by Marja McGraw
Not wanting anyone to know what I was doing, I crept to the edge of the window frame. I studied the ground, looking for footprints. Bending at the waist, I continued looking for signs that someone had recently walked under the window.
That’s when things went terribly wrong.
Bubba ran up behind me and playfully knocked me down. At the same time, someone finally got the window unstuck, threw it open, and poured out a pail of dirty water – I groaned. No point in trying to keep the secret now.
I stood up with water dripping from my hair and face. Bubba seemed to think it was a game and he pranced around me, trying to get me to include him. My shirt was soaked and stuck to me. I didn’t even want to think about what might have been in the dirty water.
My mother’s head popped out of the window. “Sandi? What the heck’s going on out there?”
“Nothing. Just nothing. I’m going to your motorhome to use the shower. I don’t care if I use up the last of the water or not.” I sulked as I walked away from the window. One last look over my shoulder and I was annoyed. All of the women stood and laughed. It was a big window. I saw four faces watching me.
Bubba still pranced around me, grinning his stupid doggie grin.
“Get out of my way, you big dope.”
My ire didn’t even faze him. When I entered the house, I slammed the door in his face.
I made my way, by some miracle, to the right stairs and found the room Pete and I were staying in. Clean clothes and a shower would renew my formerly good mood – I hoped. I gathered dry clothes and shampoo and headed back outside.
Reaching the motorhome, I took the quickest shower I could, including washing my hair, since I knew the water supply was limited. When I walked outside wearing clean clothes and with my hair pulled back in a ponytail, I found my mother was waiting for me at the picnic table.
“What were you doing under the window?” she asked.
“You won’t believe me, Mom.”
“Try me.”
“Before the rest of you came into the room, I saw someone watching me through the window.”
She looked alarmed. “Do you mean someone other than one of our group?”
“I do. The window was too dirty to see much, but it looked like a woman with long blonde hair. I wanted to see if there were footprints outside the window without telling everyone I’d seen something.”
“You were afraid it was a ghost.”
“Nooo, don’t be silly. But why would someone watch us through a window? The private eye in me just couldn’t let it go.”
“And what did you find?”
“Not a thing. There weren’t any footprints.”
“Okay, in all fairness, Sandi, the dirt out there was hard, wasn’t it?”
I pressed my lips together for a moment before replying. “That’s the thing. There were no footprints and it was soft, thankfully, since I landed hard after Bubba pushed me. If someone had been outside, there should have been prints. Speaking of the big lug, have you seen him?”
“Yes, and I think you hurt his feelings. He was headed toward Pete with his tail between his legs. He was just trying to play with you.”
Great! Just what I needed – guilt. “I’ll make it up to him.”
She handed me some doggie treats. “Take these and go find Bubba. Then come back inside and help us. That is, if you’re through fooling around.”
“Fooling around? Someone was peeping. Don’t you want to know who it was?” I was almost, but not quite, incensed that she’d think I was goofing off.
“I’ll ask Racheal if there’s a woman with long blonde hair who lives around here. Now I’m going back to work. See you upstairs. We’re done with the room we were working on when you…” She laughed and walked away without finishing her sentence.
I sighed before going in search of Bubba. Calling his name brought immediate results. He’d been lying at the front of the motorhome and approached me slowly, probably wondering if he was in trouble.
“Come here, Bubba,” I said softly. “You’re a good boy. I know you were just playing.” I held out a treat.
He glanced into my eyes before taking it, and his tail began waving like a flag in a windstorm.
“Yes, you’re my good boy.”
I’d be devastated if anything ever happened to him. He’d been my friend for a long time now. He was a throwaway who’d adopted me. It didn’t matter if I wanted him or not, because he’d made up his mind he was going to live with me in my big old house. We made a pretty good team.
I scratched his head and he threw himself on the ground, rolling onto his back. He was ready for some attention.
I didn’t have time. “Come on, you can spend some time inside with us. My mother will baby you while we work, not me.”
We walked through the garage and the Arizona room to enter the house. Before we got halfway through the kitchen, Bubba sat down with his head up and began listening. To what, I had no idea, but he was listening intently. I stopped and watched him. His nose twitched a few times. I listened, too, but I couldn’t hear anything.
Suddenly, he stood and continued through the kitchen, as though nothing had happened. I figured he must have heard the women working upstairs, even though I couldn’t hear them.
They’d moved up to the top floor and I found them hard at work.
“You made quite a picture,” Zoë said. She pointed at Felicity. “She did it.”
Felicity’s face turned red. “I didn’t know you were out there. How could I?”
I laughed. “It wasn’t your fault. I should have let you all know I was outside.”
“What were you doing?” Racheal asked.
I glanced around the room, avoiding the question. “Where’s my mother? Didn’t she come back?”
Felicity shook her head. “No. I haven’t seen her since we were downstairs, working on the other room. Is something wrong?”
“I’m sure everything is fine. I’ll go look for her.” I didn’t feel as confident as I sounded.
She should have been back before me.
Chapter Thirteen
Since our volunteer cleaning crew was working in the room next to the one Pete and I were using, I could only go downstairs.
Bubba followed me down one set of stairs to the main floor.
“Mother?”
She didn’t reply.
Bubba sniffed the air.
I walked through the rooms looking for her, realizing we’d hopped from room to room. We hadn’t swept the other two bedrooms on the main floor – just the one where I’d seen a face at the window.
I descended again, to the apartment on the lower level.
“Mother?” I called again.
She didn’t reply, so I searched each of the rooms with Bubba dogging my steps. No Mother. I was beginning to worry until I realized she must have gone to see how the men were doing. I hurried out through the sliding glass doors of the apartment, walked past the swimming pool and outdoor kitchen, through the Arizona room and the garage and out to the corrals. Bubba raced ahead of me.
My mother wasn’t there.
“Pete?” I motioned him aside. “Have you seen my mother? I can’t find her. I’m a little worried because someone was peeping in at one of the windows earlier.”
“Someone was doing what?”
“I saw a woman watching me work through one of the windows. Now I can’t find my mother.”
“She hasn’t been out here since lunchtime. Do you want me to help you look?”
“No. This is such a big place, she could be anywhere. If I can’t find her I’ll come back for help.”
“Are you sure?” My husband looked concerned, mirroring my own face.
“I’m sure. I’m probably just being silly.”
“Let me know if you find her. Or if you don’t. Why is your hair wet, and why do you smell so clean?” He leaned forward and sniffed.
“Long story. I’ll tell you about it later.”
I walked back to
the house with my canine friend still following me, searching the horizon for a small figure with soft brown hair. Nothing. The only place I hadn’t searched yet was the basement, and I couldn’t think of any reason she might be down there. Nevertheless, I picked up a flashlight someone had left on the countertop in the kitchen and headed for the door leading down to the dank space below.
Opening the door, I saw a light in the far corner.
“Mother?”
“I’m here,” she replied.
With relief flooding through me, I thought about all the exercise I was getting from climbing up and down stairs while I went to meet her. “What are you doing down here?”
“I can’t really explain it. It’s the weirdest thing, but since you mentioned the face at the window, all I can think about is this cellar. Well, it’s certainly more than a cellar. Obviously this room was used as a game room.”
She pointed her flashlight at a light fixture hanging from the ceiling.
“That would have hung over a pool table, don’t you think?”
I nodded. “What made you think of the basement?”
“I have no idea.” She aimed the flashlight at several different areas before walking to the block wall I’d noticed earlier – the one with the stains on it. She studied it, moving the light from corner to corner.
“What are you looking for?” I asked.
“Nothing in particular. You know, if this room was in a movie, there’d be a dead body hidden behind those blocks. I mean, really, why put up a block wall down here? It doesn’t seem to serve any purpose.”
“Are you trying to scare me again?” I asked.
She followed the outline of the stains on the wall with her flashlight. “No, but now that I think about it, let’s get out of here.”
“It won’t seem so spooky once the lights are working.” I followed her up the stairs with Bubba leading the way. “Really, Mom, there’s nothing out of the ordinary in the basement.”
“But why does the wall have stains on it? It’s an inside wall so there’s no roof to leak.”
“Let’s see what’s over the wall upstairs. Maybe there was a leak in the kitchen or something. Or maybe it’s under the laundry room. A washer could have broken and flooded the room, leaking to the basement.”
“No, the block wall isn’t near any of those things.”
She wasn’t hooking me with her hair-brained suspicions. There was no body behind the block wall, and there was a logical explanation for the stains.
I left her and Bubba in the family room while I ran outside to tell Pete I’d found her. I yelled, “Pete! I found her,” across the yard.
Looking up, he waved before going back to work.
Once again, we climbed the stairs to the bedrooms on the top level. Felicity, Zoë and Rachael had finished the smaller room and were carrying Pete’s and my belongings out of the master bedroom so they could start cleaning it.
With five of us, we’d worked out a system. While two of us swept, the other three washed down the floors. We switched off because washing the floors was hard on one’s back.
The men came in to see how we were doing. They’d finished the corrals, which consisted of pre-made panels that simply had to be assembled. Of course, they had to cut down brush and smooth the ground out a little before they could assemble them.
Stanley was beginning to look sunburned, so Felicity got some lotion from their luggage and made him put it on. He sputtered something about “real men” not needing lotion, but she stood her ground.
The men left us to our work while they began another project. Frank wanted to fix the hole in the ceiling while the others began working outside again.
After finishing the upper floor, including bedrooms and the bathroom, we gave up. It was late afternoon and everyone was exhausted. We plopped our behinds on the floor in the family room.
There was a knock on the front door and my mother groaned when she pulled herself up to answer it. The plumber and the electrician were checking in before leaving. She walked outside and talked to them while the rest of us sat like vegetables in a patch, too tired to even speak.
She returned shortly. “The plumber said he’s got the well working. He’ll hook up lines tomorrow and we’ll have running water. He said the water out here is full of minerals and all kinds of things, and we might want to consider putting in a water purification system, but at least we’ll all be able to take showers tomorrow night. And the electrician has part of the power working, including a new hot water heater, so we’ll even be able to shower in hot water.”
“The whole house will be hooked up that soon?” I asked.
“No, not the whole house. Just the little apartment and part of the main floor. They said it will be a few days before everything will be up and running.”
“It sounds like quite a job,” Zoë said.
“Someone broke in and stole a lot of the wiring and copper pipes,” my mother explained. “They’re having to replace a lot of equipment, too.”
“I wish we’d seen what was going on.” Racheal shook her head. “Unfortunately, unless we’re outside we don’t see what’s going on over here. And they must have come during the middle of the night when everyone was sleeping.”
Mother tsked. “The things some people do are shameless. Let’s go outside where it’s cooler. I sure hope they can get the air conditioning working soon.”
“Me, too.” Felicity was far beyond wilted.
My mother took her hand. “Come on. I’ve got iced tea out in the motorhome. We can all relax out on the patio.
“Where did you two disappear to earlier?” My little friend raised her eyebrows at us. “It’s not like you to walk away from hard work.”
“Well, we certainly weren’t ghost hunting,” my mother said a little too quickly.
I sighed, deeply but quietly.
Chapter Fourteen
Felicity’s eyebrows dropped and she looked stunned. “You weren’t what?”
“Mooother, why would you even say that?”
“Well…”
I briefly explained the face I’d seen at the window. “Racheal, do any of the women around here have long blonde hair?”
“I can’t think of anyone, other than me, and I was with the other women when you saw the face.” She grinned and fluffed her hair. “I have naturally blonde hair. The desert sun seems to bleach hair, so the other women don’t try to dye their hair blonde. Besides, most of the folks out here are old.”
Before I could stop her, my mother asked, “What about Barbara? What color was her hair?”
“I saw a picture of her once, and her hair wasn’t blonde. It was closer to black. Of course, she could have dyed it.”
“Okay, maybe I imagined I saw the face.” I knew what I’d seen, but there was no reason to keep this conversation going. “After all, those windows are so dirty, and we’re all tired.”
That seemed to satisfy everyone, except maybe Felicity. She knows me too well. And, of course, my mother knew better.
“Well, we’d better get going.” Racheal stood and stretched. “I’ve got some animals to feed and veggies to water. By the way, we won’t be able to come over tomorrow because we’re driving to Las Vegas to do some shopping, and maybe a little gambling. I might come back the next day though.”
“Oh, Racheal, I can’t thank you and Zoë enough for your help.” My mother stood and hugged the two women, in turn. “This was far and above the neighborly thing to do. I didn’t expect this much help, but I sure appreciate it. Please, don’t feel obligated to come back though.”
Zoë smiled and bent over to return my mother’s hug. “Livvie, as hard as we worked, I still had a good time. Micah and I will be here for a few more days, so we’ll be back.”
We walked outside with them while they told their husbands they were heading back to the little farm.
The men were studying a large cement area in the back, outside the Arizona room. It was near the pool and outdoor kitchen.
Micah and Tyler broke away and left with their wives.
“I can’t imagine what purpose this served,” Frank said. “I think we need to break it up and get rid of it, and maybe put something else in here.”
Pete nodded. “Yeah, it looks so out of place. We can work on that tomorrow.” He rubbed his back and I knew he was tired. I could see he was favoring the leg he’d broken several months ago, too.
Stanley nodded, trying to look like one of the guys. Actually, he looked like he was dreading the new job.
Bubba sniffed around the cement, seeming to understand it was the subject of the moment.
My mother jabbed me in the arm, speaking behind her hand. “Looks like another good place to hide a body.”
Not only did I sigh, but I rolled my eyes.
“What?” Felicity asked. “What about a body?”
“My mother was joking,” I said. “She seems to be seeing hiding places for bodies everywhere she looks. You know how she’s been trying to scare us.”
Felicity looked relieved. “Let’s have some of that iced tea you mentioned, Livvie. My back is killing me.”
“I’ve got some salve in the motorhome that should take care of your back pain. I’ll give it to you at dinnertime.” As usual, my mother had come prepared.
I hadn’t given any thought to bringing something like that. “Speaking of dinner, I’ll do the cooking tonight. I’m thinking wieners and beans.”
“Sounds good to me. I bought some macaroni salad at the store yesterday, and some fresh fruit salad that should go well with wienies and beans.” Felicity rubbed her back and sat on one of the chairs we’d brought to the outdoor kitchen. “Wouldn’t it be nice if everything was working and we could cook here on the patio?”
I nodded. Looking up, I saw Tyler opening the front gate and heading our way, motioning me to meet him. “I’ll see what he wants. You stay here and relax.”
By the time I met him, he was halfway up the driveway. If you came in at the side of the property like we’d done when we arrived, it was almost like a little road in front of the lot. If you came through the front gate, it was merely a longish dirt driveway. He’d come in through the front.