by B. J Daniels
“Are you having second thoughts about the house?” he asked.
“No.” She softened the abrupt answer with a smile. “The house apparently has a past, one that the locals think precludes anyone living here—maybe especially me.”
“What kind of past?” he asked, although he knew only too well.
“It was some kind of boys’ ranch for troubled youth years ago,” she said. “I think the boys might have been abused.”
“What makes you think that?” He warned himself to be careful. He was on shaky ground.
“Just things I’ve heard,” she said noncommittally. “You don’t seem surprised by that.”
He shrugged. “I heard some rumors.”
“You don’t think they’re true?”
He caught the hint of hopefulness. She wanted him to tell her nothing horrible had happened in this house. He wished he could. Not even he could lie that well.
“It was a long time ago, right?” he said and narrowed his gaze at her, only half kidding when he asked, “You’re not worried that the house might be haunted, are you?”
“I don’t believe in any of that nonsense. I just feel badly for the boys.”
He wondered if she would if she knew some of them. It wasn’t just ghosts that came back to haunt a place.
“I wish I could find out if any of them survived what happened to them here,” she said wistfully. “It would make me feel better.”
He doubted that a whole lot. “I can’t see that it could make any difference when it comes to this house. You can’t change the past.”
“I suppose not,” she agreed.
He studied her. The house was getting to her. “You can always unload it if you change your mind about living here.”
“Is that what you would do?” she asked, her gaze intent on him again.
“It’s not my house.”
She turned to the window, staring out as if she could see the boys out there in the yard, before she turned to him abruptly. “You never said why you stopped out when you did.”
He could see that she was still guarded with him. He said the first thing that came to his mind. He’d come out here hoping she wouldn’t be around so he could look the place over again in the daylight. Digging was out of the question—except at night, when no one was around.
“I nearly forgot,” he said, winging it. “Everyone in town is talking about something called Whitehorse Days? I suppose you’ve been?”
“Whitehorse Days?” she repeated, her face seeming paler than before, the light dusting of freckles popping out like stars on a clear night.
He knew then that she’d found the blood oath that Roy Vaughn had made everyone sign. He had wondered if it still existed. He swore silently. The damned thing had everyone’s names on it. Well, almost everyone’s.
“I heard it’s a fun time,” he said, rattled by the realization. No wonder she had looked so spooked.
“If you like cotton candy and carnival rides and farm animals and baked-goods contests.”
“Do you like that sort of thing?”
She seemed surprised. She let out a small laugh. “Actually, I do.”
He knew she was waiting for him to ask her out. Hell, he almost did. What was he thinking? Instead he turned at the sound of a vehicle pulling up in the drive. “Appears you have company. I saw some wiring coming into the house that looked kind of funky. I was just going to take a quick look. Wouldn’t want the place to catch fire and burn down.” No, wouldn’t want that.
He ducked out the back door, surprised how much making a date with her to Whitehorse Days appealed to him. But what would have been the point? He’d either be finished here and long gone by then…
…or he’d be dead.
Chapter Seven
McKenna looked out to see a pickup she recognized pull into the drive. Eve was behind the wheel, Faith in the passenger seat. McKenna had never been so happy to see her sisters.
She felt off balance. First the man who’d called himself Hal Turner and then Nate Dempsey almost asking her for a date. Or had she just imagined that?
Worse, she was seriously considering taking him up on his offer—not just a trade for work on the house but his staying out by the creek that meandered through the property. Until she moved in, at least. Someone to watch the place.
Glancing back through the house, she caught a glimpse of Nate. He appeared to be doing just what he’d said—checking the wiring to the house. She felt a wave of gratitude that was quickly replaced with concern.
Maybe he was just who he seemed to be—a nice man who wanted to help her. Why did that alone make her suspicious of him?
Because he wanted more. She could feel it, and her instincts told her what he wanted had something to do with this house. And yet she was about to invite him to camp by the creek? Had she lost her mind?
Maybe, she thought as she turned and walked through the house to meet her sisters. Or maybe what bothered her was that she couldn’t remember where she’d seen him before.
“Boy, are you a welcome sight!” she called from the porch as her sisters climbed out of the pickup carrying cleaning supplies.
“Are you all right?” Eve asked as McKenna came down the porch steps to help carry the supplies.
“Great. I’m just glad to see you,” she said.
“We figured you could use all the help you could get,” Faith was saying.
“You have company?” Eve was studying Nate’s pickup as if memorizing the license plate number.
“Not company exactly,” McKenna said as Nate Dempsey rounded the outside corner of the house.
He gave her a nod as he saw that she had guests. “It’s going to need a little work, but there’s nothing to worry about for now. Catch you later,” he said as he climbed into his pickup.
“Just a minute!” McKenna called to him. “I need to tell him something,” she said to her sisters before hurrying over to his pickup.
He had his window down and looked surprised but glad she’d come over.
“I just wanted to tell you,” she said, a little breathless, more from her concern about what she was about to do than the short run. “I’d like to take you up on your offer. For a while.”
“You’re sure?” he asked, his expression serious.
“Yes. I’d appreciate it. If you can get the shower to work downstairs, by the kitchen, you can use that bathroom.”
He smiled. “I’d planned to use the outhouse behind the barn and bathe in the creek.”
“That won’t be necessary. Bring your horse and you’re welcome to stay in the house if you like until I get moved in.”
“No. I’d just as soon camp by the creek. But I might take you up on the use of the shower. Thanks.”
“Thank you,” McKenna said and stepped back from the pickup as he cranked up the engine.
“What was that about?” Eve asked as McKenna joined her again.
“Nate’s a contractor.”
Eve watched him drive away. “I didn’t know you were going to hire a contractor.”
“I’m not. He’s interested in trading his services for boarding his horse out here.” She left out the part about him camping in her backyard.
“Are you going to do it?” Eve asked, sounding surprised.
“Yeah,” McKenna said. “I could use the help and I like his horse.”
Eve raised a brow. “His horse? How did you meet this man? Not through Arlene’s Internet dating service, I hope.”
McKenna laughed as if that was the craziest thing she’d ever heard. “If Arlene had found him, she’d be convinced he was perfect for me. Don’t you want to hear about my date last night with the cowboy who bid against me for the house?”
“Seriously?” Faith cried.
“Seriously. He is handsome as all get-out, too. He bought champagne so we could celebrate me beating him. We had a steak dinner and he even kissed me good night.” McKenna knew she was going on too much in her effort to divert interest away from Na
te Dempsey.
Eve was eyeing her suspiciously. Her older sister knew her too well. “So let’s see this place you bought,” she said, glancing skeptically at the house.
“I want to know more about the cowboy hunk you had a date with last night,” Faith said.
“His name’s Flynn Garrett and he loves horses.”
“He sounds perfect for you,” Faith said as they headed for the house.
Not really, McKenna thought as she glanced down the road. All she could see was the dust Nate Dempsey’s pickup had churned up into the warm summer air.
“The house is certainly big enough,” Faith said as she stepped into the shadow of the house.
“Three stories,” McKenna agreed, glancing upward.
“Isn’t it scary out here alone?” Faith asked.
Recently? Yes. “It won’t be once I get moved in.” Not to mention Nate Dempsey would be camped down by the creek. At least for a while.
“It’s pretty scary-looking in the daylight,” Faith said. “I can’t imagine staying out here at night.”
Would everyone please just stop it!
Eve shot their younger sister a warning look. “I’m sure it will be fine once McKenna gets her horses out here. And, anyway, we’re just a few miles down the road.”
McKenna gave her older sister a grateful smile. She needed to hear that right now. Eve had lived alone. True, her house had been broken into and a crazy woman had almost killed her….
Pushing those thoughts aside, she and Eve climbed the porch steps after Faith, who was already letting the screen door slam behind her in her rush to see the house.
“I should warn you—it’s still a mess in there,” McKenna called after her.
“You sure you’re all right?” Eve whispered, grabbing her arm to detain her for a moment.
McKenna realized that Faith’s question about being scared out here had her hugging herself tightly. “It’s just cold in the house, that’s all.”
Eve nodded skeptically as they followed Faith inside the house. Eve stopped at once, looking back over her shoulder at McKenna as if even more worried.
As McKenna was hit by a wall of heat, she understood why. The house was scorching hot, the sun blinding as it bore through the dusty windows, and no breath of air moved inside the four walls.
“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your help cleaning this place,” McKenna said, changing the subject. “I’m hoping to start painting upstairs tomorrow so I can get moved in.”
“I guess we’ll start upstairs, then,” Eve said. “It’s good Ellis Harper’s cousin Anita Samuelson hired someone to clean out all the junk before you bought the place. I heard Ellis was a terrible pack rat. Every inch of this house was filled.”
McKenna thought about the secreted paper she’d discovered under the floorboards, but she wasn’t about to mention it to Eve or Faith. They were worried enough about her living in this place. And, anyway, hadn’t she convinced herself there was nothing to it after all these years?
NATE DEMPSEY KNEW the moment he opened his motel room door that he wasn’t alone. It was something he’d learned at a young age, an awareness of his surroundings that had saved his life on more than one occasion.
He stepped in, moving quickly to the side to avoid being framed in the doorway and made into an easy target. At the same time he drew the gun from his shoulder holster. The movement was practiced and smooth. If he’d ever needed the gun, it was in Whitehorse, he thought, ironically a town with almost no crime.
“Easy,” said a voice from the shadows. “No need for that.”
Nate recognized the slightly amused voice as Lucky Thomas stepped from behind the bathroom door.
Two things struck Nate in that instant. Lucky had changed little from the good-looking kid he’d been. And Nate had seen Lucky recently—at the auction. Only he hadn’t recognized him because he’d never gotten a clear view of him. But even after twenty-one years the way the man moved had seemed familiar.
It hadn’t registered that the man at the auction might be Lucky Thomas. Probably because this was the last place Nate had expected to see him.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Nate demanded as he holstered his weapon.
“Nice to see you, too,” Lucky said, clasping Nate’s hand to pull him into a hug. “It’s been too long.”
Nate nodded as he stepped back to look at Lucky. Nate had been seven, Lucky nine, when they’d met at Harper House.
“You’re awfully jumpy,” Lucky said. “And packin’ heat, too.”
Nate swore. “What are you doing here?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Lucky said. “I heard about Ellis Harper dying. I knew you’d come up here. I figured you’d need someone to watch your back.”
Did Lucky know that Roy Vaughn was in town? Or had he just assumed Roy would come back because of that stupid oath they’d taken?
Nate shook his head. He’d never expected to see Lucky again after the state had come and taken them away in separate cars.
“Twenty-one years,” Lucky said as if thinking the same thing. He dropped into a chair at the small round table next to the closed drapes, pulled a flask from his jacket pocket and offered it to Nate.
Nate shook his head as he pulled out the other chair, drawing it back so he could stretch out his long legs.
“Just being here brings it all back, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Nate agreed. Not that the nightmares had ever gone very far away.
“Can you believe old man Harper hung in all these years?” Lucky asked.
“Why the hell did you bid on Harper House?”
Lucky laughed. “I got a little carried away.”
“What would you have done if you’d won the bid?” Nate had to ask.
Lucky shrugged. “I had this crazy idea that I could buy the place and burn that hellhole down. I guess I can still do that, only it won’t be my house I’m burning down,” he added with a laugh.
Nate said nothing, fearing that Lucky meant what he said about planning to burn down the house. It was a strange feeling knowing someone so well for such a short period of time. He still felt he knew him.
But how was that possible? He hadn’t seen Lucky in years, didn’t know what had happened to him. If they hadn’t both come back because of Ellis Harper’s death, they probably would never have crossed paths again.
Hell, Nate didn’t even know Lucky’s real name. From the day the scrawny, good-looking kid had arrived at Harper House he’d said to call him Lucky Thomas, as if it was an inside joke that only he could appreciate.
“I could have bought the house, you know,” Lucky said. “I have the money.” He shrugged. “So tell me you’re not here because of the pact.”
Nate shook his head. “That was just kids pretending to be tough.”
“Right. You just keep telling yourself that, but don’t expect me to believe it. Roy Vaughn seemed pretty serious the night he made us all sign it. Well, almost all of us.” He grinned at Nate. “They’ll all be afraid not to come.”
“Is that why you’re here?” Nate asked.
Lucky laughed. “To fulfill my…obligations? That’s it. But you,” he said, studying Nate, “I figure you’ve got bigger fish to fry than killing some mean old people. I heard Frank Merkel and Rosemarie Blackmore are still kicking. Hard to believe. I thought they were ancient when we were boys. Apparently no one has tipped them over yet. So what can I do to help?”
Nate watched Lucky take another drink from the flask, then screw the lid back on and put it into his jacket pocket again. “Go home.”
Lucky laughed. “You don’t even know where my home is.”
“No, I don’t. Just so long as it’s away from Whitehorse—and Harper House.”
“Here’s the way I figure it,” Lucky said. “Whatever you have planned, it’s dangerous or you wouldn’t be packin’. Add to that the fact that you’re doing nothing to hide. In fact, just the opposite. It’s almost as if you’re looking for tr
ouble.”
Lucky knew him better than even Nate had thought.
“I, on the other hand, don’t really want to stick my neck out,” Lucky said with a grin. “So I’m sneaking into your motel room and planning to sneak right back out.”
“Good. Sneak right back out of town. This doesn’t concern you.”
Lucky laughed. “Everything about Harper House concerns me.” He seemed to search Nate’s face. “I can’t believe you’re still looking for Johnny.”
Nate remembered the feeling he’d had that he was being watched while digging for Johnny’s body. He’d thought it was Roy Vaughn. But maybe it had been Lucky.
“And not just Johnny. If the gun is any indication, you’re still looking for Roy Vaughn.”
“Like I said, this doesn’t concern you. I know what I’m doing.” Right now Nate wouldn’t put money on that, but he didn’t want to talk about Johnny. Even after all these years it still hurt too much.
“So you think Roy Vaughn will come back,” Lucky said.
“He already has,” Nate said. Only he was calling himself Hal Turner and making no secret out of why he was in town.
Chapter Eight
By late afternoon McKenna’s sisters had left, after helping her clean, promising to come back the next morning to paint.
She waited until they’d driven away before she locked the front door and went to the back of the house. Stepping out, she surveyed the yard for tracks.
It still bothered her. Where had the man who called himself Hal Turner gone? Or, more to the point, how had he gotten out here? Harper House was a long way from town, and no one had seen him leave.
It made her uneasy even though she knew that Nate had searched all the outbuildings as well as the house. Since then, she’d made a point of locking the doors.
Out back, the ground close to the house was still damp from a rain earlier in the week. She could make out boot prints in the soft soil where Nate Dempsey had checked the wiring coming into the house. Along with his tracks were a set of others, these larger and made by cheap work boots.
She shuddered, her blood running cold as she saw where the man had stood beneath the back windows. There were handprints on the glass where he had wiped the dust to peer inside.