Ezra’s imagination ran wild. It looked like the perfect area to set up as a small café, with plenty of seating and those gorgeous views of the mountains and garden. Silver walls occupied the small space where windows weren’t taking over. White floorboards dusted in blue sparkles gave the place a delightful wintery vibe. It felt like they were in a snowy wonderland.
“This could simply be an area for people to relax in,” Sana continued. “There’s a path leading from it right to the lake. It’s certainly a bonus.
“Though the last owners took it a step further and turned it into a little dining area of sorts, for guests and a few people from town.” She motioned to the door leading out of the building. A stone path led up to it, so visitors wouldn’t need to enter the house to reach it. “It was known for delicious breakfasts and desserts with a lot of heart in them. We left some of the furniture in the home because we thought it went so nicely with it. But this area we cleaned out completely so you could see all the possibilities.”
“I was curious about that,” Clara said. There wasn’t a lot of furniture, but there were those key pieces in the living room and foyer. “Does that come with the house? Don’t the owners want their things?”
Sana looked away for a moment, some of her former confidence fading. She shifted, then looked back up at them. “Well, you see, that’s one thing I do have to disclose about this house. You’d probably hear about it anyway if you decide to buy the property.
“The previous owners… They… Well, something terrible happened to them. No one knows exactly for sure what went on that night, but about a year ago the owners, Lyla and Richard, disappeared.”
Clara and Ezra shared a disheartened look. They’d already fallen in love with the place, but they didn’t want to steal a house from someone. They didn’t want any part of something that might become complicated.
“Disappeared?” Clara asked. “What happens if they come back?”
“I don’t think they’ll be coming back, though the house would be yours regardless. You see, the couple had two children, Olivia and Kyle. Sweet darlings, they were friends with my daughter.” Sana wiped away tears. “Their employee, Paul, came to work one day and noticed the house seemed empty. He went about his day, but when no one arrived, he became suspicious. To make a long, horrible story short, he found the children in their beds. They died in the night. Their parents were missing.
“The autopsy concluded that the children were poisoned. A search of their parents was conducted, everyone was worried that whoever killed their children killed Lyla and Richard as well. They have yet to be found. Now the most popular theory is, well… the darkest worry is Lyla and Richard killed their children. However, no one really knows for sure what happened. It’s safe to say though, they won’t be returning to their home. It’s yours if you want it.”
8
“Thoughts?” Ezra asked as they sipped hot chocolate in an old-fashioned, family-owned restaurant by the lake. It was small, the likes of which they couldn’t find in Chicago. It looked like a log cabin from afar, but Sana had assured them it was the best restaurant in the area. She wasn’t wrong. Homemade comfort food made them sad they’d be returning home soon.
“I love the one on the lake,” Clara admitted.
“The one people died in?”
“Yeah. I know it sounds weird, but it has such a unique look and it’s in a prime location. I love the town; I love the nature surrounding it.”
“I love the fact that I could set up a little café,” Ezra added his enthusiasm to hers. “It’d be great to be able to serve and feed people on a smaller scale. We could still make money, but I could cook food that means something to me. I could put my heart and soul into it, plan out menus while still showing off my skills.”
“I knew you’d like that.” She smiled, then took a bite of her mashed potatoes. “It has everything we want.”
“But there is the fact that two children were murdered there,” Ezra reminded her. “By their parents, nonetheless. None of the other places we looked at have that kind of dark history.”
“True. I’m not a fan of it and it does give me pause. It’s tragic that could happen to children. Even more tragic if their parents killed them. I wish it didn’t have that history, but bad things happen in many different places. Bad people live everywhere. If you think about it objectively, it doesn’t have anything to do with the house itself.”
“True. There are plenty of criminals in Chicago.”
“Exactly. And we don’t know that these other places didn’t hold horrible people. They just may not have been caught over it. I don’t think we should avoid a house just because it has a tragic history.”
“I agree,” Ezra replied. “It is just…”
“Unsettling,” Clara admitted. “It’s super unsettling.”
“But its history has made it cheaper,” Ezra said. “Sana pointed that out. It’s the best out of all the options and one of the cheapest because people are so reluctant to buy it.”
“I do like that feature. I don’t want to blow through all the money you got from your father right away. Maybe with the extra money, we can do some updates. I don’t want to change everything; I do like the house as is. But maybe we can make enough changes so people can separate the bed and breakfast we own from the one they owned. Hopefully we can do enough work to set us apart so that way, we won’t be plagued with the past.”
“You think we can do so?” he asked. “People will probably be more reluctant to stay there at first considering what happened.”
“I’m sure they will be,
