Authors: John James Gregory
“Yes, I still have some staffing to do.”
“The tennis court, heliport and pool are all complete as well. I believe they were close to completing the remaining electrical and electronic equipment for your ‘LZ’ (aircraft landing zone).”
“Yes I can see that on Mr. Talbot’s status report.”
The cell phone had interrupted the casual conversation and that was the last of the small talk on the half hour trip from the airport to the entrance of Mr. Hart’s estate. After that first call, it was one business call after another. Mr. Hart knew they were about to turn into the drive of his estate and switched off the phone to give his full attention to his pride and joy. The entrance road was now paved and ready for the second coat planned to be applied after the moving trucks and the heavy equipment were scheduled to depart. The new owner could see several of the branches over the road torn by the height of the moving trucks and other equipment that had arrived at the estate. He made a mental note to have the thick trees trimmed up in height over the long drive. If they weren’t trimmed up now, a good storm could surely bring several limbs down to the pavement. As the vehicle passed out of the surrounding forest, Hart smiled at the sight of his new home.
He could see the large main house with its four car garage off in the distance. He was pleased at the appearance and the contractor’s progress toward completion. He felt relieved that his house would be presentable for his party. He had planned to have all his top executives and their wives attend a formal open house party in just two weeks. Two large moving trucks had their ramps down unloading the last loads of his belongings. William Hart had dreamt of this moment since he began to design his estate over ten years ago. Now it was actually being built. There were several construction vehicles around the area and Talbot’s men were up on ladders and power lifts working of the roof of the main building. As the limo pulled up, Talbot noticed the owner’s arrival and waved. With his clip board in hand, he opened Hart’s door and welcomed the new owner. The limo driver moved the vehicle over to the side of the garage and out of the way of the workers and their equipment.
“Mr. Hart, glad to see you!”
Hart’s first thoughts were about the bottom line. Would his home be ready?”
“Mr. Talbot, are we on schedule?”
“Yes sir. A few finishing touches and we will be finished… either late today or early tomorrow...”
“Good… Give me a tour… What are your men doing on the roof?”
“They have a little bit of trim work and a handful of windows to finish and then that will be complete.”
Hart followed the boss of the crew to the main entrance. He pointed up to the large wrought iron chandelier above the entrance doors.
The chandelier arrived yesterday and it is now ready… All three hundred light bulbs are operational as well as the ‘change’ circuit. My crew figures that unit weighs over four hundred pounds.”
Mr. Talbot led the owner to just beyond the metal entrance doors. The doors had the appearance of wood, but were solid metal with multiple locks. He pointed to a recessed unit on the wall.
“This is the control panel for both the security system and the chandelier.”
Talbot opened the panel.
“All the outside lights are on a photo eye and a timer circuit.”
Talbot pushed one of the control buttons and the chandelier began to drop down lower and lower.
“This circuit is for your staff to clean the fixture and change bulbs.”
Hart smiled as he watched the chandelier just outside of the pair of entrance doors drop to ground level. He nodded and Talbot raised the unit back up to its original position.
“Also, all the matching wrought iron window bars are installed along with all the metal security doors. I know you wanted all the windows sealed with your decorative wrought iron coverings, but I am curious why you had them built and ordered in such a way that they are impossible to remove?”
“Security Mr. Talbot... I am out in the middle of the sticks surrounded by forest. I couldn’t run a full perimeter fence around the property so they are not only attractive window dressings but they are also part of the security system. This is Kentucky Mr. Talbot. It is not a state a person would move to looking for a good paying job and with the economy doing so poorly, those coverings are part of the building overall security system to deter break-ins.”
“I see… let me show you the rest of your residence.”
Talbot led Hart on a tour of the house and all its features. All twelve bedrooms were complete and the last one had several finishing carpenters working on the door locks. The tour finally made its way into the kitchen and he smiled at Margaret who was still unpacking groceries and loading the fourth large refrigerator. Talbot took him over to the pantry and showed him a trap door in the floor.
“Below that door is your wine cellar. I believe your staff has it already stocked and the temperature down there is sixty-seven.”
Hart smiled.
Talbot then took him to a laundry room just off the kitchen and on the same floor. Another trap door could be seen in the floor.
“And that is the entrance to your storm shelter. A second exit door is outside.”
“Good my daughter will be pleased. She is always worried about storms and especially tornadoes. This room was her idea.”
“Would you care to go down and check it out?”
“No, let’s continue your tour. I’ll examine it and the wine cellar later.”
The tour went all over the grounds and Hart was extremely pleased with the work and progress. He was satisfied not only with the work done to date, but his own set of issues was also being addressed.
After the end of the tour, Talbot gave him the clip board to make any changes the new owner might find and upon completion of all the work, Talbot told Hart that he would return in a month to make any corrections or adjustments Hart might find. Hart then went to his study to unpack some of the belongings not put away by his secretary like his collection of rifles and shotguns. He spent the balance of the day cleaning and placing each weapon into the built in gun cabinet in his study. Three days later, Hart woke up to find no workers on his property. The movers were gone and now only he and his staff continued unpacking and preparing for his upcoming party. He planned to go to bed but the excitement of the past few days left him awake. He decided to clean a few more of his guns. Hart reasoned that his excitement was that both his son the teacher and his daughter the doctor, would be arriving the next day. He double checked their bedrooms and made sure that all was in order for his children’s visit and returned to his study.
***
`
It was about one in the morning on a still night. Only the light of the full moon and a row of light poles that lined the driveway remained on. Hart had fallen asleep in his study with his head on the desk. He had been begun cleaning his gun collection after a long session on the Internet. Hunting and gun collecting was his hobby and he was considered by his friends to be a good shot. Hart assumed that now that his new home was built in the middle of a forest, he would need them ready to go at a minute’s notice. His initial thoughts were varmints such as raccoons, rats, skunks and other pests that might come around scavenging for food. He had thought about building a small lake for fishing, but for now, he had put that part of his dream on hold. Before he would clear land for a lake area, he would want to walk and personally survey all his land and pick the best spot for such an endeavor.
Hart had several dogs and their kennel was at the back edge of the clearing behind the servant’s quarters. A few of the security cameras were already operational in that far area of the clearing. Those cameras monitored the staff housing area, the kennel and the heliport. The rest were to become operational sometime in the next two days during which the electrical was to be completed for corporate helicopter which was still at the airport in Louisville. His butler Lloyd had entered the study and carefully removed the shotgun he was cleaning and stored it into one of his gun vaults. He thought about waking his master but decided to wait until his own late night chores were complete. He silently closed the double doors and went quietly back to work unpacking silverware in the main dining room. Lloyd wanted his master to enjoy his first meal in the large formal eating area the next morning.
***
At the far end of the clearing across from the dog kennel, a tall dark shadow was moving through the woods without making a sound. The night vision cameras would pick up the motion at the point it entered the clearing and began to move toward the kennel. The hounds were awakened and all the dogs sat up but didn’t make a sound. They continued to watch this seven foot tall fur covered creature come toward their area. It was as if this mammoth humanoid was in some way communicating with the hounds. It seemed to be instructing the hounds in the light of the moon and pointing back to an area of the woods behind the point from which it had emerged. The creature then began to follow the chain link border of the kennel looking for a way to free the caged animals.
That is when a second figure came out of the woods on all fours running toward the servant’s quarters. It moved quickly to one of the wrought iron covered windows of Margaret’s quarters.
It began to growl and pull on the bars of the cook’s bedroom window. Margaret was sound asleep and the initial noise of the werewolf outside her quarters did not wake her. The Bigfoot at the kennels somehow kept the hounds quiet and continued to watch the actions of the werewolf. The fury creature stood on its hind legs and circled the entire guest house looking for a way to break in and attack or kill Margaret. The bars held on all the windows and even the security doors offered no access into her quarters. Frustrated that it could not satisfy its urge for killing someone, it shot out and ran on all fours to the main house. Again, it tested the window coverings and the doors and again, it could not find an entry way into the mansion. It went around the entire house looking for a way in. Finally, it stopped in front of the mansion and looked up. It saw a triangular metal vent high above the second floor and reasoned that it could easily tear it off and go in through the attic area above the second floor. This creature possessed both the rage and animalistic fury of a killer but still had the ability to logically reason and problem solve. Above the front entrance doors hung the large wrought iron chandelier. It reasoned that it could jump up on to the fixture. Then it could climb to the top. By swinging it back and forth it could see itself jumping up to the roof’s overhang and up to the metallic vent. It knew it had the power to tear the vent apart and make it into the attic area and the down into the mansion and satisfy its urge to kill.
In a single leap the werewolf was on the lowest tier of the light fixture as it swung toward the house and then back out toward the yard. From there, it made several more leaps upward until it was standing on the highest row of lights. Several of the bulbs were shattered by the creature’s leaps but the cut glass bases of the fixtures didn’t seem to cause the creature either pain or concern. The stress of its weight was causing cracks around the cable that held the chandelier to the ceiling. It continued to swing it back and forth and finally took a leap for the ceiling’s edge. It dug its claws into the roof just beyond the rain gutter but his claws kept ripping the shingles rather than providing a foothold for the next leap on to the roof. It made several attempts to hang on but fell to the ground below the main entrance to the estate’s main building. It landed without injury and kept studying the structure trying to think of a way to get up on the roof and enter the home.
It was about this time that the ‘Bigfoot’ creature found the gate and let the dog’s out. They now all seemed to growl and bark at the same time as if on command. The dogs all started running toward the front of the mansion and the werewolf. This startled the hideous creature and it bolted toward the front of mansion and leaped back up on the already weakened light fixture. Once it saw the puny excuse for guard dogs the creature realized there was nothing to fear and it was about to leap back down and drive what it considered to be a puny group of animals away. It was about this time that the chandelier over the front entrance lit up all the undamaged lights and that startled the creature. Lloyd had heard the noise and opened the study doors.