The Lancaster

Chapter Two

“Thanks for your help jerry” Henry shook hands with jerry as he closed the door behind him. He turned and smiled brightly

“I know that look” Jane laughed as she walked to Henry, he hugged her closely, “I’m just so happy honey, we finally bought our own house” he smiled, “yeah, and I’ve talked to Winnie and I know she’ll come along” Jane smiled and Henry kissed her lips.

“we have a major problem” Winnie said as she walked down the stairs, “what’s the problem sweetheart” Henry released Jane from the hug “my room looks like a thousand princesses threw up” Winnie put her hands in her pocket as she said in disgust, “ honey, if you don’t like the color, we can just change it” Jane shrugged “cream, or blue” she continued, “black or peach” Winnie smiled, “we’re going with the peach color” Henry and Jane said together

“Peach it is” Winnie smiled and went back upstairs, “ you guys should just settle in for today, we’ll start unpacking tomorrow” Jane yelled, “where’s Blake?” Henry looked around, “he’s checking out the pool” Jane answered, “in the mean time” She kissed his lips and he carried her, Jane let out a loud laugh and they went into their room.

Winnie was in her room, standing by the window, no kids playing, no dogs running around, she closed her curtain and went out of the house to take a stroll.

“Hey!” Blake tapped her shoulder and she flinched, “how’d you know I was out?” she pinched the bridge of her house, “well for a mansion it’s a pretty big window” He said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, “so do you know where you are walking to?” he continued, “just taking a stroll, you know it’s pretty dead for a neighborhood” she said as they were already a bit far from the house, “yeah, just a few houses and…” she interrupted him “an abandoned duplex” she walked to the front porch of the house and peeped through the window, “it seems pretty dusty, means it been here a long time” she dusted the upper part of the stairs and sat down. “hmn Everything here is kind of creepy though” Blake looked around, “creepy?, thought you were really soaking up the smell of the new house” she brought out a cigarette, “ just wanted mom to feel better , but the pool excitement was real” he shook his head, she rolled her eyes and lit her cigarette.

“Thought you quit smoking” Blake sat beside her, “thought you quit boys” she fired back and he glared at her, she laughed as she puffed out a ring of smoke, “yes I did!” he rolled his eyes and collected the cigarette from her, “you know when I saw this house, my heart skipped a beat” she swallowed, “ I get you, the idea of us being possibly murdered in our own house, yeah not scary at all” he said sarcastically and smoke came out of his mouth

“what scares me is, the killer was never found” she picked up a small stone and threw it at the tree opposite them, “ a whole family murdered in one night, without traces of their killer or fingerprint, makes me wonder if the killer was actually among the family that’s why there were no traces ” he ruffled his hair and puffed out smoke

“I was thinking they had enemies, you know since they were stinking rich” she threw another stone

“Why kill a rich man who hardly made people know he was rich” he shrugged, “you know they were murdered the night after his wife hosted a buffet for the neighborhood” she collected the cigarette from him, “so the killer hates free food?” he scoffed

“I don’t know, I just don’t think their death is ordinary, because all the theories doesn’t even add up, nothing makes sense” she puffed out smoke and sighed in frustration

“Who cares anyways” Blake said and got up, “there’s no even a restaurant nearby, I’m starving” he dusted his shorts.

“Let’s walk out a little, we are almost at the main road, I’ll just text mom and tell her we’ve gone out for lunch” she finished the cigarette, dropped It on the floor and stepped on it as she got up.

“Sounds cool” he said and Winnie brought out her phone, “out to get lunch, we’ll be back soon” she said as she texted and sent the message

“ ribs or burgers?”  Blake asked as they started walking, “burgers’ n fries” she said and they walked to the main street.

“I told the man to move his toy car off the road” Henry said jokingly and Jane laughed heartily, a message popped up on her phone screen and she picked it up to check.

“The kids are out” Jane said, still staring at their screen, “out?, they’ve gotten a hang of this place so fast?” he chuckled, “they just went to get lunch, and speaking of lunch we haven’t had a proper meal today and I haven’t seen Gary in 2 hours” Jane got up from the bed, “ he’s a dog, let him roam around the house then he can have a proper bath later, and I’m starving” Henry crossed his legs on the bed and reached out for his phone on the drawer, “well I can’t cook, we’re not fully settled yet, maybe we should go out to get lunch too” Jane leaned on the table, “way ahead of you, the nearest restaurant is just 15 mins walk from here, burgers ‘n fries, looks good, what do you think?” Henry asked Jane, “ it’s perfect, maybe the kids are there too, we’ll just take a stroll down there” she smiled and grabbed her phone from the bed, “alright, let’s go” Henry got up from bed and grabbed his jacket, “I need to arrange Gary’s food, give me 2 minutes” she said and quickly hurried out to the living room.

  She opened a carton labeled “Gary”, brought out a small bowl and poured some dog food in it and went to the pool side, “Gary!, come here boy, come eat” she shook the bowl and the white fluffy dog came running out from under the chair towards her, “good boy” she pet him and placed his food in front of him and went back in.

 “Okay I’m ready” she yelled and Henry came out of the room, they went out of the house and locked the doors.

“I thought the neighborhood would be more lively than this” Jane looked around, “maybe no one is really around yet” Henry shrugged, a lady came out of a blue and white house with her dog, “hey” Jane waved and the lady smiled and waved back

“At least we know the neighborhood hood isn’t entirely dead” Henry whispered to her and she laughed and they held hands.