Chapter 5: Visiting with Brian and Jenny

“You look terrible,” Jenny said after she had let Shane into the house.

Shane grinned. “What, you don’t think the one-eared look is in this year?”

She slapped him on the shoulder, shaking her head. “You better not be here to try and convince my man to go on a little ghost adventure.”

“No,” Shane said. “I’d like him to stay alive. Nope, I just came for some research help. Nobody’s better than you two.”

“See,” Jenny said, grinning, “flattery will get you everywhere.”

From the den, Brian called, “Don’t sweet talk her, it just makes it worse for me.”

Jenny rolled her eyes and said, “Come on. Let’s go see Mr. Congeniality.”

Chuckling, Shane followed her into the den where she went and sat down beside Brian on the couch.

“Damn,” Brian said, his eyes widening. “You look like you’ve been worked over.”

“A few times,” Shane admitted, dropping into the chair across from them. “How have you two been?”

“Evidently better than you,” Brian said, his tone serious. “What happened?”

“A lot,” Shane said. “Too much. I don’t know. It’s been pretty rough.”

“Looks like it,” Brian said. “Anyway, tell us what you need. All you said over the phone was you wanted information.”

“That’s pretty much it,” Shane agreed. “I didn’t know if either of you knew anything about the Slater Mill in Nashua?”

Brian shook his head, but Jenny’s eyes narrowed. A heartbeat later she said, “Yeah, yeah, I think I do.”

She got back up and left the room.

Shane looked to Brian, but his friend shrugged, saying, “Man, I don’t even know what she has for information anymore.”

Jenny’s footsteps rang out on the stairs and then moved across the hallway of the second floor.

“We have a few minutes,” Brian said, chuckling. “She went into her library. Place is chock full of books, and articles. I swear she’s got way too much on ghosts up there.”

“More power to her,” Shane said. “I definitely need some help on this before I poke my nose in there.”

“Yeah,” Brian said. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“Have you read the Telegraph?” Shane asked.

“No,” Brian said. “Thing’s a rag. I stopped reading it a year or so ago after I found spelling errors in their headlines.”

“Understood,” Shane said. He settled back in the chair and told Brian about the two murders, and what he had seen in the photograph.

“Seriously?” Brian asked.

Shane nodded.

“Damn,” Brian muttered. “Well, you definitely came to the right place. Jenny’s got a ton of stuff on both Nashua and Manchester. Not so much on the little towns around the cities.”

“Fine by me,” Shane said. “All I need is info on the Mill right now.”

Above them, a door closed and a moment later, Jenny was on her way back down the stairs. She appeared carrying in her hand a slim, dark blue book. With a smile, she handed the volume to Shane, and then returned to her seat beside Brian.

There was nothing written on either the book’s spine or cover. When Shane opened it, he found he had it upside down and had to turn it around before he could read it. The title page stated the book’s name was “Mishaps at the Slater Mill.” It had been published in 1911.

“That’s a list of all of the deaths that occurred in the Mill,” Jenny said. “Both when it was being built, and when it was in operation.”

Shane flipped through the pages. The book was arranged by year, starting in 1841, and continuing until the year of publication. In each section, the deaths were arranged alphabetically by surname, with information on the individuals and their manner of death concisely described.

The book was a litany of horrors.

On one page alone, Shane saw three men who had died after having an arm torn off by “Machine Number 5” on the third floor. Blinding was common, as were the loss of fingers and toes. More than one child was listed as a fatality as well.