Mysteries of Holt House - A Mystery (18 page)

“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.

I received a call from Ruth’s sister who
made arrangements to have her body shipped to Ohio for burial. Surprisingly,
Ruth had told her sister Marion and I were her closest friends, which saddened
me since we didn’t know her that well. I told Marion about our conversation and
she didn’t comment. What was there to say?

Mike and I went swimming, and David and
Sharon eventually joined us. We put up a net and played water volley ball. J.T.
and Richard got out their tennis rackets again. Richard had trimmed down a bit
and appeared healthier, but the exercise hadn’t seemed to help J.T. Josh sat in
a lounge chair on the patio and watched us, and Marion spent most of the day in
her room. Ted went hiking, immaculate in his hiking shorts and boots. He amazed
me. When he returned he looked so fresh that you’d have thought he just stepped
out of the shower. Richard and J.T. walked by the pool looking like wilted
flowers. Well, maybe not flowers, but I didn’t think cacti wilted.

At dinner everyone was polite. Richard
even quieted down. The calm before another storm? I didn’t trust him as far as
I could throw him.

Mike spent the evening in the library
working on building plans, and David took a portable light outside so he could work
on his truck. It still wasn’t running smoothly.

Lucy, Sharon and I sat in the gazebo with
a pitcher of iced tea and cookies. We gabbed for quite a while we “grazed”,
which was a word my father used to describe women snacking – what a charmer. We
talked about the men in our lives.

“Did you girls know Joshua is a retired
policeman?” Lucy asked, with a note of pride in her voice.

“No kidding,” I said. “I never would have
guessed.”

Sharon swallowed a bite of cookie. “Me,
either.”

“Yes, he retired a few years back. He was
a Lieutenant with the Homicide Division. He’s got some pretty interesting
stories.”

Sharon picked up another cookie.
“Son-of-a-gun. If anyone asked me I would have thought he’d been in stocks and
bonds or something like that. He strikes me as a businessman of some type. I
never would have guessed he was a cop.”

“I can see him sitting behind a desk in a
white collar job,” I said. “You know, an accountant or something like that.”

“I have to admit, he doesn’t look like
your typical police officer,” Lucy said. “In fact, I was surprised about his
past myself.”

“Understandable,” I said, smiling.

“What does he say about Kelly’s story in
connection with Ruth?” Sharon asked. “Does he believe her?”

I leaned forward, interested in Lucy’s
response.

“He says he believes her, that she was too
sure about what she saw to be imagining things. But between the two of us, we
can’t think of a reason for anyone to push her out the window. She seemed to
have a little crush on Ted, but other than an occasional chat with him she
stayed to herself.”

“I can’t either,” I admitted. “The whole
thing doesn’t make sense. Especially when you consider how she kept her
distance from everyone. Aside from Marion, Ted, and myself, she rarely spoke to
anyone.”

“It is a mystery.” Sharon set her cookie
down and brushed crumbs off her lap.

Lucy set her glass down on the table. “I
think Joshua is trying to figure it out though. He may come up with something.”

We eventually ran out of things to talk
about and sat in silence, enjoying the night air, and munching. We all agreed
that chocolate chip cookies were the best snack ever invented.

I finally stood up and stretched. “Well,
I’m going in. I think I’ll write a letter to my parents and get to bed.”

“I’ll be along shortly,” Lucy said. “I’m
going to sit out here for a few more minutes. It’s too nice to go indoors.”

Sharon picked up her fourth cookie and
glanced at Lucy. “I’ll stay with you. Goodnight, Kelly.”

“Goodnight. See you in the morning. Lucy,
don’t let me oversleep.”

“Right.”

I hurried off to my room so I could get
the letter done and go to bed. I told my parents about Ruth, but I made it
sound like an accident. I didn’t want them to start nagging me about moving to
Florida again. As much as I loved them, I liked where I was and
what
I
was. I also told them about Mike, making the relationship sound casual.

After finishing the letter, I put it in an
envelope and sealed it, then got ready for bed. I had no trouble falling asleep
that night.

Unfortunately my slumber didn’t last long.
I had another nightmare. I saw Ruth leaning out of her window, reaching for a
shutter which was just out of reach, the wind blowing it away from her grasp.
Then I saw hands come out of the window and rest on her back, huge hands which
grew larger as I watched. The hands picked her up and dropped her out the
window like a rag doll. She fell slowly, twisting so she faced me. She had a
hideous smile on her face, but as I watched I realized it wasn’t a smile. It
was a grimace. Her eyes were wide and terrified. I screamed as loud as I could,
and over the scream I heard a thunderous sound as she hit the ground.

My eyes popped open in instant
wakefulness, and I clutched my hand over my mouth, afraid I might have actually
screamed out loud. I waited, but no one came running, so I figured I’d only
screamed in my nightmare. I sat up and found I was breathing hard, a cold sweat
covering my body, and I was shaking uncontrollably.

I climbed out of bed and put on my robe.
It was warm in my room, but still I shivered. I sat down in my rocking chair
and pulled my robe tighter. The clock showed it was barely midnight. I began
rocking back and forth. The next time I glanced at the clock it was almost one
o’clock. I hadn’t really been thinking about anything in particular. I just
didn’t want to go to bed and dream. By that time I could hardly keep my eyes
open so I gave up and returned to bed, thinking I’d toss and turn for the rest
of the night. I dropped right off to sleep and didn’t dream again. Sometimes I
surprise myself.

The next morning I woke up feeling good.
It was a new day and I’d get a fresh start on things. I’d do my best to put the
nightmares and the tragedy behind me. Also, Mike would be staying home so we
could explore the passages, which was something I didn’t want to put off any
longer.

Lucy didn’t want any help in the kitchen.
She’d gotten up early and the food was just about ready to be served.

“Did you sleep okay last night?” she
asked. “No more nightmares?”

“No more nightmares,” I lied. I didn’t
want her to be concerned about me. She had enough on her mind already. Besides,
bad dreams weren’t
that
big of a deal.

“What are you doing here?” I asked,
realizing it was her day off.
I
should have been doing the work. I’d
really let things go lately. I had to get a grip and take care of business.

“Don’t worry. I’m leaving as soon as
breakfast is over. I thought I’d help out this one time.”

 “Don’t wait until after breakfast to
leave. You get out of here when Josh is ready. I can take care of things.”

“Well, actually I’m not all that
dedicated. Since I was hungry, I figured I might as well cook everything up at
once and get the boarders out of the way for you.”

“You’re a plum. Got any special plans for
today?”

“Joshua and I are taking Marion to the
Senior Citizens Center in town. She wants to check it out. We’ll bring her back
out here around three o’clock, and then Joshua and I are going back into town
to live it up. Of course, she can drive herself, but we wanted to look at it,
too.”

“Aren’t you a little young for a senior
center?”

“Not really. By the way, Mike is still
here. Shouldn’t he have left for work?” She was fishing.

“He’s going to help me take care of
something. I’ll tell you all about it later.” I didn’t want to tell her about
the passages yet.

“Uh huh,” she said, sounding suspicious.

She didn’t pump me for more information
like I thought she would, so perhaps she was concentrating on something else,
or some
one
else, like Josh. It might actually be a good idea if he kept
her distracted.

I walked out to the dining room where I
found Mike waiting for me. “I was afraid you might forget about today.”

“How could I forget a secret passage?”
He’d just finished his breakfast and was pushing his plate away.

“True. At any rate, after all the boarders
are gone we can check it out. I’m really curious to see where it leads, and I
hope we can find something that will tell us who’s been using it.”

“So do I. I don’t like the idea of someone
roaming around the house through a secret passage. I’d be willing to lay odds
it will at
least
lead to your room and Sharon’s.”

“You’re probably right.”

“And,” he continued, “after Ruth’s death I
think it’s something we’d better take care of right away. There’s no telling if
there’s a connection or not, but I’d rather be safe and know what’s going on.”

“Yeah, me, too.”

One by one all the boarders came down for
breakfast. After eating they each left for their jobs. When Richard came down
he made a crack about Mike not going to work and gave me a probing look. I
ignored him and Mike just shrugged it off like it was none of Richard’s
business, which it wasn’t.

When the working boarders were all gone
for the day, Lucy told me she, Josh and Marion were leaving for town. “Do you
want me to pick anything up for you while we’re in town? It’s no problem to
stop at the store.”

“Thanks, but no. I think we’re pretty well
stocked up on things right now. You just go and have a good time,” I replied.

“See you later then.” She waved and walked
to the front door to meet Josh and Marion.

“Let me clean up the breakfast mess and we
can get started,” I said, turning to Mike. “It’ll only take few minutes.”

“I’ll help you.” He started picking up
dirty dishes and carrying them to the kitchen.

We cleaned up and put the leftover food
away, discussing the passages while we worked. I glanced out the window and saw
David pushing the lawn mower across the driveway, preparing to mow the lawn.

“Did Sharon ever look behind her dresser?”
Mike asked. “Did she find a door?”

“This is embarrassing, but I forgot to ask
her,” I said sheepishly. “She hasn’t said anything though. I think she would
have mentioned it if she’d checked.”

“We can ask her tonight,” Mike said. “You
ready?”

I dried my hands on a towel and hung it
over the edge of the sink to dry. “Let’s go.”

Chapter
Twenty-three

We climbed the stairs without talking, and
after reaching Mike’s room we immediately moved the dresser away from the wall.
Mike lit the oil lamp and set it on the floor next to the door. This time he
pushed on the middle of the door instead of punching it. It opened easily. He
picked up the lamp and we entered the narrow opening in the wall.

We spoke out loud instead of whispering
since no one was home. There was a slight echo which added to the eerie feeling
I already had.

“I’m sure curious about these passages.
You know, when I bought this place nothing was mentioned about any of this, so
I really doubt that anyone knew the passages existed.”

Mike looked around, taking in the walls
and flooring. “They probably didn’t. Sometime over the years the information
was either lost or forgotten, or maybe it was never mentioned on paper.
Obviously it was meant to be a secret.”

I frowned. “Well, there’s certainly
one
other person who knows about this. Now let’s see if we can figure out who that
someone is.”

After only a short distance the passage
turned. As we walked around the corner I almost knocked Mike down. He’d stopped
suddenly and I walked right into him. I should have been watching where I was
going but instead I was busy looking around and behind myself.

“Hold it,” he whispered. “There’s a short
flight of stairs here.”

“Stairs?”

“Yeah, and you almost pushed me down
them.”

“Sorry.”

We climbed down the stairs and the passage
continued. Another set of steps led upward again. It was a fairly narrow
passage and we walked single file. I thought I’d let Mike lead the way – not
that I’m a chicken – but it seemed like the prudent thing to do.