her hand and shook brusquely. ‘Don’t worry about Bailey, she doesn’t bite.’
‘I’m Courtney Keller of Gillespie Realtors, may I be the first to welcome you to Midnight Island,’ she forced her smile up another watt. She really wanted this sale, even if it meant she got mauled by what looked suspiciously like a wolf.
‘Thanks,’ Ava murmured absently, her gaze already drawn to the towering building behind them. ‘It’s bigger than I thought.’
‘Twelve bedrooms,’ Courtney beamed enthusiastically, ‘and an absolute steal for a property of this size and location.’
Ava stared up at the house, it was pretty much the size of a mansion. It was at least three storeys. A flight of stone steps led up to a huge double entranceway above which was a balcony. Above that was a gorgeous old rectangular statement window and directly above that a smaller metal balcony and another massive rectangular window, this time topped with a steeply gabled roof.
To the right was a large circular section which looked like a tower. The second storey metal balcony continued to wrap around the tower to the back of the house. The third-floor windows of the tower were each framed with stunning brickwork arches and the whole tower was topped off with a tall cone-shaped roof.
To the left of the building was a slightly shorter squatter tower, which instead of being smoothly rounded seemed more angular, almost hexagonal. The windows were slightly less ornate, just plain sash windows, some of which she could see were either cracked or missing glass panes altogether. The roof was less conical than the other tower, with another more angular gabled roof.
The back of the building or at least what Ava could see of it, seemed to be a rectangular shape. The third floor once again had a small metal balcony like the front of the house and the third-floor window was framed by a brick arch which ended in a sloping pitched roof. Next to it, right at the edge of the main roof, sat a huge tall chimney stack.
Ava glanced along the roofline and from what she could see there seemed to be several smaller chimneys, perhaps half a dozen in all, leading her to surmise that there were real fireplaces in most of the rooms, typical of the time period.
She was desperate to get a closer look, but the ground level was all boarded up and the entire perimeter was surrounded by a metal fence, punctuated at intervals by signs warning, KEEP OUT and DANGER!
‘So,’ Courtney opened her file, although she needn’t have bothered. She’d already learned every detail about the house, determined to be the one to sell the ancient turkey and win the approval of her peers.
‘The house,’ she began, ‘was built in the mid-19th century by a noted architect from Boston; he liked to vacation here with his family. They owned the house for twenty years until he passed away and his son sold it to the Lynch family. It has remained in their family since then. Now the house hasn’t actually been inhabited since 1919 so it still retains all of its original features.’
‘I don’t suppose there’s electric or running water then?’ Ava mused quietly.
‘There are actually several bathrooms with toilets, however they do date back to the late 1800’s and would need some updating. I believe the property when it was last inhabited was lit by gas lamps so the electric would also need installing, but it’s a charming period property. There is a working water pump at the back of the building and it also comes with several acres of land and a private beach at the foot of the cliff.’
Courtney threw that in with a wide enticing smile.
‘Uh huh,’ Ava murmured, only half listening to Courtney as she studied the house. It was massive, what the hell was she going to do with such a huge property? It wouldn’t sell, judging by the length of time it had been on the market, especially not in its current condition. If she had any hope of selling it on it would need to be rehabbed before she could flip, it and that would take some serious dollars. She had no doubt, that even with the ridiculous amount of money it would take to make it livable she could afford it, maybe even make a profit on it. A sizeable one given the location and the private beach, but did she even want to sell it?’
Courtney’s heart started beating faster, she could see that the