I laid this letter on the table in the living room and thought about its contents. I haven't used esoteric methods in a long time ... and now I have to get involved again?
But they ask me for help. I don't know what to do? If I'm in town tomorrow, I can stop by their office for a while. Maybe they are not making a good day out of me and their interest in my services is correct. Maybe I'll take care of it, although I planned to end this forever and stay only while writing my short stories. The next day was Wednesday. The May weather outside was more like autumn than spring. It was pouring in one piece and the city was still under heavy dark clouds. Nature somehow didn't want to wake up to the spring weather. I took a slow step to the city and even thought all the way about everything. When I reached the square, I stopped at the fountain and considered again for a moment if someone was making a fool of me. After a while, I said to myself that I would only find out when I checked it out, so I went to the office as described in the letter. I went up the narrow floor to the first floor, and there really was a door with a mansion sign on it. I knocked on them and a young woman, probably a secretary, opened the door for me.
"Good day. I received a letter from you, so I came to see your boss for a while. I want to talk to him if he has time for me."
A woman, about 25 years old, in a costume that fit her perfectly and depicted the graceful curves of her body, so she looked more like a model, smiled fondly at me.
"Of course it will be, we are all waiting for you! We believed that you would not reject us. Come on, let me like you, I'll report you to the boss right away and he'll see you in his office."
I sat down on the couch and waited a moment for what would happen. The secretary entered the next room and returned a moment later with a smile on her face.
"Our boss is waiting for you, come with me to the office next door. If you like it, you can come in."
I entered the office, which housed a fairly small and elderly man in a dark suit, making him even smaller and giving him the appearance of a student on a desk rather than a director who runs the entire institution.
"Welcome, Brandon! Or, Branko? I don't know how to address you, since you also have a writer's name?"
"Feel free to address me, Branko. That's my maiden name. I don't mind."
"All right, Branko, I'm the director of this institution and the entire renovation project. My name is Richard. Please sit down and I'll make you a coffee right away, I'll tell my secretary ... I've set aside an hour for you so we can discuss all the necessary steps. I believe that we will reach a final agreement and we will be able to start solving the whole thing tomorrow."
I did not object and sat down in a black leather chair by the window. Director Richard went to the front room and watched through the door as the secretary turned on a modern silver coffee machine. The director was still flipping some papers in his hand, and it was clear that he was excited about my arrival. He said something to the secretary, and she looked at me here and there inconspicuously, just out of the corner of her eye.
The manor house in the historic center of Michalovce is a typical aristocratic residence and has long been the main residence of the Sztáray family. It is located on Kostolné náměstí 1 in Michalovce near the Kerta city park. The Sztáray family became the owners of this beautiful manor house in the eighteenth century and their descendants lived here for two hundred years. The manor house, as well as the buildings in the area have undergone several building modifications. Even before that, several centuries earlier, there were important aristocratic residences in this area. To this day, the building has preserved both Baroque and Classicist architectural elements (from its reconstructions). In connection with the manor, of course, there are several legends circulating. In one legend about this manor house there are also mentions of a white lady who walks through the manor house through the walls and the like at night. This scene was nothing special at the time and often frightened the inhabitants of such mansions or castles. The concept of a white lady is also of interest to me and I plan to do so in the near future. But this story was not about a white lady. It was related to the testimony of several people who saw a mysterious woman in a period dress walking around the visiting room at night in the immediate vicinity. At first it was not at all clear to me why right there and not in other parts of the manor. I decided to watch everything, check it thoroughly and I believed that I would work towards a satisfactory result, I would find out what a strange phenomenon it is. It was already quite urgent, as more than half of the employees refused to work during the night shifts, which greatly complicated the whole situation during the renovation work.
The cold weather was unpleasant outside, even though it was the first of May 2021. It was still raining and it really looked different than in the previous one years. That May day was basically ordinary, dull. I had to prepare a plan for the whole event. Well, as I thought about it, I understood that the case is completely different from the previous one. It was actually impossible for him to prepare a plan or any procedure. I had no idea where the ghost was coming from, what it meant to be appearing, I didn't know the direction my research and mystery should go. It was simply a step into the unknown. I thought I would have to improvise and follow what and when happens. Director Richard and I have agreed on permits and other procedures that may arise in various unexpected situations. I didn't want to disappoint his expectations and we both knew there was a lot at stake.