Writing Prompt Boot Camp, Day 8

Full Disclosure

They toured the house with the real estate agent.

“We love it,” Mary said. She began to say something else before her wife cut her off.

“Is there anything we should know about the house’s past?” Romona asked the agent.

The agent looked down at the floor. The hardwood had been beautifully preserved, and Ted Dolan always made sure to point it out to all of the potential buyers, including this couple.

“Well, there is one thing that I am lawfully bound to disclose to you,” Ted said reluctantly.

“I knew it,” Romona said. Ted knew the beginning of a speech when he heard one and he tried to cut her off but was too late.

“I told you that the price was too good to be true! Somebody was probably murdered in here, years ago!” Romona declared, her eyes shining with the righteous satisfaction.

“Not a chance,” Mary responded with an equal level of fervor. “According to the research I did, no crime has ever been committed at this address, including murder!” Romona was about to say something when Ted cleared his throat very audibly. That broke the spell woven around the couple and they returned their focus to him.

“You’re correct when you say that there has been no crime committed here,” Ted said to Mary. “And your suspicion about the price is right on the money, pardon the pun,” Ted said to Romona. “But the truth about this house is very different and much stranger than either of you could possibly imagine.”

Ted’s statement hung in the air of the small dining room, where the three of them had ended up after the tour of the house.

“Well,” Romona said, “are you going to keep us in suspense or tell us the big secret?”

“Yes, I’m going to tell you everything,” Ted said. “And I hope it will not deter you from making this house your home. I believe that you two are made for this place.”

He told Mary and Romona everything. They excused themselves to the backyard so they could talk it over. Ted wandered into the kitchen, not a galley style but still small by modern standards.

“Well,” Ted said to the kitchen, “we’ll see what happens.”

Ted heard the back door open and then Romona and Mary joined him in the kitchen.

“We’ll take it!” they said in unison.

Five years later, Ted was wrapping up a tour of a condo with an elderly couple looking to downsize when his cell phone buzzed. He withdrew it from his jacket and looked at the text displayed on the screen: “The police are finished. 421 Jackdaw Lane is going to come back on the market. Interested?”

Ted frowned and quickly typed a response: “No thank you. Tell Lucifer he’s going to need a different agent.”