by Mark Tufo
“It sits on forty-two acres, has three-and-a-half…”
“I’ll take it,” Mike said coming back to her.
“You haven’t even seen the inside.”
“How much is it?”
Kylie flipped back to the front sheet that had the list price. “One sixty nine, nine.”
“Offer one seventy with a closing next week and let’s be done.”
“Wait, are you sure? You haven’t seen the inside, you should really get a home inspector up here. In good conscience, I strongly urge you to at least get the ground water tested, this house uses well water.”
Mike was going to argue with her to just get it done, that she sort of looked like she needed the sale as badly as he did or she wouldn’t have come out with him on such short notice, but looking at her he could tell she wanted to do right by him and wasn’t in it just for the money.
“Okay, let’s go look inside. If you could please set up the home inspection including the well I would make it worth your time. Unless the house is going to fall in on itself within the next year, I would like to close on this place by the end of the month.”
“That’s only two weeks—can you secure the financing that fast?”
“I’m paying cash.”
“Well, that helps. Let’s go look at your new home.” She smiled, feeling much better about her day, no matter how hard the drizzle tried to dampen her spirits.
The front door opened up, noiselessly. In contrast to the dreary weather outside, the house was full of light. Off to their left was a great room with a thirty-five foot high cathedral ceiling. An over sized stairway was to their front and down a narrow tiled corridor led to a large kitchen dominated by an island. Mike immediately headed upstairs, Kylie had a moment of hesitation as a cold chill spread across her shoulders and then followed him up. Large bay windows in the great room looked out toward a lake about a half mile away.
“What a spectacular view,” Kylie said, stopping to admire.
“What’s up there?” Mike asked, his back to the view. They were on a landing and he was pointing toward an opening a level up from them with no discernable way to get there.
Kylie started rifling through her paperwork. “I’m not sure, there’s a picture of the opening from down in the great room but it doesn’t list it as usable footage. Probably just a crawl space.” Mike looked at her funny. Kylie shivered as she tried to peer into the pitch blackness of the ‘crawl space’. “Maybe there’s a way to get in from the bedroom,” Kylie said, pointing down the hallway to the master bedroom. A small bedroom was off to their right. “You could use this as an office to write.” Kylie said trying to bring her thoughts away from the room above them.
Mike had already left her and was standing in the middle of the master bedroom looking around. “No way up there from here.”
“Wow, the bathroom is even bigger than the pictures show.” Kylie said. “The Jacuzzi bathtub comes with the house.”
“How old is this place?” Mike asked, completely ignoring her statements.
“You really don’t know? How did you know about this place?” she asked off-handedly as she again looked through her sheets. He again did not answer her as he kept looking for a way upstairs. “Four years.”
“Certainly not old enough for a haunting,” he said ambiguously.
Kylie was not so certain as she thought about that gaping wound in the wall above the landing.
“There’s more to the house,” Kylie said, wishing to get a little farther away from the sinister feeling settling at the back of her skull.
“You know I want the house—is the rest necessary?”
“I’ve just never had someone so sure about a property, especially without ever having seen it. And this is a very secluded region, you seem too young to bury yourself away back here.” As soon as the words came out she wished she had the ability to pull them back in like a bad fishing cast.
There was an awkward moment of silence as Mike eyed her. “Listen, I’ve never been great with people. My wife, who meant everything to me, is gone, I no longer have any desire to be around.” He almost said the living and was not sure why. “Large communities. For some reason, people like my book enough to make me able to afford to live out in the sticks. I need the peace and quiet this place affords so I can continue to write.” He was not sure where or why the lies were coming with such ease or even why he felt the need to tell her all this. But if it got everything done quicker then it was worth it.
“Okay, I brought a contract. Let’s go down to the kitchen and we can use the island to fill it out.” And we can get away from here, she thought as she took a cursory glance out to the placid pristine lake and headed downstairs.
Within ten minutes, Mike had signed and initialed the appropriate lines and they were heading back to her car, something made her look back to the house. All color drained from her face as she saw something she could not identify pass across the large bay windows where she had been looking out earlier. “You alright?” Mike asked as he stopped his egress into the car. He watched her face as she stared at the house. He turned quickly and thought he might have caught a shadow but it just as easily could have been a trick of the light.
“Mike, are you sure about this place?” she asked in candor as she quickly hopped into the driver’s side. “I… I just think it’s too far away from everything. I can set up at least a dozen or so houses closer to the city and still within your price range.”
“You don’t even know my range,” he quipped. “Don’t worry, this is exactly the place I want to be.”
“The customer’s always right,” she said with a sideways smile that belied the queasiness she was feeling in the pit of her stomach.
“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on inviting you to the housewarming party.”
Kylie was relieved. ‘It’s his funeral, and I need the money.’
Mike didn’t say much all the way back to the motel, but Kylie thought he had seemed relieved.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN - The Walkthrough
“I thought Kylie would be here for the final walkthrough?” Mike asked the older gentleman who was now exiting his sleek Audi.
“I’m Bob Lambert, her business partner. She had a family emergency,” the white haired and bearded man said.
“My name is Mike Talbot,” Mike said, extending his hand. “I hope everything’s alright.” They shook.
“Between you and me I think she didn’t want to come all the way out here. If it wasn’t such a nice day, I might have passed this on to someone else my damned self.”
“Is she going to be at the closing?”
“Well, that would mean she would have to reveal that her ‘emergency’,” he added with air quotes. “Wasn’t quite the disaster she led on for it to be.”
“Understood.”
“Shall we?” Bob asked, sweeping his arm toward the house.
The sun was out and the birds were chirping, but unlike the last time he was here, the house was now darker than the outside world. Mike couldn’t put his finger on it, but he felt it was expectant. Waiting for something—if he had to give a quick answer it would have to be him, yes the house was waiting for him. Jandilyn is waiting for me, he thought. Happiness at that thought stripped some of the lead sheathing from around his heart.
“This is a beautiful home,” Bob said as he stepped into the great room. “And a view.” He walked over to the large set of French doors that led out to a deck. “This deck is huge, you and the missus can have your morning coffee out here.”
“There’s a deck?” Mike asked hollowly.
“We should check out the basement and make sure there isn’t a swimming pool down there.”
“There’s a basement? And why would someone put a pool there?” Mike asked.
“Son, is this the same house you looked at with Kylie?”
“It was raining,” Mike said in defense.
“Inside?” Bob asked dubiously.
“I’m an author. I need seclusion,” Mi
ke offered, hoping that would be enough to quell any further questioning.
It did, but more so because Bob was a salesman and the customer was always right as long as they were putting money in his pocket. The kid had some secrets, he wasn’t saying and it was curious for sure, but he wasn’t going to push him on it.
Just as they were about to head downstairs both men looked up as the sound of footsteps was heard above them on the landing.
“Is someone here?” Bob asked.
“Maybe it’s the home inspector,” Mike said.
“No, he was out here last week.”
“Hello?” Bob asked, moving back toward the great room so he could see onto the balcony above.
As Bob moved away from him, Mike heard soft footsteps running back toward the master bedroom.
“I don’t see anyone,” Bob said. “Damn, I’ve got the chills.”
“Someone’s up there.”
“How do you know?” Bob looked somewhere in the middle of running for his life and determined to charge upstairs and confront the trespasser.
“I heard them running away.”
“Come out here!” Bob yelled up, looking over toward the door. He felt confident he could make it out quicker than someone could make it down the staircase. “I’m going to call the cops!”
“It sounded like a kid,” Mike said.
“It could be a vagrant or a squatter. We need to get them out before you sign any papers, Mike. It could be a legal nightmare for you if they decide not to leave. Sometimes, they come way out here into the sticks and think nobody is ever going to live out here.” Bob spoke into his phone, “Yes, hello, my name is Bob Lambert, I’m a real estate agent with Liberty Realty of Spokane and I’m at a house with a client. The address is 7 Cefalo Road. Yes, I’ll hold. Glad I’m not getting murdered,” he said, smiling toward Mike.
“That would be unfortunate.”
Mike’s deadpan delivery caught Bob off guard. He seemed unsure in which direction his biggest threat now came. No wonder Kylie didn’t want to come out here. This house is off, was the best way he could describe it, if he was being honest with himself, so was the new owner.
“Hi,” Bob started back on his phone. “I’m at a house with a client and I believe we have a vagrant squatting in the residence. An hour!” Bob exclaimed into his phone. “Yes, I realize how far from the city limits it is and no, right now it technically isn’t an emergency. If he has a knife I’ll make sure to call you back immediately,” Bob said gruffly. “Well, it seems we’re on our own for a bit. I’m not sure about you, but I’d feel more comfortable if we waited outside. That whole cornered animal thing makes me nervous.”
“Us or him?” Mike asked, pointing upstairs.
“Both.”
“Fair enough.”
Mike was leaning up against Bob’s car, staring back at the house, trying to see any movement when he kept catching glaring looks from the realtor.
“Something wrong?” Mike asked.
“That’s a sixty thousand dollar car you’re leaning against.”
“Sorry,” Mike said, standing up quickly.
A loud rustling came twenty yards away in the tree line.
“That sounded big,” Bob said, inching toward his door.
“Mountain lion?” Mike asked.
“It’s not out of the realm of possibilities out here. I’d be more inclined to think deer, but who knows?” Bob said, grasping his door handle. This is the last time I let Kylie talk me into this shit, Bob thought as he got in his car, making sure to lock the door.
Bob rolled down his window to ask, “What are you doing?” as he watched the young man head toward the tree line.
“Just trying to figure out what it is,” Mike answered.
“We should just wait for the cops. They’ll be here in another fifty-five minutes,” Bob said scornfully.
Mike reluctantly turned back toward the car and got in, both men fidgeted around unendingly. Neither vocalized it, but they both felt they were being watched. It wasn’t the kind of thing strangers told each other—they waited another hour and a half under a blanket of silence until a sheriff’s deputy showed up.
He was tall, at least six foot four and looked like he benched VWs. Bob and Mike got out to greet him. The deputy was all business as he put his hat on and strode toward the door. Even this giant of a man seemed to hesitate as he crossed the threshold, much more willing to call out than to rush into anything.
“This is sheriff’s deputy Caldwell, you are trespassing on private property, if you come out now I will let you go on your way. If I have to come and find you, I’ll be bringing you back to the station for processing. Your call,” he added and waited for a reply. When there was none forthcoming he moved farther into the house. “The hard way it is,” he said, heading up the stairs. Deputy Caldwell rushed up the stairs when the small group heard a loud thump followed by the rapid retreat of footfalls.
“What the fuck?” Bob said uncharacteristically. “Sorry.” He turned to Mike.
“It’s alright. I’ve heard it before.”
“Usually the worst thing we find on a walkthrough is missing garage door remotes.”
“Does this place have a garage?” Mike asked.
Bob looked over at Mike and was about to answer when they heard some commotion from the deputy. “Is someone coming your way?” The deputy asked.
“No, should they be?” Bob yelled, looking like he was getting ready to bolt out the door. He was not making enough commission for this to be worth his while.
The deputy came out to the landing and looked down at Mike and Bob, scratching his head. “I thought I had him cornered in the bathroom, but they must have been hiding behind the door. As soon as I got in, something pushed me from behind and then shut the door on me and wedged it shut. It had to have come this way, where else could she have gone?” he said, turning a complete three sixty and then looking up at the loft above his head. “Is there any access to there?” The deputy asked.
“None that I’ve found,” Mike answered. He was wondering if anybody but him had noted the various descriptors the deputy had used to describe whatever was in the house. It ranged, from ‘he,’ ‘she,’ ‘it,’ ‘they’ and ‘something’. Well, it’s got to be one of those things, Mike mused sourly. The churning in his stomach was giving him second thoughts about this purchase, how could Jandilyn be so wrong?
Bob was a salesman first and foremost and had a nose for when deals were heading south. He could tell by the expression on Mike’s face his partner’s client was starting to have second thoughts and with good reason, but his gambling addiction needed a booster shot and he was not about to let his fix off the hook.
“Probably just a squirrel,” Bob said to Mike, flashing entirely too many teeth.
“That wasn’t any squirrel,” the deputy said, still staring up at the loft. “Why in the hell would anyone build a loft you can’t get up to?” the deputy asked no one in particular.
“Maybe to house their pet squirrels,” Mike said as he looked at Bob.
“Doubtful,” the deputy answered, thinking Mike was serious.
Bob’s grin left his face.
“Nothing came by, huh?” the deputy asked.
“It’s quite possible, we were busy discussing the finer points of knitting.” Bob said snidely.
The deputy looked down at Bob. “There’s no need to be rude.”
“How could we have missed someone running down the stairs? We’re standing right here!” Bob said. They were at the foot of the steps.
“Is there a ladder? Because it’s up there.”
“Maybe the garage, I’ll check,” Mike said.
Bob looked like he wanted to be the one to run the errand if only to get out of the house, then seemed to think better of it when he remembered there might be something in the woods.
Mike headed outside and immediately was confronted with the feeling he was being watched again. He ignored it as he headed off to the garage h
e just realized was on the property. “How the hell did I miss that thing?” he asked himself. “Damn, things almost a small barn.” He walked into the side door and almost tripped on two bags of cement. Dust lazily sifted in the air as light flooded in behind him. He heard scurrying in the corner but was more convinced it was a field mouse than a mountain lion or a vagrant. There was an old rickety-looking wooden ladder, in the opposite corner he heard the noise from. “I wouldn’t climb a curb with this thing,” he said aloud as he picked it up. It appeared to have been made poorly from scrap two-by-fours. Mike walked across the yard with the ten foot climbing apparatus, he was reluctant to describe it as a ladder.
“What the hell is that thing?” the deputy asked, looking down at Mike.
“This is all that was in there.”
“Bring it up, I’ll at least try it,” the deputy said.
“Are you sure?” Bob asked. “That thing doesn’t look like it would hold a small child and you have to be pushing two fifty.”
“Two twenty-five, but thanks for noticing,” the deputy said as he took the ladder from Mike.
“You want me to go up?” Mike asked reluctantly.
“No, I’ve got it, but I’d appreciate you holding it in place.”
Mike propped his foot up against the leg until Deputy Caldwell got to the third rung and then Mike moved so that his hands were on each side and his legs were braced out behind him. The ladder was swaying like a suspension bridge in high winds and the deputy was still a good three more rungs from cresting over the floor of the crawl space.
The ladder swayed and Mike held on for dear life and then it was still. Mike could hear the deputy exhale loudly. He looked up to see what was going on but his view was dominated by the large man’s posterior. The deputy was coming down noticeably faster than his ascent.
Mike hastily moved out of his way before the man stepped on him. The deputy was halfway down the stairs before he spoke. “Nothing there, I’ve got another call.” And he was out the door, the cruiser started up and spit rocks from its rear as the police car took off for its ‘emergency’.
“I wonder if it has anything to do with Kylie?” Mike asked wryly.
