Ghost House (5 page)

“I didn’t think of that, but you are probably
right. Maybe you better take the day off work tomorrow, Jim, or at
least the morning.”

Riley, Suzanne and Cooper came in the back
door. Suzanne ran up to her mommy with four flowers in her hand and
handed them to her mother.

“How beautiful, thank you, Suzanne.”

Sarah and Jim were awaken by a loud crashing
noise. Cooper then started barking and ran to the landing. The
clock flashed the time of 1:11a.m. “Jim, what is it?” Sarah asked
after her husband had time to reach the kitchen. “Jim? Should I
call 911?”

“It’s O.K., the doors and windows appear to
be secure.” Jim said, going into the basement. Cooper whined and
hid under the dining room table. Sarah picked him up “What is it,
Cooper? Are you O.K.?” It was then she noticed the vase that held
the flowers Suzanne had picked for her earlier was laying sideways
on the table, the water dripping onto the floor.

Jim came back upstairs and said “Nothing down
there except the bulb in the lantern is shattered.”

“Did the light just get too hot and explode?”
Sarah asked. “Impossible, it wasn’t turned on and the broken bulb
isn’t even warm to the touch. What happened here?” Jim said,
looking at the overturned vase.

“Cooper must have gotten scared and ran under
the table. He probably bumped into the chair or something that
jarred the vase. That wouldn’t have made that loud noise
though.”

“Yeah, I heard Cooper whine.” Jim said,
looking out the back door window.

“Maybe its Harry Potter like Suzanne said.”
Sarah smiled trying to calm her nerves. “Do you think maybe that
noise is coming from a neighbor’s house? I mean, we have heard it
twice already.” “Anyone’s guess.” Jim said, walking back to the
bedroom.

Jim, Sarah and the girls were sitting in the
backyard at the picnic table when the three State Police officers
pulled up. They had a camera and a bag with them, and were putting
on gloves when they greeted the family.

“O.K. if we go in now?” One of the men asked
Jim. “Yes, we will just stay out here.” Jim answered, picking
Cooper up. Cooper did not bark at the men. The officers were in the
house quite a long time before they finally came back out. Two of
the men walked directly to their vehicle. The third man, who seemed
to be in charged, walked over and thanked Jim and Sarah for their
cooperation. “Did you find anything?” Sarah asked. “Like what, Mrs.
Gaunter?” The detective asked. “Like anything you were looking
for.” Sarah said, feeling silly that she even asked him in the
first place, knowing they probably would not tell her if they
had.

Cooper picked that moment to run and jump on
the detective’s leg, wanting to play. “What a cute little dog.” He
said, reaching down to pat Cooper’s head. “Have a nice day, and
thank you again.” The detective said as he joined the other two men
in the car.

“I hope they didn’t trash the place looking
for whatever they were looking for.” Sarah said. Jim and Sarah went
back into the house and were happy to see that nothing seemed out
of place. The only indication that they had been in the house was a
small hall rug which was caught under the hall closet door. “I
wonder why they looked in the closet.”

“Maybe they were looking for a secret
passageway.” Riley said. “To where? There is only the back wall of
the kitchen on the other side of that closet wall. No, this house
is too small to have anything like that.” Her father said, then
added, “Well, everything seems to be in place, I guess I should get
to the office.”

The girls were playing in the backyard with
Cooper when Sarah heard Cooper barking and growling. Looking out
the kitchen window she saw Joe Witters standing at the gate. Sarah
went to the back door and told the girls to pick Cooper up and hold
him, then she asked Mr. Witters what he wanted.

“Those fellows from the police already
leave?” He asked. Sarah went outside and told the girls to go
inside to play with Cooper, then she motioned Mr. Witters to sit at
the picnic table. “Yes, they have already been here and left a
while ago. Someone mentioned that someone might have been murdered
in this house. Do you know anything about that, Mr. Witters?”

“Well, I did have this couple renting the
house up until about six months or so ago. They had two daughters,
older than teenagers. The parents were both killed in a car
accident and I didn’t want to just throw the girls out after they
had just lost their parents.” Mr. Witters explained. He then looked
at the house and said “I don’t remember your husband telling me
that you had a dog.”

“The parents were killed in an auto accident
and the girls lived here how much longer?” Sarah prompted him to
continue the story.

“I gave them two months. One girl moved her
boyfriend in, I think he was on drugs. Looked like it. One of the
girls died, don’t remember which one. Then I was going to tell the
other one she had to leave, but she took off before I could.” He
said.

“Died in this house?” Sarah asked him.

“Don’t know really, today they were looking
for bullet holes or recently patched up remodeling work is what
they said on the phone. None of that in my house. What happened to
mother’s flowers?” Mr. Witters asked, standing up and walking over
to the flower bed where Suzanne had picked the flowers. “That damn
dog messed up mother’s flowers!” He said anger in his voice.

“Mr. Witters.” Sarah said sternly “I will
take pictures of how the yard looks and after our lease is up, we
will make sure that the yard is as it was when we got here. There
is nothing in our lease saying that we could not have a pet.
Besides that, we not only rent the house, but the yard and that
garage are part of the deal as well. We were not given a key to the
garage, storage shed, or whatever that is. Until we leave, we would
appreciate if you limit your contact with us, isn’t that the
management company’s job, anyway?”

“Just keep that dog away from mother’s
flowers and make sure you keep the walks shoveled and the grass
cut.” Mr. Witters said, walking to the back gate.

Sarah just stood there watching him leave.
Annoying
o
ld goat.
Before she could forget, she took
her phone out and snapped several pictures of the yard and flowers.
On a whim, she walked over to the tiny garage and tried the handle
again, still locked.
He never did answer me about the key to
this thing.

“Want me to knock that lock off for you?”

Sarah jumped, she hadn’t noticed the young
man walk up to her. He was an older teenager, had tattoos and long
hair.

“No, that won’t be necessary. Thank you for
offering though.” Sarah said.

“My name is Alex. Need anyone to cut your
grass for you?” Sarah started to tell him no, but then thought
better of it. “Maybe. Do you have a telephone number I can call you
at later after I speak to my husband? It’s a big yard and he works
so he might appreciate the help. I can’t promise you right now
though for sure. Do you also shovel snow?”

Alex told her his phone number and Sarah put
it into her cell phone. “Sure, I shovel snow, the old lady who used
to live here used to shovel it herself, but since she died, I pick
up a lot of shoveling days for this house.” Alex said.

“Oh, did you know Mrs. Witters?”

“No, my grandfather use to say there was an
old lady who lived here when he was about my age. Mean ole thing,
used to have him come back and shovel again if there was even a
little bit of snow left on the walks. She had a son who also
shoveled the snow. I was talking about the other old, um, older
lady, the one who lived here last year. I shoveled it for them
until the house was empty again. There are usually people living
here who are busy or don’t have a son to shovel, so it helps me out
and them. The house looks good with the new siding on it.”

“New siding? When was it changed, do you
remember?” Sarah asked, not really sure why, except that the police
were interested in recent renovations.

“A couple of years ago.” Alex said, the
expression on his face changing into a smile.

“Mom, oh, hi, I’m Riley.” “Alex,” “Mom,
Suzanne is being a brat. She is trying to give Cooper a bath in the
bathtub and she is making a big mess.”

“Oh no! Nice to have met you, Alex, I will
let you know about the grass.” Sarah said, then turning to Riley
she said “Come help me, this might take the both of us.” More to
get her away from Alex than to actually call on reinforcements for
Suzanne. Alex seemed like a nice kid, but he was older than Riley
and Sarah was not fond of tattoos. More to the point, boys with
tattoos staring at her thirteen year old daughter.

Sarah and Riley had just walked into the
dining room from the kitchen when Cooper ran past them. He was
soaking wet and had Freddie in his teeth as he ran into the
basement.

Suzanne came around the corner then, equally
as wet as her puppy. “MOM! You should have caught him!” She yelled.
Sarah reached out and caught her daughter instead. “Suzanne! What
made you think it was a good idea to give Cooper a bath in the
bathtub?” She demanded.

“Where else would you take a bath?” Suzanne
looked at her mom in obvious confusion. Suzanne then realized that
they had never had a pet before, so Suzanne would not automatically
know that dogs were washed either outside or in the laundry tub in
the basement.

“You are so stupid, Suzanne!” Riley said.
“You are stupid!” Suzanne shot back. Sarah took Suzanne into the
bathroom and told her to take off her wet clothes and told her to
throw them down the chute. Both girls looked at their mother. “The
coal chute?” Riley asked her.

Sarah showed the girls the little square door
at the end of the hallway in the wall. She opened it and told them
that was a laundry chute. She explained that you put your clothes
in it and they fall into a basket in the basement. That made it
easier on wash day, because you didn’t have to carry the dirty
clothes down the stairs.

“Wow!” Riley said. “They keep coming up with
new stuff all the time!” “Actually,” their mother said, “I doubt
they make those chutes anymore, the houses mostly had them a long
time ago. I haven’t seen one in a very long time. Our house in
Tennessee didn’t have one.”

Riley said that she did not remember seeing a
basket in the basement that the clothes would fall into. “You are
correct, Riley, thanks for reminding me!” “Another thing for the
list!” Suzanne said.

Sarah cleaned up her daughter and the
bathroom and took the wet throw rug and towels and went down the
stairs to do a load of laundry. Cooper was down there sitting on
Riley’s bed, Freddie at his feet. He ran and jumped up against
Sarah’s leg. Sarah noticed how Cooper smelled.
Oh no, Suzanne
used my expensive hair conditioner on him.

Sarah was just putting the liquid washing
detergent into the washer when she heard loud music coming from
upstairs and the sound of several shoes against the hard wood
floor, like people dancing.
I see now why apartments always have
carpeting
.
I never realized how loud shoes sound walking on
hard wood floors from a lower
level.
She heard laughing
and talking.

“Riley, turn down the TV.” Sarah called up
the stairs, but the noise continued. Sarah washed her hands in the
laundry tub and went back upstairs. As soon as she got to the top
of the stairs, the noise stopped altogether.

“You didn’t have to turn the TV all the way
off, Riley, just down.” Sarah said walking into the living room.
There was no one there, the television was not on. She went into
her and Jim’s bedroom, the only other place there was a TV, but
their room was also unoccupied.

Sarah was looking in Suzanne’s bedroom when
she heard the back screen door slam. She walked into the kitchen
and saw Riley and Suzanne taking cookies out of the cookie jar.
Suzanne started to hand one to Cooper.

“No, Suzanne, those have chocolate in them.
Chocolate can make dogs very sick. Give Cooper one of his treats.”
“O.K. mom” “Were you girls outside for a while?” Sarah asked them.
“Riley was looking for some boy over the fence.” Suzanne tattle
tailed. “I was not!” Riley said.

Sarah walked over to the front door and
opened it. No one there.
Strange.
“Did you girls have the TV
on before you went outside?” “No, nothing on TV during the day but
soap operas.” Riley said.

That night at dinner, Jim told his family
that the next day was bring your daughter to work day.

“What is that, daddy?” Suzanne asked. “It is
a day that I can bring you girls and show you where daddy works and
what I do for a living.” Their dad said. “What you do to live?”
Suzanne asked.

“Daddy means what he does that his company
pays him for so he can take care of us and buy food to eat.” Sarah
said. “Are they going to pay me too?” Suzanne asked. “No, dummy!”
Riley said. “We just go and watch daddy work.” “Oh.” Suzanne said,
all the enthusiasm out of her voice now. “Can Cooper go too?” “No
honey just you and Riley. It will be fun and we can go out to lunch
and I even get to leave earlier than usual.” Jim explained. “Can
mommy go too?” Suzanne asked. “Thank you, Suzanne, but mommy and
Cooper will stay here. We still have a lot to do around here.”
Sarah told her. “Can I bring Mr. Pickles and Freddie to work,
daddy?” “They would be bored.” Her father said. “O.K., Freddie can
stay with mommy and Mr. Pickles can come with us.” Suzanne
decided.

Sarah did all of her grocery shopping the
next day and got several other errands out of the way that were
easier to do without the girls. When she pulled up to the curb and
turned off the van she noticed smoke coming out of the back
basement window. She had to think for a moment if she had left the
dryer on and the smoke like mist was from that, or was there an
actual fire in her basement?