2 The Ghosts Upstairs

by SUE FINEMAN

  He wondered if there was any way to speed up the probate process on his inheritance, but he wouldn’t find out at three in the morning on a weekend. He’d have to wait until Monday morning to call that attorney in Ohio.

  Benton had just gone to bed when the phone rang. Only one person could be calling at this hour. He didn’t want to answer it, but if he didn’t, those goons would show up at the house. He picked it up and mumbled, “Yeah.”

  “I heard you lost more at the tables tonight.”

  He cleared his throat. “I’m good for it.”

  “You have one week to come up with the money you owe me. If I don’t have the cash by then, you’re a dead man.”

  The line clicked dead, and Benton knew he couldn’t wait for his inheritance. He’d have to sell the Maserati and everything else of value in the house. The bank could have the house. He owed more than it was worth.

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  Saturday morning, Billy helped Trevor load the mower on the back of the pickup. Hannah and Ginny loaded cleaning supplies and garbage cans, and the twins fussed at each other as they tied everything down. The ropes weren’t tight, but they were only going a few blocks.

  Billy drove Trevor to the Goodman mansion, followed by Hannah and the kids. They were all going to help. “Slave labor,” Charlie called it. He didn’t especially want to work, but the kids were all anxious to see the house.

  Andy stood back and stared at the house while Billy unlocked the front door. “You’re right, Billy. It’s ugly as it is, but it could look good with a few changes.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like adding a porte-cochere and black iron window boxes to match the gate. You might want to replace the front door, too. It’s probably meant to look like a drawbridge, but it’s ugly.”

  “What’s a porte-cochere?”

  “It’s a covered area to drive through, so people won’t have to battle the snow to get to the front door, like a fancy carport for guests.”

  Billy wondered how much that would cost. It couldn’t help but improve the look of the house, and if he wanted to sell this place, something had to be done to enhance its curb appeal.

  Ginny rubbed her arms. “It looks like something out of a scary movie.”

  Charlie grinned. “Scared, Ginny Poo.”

  “Don’t call me that,” she snapped.

  “Enough,” said Hannah. “No bickering. We’re here to see the house and help your brother.”

  “Half brother,” said Charlie. “How come he gets to inherit something and we don’t?”

  “Because Maggie wasn’t your mother. You’re stuck with me.”

  Billy pushed the front door open. “Go ahead and explore while I unload the truck.”

  Ginny stepped inside the front door and wrinkled her nose. “Ew. It stinks in here.”

  “It needs to be aired out,” said Hannah. “Open the windows.”

  By lunchtime, the lawn had been mowed, the pool was draining, the broken glass from the sunroom and all the pictures were in the trash, two rooms and a bathroom had been cleaned, and the main floor had been aired out. He couldn’t have done it all without their help.

  Hannah went home to fix Pop’s lunch and start the laundry, and Billy ordered pizza for everyone else. They’d all worked hard that morning, and they needed a break.

  When the pizza came, Billy put it on the table in the breakfast room.

  Ginny sat down and asked, “Why are we throwing out all the pictures?”

  “Because nobody is going to buy this place with all those pictures on the walls. There are more in the albums.” He didn’t tell her he intended to throw them away, too. He didn’t want any reminders of his hateful mother.

  “She was pretty.”

  “Yeah, she was pretty.” And vain. And selfish. She didn’t do anything but sit around and look pretty or yell at him. Or shop.

  He suspected Eleanor had let the house get rundown on purpose. She didn’t want the baby who killed her daughter to have anything of value.

  Charlie nudged his elbow. “Are you going to eat that?”

  Billy picked up the last piece of pizza. Charlie could eat a whole pizza by himself, and he’d already had four pieces. “Yeah, I’m going to eat this.”

  When he finished eating, they loaded the mattress and bedding from Eleanor’s room in the pickup, then loaded the trash cans filled with pictures and broken glass.

  Charlie rode with Billy to the dump. He hung out the window and asked the man at the gate, “Where do we dump the body?”

  “He’s kidding,” said Billy. But the guy wasn’t laughing.

  When they returned from the dump, Police Chief Donovan Kane, his face dark with fury, stood by the door, and Billy knew the man at the dump had called the police. “You’re on your own, little brother.”

  Charlie groaned. “Why couldn’t I have a father with a normal job?” He jumped out of the pickup, saying, “Dad, it was just a joke.”

  It was all Billy could do to keep from laughing. Of all the kids in the city, Charlie was the one who gave the police chief the most grief. Billy had always been a good kid, and so was Andy. Ginny wasn’t too bad, but Charlie had an ornery streak. Pop said he’d make a good cop someday, if his father let him live that long.

  Billy left Charlie with Dad and walked upstairs, where Ginny was going through Maggie’s closets, looking for clothes that might fit her. Not that she needed more clothes.

  She held up a skirt and blouse. “Billy, can I have this?”

  “Take what you want. Just clear it with Mom before you wear any of it.” He’d donate what she didn’t want to charity.

  Andy called from downstairs, “Hey Billy, come look at this.”

  Billy trotted down the stairs and into the library, where Dad and Andy stood fiddling with something on the bookshelf. Dad looked over his shoulder. “Billy, did Clapp give you the combination to the safe?”

  “What safe?”

  “This one,” said Andy. “I was looking for the secret room when I found it.”

  Safe? Secret room? “Just tell me there’s no body buried in the basement.”

  “There’s nothing down there but the dungeon,” Andy said with a straight face. “But there might be a body or two behind this wall.”

  “Not funny.” Billy remembered all the police tromping in and out of the house when he was a kid, people digging the bones out of a shallow grave in the basement. Then there were the ghosts. If this house was haunted, he hoped Eleanor wasn’t still here. Or Maggie.

  He didn’t need that kind of trouble.

  Chapter Two

  The sun peeked over the horizon and reflected off the still water in the river as Kayla Blanton drove over the bridge into River Valley, Ohio. She adjusted the visor and squinted. “Looks like it’s gonna be a pretty day today, Buford.”

  The dog poked his head out the back window and woofed.

  She pulled into a gas station on the other side of the bridge. After she walked the dog and filled the gas tank, she went inside and handed over her last fifty dollar bill.

  “Morning,” said the man behind the counter.

  “Morning.”

  The attorney wouldn’t be in on a Sunday morning, so she’d go by Eleanor Goodman’s home, if she could find it, and see if any of the other heirs were there. She wondered how many there were. She didn’t know much about the Ainsworth side of the family.

  She asked the man behind the counter, “Do you have a phone book with a city map?”

  “I got a book, but somebody tore the map out. Where you going?”

  She gave him the address on Mansion Drive.

  He glanced at her and at her old blue van as if he couldn’t believe she’d have business in that part of town.

  “My cousin lived there,” she explained. “I’m one of her heirs. Maybe you knew my cousin, Eleanor Goodman?”

  “Lady, I don’t know anyone in that part of town.” He pointed the way.

  After a stop at a fast food restaurant for
two breakfast sandwiches, one for her and one for Buford, Kayla found the address and parked on the street in front of the house. She would have parked in the driveway, but there was a black iron gate across it.

  She ran a comb through her wild auburn curls, freshened her lipstick, and stepped out of the van. “C’mon Buford. Let’s go check this out.”

  The house looked enormous, but then Mama said Daddy’s family was rich until his daddy lost it all in the stock market. The only stock market Kayla had ever dealt with had been a grocery store by that name.

  There wouldn’t likely be anyone up at this hour, but she was curious about the house. The smaller gate beside the driveway wasn’t locked, so she let herself in and walked down the driveway. The house loomed in front of her as big as a hotel or office building, blocking the morning sun. Creepy looking place, all dark gray stone and that ugly door.

  A shadow crossed a window upstairs. Someone could be living here. On the other hand, it could be Eleanor Ainsworth Goodman, the most recently departed. She rang the bell, but no one answered.

  Fighting to stay awake after driving all night, she wondered if she had enough money left to get a motel room. No, not if she wanted to eat. As soon as she spoke with the attorney and found out about her inheritance, she’d know how soon she had to find herself a job. She could sleep in the van, but she couldn’t shower in the van, and after driving all night, she could hardly stand herself.

  Walking around the house, she spotted the pool and the pool house. The pool had a few inches of murky water in the bottom and the surface was flaking off. The grass had been mowed recently. She could still smell it. But the lawn was more weeds than grass, the flower beds were a mess, and the fountain by the steps down to the lower garden looked scummy. Too bad. The garden could be a real showplace with a little work.

  Did Eleanor spend the last years of her life in a nursing home? If so, that would explain the neglect. She wondered if the inside of the house was as bad as the outside.

  In that moment, hopes for her inheritance drained away. If Eleanor couldn’t afford to take care of the property, she couldn’t have left much to her heirs.

  While Buford sniffed out the garden, Kayla wandered into the pool house and found a dressing room with a bathroom. The plumbing worked, and the water was hot enough to take a shower. Did she dare? Oh, why not? There was nobody home, so who’d know? She really did need a shower.

  Leaving Buford in the lower garden, she hurried back to the van, grabbed her overnight bag, and walked back out to the pool house. The birds were singing and the sun shone brightly. It promised to be a good day, and the house didn’t look quite so creepy from this angle.

  Minutes later, she had the bathroom in the pool house scrubbed clean enough to use, and Buford was stretched out by the pool in the morning sunshine. Kayla stood under the shower, letting the hot water soak away her exhaustion.

  The pool and yard were in such sad shape, she wondered if Eleanor had run out of money to maintain it. Nobody would give her a house like this, which meant her inheritance was probably a piece of jewelry or a painting or something that had sentimental value.

  It was a disappointment for sure, but it was her own fault for coming here without speaking with that attorney first. Of course, after Leonard cleaned out her bank accounts and took all her jewelry, including her wedding rings, she didn’t have much reason to stay. The cops had put the club where she’d been working out of business, her divorce was pending, and Leonard was fixing to marry that blonde bimbo he’d been sneaking around with.

  Leonard said Lisa Marie could give him something Kayla couldn’t. A baby. But the bimbo had a surprise coming if she thought he’d support her and the baby. He didn’t make much singing off and on in the clubs, and he wouldn’t help around the apartment. Shoot, he wouldn’t even pick up after himself. He was a sorry excuse for a husband on his best days.

  She found a towel in the cabinet, dried off, and pulled on a cotton bra and panties. As she was running the hair dryer, she heard something behind her and turned to find a man with sandy hair and blue eyes standing there staring at her. His wide shoulders filled the doorway, blocking out the sunshine. Too stunned to move, Kayla stood staring at him. Where did he come from?

  “What in the hell are you doing in here?”

  Ooh, was he ever mad. “Using the shower. I didn’t think anyone would mind, since I’m one of the heirs.” She stood there with nothing on but her underwear, facing an angry man who was so handsome he took her breath away. Not the best first impression.

  “I own the house, and I mind.” He scanned her nearly naked body like the men at the club used to do. She should be used to it after working there for three years, but somehow this felt different. More personal.

  “Get dressed and come up to the house.”

  “Are the other heirs here?”

  The man didn’t answer. He was already halfway back to the house. Buford lifted his head to look and then put it down. He never was much of a watch dog.

  Her hands trembled as she pulled on a pair of jeans and a pale yellow knit shirt, slipped her feet into her sandals, and walked toward the house. She’d hoped to stay here in Eleanor’s house until she got her inheritance, but she’d blown that by being where she didn’t belong.

  The sliding doors were open, and as she walked into the kitchen, she smelled coffee.

  The man was pouring himself a cup. “Would you like some coffee?”

  “No, thank you. I don’t much like coffee, and I had breakfast on the way over.”

  He motioned toward the door with his chin. “Is that your dog?”

  “Yes, sir.” She toggled her head from side to side. “Well, he’s kinda my dog. He belongs to my husband, but Leonard was so busy emptying my bank accounts when he left, I guess he forgot to take Buford. Or maybe his girlfriend didn’t want a dog.”

  “Buford?”

  “After Buford Pusser, a legendary Tennessee sheriff. Leonard thought with a name like that, he’d make a good hunting dog, but…” She sighed. “Buford is afraid of guns. He has a good nose, though. He can find anything.” She was babbling, and she couldn’t stop.

  “Where are you from?”

  “A little town near Memphis. My full name is Kayla Louise Ainsworth Blanton, but the Blanton part is going away as soon as my divorce is final.” Why did she tell him that?

  “I’m Billy Kane. My grandfather, William Goodman, was married to Eleanor Goodman. He put the house into a trust for me, but I didn’t get possession until after she died.”

  “Are you saying she wasn’t your grandmother?”

  “Her adopted daughter, Maggie, was my mother. Maggie was William’s natural daughter. And before you ask, Eleanor left everything to her cousins in the Ainsworth family, not to me.” He cocked his head. “How many cousins are there?”

  She shrugged. “I have no idea. I don’t know much about the Ainsworth side of the family except my daddy’s family lost their share of the family money way back when, before my daddy died.”

  “Do you have brothers, sisters?”

  “No, it was just me and Granny, my mother’s mother. Mama went to Hollywood to be the next Rita Hayworth, and she’s still out there.” Mama came back for Granny’s funeral three years ago, and Kayla got a letter or phone call every now and then.

  As he drank more coffee, his eyes never strayed from her face. “How soon do you have to be back?”

  Back for what? Her job was gone, Leonard had emptied her savings account, and she’d left her furniture for Norma. She might as well stay here until she got her inheritance, if she could find a job and a place to stay. Shoot, she couldn’t afford the gas to drive back. Not now. “I thought I’d stay here for a spell, look for a job.”

  Looking around, Kayla realized the inside of the house wasn’t in any better shape than the outside. The kitchen didn’t look nearly clean enough to use. She ran her finger along the shelf over the counter and pulled away a whole bunch of greasy dirt. “Looks like
you could use someone to clean. I worked as a housekeeper for a couple years, and I’ll do a real good job.”

  “I can’t afford to hire anyone. After school is out for the summer, I’ll have to do the cleaning myself. I want to get the house in shape to sell.”

  “You’re not going to keep it?”

  “No. I’m a school teacher. I can’t afford the upkeep or the taxes on a place like this.”

  Seeing an opportunity, she said, “Tell you what. You give me room and board and let’s say… two hundred a week, and I’ll have this place clean and polished in no time.”

  Kayla held her breath and waited for him to respond. Living here would be a big step up from sleeping in her van with a smelly hound dog. Shoot, she’d even stay in the pool house. There was a big padded bench in there she could sleep on. If he’d let her stay.

  “I can’t afford two hundred a week if I have to pay the electric bill and buy groceries.”

  “A hundred?” She raised her eyebrows, hoping and praying he’d say yes. She wouldn’t know the first thing about job hunting in a strange city.

  Billy saw the look of desperation in her eyes and caved in. “Okay, a hundred. Pick a room upstairs. I’d give you the master, but I took the mattress to the dump yesterday.”

  She gasped. “Eleanor died here in the house?” So that was who she saw in the window.

  He nodded.

  “She’s still here. Her ghost, I mean.”

  Billy groaned. This was the last thing he expected to hear from the woman he’d found half-naked in the pool house this morning. He didn’t want ghosts in the house, but he had a feeling he didn’t have any choice. “Are you sure it’s Eleanor? It could be my my mother.”

  “Your mother passed, too?”

  “Twenty years ago, and I don’t want to talk about Maggie or Eleanor.” Bad enough to be in their house and know they regretted his very existence.