Hard Hat Man

by Curry, Edna

  Chapter 9

  Her eyes flew open at the idea. And she’d been determined not to get involved, not to get hurt. Well, she couldn’t let him know, that was for sure.

  He wasn’t a forever kind of guy, she’d known that going into this, hadn’t she? She’d just have to deal with it.

  Once again, she slept later than he did. She showered and dressed and went down the hall to the kitchen. He was gone, but he’d left a freshly made pot of coffee for her. She made some raisin toast to go with it and ate it.

  Her cell phone rang and she groaned. She was supposed to have called her mother.

  It was Laura. “Mom, how’s it going?” she asked, trying to sound upbeat.

  “Why didn’t you call me right away?” Laura asked petulantly.

  “Sheriff Casey said he would call you to break the news,” Jan said. “And I didn’t know when you’d be free to talk. You know that’s why I usually wait for you to call me.”

  “Yes, but in this case…”

  “I’m sorry, Mom. We have to decide what to do about a memorial service for Nancy. And her burial, of course.”

  “Yes, I suppose. But since it’s been so long, I mean, there’s not much left, is there?”

  Jan closed her eyes against the horrible memories of seeing Nancy’s bones and clothes. “No, there isn’t.”

  “Then cremation would be best, I think. And we can do a memorial service later, after I get back to the states, don’t you think?”

  “I suppose,” Jan agreed. She got up and refilled her coffee cup. How was she going to explain talking to Aunt Esther? “About the burial plot,” she said.

  “Yes, I suppose we’ll still need one. I mean, I suppose we don’t have to bury the urn, but I don’t really want to keep it, do you?”

  “No,” Jan said. “Mom, I don’t know how to say this, except to just say it. I saw Aunt Esther again and this time she talked to me.”

  “Jan, you’re imagining things. There’s no such thing as ghosts. And certainly not ghosts who can talk to you.”

  Jan ignored her and continued, “Aunt Esther told me to have Nancy buried beside her. She said she bought an extra lot for her. She knew Nancy was dead, Mom.”

  “That’s crazy, Jan. I’m getting really worried about you.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m fine. Do you know which cemetery Aunt Esther is buried in?”

  Laura’s deep sigh came through the phone. “Yes, I attended her funeral. I don’t remember the name of it, but it’s the one just south of town on a hill with lots of evergreen trees. You should be able to ask Kyle or anyone there to tell you who the contact person is.”

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  “Have the sheriff call me when they release her remains and I’ll handle ordering and paying for the cremation.”

  “Okay.’

  “Are you getting along okay with Kyle?” Laura asked.

  “Uh, yes. He’s even helped me a bit here at the house.” Jan had no intention of telling her mother how well she and Kyle were getting along. Laura would expect it to last and Jan knew it wouldn’t. She’d soon be going back to Chicago and Kyle would remain here. And so would the lovely Sylvia.

  She sighed at the thought, making her mother ask what was wrong? Jan quickly covered her gaffe by telling Laura about the burglary.

  “Oh dear. I worried about more going wrong after someone slashed your tires,” she said. “Please be careful.”

  “I will, Mom.” She said goodbye and hung up. Relief that the conversation with her mother had gone relatively well slid over her. She never knew how her mother would react about things. This time she’d seemed fairly calm and reasonable, thank goodness.

  She went back to boxing up the remaining items. Her little car was packed with the things she’d decided to save and the stacks of boxes in the parlor for Goodwill were growing. In another few days, she’d be done and could head back to Chicago. Leaving Kyle behind.

  Her heart twisted at the thought. How could she have grown attached so fast to her Hard Hat Man, as she thought of Kyle? He was thoughtful, kind and loving. As well as a good lover. She sighed. But he was a construction worker, and she was a city school teacher. No way would that work.

  The pantry off the kitchen had several shelves of just cookbooks. She frowned. She’d already found several cookbooks in the kitchen cupboard. Why had Esther packed some of them in here? Maybe the ones in the kitchen were her favorites and thus used more often and needed to be kept handy? One large loose-leaf notebook had a cookbook cover, but inside, contained not only some of the corresponding cookbook pages, but also pages of newspaper accounts of Horace’s church’s activities. Some were old, and dated back twenty years, others just before and after Nancy’s disappearance. Why had Esther kept these? Why hide them inside a cookbook cover?

  She laid it aside to show Kyle that night, to see what he thought of it. Another notebook was a collection of pictures of Nancy. They ranged from the time she was a baby to her sixteenth birthday party with a group of teenagers at a local pizza place. Nancy and the other girls all looked so happy, smiling and goofing off for the camera. It also had a cookbook cover and some pages of recipes inside. How odd. Had Esther done this to hide the other items in the notebooks from Horace? Or what?

  She made herself a cup of tea and sat at the table to drink it while she looked through the pictures. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she turned the musty smelling pages. Fond memories ran through her mind and brought out smiles as well as tears. Nancy riding her bike. Nancy on her favorite pony. Nancy at her sixteenth birthday party. Jan vaguely remembered some of the girls pictured laughing gaily and eating cake. Pizza and birthday cake had been an odd combination of food, but tradition had called for it.

  Suddenly she heard sirens. Looking out the window, she saw two police cars pull into the driveway. She frowned in consternation. Were they coming back to question her more about the burglary? The officer hadn’t seemed that concerned yesterday.

  But they drove on past the house and down to the silo pit and parked. Once again, she saw Kyle and several men standing around the pit. So whatever had happened, Kyle was okay.

  What now? Hadn’t they finished their investigation the other day?

  Setting her teacup down, she chewed her lip. Should she walk down there and ask what was going on? Or not?

  On the other hand, both Kyle and the sheriff had her cell phone number. They could call her and ask her to come down if they wanted her there. So she decided to wait for them to come to her this time. She shouldn’t be interfering in Kyle’s business unless asked.

  Once again, an ambulance arrived. She put the photo album in her box of keepsakes and went back to sorting Horace’s office. But she couldn’t resist keeping one eye on the window overlooking the pit and the men working there.

  After a while, Kyle and the sheriff strode up to the house. She invited them in. “Want some coffee or tea?”

  “Thanks,” Kyle said. “We could sure use some coffee.”

  She put water and coffee in the electric percolator and plugged it in to start it going. “So what’s happened?” she asked. “Was anyone hurt?”

  “Nothing like that,” Sheriff Casey said. “We found more bones.”

  Jan raised an eyebrow. “You mean you didn’t get all of Nancy’s bones the first time? Were they scattered or what?”

  Kyle shook his head. “These are someone else’s bones. We found another person’s remains.”

  “Oh, my God. There were two bodies buried there?”

  “Yes,” Casey said. “Definitely another person’s remains. A man this time. Clothes and shoes, too, like with hers.”

  Jan set out cups and poured the coffee. “So whose body was it? Do you have any idea?”

  “We were hoping you’d have an idea.” Sheriff Casey’s steely blue eyes bored into hers, demanding answers. He picked up his coffee and sipped, continuing to watch her over the brim of his cup.

  “Me? How would I know?”

 
Casey shrugged. “What was your family told at the time Nancy disappeared?”

  Jan frowned, sipping the hot fragrant brew. She needed something to push away the ice that had settled in her stomach. No wonder Esther thought these people were dangerous if they’d already killed two people. She swallowed hard and gazed at the sheriff.

  “Horace told everyone Nancy left a note saying she was eloping with one of the silo builders. The building company claimed he was an itinerant worker and they had no address or phone number for him, nor any way to contact his family members either.”

  “Surely they must have had a social security number? How could they pay taxes on him without it?”

  “Apparently they had an address, but it was bogus. A local P.O. Box number that wasn’t his.”

  “So, our best guess is that this dead man is the silo builder. And she didn’t run away at all, but both she and her boyfriend were killed and buried,” Casey said with a scowl.

  Jan nodded, the ice crawling along her veins.

  Kyle put in, “And I’d say, sheriff, that the killer is still loose and the one who is causing all the trouble here now.”

  Casey sighed, shifted in his chair and drank more coffee. “You are probably right. But I’d think the killer would be laying low instead of calling attention to himself by causing trouble.”

  “It seems that way to me, too. And why burglarize the house? Or burn the barn? Is there something here that could tell us who killed them? Some evidence he’s trying to find and destroy?”

  Casey chewed his lip. “I wonder if you’re right, Kyle. But we don’t have the manpower to go through all of Horace’s stuff. Jan, have you found anything like that?”

  Jan swallowed her coffee. “Not in Horace’s stuff.”

  Dare she tell them about seeing Aunt Esther? Or would both Kyle and the sheriff think she’d lost her mind?

  Casey eyed her. “You know something, Jan. I can see it in your face. Out with it.”

  She flushed, her cheeks feeling hot. “You’ll think I’m crazy.”

  “Try me. Let me decide if what you know is worthwhile or not.”

  Jan drew a deep breath. “I’ve seen and talked to Esther’s ghost.”

  “What?” both men said in unison, staring at her.

  She sent them a scowl. “I told you that you’d think I was crazy.”

  “When was this?” Kyle said.

  “The first time was the first day we arrived and Mom and I toured the house. She was sitting in the rocker in Nancy’s room, crying. Remember, Kyle? You thought I was ill and helped me down to the porch for fresh air and made me put my head down?”

  Kyle nodded and glanced at Casey. “She was as white as a sheet. I thought she was going to pass out. Something had surely upset her.”

  “The next day, I was with Mom in the living room downstairs. Esther was sitting in that upholstered chair beside the fireplace, crying again.”

  “Did she say anything?”

  “Not that day.”

  “What did Laura say? Did she see her?” Casey asked.

  Jan shook her head. “Mom said there was no one there. She said there’s no such thing as ghosts. But I know what I saw.”

  “So you could see her, but your mother couldn’t?” Casey said derisively.

  “Yes. I told you that you’d think I was crazy.”

  “Yes, you said that before. So when did she supposedly talk to you?” Casey said. He rolled his eyes at the ceiling and drank his coffee.

  Kyle watched her face, then put in, “It was upstairs last night, wasn’t it, Jan? I heard you talking to her and came up to see who you were talking to.”

  Jan nodded, cringing back into her chair. She sent a wary glance at the sheriff.

  “So, what did she tell you?”

  “She admitted moving the family Bible back to the living room from the box where I’d packed it.”

  “She moved the Bible?”

  “Yes. She said she wanted to be sure I found Nancy’s death date and to put it on her tombstone. She told me to make sure Nancy was buried next to her in the cemetery and not beside Horace.”

  Casey stared at her. “Which cemetery? And is there such a plot available?”

  Jan lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know yet. Esther said she bought an extra plot next to hers. I asked Mom and she said Esther’s buried in the cemetery south of town, the one that’s on a hill with lots of evergreen trees around it.”

  “That would be St. Luke’s,” Casey said. “We can check it out. But mind you, I don’t believe in ghosts. But if she bought the lot, that’s the logical use for it, I guess. As far as I know there’s no other immediate family.”

  “What else did Esther say?” Kyle asked. “You were pretty scared after talking to her. I don’t think talking about burying Nancy would have upset you that much. So there’s more, isn’t there?”

  Casey perked up and watched her face.

  Jan nodded, got up and refilled their coffee cups, wondering how to explain it. She sat and sipped the coffee. “I’m not sure what she meant. But she warned me to be careful. She said I knew too much and they’d come after me.”

  “So that’s what you meant by saying, ‘tell me more,’ last night?”

  “Yes. But she didn’t say anymore. You came upstairs and she disappeared.”

  Casey frowned at Kyle. “You said you heard them talking. Did you actually hear the ghost talking? Or just Jan?”

  Kyle frowned. “I’m not sure.”

  Casey snorted. “So it’s probably all your imagination. You were dreaming. Happens all the time. People are half awake and think they see something in the shadows. Or hear a board creaking in the wind and think somebody said something. All these pranks on Kyle’s project have you imagining things.”

  Jan shrugged. “Believe what you want. But can you tell me who to contact about the plot in the cemetery so we can bury Nancy’s ashes?”

  Casey frowned. “John Canby, your realtor, sells those plots. You met him when you closed the farm sale. Ashes? Nancy’s remains are to be cremated?”

  “Yes. Mom said to ask you to call her when you release her remains and she’ll pay for the cremation. We’ll wait and have a memorial service later after Mom’s back in the states.”

  “Sure, I can do that. Did you find anything in Horace’s records about the company who built the silo?”

  “Not yet. But I haven’t gone through everything.”

  “Well, let me know if you find anything. It might help identify this guy’s remains if we knew the name of the company that built the silo.”

  “All right.”

  Kyle frowned. “Casey, the name of the silo company was etched into one section of the silo. I don’t remember it off-hand, but I’ll have one of the men check the dumpsite and find the section that had it for you.”

  “Oh. Good. That’ll help.”

  “Provided it’s even still in business,” Kyle said. “All the new silos I’ve seen lately are huge and have a different company name on them.”

  “Thanks for the coffee.” Casey rose and Kyle followed him to the door.

  After the sheriff left, Kyle turned back to Jan. “Are you okay?”

  She managed a small smile. “I’m okay. He didn’t believe me, did he? I’m not nuts, Kyle.”

  He took her in his arms, leaned down and kissed her thoroughly. “I know you’re not. Just looking at your face told me you’d really seen something, whether the rest of us could see it or not. My grandmother used to tell me she talked to my Granddad after he passed away, too. So you’re not the only one who sees and hears ghosts.”

  “Thanks.” She wriggled closer in his embrace, taking comfort from his words and kisses. His erection pressed against her stomach, making her smile. She reached down to rub him through his fly.

  He backed away with a groan. “I don’t have time for this now. I’ve got to get back to work. See you tonight and we’ll take up where we left off.”

  “Okay.” She laughed in ag
reement. “How about I order in food instead of going out?”

  Sounds good to me. Do you like Chinese? Chicken and peapods?”

  “Love it.”

  “Good. There’s a great place here. I have to go into my office for a while. I’ll pick it up on the way home. See you around seven or so.”

  He gave her another embrace and quick kiss, then hurried out the door.

  She closed it behind him and watched him drive away, a warm thrill racing along her veins. He’d said, ‘on the way home.’ Was he starting to think of staying with her as his ‘home?’

  Chapter 10

  As the sun set and dusk closed in, he watched the farmhouse with binoculars. He stood concealed in the grove of evergreen trees surrounding the farmyard. Soon most of these trees would be cut down and a huge ring of apartments would take their place. With a fancy pool! What a shame. He’d done his best to prevent that, but his efforts had gone mostly ignored.

  It was time to take things into his own hands. Now the man’s body had been discovered as well as the girl’s. Time was running out.

  What if Horace or Esther had left anything behind to indicate their or his involvement in the deaths? He should have foreseen this possibility and acted while the house stood empty. He could have made it look like kids’ partying had started a fire then. Now Kyle and Jan were staying there and searching through everything. His search the other day had turned up nothing of value, but he hadn’t had much time.

  If he didn’t see them leave soon, for supper as they’d been doing other nights, he’d have to do it the hard way. They’d just have to look out for themselves.

  ***

  A little after seven, Kyle appeared as promised with bags of take-out Chinese food.

  Jan made hot tea to go with it and they sat a Esther’s round wooden kitchen table, enjoying chicken and peapods over rice. He’d gotten eggrolls as well.

  “Um, this is some of the best food I’ve had in ages,” Jan told Kyle.

  “Thanks. It’s one of my favorite take out places.”

  “So did you hear from the sheriff this afternoon?”

  “He researched the silo building company. Seems they’ve been out of business for years. But he found the owner, who says they only kept tax related records, not anything to do with employees. So he couldn’t help.”