Melissa Ruger smiled as her client showed up.  The smile was genuine, which wasn't always the case.  It wasn't due to any lack of friendliness, but rather that real estate can have clients that were, well, "difficult", as one of her fellow realtors put it.  A pain in the ass would be the more realistic assessment, Melissa thought.

However, Ned Samson was not one of those clients.  He was easy to deal with, had actually sane expectations, and was knowledgeable enough that it shouldn't be very hard to sell him a suitable property.

He had come from his job as a welder, and she was almost amused, since he didn't look the type.  He was smaller, thin, with features she'd almost call soft (if that was the right word for it).  He looked like he should be an accountant or something less physical.

Comparably, she looked exactly like one would expect of a younger realtor.  Pretty, but not model pretty and smartly dressed in a blue skirt suit, hose, and heels.

She put that aside he walked up to her and smiled warmly.

"Ah, Miss Ruger," he started.  "Sorry about being a little late.  Some touch-up work that had to be done."

"I understand."  She said, meaning it.  It was an industrial town.  This was by no means the first time this had happened to her.  "So, shall we?"

"Yes, thank you."  Ned said, walking with her to the door to the house.

She unlocked the door and opened it for him.  He walked in, with her following, and both found themselves in an entryway with a closet nearby.

"So, do you want me to show you around?"  She said with her best smile.

"If you don't mind, can I take a quick look myself?"

"Sure."  She said.  She'd be close if he had any questions about the place.

"Thank you."  He said.

She noticed he kept himself within her line of sight, and, if he looked as if he was about to enter a room, she moved so she'd be able to keep tabs on him.  It wasn't that she didn't trust him, rather that she didn't trust anybody.  It was never a good move to let a client be out of your sight.  He noticed too, and she was happy that he seemed to be deliberate in his movements to allow her to do this.

He moved to go down a hallway, but stopped.  He looked at the one door.

"Bathroom?"  He asked.

"Basement."  She said.  "Partially finished."

"Nice."  He said.  "Mind if I go down?"

Melissa agreed, and he opened the door, walking down.  Now, with a basement, she had a couple of options.  She could let him just be down there himself or go with him.  Neither was exactly a great option.  When you're alone with just one other person, one should always be extra cautious.

She decided for the moment to let him go down by himself.  Past the stairway, she lost sight of him as he turned into the finished part of the basement.  No more than twenty seconds later he walked over to the unfinished part, which had the door to it open.  He then came back up just a few seconds later.

His smile was gone, replaced by something else.  He wasn't mad, but she could tell something  was bothering him.

"Do you have a question?"  She asked.

"Uh, yeah, so, I noticed something weird about the basement."

"What?"  She asked.  She hoped beyond hope that something didn't break or that the inspector didn't miss something.

"Well, this is weird, but is there more to the basement?"

"Does it seem to small?"

"No, the opposite.  It doesn't go under the garage, does it?"

"It shouldn't, no."

"Well, it does."  He said.  "At least three or four feet."

"Uh, Mr. Samson..."

"Ned, please."  He said.

"Ned, it should be flush with the kitchen.  I was down there, I didn't see it."

"It definitely does."  He said.  "Look, I do like this place.  But, if there is more to this house, I mean, I am going to need to know, if for no other reason than to know what I'm buying.  I'm not asking you to go down there now, but I would talk to the inspector again."

Melissa thought about calling the inspector, but decided against it.  She sighed, and called another realtor named Sarah Ambridge.

"Let's wait for Sarah."  She said.  "I kind of want to see. this."

Sarah was there in twenty minutes.  She had not been showing a house or at the office and her leggings, ankle boots, and hoodie reflected that.  But, her appearance wasn't exactly the most important thing at the moment.  Sarah had a great eye for detail and, most importantly, if there were any issues, Melissa knew that her and Sarah could handle it.

All three went down and Sarah looked to where Ned was pointing.  She looked at him, looked at the wall, and she laughed.

"I think we need to talk to that inspector.  How in the hell did he miss this?"  Sarah said, surprised.

"Sarah!"  Melissa said.  She was about to say more until she saw Ned chuckle a little at Sarah's comment on the wall.

"So," Melissa then said, deciding to just see what Sarah said.  "What is wrong with it?"

"Besides that it's three feet into the garage?"  She asked.  She walked up to the concrete and knocked on it.  Melissa and Ned stopped in their tracks.  It wasn't concrete.

"So, that' s not a load bearing wall."  Sarah said.  "It's way too thin for that.  There's something beyond that wall."

"Oh great."  Melissa said.  She had to put away the smiling realtor routine for a moment.  "So, we have a room there that shouldn't be there.  That's not alarming or anything."

"Well, this is the part of the story where we should probably just go back upstairs."  Ned said.  "Obviously, a secret room does change my plans for buying this house."

"You two are looking at this in the worst way."  Sarah said, still looking at the "wall".  "This could have money, or something valuable."

"Or it could be a murder room."  Melissa said.

Sarah knocked on the wall a couple of more times, smiled, then took a step back, took out a knife, and gave the "wall" a cut.  It was nothing more than thick paper textured up and painted to look like a wall.

Before Melissa could object, Ned helped Sarah rip away a large chunk of it.

"You two just, we just damaged the property!"  Melissa said, surprised at Sarah especially.

"No we didn't."  She said.  "I guarantee you no one will fine you.  Besides, it was like this when you came in.  That's all you know."

Melissa was about to object to Sarah's suggested "recollection" of events, but stopped when they opened up a big enough space to see into.  The light switch in this part of the basement must turn on the lights on this side because the room was fully lit.

What they saw was what looked more like a display room than anything found in a basement.  There was an open central area and six machines, two against each wall in the room.  The room, beyond obviously not having been used for some time, looked clean and tidy otherwise.

"You know, maybe you do need to give that inspector a call."  Ned said.  "He missed some shit, pardon me for saying."

"Yeah, I noticed."  Melissa said with no tone.  She was too surprised by this.

"Someone was proud of these, or was."  Sarah said . "I mean, look at the care they took to display them."

"I wonder why they put this cover over this room."

"Well, if they wanted them destroyed, I mean, they would have.  Or, if they really wanted these sealed off to the world, you wouldn't do this.  It's almost like they didn't want to see them, but couldn't bear to get rid of them."

"Do any of these, whatever these are, I mean to say, I wonder if these are props, prototypes, failed designs..?"  Melissa said, looking in.

"No idea."  Sarah said.  "But, this is where we need to stop.  Even I won't risk this."

"Yeah, good idea."  Ned said.  "Let's go."

They turned to leave.  Sarah was just out of the door to the unfinished part when Melissa turned off the light switch.  In a move that surprised all three of them, the door slammed shut.  Sarah went to open it, only to find that it wouldn't open!  She heard them trying to open it, with them trying to talk to her, though it was muffled enough to not easily make out what was said.

Just as she was about to try to use her knife to see if she could force the lock (she hoped that was what was keeping them from opening it) she, even through the door, could hear something starting up.  She could also hear from them sounds that she didn't need to know the exact words for.  She knew panic and fear when she heard it.

She tried, but found it wouldn't open.  Their voices grew in panic, and she heard them start to yell, with Melissa almost screaming.  Then, suddenly, the screaming stopped, but not the machinery noises she heard.

Fuck this, she decided.  She ran upstairs and was in her car in seconds.  By chance, Melissa had caught her mid-drive after going shooting with some of her friends.  Her shotgun was still in her car, along with some solid slugs she had bought for hunting deer once they were in season.

She was back down in the basement, loading the shotgun as she went.  In a former life, she was a police officer and knew how to breach a door.  She knew that there was considerable risk with what she was about to do, but she figured it was much better than doing nothing.

Two shots and a good donkey kick and the door was on the ground.  She turned on the light and walked in.

In her shock, she almost dropped her shotgun.  Melissa was standing there on heeled feet, unsteady, legs wobbly.

Except, though, it wasn't actually Melissa!  Sarah looked in shock, seeing Ned's male head where Melissa's should be!  She saw what was Melissa's collar was askew, and she could see stitches where the neck and body meet.

She couldn't see Melissa's head or Ned's body.  She wanted to ask Ned, but, somehow, she just couldn't form the words.  Nothing seemed to come out.

It was Ned who broke the silence.

"I, I think something is very wrong..."  He said, obviously in shock.

Understatement of the year, there, dude, Sarah thought, still having trouble speaking.  Maybe the understatement of the decade.