Mysteries of Holt House - A Mystery (12 page)

I couldn’t believe how well things were
working out. I’d forgotten open doors, moving furniture and the pillow case
much too easily.

Chapter Fourteen

Mike finished the gazebo and storage shed
about the same time the pool was completed. We’d dug a second well to
accommodate the pool, which just about took the last of my lottery winnings.
Financially, things could get ugly if I didn’t start watching my pennies.

Time moved on and we were into August. The
temperature kept rising, and we were all grateful to have the pool.

Five vacationers had come and gone in
July. They were in and out and I never tried to get to know them. There wasn’t
time and I didn’t have the inclination. However, they did say they’d really
enjoyed themselves and they would be sure to mention Holt House to friends. The
only down note was when one of the vacationers commented on the odd feeling she
got at Holt House.

“It’s the strangest thing, but I always
feel like someone is watching me,” she said. “Mind you, I don’t feel frightened
or anything, but it is an odd sensation.”

“I think it’s something about the house being
so old,” I replied. “We’ve all had the same feeling from time to time, but
other than the feeling of being watched, nothing ever happens.”

“I wonder if the house is haunted.” She
sounded hopeful.

“You never know.” I smiled.

She and her husband left, and that was the
end of the subject.

David and Sharon’s relationship was
growing and blossoming with each passing day, which didn’t really surprise me.

“Kelly,” Sharon said one morning, “I
believe I’m falling in love with David, and it scares me to death. He’s not
what I was looking for.”

“So what? He’s what you found. He makes
you happy, he’s intelligent, you two get along beautifully, so what do you
want? Can’t you just accept what life’s handed you and enjoy it? You’ll never
find anyone who would care about you any more than he does. And he’s not the
type who will make you feel smothered. Sharon, why don’t you let your heart
lead you just this one time? You’ve got a good thing going here.”

She stared off into space for a moment.
“You make a good case, even if you did get a little preachy. He’s a wonderful
man, isn’t he? And I can’t deny how I feel about him. He was so quiet at first,
and it bothered me. He’s opened up to me more now though, and I’ve discovered
that I like the quiet times. We can talk, or
I
can talk, or we can just
sit quietly. I feel so peaceful when I’m with him,” she said, with sudden
awareness. “It’s the peaceful feeling that makes me so content. I’ve never felt
contentment with anyone before.”

“How does he feel? Has he said anything?”

Sharon smiled. “Yes. He loves me, too.”

“And
I
love you, Sharon. You’re the
best friend I’ve ever had. In fact, you’re more like a sister than a friend,
but I think we’ve covered that before. I want to see you and David happy
together.”

She reached over and squeezed my hand.
“What would I do without you? Sometimes you’re a lifeline for me.” We sat
quietly for a few minutes, each of us thinking about love and life.

“Changing the subject from me to you,”
Sharon said, “what about Mike? You never say anything about him anymore. When
he first moved in you couldn’t talk about anything else.”

“Oh, he’s been busy with his work. About
the only time I see him is at breakfast and dinner, and sometimes not even
then. Sometimes he’s gone before I get up, and then he works late and Lucy
feeds him in the kitchen. I thought he was interested in me, but I guess I was
wrong. Lucy won’t be happy when she realizes her matchmaking didn’t work.”

“You never know how things will turn out.”
Sharon always did have trouble hiding her thoughts. Her face read like an open
book. Something was up.

“Give. I can tell by your face that you
know something.”

“Oh, I shouldn’t say anything. It’s not my
place.”

“Yes, it’s your place as my friend. What
do you know? Don’t hold out on me now.”

“Lucy and I talk a lot, and Mike and Lucy
talk a lot. He’s interested, but he hasn’t had the time to do anything about
it.”

“Sure,” I said, not quite believing her.

“Things are going to slow down for him
soon, and then you just watch. Your life is going to take a whole new turn.”

“I’ll believe it if and when it happens.
Let’s go out to the pool,” I said, brushing her comments off to the side for
the moment. “It’s too hot in here.” Our conversation was making me
uncomfortable. I didn’t want to get my hopes up.

“When are you going to have air
conditioning installed?” Sharon asked.

“I don’t know – one of these days.”

We’d been sitting in her room talking. It
was late afternoon, and it would be about an hour before we’d be eating dinner.
Sharon had come home from work early, taking advantage of a couple of hours of
her vacation time.

I went to my room and put on my bathing
suit before meeting Sharon out by the pool. Most everyone was still at work or
busy with other things, so we had the pool to ourselves. We swam for a while,
eventually climbing up to sit on the steps in the shallow end of the pool,
enjoying the cool water.

“What’s for dinner tonight?” Sharon asked.

“I don’t remember.”

“Would you go check? I’m getting hungry.”

“Okay, I’m about ready to get out of the
pool anyway. If I stay in much longer I’m going to turn into a prune. It sure
felt good to cool off though.”

I stood up and turned around to climb out
of the pool, and Mike was standing there watching us.

“Hellooo,” he said. I could hear a note of
admiration in his voice and felt unexpectedly embarrassed. He’d never seen me
in anything but jeans or slacks before, and now I was standing in all my glory,
wearing a bathing suit which was equivalent to almost nothing.

“Hi,” I said, padding over to get the
shirt I’d brought out with me.

He followed me. I looked back at Sharon
and she was laughing.

“You look, uh, great in a bathing suit,”
he said.

“Thank you,” I mumbled.

He laughed. “Why are you embarrassed? You
shouldn’t be.”

I wouldn’t look at him so he took hold of
my chin and turned my face upward so that my eyes met his. He smiled at me.

“You
do
look great,” he said
quietly. “I’m sorry though, I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable.”

“It’s okay.” I could feel my face heating
up. “I’m going inside to change my clothes. I’ll see you later.” The more we
talked about being embarrassed, the worse I felt. I just wanted him to let it
go.

Reaching the house I looked back and saw
him and Sharon talking. I smiled to myself. Embarrassment aside, I had to admit
I was pleased.

I changed into my jeans and stopped to
talk to Lucy. She’d already started dinner and said she didn’t need any help
and things were under control, as usual.

Mike walked in, looked at me and grinned.
Lucy glanced at him questioningly, but he just shook his head.

“Kelly,” he said, “can I talk to you for a
minute? In the other room?”

I nodded. “Sure.”

We walked to the living room where we found
Josh and Marion reading. Mike took my hand and led me to the dining room. Ruth
was snacking and looked like she wanted to crawl under the rug when she saw us.

“Oh, for crying out loud!” Mike said
disgustedly. “Come on.”

Ruth cringed, but continued snacking.

He led me outside, onto the front porch.

“All I want to do is ask you to go into
town with me on Saturday night. I don’t think the whole house has to be in on
it though.”

“I’d like that. What did you have in
mind?”

“I thought we could go out to dinner and a
movie. Nothing fancy, just an evening out. Neither one of us has been out since
I moved in here, and I think we both need some personal time.”

“I know. I’m always taking care of the
house, and you’re always working on your building stuff.”

“My building stuff? You really have a way
with words.”

“You know what I mean. Drawing plans,
working on projects. You know,
stuff
.”

“At least you know what I do for a living.
You had me worried there for a minute,” he said, laughing.

We sat down on the porch steps and talked
about what movie we wanted to see, finally agreeing on one.

“Do you like to bowl?” he asked.

“I’m not very good at it, but yes. I was
on a league once. My team liked me because I gave them such a good handicap.”

“Good. We’ll go bowling soon. Work is
going to slow down for me during the winter months, so if you want to, we can
do things together sometimes. I know there’s not a lot of action in the small
towns around here, but we can always find
something
to do.”

“That sounds nice.” Nice? Couldn’t I have
thought of something better than
nice
?

“Let’s see if dinner is ready yet. I’m
starved.” He took my hand and pulled me toward the front door.

“So am I. That swim made me hungry.”

Shortly after dinner I wandered off to my
room to write my parents an overdue letter. In my mother’s last note she told
me how pleased she was that Holt House was working out for me, although she
still wished I would move to Florida to be near her and my dad. Her comments
weren’t quite as adamant as they had been in the beginning though. Maybe she
was adjusting to me having my own life, or maybe she and dad were having such a
good time that she wasn’t thinking about it as much.

I wanted to write and tell her about Mike,
but decided not to in case nothing came of it. I had just sat down at the desk
when there was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” I called.

Sharon opened the door and walked in. “So,
what happened?”

“He asked me out.”

“You don’t sound all that excited. I thought
you’d be thrilled.”

“Well, I am. But I don’t want to get my
hopes up. He was very casual about the whole thing. You, of all people, should
know I don’t like to count on things before they happen.”

“I know, and you’ve always driven me crazy
with your attitude. Just once, I’d like to see you get excited. Good grief! Now
look who’s being preachy. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle things
in my own way, regardless of what you say, so none of this matters anyway.”

“I’m
so
glad to find out just how
much you value my opinion. Oh, well, let’s go for a walk,” Sharon suggested.
“David is working on the plumbing in one of the bathrooms, and Mike told me he
was going to work on a design for a room addition.”

“Let’s go.” I slipped on a pair of
sandals.

Chapter
Fifteen

It was a beautiful night. There was a half
moon and the sky was filled with stars. That was one of the perks about living
in the country – you could see so many stars. The sky looked like a piece of
dark blue velvet sprinkled with rhinestones. It was an amazing color. There was
a breeze which helped cool things off, so at least the heat was bearable. I
could hear the leaves on the trees rustling, and the crickets sang their
repetitious melody. Somewhere in the distance I heard an owl hoot. It was the
perfect time for a walk in the country, a time to forget problems and to be at
peace.

Sharon didn’t say much while we walked,
which was unusual enough to make me take notice.

After studying the frown on her face, I
asked, “Is there something on your mind or aren’t you enjoying the walk?”

She didn’t answer right away. I waited
patiently.

 “I’ve debated whether to say
anything to you or not. There’ve been a couple of strange things going on. At
first I didn’t think I should say anything, but – ”

“What are you talking about?” The last
thing I wanted was trouble at Holt House.

“Well... It’s just that a couple of things
have disappeared from my room. I can’t accuse anyone of theft, and I wouldn’t
want to anyway. In fact, at first I thought I was just misplacing things. And
nothing valuable has disappeared.”

“What’s missing?” I hated to think I might
have been right about a thief being in the area a few months back. Maybe I
should have taken steps and called the police, but so much time had passed with
nothing else happening.

“That’s what’s so odd,” she replied. “Like
I said, nothing valuable is gone. They’re things like the hand mirror I use
when I brush my hair, a tube of lipstick, and the last letter I got from my parents
is gone. But this morning was the strangest.”

“What happened this morning?”

“Now don’t think I’m loco, but I was
getting ready for work and I set my address book on top of the dresser while I
looked for something in the drawer. I turned away to pick up my blouse, and
when I turned back the book was gone and the dresser seemed slightly out of
place. In fact, the reason I turned back was because I thought I heard a noise.
I don’t know what it was, just a noise. Of course, there was no one in my room.
I don’t get it.”