Marja McGraw - Bogey Man 03 - They Call Me Ace (6 page)

Chapter Ten

Returning to the house, I found Chris in the kitchen pouring himself a glass of water.

“Um, Chris, your mother and I are going back to the old house.”

“Swell.” He took a gulp of his water and choked on it.

I patted his back.

“Do you want to go with us? I don’t think your father’s going along, but I thought you might want to.”

“Nah. I was hoping Ma would deep six this idea, but it looks like she ain’t gonna do that. Guess I’ll just dummy up and let her have her way. I could flap my lips until a week from Sunday, but she ain’t gonna listen to me. But if you get in that house and start feelin’ goosy, I – ”

“I don’t think there’s anything there to make me feel jumpy, but I’d leave if something felt wrong. You know I would.”

“Yeah, but would Ma?”

“Why are you calling her Ma?”

“I don’t have a clue. I guess it comes with her attitude. Sometimes it just seems to fit. Besides, she keeps calling me Junior.”

Okay, now he was being silly. It’s amazing how sometimes our parents can turn us back into children. I shook my head and went in search of Mikey. He was still in the backyard with the dogs. I watched them for a moment before returning to the kitchen.

“How about this? What if we take the dogs with us? Would that make you feel any better?”

“That’s aces, as long as you keep them with you. Don’t let my mother talk you into leaving them in the car.”

We walked out to the motor home and shared our plan with Chris’s parents. Judith smiled and Chris Sr. grunted.

He needed some tools for a repair in the motor home, so he and Junior headed for the garage. I had to admit that calling Chris by the nickname Junior did help lessen the confusion of having two men named Chris in the same house.

Deciding I could put my household chores on hold, I grabbed the dogs’ leashes and headed back to the yard again, ready to talk to Mikey and put the leashes on the dogs.

“Mikey, your dad and grandfather are going to work on the motor home. Would you rather stay here with them and do some guy stuff, or go with Grandma Judy and me back to the old house?”

He glanced at my hand. “Sherlock and Watson are going with you and Grandma?”

I nodded. “Your father thought we’d be safer if they want along.”

“I’m going with you guys.” He took one of the leashes from me and attached it to Watson’s collar.

Sherlock began doing a doggie dance so I put his leash on him and headed toward the garage. It was time for a
bye-bye
, and he was winding up to drag me down the driveway.

“Heel,” I said. He started to pull, so I gave a quick, sharp tug on the leash. He stopped pulling and fell in step beside me.

“Chris,” I called, “we’re leaving now.”

He walked out of the garage and gave me a kiss. “Please be careful, Pamela. Don’t let my mother talk you into anything you’ll regret.”

“I’ll have Mikey with me, so you can be sure I won’t do anything that might put him in danger.”

Mikey’s head swiveled back and forth between Chris and me. “Is this going to be dangerous?” His face looked hopeful, but then he was only seven. What did he know about danger?

“No, it’s not. We’re just going to explore the old house.”

Chris rolled his lip under in true Bogey fashion, and tugged on his ear. “Ace, I’m expecting you to watch out for your mother.” Chris handed Mikey his cell phone. “If you find yourself in a jam, just call me. Don’t let anything happen to her, and don’t let your grandma make a sap out of you.”

“Yes, sir! Me and the dogs’ll keep Mom and Grandma Judy safe. You can count on us.”

I smiled. My little hero. Chris patted Mikey’s back and returned to the garage.

I backed the Jeep down the driveway and we waited for Judith. Mikey and the dogs managed to fill the back seat, and my son giggled when the dogs got excited and licked his face. I watched them in the rearview mirror.

We didn’t have to wait long for Judith. She climbed into the car and settled on the front passenger seat. “Okay, let’s get this show on the road.”

I reached over and touched her arm. “Patience.”

I pulled out of the driveway and headed toward the restaurant and the old house.

“What do you expect to find in that place?” I asked.

“I have no clue, but it fascinates me. It reminds me of a house where you’d find hidden passageways.”

I could see excitement on Judith’s face, and I had a feeling that she never would have thought this if it weren’t for

finding Kimberly’s body in the house. It was wishful thinking on her part, but who was I to burst her bubble?

“Grandma’s right, Mom. I know we’re going to find something there. I can feel it in my bones.” Mikey leaned forward, putting stress on his seatbelt. He was just as excited as Judith.

“Me, too, Mikey,” Judith said. “We’re going to do some exploring, like real detectives.”

I would have rolled my eyes, but I was trying to concentrate on the traffic. I drove past the restaurant and everything looked as it should. What did I expect? Burglars climbing out of the windows? Turning at the corner, I headed two streets over to the old house.

Max was waiting in front for us. He walked over and opened the door for Judith. “Good morning, ladies. Aren’t you glad the storm moved on through? You’ll be able to see the house better without all the clouds darkening the sky.”

I looked around and saw new clouds moving in. They weren’t close enough to block out the sun yet. I could smell moisture and realized that the ground hadn’t dried. The front yard hadn’t been kept up, and wet leaves covered the grass, or what should have been grass.

Judith took Max’s hand as he helped her out of the car. “My, what a gentleman. Chris Sr. doesn’t do that anymore. I’m lucky if he opens my door, much less helps me out of the car.”

I could tell Judith was sucking up to Max. Sometimes it takes a woman to recognize another woman playing a man. Judith wanted something, and she was working for it.

“Max, we’d like to spend some time in the house. If you have anything else you need to do, you could let us in and come back later.” She said it so sweetly, and yet I knew she was giving him the brush off. She wanted him gone.

“Why, I do have some other houses to show. How long do you want to explore the house?”

“Oh, let’s say at least a couple of hours,” Judith said.

Max looked surprised, but he didn’t argue with her. “I’ll come back around noon. How does that work for you?”

“Perfect.” Judith looked up at him from under long lashes. For a married woman, she could flirt with the best of them to get her way.

Max headed up the walkway to unlock the door.

Judith leaned over and whispered in my ear. “Pamela, leave the dogs in the car until he leaves. I don’t want them to screw this up for us. If he thinks about those big dogs running through the house, he might change his mind about leaving us here alone.”

I nodded. “Mikey, climb up into the front seat and get out through the front door. We’ll come back for the dogs.”

He did as he was told without asking questions.

Max walked back down the walkway and handed Judith a key. “If you get done early, just lock up and leave the key over the door, if you don’t mind.”

“We will, and don’t rush, Max. We might be here for some time.” Judith smiled up at him.

He narrowed his eyes at us. “You’re not planning on doing some treasure hunting, are you? Because I can’t have that. I don’t want you tearing up the house, you know.”

“Why, Max, whatever gave you that idea? I just want to really look through every nook and cranny and see what kind of work needs to be done here.” The look of innocence on Judith’s face could only be rivaled by the look of innocence on a newborn baby’s face.

Again, I wanted to roll my eyes, but I didn’t want Max to see me. So I lowered my head and crossed them. Mikey saw me and grinned.

Max took off in a hurry. I guess he really did have other appointments.

“Okay, you can let the dogs out now.” Judith had taken charge.

Sherlock leaped out of the car, but fortunately I had hold of his leash. I handed it to Mikey. Sherlock was actually the better-behaved dog of the two, most of the time. I reached in and took hold of Watson’s leash. She could be a handful when she wanted to be.

We took one last look at the outside of the place before entering.

“I believe there’s a basement in the house,” Judith said. “Why don’t we start there and work our way up.”

“Because the basement is probably full of black widows.” I hated dark places that might be filled with spiders.

“I brought gloves and bug spray.” Judith had brought a backpack instead of her purse. She set it on one of the tables that had been left behind and opened it. “I also brought some baseball caps. This stuff should protect us.” I studied the backpack. It looked heavy, and full.

Mikey grinned and took one of the hats from her, putting it on as he reached for a pair of gloves. “Good thinking, Grandma.”

Giving up, I grabbed one of the hats. I pulled my long auburn hair up and pulled the hat on over it. No spiders were going to make a nest in
my
hair.

“Okay, let’s find the door to the basement. Pamela, you lead the way.”

“Me?”

Judith nodded and I headed for the kitchen. I figured there might be a doorway there that led to the cellar. And I was right. One door led to the outside, and a door on an interior wall led to a set of stairs. I leaned over and looked down, into the dark.

“We can’t go down there. We won’t have any light.”

Judith pulled three small flashlights out of her backpack.

This time she saw me when I crossed my eyes. “Careful, Pamela. They might get stuck that way.”

“Oh, my gosh! Is that a standard line for mothers?” My own mother used to tell me the same thing when I rolled my eyes.

Judith smiled but didn’t reply. She held her hand out to indicate I should go down the stairs first. My heart sank. What were we getting into?

“Be careful, Mom.”

What were we getting
Mikey
into?

I tested the first step and it seemed sturdy. At least the staircase had a handrail. I shook it to see if it was sturdy. It was. I carefully tested the next step, and turned back to Mikey and Judith, or Ace and Mom, or whoever they were at the moment. “You two stay upstairs until I know this staircase is safe.”

I shined the flashlight down and saw that the wood of the next step had a split in it, although it wasn’t split all the way across the board. I decided not to chance it and skipped that step, going to the next one. Two dogs whizzed past me, looking for some trouble to get into. Considering their combined weight equaled around one hundred ninety pounds, I figured the rest of the stairs were probably in good shape.

I didn’t see any spiders or spider webs as I descended the stairs. Maybe the Realtor had cleaned, at least a little. How could they show the house if it was full of bugs? I saw a canister and realized they’d set off a bug bomb. I picked it up so the dogs wouldn’t get it.

Stepping off the last step, I slowly swung my flashlight around the room. There were boxes stacked everywhere. I could see the shapes of furniture under old sheets, too.

“Come on down,” I called out, “but watch out for the third step. Judith, hold Mikey’s hand so he can bypass that one.”

I turned my light toward the dogs. “Sherlock and Watson,
come!
You keep your noses out of those boxes. The

last time you got too curious in a cellar, you found a stiff.”

Chapter Eleven

Glancing up I saw a hanging light with a chain. I pulled the chain and we had light, although not a lot of it.

Judith ignored me and began tapping on the walls. Mikey followed suit. The dogs, also ignoring me, started investigating, sniffing each box as they padded past them.

“What on earth are you doing?” I asked, turning to Judith.

“I’m checking to see if the walls are hollow. What did you think I was doing?”

Hollow? She was actually hoping to find a secret passage or hidden closet.  “I wasn’t sure, but you could have been testing to see if the walls are sturdy.”

I didn’t know whether to cross my eyes or roll them, because I suddenly realized that basically I was babysitting two dogs, one child and one
aging
child.

Briefly I thought about my own mother who would have been back at the house sipping tea and talking about her neighbors. She’d never dream of looking for hiding places. She might be a little boring, but at least she was safe and sane.
She’d
never lead me astray.

Shaking my head, I approached the boxes and pushed Sherlock out of the way so I could took a good look. The containers were labeled, and I could only hope the labeling was accurate. I saw the top box of the first stack had
Dishware
written on it. I opened the box and found paper napkins – the kind you’d find in a diner. Assuming they were protecting the dishware, I started pulling them out of the box. There were no dishes. I found stacks and stacks of paper napkins, and under those were more napkins. Sometimes seniors save the oddest things.

I glanced at the dogs. They were now sitting side by side, panting. While Watson sat primly, every bit the female of the pair even though she was panting, Sherlock sat with his long tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth, making him look dopey. He had a half grin on his face and he was watching me intently. He might look silly, but I knew he was always alert.

I moved to the next box, which was labeled
Dish Towels
. Opening the box, I found soup bowls. I sighed, realizing I shouldn’t be opening the boxes and going through them.

Suddenly the dogs sat up straight with their ears slightly back and their noses testing the air. They stood and walked to the bottom of the stairs. Sherlock hunched forward, looking upward.

Judith saw how the dogs were acting and took hold of Mikey’s hand, moving to my side.

“
Who’s down there?
” a loud male voice yelled.

“
Just us chickens
,” Judith yelled back.

I slapped my hand over her mouth and whispered to her. “Judith, that could be the killer, for crying out loud.”

She pushed my hand away and the corners of her mouth took a sharp downward turn. “I didn’t think of that.”

I pulled Mikey over and pushed him behind me. “Who’s up there?” I called, trying to sound authoritative.

“It ain’t chickens, that’s for sure,” came the reply. I saw

a foot move onto the top step.

“Stay right where you are,” I ordered. “I have two yellow Labs down here and I’m not afraid to use them.”

I heard the man chuckle. “Yellow Labs? What’re they gonna do? Lick me to death?” The man knew Labs and he took another step. I decided I wouldn’t warn him about the third stair, just in case he was a bad guy.

The dogs were on alert, but the hair on their backs wasn’t standing on end. I hoped this was a good sign. Their noses were still twitching as they sniffed the air.

The man came down the stairs far enough that the light shone on him, and he stopped. “What’re you ladies doing down there?” He appeared to be around fifty, with longish salt and pepper hair. He looked tall, but I couldn’t tell much with him on the stairs and us standing at the bottom.

“Who are you and what do you care?” Judith asked.

“I’m the next door neighbor. I see that the Realtor isn’t here, but you are, so what’s going on?”

“The realtor let us in,” I replied. “He said we could explore the house until he returns. Are you watching over the house?”

“I am since they found that little girl’s dead body. I’m not too thrilled about living next door to the scene of a crime.” He walked the rest of the way down the stairs. “Or didn’t you know that someone was murdered in this house?”

“We know. Did you know Kimberly?” I asked.

“Not well, but yeah. And she was a nice young lady, from what I could tell.” He stood in front of the dogs now, and I’d been right. He was over six feet tall, and slender with the beginnings of a pot belly.

The dogs wagged their tails, which gave me some relief. They were generally pretty good judges of character. I trusted them, usually. There had been one time when their judgment had been out of whack, but it wasn’t really their fault. Long story, better left in the far reaches of my memory.

“So what are you women looking for?”

Mikey stepped out from behind me and took a defensive stance.

“My mistake,” the man said. “What are you women and the young man looking for?”

“We’re not looking for anything in particular. Since so many things were left behind in the house, we’re curious. That’s all.” Judith looked up at him, defying him to argue with her. For some reason she seemed to be on the defensive with the neighbor. I assumed she didn’t want him to know she’d been looking for a secret compartment.

“And what’s the name of the Realtor who let you in the house?” He was still suspicious.

“Max,” Judith and I said in unison.

The man’s shoulders seemed to relax. We’d passed his test. He held his hand out to first me, and then Judith. “I’m Mark Stanford.”

We shook and he reached out to Mikey, who gave the man a very firm handshake. I had a feeling my son was trying to let Mark know he was the man of the house, at least for the moment. “How do you do?” my son asked.

I saw Mark’s eyebrow raise slightly. “I’m doing well, young man. Are you keeping an eye on these women?”

“I am, and they’re not doin’ anything wrong.”

I almost laughed. His reply had been as good as saying we were snooping and doing all kinds of things wrong. Turning, I saw there was no guilt on Judith’s face, although there probably was on mine. She didn’t seem to see anything wrong in poking through the house.

Mark looked past me, and I knew he was eyeballing the opened boxes, but he didn’t comment.

“Are you thinking about buying this old house?” he asked, looking me in the eye.

“
I’m
thinking about it,” Judith said, drawing his attention away from me. “So let’s try to get off on the right

foot, just in case we end up neighbors. Okay?”

Mark smiled and his face smoothed out. “Okay.”

“Well, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get back to work. I’m trying to see just how solid this place is, and so far it doesn’t look like it’s falling apart, even if it does need a little work.” Judith seemed to be dismissing the man.

He wasn’t having it. “Marguerite Turnbal was a classy woman. You be careful with her things.”

A flag went up and I knew I wanted to talk to this man. “Judith, why don’t you and Mikey keep exploring while Mr. Stanford and I go upstairs and talk?”

She looked at me with a question in her peepers, but turned and took Mikey by the hand again without asking what I was up to.

“Let’s go upstairs, Mr. Stanford. I have a few questions that you might be able to answer.”

“Please call me Mark.” He held his hand out toward the stairs, indicating Ladies First.

“Okay, Mark, what can you tell me about the woman who lived here for so many years?” I talked over my shoulder as I climbed the stairs, hanging onto the handrail.

“What do you want to know? Anything in particular?”

“Let’s start with why her things are still in the house.” I walked through the kitchen and out to the formal dining room. Pulling out a chair, I sat down.

Mark pulled out another chair and sat across from me. He ran his hand lovingly across the surface of the mahogany table before answering me. He knew quality when he saw it.

“After Marguerite died, her two daughters couldn’t decide what to do with the house and her belongings. One daughter wanted to keep the house for sentimental reasons, and the other one wanted to sell it. They argued about it for so long that the house fell into disrepair and they finally agreed to sell it. I have no idea why they left their mother’s things here.”

“Didn’t the daughters want their mother’s antiques? There are some nice pieces here,” I said, glancing around the room.

“There wasn’t really any sentimentality about the house or its contents. Setting aside the story the daughters tell, truth be told, the daughters were really fighting about who’d get the lion’s share from the sale of everything. They were greedy to the point where they wore each other out and decided to let it all go. Marguerite left them each a hefty inheritance, but in their minds it wasn’t enough.”

“Marguerite was wealthy?”

“She made quite a bit of money over the years. She was a crafty old gal and never told anyone exactly what she was worth. The daughters have been living high off the hog since Marguerite passed, and they won’t tell anyone their worth either.”

“How did Marguerite make her money?” I asked.

“I think you’ll figure it out if you go through her things down in the basement.” Mark had a cryptic expression on his face. “I think you’ll enjoy the treasure hunt in this house. Margy had renovations done to the place while her husband was still living.”

“It doesn’t look like the house has been done over,” I said.

“Not that kind of renovations. Margy wouldn’t tell anyone what work she was having done, but one of the construction people had a big mouth. The things he told me might make for some interesting… Never mind. Just have a good time looking around.”

“We’re not looking for treasure. Honestly. We don’t know a thing about Marguerite, so we didn’t know she was a woman of means.” I paused and thought for a moment. “Do you think what you’ve told me could have had something to do with Kimberly’s murder?”

He frowned. “I hope not. Although Marguerite would

have thought so.”

“Why?”

“You’ll find out.” Abruptly, he stood up and shoved the chair in. “I have to go now.”

“How do you know so much about Marguerite and her daughters?” I asked.

“I grew up next door and when my parents died I inherited the house. I’ve known the family since I was a kid.”

Without another word he walked out of the room and left me sitting by myself.  I watched his back until he was out of sight, and I heard the front door close with a firmness that wasn’t quite a slam.

What the heck was that all about?