by Marja McGraw
“You like that, huh?” I coughed and Jem looked at me sympathetically. He was such a great dog.
Since we were caught up on our work and there was nothing else to do, David spent the morning showing Sharon and I the proper way to throw darts. He was lucky we didn’t throw them at him, the way he kept clucking his tongue and shaking his head.
Jem watched for a while and finally wandered into the Library. When he returned he was acting odd. He sat down next to my foot and leaned against my leg, his ears back. Every few minutes he’d glance toward the Library and growl. It was a low, quiet growl.
“What’s wrong with that mutt?” David asked.
“I don’t know, and don’t call my pride and joy a mutt.” I patted the dog’s head.
“I’ve heard that sometimes animals act funny because of the weather,” Sharon interjected. “Maybe this is going to be a big storm today. Look at that sky.” She turned toward the window.
“This is going to be a big one,” David said, whistling. “I hope everyone gets home safely before it gains any momentum.”
Jem finally calmed down and we turned back to the dart board.
Mike returned home around one o’clock, and we all ate lunch together. I wasn’t too hungry so I ate cold chicken while everyone else ate a heartier lunch.
Jem strolled over to me, stretched and put his paw on my leg. I bent down to hug him, and Sharon laughed because his nose began to twitch. He stuck his nose right next to my mouth and sniffed, smelling the chicken I’d eaten. I backed away, but his nose followed me. He was very persistent, and I finally had to tell him to go away. Having second thoughts, I called him back and gave him a bite of chicken.
“Okay,” Mike said, “if you’re through feeding the dog, let’s get busy and search the passages again.”
We began in Sharon’s room. We pulled out the bed and Mike lit the oil lamp, handing it to David. He opened the hidden door and we were just about to step through the opening when I heard the phone ring.
“Wait for me while I answer it,” I said.
“Hurry up.” Mike looked from me to the passage.
I ran into the kitchen and answered the phone. It was Josh.
“Tell Mike and David to meet me in town. Now!” he ordered. “I’m on to something important.”
“Where do you want them to meet you?” I asked.
“At the Main Street Café.”
“Are you okay, Josh? Your voice sounds funny.”
“I think I’m catching what you had. Tell them to hurry.”
“Okay, bye.”
I hurried to Sharon’s room and passed on the message.
“Maybe he’s got the name from the hospital,” Mike said, hopefully. “I wonder why he didn’t just tell you over the phone.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe it’s something else. Anyway, he said he wants you guys to hurry.”
“Okay, we’re on our way,” David said. They put on their jackets and dashed out the door, not even saying good-bye.
“Well,” Sharon said, “should we go ahead and search the passages ourselves?”
“No,” I said. “Let’s wait until they come home.”
We closed the door, moved the bed back into place and decided to make some hot chocolate.
“I’m pretty much coffee’d out.” I began to heat the water.
“Me, too. I’ve been drinking way too much coffee lately. It’s beginning to make me feel jumpy. Too much caffeine.”
I found the hot chocolate mix in the cupboard and set the can on the counter. “I wonder what Josh found out. He sure sounded excited. He didn’t sound very good though. I think maybe he’s coming down with bronchitis. I’m going to feel terrible if I passed it on to him.”
“Lucy won’t mind doctoring him,” Sharon said, smiling. “In fact, she’ll love it.”
“You’ve got that right.”
By that time it was around two-thirty in the afternoon, and we were bored. Jem was leaning against my leg again, while I stood by the stove, and he was practically pushing me over. He wasn’t all that small anymore.
“What’s the matter with you?” I said, looking down at him. “Quit pushing.”
“You know,” Sharon said, sounding edgy, “I think he’s being protective. He’s making me a little nervous. Maybe it’s not the coffee after all.”
“Jem? Protective?” I said, looking at him in a new light. “I don’t know what he’d be protecting me from.”
“Well, duh,” Sharon said. “Don’t you think he feels all the tension around here? He knows something’s going on.”
“I think he just feels the storm coming,” I said, not wanting to think I needed protection from anything. Not while Sharon and I were home alone.
“I suppose you’re right,” Sharon said. “We saw everyone leave. There’s no one else here. Right?
“Right.” I couldn’t help glancing over my shoulder toward the kitchen door.
Chapter Thirty-eight
After adding water to the cocoa mix, I sat down across from Sharon. After we emptied our cups, we decided to try throwing darts without the expert guidance of our teacher. I knew David meant well, but we just wanted to have fun, not become experts.
“Now we can do it our own way,” Sharon said, reading my mind.
She took her turn and handed me some darts so I could have a go at it. Neither one of us was very good, but we’d never admit it. After all, we were beginners.
My dog had begun leaning against my leg again. “Jem! Will you quit leaning on me? You big chicken. Who’s protecting who here?” I pushed him away. He growled.
“That’s it,” I said. “You’re going outside. Maybe some fresh air will do you good. You need something to calm you down.”
“Did you see any of the cars?” Sharon asked, when I walked back into the Library.
“No, I let Jem out the back door. Why?”
“I thought I heard the front door.”
I walked with purpose to the living room and peered out the window. Sharon followed me.
“There aren’t any cars out there, except yours and mine, and there’s no one around. I think Jem is getting to you. It was probably just the wind.”
We both jumped when we heard a loud bang.
“One of the shutters must have come loose,” Sharon said shakily. “I think maybe we should have gone to town with Mike and David. This place is giving me the creeps.”
“Me, too. Come with me while I close the shutter.” It had begun to bang back and forth as the wind picked up. We climbed up to the second floor and discovered it was one of the shutters in Richard’s room. I pulled it in and latched it, coughed a few times, and closed the window in a hurry. The snow was falling heavily by that time.
“I’m going down to let Jem in. Naturally, I had to put him outside just in time for the storm.” The lights flickered, but stayed on.
Sharon followed me to the back door, but when I opened it, Jem was gone. I could hear him barking. I looked around, trying to follow the sound. He was standing just inside the old coach house.
“Jem,” I yelled. He kept barking and wouldn’t come to me. Yelling made me cough. “What’s the matter with that dog?” I was half disgusted and half disturbed. “Oh, well, I guess he’ll come in when he’s ready.”
“I know what it is,” Sharon said, suddenly. “There’s a stray cat that’s been living out in the coach house. David mentioned it the other day.”
“Oh,” I said with relief. “That must be why he’s barking.”
“Yeah. So what do you want to do now? I think we need to keep busy or our imaginations are going to run away with us,” Sharon said. She was right. Every little noise was beginning to set us off.
“I don’t know. Maybe we should go ahead and search the passages after all,” I suggested.
“Tell you what,” Sharon said. “If no one is back by the time we’ve finished dinner, we’ll go exploring. If they’re back before dinner, then we can all go together.”
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“Good idea.” I was relieved we were putting it off, and yet glad to have a plan. I wasn’t really anxious to go through the passages without the men around, but we needed to do it.
I found a deck of cards and we played War for a while, but neither one of us could concentrate on the game.
“This is ridiculous,” I said. “We’re here alone, so why are we feeling so jumpy?”
“I don’t know. I guess it’s the wind, the snow, your crazy dog, and I almost feel like we’re stranded.”
“Well, we’re not. Both of our cars are here, and we can leave anytime we want to,” I reminded her.
“You’re right. We can leave if we really want to.”
“Yeah.”
“So why don’t we?” Sharon asked.
“Because there’s a huge storm outside. Actually, that’s a good thing. If we can’t get out, then the bad guy can’t get in.”
“Now that’s the first encouraging thing either one of us has said in an hour.” Sharon smiled and I could see her relaxing.
Jem stood outside the back door and barked.
“The dog wants in,” Sharon said.
I let him in and noticed the hands on the clock were nearing four o’clock. “It’s getting late.”
“We could start dinner.” The lights flickered and Sharon twitched. “In fact, maybe we’d better do it while we can. We may be eating by candlelight from the looks of things.” The lights flickered again, for emphasis.
“That’s a good possibility. Let’s get started.”
I had put a roast in the oven earlier, so Sharon peeled potatoes while I put a salad together. I placed the salad in the refrigerator and Sharon started the potatoes boiling. We sat down with nothing else to do for the moment. When the roast was just about ready, Sharon put some vegetables on to heat and took the potatoes off the stove. She mashed them while I took out the roast. We placed everything on a warming plate.
“I’ll reheat the veggies in the microwave when people start wandering in,” I said.
“Don’t hold your breath.” Sharon was looking out the window. “The snow is even heavier than it was last time we looked. I’d be willing to bet the roads are probably impassable. I doubt if anyone will be able to get through.”
“Listen to that wind.” I joined her at the window. “This has turned into a regular blizzard.”
“Why don’t we go ahead and eat,” Sharon said. “We can take care of everyone else as they come in, if they come in.”
“Sure. I’m hungry.”
While we were heating the vegetables, I thought I heard something. I stopped and listened, but it didn’t repeat.
“What is it?” Sharon asked.
“Nothing. I thought I heard a noise.”
“What kind of noise?”
“It sounded like someone walking around upstairs.”
“I think I heard it, too, but really, with all this wind, it’s probably just the house creaking. Don’t forget, no one else has come back from town yet.”
We sat down at the table to eat, but after a few bites I pushed my plate away. Food didn’t look tempting to me anymore.
“I guess I’m not as hungry as I thought.”
“I know the feeling.” She also pushed her plate away. “I wish David and Mike would come home.”
“Me, too,” I said. “I hope they’re not stuck in town.”
I noticed Jem sniffing around the legs of the chairs. “Jem! You know better than that. Do you need to go outside again?” When he heard the word outside, his tail began to swing wildly. I opened the door and he made a mad dash for the coach house.
“He sure has been acting weird today,” Sharon said.
“Between the wind, the snow and the cat, I guess I’m not surprised.”
“Look. We’re both bored to tears, and we’re both jumpy. A contradiction, I know, but that’s the way it is. Why don’t we just get it over with and search the passages. If we wait any longer, the boarders may come home, and we’ll end up having to wait until tomorrow. I don’t want to wait.”
“Okay, let’s go,” I said. “Besides, somehow I think it might put our minds at ease.”
“How do you figure?”
“We’ll see for ourselves that no one is here.”
“Sure. That makes sense to me.”
We returned to Sharon’s room and relit the oil lamp.
“You’ll have to lead the way,” Sharon said. “You’ve been through the passages before, and I haven’t. I wouldn’t know where to begin.”
“Follow me, but watch were your step.”
The first place I checked was the small room where Mike and I had found the pencil and paper. The items were still there, but along with them was Sharon’s eyebrow pencil. I picked it up and handed it to her.
“I thought the color on your mirror looked familiar,” she said. “I hate the echo in here. It’s really eerie,” she added.
“I know. I keep expecting some weirdo to leap around the corner and scare us to death.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I wished I could pull them back.
“What an imagination,” Sharon said shakily. “Most likely we’d run into David or Mike. I’m sure they’re on their way home right now, and if they don’t see us when they come in they’re going to figure we’re in here.”
We both laughed a little nervously. We didn’t find anything else in the room, so we moved on.
“This really is eerie,” Sharon repeated. “In a way, I’m glad the storm is so bad. At least I don’t think anyone will be returning early. Not even David and Mike. I feel safer knowing we’re here alone.” She was doing her best to convince both of us that we were alone in the house. It wasn’t working.
“I hope we’re alone. I still keep thinking I hear noises,” I said.
“You’re scaring me, Kelly. Knock it off!”
“I’m not trying to scare you. And it really is probably just the house creaking. I have to admit though, I wish I’d brought Jem back inside before we started this.”
“I said, knock it off!”
“Okay, okay.”
We climbed the stairs to the second floor. As we looked into the first of the three small rooms, the light sent a mouse scurrying for his life. I’d have to invest in some mouse traps. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen signs of the mice.
“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” Sharon said. “I’m beginning to feel crawly. Look at those spider webs,” she said, pointing toward the corner of the room. “And don’t try to tell me that mice and spiders are probably more afraid of me than I am of them.”
“I won’t. Let’s keep moving.”
We found nothing on the second floor except plenty of dust and dirt, so we climbed up to the third floor.
“Follow me,” I said. “I’ll show you where we found that box.”
I led her to the room Mike and I had discovered.
“Look at this,” Sharon said in astonishment. “This guy’s a pack rat. Just look at all this stuff.”
He’d been busy. There were now two boxes, filled with various small items which belonged to everyone who lived in the house.
“Sharon,” I said, excitedly, “here’s the book I was telling you about.” I picked it up and opened it, but then dropped it like a hot potato.
“What is it?” Sharon asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Open it, if you want to. He’s destroyed it. Pages are torn, and he’s taken a red marker and scribbled all over the pages.” I couldn’t explain it to her, but somehow the destruction of the book frightened me more than any of the notes he’d left.
Sharon grabbed my arm. “Shhh. I heard something.”
I listened intently, but heard nothing, so I turned back to the box. Sharon was still holding my arm.
“Sharon, you’re hurting my – ” Then I heard it too. It sounded like a footstep in the passageway.
“I’m going to go see what it is,” Sharon said recklessly, releasing my arm.
“Don�
�t! Stay here,” I whispered, but she was already out the door. I waited, but she didn’t return and I didn’t hear anything else. I gathered up all my courage and headed for the door to go in search of Sharon.
A blood-curdling scream came from the direction of the stairs.
“Sharon!” I yelled.
I ran out of the room and looked to my left and right, not knowing from which direction the scream had come.
“Sharon!” I yelled again. I heard no answer, but thought I heard a noise coming from the left. I turned and ran in that direction. Turning the corner, I almost ran into the man who’d been haunting my life.
Chapter Thirty-nine
IN THE TOWN OF WAVERLY
“We can’t wait much longer,” Mike said, looking at his watch. “Something’s wrong. Josh should have been here a long time ago.”
David checked his own watch. “I know. I thought it was an emergency from the sound of his call. When we talked last night he mentioned he was going to stop at the police station while he was in town. Why don’t we drive by and see if he’s been there yet?”
“Yeah, good idea. He said they were working with him on his investigation. Some big shot from L.A. gave them the word to cooperate with him. The homicide detective who came out sure hasn’t been any help.”
“Must be nice to have connections like that.”
The two men paid for their coffee and left the café. They drove to the police station as quickly as the weather would permit.
“Isn’t that Josh’s car pulling out?” Mike asked, pointing at the familiar vehicle.
“Yeah.” David started honking the horn. He saw Lucy turn around to see who was honking, and then she turned back to say something to Josh. Lucy looked upset. Josh pulled over and got out of his car.
“Mike! David! We’ve got to get back to the house as fast as we can,” Josh said, a note of urgency in his voice.
“What’s going on?” Mike asked. He and David climbed out of the truck. “Why did you call and tell us to meet you at the café?”
“I didn’t call you,” Josh said helplessly, handing him a slip of paper. “This is the name of the patient at Rose Mental Hospital, and a little of his background. He escaped not long before the Holts died in the accident. He’s been on the loose ever since. Everyone seemed to think he’d taken to the streets and died since there was no trace of him.”