Chapter 7
The Third Clue
Eisenberg stood confounded, examining the piece of paper, which he had rolled out, from the translucent tube, with his eyes fixed on the words on it: Third Clue: The Treasure Map.
Suddenly he spotted a dark shadow over the grave and looked up startled and saw and man standing over him, looking down into the grave, just staring.
In seconds he saw a way to climb fast out the hole, and watched the man shift and hold something out, and he tried to identify it, and for a few seconds thought it was a gun.
“Well, where do you want it?” the man moaned.
He stared up at him and it and saw it was a brown box and he did not know why but he just reached up and took it, and instantly realized it was a parcel with his name on it, and the man introduced himself as his postman, and Eisenberg climbed out.
“You’re the postman?” he replied.
“You were not in, and I needed a signature and heard you over here at work …”
He signed for it and watched the postal worker march away into the trees, over to the mansion, where he saw his distant van.
What was incredible was he did not know what to be the most surprised at! The clue and finding it there, or the postman and the parcel with his name on it, and he shifted over to the old structure at the side of the graveyard and sat in a seat.
He had found the clue, and realized the man never seen it from where he was, and realized he could have recognized him from the newspapers, and their treasure hunt, and he considered the parcel with surprise, wondering what the hell it was and who knew he was there, and recalled he had not purchased anything or could think of anything that could be sent to him.
Even though he had found the third clue he realized how hard it would be solving what it was, and did not know what to do about the others as they would be searching for the third clue for the rest of their lives if he never found it and never told them of it, and he realized that Kurt would never forgive him, and he just could not realize how to solve it, as he had been lucky so far.
He tiredly looked at the box as he started filling the grave hole with the soil and when he finished he covered it over with grass and branches until it looked the same and he sat down and opened the parcel, totally confused of its origins.
Chapter 8
The Mysterious Parcel
Eisenberg sat in the back of the taxi cab as it returned to New York confounded at the occurrences that had occurred and sensed he was missing far more than he thought, and what was to come, and knew he would not grasp what, and continued examining the folded documents that were in the parcel the postman gave him.
He realized who had sent the parcel and that the documents were from Howard Eisenberg’s lawyer and he found a note written on one document from the lawyer explaining the documents and that they came with the mansion, and gave historical accounts and a brief history of it.
He was surprised it was built far later than he estimated, and he could hardly believe it, and discovered it was built from large sections from another far older building, and he wondered why there was nothing on the original building, and in the end realized that there could easily be nothing on it, and the era it came from, and he was delighted to find plans of the building’s interior, with vaguely drawn maps of each floor, and the rooms and corridors.
What was incredible was his thoughts of it had altered greatly from what he had found there on the previous night, and he realized the amount of land he owned, from a map and a document, and that it went out for miles about it, and he knew it was desolate, and felt happy that the mail was being delivered there, and that there was a nearby small town only a few miles along the road marked on it.
He was sure he could get Howard Eisenberg’s lawyer to show the video over again and he looked through the map of the building for where he thought he saw a phone marked on it, and examined it when he found it, and went over it searching corridors until he found how to get to it, and was staggered when he recalled the mess the place was in, and how long the place had not been used for.
He considered what to do about finding the third clue and did not want to give it away until he was positive of the outcome, and he would never forgive himself if one of the others got the answer to the clue and found the treasure and he was sure if such an occurrence was going to happen he could make some deal before giving it away.
He had to search everywhere he could first and give it to them as a last resort, and he had to get a copy of the video or get to see it again as he was sure he could find something on it, or something he had forgotten, and an explanation of what was occurring and a suggestion of why the clue was in the grave.
Chapter 9
The Video Replay
Eisenberg rested up against the window of Howard Eisenberg’s lawyer’s office and silently watched the New York traffic rush by below and he shivered when he felt the coldness from the window on his back, and he turned and kept his eyes fixed on the room not wishing to miss anything, as the lawyer rushed into the room.
Eisenberg eventually gasped when the lawyer stopped in front of him with a strange sad expression, and a glint of amusement emerged on his face and Eisenberg realized his uncle could have done something to them, and he watched the lawyer anxiously go and get the old video out of a box, and immediately showed it to him, rotating it, and Eisenberg rushed over into a seat when someone arrived with the video player television, and gently fitted the video into it.
The picture showed Howard Eisenberg in his office by himself, looking like a hawk lurking over his large desk, smoking a large smoking cigar, and Eisenberg convulsed recalling the last one he smoked, and started studying everything Howard Eisenberg did, in far greater detail, and when the lawyer left the room he shifted right up to the screen.
There had to be something there, and he studied everything, and what he did and the way he did it.
Some of the things he had heard about Howard Eisenberg in newspapers and the rest of the media was unbelievable, and most surely created for some effect, and he realized he might never fully grasp what he was like, but he knew he might get what he wanted elsewhere, and clues about the treasure he hid.
He sat strangely deeply staring at him, and he wondered what the hell he was up to, and what a top businessman like him thought like and would want to achieve.
He seemed different somehow and doing something else that he could not quite grasp and he looked everywhere trying to grasp it, and saw strange reactions from him to things, and he followed his eyes straight down, and nervously reacted to something, and he watched him move something not on the screen away to the side of him as though he realized he had put something in the picture that he had not noticed.
Eisenberg immediately rushed up to the screen and replayed it back until he got the best picture of it, and of a piece of paper that looked older than it should, and altered the controls of the video player trying to clear the picture up and saw it was a sort of map, and Eisenberg took a photo of it, and turned on the video again.
As Howard Eisenberg looked through documents on his table Eisenberg sat staggered and recalling what he had heard of him back then from newspapers, and wondered why he had never allowed any of them to get involved with his businesses or him.
To his surprise the lawyer rushed up behind him, and told him, “We saw you examining what was on the table on the video ...”
Eisenberg wondered if he had cameras monitoring him as well.
“After considerable thought,” the lawyer explained, “I’ve decided to help you out! Which I’m sure your uncle wanted … I’ve seen a similar item you examined in documents he left in our vaults. Which rightly are yours anyway!”
Eisenberg was slightly confused, wondering what he thought he had been looking for, and what was there, and he realized there could very well be something he wanted in the vaults, and he wondered why he had not told them of it and if the person that found the treasure and got the ownership of the busines
ses would be given everything.
While he followed him down to the vaults, going down in the lift, he considered what he would do if he got the businesses and if he would be given someone to run it for him, who did what he wanted, and again he wondered how Howard Eisenberg had managed to accumulate so much wealth, and recalled all the stuff he had heard about his accomplishments.
In the dim vault room Eisenberg sat with the documents he was given and examined them surprised, and surprised there was so few, as he had expected to be sitting for hours, perhaps days there searching through them, and realized by what he was given that the lawyer had given him only the documents he thought he needed, and he searched through them noting information about Howard Eisenberg and his companies, which amazed him that they gave nothing about what he wanted, but at the bottom of them he found an sealed envelope, and opened it, wondering why the lawyer thought the document that he had seen on the video was there, and he found a small map inside, with writing on the top saying fourth clue.
Chapter 10
The Return to the Mansion
Eisenberg turned pale when the mansion appeared at the front of the taxi, seeing it emerge out of the night.
The driver smirked, when he examined his face in his mirror, and Eisenberg watched with amusement as his face changed and he gasped when he saw the mansion emerge out of the blackness ahead in his headlights, and the vehicle slowed and he shifted along the farm lane.
He was transfixed when it stopped outside, and Eisenberg wondered what the hell he was doing, and felt a sensation of sadness thinking of his uncle living at the place.
With his bags resting at his feet, he watched the taxi race away into the horizon and saw the furniture truck with the rest of his stuff appear.
He watched the speed they started removing all his furniture and gear into the building and he wondered why the hell he was moving there, and recalled he was keeping his old place, and he would surely sell the old mansion quickly after it was cleaned up, and he realized that the workmen had entered the building and never used any keys, and he wondered why the door was unlocked when he had locked it.
At the door he examined the lock and door, as the workmen rushed in and out with his stuff, giving occasional gasps at the place, and he tried to grasp why the place looked so deadly, and he had never really seen anything like it before.
When they had finished, he watched them shut the vehicle up and leave, and the moon emerge overhead and glow over the road, and deep into the surrounding clouds radiating it, and watched the vehicle as it rushed away.
He stared up at the dark mansion Howard Eisenberg had given him and wondered if it would be the end of him, and he was furious it was so far out in nowhere, and so deadly, realizing how hard it would be selling the thing.
In the darkness and moonlight it looked dangerous, and he recalled searching for all the information he could get on it, and if there had been any deaths.
In the end he decided use his idea of bringing in someone else, and Kurt, and he realized the others might surely have realized he was up to something, because he had not turned up to search with them, and he was sure that the lawyer might tell them, but he now had the map.
Chapter 11
The Historic Building
The following morning, after breakfast, Eisenberg explored the mansion using the plans of the building the lawyer sent him in the parcel, and he wrote in details about things on it in pencil, and realized how enormous the place was, and the size of a colossal football pitch, and as high as a high five-story building.
He could not believe the value of it, and that he owned it, and thought of different ways of fixing the problems it had, and repairing and modernizing all the ancient, weather-beaten, damage, and he thought of turning it into a known historic building as well.
He studied sections of the walls that had fallen in, and estimated the repair costs. Some of walls were made of immense square boulders, which he could not recall seeing before.
He realized he would have to learn far more on restoration.
The surroundings had many trees, and he stared out windows writing down what trees should be removed, and realized he would have to check the surrounding landscape in every direction.
At the front there was a single door, but at the back he found there were two. One at its kitchen, which had been modernized at some point, and all the equipment still worked, and just needed cleaned up, and he started cleaning everything he would use and filled the cupboards and fridge with food and drink.
Further along he checked out the other door, at the corner of the mansion, at the right side, and was surprised none of the keys fitted it, and was surprised to find the lock had been actively used, and had fresh marks on the rusted metal.
The building had corridors everywhere on every floor going all over the place and he was surprised to find himself lost even with the building plan and he wandered around exploring rooms everywhere, and entered strange eerie rooms with strange furniture and objects, and entered them like he was visiting them, as though he never belonged there and wondered what their identities were, and he tried to grasp the origins of things he found.
A small staircase was next to the kitchen, as well as the other normal one near the front, and many of the rooms and floors left him confused as he wandered about, still getting regularly lost, and many times he gave up, and was left confused how he would find his way about and identify things.
To his surprise he found a room, directly above the front door, on the top floor, which was perfectly clean and with modern furniture, which he was sure belonged to Howard Eisenberg, which he realized he had wanted to find, and had forgotten, and in the end he decided to leave the room and explore it later.
The room fascinated him and it looked as though it had recently been cleaned, and he started to believe that he had actually lived there, instead of at the other buildings he had, but in the end he realized he would have lived at many locations, and perhaps went there when he wanted to get away from the city.
Chapter 12
The Haunting
The place mystified Eisenberg, and he did not know what was there, and he started using a local taxi to visit the closest shops to it, for provisions, where he asked locals in a bar about the place, trying to solve something he could not quite grasp, and in the end was surprised when a taxi driver told him that he had seen Howard Eisenberg at the mansion about a year ago, and he believed he had been there alone.
Eisenberg questioned him all the way back to the mansion and was surprised that they thought the place had ghosts, and that a form of haunting took place.
Eisenberg did not know what to think, and left it open for investigation, and started searching for cleaners or a cleaning company to clean the place up, but the location was far too far out.
While rummaging around in a storeroom cupboard under the front stairs he was amazed to find a phone and that it was working, and he was able to make calls, and realized someone, surely Howard Eisenberg, had dumped the phone there from a nearby desk, where he placed it again.
He was sure Howard Eisenberg had lived there for the isolation and had perhaps got sick of the outside world and phone calls and dumped it there out the way.
He immediately phoned Kurt up and told him of his discovery of the third and fourth clue, and asked him to join him, and he realized after the call how happy he was that he would be there, and also realized that he now never thought he could solve the last clue on his own, as he had studied the treasure map many times over and had found nothing, and had no real ideas left about solving it, and he wondered if he should even try and take the lawyer into the deal, as he was sure he knew something.
He excitedly swiped away webs still over the front of the corridor and front doorways, and considered getting someone to put up a television aerial.
In what he considered was a living room he switched on the light and cleared out the dimness, and rested into the ancient form of sofa, which he had recently cl
eaned, which creaked and cracked when he moved, and his vision fell on the ancient painting over the fireplace, now cleaned of dust and webs, and he studied the figure in the portrait with some amazement when his imagination kicked in and he stared straight into the haunting eyes, and once again wondered when it was done.
It seemed extraordinarily ancient, and absolutely centuries old, and the person was wearing clothes from many centuries ago, and he knew the person had to be a distinguished nobleman of great wealth and power, and he was startled that it was real, and the person was painted while something tremendous was occurring.
His sword was fixed to him at his waist with blood on it, and he realized a way he might be able to trace it to a war.
Chapter 13
The Haunted Mansion
Something strange woke Eisenberg in the middle of the night, and he opened his eyes wide open, stunned by it, and felt something had occurred that he could not place and tried to recall if he dreamt of something and realized that he had not, and tried to recall why he had awakened and if something had influenced it, and recalled some form of sound, and when he recalled it more he realized just how strange it was, and could not grasp what it was or anything.
Dracula's Lost Treasure Map Page 3