Marja McGraw - Bogey Man 03 - They Call Me Ace

by Marja McGraw

  “It sounds kind of gothicky to me,” Coral said.

  I shrugged. “It doesn’t read like a gothic.”

  Chris and I explained that we had to get back to work and we left the twins sitting together. It seemed they were getting along fairly well, which surprised me. I couldn’t help but wonder how long the peace treaty would last.

  “They don’t need to go back to Kimberly’s house,” I said, facing Chris across the Reservation Desk.

  “Yes, they do. It’ll keep them out of our hair. And they can report on that sap’s comings and goings. Maybe we can figure out what his racket is.”

  “I’m going to call Janet Riley tomorrow to find out if they’ve come up with anything yet. I know she’ll talk to me. She always does.” Surprisingly, Janet trusted Chris and me. Maybe part of the reason is that I try to be careful and not cross the invisible line between what I needed to know and what was just nosiness. The fact we’d become close friends didn’t hurt any.

  “Yeah, I have a few calls I want to make, too. I need to check into a couple of things. I’d like to look at the papers you found in the basement, too.”

  Chris didn’t elaborate and I didn’t ask why because Mr. and Mrs. Foster walked through the door, right on time for their reservation.

  Thankfully, the rest of the evening passed quietly. Our patrons commented on how much they enjoyed our band, and a couple asked when Lila and “the new singer” would be performing again, not that they didn’t like Sally, the regular performer. Someone even asked if the dogs and I were going to do a repeat performance. I laughed politely.

  “The two older ladies have a certain something that typifies the forties.” Mrs. Welch, one of our regular customers, was quite taken with Lila and Judith. “They seem to understand the music. Sally’s good. In fact, she’s great. But there’s just something about Lila and that other lady. The new woman seems to understand the moves, too.”

  I’d have to mention to Judith that she’d been a hit. I hoped she would come back and join Lila again, and bring her Andrews Sisters moves with her.

  Carol and Coral left at the same time, but once again they were glaring at each other. I wondered what had set them off this time. I shrugged, thinking it probably didn’t really matter.

  Chris watched them walk out the door. “I’ll never understand those dames.”

  ~ * ~

  We were all up early the next morning. Mikey couldn’t wait to go back to Turnbal House with his grandparents, and Chris said he had a lot to do before heading for the restaurant. I needed to call Janet, and I also wanted to head over to the old house. I didn’t have any particular reason, except to be a part of the treasure hunt fun. So far I hadn’t been that involved.

  I called Janet at home because I knew she’d been working a late shift for the past month. She was no help. The coppers had bupkis – nothing. Every trail they followed led to a dead end. I told her about the stranger in the house next to Kimberly’s, and she said she’d check him out. She was as frustrated as I was, and there was nothing we could do about it.

  “I thought her boyfriend would be at the top of the list, but so far nothing has panned out there,” she said. “He looked good to me at first, but like I said, everything leads to a dead end.”

  “Okay, would you let me know if you find out anything?” I asked.

  “Will do.”

  “How’s Friday doing?” Janet’s female chocolate Labrador retriever had just passed from doggie teenager to young adult canine. She’d been a handful for my copper friend, so we’d done some training with the dog for her. Janet’s work hours are so sporadic that she couldn’t put Friday on a schedule. She’d considered giving the dog to her mother, but changed her mind. She adored her pooch, and Friday seemed to feel the same way about her.

  “She’s doing well. You and Chris did a good job with her. She is a Lab though, and she still has her crazy moments, but overall she’s good company and a smart dog.”

  We talked for a few more minutes and hung up, making tentative plans to get together.

  “Chris,” I called, heading for the spare bedroom. We’d set it up as a home office. “Would you drive me over to Turnbal House?”

  He didn’t’ even bother to look up at me. “Go ahead and take the Chevy. I’ve got a few things I want to look into on the Internet. I need to make a few phone calls, too.”

  Bending over, I kissed his cheek. “I guess the honeymoon’s over.”

  He looked up and smiled at me. “Nah, that’ll take a few more years.” He pulled my head down and kissed me in a way that said he meant business.

  I headed for the car, keys in hand, wondering what kind of surprises this day might hold for me.

  Glancing up at the sky, I took notice of some dark clouds. Maybe we’d have more rain, such as we’d had when my in-laws first arrived. A warm breeze was coming up. I returned to the house and told Chris it might be a good idea to bring the dogs in.

  He grunted in response, so I let the dogs in myself and checked to make sure their water bucket was full. They saw my purse and knew I was going somewhere. It was all I could do to get out of the house. They whined and barked, but I ignored their pleas and pushed a paw back inside the house before closing the door.

  Chapter Thirty

  By the time I reached Turnbal House, the rain was coming down in torrents and I was glad I’d left the dogs at home. Even though I ran from the car to the overhang on the porch, I was drenched from head to toe.

  The warm breeze I’d noticed when I left home had turned into a vigorous wind, and it seemed to pick up even while I stood on the porch. My wet hair blew in my eyes and I brushed it away.

  Turning the doorknob, I pushed the door open and looked around for my little family. I didn’t see them and stepped inside, wiping my feet on a towel they’d placed on the floor.

  “Hello?” I called.

  Silence greeted me.

  “Hello?” I called, raising my voice.

  Still nothing.

  “Judith? Where are you?”

  Nothing. I wondered where they were. Glancing out the window, I realized the Jeep was gone, but I was sure they wouldn’t have left the front door unlocked if they’d gone somewhere. I walked to the dining room and looked out the

  window that faced Kimberly’s house. I could see the twins and Judith standing in the kitchen talking.

  Oh, well. I decided I’d take advantage of the quiet and do some searching of my own. I headed for the basement. That was where we’d found the first secret compartment and I wondered if there might be more down there.

  Pulling boxes away from the wall, I started tapping, listening for a hollow sound. I’d been at it for about five minutes when I heard Judith come in. I could hear her footsteps as she crossed the floor.

  Walking to the bottom of the stairs, I put my hands to my mouth and called, “Judith, I’m down in the basement.”

  Apparently she hadn’t heard me because she didn’t reply. I could still hear her footsteps though, and it had begun to thunder. I loved summer storms.

  “Judith?” I called louder.

  The sound of footfalls stopped. I waited for a moment and the noise started again.

  “Judith, will you please answer me?” I started up the stairs. She was just nutty enough to try to scare me. I could picture her leaping out and yelling, “Boo!” That sounded like something my eccentric mother-in-law would do.

  Instead, the door to the basement slammed shut.

  “This isn’t funny, Judith.” I reached the top of the stairs and reached for the doorknob, but just as I put my hand on it someone yanked it open. That same someone threw something over my head and pushed me back toward the stairs, slamming the door shut again.

  “Hey!” I yelled, arms flailing, trying to get a grip on something. Whatever was on my head fell off and I grabbed the first thing I saw, which happened to be the banister. I felt my arm wrench. My back screamed in pain, but I held tight. My body wanted to continue on down the s
tairs. I hung tighter. My wet shoes slipped and my body twisted – my knees slammed into the stair steps. My grip on the banister

  loosened, but by that time I was half lying on the steps.

  And I thought I heard someone whistling Beautiful Dreamer.

  It took me a moment to come to my senses. Letting go of the banister, I realized the muscles in my shoulder hurt with a vengeance. I sat, and I breathed, and I heard footsteps running through the house, followed by the slamming of the front door. Trying to take a deep breath, I groaned from the pain it caused in my back.

  Lightning lit the basement and immediately thunder slammed through the air. It cracked loudly and I knew it was right overhead.

  I heard the front door open and close again. Pulling myself up, I limped up the stairs. You might catch me unawares once, but not twice. I opened the basement door and closed it behind me as quietly as possible, and looked around the kitchen for something to protect myself with – like a sledge hammer. Not your typical kitchen implement, but anything would do. Shaking, I picked up a screwdriver that rested on the sink. Judith or Chris Sr. must have been using it.

  The footsteps were now headed in my direction.

  “I’ve got a weapon and I’m not afraid to use it,” I yelled. Yelling made my back hurt and I groaned again. I couldn’t help myself. My shoulder was throbbing. Glancing toward the back door, I wondered if I could make it outside in time to miss being knocked down again, or worse.

  “Pamela?” Judith entered the kitchen and stopped dead in her tracks. “Oh, my! You look like a drowned rat. Did you say something about a weapon?” She walked closer and studied me.

  I dropped the screwdriver on the sink and rubbed my shoulder. I did the unthinkable. I started to cry.

  “Pamela, what happened?” Judith grabbed my shoulders and I cried harder. She realized I was in pain and let me go.

  “Oh, Judith. I’m so glad you’re here.” I looked past her, hoping no one had snuck in behind her.

  She glanced over her shoulder, trying to figure out what I was looking at in the other room.

  “Tell me what happened.” She gently took my good arm and led me toward a chair in the dining room. “You look awful, and you’re shaking.”

  “Someone tried to push me down the stairs. I grabbed the banister and it saved me from falling all the way to the bottom.” I pulled my pant legs up, and glancing down I saw that my knees were red where they’d hit the steps. I ached all over.

  Judith looked at my knees and didn’t question my story. “Are you sure whoever pushed you has left?”

  I nodded.

  She hurried to the front door and locked it before coming to sit by me.

  “Chris and Mikey should be back soon. They left to pick up some In-N-Out hamburgers for lunch.” She appeared flustered, and I couldn’t blame her. Reaching out, she gently touched my face. Somehow she’d come up with a tissue and she wiped my tears away. “Maybe we’d better take you to the hospital.”

  “No, I’ll be fine. I think I wrenched every muscle in my body, but other than that I’m okay.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Again, I nodded, somehow feeling like a child who’d just fallen and skinned her knee. I took a deep breath, trying to pull myself together.

  “Why would someone push you down the stairs? I don’t get it.”

  “At least I’m alive. Look what happened to Kimberly. It could have been worse. I could have fallen all the way down the stairs and broken my neck.”

  Judith winced.

  I knew someone really wanted whatever treasure might be hidden in Turnbal House. “I feel like I’m in the middle of a second-rate movie. Thunder and lightning for sound and visual effects. A monster biding his time and pushing me down the stairs. Hidden treasure. And a murder to solve. It’s all about whatever Marguerite left behind. I know it.”

  “Okay, here’s what I really don’t get. She’s been dead and gone for a long time. Why is someone just now trying to find whatever’s hidden? Why not a year ago? Ten years?” I had a feeling Judith was trying to distract me from my pain and fear. She wasn’t babying me.

  “I don’t have an answer,” I said, rubbing my shoulder and rearranging the way I was sitting because of back pain. “I can only guess that someone just recently heard the legend and decided to try to find it. And now that the house is up for sale, their time is more limited.” I let my hands rest in my lap. The shaking was subsiding.

  “You could be right.”

  “What were you doing with the twins?” I asked.

  “They called me over because they were bored. Mikey had gone over and asked if they wanted burgers, and they told him to send me over. I sure wish I hadn’t left.”

  “No, I’m glad you did. You’re older than… I mean, you’re smaller than me… It was probably a good thing that I was here instead of you.”

  Judith didn’t comment, and thankfully she chose to ignore my little lapse in judgment. “Where’s your purse? I want to use your cell phone.”

  “It’s in the basement.”

  She left me alone while she retrieved my purse. I kept a close eye on the front door, and the stairs, just in case our visitor hadn’t really left when I first heard the door slam.

  “Oh, Pamela. There are scratch marks on the wall where you tried to catch yourself.” Her face was an unhealthy shade of pale and her voice cracked.

  I put my good arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “It’s okay, Judith. Everything is okay now.” Suddenly I found myself consoling her. Somehow we’d switched places.

  She gently touched my face again before pulling away and sitting down. “I’m calling Chris. Your Chris, not mine. He needs to get over here.”

  “But I’ve got the car.”

  “Okay, then I’m calling Chris Sr. on his cell phone. He can stop and pick up our son.”

  “Where’s your cell phone?” I asked.

  “We only have one, and hubby took it with him. That’s why I need yours.”

  “Ah.”

  Judith called Chris Sr., and rather than scare him she simply said I’d had a small accident – that I’d fallen down the stairs but I was okay. She asked him to pick up the Bogey Man, her words, not mine.

  I reached for the cell phone, but she held up her index finger before she punched in another number.

  “Chris, this is your mother. Your father is coming by to pick you up and bring you over here.”

  There was a pause before she spoke again.

  “I don’t care what you’re doing, Junior. Someone tried to push Pamela down the stairs, and – ”

  There was a slightly longer pause before Judith could get in another word or two.

  “She’s fine. Very sore, but fine. And, no, she doesn’t want to go to the hospital. Now you get your fanny outside and wait for your father.”

  There was one more short pause before Judith said, “Hello? Hello?”

  I reached for the cell phone thinking that maybe Chris wanted to talk to me.

  Judith shook her head. “He hung up. I think he’s probably already outside waiting for his father.”

  We sat quietly for a few moments while we listened to the heavy rain splatting against the windows while the wind howled.

  It thundered again, still sounding close, just as someone pounded on the front door.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Judith jumped out of her chair like she’d been shot. The pounding at the door continued.

  I reached out with my good arm and grabbed her. “Don’t open the door. Find out who’s there first.”

  She nodded before running to the door. “Who’s there!” It sounded like an angry accusation rather than a simple question.

  I was too far away to hear the answer.

  “Who?” she asked. Apparently a crack of thunder had drowned out the reply.

  Reaching over, she unlocked the door and threw it open. Apparently she’d heard the reply the second time. Watching her, I thought she’d have done well on a so
ap opera. Opening the door appeared to be a dramatic moment for her. I assumed Chris Sr. would walk in with Mikey, even though I knew they hadn’t had time to pick up my husband yet. Instead, Carol and Coral walked in with a definite purpose to their steps.

  “What’s going on over here?” Coral power-walked over to me and studied my face closely.

  Carol followed her. “We could see you two from Kimberly’s house. You look like you’ve been crying, Pamela. And we saw you holding your shoulder like it hurt.”

  “So what happened? Did you have an accident?” Coral was way too close. I could smell coffee on her breath.

  I leaned back a little, but made a face when the pain in my back made me catch my breath.

  “Someone pushed her down the cellar stairs,” Judith explained. “We’re lucky she wasn’t hurt worse.”

  Carol stuck her face next to her sister’s. Her breath smelled like orange juice. I closed my eyes for a moment. I didn’t want to be rude, but I wanted them to back away. “Why don’t the two of you sit down and I’ll tell you what happened?”

  Judith left us to return to the front door, which she locked as dramatically as she’d thrown it open.

  It was a short story and it only took a couple of minutes to bring the twins up-to-date. By the time I was done Coral was clucking her tongue and Carol was tsking.

  “And where are the men in your family?” Coral asked.

  “They’re on their way.” Judith handed me my cell phone. “I called my husband on Pamela’s phone and he’s picking up Chris. If we hadn’t been so busy gossiping about the neighborhood, maybe we’d have seen someone sneak in here. Maybe we could have saved Pamela. Maybe – ”

  “It’s okay, Judith,” I said. “I’m okay. You couldn’t have known someone would come in here during the day, and with you just next door.”

  “Oh, my gosh!” Carol’s hand few to her mouth. “You could have been here by yourself, Judy. You’re such a little thing. This guy could have done some real damage.”

  At least she hadn’t mentioned Judith’s age as I had.

  “He did,” Judith said. “Take a look at Pamela, for crying out loud.”