by Marja McGraw
Richard English sat down in the chair next to me, startling me. I hadn’t heard him walk up behind me.
“Not much of a loss, is it?” he asked.
“What did you say?” My reaction was half anger and half shock. I couldn’t believe he’d said something so cold-hearted.
“Well, you have to admit there’s no great loss. I mean, she was a real mouse. Always slinking around and never saying a word to anyone. She was afraid of her own shadow. I was worried if I looked at her wrong she’d fall over in a dead faint.”
“Mr. English, if you wish to vacate your room after I have my say, then by all means do so,” I said, venom dripping from my words. “I won’t have any objections. Not one. But you are absolutely the rudest, crudest, most disgusting man I’ve ever met in my life! You have no feelings and no compassion for other people. You make me sick.”
I even surprised myself with my vehemence, but I’d meant every word and wouldn’t take anything back.
A look of shock and anger crossed his face, but I only saw a flash of it. He quickly regained his composure and laughed at me.
“I didn’t think you had it in you. You’re not as much of a wimp as I thought you were,” he said, looking speculative.
“You’re disgusting!” I started to turn my back on him, but having second thoughts I stopped and glared at him. I had a feeling it might not be a good idea to turn one’s back on this man.
“You’re a little cutie,” he replied, laughing at me again. “Oh, and by the way, I’m not moving out. I like the scenery around here way too much to leave.”
He stared at me, and I continued to glare at him. We were mentally drawing lines in the dirt, and both of us knew it. I wondered who would cross the line first.
“I may order you to leave if you can’t keep your remarks to yourself. We’re talking about a human being here. A thinking, feeling human being. Ruth may have been an introvert, but she was a nice person. She never had a bad thing to say about anyone, unlike you. I liked her. She had more decency in her little finger than you’ll ever have in your entire body.” I began to cry, which annoyed me. I didn’t want him to think he’d gotten to me.
“Okay, Kelly. I didn’t mean to make you cry,” Richard said. He was patting me on the back, but I could hear the mirth in his voice. He still wanted to laugh, and that made me even angrier.
“Get your hand off me.” I shrugged his hand my back. What a jerk.
He stood up. “I’ll leave you to your tears.” He watched me for a moment before he walked away.
“It’s still no great loss,” I heard him mumble. “She was such a zero.”
Not one word I’d said seemed to have any effect on him, other than to amuse him. What kind of man was this who could treat a tragic death so lightly?
I felt a presence and glanced back toward the house. Richard was still there, standing by the patio door. The look of hatred and rage on his face was startling. I half expected him to bare his teeth and snarl at me. All pretenses were temporarily set aside. As fast as I saw the look, it disappeared and an amiable expression took its place. His face softened and he smiled as he turned and walked around the corner of the house, whistling while he walked. He frightened me. Maybe I really should send him packing. But then, maybe I should keep him where I could watch him.
I cried again. Poor, quiet little Ruth. Why her? It just wasn’t fair. Why would anyone want to kill her? I couldn’t think of one good reason and began to doubt myself. No one seemed to believe me anyway, and there wasn’t any evidence of foul play. There was only my word that I’d seen someone push her.
I heard the kitchen door open and turned to see Mike coming toward me.
“You’ve been sitting here for a long time. Why don’t you come inside and have something to eat? It might make you feel better.”
“Did Lucy send you?” I asked.
“No. I thought food might help. It always seems to make me feel better.” I was sure that wasn’t true, but his thoughtfulness was touching.
“Thanks for the thought, but I’m not hungry. Food doesn’t sound very good right now. Maybe later.”
“You’d better get hold of yourself. There are things to be taken care of around here. I know you’re upset, but so is everyone else.”
“Not quite everyone.”
“What do you mean?”
“Richard English seems to think it’s all a big joke. You should have heard him a few minutes ago. He’s probably the one who pushed her.”
“Kelly, don’t start making accusations. You know what an ass he is. Try ignoring him and maybe he’ll go away.”
“Easier said than done. I ended up telling him off, practically kicking him out of the house, and I wish you could have seen his face afterwards when he thought I wasn’t looking. It was frightening.”
“I don’t believe he pushed her out the window, and like I said, he’s an ass. The only way to handle him is to ignore him. The sooner you do that, the sooner he’ll leave you alone. I’ve noticed it’s worked for your friend Sharon. She has nothing to do with him, and he leaves her alone.”
“When she gets her hackles up, she can be… Sharon! Where’s Sharon? I haven’t seen her at all.” After the events of the early morning I was ready to panic about my missing friend.
“Don’t worry, she’s okay. David called to say they’d spent the night in town. They should be rolling in any time now. I told him what happened, so they’re prepared for the situation around here.”
I was overwhelmed with relief. “When I realized I hadn’t seen Sharon, I panicked. For a second I thought maybe something had happened to her, too.”
“Something probably did, but we won’t go into that,” he said, chuckling.
“I’ll ignore that remark. It would take me to places I’d rather not go right now.” I was too tired to spar.
“Anyway, there are other people who may need your help right now.”
I raised my eyebrows and looked at him questioningly.
“I heard Marion Webster is in her room crying. She’s pretty upset. Josh tried to talk to her but he couldn’t console her. Since you both liked Ruth, we all thought maybe you could help her. Go talk to her. She knows you liked Ruth, too.”
“I’ll try. Maybe we can console each other.”
I looked around and my gaze came to rest on the blood stains once more. “Mike, would you please ask David to clean up this mess as soon as possible?”
“I’ll do it myself.”
“Thanks.”
Grudgingly, I pulled myself up and headed for Marion’s room. I could hear her crying through the door and knocked softly.
“Who’s there?” she asked, sounding pitiful.
“It’s Kelly. May I come in?”
“Yes, come in.”
I opened the door and walked in. We spent the better part of an hour talking, paying our personal tributes to Ruth Bell. She’d been such a pathetic and needy little creature and she’d brought out Marion’s motherly instincts. We both calmed down and decided to go downstairs and have breakfast together. I learned that day that even the strongest people, like Marion, have a breaking point. I thought she’d be stronger than any of us, but I was wrong.
With one exception, all of the boarders were quite subdued. I heard Richard ask J.T. for a tennis rematch. He had become quite active since moving to the country.
“Nah, I’m not in the mood,” J.T. said. “I’m surprised you can even think about tennis after what happened this morning.”
Richard snorted with disdain and left the room. Not long after that I heard his car pull out of the driveway.
J.T. glanced at me and shrugged. “He’s not really all that bad. He just doesn’t seem to have any common sense.”
My turn to shrug. “You’re right. He has no common sense whatsoever.”
“Kelly, come here.” Mike called me into the kitchen. “I still want to go out tonight.”
“I don’t think so,” I said, balking at the idea.
>
“It’ll do you good. After all this, you need to get out of here for a while.”
“Well...”
“Okay. It’s still a date,” he said, refusing to take no for an answer.
“You’re probably right. I could use some time away from here. If you’ll excuse me now, I’m going to see if I can get some sleep. I won’t be very good company tonight if I don’t get at least a little rest.”
“Good idea.”
I wondered how some people could bounce back so fast. Well, I wasn’t being fair. Mike didn’t know Ruth to speak of, and men seemed to react differently than women in most cases anyway.
I had a brief flash of the bloody patio and knew I needed to get a grip. Sleep might help, so I left the kitchen quickly and headed for my room.
Chapter Twenty-one
I was just opening my bedroom door when I heard Sharon calling my name. She and David had made good time coming home from town.
“Kelly, wait a second. I want to talk to you.”
I waited, my hand still on the doorknob.
“You look terrible.”
“Thanks a lot. You probably wouldn’t look so good this morning either if you’d been here last night.”
“Let’s go talk in your room.” She pushed me through the doorway. I sat down on the edge of the bed while she settled into my rocker.
“What happened this morning?” she asked.
“It was awful, Sharon. I saw her fall. She kind of, hmm, bounced when she hit the patio. You can’t imagine what it was like.”
“Oh, Kelly. I’m so sorry you had to see that.”
I told her the rest of the story, including the part about the hands I’d seen. She believed me when I told her I thought Ruth had been pushed. That encouraged me and I went on to tell her about the notes I’d received and about the secret passages Mike and I had found. I told her about Richard, too, and said I thought we should keep an eye on him.
“That’s it,” she said, “as soon as I get to my own room, I’m pulling out the dresser to see if there’s a door. If there is, I swear I’ll seal it with cement if I have to.”
“Sharon, is it just me or do you get the impression all of this is tied together?” I asked. “I mean Ruth, the notes, the passages, all of it.”
“No, I don’t think it’s just you. On the surface it doesn’t sound like it’s all related, but it’s just too much of a coincidence to have all of this going on.” She paused, and seemed to change her mind. “No, on second thought I can’t see how any one thing could be related to the other. What could Ruth have to do with the notes or the passages?”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. That would be quite a stretch.”
“I think you’re right about one thing though. We should keep an eye on Richard. He’s always rubbed me the wrong way. I’ve seen him smile and joke with people, but as soon as they turn their backs his face changes into a mean, cold mask.”
“Well, we’re agreed on Richard English anyway,” I said. “You should have seen his face after I told him off. If looks could kill, they’d be burying me next to Ruth. Oh! Sorry I said that.”
“I’m just sorry we didn’t get back here sooner.” Sharon shook her head.
“What happened?” I asked.
“The truck broke down. I think David said it had something to do with the carburetor. We couldn’t find an open garage, and David didn’t have any tools with him, so we spent the night in town.” She grinned at me but wouldn’t say another word on the subject, and I didn’t push the issue. It was none of my business.
She left to go to her own room, while I lay down to take a nap. I was suddenly very tired, but I didn’t think I’d really go to sleep. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out. Just goes to show how much I know.
I awoke with a start to find Lucy shaking my shoulder, saying, “Kelly! Kelly, wake up!”
“I’m awake,” I grumbled. “Quit shaking me! What’s wrong?”
I was sweating profusely, even though I felt cold.
“I was walking by your room and heard you cry out. I guess you must have had a nightmare or something. It must have been a doozy, from the looks of you. Are you okay?”
“Oh, yeah,” I said, as the memory flooded back. “I remember now. I was dreaming about Ruth. She kept falling and falling, but never landed. And she kept screaming. Then I felt like I was falling, but that’s when you woke me up.”
“Okay, sweetie. Go take a shower and cool off. You’ll feel better.”
“I know. Thanks, Lucy.” I actually wanted to take a shower to warm up. I was freezing.
“Thanks for what?” Lucy asked.
“For waking me. Please don’t tell anyone else about this.”
She nodded and left, and I felt a sudden surge of guilt. I was so worked up about Ruth that I’d neglected my work around the house. I was certain Lucy had done it all herself. I was growing awfully fond of her and didn’t want to leave everything up to her. It wasn’t fair.
I took a shower, letting myself soak under the hot spray before putting on a fresh pair of shorts and a shirt and hurrying out to the kitchen. The clock read almost four-thirty, so I wanted to help Lucy with dinner and go get ready for my date with Mike.
“Okay, put me to work.”
“Gladly.” She handed me a head of lettuce. “You make the salad.”
“I’m sorry I was so useless today.”
“Well, get your fanny in gear and help me now, and I’ll forget about today. All kidding aside though, you were the only one who actually saw Ruth fall. I can understand why you’ve been so out of it.”
“I shouldn’t have let it get to me like it did. I’m a stronger person than that.”
“I don’t think it has anything to do with strength. You don’t see someone die every day,” she said. “We all have our limits, and believe me, what you witnessed would have pushed me to the edge.”
“Thanks again, Lucy.” She really didn’t have to make things easier for me, but that seemed to be her way.
Mike walked into the kitchen. “Are we still going out tonight? You’re not having second thoughts are you?”
“No, we’re still on. I’ll be ready on time.”
“Good,” he said, smiling. He left the kitchen so Lucy and I could finish what we were doing.
After we had everything going, barbecued spare ribs in the oven, corn on the cob ready to cook, fresh fruit ready in dishes, and a few other things to serve on the side, I retreated to my room to change clothes.
Mike and I went out that night and had a wonderful time, under the circumstances. I tried to forget about Ruth, at least for the evening, but I couldn’t put her out of my mind completely. Poor little thing.
At dinner Mike laughed when I ordered spare ribs.
“We might as well have stayed home,” he said.
“No, I’m just in the mood for ribs. They smelled so good when we were cooking them, but I’m glad we’re out. We both needed a night away from the house.”
We talked about a lot of things over dinner. Mike asked several questions about what I was like when I was young. I felt like he was trying to get inside my head. I began to feel uncomfortable, which he must have sensed, because he changed the subject abruptly. I supposed he was trying to get to know more about me. We kept the conversation light after the Q & A session.
After dinner we took in a movie. It was a hilarious new comedy, and it made me forget my cares.
Mike and I walked to the car. “Let’s not end the evening yet. Let’s go dancing.”
I grinned. “I love to dance. And I’m not ready to go back yet either.”
We drove to the other end of town where there were a few lounges. One of them had a band. We danced until two o’clock, decided we’d had it for the night and headed home.
“I had a wonderful time, Mike. Thank you,” I said, as we headed out of town.
“Thank you. You’re good company. We’ll have to do this again soon.”
“I’d li
ke that.”
The events of the past twenty-four hours caught up with me on the long drive home. I rested my head on the back of the seat and fell asleep.
“Hey, lady,” Mike said, gently waking me. “We’re home, wake up.”
“Oh, no. I’m sorry, Mike.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, smiling. “I’m surprised you lasted as long as you did. Come here.”
I turned to face him and he reached over to hug me.
“Oh, Kelly. I – ” He didn’t finish his sentence.
“What?” I prompted. “What were you going to say?”
“Nothing. Something. I’ll tell you another time.”
I didn’t push him. I wanted to know, but at the same time I didn’t. I didn’t want things to move too fast.
He kissed me, lingering a bit, and looked into my eyes.
“We’d better go in,” he said, his voice sounding hoarse.
He climbed out of the car and came around to my side to open the door. Hand in hand, we walked toward the house. “Let’s go swimming again tomorrow.”
“Okay. It’s going to start cooling off soon so we might as well take advantage of the pool while we can.” I yawned and felt guilty for it.
He kissed me again when we reached the back door. Mid-kiss the porch light began flickering on and off.
“Hi, kids,” Lucy said, through the door. “Just got up to get a glass of water and thought I’d let you know I was here, watching you.”
“Lucy – ” Mike began.
“Now, now.” We heard her hurried footsteps as she left the kitchen, and we both laughed.
“Crazy lady,” Mike commented.
“Absolutely nuts,” I agreed.
“Whacko.”
“Bananas.”
He hugged me and we walked inside where he said good-night.
As I got into bed, I thought maybe I knew how Sharon felt about David. It wouldn’t take much for me to fall for Mike.
Chapter Twenty-two
The rest of the weekend passed quickly. With the exception of a few of us, everyone was subdued and managed to avoid mentioning Ruth’s name. I guess it was easier not to acknowledge anything had happened. Aside from things being a little quieter than usual, Saturday and Sunday seemed like a fairly normal days, which surprised me.