“But that flipper girl… Damn it, I wish I could remember her name… We became such good, good friends…” Josephine paused and seemed to try and locate the name from the recesses of her mind but came up short. “Well, whatever her name was, she knew a lot about the house, done a lot of research. She thought those parties were hilarious. Very down to earth sort of person she was and a genuine good sense of humor. I never talked to that other one much.”
“Uh huh,” Harmony said, hanging on her every word.
“What she wanted to know, though, was about Balthazar.”
“Who?” Harmony asked.
“The man who owned the house, Balthazar,” Josephine said and smiled. “Now, I had a handsome husband. Do you have a handsome husband?”
Harmony nodded, then remembered she had a picture of Marc on her phone. She pulled it out of the back pocket of her jeans, swiped the screen and showed Josephine the picture of Marc she’d taken at the beach the other day. He’d just gotten out of the water and was tall, tanned and muscular. He was smiling like a movie star.
Josephine looked at the picture, then pulled back. “Wow!” she exclaimed. She stared at Harmony. “You get to sleep with that every night?”
Harmony cracked up and nodded. “Well, not every night. Sometimes I get mad at him.”
“Don’t stay mad, Harmony, get that while you can,” she told her, nodding like she knew everything.
Harmony laughed again and shook her head. This woman was just too funny. She’d never met anyone like her in her life. She really liked her.
“Girl, I am serious. Get it while you can because it does go away,” Josephine said and patted her hand. “They don’t tell you that when you’re young, but it’s true. And, yes, you miss it like hell.”
Harmony laughed harder, shaking her head a little. “I’ll relay that to him.”
“He’s a man,” she said. “They don’t have to know everything.” She paused and stared at the ceiling for moment. “What the hell was I talking about? Oh! Good looking men! Balthazar was one of the… No. He had to be the best looking man I’d ever laid eyes on. And I loved my husband, let me tell you. He was sweet and generous and successful. I just adored him.”
“What did he do?” Harmony asked. “Your husband? Did he work in the movies or something?”
“Oh, hell no,” she said. “Too risky. He built houses, that’s what he did. And he loved houses and that’s why he bought this one, loved the architecture of it. He just fell in love with it. He would have rather it have been in another part of town, because he didn’t like the Hills, but he fell in love with it. And he said he bought it for me because I liked being closer to the action. But it was mostly for him.”
Harmony nodded and realized she, too, had mostly agreed to buy their house because Marc had wanted it so badly.
“My husband’s name was Hubert,” she said. “And, like I said, I loved him. But I have to admit, woman to woman, if that Balthazar fella had ever even blinked his eyes at me, I would have cheated on my husband like that!” She snapped her fingers for emphasis, then added, “I knew it would have been wrong, but I would have done it anyway.”
Harmony pulled back a little as her own indiscretion popped up in her mind. She didn’t want to think about it, so she pushed it away. “Wow,” Harmony managed to say. “He must have been something to look at.”
“It wasn’t just his looks, though,” Josephine said. “It was something in his demeanor. He had a swagger, certainly, but he didn’t have a snobby bone in his body. He was that kind of man. He had charisma. He commanded respect, you know? And you just granted it. You just gave it to him. That man could have run for president and he would have won like that!” she said and snapped her fingers again. “And he’d won by a landslide, too.”
“Wow,” Harmony said.
“Of course, from what I heard, that man wasn’t interested in politics at all, though,” she continued.
“What was he?”
“I believe he was a scientist of some sort,” she said. “Don’t really know for sure. What was he…? I think he might have worked at the college as a researcher? Or maybe he had his own company? I don’t know, something like that. Very intelligent from what I heard.” She paused and took a breath. “I met him once, that’s how I know about him.”
“Where did you meet?” Harmony asked, becoming even more intrigued.
“There used to be this little grocery store at the foot of the hill, over… I don’t know… Over yonder that way,” she said and slung her hand forward. “You just drove down the hill and it was there. A little fruit stand, mostly, and inside there was bread and homemade cakes, things like that. They used to sell the best mangos in the world and my husband loved his mangos, so I had to stop there a lot.”
“Cool,” Harmony said.
“Anyway, I was in there looking for something,” she said. “Bread or milk—they had a cooler in the back. Can’t remember and I turned and there he was. Balthazar.” A slow smile crossed her lips as she recalled the memory. “He was tall and he had this really defined jaw line. His hair was black as coal. And those eyes, you never saw anything like those eyes in your life. They were blue, so blue they looked unreal.”
This piqued Harmony’s interest. She hung on Josephine’s every word.
Josephine continued, “He smelled like heaven. I’d never smelled cologne that good before and haven’t since. But he looked even better than he smelled. And he was wearing this button down white shirt and these khaki pants, freshly starched. And Italian loafers! I can still see those loafers on that dirty old floor. They were something else and worn out, you know? But they went with that outfit, like he was getting ready to go sailing or on a yacht or maybe on a spaceship for all I knew. Most people like that, old money types, I mean, they don’t just toss things away. They wear them and then they’ll get the shoes resoled or whatever. But he was something else, standing there in those old shoes and clean clothes.”
Those old shoes… Harmony nearly gasped. She’d just realized who the handsome man in her dream was, the one she’d talked to, the one who’d given her the drink. That man had been Balthazar! It had to be! She was on the verge of panic as she realized the man was real. The dream… Had it been real, too? Could that even be possible? How could it be possible?
Harmony shook her head, not knowing what to think. But of course, Balthazar was real, why wouldn’t he be? Had he been at the party where all those people died? He had to have been, but she couldn’t recall if he was mentioned in the reports she’d read. Maybe she just overlooked him because the massacre had been so horrible and knowing it had been real had freaked her out. But then she remembered Darcy’s comments about him, saying that some people assumed he’d poisoned all those people. Had he done that? From what Josephine was saying, he didn’t seem like the type of person to murder people. Her mind began to race with all these questions but she knew she couldn’t let on like she knew who Josephine was talking about, mainly because that would get her off track. So, she held everything in and pushed it aside and told herself she would deal with it later.
“But then his wife came up,” Josephine continued. “And I was floored by her, as well. She was absolutely beautiful, this icy blonde queen. Dressed to the nines, even in that old store! People don’t dress like that anymore, just let me tell you. Her hair was up in a big bouffant and she had these big sunglasses on that made her look like a movie star.”
Harmony froze again, realizing that Balthazar’s wife was probably the woman she’d seen that night beside her bed. She’d just described her, sans the sunglasses. Her head swam and she felt, for a moment, like running away and hiding. This was too much. But then again, what if the dream and the woman beside the bed that night was just in her mind? She was about to say something when Edith came rushing into the kitchen, shaking her phone.
“Josephine,” she said. “The doctor is able to get you in today. So, we need to go now.” She turned to H
armony. “Sorry, Harmony. I know this is sudden.”
Harmony nodded that she understood.
“Come on, now,” Edith said to Josephine. “We have to go.”
“But I have company!” she exclaimed and shook her head.
Edith glanced at Harmony, then back at Josephine. “Now, now. I am sure Harmony understands.”
“I do, actually,” Harmony said and stood. “I need to get going myself.”
Josephine grabbed her hand firmly, not letting it go. “Just do yourself a favor, Harmony, and get out of that old house. I don’t believe in things that go bump in the night, but I can’t see how you live there, especially after all those murders.”
“Josephine, please,” Edith groaned.
“She knows about it, don’t you, Harmony?” Josephine asked. “You know all those people got killed there.”
Harmony didn’t know what to say. Of course, she knew. And knowing meant she had a really hard time living at the house. “I know about them, yes,” she said quietly.
“Then you need to get out of there,” Josephine said. “Okay? Just get out of there, Harmony. Leave that place.”
Harmony swallowed hard and nodded a little, then pulled her hand back. “Well, okay, then. It was pleasure talking to you both,” she said and smiled at Josephine, then turned to Edith, who nodded back at her. She turned back to Josephine and said, “You can stop by and visit me anytime.”
“Oh, I’d never do that,” Josephine said. “No one in their right mind would ever go to that house.”
Harmony took her words to heart and began to feel really bad.
“Shut up!” Edith snapped at her. “Harmony, just don’t listen to her.”
“I’m not trying to be mean,” Josephine said and took Harmony’s hand again and squeezed it. “I just wouldn’t feel very comfortable.”
“It’s fine,” Harmony said and squeezed back. “I have to go now.”
“You be careful,” Josephine said. “Would you like Edith to drive you back home?”
“No, I’m okay,” Harmony said and got her cooler bag and started out of the room. She turned back and smiled at them both. “Thanks for the visit.”
“Here, I’ll walk you out,” Edith said, then called over her shoulder to Josephine, “Go upstairs and get ready! We have to leave soon.”
“Alright, already,” Josephine grumbled and watched Harmony leave. “Harmony, come back and see us sometime, okay? I mean it! Come back by soon, okay?”
“Okay,” she replied and hurried towards the front door, really wanting to get out of there and sort through her thoughts. She was about to turn the knob on the front door when Edith intercepted and pulled her back.
“Listen to me,” she said in a hushed tone. “That old woman doesn’t mean anything by what she said. Don’t listen to her, okay? Don’t let her scare you.”
“Oh, I’m not scared,” Harmony said, really wanting to leave.
“I know you’re not,” she said. “But keep in mind that she’s really old.”
Harmony glanced towards the kitchen, then back at Edith. “She doesn’t seem that old.”
“She’s almost ninety-four!”
“Ninety-four?!” Harmony exclaimed. “You’re kidding me?”
“No, I am not,” she said. “Good genetics, I suppose. Well, go on now and if you ever want to come back after that, feel free. We’d love to have you.”
Harmony smiled, thinking she’d like that and said, “That would be great.”
“Just take what she said with a grain of salt,” Edith said and opened the door. “Bye now.”
“See you later,” Harmony said and left the house.
She hurried up the street towards her house, then slowed down, thinking about all that had been said, all that she had learned. She shuddered and wondered how she could keep living in the house knowing all this. She longed for her old apartment and the security of it. But that time of her life was over. She hadn’t realized how special it had been, then remembered how excited she and Marc were when they first moved in and had gotten settled. She felt herself calming at the memory and stayed with it, refusing to really think about how her dream might have been real. She couldn’t deal with that right now. She’d deal with it later. It was too much to process right then.
So, she pushed it all down and made it back to the house a few minutes later, glancing at her watch as she opened the front door. She was surprised to see she’d been gone almost two hours. “Wow,” she muttered and shut the front door, heading to the kitchen. She came to an abrupt stop when she saw Marc at the peninsula eating the apple pie she’d saved for Darcy, straight out of the pan.
“What are you doing?” she asked and eyed him.
He stopped chewing as soon as he saw her. “Apparently having second breakfast.”
She normally would have laughed at the Hobbit reference, but her mind was still on what Josephine had said and she couldn’t find it in her.
“You didn’t tell me you made pie,” he said, a slightly accusatory tone to his voice. “I didn’t plan for this.”
Harmony set the bag on the counter. “Oh, I didn’t think.”
“Well, now I can’t eat for three days,” he said and eyed her. “Where have you been?”
“Out and about,” she said. “Why are you home?”
“A listing appointment got canceled and I thought I’d stop by and see if you’d like me to take you to lunch,” he said. “Well, you can eat. I’m stuffed with pie.”
“You didn’t have to eat the whole thing!”
“You know I can’t control myself around these pies,” he said. “And by the way, it was delicious.”
She nodded but didn’t say anything.
“Were you out in the neighborhood giving away pies?” he asked, narrowing his eyes at her.
“I was trying to,” she said. “You know, I thought it might be a good idea to meet the neighbors. But no one really answered their doors.” She stopped talking and wondered if she should tell him about Josephine and Edith. And Josephine’s stories about the people who used to own the house.
“Not surprising,” he said and pushed the pan away.
She stared at him and decided to tell him. “But I did meet some interesting people on down, you know, towards the bottom of the hill.”
“Really? Who?”
“You know that old Spanish Revival house?”
“The one that time forgot?” he asked.
She laughed a little. “Yeah. That one. Well, the housekeeper was taking out the garbage and we talked and I told her I had pie and she invited me in. And I met the owner, this really cool old woman named Josephine. She told me some things about this house.”
“Are we about to get in an argument?” he asked cautiously.
“No!” Harmony exclaimed and shook her head in frustration. “It’s just… She told me some stuff, but nothing I really didn’t already know. But—and this is interesting—she told me she actually knew the man who first owned the house.”
“Balthazar Montgomery,” he said.
“How do you know?” Harmony asked, astonished.
“Well, it’s not a secret or anything,” he said and sighed. “God, I hope this doesn’t lead to a big argument, but, yeah, I know the history of the house, Harmony. Yes, it was wrong of me to keep it from you, but honestly, I thought you’d look it up, too. You didn’t. Now we’re here.”
“I don’t want an argument,” she said and patted his hand, then leaned over and kissed his cheek.
He sat up taller and grinned. “Wow, you really don’t. Oh, and I know his wife’s name, too. It was Marni.”
“Huh,” she replied. “I didn’t know that.” Harmony shrugged. “Well, anyway,” she said and pulled back. “She was so funny, Josephine. And the housekeeper, Edith—I don’t think I told you her name. Anyway, Edith said she was ninety-three. Ninety-three!”
“That’s old,” Marc said.
&n
bsp; “They both said they’d like me to come back and visit again,” she said.
“That’s cool,” he said. “Maybe you’ll like hanging out with older people because you sure as hell don’t like hanging around anyone your own age.”
“Sorry!” Harmony exclaimed. “I don’t know why I’m like that. Oh, wait a minute! I’m not so bad! I like Darcy and she’s even younger than me.”
Marc nodded. “How do you know that?”
“I don’t know,” Harmony said. “I just assumed she was younger than me.”
“She might be older,” Marc said. “It’s Hollywood. No one knows anyone’s real age.”
“Right,” she said and nodded. “You know, I made her that pot roast but she was never home. I never know when she’d going to be here.”
“I know, I had to eat pot roast for three days,” he said. “Don’t do that again.”
“Listen to you,” she said. “Worried about your weight like a woman.”
“Again, we’re in Los Angeles and real estate is a bear,” he said. “I have to look as good as I can. If that makes me vain, then I am vain. It’s part of the job.”
“Well, you’re hot,” she said. “And I love you.”
“Aw, you’re so sweet,” he said. “How many pies did you make?”
“Seven in all,” she told him. “I got a few left in the bag.”
“Too many pies,” he said.
“Hey, did you say something about lunch?”
“I did,” he said and stood, then pulled her by the waist to him. He bent her head back and kissed her with force. She moaned and allowed it, tasting the apple pie on his lips. She grabbed his face and held him still as they kissed. Then she pulled back as she felt a hunger pang. And it was strong, so strong in fact, she felt a little angry about it.
“I’m really hungry, Marc,” she told him. “Can we do this later? After lunch?”
The House in the Hills Page 15