The Mystery of Novak Manor - An Eleanor and Lydia Mystery

Chapter Eight

Eleanor and Lydia found Lord Novak sitting at the desk in his study, signing his name to a seemingly endless stack of documents. They told him they'd like to go into town.

"Is there something you need? I could send someone to get anything at all."

What a different way of life, Eleanor mused. She rather enjoyed her little trips to the local market where she often greeted her neighbors and caught up on local news. It seemed a little sad to her that this kind man would never enjoy such a simple pleasure.

On the heels of that, she wondered if he pitied her for not having her own private jet. Poor Eleanor, slave to the whims of the commercial airlines.

Trying not to laugh, but sure she'd failed to keep the silliness in her heart out of her expression, she explained their desire. "This is my worthy assistant's first overseas experience. She'd like to do a bit of exploring."

"Ah! Yes. Completely understandable." He capped the pen in his hand. "I'll call for a driver, then."

"I don't mean to sound ungrateful but..." Lydia hesitated.

"Go on," he encouraged.

"I'd really love to drive myself. Drive us, I mean."

"Adds to the feeling of adventure?" he asked.

Lydia nodded.

"All right, then. I won't be the one who rains on your parade. You will be careful, though? And call the castle if you need anything at all." He lowered his head and looked up at her from beneath his heavy brow. "Most of all, keep an eye on that one," he said, gesturing toward Eleanor. "She's wilder than she looks."

Lydia favored him with one of her lovely rare smiles. "I'm starting to get that impression."

He nodded. "Very well, then. I'll call to have a car brought around to the front for you."

Eleanor thanked him and tucked her arm through Lydia's. Then she paused with a finger lifted. "Ah! I'm such an old lady I nearly forgot. I've been meaning to ask, do you happen to have security cameras anywhere in the castle?"

Lord Novak leaned back in his leather executive's chair. "You must know I do. You have that certain gleam in your eye."

She lifted one shoulder innocently. "Someone may have mentioned it."

His low chuckle rumbled in his chest. "Would you like to see the footage we captured?"

"It does seem like it would be helpful," she said.

"Agreed, and so I would have mentioned it immediately save for the fact that the whole system has been disabled for some time."

"Disabled?" A tingle of suspicion sizzled along the nape of her neck.

He nodded. "Maybe a month or so ago it started going bad--sending a constant still of the same image for hours at a time, sometimes days. I called the gentleman who installed it for me—the son of a friend of the Stojanovskis, actually. In a country so small, we are all related. He said it was the darndest thing. Couldn't find a problem anywhere. Nevertheless, a few days after that the whole thing went black."

"You're getting no images at all?"

"Not a single pixel."

"And did you call your man again?"

"I did not. I never really wanted the cameras anyway. They seemed like an intrusion to me. I only installed the things at Mrs. Stoganovski's insistence because someone was stealing the silver. Whoever it was stopped. It just didn't seem important."

"But then a ghost appeared."

He held out his hands. "An unexpected event, to say the least."

"Hmm," said Eleanor. "Can you tell me who was monitoring it when the feed was active?"

"No one," he said.

"No one?"

"It went to a recording system. If there'd ever been a need, I could have looked or shared it with the local police."

"I see. Well, then." She gave Lydia's arm a little squeeze. "I guess that's that question answered, and we'll get no help from the cameras. Shall we go to dinner, dear?"

Lydia nodded. "Thank you for the car."

"You're very welcome," he replied. "Enjoy your evening in town."