Parts 26-27

        I stepped out on to the terrace, mincing my way carefully between the jungle of plant life. The thin layer of marble tiles that comprised the floor was thin and cracked in places, a few of the stones slightly out of place, revealing some dark material that must have been an adhesive. The rooftop patio was maybe ten feet by fifteen or twenty, but that was a pretty rough guess. Potted plants must have completely surrounded the edge of the thing, I couldn't see at all where - or if - there was a rail or anything to mark its edges. I had no idea what most of the plants were, though I made out some roses in the mix, and there were maybe ten or so ornamental trees, which couldn't grow all that large, but had definitely exceeded their expected boundaries, having been unpruned for so long. I pushed my way gently through the plants to the edge of the balcony, finding an iron fence to match style seen everywhere else, about four feet high. I pushed at it lightly, but it seemed sturdy enough still. I stood there for a few minutes, looking out over the small clearing, trying to imagine how the gardens must once have looked... but it had been too long, all I could see was a wild tangle. I took a few pictures, mostly framing the tower of the main entryway against the sky, but also some of the half-wild flowers spread out below.
        As I turned back toward the villa, I saw a second door I hadn't noticed before, next to the one I'd come through. I headed toward it - but my foot got caught on a vine, I tripped and crashed hard on my knees. Terrified, I checked my camera - but I'd managed to hold it up and keep it from smashing into the marble tiles. Only then did I inspect the damage I'd managed to inflict on myself. Just a small new tear in my jeans, some scrapes on one hand and an elbow. I sat there for a minute, getting my heart rate back under control.
        I was half afraid this door would be locked as well, but the knob turned easily, and I opened the door to find a set of stairs leading upward. It felt less cold here than other places in the house had, and I decided this was probably because it was exposed to a lot more sunlight, so it must warm up pretty well during the day. The short set of wooden stairs led to a single room, which took up the whole of the tower, a bit of railing blocking off the floor from where the stairs came up through it. There was a window on each wall, arched like all of the rest of the ones in the house, covered in incredibly delicate, airy lace curtains. These had yellowed a bit with the years, though they had probably once been some shade of white. The golden wood of the floor boards was left bare, apart from one rug in the center of the room, with a few embellished throw pillows resting on top of it. A chaise lounge of dark wood and ivory material was under one window - the one where the afternoon sun was just beginning to spill in, actually, and I realized that the whole room was probably designed with that very light in mind, since everything was oriented on that window, the curtains barely interrupted it, and even the walls were painted a warm ivory. The only dark things in the room were the few pieces of furniture, the railing, and a few cross-beams on the ceiling, which were all of the dark wood present through most of the villa.
        I was about to turn and head downstairs - it was a pretty little room, but not much to see, once I'd taken a picture of the sunlight drifting lazily down onto the lounge seat. But as I brought the camera down from taking that shot, something caught my eye, and I realized the walls weren't quite bare after all. There was something on the wall beside the sunlit window, only off to the side where the light wouldn't actually reach it. (Actually, given the placement of the windows, it didn't look like sunlight would ever touch it.) Some dim shade of brown... suddenly my eyes went wide and I bounded up the stairs and across the room. Photos!

        They were very old, and I wasn't actually sure what kind of process had been used to make them. There were several prints, in very thin and delicate gold frames. A few had very high contrast, but the darkest areas actually had a shine to them, a metallic look, when looked at from certain angles. All of them had a slight sepia cast to them, but the smaller ones - only two inches or so square, so several were mounted into frames together - were much softer, with less contrast, gentler edges to the images. These must have been done with a cheaper method, they hadn't held up quite as well as the metallic ones, and the paper looked less sturdy. A few shots were close-ups of flowers, actually very nicely done, but the rest...
        The rest were portraits.
        None were very large, but I was pretty sure the technology limited the size of prints anyway that long ago, I knew that the whole plate process, the "negative" was the actual size of the eventual print, so photographers had to cart around these pieces of glass or metal or whatever, depending on the process. Film didn't turn up until... actually about the turn of the century, I thought, what was the guy's name, who founded Kodak and basically the whole idea of consumer-level photography... Eastman? He'd lived not far from here, Rochester I was pretty sure, I was annoyed with myself for not remembering more. The Brownie camera, though, I knew that was the first real amateur grade camera, and I was pretty sure it had used film. Ha, and here I'd thought the whole history portion of my photography classes were pointless.
        Finally I shoved aside all my mind's distractions and leaned in close, barely daring to breathe, studying the faces in the old photographs...
        It was a couple, a man and a woman. In the largest photo (which was still only maybe a five by seven print), she looked incredibly young, maybe eighteen, nineteen? He looked... I frowned a little, unsure. He was definitely way older, but I couldn't decide just how old he was. His face was fresh and unlined, ridiculously handsome actually (and she was absolutely angelic looking), but... something in his bearing, he seemed much, much older. His eyes, too, something in his expression, it looked like he'd really been through a lot. But his arm was around her, wrapping protectively around her shoulders, and she seemed completely at peace leaning into his side. I couldn't make out very many details, the image was awfully dark (it was one of the metallic ones), and pretty small, but the clothing on both of them seemed to be very expensive, her dress was covered in ruffles and lace and all sorts of girliness. I didn't actually know a thing about menswear, but he was in a suit, no tie, but a white shirt underneath, with one of those frilly-things at the neck. It didn't look at all ridiculous or pompous like you would expect, though, it looked very elegant on him. She had long hair that fell in loose curls past her shoulders, some medium shade of hair, not really light or dark, as best I could guess. His hair was very dark, and combed neatly back. She had a very open, sweet look about her, while he seemed... kind of imposing, actually, not outright evil or anything, but definitely someone with a strong enough presence that you'd feel awfully nervous about having to talk to him.