McConnell House

1912 Part 1

Chief Jim “Cappy” Hook was not a patient man.

“And if any of you blue bastards try to stop our engine going to a fire, you'll be liable to be run down. So stay out of our way!” Cappy yelled into the phone before slamming down the receiver.

Earlier that day a police constable had pulled over the fire departments new chemical engine for going too fast. During a training exercise, the engine reached an astonishing forty miles per hour, what no one had seen before. The training exercise was put to a stop by the police constable, who warned the firemen not to go that fast again, or they would be charged.

This did not sit well with fire chief Cappy Hook. The moment his men told him what happened, he let police chief George Moony have a piece of his mind. He would also get his way. Cappy Hook always got his way. And to make sure he did, his next call was to Mayor Feelers.

“Operator get me Mayor Feelers.” Cappy said.

“Yes sir. You do know it is 1 in the morning?” the operator replied.

“Do I sound like a blundering idiot that doesn't know how to tell the time? The mayor, now.”

“Right away sir. Go ahead.”

“Bob? It's me, Cappy.”

“Hi Cappy, how are...”

“Yes yes Bob, great. You need to pass a law allowing my boys to drive the new chemical engine as fast as they want. You also need to make sure that blockhead Moony stops interfering with my training.”

“Moony, what is...”

“Thanks Bob. I'll talk to you later.”

Bob would find out sooner then later what happened, and he would take the appropiate steps to get the law passed and Moony slapped on the wrist. Just to make sure Cappy would attend the council meeting tomorrow to make sure everything went according to plan.

“Jim, what is it?” a sleepy voice said from the doorway of the den. Standing there was Cappy's wife of 9 years, Martha.

A short slender woman, with brown curly hair, and brown eyes, she couldn't have been in more of a contrast to tall Cappy, with his blond balding hair and green eyes. The differences didn't end in physical appearance. Martha was soft spoken with an almost meek personality. Cappy was out spoken, boisterious to the point of rudeness. But at the same time people couldn't help but like him.

“It's that bloody Moony. His men have been harassing mine. Doesn't the damn fool know we have to be in tip top shape to do our job? Not to mention we just got that chemical engine from Indiana, we need to train on the damn thing! Pardon my french.” Cappy said.

“I'm sure they are just doing their job Jim.” Martha replied.

“What they are doing is making a damn nuisence of themselves, that's what they are doing.”

“Yes dear. How about we go back to bed?”

Cappy got back up and followed Martha out of the room.

“By the way dear, have you talked to Mayor Feelers about the McConnell place?”

“Yeah, the sly bastard won't go down on his price. But I'll work on him Martha, he'll bend to my will in no time, like he always does.”

“Oh good. It would be nice to have a bigger place. But I do have some doubts about the house, with its short dark past.”

The McConnell house was unlucky for its first owner, Richard McConnell. Rumours flew everywhere. First an Indian boy's body had been found on the construction site. Then when the house had finally been completed, McConnells wife had collapsed at the place, passing on later that night in the hospital. Later that night McConnell killed a sergeant of his in self defense on the property. His bad luck didn't stop there. A year later McConnell remarried. His new wife got pregnant three times, and all three times she miscarried. At the same time McConnell was going bankrupt from bad investments, and the RNWMP had sent men to investigate his activities.