The Lady From Sleepy Hollow

Katrina

"Katrina, this is truly quite undignified and disrespectful of us to just venture into his room as if it is ours, too," Mary sighs as she takes to striding around and peering out of the window.

I however, ignore her statement as I look down at the ledger on his desk. I walk up to it and open it, seeing various random doodles on the first few pages, some notes on medieval devices of torture.

The latest page is one that I find absolutely horrid. A written accusation.

It reads, "5 to 4, the secret conspiracy points to Baltus".

"Mary, you need to see this," I say, anger beginning to boil in my blood. I glance over to see her look at me, but before she can step towards me, the door opens.

________ Ichabod ________

My entry into my room surprises the unexpected presence of the two daughters of the house. Katrina sits at my desk, reading my ledger freely

​"Katrina? Mary? Why are you in my room?" I inquire, taking slow careful steps toward the younger woman.

​​Katrina smiles at me warmly. "Because it is yours."

I glance around suspiciously, curious if she has touched or taken anything. She stands up and frowns worriedly upon my distressed demeanor, sharing a glance with her sister. "Was it wicked of me?"

​​I sigh discreetly and glance around the room again, stopping at a nearby support beam. I shake my head. "No, no, not at all."

​​Mary pipes up, her soft voice significantly different than Katrina's bright tone, "I missed you. Where did you go?"

​​I face her and give her a small smile. "To the notary. I had questions to ask Hardenbrook."

​​Katrina queries, "And did you learn anything of interest?"

I share a glance with young Masbath, and then flick my eyes to Katrina, a faint smile tugging at my mouth. "Perhaps."

If I tell them of my deductions about their father, I may very well lose their trust completely. Their fondness of family is difficult to work around when facing this impossibly intricate investigation.

​Katrina purses her rosy lips in contemplation. "Our father—"

​​Startled by her statement, I repeat, "Your father?"

​​Katrina gives me a suspicious look and a curt nod. "Yes. Our father thinks you should return to New York."

I raise my chin and look at her. Truly, this only confirms my suspicions of him being my prime suspect, but I can't help feeling a bit hurt by his request. I haven't been able to fully acquaint myself with Mary, and Katrina. More so than anything, I am a bit irritated. "Really? Why is that?"

I walk up to her, where she stands next to my table to see what she has been reading, only glancing for a moment. It's my opened ledger.

​​Katrina smiles, although it seems rather bitter behind her expression. "I don't know. Perhaps he looked in your ledger and did not like what he saw."

My eyes travel to the ledger. Embarrassment flushes through me as I see the very page of my deduction of the two ladies' father. I close the ledger.

I lift my eyes to Katrina as she asks, "What have you there?"

Her eyes are trained onto the documents beneath my arm. My hand reaches for the folder involuntarily. "Evidence. I'm sorry, I must ask you—"
​
Mary speaks up in haste, "Then we'll leave you to your thoughts. Come along, Katrina."

I glance at Mary, troubled by both of their distant behaviors. Mary casts me an apologetic smile as she turns toward the door, which makes me assume that it was Katrina's idea to snoop around my room and belongings. As they leave, I face my desk and slip the documents from Notary Hardenbrook into my top drawer.

I face the door as Katrina shuts it behind her, then look to young Masbath. My focus shifts around my room once more, thinking of how to continue with the investigation.

I freeze as my eyes settle on the most horrifying eight-legged abomination I've ever seen.

Before headless horsemen and mutilated corpses, I despise spiders first. Not even small ones are tolerable.

I yelp and immediately step up onto my desk chair in extreme desperation to get away from the horrible thing. I point at it with a trembling hand.

"It's just a spider," young Masbath says with a small shrug, confused with the terror I quiver in.

"Kill it! Kill it!" I demand to young Masbath, ignoring his blunt observation. He crouches to look underneath my bed for it. I think better of my demand to kill the horrid creature. I get a grip and tell him, "No, no, stun it!"

Young Masbath lifts the bed's covers from the floor, peering beneath it. He says with a frown, "There's something under here..."

I glance between him and the bed, clinging closely to the sturdy wall. Curiosity bests me, but I still don't budge from my position. "What is it?"

Young Masbath stands up, and casts a minute glimpse at me as he grabs hold of one of the bed posts. "Help me move the bed."

Still far too frightened and uncomfortable, I shake my head. "No no, I mustn't."

He lifts his eyes to mine, both amused and annoyed with my seemingly unrealistic fear. I whisper encouragingly, "You do it."

Young Masbath moves the bed over, the wood scraping against the floor. Once the bed is moved, young Masbath reveals a strange drawing on the floorboards. A pentagram, with a ghastly looking eye in its center, etched out in pink chalk. I furrow my brow, forgetting the spider that sits within the pentagram for a moment as I try to understand what this drawing means.

Witchcraft.

Young Masbath however takes a couple steps back in shock. In a hushed murmur, he tells me, "The evil eye! It is someone casting spells against you."

I look at young Masbath and ask him, "The evil eye?"

If I am having spells cast against me in the midst of this already supernatural case, then it is clear that I am getting close to the truth.