“We better stay here,” he said softly.Where it was safe.He didn’t say the words, but I saw them in his wry expression. We both knew what would happen if we took advantage of the privacy that my office afforded us.
“What can I do for you this morning?” I asked once we sat at an empty table. I was careful to keep my voice neutral and professional, but I saw the way Elijah’s nostrils flared.
“Finding a motive will be crucial to solving Thom Renzo’s homicide. I talked to his uncle last night and he wasn’t aware of the Renzos owning valuable items, but I know that men are often clueless about these types of things. What about the estate interested you? Were you looking for something specific?”
“It wasn’t the Renzos’ belongings that grabbed my interest; it was the items left behind by the previous owners.”
“Like something the Renzos found in the attic after they moved in?” Elijah asked.
“Well, that house itself is kind of folklore around here. You could tell it was old, right?”
“Yeah, it reminded me of something you’d see inScooby-Doo.”
“People swear up and down that it’s haunted,” I told Elijah. “It was originally built by Anthony Bliss who founded this town in eighteen thirty. Anthony was a progressive railroad tycoon who believed that Blissville could be a thriving depot because of its central location to bigger cities like Cincinnati, Dayton, and Columbus. He believed railroads were the key for both shipping and traveling. People thought he was crazy when he laid out this tract of land and named it after himself. He built the home here and moved his family from New York City. His vision became true and this tiny little community became a bustling trading town. At first, the railroads were used strictly for travel in Ohio, but eventually they expanded to include national railways.”
“Huh, I never would’ve guessed that,” Elijah said. “So, the Bliss family just up and abandoned their house?”
“Rumor has it that Anthony Bliss had ulterior motives for relocating his family.” I leaned closer and dropped my voice. “It’s believed that he was trying to outrun a curse.”
“A curse?” Elijah asked skeptically.
“There are different versions of who placed the curse on the family from gypsies to Native Americans, but it seems to have started with Anthony’s father, John. He was reported to be a ruthless businessman who lied and manipulated to get his way. The curse was placed on him and his heirs because the sins of the father are passed along to their offspring.”
“That’s bullshit,” Elijah said.
“Which part?”
“The sins of the father thing. I mean, I’ve heard that before, of course, but I think it’s bullshit.” I could tell he was enthralled by my story though.
“Anyway, John Bliss died of a heart attack in his mistress’s bed in upstate New York supposedly a week after he was cursed. He left behind a wife and four sons. Anthony was the youngest.”
“Let me guess, his three brothers all died from mysterious deaths.”
“One of them died in war, one of them died after falling from a horse and breaking his neck, and the third brother drowned in a river. John was the last Bliss standing and decided to try and outrun the curse.”
“Kind of like out of sight, out of mind?” Elijah asked.
“That’s how the story goes.”
“Okay, so he moved here, named the town after himself, and brought the railroad through Blissville. Then what?”
“He disappeared without a trace in 1850.”
“What?”
“Seriously, he just disappeared. He went for a horse ride like he normally did every day regardless of the weather and never returned.”
“What happened to his family?” Elijah asked.
“Well, Melanie Bliss was distraught and was never seen in public again. Too many years had passed since his last brother died for her to believe that he was a victim of the curse. She was convinced he left her to start a new life, so she was too ashamed to show her face in town. Her sister came to live with them and assumed care for the children until Melanie died of a broken heart.”
Elijah rolled his eyes like he doubted that was a legitimate cause of death. “Then what happened?”
“Melanie’s sister packed up the children, sold the house to a prominent doctor in town, and moved back to New York. She shipped what she wanted to keep and left everything else behind. From what I’ve heard, Melanie held onto all of Anthony’s things in case he returned, but her sister had no desire to drag his crap back to New York after he left his family high and dry. Dr. Martin’s family moved in and reported that inexplicable things kept happening. Doors slamming in parts of the house where no one was or the smell of pipe tobacco floating through the air when no one in the family smoked.”
“They thought it was haunted?” Elijah asked.
“Yes, but they didn’t feel like the ghost was trying to hurt them, so they stayed there. The house remained in their family for many decades until the kids sold it to the Renzos after both their parents died. The caveat was that the Renzos took possession of the contents as well as the house. Which meant that they possibly inherited some of Anthony Bliss’s possessions as well. I was hoping to find treasures from the early railroad days. I already have an original depot sign showing the destinations for various cities and the departure times. I won’t part with that no matter how much someone offers me, but I had hoped to find something similar to sell.”
