Page 51 of The Haunted Hotel
“Why are you messaging an engaged man?” I demand a little too forcefully, not at all enjoying the strange, unfamiliar churning in my stomach.Maybe I had too much bacon.
“Because he’s my friend.” Ellis’s forehead wrinkles like he doesn’t get the question. “Poor thing’s going through some really tough personal problems right now.”
He stops by a door and when he opens it, I realise it’s the storage room he was talking about. It looks as if it’s packed to the ceiling with junk. The entire hotel is a secret hoarder’s delight.
I watch as he carefully sets the axe head down, then retrieves the handle from Mr Pennington and adds it to the pile. Closing the door again, he reaches into the pocket of his pants andpulls out a small bunch of old-fashioned keys and locks the door firmly.
“There.” He points the key in Mr Pennington’s direction. “No more snooping about,” he says in a firm but kind tone, the way a parent might reprimand a child. “If you want a proper tour of the hotel, then ask. No more helping yourself because there really is a vase that was gifted to the family in 1504 by King Ferdinand. Some of the things here may look old and shabby, but they really are irreplaceable.”
“You have my word,” Pennington agrees quickly, his cheeks colouring.
Thoroughly put in his place by the gentlest dressing-down I’ve ever seen, Pennington follows Ellis into a large ballroom while I bring up the rear.
Once Ellis switches on the lights, I take my time looking around. Much like the lounge and the bar, the room has been left with its 1930s original fixtures and feel. It’s pretty amazing.
I glance over to Ellis as he crosses the space to the panelled wall on the far side, watching in surprise as he flicks open several cleverly concealed catches. It’s not actually a wall I realise when it splits open in the middle and Ellis slides the two halves open on well-oiled runners. It’s a divider. The ballroom is actually massive, over double the size I originally thought.
I cross the space towards him, absolutely fascinated, my lips parted in shock as I take in the sight.
I’m pretty sure this is how the Goonies felt when they discovered One-Eyed Willy’s ship,The Inferno.
On the other side is a room frozen in time. It’s exactly how you’d expect a film studio from the silent era to look. The sets and backdrops are still in place, a little faded but in beautiful condition. Huge old-fashioned studio lights are suspended from the ceiling.
“You’ll be happy to know it is safe, despite what happened to Leona. After the accident, the lighting rigs were all reinforced, but the fledgling studio couldn’t get insured and none of the backers would fund any more movies, so that was that,” Ellis says from just behind me.
It’s incredible. The movie cameras are all still here and intact, just a little dusty. Stacks of film reels are in piles amidst racks of costumes and true vintage gowns, shoes and accessories. There are also props everywhere.
“After the studio closed, war broke out,” Ellis continues like a seasoned documentary presenter. “The house was requisitioned by the army and designated a temporary hospital. So they basically shoved the whole film studio into one half of the ballroom and sealed it off. The other half was a makeshift ward, in addition to other rooms in the house. After the war, the medical equipment was cleared out—well, most of it anyway. Some of it was moved up to the attics. The ballroom was left alone from the fifties until the late nineties. When the house was opened as a hotel, they had a nicer partition wall built to match the decor of the rest of the room. There were a few weddings and events hosted here, but even that sort of thing fizzled out eventually, and so it is as you see it now.” Ellis shrugs. “Such a shame. We could throw some amazing parties and masked balls in here.”
“Ellis.” I turn to him slowly. “Do you have any idea how much all of this stuff is worth?”
He shrugs and shakes his head. “Not really. There’s more though.”
“More?” I blink.
“The whole house is filled with stuff like this.” He cocks his head curiously as he looks up at me and smiles widely. “I told you there’s history around every corner.”
15
“Ellis, do you realise what this could mean?” Morgan says as we walk back into the lobby. We’re headed in the direction of the library, which is my next destination in this whistle-stop tour of Morgan’s childhood home.
He may not have any memories of it, but that doesn’t mean he can’t appreciate how cool it is as an adult. He’s so lucky to have that tie to this place. It’s seriously awesome here, and I can’t wait to share it all with him.
“What what means?” I reply absently, waving to Mr Pennington as he ducks back into the study to work. His intent and slightly distracted expression is one I’ve come to learn meansI’ve just had a crazy good idea and must write it down before I forget. I accidentally disturbed his muse once before and let’s just say I wouldn’t want to do it again.
“Everything in this house. You said yourself that some of the items go back centuries. It must be worth a small fortune.”
I shrug. “I imagine it is.”
“Don’t you see where I’m going with this?” he says, a bit exasperated.
I pause at the door of the library with my hand on the doorknob as I look up at him. “With what?”
“You keep saying you need to save this place. Now, I don’t know what kind of state the books are in, but even I can see the hotel is badly in need of renovation, the kind that is sympathetic to historical buildings, which this would definitely come under.”
“Oh, it does.” I nod. “We’re a Grade Two listed building.”
“Really?” He pauses. I nod again and he shakes his head. “Anyway, my point is that even I can tell a hotel that’s a listed building in need of modernisation and repairs plus no guests equals financial difficulty. Given the value of these antiques and historical items stashed in cupboards and corners, my grandfather could probably afford to revamp the building, get a modest marketing budget in place, and start bringing in paying guests. It might be enough to keep this place from going under.”