Manchester House Read Online Free PDF Page B

covered in the news in the last twenty years, including both Gulf Wars. Sinclair gave the impression of being a silly fool of a man, but Holzer knew him-he was smarter than he appeared. If he weren’t, Sinclair would not be a SOURCE member.
    “Just keep driving,” Holzer ordered, taking his glasses off, rubbing them. “Can’t miss it. Evil house dripping with blood.”
    “Ha! Ha!” Sinclair said sarcastically. The man was wearing a loud Hawaiian shirt and baseball cap, giving him a Jimmy Olsen look. “Really, I’m lost once we get past Kansas City. Where are we?”
    “Just follow the map. Atchison is not that far.”
    Every so often, Sinclair would steal a peek at the two female team members in the back seat. Sinclair was quite possibly the most love-starved man on the face of the planet. Although quite advanced in years himself, Holzer could understand Sinclair’s curiosity-the women were indeed beautiful.
    “Professor,” said one of the women in a clipped British accent, “you were so fast to call upon us that you failed to inform us as to what we would soon be investigating.”
    Holzer looked back into the green eyes of Miranda Wingate, archeologist and investigator of ancient death rituals. The woman was not that much older than Sinclair-around thirty-but Holzer wasn’t certain. She was the walking talking version of every young man’s fantasy about the sexy British teacher. She had a bad habit of dressing that way too, as her very short skirt and tight sweater would testify. Even Holzer found her “spicy”, to say the least. Still, he knew of her work in Mexico on an Aztec city recently discovered, and knew her to be a serious scientist. Her SOURCE talent was her curiosity on how ancient people saw and celebrated death. As a hobby, Miranda loved haunted houses and had asked Holzer to call upon her if the opportunity to study one arrived.
    “Yeah, that’s very unlike you,” the other woman blurted out. Teresa Gonzalez looked the part of the pretty schoolgirl every red-blooded American boy wished to have by his side, but there was a lot more to this rather attractive African-American woman than met the eye. First of all, Teresa was one of the best psychics Holzer had ever met. At twenty-three, Teresa was already famous in her own right, having solved numerous cases for both the FBI and state police throughout the country. She had even helped the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the rescue of a government official’s child. Holzer had always suspected that the only reason Teresa even joined SOURCE was so that she could use her gifts in the name of science and to get away from the talk show hype she had been made to endure most of her life. Although serious about her gifts, her parents had used her for monetary gain during her younger years. Several books and pre-paid programs had been done, making her parents millionaires many times over. After reaching legal age, she cut them off, so to say, and as far as Holzer was aware Teresa hadn’t communicated with them since. Sad. Such a gifted psychic needed a family to fall back on. All Teresa had was Holzer.
    Looking into the eager faces of his team, Holzer was rather satisfied that they were all curious. “Okay,” he finally confessed, putting his glasses back on, “I was going to surprise you.” He paused, hoping to tease. “But if you would have attended my classes as I asked, you would have known.”
    “Okay, Doc,” Sinclair blurted out. “Sorry.”
    The tension in the car mounted. Holzer could barely contain himself. He noticed that the sun was setting and that it was getting dark. Very appropriate.
    “We’re investigating&Manchester House.”
    Everyone in the car, with the exception of Sinclair, exploded with excitement.
    “I cannot believe our luck,” Miranda said. “Manchester House! Professor, how did you manage it?”
    Holzer silently waved his hand in the air, basking in the glow of the moment.
    “I’ve been trying to get permission