“Seven.”
Jill had started to recover from her shock. “Seven buyers in seven months, including us?”
“No. In addition to you.”
“I-I’m not sure I want to buy this house,” Jill told the woman.
“You’ll lose your deposit,” the real estate agent warned her.
“She’ll call you back.” Gloria grabbed the phone and disconnected the line.
Gloria turned to her daughter. “How much was the deposit?”
Jill swallowed hard. “Almost seven thousand dollars.”
“Seven thousand dollars – for a deposit?” Gloria had never purchased real estate. Her farm had passed down through the family for generations.
She had friends who had purchased real estate, though, and she knew that an earnest money deposit was small – maybe a thousand or two.
“They wanted to make sure we were serious,” Jill whispered in a small voice.
Gloria grabbed her daughter’s hand. “C’mon. We’re going back to that house for a closer look.”
They drove back to the house in silence. Jill was mulling over how she could get out of the contract. Her mother, on the other side of the car, was trying to figure out how to get to the bottom of this!
Jill pulled into the drive and the women climbed out of the car. Jill hung her head and shuffled up the sidewalk.
It broke Gloria’s heart to see her daughter so despondent. She had been so excited about the place and now the thrill was gone, replaced by dread, which caused Gloria to be even more determined. Someone was trying to scare them off and she was not going to have any of it!
Gloria stepped inside the front door and right into detective mode. She grabbed her reading glasses from her purse and slipped them on. She studied the walls, the windows and she even pulled the grate from the fireplace and peered inside.
The women made their way into the garage. Gloria opened the cabinets, got down on her hands and knees and looked under the shelves. Her gaze wandered up to the ceiling and to the yellow string attached to the attic ladder.
Gloria grasped the string and pulled. She unfolded the steps and started up. It was dark except for a small amount of light that filtered in through the round louver centered above the garage door.
Nothing appeared to be out of place. Gloria backed down the stairs, folded the steps and pushed the ladder back in place. She dusted her hands and rubbed them on the front of her jeans.
Jill watched in silence, unable to muster enough enthusiasm to help her mother search for clues.
The laundry room was clean. The half bath was clean. Gloria pulled open the cupboard door nearest to the stove. She inspected every drawer and every cupboard in search of something, anything.
Finally, Jill joined her mother and started on the other end of the kitchen. It was a lovely kitchen, bright and beautiful with a large bay window above the stainless steel sink that overlooked the garden and backyard.
Gloria turned her attention to the open dining room on the other side of the kitchen island. A bright beam of sunlight reflected off the freshly painted wall on the far side.
Gloria noticed a faint outline on the wall. “Do you see that?”
“See what?” Jill asked.
Gloria walked over to the wall. She followed the outline with her hand. She took a step back and then stepped to the side. The outline was much clearer from that angle. It was an inverted pentagram.
Gloria had a sneaking suspicion the real estate agent knew all about the pentagram and had kept mum, probably hoping she could finally unload the house and collect her commission!
Gloria felt the steam roll out of her ears. She held out her hand. “Give me your phone. I’m calling Sue Camp.”
Jill did as her mother requested. She recognized that look and the tone of her mother’s voice and she almost felt sorry for her real estate agent. Almost.
“I’d like to speak with Sue Camp, please,” Gloria told the receptionist in a firm voice…a voice that said, “don’t even try to tell me she’s unavailable.”
Sue’s calm voice answered. “Hello?”
“Gloria Rutherford, here. I’m Jill Adams’ mother. We’re back at the house. Were you aware someone has drawn a pentagram on the dining room wall?”
Jill couldn’t hear Sue’s answer but she cringed anyway.
Gloria responded “Yes” three times in a clipped tone. “Jill will call you back.”
No, “Have a nice day.” No, “Thank you for your time.”
She handed the phone back to her daughter. “That woman knows more than she lets on.”
Mother and daughter wandered out the front door. Jill locked the door behind them. “Good-bye house.”
“Jill Rutherford Adams, you are not a quitter!”
“I don’t want to live in a haunted house!” Jill knew she sounded whiney but she couldn’t help it. She wouldn’t sleep one wink in that house if she thought for even a second that it was haunted.
Gloria grabbed her daughter’s arm. “Let’s go meet the neighbors!”
She dragged her reluctant daughter across the lawn to the house next door.
Gloria sucked in a breath and pressed the doorbell. She could hear the faint chime within. No one answered. She tried a second time then gave up.
They tried the house on the other side. No one answered there either.
“We’ll be back,” Gloria vowed as they made their way to the car. Neighbors always knew each other’s business. If anyone knew the history of the house, it would be the people next door.
Gloria climbed in the passenger seat and fastened her seatbelt. Jill closed the driver’s side door and slid the key in the ignition. She looked as if she was about to burst into tears. All she could think about was that her dream home was slipping away and she had just wasted over seven thousand dollars – on nothing!
“Give me seven days,” Gloria bargained. “Do not cancel your contract for seven days.”
Jill didn’t have a choice but to agree to give it a week. After all, she wouldn’t have even had a shot at a new home if not for her mother’s generosity. “Okay,” she relented.
Gloria reached over and patted her hand. “In the meantime, find a new real estate agent and start looking at other homes. That way, if this one doesn’t work out, which I am almost 100% certain it will because I’ll get to the bottom of this,” Gloria vowed, “you’ll have a head start.”
“Okay?”
Jill had nothing to lose. She quickly agreed. “You have yourself a deal,” she said. They drove back to Jill’s house in silence. Jill eased into the drive and put the car in park. “Just promise me one thing.”
“What’s that?” Gloria asked.
“That you won’t do anything foolish…like stake out a haunted house in the middle of the night by yourself.”
“I won’t,” Gloria promised. No way would she be brave enough to tackle that alone. Now if she had someone with her? Maybe.
Chapter 5
Gloria left Jill’s place and headed home. Downtown Belhaven was packed. Gloria swerved into the post office parking lot and squeezed into the last open spot. She scooted out of the car and made a beeline for the front door.
Gloria’s friend and Head Postmaster, Ruth Carpenter, was behind the counter helping a customer.
Gloria wandered over to the wall covered with flyers, showing pictures of missing persons. She was glad that Milton Tilton’s mug was not one of the pictures.
Gloria and her friends had recently helped solve the case and had rescued poor Milt, which reminded her that she needed to call her sister, Liz.
Liz was a spendthrift and Gloria thought that maybe she could give her sister a few pointers on investing her money.
Ruth finished the transaction and the customer headed toward the exit. It was Patti Palmer. Patti scowled at Gloria, stuck her nose in the air and walked right past her without uttering a word.
Gloria watched as she exited the post office and slammed the door behind h
er.
“Yeah. I think she’s still a little miffed,” Ruth observed.
Gloria sniffed and shrugged her shoulders. “It’s not my fault her son is a criminal!”
She changed the subject. “Jill is in a pickle.” She went on to explain the dilemma. “Something is rotten in Denmark and I plan to get to the bottom of it,” Gloria vowed.
Ruth, always willing to offer a helping hand since Gloria had gotten her out of some tight spots, not the least of which was drug trafficking charges. “I’d love to help but haunted houses freak me out.”
“Supposedly haunted,” Gloria corrected. “I have my doubts.”
Ruth tapped her fingernails on the counter top. “Let me know if I can help in some other way.” She shivered. “The place is already giving me the creeps and I haven’t even been there.”
“Thanks for the offer.” Gloria headed for the door. “Say, what do you think about Paul and me getting married over at Andrea’s place?”
“In her new tearoom?” Ruth smiled. “That would be the perfect spot!”
Gloria nodded. “That’s what I thought.” She stepped out of the post office and quietly closed the door.
She hopped into Annabelle and fired up the engine.
Gloria headed out of town. She started to pass by her best friend, Lucy’s, place and made a last minute decision to stop in.
Lucy’s bright yellow jeep was in the drive. Behind her jeep was another car – one that looked vaguely familiar but that Gloria couldn’t quite place.
Gloria pulled the car behind the jeep and shut the engine off.
She climbed out of the car and stepped onto the sidewalk.
Whaam!
Gloria recognized the sound. It was the sound of explosives. Lucy was at it again!
She stepped off the sidewalk and made her way toward the shed in the back of the yard.
“No! You gotta stand like this, with your feet apart, so you can keep your balance. Otherwise, the gun is gonna kick back and knock you on your rear.”
Lucy, in full camo gear, wearing eye goggles and earplugs, demonstrated her stance to the man standing next to her – Lucy’s new boyfriend, Max Field.
Max nodded. He followed Lucy’s example and did as she told him. Max lifted the gun.
Gloria covered her ears.
Boom!
Max lowered the gun. Lucy patted him on the back. “Much better,” she told him.
Gloria started to clap. “Bravo! Bravo!”
Lucy and Max whirled around. The gun in Max’s hand pointed right at Gloria.
Gloria’s threw both hands in the air. “Don’t shoot!”
Max cringed. He lowered the gun. “Sorry Gloria.”
With the gun safely at Max’s side, Gloria stepped closer. “Is Lucy teaching you how to blow stuff up?”
Lucy was an adrenaline junkie. If she wasn’t jumping out of planes, she was racing across her field on her four-wheeler. She had recently taken a hankering to building small explosives and then using them for target practice.
She tried several times to get Gloria to join in the “fun” but Gloria drew the line at blowing stuff up.
Gloria kept a small handgun in her dresser drawer. Thanks to Lucy, Gloria had become a good shot. If an intruder broke into her house and threatened her, she was confident she would be able to protect herself.
Max set the gun on top of the tree trunk next to him before he removed the safety goggles and earplugs. “Yeah. I guess I am getting better. This time I didn’t shoot out her window.”
He nodded to a small window frame at the corner of the shed…one without glass. “Thank goodness I found someone who is able to come by here on Monday to fix it.”
Lucy picked up the earplugs and goggles and set them on the workbench inside the shed before she returned. “You didn’t have to do that, Max. I could have just as easily boarded it up. That way, if you accidentally hit it again, it won’t matter.”
He nodded. She had a point…although he was getting better with his aim. Max glanced at his watch. “I better take off. I’m meeting the guys for a round of golf over in Green Springs.”
Lucy walked Max to his car while Gloria waited by the shed. She watched as they disappeared around the old oak tree and out of sight.
Gloria liked Max. He seemed a much better fit than Bill, Lucy’s ex-boyfriend. Lucy met Max during their last case, when Milton Tilton had come up missing. Max and Milt were friends.
Max’s sport car pulled out onto the road and Lucy met her friend in the rear yard. Gloria waited while Lucy put the gun and explosives in the shed.
Gloria followed her inside and watched as Lucy stood in front of a small sink and washed her hands.
“You put a sink in the shed?”
Lucy squeezed a glob of dish soap on her hands and rubbed them together. “Yeah. I decided it was best if I got the gunpowder residue off my hands before going in the house. Don’t want to blow up the inside of my house.”
She dried her hands on a towel nearby then closed the door to the shed. “What brings you to my neck of the woods?”
Gloria explained the situation with Jill’s house as they wandered up the back porch steps and into the kitchen. “Something fishy is going on over there at Highland Park. Someone is trying to scare Jill away from that house and they’re doing a darn good job.”
Lucy reached for a box of peanut brittle sitting on top of the fridge. She lifted the lid and held it out. “Want some?”
Gloria shook her head. “No thanks, although it looks delicious.”
Lucy grabbed a piece and closed the lid. “Did you say Highland Park?”
“Yeah. The house is in Rapid Creek. In a neighborhood called Highland Park.”
Lucy crunched on a chunk of the hard candy. “I think RJ and his wife, Carol, live there.”
“Really?”
RJ was Randall, Jr., Dot and Ray Jenkins’, nephew. RJ was almost like a son to them. He was about the same age as Gloria’s children and growing up, the kids had all been close.
“I’ll give her a call later to see if I can get RJ’s number. Maybe he knows of odd occurrences that have happened in the neighborhood or that house.”
Gloria eyed the box of peanut brittle.
Lucy grinned and slid the box toward her. “Changed your mind, huh?”
Gloria lifted the lid and took a small piece. She bit the end. It was delicious and almost melted in Gloria’s mouth. “Did I tell you Liz is moving to Florida?”
“Nope.” If the news surprised Lucy, it didn’t show. Of course, everyone knew Liz was impulsive so it probably wasn’t a surprise. “She’s taking all that money and hitting the road.”
Gloria eyed the box of peanut brittle, her small piece long gone. She swept a hand across her extra tummy roll. If she was going to lose a few pounds before the wedding, she needed to stop eating all the goodies.
What Gloria said next, did surprise Lucy. “Frances is going with her.”
Lucy lifted a brow. “Is she taking Milt?” Lucy had been part of Milt’s search and rescue mission. She knew all about Frances’ extreme obsession with the man.
“Nope. Milt ran off to Vegas and got married.”
Lucy’s jaw dropped. “No way!”
“Yes way. I haven’t seen Frances,” Gloria shook her head, “but I can just imagine she’s fit to be tied.”
“You’ll never guess who he married.” Gloria was about to tell Lucy but her phone chirped. Gloria opened her purse and stuck her hand in. She turned the front so that it faced her and squinted at the screen. It was Jill.
“Hello?”
There was no one there. Gloria had just missed the call.
She started to dial her back when she noticed that Jill had left a message.
Gloria punched in the access code and turned it to speaker. “Hi Mom. I wanted to let you know that Greg and I found another house that we like. I told Sue that I needed to talk to you before I put in an offer.”
The rest of the message wa
s brief. Gloria frowned and dropped the phone inside her purse. She didn’t want to see Jill lose all that money and the house of her dreams.
“I guess you better get cracking on the case,” Lucy said.
Gloria shoved the kitchen chair back and jumped to her feet. “Yeah and the sooner the better. I guess I need to head back into town and talk to Dot.”
Lucy followed her to her car. “Let me know if you need help with the investigation,” Lucy offered.
Gloria thanked her, climbed into the car and backed out of the driveway.
She pulled Annabelle into an open spot and turned the car off before calling her daughter back. “Tomorrow. Give me until noon tomorrow,” she bargained. “Stall the agent, whatever you have to do.”
Jill finally relented and Gloria knew she needed to get a move on.
Gloria stepped inside the restaurant and scanned the room. Dot was nowhere around.
Ray, Dot’s husband, who had just poured coffee at a nearby table, walked across the dining room. “Dot had a doctor’s appointment earlier.”
He shifted the coffee carafe to his other hand. “You can check the house. She’s probably back by now.”
Gloria thanked him and headed back out the door.
Ray and Dot lived a few short blocks from the restaurant, which was a good thing since they spent most of their waking hours working.
Dot’s dark blue van was in the drive. Gloria pulled in behind her and wandered up the steps to the front door.
She rang the front bell and waited. The curtain rustled and Dot peeked out before she opened the door.
Gloria took one look at her friend’s face and knew something was wrong. “What is it?”
“Uh...” Dot shook her head but the look was still plastered across her face.
Gloria adjusted her purse and crossed her arms in front of her. “Something is wrong, Dot Jenkins. It’s written all over your face.”
Dot’s face turned red. She closed her eyes and swayed back, as if she might go over.
Gloria grabbed her arm to steady her. “Are you okay?”
Dot shook her head. “I don’t know.”
That was all Gloria needed to hear. She placed a protective arm around her friend’s shoulder and led her into the living room.
Bully in the Burbs (Garden Girls Christian Cozy Mystery Book 8) Page 3