by Curry, Edna
“The fire marshal is done, so we’ve been cleaning up the ash debris. Then we’ll start taking down the silo.”
“I sure hope there are no more incidents.”
He grinned. “I’ve asked a couple of my trusted employees to take turns keeping watch at night from now on. They can use the overtime and I’ll feel better. I hope that solves the problem.”
“Good.”
He picked up the bill the waitress had placed on the table. “Ready to go?”
“Yes. I’d like to get in a couple more hours of sorting books yet tonight.”
He paid the bill and they strolled out into the warm, starlit night to his car. As they drove back to the farm, he said, “Would you like some help with the sorting?”
She glanced at him. “You don’t have to do that. Really, you must be tired after your long day.”
He parked in front of the farm house. “I’m not in the least sleepy. And I love old books. I’d like to see what Horace collected.”
She laughed as they went inside. “My uncle was a religious nut. He had weird tastes. I doubt you’ll find his collection interesting. It’s mostly Bibles, concordances and history. Though I’ll let Ms. Robards look through it to see if she wants any of it.”
“Any of the history books have to do with our area? She’d probably want those for the historical society’s collection.”
Jan shrugged, “Some of them might be. I didn’t think of that. I’m going to change back into jeans before I start sorting.”
“Okay. I’ll get started.”
***
Over a rise in the road overlooking the farm, the man with binoculars focused on Jan and Kyle entering the farmhouse. Mosquitoes buzzed around him in the warm summer night. He swatted at them each time a pinch meant they’d found a bare spot to bite him. In the distance a dog barked and a coyote answered. He ignored them, intent on the young couple.
Damn it, he went in the house with her again. Did they have something going already? He’d hoped she’d just look at the house and send all the household stuff off to Goodwill or something. But, no, she was actually saying she was sorting through everything herself. And staying there at night instead of staying in the motel in town. That complicated things for him. He’d thought their secret was safe after all these years. Horace should have lived another twenty years or more. The Bible promised a lifetime of three score years and ten, but Horace had died short of that, screwing everything up. Had Horace left any evidence for this snoopy woman to find? All this was Horace’s daughter’s fault. Her sins had started it all. Her shame had led to theirs and more.
He shifted uncomfortably at the memories. He’d never forget his part in it. The devil had definitely had the upper hand that night, over both Horace and himself. He’d worked double time in his church many years to make up for it, but his weakness lived on in his memory. He’d valued money over doing the right thing and he’d never be free of that sin, no matter how many prayers he said or how many good works he did. He’d tried to erase the memories from his mind. He and Horace had never mentioned that night afterward, just pretended it had never happened. He wished he could his bury thoughts so easily.
A light clicked on in the downstairs bedroom and then another in Horace’s library. What were they doing in there? Why didn’t they just go to bed in Esther’s bedroom together? There was nowhere to sleep in the library, they must be snooping in there, going through Horace’s papers and books. What would they find, if anything?
Why hadn’t he thought of this possibility and gone through Horace’s stuff sooner? He’d wasted months when he could have gone through stuff and made sure Horace had left nothing to incriminate him. Why had he trusted that their secret was safe? Dumb, dumb, dumb.
His tricks weren’t scaring off the new developer, either. He’d thought it would be easier to stop the project and keep the farm as farmland. But, no! Laura had to go sell the farm to the highest bidder! Damn her anyway. The Hollywood bitch had no sense of proper Christian use for Horace’s land.
He turned his binoculars to the blackened area at the bottom of the hill where the barn had stood. The trucks had cleaned the area well. According to the drawings in the weekly newspaper, they would put a large swimming pool where the barn had been. The soot-smudged silo rose high in the moonlight, a lone sentinel against the night sky. Would it go down next? Fear tightened his gut at the thought. Time was running out for him.
Damn Horace for not leaving a better will directing what could be done with his farm. Now the problem had fallen to him to stop the changes coming and prevent the scandal that would follow. But he could deal with it.
The bribes to get workers to leave hadn’t scared this Kyle off. The fire hadn’t worked, either. He should have burned the house instead of the barn. Now the sheriff was suspicious and had brought in the state fire marshal. What evidence had the marshal found? He didn’t dare risk another fire, did he? He’d have to think of something else to get Kyle and this woman to leave. Something better.
***
Jan stepped into the library and gasped. Kyle sat cross-legged on the floor with Esther’s family Bible open in his lap.
“Oh. That’s Esther’s family Bible. Why did you bring it in here?”
Kyle looked up at her and frowned. “I didn’t. It was laying here on the desk, open to the family records page.”
“But I left it on the end-table in the living room. Remember? We talked about it just before we left to go into town for supper.”
“Yeah, I guess we did. I forgot about that. So how did it get into this room?”
Jan swallowed hard, staring at him. “You’re not playing a trick on me? I mean, because I said I saw Aunt Esther in the rocking chair upstairs?”
Kyle got to his feet, laying the Bible aside on the long wooden library table. “Jan, believe me, I’d never do something like that. I don’t have a malicious bone in my body.”
“Really?” She tried to smile. “I thought all boys loved practical jokes. You used to pull my pigtails in grade school. You didn’t put frogs and garter snakes in your sisters’ beds?”
He shook his head. “I never had a sister. And my dad would have paddled my backside if he’d heard I’d done something like that at school.”
Jan sank into a wooden chair beside the long table. “Then how did that Bible get in here? Was someone here while we were out?”
Kyle chewed his lip. “I didn’t see any evidence of it. The door was still locked as we left it. Let’s walk through the house to see if anything else seems out of place or missing.”
They walked through all the rooms, snapping on lights as they went and checking everything from top to bottom. Nothing else seemed different.
Kyle checked the locks on all the windows and doors as they went, but all seemed in order.
Mystified, they returned to the library. “Maybe I’m losing it,” Jan said. “Maybe I did move it myself and just forgot.”
Kyle sent her a disbelieving glance. “Hey, am I losing it at the same time? I was in the living room and saw the Bible there right before we left, too, you know.”
“Yeah, I know. So, are there really ghosts? Did I really did see Aunt Esther upstairs the other day?”
Kyle shrugged. “I don’t know. I have no experience with paranormal things.”
“Neither have I. But if she’s here and moved the Bible in here because she knew we’d we working in here, why? What does she want to tell us?”
Kyle stared at her. “You really think that’s possible? Can ghosts pick up things and move them around?”
“Who knows? Do you have a better explanation?”
“No.”
Kyle ran an impatient hand through his curly brown hair, leaving it even more disheveled than it had been. Jan’s fingers itched to smooth those curls, but she restrained them. “Well, let’s get back to work.” With a sigh, Jan turned away from him, took an armload of books from the shelf and brought them to the table. She began sorting them into piles. Bibles and con
cordances, Bible references, various books on theology and collections of sermons.
She also found a few mysteries and even some NYT best-selling novels.
“Nice to know he did read something besides religion,” Kyle commented, adding another collection of sermons to the box of religious works.
“Yeah, but notice that most of the novels say, ‘Oprah pick’ on the cover. She liked novels that ‘taught a lesson.’”
“So they had that in common, I guess,” Kyle agreed.
“Yeah. Nancy used to dread her father’s lectures worse than any other punishment,” Jan said. “She would do almost anything to avoid those sermons, as she called them.”
“Even disappear?” Kyle guessed. “Could that have been why she left?”
“Who knows? But the big mystery was why she never let her mother know where she was. She and Esther were pretty close.”
Kyle’s brows dipped in thought. “Would she be afraid that Horace would find out her whereabouts from Esther and come after her?”
Jan eyed Kyle. “Maybe. I never thought of that. Horace was pretty domineering. And Esther always seemed to give in to his demands rather than stand up to him about anything. She was pretty timid.”
Jan flipped through yet another Bible, noting the highlighted passages. “An eye for an eye,” she read. “Yeah, that was Horace all right. He believed all the old testament rules and forgot about the new testament’s focus on forgiveness and redemption.” She snapped the book shut and tossed it into the already full box. “Better start another box for the religious stuff. I doubt even Goodwill will know what to do with all of these.”
“This shelf seems to be mostly Minnesota history,” Kyle said, pulling down several volumes. “I’ll bet Mrs. Robards will want these.”
“Good. Put them in this box. I’m glad to find a few things for her.”
“Yeah. Have to keep the old biddy happy,” Kyle said, his voice heavy with sarcasm.
Jan glanced at him. “You don’t like her much, do you?”
“No. She’s cost me a lot of money over the years.”
“Cost you money? How?”
“She stopped one of Dad’s road-building projects because they would be removing an old rock and cement foundation of a house, they found buried about six feet underground. She got an order for them to stop work while she tried to get the state historical society to declare that the foundation should be preserved.”
Jan laughed. “That’s ridiculous. Did she think tourists would come to look down in a hole in the ground to see an old foundation?”
Kyle’s mouth twisted. “I know. It’s funny now, but it sure wasn’t at the time. Stopping the project cost Dad a lot of bucks in wages and work time lost until they ruled on it.”
“So, how did they rule?”
“In favor of Dad, as everyone but Mrs. Robards expected.”
“Thank goodness some people in authority had common sense.”
“Yeah.” Kyle stood and stretched.
“You’re tired,” Jan said, standing as well. She tried not to notice the way his muscles rippled under his tee shirt. The man was seriously buff. How she wanted to run her fingers along those muscles. They looked hard as a rock. She swallowed hard. “We’d better get some sleep. I’ll work on this more tomorrow.” She eyed the rows of shelves they’d emptied. “Thanks for helping me. We made some good progress, didn’t we?”
“Sure did. Goodnight.” He headed back to the living room where he’d been sleeping on the sofa.
“You don’t have to stay here, you know. You’d get a better night’s sleep in your own bed.”
“I know. But I wouldn’t sleep there anyway, worrying about what whoever is pulling these stunts is up to next, and whether you are safe here. You don’t mind my staying?”
Jan shook her head. “I appreciate it. Just feel guilty about it.”
“Well, don’t. It’s my choice, okay?”
“Thanks. Goodnight.” She smiled and went down the hall to the guest room Esther had used.
***
Hours later, Kyle awoke to muffled screams. He sat up and listened and heard another scream, then crying. He threw back the blanket, pulled on his pants, and ran down the hall, following the sounds to the bedroom he’d seen Jan enter the night before. He tried the knob. It opened easily. He reached inside to snap on the light and entered.
Chapter 7
Inside, Jan tossed on the bed, crying and moaning, but still asleep.
“Jan?” He moved to the bed and sat on the edge, shaking her gently. The soft scent of her strawberry shampoo combined with warm woman teased his nostrils and sent desire for her surging through him. “Jan, wake up!”
Jan’s eyes flew open and she sat up and looked around. “Wha..at?”
Kyle cautiously moved back. “You were screaming and crying in your sleep. Were you dreaming?”
She swallowed and nodded, then rubbed a hand across her wet face.
He handed her a tissue from the box on her night table. “Did you dream something bad? You were crying…”
“Yes,” she said wiping her face with the tissue and blowing her nose. She shuddered.
“Care to talk about it? Sometimes that helps.”
She leaned back against the pillow, closing her eyes. “It was awful. Nancy was running and screaming and a big man was chasing her.”
“Did he catch her?”
Jan nodded and wiped her nose. “She fought him, crying and screaming, but he hit her with something and, and…”
“And then what?”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, God. I think he killed her.”
“Why do you think that?”
“He kept hitting her on the head with a big stick and saying, ‘you deserve to be punished.’ And then she stopped moving. And she was all bloody. Oh, my God, Kyle. Nancy’s dead. She didn’t run away. She’s dead.” She dropped back against her pillow and closed her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Jan, you were only dreaming. Listen to me.” He reached over and shook her until she opened her eyes and stared at him. ”Listen to me, Jan. It was just a dream. It wasn’t real.”
She sat up. “Yes, it was. I heard Aunt Esther crying and I started crying too. She knows Nancy is dead. That’s what she’s always crying. That’s what she’s trying to tell us. That Nancy is dead.” Jan broke into tears again.
Kyle pulled her into his arms and held her close until her sobs were spent.
“There must be some way to find out if she’s still alive somewhere,” Jan said, lifting her head and looking at him. “When I get home, I’m going to try searching for her on the internet.”
“Good idea. If she hasn’t changed her name, you should be able to trace her.” He rubbed a hand along her back, realizing she wore only a thin summer nightgown. Her skin felt warm and smooth under the cloth. The room suddenly felt stifling hot. Horace had never put in air conditioning.
Jan nodded and smiled, obviously feeling better. “Even if she married, there should be a record somewhere. I mean, you have to buy a marriage license and use your real name,” Jan said. “You’re right, it was only a dream. But I can check it out and see if she’s out there somewhere. Even if I have to hire a private detective. Maybe, after all this time, she’d be willing to make contact again.”
“True.” Kyle met her gaze and couldn’t look away. Her eyes were wide and her lips parted in anticipation. He couldn’t stop himself. Leaning forward, he touched her lips with his. When she didn’t pull away, but met him with a sigh of pleasure, he pulled her close and deepened the kiss.
“I’ve been dying to do this all evening,” he muttered.
“Me, too,” she answered, snuggling closer.
Then his lips trailed down her throat, tasted her earlobe and found the rapid pulse below it. Her hands reached up to cup his head. She brought him closer, then eagerly kissed him back.
She grasped his hair and raised her chin to allow him more access to her throat and below it.
With a groan, he laid her back onto the bed and found a nipple through her thin cotton nightgown. It pebbled hard in his mouth, and she arched up to him. His mouth suckled first one, then the other nipple, and the action sent his pulse racing and enlarged and hardened him down below. Aching need for her rippled along his veins, urgently hurrying him on.
The nightgown was in the way. Reaching down, he shoved back the sheet and brought the nightgown up to bare those delightful globes to his hands. She raised up and pulled the gown over her head and tossed it onto the floor, then reached down to run her hands over his chest and abs.
Feasting greedily on her bare skin, he rained kisses all over her torso, making her squirm in pleasure. Her hands sent waves of pleasure through him and his member responded. He groaned as she pushed his pants down. He helped her by kicking them off, leaving him bare and exposing a very erect hard-on. She giggled. “I’ve been wanting to pull down your pants ever since grade school.”
“Oh, yeah? Why?”
“It seemed the perfect payback for all the times you pulled my pony tail.” Her fingers circled him and slid up and down, tempting him onward. “I’m glad I waited until we’re older. Just look at my reward. She leaned down to kiss the tip, making him gasp and pull away.
Sliding down between her legs, he spread them wider, glancing up to see her reaction as he touched his tongue to her center, teasing and taunting her. “Oh, my God.” She dropped her head back onto the pillow and closed her eyes in pleasure, her hands grasping the sheet on either side of her.
Grinning, he continued to tease her, using his hands and mouth until she went taut and gasped aloud as her climax overcame her. He pulled away for a moment, searching for his pants pocket and the foil packet there. Quickly he rolled it into place.
He rose above her, took her mouth in a searing kiss, then entered her wet, hot center with one smooth stroke and stopped, holding himself deep inside her. “Oh, that feels so good,” he gasped. “You feel like you’re grabbing me inside.” Slowly, he began moving in the age old rhythm of love. Leaning down, he nibbled and suckled each breast in turn.