The Ghost Of Margaret Houg. Elton Varfi

      “ I see you’re known here.” Ernest told his friend as soon as they entered.

      “ Yeah, lately I’ve been coming here quite often.” Roni answered.

      They got in and Ernest was more and more impressed from the beauty of that house. His attention had been caught by a huge painting hung on one of the walls representing a beautiful woman with long black hair; she was wearing a white dress holding a red rose in her hands; but her gaze was attracting him the most, it was so intense and penetrating that Ernest couldn’t stop looking at it.

      “ It is the portrait of my dead wife.” A voice said behind his back.

      Ernest turned and saw a tall man, with white hair and beard, dressed in a very elegant way.

      “ Let me introduce myself, James Houg. You must be Mr. Devon, if I’m not wrong.”

      “ Please, call me Ernest, sir” the investigator said.

      “ Very good. Well, Ernest, it’s a big pleasure meeting you.” Houg said and he shook his hand. Ernest was embarrassed and stuttered something like “My pleasure”. Houg turned to Roni and said: “This is my dear and good friend Roni. You’re looking good.”

      “ Yes, luckily I’m quite good, thanks. As you can see I kept my promise and I brought you Ernest. I’m sure he will be a big help for you.”

      “ I hope so as well, to be honest.” Houg said and continued “Can I offer you something to drink?”

      “ Not for me, thank you.” Ernest answered while still standing focused on appreciating that extraordinary house.

      Houg grabbed a bottle and filled up two glasses, one for Roni and the other one for himself. Then he finally noticed that Ernest was still standing and invited him to have a seat.

      “ Please, take a seat. I need to talk to you.”

      That's what I'm here for.” Ernest said, very curious to know what it was about.

      “ Well… it’s a pretty funny situation, to be honest, but it could be pretty dangerous for my son” Houg started and continued after taking a sip from the glass he was holding, “Less than a month ago, to be exact on the night of 13 October, my son got rushed into emergency to the hospital, in a state of total shock. He didn't say a word for weeks. Until a few days ago. The first person he had talked to right after what happened was me and when I knew the reason why my son was in such a state, I was stunned. Anyway...It seems that he's seen a ghost.”

      “ A ghost?!” Ernest exclaimed being not able to believe his ears.

      “ I see that our friend Roni didn’t tell you anything about that.” Houg said turning to Ernest who was still surprised for what he had heard.

      “ No, to be honest he didn’t tell me anything at all.” Ernest replied, confirming Houg’s hypothesis.

      “ I didn’t say anything ‘cause I didn't want to spread any rumors, considering the bad events of last year.” Roni said looking into Houg’s eyes.

      “ Sure, but I see no reason why Ernest shouldn’t know about it, considering that he is your dearest friend and also the man who can help us.” Houg piled on in a disapproving tone.

      “ To be honest, I don’t see how I could help you.” Ernest intervened, who didn’t really understand why he was involved in that situation.

      Houg stayed silent for a while; then, turning to Ernest said: “You could help me because I’m a very rational person and I don’t believe in ghosts; so, either imagination played a trick on my son and therefore he believed he had seen his mother’s ghost, or there is something else; anyway, I think that in all of this there is a logical explanation and I would like you to find out what it is.”

      “ Well, your son saw his mother’s ghost’ Ernest asked, surprised of that sentence said almost in a rush.

      “ Yes, that’s right, I apologize for not saying it earlier, but I almost forgot it.” Houg replied.

      “ But, you can’t forget that easily that is your wife’s ghost.” the investigator made notice with a provocative tone, and instinctively his eyes landed on the painting representing Houg’s wife.

      There was a moment of silence and the banker lowered his eyes but Ernest, who looked very sure of himself, deep down he was feeling uncomfortable with being in front of that man so massive who even when he was talking about ghosts it seemed like he was talking about the most natural thing of the world.

      “ You’re right, but this story embarrasses me and I can’t wait for you to accept my offer and resolve the mystery.” Houg said as to justify his embarrassment and his strange ways.

      “ First of all I haven’t received any offer yet and in second place I don’t think I’ll resolve everything with a magic wand.” Ernest answered.

      “ If you had to decide to accept my offer you can put yourself the amount on the check; I'm fine with it. I really hope you’ll accept because your friend and I have faith in you.” Houg concluded.

      Ernest was about to answer when a girl came into the living room. From the looks of her uniform she had to be a maid. She was a really pretty girl with short blonde hair. As soon as she saw the two men who were talking to Houg, she took a step back, almost scared.

      “ Tell me Rebecca, what’s up?” Houg asked.

      “ Oh… I apologize. I thought you were alone. I won't intrude any longer,” the girl muttered and she quickly got out of the room.

      “ She’s my children’s nanny and she was the one to find my son in the shocked condition I was telling you about.” Houg said and then continued “I’ll give you the other explanations only in case you accept my offer.”

      “ In that case, I’ll let you know” Ernest answered and motioned towards Roni that the visit was done.

      “ I hope to have your news as soon as possible” Houg said escorting them to the door.

      Ernest nodded his head and got out heading towards the car. Roni instead stayed behind and he stopped to talk with Houg.

      “ This is all a bit weird.” Ernest commented with Roni once they had left.

      “ What?” Roni asked.

      “ Everything. The ghost story; Houg who wants to engage me to solve the problem. Doesn’t it make any sense to you?”

      “ No, personally I don’t see anything weird about it. I just hope you're not sore at me for not telling you anything.” Roni answered.

      Listen, I don't understand something. Why would a person with Houg’s influence and power want to hire me for this case? If he wanted, he could have an army of investigators, not to mention the fact that he can count on the total availability of Scotland Yard. Why just one man? Why?” Ernest wondered again, muttering to himself.

      Roni felt anyway as if he wanted to talk: “Yes, all that you're saying it's true, but if you paid attention you must've guessed he had a bad experience a year ago, when his wife died. The majority of the press talked about that for a long time and some newspapers even wrote that the fault of his wife's death was his, Houg’s.”

      “ What do you mean by it was Houg’s fault?” Ernest asked intrigued.

      “ Well…it’s not very clear. I only know that his wife spent her last months of life in a psychiatric hospital because she was suffering from a major depression. It seems that she had become violent and dangerous so it wasn’t possible to keep her at home. The official version on her death is that she died after a strong nervous breakdown that caused her a heart attack. In certain articles it even came out that it was suicide and that Houg had given her a hand.”

      “ In other words: a murder.” Ernest interrupted him, then asking “But why on earth would he do that?”

      “ Nobody knows it.