Bully in the Burbs (Garden Girls Christian Cozy Mystery Book 8)

by Hope Callaghan

  “Can I go with you?” Dot asked. “I mean, I can’t go to the restaurant. What else am I gonna do?”

  Gloria frowned. Dot had enough on her mind, but then again, maybe what she needed was to take her mind off the upcoming surgery. “Sure, Dot. If that’s what you want to do.”

  She glanced at the wall clock. If they got there around ten, most people should be up and about. “I can swing by around 9:30 tomorrow morning and pick you up.”

  “Thanks, Gloria. I’d like that.”

  Gloria’s cell phone chirped. Someone was trying to call but Gloria didn’t want to cut Dot off so she let it ring. Whoever was trying to call could leave a message.

  The girls chatted for a few more minutes. “I better go. Ray is hovering over me now,” Dot laughed.

  After Gloria hung up, she grabbed her cell phone off the table and plopped her reading glasses on her nose. Paul had called.

  She hadn’t talked to Paul since the day before. It seemed as if so much had happened since then.

  She called him back and he picked up right away. She explained the situation with Jill’s offer on the house. When she tried to tell him about Dot, she could barely form a coherent sentence.

  Finally, she burst into tears and began to sob. Paul tried his best to soothe his soon-to-be-bride over the phone and vowed that he needed to be around more and work less. Maybe it was time to set a firm retirement date.

  Life was too short. What if Gloria had called to tell him she had cancer? Paul vowed that when he hung up, he would put in his notice. His last day would be December 31st.

  It was time to start a new life with his new wife!

  Gloria’s sobs eventually turned to sniffles. She blew her nose loudly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall apart.”

  Paul assured Gloria she could cry anytime she needed to, as long as he wasn’t the reason for her tears. “At least you got it out of your system before you see her tomorrow,” he pointed out.

  True. Gloria hadn’t thought about that. She needed to show a brave face for her friend!

  “It sounds as if your morning is booked,” he said. “What if I come over on my next night off and we can talk more about the wedding.”

  So far, Paul had been content to leave all the planning to Gloria. His main priority was to make sure the two of them made it to the altar. Gloria and her friends could handle the rest.

  “That sounds perfect,” Gloria said. “I’ll cook something special.” She had no idea what that would be, but she had all evening to decide.

  “No, I’ll take you to dinner,” he insisted, “somewhere nice.”

  After Gloria hung up the phone, she slid into the chair and pulled her lukewarm meal toward her. She picked up her fork and toyed with the food, her mind was a million miles away and her appetite had vanished.

  Gloria managed to eat half of what was on her plate. She cut the rest of the meat into small pieces, and split it between Mally and Puddles.

  Gloria watched a little TV and then headed to bathroom to get ready for bed. Her body went through the motions as she brushed her teeth and washed her face.

  She turned off the light and shuffled to the bedroom. If she herself felt this awful about Dot’s cancer, she couldn’t even begin to imagine how her friend felt!

  Chapter 8

  Gloria’s eyes popped open bright and early the next morning. It had taken a long time before she was finally able to drift off to sleep. When she did, she had jumbled dreams. In one of them, Dot was sprawled out on a stretcher, her hair tucked under a surgical cap as nurses wheeled her down a long hospital corridor.

  Gloria chased after the stretcher and begged the nurses not to take her away, certain that she would never see her friend again.

  There had been other dreams, but nothing as frightening as the one she remembered.

  Mally was waiting at the door when Gloria wandered into the kitchen. She patiently stood by the door as Gloria fixed a pot of coffee. The coffee started to brew while she stepped out onto the porch.

  A light frost covered the ground. The air was crisp and she watched as puffs of warm air escaped her lips. “Winter is right around the corner, girl,” she told Mally.

  Mally didn’t care about winter – or snow. She was more concerned about patrolling the perimeter of the yard.

  Thanksgiving was a few short weeks away. Gloria had been so focused on the upcoming visit from all of her children, not to mention the wedding; she hadn’t had time to think about Turkey Day.

  The coffee finished brewing. Gloria headed back inside to grab a cup from the cupboard and fill it.

  Gloria grabbed her Bible and settled into a chair at the kitchen table. Morning Prayer and Bible reading was Gloria’s favorite time of the day. The peace and quiet of the morning helped her to focus on the Word of God.

  Not today, though. Her mind wandered. The ticking of the kitchen clock echoed in the room and the house creaked even more than usual, at least in Gloria’s mind.

  She made it through Psalm 104 and then closed her Bible. She meditated on the words and pushed back the chair from the table. It was time to get ready. It was time to solve the mystery of the house at 726 Pine Place!

  ***

  Gloria pulled in Dot’s drive and parked behind her van. She hadn’t even had time to honk the horn when Dot sprang through the front door and down the cement steps.

  Gloria studied her friend’s face through the car window as she made her way to the passenger side. She looked…well, she looked at peace!

  Dot pulled the door open and climbed in. She dropped her purse on the floor and reached for her seat belt. “I was up half the night.”

  Gloria reached over and patted Dot’s arm. “I’m sorry, Dot. I had hoped you were able to get more rest than the night before.”

  Dot buckled the belt and adjusted the strap. “Believe it or not, I wasn’t awake worrying about the you-know-what. I was thinking about Jill’s house.”

  Gloria backed out of the drive and onto the road. “And?”

  Two heads were better than one. Maybe Dot remembered something RJ had said that he forgot to mention to Gloria.

  “Well, it seems to me that if the sellers keep insisting on large deposits and after they get the deposit, strange things start to happen, maybe it’s a racket. You know, they keep making money on the place.”

  Gloria pulled to the stop sign and looked in both directions. “I was thinking the exact same thing. I mean, these aren’t stellar, upstanding citizens in the first place, what with running a puppy mill.”

  “Maybe you could have Paul run a background check on them,” Dot suggested.

  Gloria raised a brow. “Great idea. I’ll look into that.”

  The girls chatted about the restaurant, the upcoming holidays and Gloria’s wedding. Gloria was careful to avoid mentioning doctors and surgery.

  If, and when, Dot wanted to talk about it, she would.

  Gloria pulled into the Highland Park neighborhood and turned onto Pine Place. The For Sale sign was still in the front yard. The real estate agent had taken down the top section, the part of the sign that read, pending.

  She frowned. As far as she knew, it was still technically pending as long as the contract hadn’t been cancelled!

  Gloria shut off the engine and the girls climbed out of the car. She had gotten the access code for the lockbox from Jill. She punched in the code and removed the box cover.

  The key fit the top lock. Gloria pushed the door open and waited for Dot to step inside. Dot followed Gloria through the living room and into the kitchen.

  There was an odd odor in the house. Dot noticed it, too. She sniffed the air. “You smell that?” She wrinkled her nose.

  Gloria waved a hand across her face. “Yuck! It smells like something died.”

  They walked through the house, checking cupboards and opening closet doors.

  Gloria opened the dining room slider and the girls stepped onto the deck. “I don’t get it. Unless the smell is coming fr
om the attic.”

  After they cleared their lungs, they stepped back inside and Gloria closed and locked the slider. The girls checked each of the rooms and the lower level. The smell was definitely coming from somewhere upstairs.

  They climbed the steps and walked back through the living room as they headed out the front door.

  Dot grabbed Gloria’s arm. She pointed to the living room fireplace. “We didn’t check that.”

  They walked over to the beautiful, fieldstone fireplace. The odor grew stronger the closer they got to the mantle.

  Dot pinched her nose and took short shallow breaths through her mouth. “It has to be coming from there.”

  Gloria was almost afraid to move the fireplace screen. Jill’s sad face swam in front of her eyes. She was doing this for Jill, she reminded herself.

  Gloria stuck her hand on the top of the decorative screen and lifted it up.

  Dot gasped.

  Gloria took a step back.

  Curled up in a ball on top of the grate was a small, white bunny rabbit, its neck slashed. As much as Gloria wanted to drop the screen and run away, she took a step closer. She noticed several fresh puddles of blood. . The rabbit hadn’t been there long.

  Whoever killed the poor thing had done it recently. Brown streaks covered the fireplace insert, which Gloria surmised, was where the foul odor was coming from. The rabbit had not begun to smell. Whatever was in the insert smelled horrible!

  Gloria fumbled inside her purse and pulled out her cell phone. She turned the screen to camera mode and snapped several pictures.

  She replaced the metal screen and the girls made their way outside. “Should you tell the agent?”

  Gloria nodded. “Yes, but we need to try to talk to the neighbors first.”

  Her head swung around as she looked at the neighbor’s house on the left. A car was in the drive. There were also cars parked in the drive of the neighbor on the other side and the one across the street.

  Gloria nodded to the right. “Let’s start there.”

  She marched across the lawn and up the front steps of the house next door. Dot pushed the doorbell and the girls waited.

  Moments later, the door slowly opened and a woman’s face peered out. “Hi.”

  “Hello. My daughter has put an offer on the house next door and I wondered if I could ask you a couple questions.” There was no need to beat around the bush.

  The door opened wider. The woman, appearing to be in her early 30’s with straight brown hair and sharp green eyes peered at them. “I wouldn’t live in that house.”

  Dot leaned in. “Why not?”

  “Because it’s haunted.”

  Chapter 9

  Gloria felt a momentary burst of disappointment. If Jill heard even a whisper of the word “haunted” there was no way she would live in the house. “Why do you think it’s haunted?”

  “The Acostas had a heck of a time…odd phone calls in the middle of the night, creaking noises coming from the attic, not to mention dead animals showing up on the doorstep.” The woman shivered. “The last straw was when they came home one day and someone had drawn a pentagram on the dining room wall.”

  “I wouldn’t live there, either,” Dot declared. She turned to Gloria. “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”

  Gloria frowned. Someone had scared the Acostas off…maybe even a neighbor.

  “How long did the Acostas live in the house?” Gloria was curious.

  The woman tapped the side of her cheek with her index finger. “Let me see. It had to have been a couple years. They moved in not long after my husband and I bought this place.”

  Dot knew where Gloria’s questioning was headed. “They stayed in the house for two years even though it was haunted?”

  The woman shook her head. “No. It was only the last few months that strange things started to happen.”

  Gloria thanked the woman for her time and Dot and she headed across the lawn. They stopped behind Annabelle.

  Dot nodded at the place. “What do you think?”

  “That it’s mighty suspicious the house ‘suddenly’ became haunted.”

  Dot finished the sentence. “After having lived there for at least a year.”

  Gloria grabbed her arm. “C’mon. Let’s talk to the people across the street.”

  They started down the drive at the same time the garage door on the house across the street opened. The occupant spotted the girls headed his way. It looked as if he planned to dart back in the house, the door half open. Gloria could hear a dog bark from somewhere inside.

  Instead, he changed his mind as he shut the door and waited while they walked up the drive. “You the new neighbors? I heard they finally sold the house across the street.”

  Gloria shook her head. “My daughter and son-in-law have a contract on the house.”

  The man, short and thick with a few sparse hairs sticking out from under a ball cap, nodded. “The place has been empty for a while now. Is she sure she wants to live there?”

  “The home is a good deal,” Gloria pressed. “One of the neighbors said strange things started happening not long ago.”

  “True,” he admitted. “Good riddance to the Acostas. They were an odd bunch.”

  He shoved his hands in his pockets. “They ran a puppy mill over there.”

  “So you didn’t know them that well?” Dot piped up.

  The man shook his head. “Nope. Only what the Holts told me.” He pointed to the house Dot and Gloria had just left.

  “Did the Acostas put the house up for sale and then odd things began to happen?”

  “Not sure. Like I said, I wasn’t real friendly with them.” He rocked back on his heels. “I do know it wasn’t long after the fire.”

  Gloria’s eyes widened. “There was a fire?” Sue Camp had never mentioned a fire. Could it be the Acostas tried to burn the place down and collect on the insurance?

  He shrugged. “Guess it was a small one. Fire department had it under control right away. Not a day or two later, the for-sale sign went up in the yard. The Acostas moved out quick. One day they lived there, the next day they were gone. I never saw a moving truck or anything.”

  The door leading into the house opened and a head popped out. “Ron, you’ve got a call.”

  The man excused himself. “I need to go. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.” He turned on his heel and started up the steps.

  The girls watched him go. “Maybe Jill doesn’t want this house,” Gloria said.

  They had one more house to visit – the one on the other side. It was a large two-story with a spacious, covered porch.

  Gloria admired the white wicker rocking chairs as they made their way to the front door. Maybe once her remodeling projects were over, she would splurge and get new porch chairs.

  The thump, thump of loud music echoed through the closed door. Gloria pressed the doorbell and waited. No one answered.

  She tried again but there was still no answer.

  “Maybe they can’t hear the doorbell,” Dot pointed out.

  That was probably true. As loud as the music was through the closed door, Gloria could just imagine how much louder it was inside.

  The girls finally gave up and headed back to the car. Gloria climbed into the driver’s seat and slipped the key in the ignition. She was torn on whether or not she should call the real estate agent. She wasn’t sure how happy Sue Camp would be if she found out Gloria had been inside the house.

  She decided not to call. Sue Camp would find the poor, unfortunate bunny rabbit soon enough.

  The girls rode for several long moments in silence. Before Gloria had left that morning, she had gotten the Acostas current address from Jill. The address was on the first page of the offer to buy the house.

  She turned to Dot. “Do you have time to make a drive by the Acosta’s new residence?”

  “You thought of everything.” Dot grinned. “Yeah. Sure. I have all day.”

  Gloria entered the address in her G
PS and the girls were on their way. The address was still Rapid Creek but it wasn’t in town. They drove past downtown and headed out into the country.

  They passed several large farms before they reached their destination – a ramshackle, wood framed house with peeling paint and a sagging front porch. The house suffered from severe neglect. Several cars sat parked in the rutted drive. One car, minus the wheels, was sitting on carjacks and next to a long, narrow shed.

  Gloria slowed the car but didn’t stop.

  Dot pointed out the window. “I see a dog run out back.”

  Gloria drove a mile down the road before she turned around for a second drive by. She was able to see a dog run and a dog kennel. “You think they’re still selling dogs?”

  Dot frowned. “It looks like it.”

  Short of stopping in the drive and knocking on the door, there wasn’t much else to see. The house that the Acostas had moved out of was a lot nicer than the house they now lived in. If they were trying to swindle potential buyers out of their earnest money deposits, they certainly weren’t spending the money on the house they currently lived in!

  Gloria’s heart sank. There wasn’t much else to do except go home. Unless…

  She jerked the wheel and careened into the driveway. “I have an idea.”

  Dot took a deep breath. “Oh no,” she muttered. When Gloria had an idea, it could be a good thing…or it could be leading them right into a sticky situation. Based on the look on Gloria’s face, Dot was leaning toward the sticky situation.

  Gloria put the car in park, hopped out of the car and waded through the weed-infested lawn.

  Not wanting to leave her friend in the lurch, Dot took a deep breath and opened the passenger side door. Dear God, please protect us from whatever Gloria is about to get us into!

  By the time Dot caught up with Gloria, she had already knocked on the side door. “Just go along with whatever I say,” Gloria mumbled under her breath.

  “Got it.”

  The door creaked open a crack and a young face peered through the small opening. “Yes, ma’am.”