They took a scenic route back to the farmhouse. Both of them were glad not to see the giant turtle, though there was a place near the river where it looked like the turtle was regularly going into and out of the river. The underbrush had been crushed and removed, and while some of the smaller twigs had been crushed into the muddy soil, the majority was simply gone, with ends sheared off in a slightly curving shape that made both Faith and Mort flinch.
"The turtle?" Mort gestured towards a branch as thick as his wrist, the end vanishing with a curved edge.
"Probably. They do eat just about any sort of thing, though the normal ones can't eat trees, sheep or vampires," Faith agreed.
Their trip back to the farmhouse became less meandering after finding the turtle's river access.
They arrived to see a rather large delivery truck in the driveway, with a brown clad person at the door talking to Pyro. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this was most likely the things that he'd had sent from his old school, though they couldn't be certain if he'd had his chance to call and talk to his friends.
Mort parked the bike, and Faith sauntered closer to the door before calling out, "Need some help moving the boxes?"
"Be welcome," the driver commented. "He's got about six big boxes there."
Faith didn't think the box that she'd picked up was that heavy, and gave Pyro an amused glance as he grunted and staggered with the one he'd lifted.
"What did they send, everything?" Mort staggered with his own box before he adjusted his grip. "Balance is key when you're packing, a heavy box is even worse if it isn't balanced."
"Probably. And I don't know who packed it, I didn't get a chance to call yet," Pyro muttered.
"Shall I just take this on up to your room," Faith asked, freeing one hand to gesture towards the stairs.
"Yeah, you can just carry the heavy boxes right on up. I'll call my pals and rag on 'em for a bad packing job," Pyro replied. "She could at least try to look like they're heavy."
It wasn't long before all the boxes had been carried up to Pyro's room, though Faith didn't open any of them to see what was inside. She did have to admit that some of them didn't balance very well, and that imbalance did make them more awkward to carry.
With those moved, Faith decided to take the stacks of new shingles up to the roof. Mort might need to explain the right way to attach them to the roof, but there wasn't anything complicated in getting them up there. Before too long, Mort made his own way up to the roof, and they set to work with the shingles. It was sticky, messy work, and they both were quite ready to stop, grab a quick shower and change, and ask about lunch when they saw a vehicle coming down the road – likely Wesley, Tanya, and Lorrie back from the library.
"Do you think they found anything useful, or are they just the perfect excuse to get down from here?" Mort wiped at the sweat on his face, leaving a smear of dust clinging to his forehead.
"We have to get off the roof to find out, so either's good," Faith looked over the roof, feeling rather pleased. This section was finished, and that was pretty good for a day's work.
They didn't even bother fooling around in the shower or while getting dressed before they headed down to talk to Wesley and Tanya about the library trip.
Faith tried to look casual as she sauntered into the kitchen, her hair still damp from the quick shower. "Hey, I see that you've escaped the library. Did you find anything helpful?"
"There were dust bunnies that were almost as big as real bunnies," Lorrie gave an exaggerated shudder as she pulled some plates out of the cupboard. "Next time, I'll stay here and wait for deliveries."
"I'm not sure. We found stuff, but helpful remains to be seen," Tanya tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
"Most of what we found was history of this house, and some about the Schwannstein family. Apparently, the first lady of the house was Greta Schwannstein, who married Jacob Thackery. It's remained in the family since, with some renovations at various points. These renovations began with Jacob Thackery in his later years," Wesley looked at Faith and Mort before asking, "Did you find anything unusual at the mausoleum?"
"Very unusual. Sometime between when we killed the minions and this morning, someone slipped into the mausoleum and cleaned. All the bodies in the caskets, the caskets all lined up in the right alcoves, no dust, no cobwebs, and no lingering pry bars or wooden stakes. I don't know if it helps the investigation, but it was definitely weird. We made a list of names, with birth and death dates," Mort pointed at the paper held on the table by the sadly empty cookie jar.
"Wait, someone broke into the mausoleum and cleaned? Are you serious?" Lorrie's voice rose with each word, until she was nearly squeaking. Then, she paused and added "Can they do that here?"
"I'd rather they didn't, who knows what else might happen?" Tanya insisted.
"The oddest thing about Greta Schwannstein… Greta Thackery, I suppose, is that her final will included a letter addressed to her brother Erwin. The problem with that is that Erwin died shortly after her wedding to Jacob Thackery." Wesley shook his head and moved over to the stove where he poured a small amount of hot water into a tea pot, swished it around and dumped it into the sink. Then he dropped a little metal thin into the tea pot and filled it up with hot water, bringing it back to the table.
Faith made a small face, "Erwin? I guess there's a reason that some names aren't used so much anymore."
"There was an empty space in the mausoleum," Mort was frowning, and tugged the list out from beneath the cookie jar. "Yes, thought so… Erwin Schwannstein, born on April 18th of 1704 and died on November 5th of 1730. He was the empty space – no body, no casket."
Faith looked at Wesley, "Do those dates work for supposed to be dead brother Erwin?"
Wesley nodded, and very softly added, "I think we need to look into the history of the Schwannsteins a little more. Especially Erwin and Greta."
end part 56.