The Talking House's Deadly Secret

We were house-hunting to get married, and the agent, working from our budget, showed us a thirty-year-old dump.

Percy Harding blew up on the spot, said the guy was sizing us up and looking down on us.

All his buddies lived in big open-plan places, and he threatened that if I dared buy an old dump as our wedding home, we were through.

I was just about to smooth it over, say we'd keep looking, when an old, aged voice popped into my head:

"This boy's got no eye for value. I hid a hundred pounds of gold in that wall. Enough to buy ten of those big open-plan places!"

"Hand him a treasure chest and he'd turn it down. Serves him right to be poor his whole life!"

...

I froze, staring at the wall between the living room and the bedroom, sure I was hearing things.

That wall really was a good bit thicker than the others.

A hundred pounds of gold, at the current price of over eight hundred a gram, came to more than forty million!

Percy shoved my shoulder. "What are you spacing out for? What's so great about this dump?"

I came back to myself. Rupert Lambert, the agent, was still standing there with a placating smile. "It's a little old, sure, but the location's unbeatable. About a third of a mile from the subway, a decent school district, and best of all, it's cheap"

Percy cut him off. "A thirty-year-old dump, five hundred square feet for eight hundred grand, and you call that cheap?"

Rupert's face went stiff with embarrassment.

Percy shot me a glare. "I'm telling you right now, if you buy this dump as our wedding home, we're done. I'm not humiliating myself like that."

I was about to talk him down when the old voice piped up again:

"Hmph. A bunch of blind fools. I've got three million in cash hidden in the ceiling too. Add the hundred pounds of gold in the wall, that's tens of millions in this place, and you call me a dump?"

"One bed doesn't make two different kinds of people. The man's blind, the woman's a spineless pushover with no mind of her own. A match made in heaven!"

My knees buckled and I nearly dropped to the floor.

Three million in cash in the ceiling too?

I couldn't help glancing up.

The place was an old prefab-panel building with a cheap plaster drop ceiling. Nothing looked off about it.

Rupert hurried over. "Ma'am, you're thinking it's not bad either, aren't you? The old man's anxious to sell. His late wife was an accountant at a foreign firm before she retired, a really nice woman, she just passed suddenly, didn't even leave any last words."

"It's not convenient for the old man to live here alone, and he's going overseas to join his son, so he listed it this low. Market price is at least one point one million."

An accountant at a foreign firm, where would she get a hundred pounds of gold? Why hide it in the wall?

"What about the owner's other family?"

"Just the one son, already settled abroad, and flying back isn't easy. The old man said everything in the place comes with it. Furniture, appliances, do whatever you want with them, he's not taking a thing."

Something lurched in my chest.

The gold in the wall, the cash in the ceiling, those came with it too?

Pretending to look the place over, I wandered up to the thick wall and rapped it twice. The sound came back dull. Hollow.

Rupert said, "The great thing about these old dumps is you can move the walls however you like. See this wall between the living room and the bedroom? It's got to have gone up later, it's not load-bearing. Knock it out, redo the layout, and the living room's twice as big. No worse than a new build."

Afraid he'd catch on, I pulled my hand back and turned toward the bathroom, pretending to check the pipes.

"Can the price go any lower?"

Rupert's eyes lit up. "Eight hundred grand is already the floor, but if you really want it, ma'am, I'll go put in a word, see if they'll come down another two or three grand."

Percy stared at me in disbelief. "Lydia Dickerson, have you lost your mind? You seriously want to buy this dump?"

"Have you not seen how the paint's peeling off the walls? The bathroom's tiny, the kitchen doesn't even have a window. Have you lived poor so long you think this is all we deserve?"

Percy and I had been together six years, and I'd always been the one managing our savings.

He'd said when we got married, we'd use that money for the down payment on our wedding home.

Where we bought was up to me.

I opened my mouth to explain, but I couldn't very well tell him there was gold in the wall with the agent standing right there.

Just then the old voice came again, plainly mocking:

"Tch. Haggling, are you? Do you have any idea how many people out there have their eye on this place?"

"That shrew from the Jennings family next door, the one with two kids. Back in the day she wanted to marry Bill's son and land herself this place, and when that scheme fell through and Bill passed, she started coveting it again. She's coming to see it tomorrow. When the place gets snatched out from under you, don't come crying!"

My mind went blank, and the words were out before I could stop them. "I really like this place. Why don't we just sign the contract today?"

Rupert scrambled to dig the contract out of his bag. "That's great, ma'am! Sign today and we can process the paperwork tomorrow!"

The words had barely left his mouth when knocking rattled the door.

Rupert went to answer it.

Standing outside was a woman in her thirties, dressed in loud colors, her face caked with makeup, two runny-nosed kids trailing beside her.

"Sylvia Jennings? What are you doing here today?" Rupert blinked.

Sylvia pushed a step inside, her eyes sweeping over me and Percy. "The kids wanted to see the new place first. Didn't want to leave it too late tomorrow. The apartment isn't sold yet, is it?"

Rupert looked a little awkward. "Well... Ms. Dickerson here is in the middle of negotiating. She's quite serious about it."

"Don't waste time," Sylvia cut in flatly. "I'll add fifty thousand. Eight hundred fifty thousand, cash, I can wire it today."

That aged voice went frantic all at once.

"What did I say! Sylvia, that shrew! Years ago she hounded Bill Donaldson to death trying to marry in with those two kids of hers, and Bill wanted nothing to do with her. Now that Bill's barely gone, she's got her eye on this apartment. Don't tell me she knows about the little stash Bill hid in here?"

My head went hot. "I'll add two hundred thousand!"

The room went silent. Percy stared at me. Rupert's mouth hung open and stayed that way.

Sylvia gave a cold laugh, her face full of scorn. "You can put down a million?"

Rupert was caught in the middle. "Sylvia, Ms. Dickerson was here first"

Sylvia patted her pocket. "I've got eight hundred fifty thousand on my card, ready to swipe any time. I just worry the one who got here first can't back it up. All bark, no bite."

I clenched my fists.

Percy and I had five hundred thousand in savings, total. The rest I'd have to borrow.

But the moment I thought of the gold in the wall and the cash above the ceiling...

"I'll have the full amount together within three days. Let me sign the contract today."

Sylvia looked at me coldly. "Don't say I didn't warn you. You sign and then can't come up with the money, the deposit isn't refundable."

Rupert jumped in. "There really is a rule about that. Ma'am, maybe you want to think it over a little more?"

Percy couldn't hold it anymore. He dragged me out into the stairwell and shouted through gritted teeth. "Lydia, have you lost your mind? A million for this dump? Where are the two of us supposed to find a million? Did that agent slip you something?"

Watching him panic, my mind raced.

Tell him the truth? Would he even believe it?

"Percy, trust me just this once. This apartment really has"

"Has what?" Percy's eyes were red with anger. "Six years together, I handed you my paycheck and every cent I earn, and now you want to take our money and buy some run-down shoebox? How am I supposed to face my buddies? You dare sign that, and we're finished for good!"

He turned and ran down the stairs.

When the contract came at me, my hand shook a little.

Once I'd signed and pressed my thumbprint, Rupert tucked the contract away, grinning ear to ear. "Ma'am, you're a real decisive one! We'll do the paperwork tomorrow, just pay in full within three days."

Sylvia sneered. "You'd rather blow up your relationship than let this dump go. Did you find something in here?"

My chest tightened.

That aged voice gloated right along with her. "This wench has a sharp nose. Don't tell me she's guessed there's gold in the wall..."

I stepped forward and pointed at the old carved bed in the bedroom.

"Fine, I won't hide it from you. I've got my eye on this bed."

"This bed's an antique." I patted the frame like I knew my stuff. "If it's the real thing, it's worth more than the apartment."

The corner of Rupert's mouth twitched. "Ma'am, are you sure?"

"The contract says it anyway, everything in the apartment comes with it, right? So this bed's mine too. Nobody's taking it."

Sylvia's eyes flickered twice. She stepped closer to size up the bed, reached out and ran her fingers over the carving on the rail, her brows drawing together, then glanced at me again.

I didn't give her another chance to dig. I herded her and Rupert out the door. "All right, I'm off. Paperwork first thing tomorrow."

I rode the scooter two streets over before pulling to the curb to call Percy.

Seven calls in, he finally picked up. "You signed it?"

"Yeah."

Three seconds of silence, then he laughed. "Lydia, we're done."

"My half of the money for that apartment? Consider it charity all these years, thrown to the dogs!"

"Percy, listen to me! Last night I had a dream. I dreamed about my grandmother, and she told me there's something in the wall of this apartment"

Before I could finish, the call cut off.

I let out a sigh.

If he didn't believe me, fine. Once I dug out that gold and dropped the cash in front of his face, he'd believe me soon enough.

At eleven at night, I couldn't sleep, so I climbed over the balcony and slipped into the run-down old apartment in the dark.

I switched on my flashlight and pulled the metal detector out of my bag.

I crouched in front of that wall and pressed the sensor against it.

Beep, beep, beep. The detector went off.

My hand jerked. I moved it to a few different spots and tried again.

The upper part of the wall gave nothing. In the middle a faint response started, and the lower I went, the sharper the sound got.

I slumped down onto the floor, my back soaked with sweat, the corners of my mouth pushing up no matter how hard I tried to keep them down.

There really was something inside the wall.

My head spun, and I sat there alone in the pitch-black living room grinning like an idiot.

With that money, Percy and I could kick back and never work again.

A breakup? What did that even matter? When the time came, I'd lay the money out in front of him. Enough to buy ten big luxury units.

But the smile didn't last long.

I'd bid the place up to a million and signed the contract. I had three days to pay in full.

I had five hundred thousand in my account. I was still five hundred thousand short.

The gold was in the wall, the cash was in the ceiling, and without the keys I couldn't smash a single thing.

Where was I going to scrape together five hundred thousand?

I stared blankly at the contacts on my phone.

I scrolled to Barret Fox, an old classmate from high school. He was in short-term loans now.

When he picked up, Barret went quiet for several seconds. "Girl, are you sure somebody isn't scamming you? That dump at Brookside Apartments is worth over a million?"

"Just do me this favor. You set the interest."

Any other time I wouldn't have dared touch it, but this was different.

In three days I'd have the keys, and that same night I'd take down the wall.

Over eighty million landing in my hands. What was a loan-shark loan next to that?

The day the money came through, my mom called. "Lydia, have you lost your mind? Barret says you took out a loan-shark loan to buy an apartment? Flipping property like some hotshot?" "Your father was so furious he didn't sleep all night! Our family has lived honest, steady lives for generations. I think that agent talked you stupid! You get that money back right now, forget about the apartment, do you hear me?"

I gripped the phone and said nothing.

She cursed at me a few more times, then hung up.

The three-day deadline came.

I wired the full million I'd pulled together to Rupert, got the property deed and the keys, and changed the locks the first chance I got.

I shut the door, drew the curtains. Tonight I'd smash the wall.

At six that evening, Percy came.

He stood in the doorway, eyes red and voice shaking. "Your mom called me. She said you took out a loan-shark loan to buy that dump. Lydia, is something wrong with your head?"

"Come in. Come in and I'll tell you why."

He hesitated a few seconds, then stepped inside.

I pulled him over to the wall, crouched down, and pressed the metal detector against the base.

Beep, beep, beep.

Percy froze. "What's that?"

"A metal detector." I looked up at him. "There's something inside this wall."

His mouth opened. "So what your grandmother dreamed was real?"

I didn't so much as blink. "Yeah. I wasn't sure, so I came and checked. There really is something. Tonight I'm smashing it open. If it's really gold, the two of us go register our marriage tomorrow, buy a big place, make all your friends jealous."

His eyes went red and he lunged over and held me.

"I'd already decided," he said against me, voice muffled, "if you insisted on buying this run-down little place, I'd let you keep our savings. Treat it as what I owed you after we broke up."

"I came here today to say goodbye"

"That won't happen. After tonight, everything's fine."

By nine, the whole complex had gone quiet.

I took the sledgehammer and the crowbar out of my bag while Percy stood beside me, rubbing his hands together, tense.

Before I swung, some impulse made me speak to the wall. "Sorry about this, buddy. Once I've got the money, I'll do this place up right."

But the old, aged voice didn't answer.

Something in me went uneasy for a moment.

The thought flickered and passed. The detector had beeped. How could that be wrong?

I brought the hammer down.

A big chunk of plaster split off, showing the red brick underneath.

I dropped the hammer and clawed at it with my hands, broken brick clattering down.

Behind the brick was empty.

My hands stopped in midair.

"Where's the gold?" Percy leaned his head over my shoulder.

I said nothing, tearing every brick out of the wall like a madwoman.

The hole got bigger and bigger, opening onto a hollow space behind.

Still nothing.

"This is impossible" My voice was trembling.

Percy's face went from hope to a ghostly white. "Lydia, don't scare me."

I threw a brick up at the ceiling.

The plaster gave way at one jab, dust raining down over my head and face.

I reached my hand inside and came back with a fistful of grit.

Empty.

I sank down among the scattered bricks and plaster, shaking all over.

Percy crouched beside me, his eyes gone completely cold.

"Lydia where's the gold?"

I opened my mouth, my face bloodless. "Percy, listen to me"

He shot to his feet and wiped his tears. "Lydia, I'll explain everything to both our families. You're on your own now."

Then he turned and rushed out the door.

I sat alone in the wreckage, a gaping hole torn in the ceiling above me, the black gap of the crawlspace showing through.

The whole place stank of dust, mixed with the mold of old plaster.

My phone rang. It was my mom.

I picked up, and it was my dad's voice on the other end, hoarse from crying. "Lydia, come home now, your mom had a heart attack, we took her to the hospital!"

"The doctor says she needs emergency surgery, and I don't have enough money"

The phone slipped out of my hand, the screen shattering across the floor.

"The detector beeped. How could there be nothing" I muttered to the empty room, but the place gave back no echo at all.

I stared and stared at the wall I'd broken through.

Just when despair had numbed me nearly senseless, that familiar, aged voice came again.

When I made out what it said, a jolt went through me, and I froze where I sat.