwell suddenly realizes a key detail they missed, "Coachman, guide me to where you found the body."
Trevor shrugs, "Okay, but we'll have to go past the servant quarters and the livestock. We have a little bit to walk."
"I guess I won't worry about you, Maxwell now that you have a guide. Since we have the time and we have some to walk let me ask you some questions, Mr. Bilus," Morgan says and he looks toward the young Trevor. "How long did Douglas work here?"
"He's worked here ever since the Travults moved to this area. That was four or five years ago. I can't remember because I have been in their employment ever since they were in Gallvarg."
"Gallvarg?" Morgan says with some interest.
"Yeah, we're from Gallvarg. He comes from a long line of mine owners. The lord decided to move from there ever since his son, Bruce, started to get into some trouble. So we moved up here, far away to avoid his son's trouble but close enough to do business. He finds it rather nice not to be exactly in the area where he does business. You know, him being head of some insurance companies."
Insurance is a new concept in the Hepian Empire with few people taking advantage of business. Their main function is a company, like a mining company in Lord Travult's case, will come to an insurance company to be evaluated on their performance, income, regional disasters, and workforce. The company pays a fixed amount for insurance and when a disaster occurs the company receives money from the insurers to replace what was destroyed. A diabolical twist is that companies have been putting prices on individual workers and getting money from the insurers until a worker replaces them. In turn, a family could put insurance on the worker and also be compensated for a limited of time, but this is usually more than most low level laborers can afford. Most see the act of putting a price on a human life as immoral and inhuman.
"Do you all have insurance policies?" Morgan says as his curiosity gets the better of him.
"Oh yeah," Trevor shrugs as if it isn't a big deal. "Everyone who works for the lord has a policy. Both to compensate our families and to help the lord out, as his time is his money. And seeing this manor is totally self sustained, one late breakfast could mean the Lord misses five business opportunities."
"What was Douglas's typical behavior?"
"I would hate to talk poorly of the dead," Trevor looks around and then says in a lower voice, "Douglas was a very mean spirited man. I am not too sad to see him go, especially what he has been doing to his wife all these years. Though, what goes behind private doors is not my business. It was not a secret, mind you, through the walls you could hear them fighting, even if you were on the other side of the house! It was a nightly occurrence, well, if he was there."
"Was he alone for most of his time he was here?"
"It seems on his time off, when he wasn't driving into town to attend on his sick relatives, he was in the graveyard a lot. He once said to me that he has found this the most calming place on the whole residence."
"Eh," Maxwell says in disbelief, "the graveyard?"
"Makes sense," Morgan smirks and softly laughs to himself. "No one is there to bug you because the closest person is dead."
"Though, I swear he wasn't alone." Trevor says, "There has been a few times where I have been sent to get him to get back to work or if the Lord has had a message for him, that I have seen a person with him. Though only glimpses out of the corner of my eye."
All three suddenly think of malicious spirits. The path soon leads to the servant quarters.
"I will stop here," Morgan says as he pats Maxwell on the shoulder. "I am positive you'll be safe with Mr. Bilus escorting through these woods."
"Come on, Coachman, we have limbs to find." Maxwell says with a flip of his wrist as he motions toward the woods.
Once leaving the town, the trees start to become dense and the edges of the road seem to melt into cliffs and gullies. The road becomes treacherous and windy as the branches of the forest close in to blot out the sun. Unfortunately, this is the only road that goes toward the manor. The road also has no other destinations available other than a rock quarry far out of town and a small recreational area on the other side of Fretten Grove.
Originally this was for security measures for Fretten Heights. The original head doctor, who also designed the road and the hospital, believed that his patients would most likely not be able to cope with winding roads which had periodic drops on either side. Though, this lead to more successful escapes as patients found spots to hide underneath bridges or to find their way down from one stretch of road to another below it. After this discovery a series of gates and walls were constructed. Their ghostly remains of large stone archways over the road still exist to this very day, giving the road the name Archway Road.
"I wonder which cliff the servant fell from?" Maxwell says as they pass another cliff edge on the side of the road.
"From what I hear there's even more cliffs, gorges, and holes around the manor." Morgan says as he cautiously makes his way up the road.
They finally turn onto another road where the remains of an immense archway stand. The hinges of a large iron gate still lay embedded in the stone. Some of the stone work still can be seen on the archway despite being badly weathered. It seems the old hospital did not spare any expense when making the archway or the iron gate, which lies on the side of the roadway as it gets entangle in weeds and rusts away.
The road winds up a hill and toward the manor, graveyard, farm, and servant quarters. The Manor is renovated from the house which the rich elderly patients with families were kept when the grounds still belonged to the mental hospital. This was also the only building which wasn't badly destroyed during the Mad Man revolt.
The manor is three stories high and has ornate stone work where brick does not lay. The front door is done in a large archway which at the top of the archway the goddess, Galau, lounges as ducks and other symbols of the goddess frolic and grow on the imposts. Toward the bottom of the imposts, little demons look like they are trying to capture what they can of the goddess's symbols. The door itself is large and made out of hard wood which is reinforced by large iron bands.
The Manor has windows, newer large windows toward the bottom which someone could open and close easily. Though, the further up one looks, there are older windows which are securely shut with bard in front of them. But scaffolding blocks most of the view of the second and third level as it looks like a construction crew is replacing the older windows with newer windows.
There is a new structure next to the Manor which is an auto shed. This one, unlike most around Point Demore, has large windowed doors which open like barn doors. A passerby can see the autos that the Lord of the manor has and all the equipment he has to keep them in full working condition.
The driveway which loops in front of the house and the auto-shed also splits off in two different directions. One past the garage going toward the North and one which seems to goes through a small wooded area to the south. Through the trees, the northern path leads toward a smaller structure.
Morgan parks his auto near the auto shed. He is mindful that his auto does not hinder any transportation on or off the manor's grounds. The investigative team gets out of the auto and looks around.
"Which door are we going to use?" Maxwell says as he fidgets with the handle of his bag.
"What do you mean?" Morgan turns toward Maxwell's direction with a quizzical glance.
"Well, do we use the main entrance or the servant entrance?" He looks at the large imposing manor, "I would hate to seem rude."
"Listen," Morgan says as he comes toward Maxwell and pats him on the shoulder with reassurance, "the Lord of the manor invited us here. So, we knock on the front door."
They all go up to the door; Morgan leads the group with Maxwell by his side. Oswald dawdles behind as he looks around at the scenery and leaves a trail of odd colored smoke behind.
As they get to the door step, Morgan takes one of the large iron knockers and lightly taps the door. The large wooden door drums, despite the light gentle tap, and the Butler answers the door.
The butler is a taller but older gentleman wearing the black and white suit of the trade. His hair is well trimmed, pushed back, and slicked with scented oil. He holds himself strong, stiff, and erect. His hands tell a different story, they are hands of a man who has labored for the majority of his life.
With a look of disdain he says, "Oh, you must be the detective agency here to calm our nerves."
"Could you direct me to the body good sir," Maxwell smiles and gives a small clumsy bow. He is totally oblivious to the scowling butler before him.
The butler rolls his eyes, "I will have the coachman take you where the deceased is located. Mr. Bilus will be with you soon if you can find your way to the auto shed."
"I will accompany you Maxwell," Morgan says as he exchanges a glare with the butler. "Is there a possible way for my man, Oswald, to talk with the staff?"
"I will arrange them to meet your cohort at the servant's quarters." He points out toward the auto shed, "It is that way down the path past the auto shed. It is not hard to miss, probably more obvious to detectives."
He goes back inside and closes the door. Morgan and Maxwell go with Oswald to the auto shed. Oswald keeps going toward the path toward the servant quarters.
"He sure has some high mighty standards for a butler with such calloused hands," Maxwell mumbles to himself as he looks at the manor. "Some butler he is."
"Calluses on his hands?" Morgan says with some interest.
"You didn't see them?"
"I am not the medical doctor."
Just then the coach man, Mr. Bilus, comes out of one of the large side-swinging doors of the auto shed. He is a well built young man. His hands tell that he is a working man and his muscles also tell the same story. His attire at the moment is oil stained coveralls with magnifying goggles dangling from his neck. He takes off his work gloves and sticks them in his back pocket.
Mr. Bilus holds out his hand and shakes Morgan's hand with confidence, "I am Trevor Bilus. I heard you needed to be guided to the graveyard."
Morgan shakes his head and motions with his hand for Trevor to start going. They start to go past the manor again and head south. They enter the small patch of woods and start going up a small hill.
"Why does this manor have a graveyard?" Morgan tries to fill the silence as they go.
"I don't really know, it was here when I got here." Trevor laughs at his own joke.
"It is here because it's where they burry the patients." Maxwell says grimly.
"Who?" Both Trevor and Morgan ask.
"The doctors who were at Fretten Heights. They say at least 100 bodies are in the marked graves and that some of the mausoleums lead to mass graves of the thousands they killed." Maxwell shivers at this thought and seems to change to a new shade of white.
"Let me guess," Morgan says with a small smirk curling on his face, "and all the dead can be seen at night. We're here to collect facts first, Maxwell, then we can tell stories."
It wasn't much longer when Morgan, Maxwell, and Trevor reach the graveyard. Trevor opens up a heavy door of one of the mausoleums and waves them in.
"Come on," he says with a sigh. "I am going to stay out here. I can't stand the sight of Douglas like that anymore."
Maxwell comes into the mausoleum and first sniffs. It smells like a freshly dead and ripped up corpse. Morgan follows and their eyes adjust to see the body of Mr. Douglas Timblue. The body is missing all of its limbs and lower half of the body, the ribs and innards are picked over, and the head still has some flesh on it. Despite the eyes being gauged out an expression on his face still reads one of terror and surprised, as if he wasn't expecting to be torn up. Then again, what sane person ever suspects that kind of event to happen?
The clothing of the man is in tatters, blood splattered, and barely recognizable as clothing.
Maxwell gets over the corpse and starts to sniff the corpse more. He cannot tell if there were any other factors like poison at play, but he can still smell some alcohol on the man which means the man had to be dreadfully drunk.
"I need some light before I can do a full examination!" Maxwell says as he looks for oil lamps or something to illuminate the room.
Morgan joins in the search but sees nothing but the pool of light which is coming from a small ornate window.
"Oh coachman," Maxwell says as politely as he can as he pops his head out of the mausoleum, "can you help us for a moment? We need the body put into the light."
He reluctantly looks over and groans, "Okay. This is the second time I had to handle that damn body."
"You discovered the body?!" Maxwell says with some criticism, "Is that why it is in such a pitiful state?"
He restrains from saying anything back, "Well, Doug was in that condition when we found him in the woods behind the servant's quarters."
"I would have preferred to examine it where it was found." Maxwell says with a humph.
He growls, "If you wanted to fight off the crows and the lions for Doug, we could have just left him there."
Morgan stands and listens to his cohort and Trevor. He just shakes his head and smirks.
Trevor comes in and does not look at the corpse at all. He puts on his gloves, closes his eyes, and then picks up the corpse like a sack of potatoes. He holds his breath and says, "Where would you like him?"
"Wait!" Maxwell says as he motions frantically for Trevor to put down the corpse. "NO NO NO! Put it down, and we will carry the body in the cloth it is laying on."
Trevor sets it down back on the cloth. He picks up his half and Maxwell manages his side and they move the corpse into the light source. They softly set the body down on the floor.
"I will take my leave," he says as he tries to wipe off any piece of corpse on him, "I will be right out side if you need anything else."
Maxwell is already too involved with the body to pay attention to Trevor, but Morgan looks at him and with a nod says, "Thank you for your help."
Maxwell puts on his magnifying goggles and first examines the arms of the victim. He looks closely at the ends and sees the bones and tissue were cut by a blade which was weighted. There's bruising on the skin, which looks like someone was hitting the victim with a large object like a sack. The torso and the ribs on the other hand where torn apart by creatures and the skull is fractured. The most interested thing about the body is that on what remains of the chest there is a gunshot wound.
Maxwell narrates all the findings on the body as Morgan jots it down in a notebook. Maxwell stops after he finds the gunshot wound, "So this wasn't just stumbling off a cliff and being eaten by lions, clearly."
Maxwell examines the wounds a little closer. It seems from the blood stains that the victim has not been fully dead as the murderer chopped of the limbs from the body. Also, by the cut marks on the wounds, it seems the murderer started with the left arm as there are two marks. The first mark shows hesitation, but it seems that was the extent of the hesitation as the right arm is cleanly lobbed off. The extreme blood lost must have been the cause of death. The gun shot seems to be done at a fairly close range before death, but how it struck him he might have survived if he had medical help. As for the skull fracture, that seems to have been done after the victim was dead.
"Do you think that the murderer tried to cover up the murder," Morgan hypothesizes as he scribbles notes in his book, "by making it look like the victim fell from a cliff."
"If they did," Maxwell snorts in amusement, "they were amateurs, not ghosts. Ghosts would have been more professional than this. On a serious note, I determine the death to be about the early evening of yesterday to late last night."
Maxwell starts to examine the remains of clothes on the victim's body. There are remains of black feathers, and also there are some feathers in some lacerations near the bruising.
"We need to find the arms and legs!" Maxwell says as he stands up.
"Let's see if we can arrange that." Morgan says with a smile at his companion's enthusiasm.
They walk out of the mausoleum with Trevor and head down the road back to the house. Morgan looks toward the manor and the house with some apprehension and then down at his fidgety companion.
"I think I will go with you." Morgan says with a tip of his hat so keep the mid-morning rays from blinding him.
"Why would want to do that?" Maxwell says as he trots down the road in an excited shuffle.
"Well, I have to protect you from lions and ghosts," Morgan laughs and pats Maxwell on the shoulder. "Besides I am the only one who has a gun."
"I already told you, we're not dealing with any ghosts." Maxwell says as he clearly does not get the joke. "I am sure that I can protect myself from any lion encounters."
They keep walking and they get to the front of the manor. Maxwell suddenly realizes a key detail they missed, "Coachman, guide me to where you found the body."
Trevor shrugs, "Okay, but we'll have to go past the servant quarters and the livestock. We have a little bit to walk."
"I guess I won't worry about you, Maxwell now that you have a guide. Since we have the time and we have some to walk let me ask you some questions, Mr. Bilus," Morgan says and he looks toward the young Trevor. "How long did Douglas work here?"
"He's worked here ever since the Travults moved to this area. That was four or five years ago. I can't remember because I have been in their employment ever since they were in Gallvarg."
"Gallvarg?" Morgan says with some interest.
"Yeah, we're from Gallvarg. He comes from a long line of mine owners. The lord decided to move from there ever since his son, Bruce, started to get into some trouble. So we moved up here, far away to avoid his son's trouble but close enough to do business. He finds it rather nice not to be exactly in the area where he does business. You know, him being head of some insurance companies."
Insurance is a new concept in the Hepian Empire with few people taking advantage of business. Their main function is a company, like a mining company in Lord Travult's case, will come to an insurance company to be evaluated on their performance, income, regional disasters, and workforce. The company pays a fixed amount for insurance and when a disaster occurs the company receives money from the insurers to replace what was destroyed. A diabolical twist is that companies have been putting prices on individual workers and getting money from the insurers until a worker replaces them. In turn, a family could put insurance on the worker and also be compensated for a limited of time, but this is usually more than most low level laborers can afford. Most see the act of putting a price on a human life as immoral and inhuman.
"Do you all have insurance policies?" Morgan says as his curiosity gets the better of him.
"Oh yeah," Trevor shrugs as if it isn't a big deal. "Everyone who works for the lord has a policy. Both to compensate our families and to help the lord out, as his time is his money. And seeing this manor is totally self sustained, one late breakfast could mean the Lord misses five business opportunities."
"What was Douglas's typical behavior?"
"I would hate to talk poorly of the dead," Trevor looks around and then says in a lower voice, "Douglas was a very mean spirited man. I am not too sad to see him go, especially what he has been doing to his wife all these years. Though, what goes behind private doors is not my business. It was not a secret, mind you, through the walls you could hear them fighting, even if you were on the other side of the house! It was a nightly occurrence, well, if he was there."
"Was he alone for most of his time he was here?"
"It seems on his time off, when he wasn't driving into town to attend on his sick relatives, he was in the graveyard a lot. He once said to me that he has found this the most calming place on the whole residence."
"Eh," Maxwell says in disbelief, "the graveyard?"
"Makes sense," Morgan smirks and softly laughs to himself. "No one is there to bug you because the closest person is dead."
"Though, I swear he wasn't alone." Trevor says, "There has been a few times where I have been sent to get him to get back to work or if the Lord has had a message for him, that I have seen a person with him. Though only glimpses out of the corner of my eye."
All three suddenly think of malicious spirits. The path soon leads to the servant quarters.
"I will stop here," Morgan says as he pats Maxwell on the shoulder. "I am positive you'll be safe with Mr. Bilus escorting through these woods."
"Come on, Coachman, we have limbs to find." Maxwell says with a flip of his wrist as he motions toward the woods.
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