Chapter 5

The next morning Theo was up first again, and went down stairs to make some breakfast. The man that was at the counter quickly came to her, and told her to sit at a table.

"What would you like?" he asked.

"Um, just coffee" Theo smiled nicely as the man scurried off. She waited looking around the small house, there was a big picture on the wall. It was a woman, she was very beautiful, and Theo just couldn't help but sit and watch her. But as she looked from head to toe of the picture, she saw it off center. There was black behind where it leaned, and a little, little light she could see was coming from behind the picture. There was something behind the big picture, or someone. When the man came back, Theo asked about the picture.

"Who's that picture of?"

"Oh, that was Lady Tod" The man smiled at the picture.

"She was a main figure here in town…"

"What happened to her?" Theo asked as she stood next to the man admiring the picture, as she was just a minute ago.

"She lived in this house, but when children started disappearing, people thought she killed them. See, she was always in to superstitious sorts of things, and after awhile she was called a witch. Many people thought she couldn't have done it, then they found evidence, a child was murdered here. She claims she wasn't here when it happened, that Crain set her up. But no matter what, they didn't believe her, after the trial, she was convicted. Even though they never found the other children, they proclaimed that she murdered all of them. The day after the trial, and the conviction, she disappeared—no one heard from her, talked of her, or anything. They just forgot her. Except some of us"

"Like you?"

"Yes." The man turned to her.

"I know she didn't do it, along with some other people in this town, but I don't know where she disappeared to" The man looked down, noticing her empty coffee cup. She had gulping it down quicker then she thought while listening to his story.

"Oh here- let me get you some more coffee" The man scurried away as Theo quietly went to the picture again. She looked to see if the man was coming back, and wasn't, so she continued, she lightly touched the picture as she was about to move it to see what lie behind it, when Frank came up behind her.

"What you doing?" he said loudly, scaring her.

"What the hell are you trying to do to me!" she whispered angrily at him as she hit him. He looked at her funny as the man came back with her coffee.

"Thank you" she smiled at him.

"May I take it to my room?" she asked.

"Of course, of course!" he smiled as Theo leisurely walked back up the stairs with Frank. When they reached the top of the staircase, she gave her coffee to Frank and ran to Dr. Marrow. He opened his door slowly, not in such a rush as Theo, as she came in loudly. The others were already in there chatting, as Theo began to tell them all of the picture and what the man said, and what lie behind the picture.

"...and her name was Lady Tod?" asked Mary.

"Yeah" Theo said as the group sat and thought.

"Why does that sound so familiar—Tod? Tod?" Mary kept saying the name over and over again quietly.

"… wait because when we were at the house last time, Nell said it was her great grandmother who left Crain—and she disappeared. How old was this Lady Tod, when she went on trial?" asked Dr. Marrow.

"I don't know?" Theo said.

"…. This is a long shot, but what if Lady Tod, was Nell's great grandmother. She stayed in the town to help the kids, under a new name, and new look, but Crain knew, and to get rid of her before she told anyone anything he set her up. So, the town would think this 'witch' did this to the children, and she would be executed. But, Nell's great grandmother had disappeared once before, how does the same woman- if I'm right- disappear twice with out any knowing where she went?" Dr. Marrow was frowning, as he stood to think. Theo along with the rest of the group thought too, Mary just kept repeating 'Tod'.

"Where would she go? Was it the space you found behind the picture? It couldn't be, somebody would have found it after all these years…" Dr. Marrow kept thinking aloud.

"Was it underground someplace?... Was it she knew someone that could help?..." Dr. Marrow walked back and fourth across the room.

"I got it!" Mary stood scaring everyone.

"When I was in high school, I learned about an entity or some sort of supernatural thing- it was said that she would come in the form of human, and where ever she'd go she would have to do one good deed. But, Nell's great grandmother didn't, she was afraid and ran away. When the witch was there she came back to try and help the children, she too knew of the secrete of Crain, but she was set up before she could say anything. What if, the entity or whatever it is, came back as Nell? She saved the children, but people still think there's a ghost there. If we go to this house and there's a ghost still there, then that means there's something more to do with the house then the children…." She thought aloud as the others thought and listened.

"I think the way we will find out what the other part is by Lady Tod" said Theo

"That's where it all makes sense, see, Tod is German for death" Mary smiled as she sat, proud of herself and waiting for the others to catch on.

"Lady Death…" Dr. Marrow spoke.

"Lady Death? What does that mean?" asked Frank.

"Lady Death is a term used in superstitious practices, it means, along the lines of, of a lot of death, or queen of death, you know like mother of all deaths" John almost joked.

"Or what if it means lady of the house killed or kills or something like that" Dr. Marrow said out loud.

"Whatever it means, we will find out behind that picture" Theo reassured them.