Chloe filled the car with petrol so I decided to take a look around the village. The sky was turning a dark shade of grey which told me that rain was coming. I found myself wandering over to the stone statue in the middle. It towered over me blocking out the sun.
'Louie Howard 1981' I read beneath his feet.
Why does this village have a statue dedicated to this man?

I walked back over to Chloe who was trying to get signal on her phone, "I'm going to go and visit the library, I won't be too long."

"Cool, I'm letting Jade know we will be with her soon."

The library was a beautiful small squared brick building with flowers outside. There were a few people scattered around, more than I initially expected to be here.
I approached the lady behind the desk and asked where I could find information on this village in the past thirty or so years.
She led me to the history section at the back and handed me a book which included a few newspaper cuttings. I thanked her and sat down at a table to read it.
I skimmed through the cuttings and nothing stood out. I started to flick through the historical book with the history of the village and found a set of black and white grainy photographs.
Originally I didn't realise but upon checking it twice I recognised the man in one of them.
Standing with what looked like a psychiatric patient was Louie Howard.

I squinted to read the caption underneath the photo but couldn't quite make out what it read; the words were scribbled out with a black pen. I picked up the book and took it over to the librarian who I spoke to before. She seemed very kind so I hoped she could help me out with this. She greeted me with a welcoming smile and asked if I needed help with anything else.

"I am trying to work out who Louie Howard is. I found a small clipping about him but can't see what's written under the photograph."

"Unfortunately I don't know anything about the man. I can ask one of my colleagues Carol. She's lived here since she was a small girl."

She went into the office behind her and came out a minute later with an older looking woman who I presumed was Carol.

"Hello sweetie, what can I help you with?"

"Hey, I was hoping you could tell me who Louie Howard was?"

"Louie Howard was the owner of the mental asylum in this here very village."

This was shocking news to both me and the other librarian.

"Poor old Louis turned mad himself in the end. But he did a lot of good for this village. When I was younger my siblings and I became homeless and he looked after us. We were never associated with any of his patients mind you. When neither of us could sleep he would play us a wonderful song on his piano."

That reminded me of last night, when I entered my room I heard the soft sound of a piano playing. A sudden chill shot down my spine.
Carol looked concerned and asked if I was okay.

I hesitated, "Last night my friend and I stayed at the B&B and before I went to sleep I heard the faint sound of a piano being played."

She paused and her face turned a deathly white. "I'm sorry but I have work to do." She gathered a pile of books and walked back into the office.

I thought that was strange and looked at the clock on the wall.
Realising I'd be longer than expected I thanked Carol for her time and left the library to return to Chloe.

A loud rumbling of thunder crashed overhead.
We looked up and a flash of lightning filled the sky.

"Come on, let's hurry back to the B&B and pay so we can set off before the weather gets worse."

We made our way back whilst being careful to avoid murky puddles.
Before entering I took one last look up at the darkening sky, it looked as if there was a dreadful storm coming.

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