3 The Ghost at the Farm

by SUE FINEMAN

  “You don’t like living here?” She tasted her sweet and sour pork. “Mmm, this is good.”

  “It’s a nice condo, but I can’t have a dog here.”

  Julie smiled. “What kind of dog? A cute little poodle or terrier?”

  “A collie or golden retriever. A big dog.”

  “Ah, no cuddly little lap doggies for you. You want a macho dog. A guard dog?”

  He shoveled in another bite and swallowed. “The last collie my family had didn’t know how to growl. He was like a big teddy bear. Then there was Kayla’s hound, Buford. He liked to sing, and he expected his people to guard him.”

  She laughed. “Okay, you pick the dog and I’ll find you a piece of land or a small farm. My laptop is in my car. I’ll work on it tomorrow.”

  He stood and pulled a bag from his pants pocket. “Here are your prescriptions. The pharmacist said to take them with food. Does your arm hurt?”

  “A little.”

  “It was a bad cut, Julie. It’s going to hurt for a couple days. I tore my knee when I was a teenager. Damn thing hurt like hell. I should know better than to play street basketball—or anything else—with Charlie. He’s into sports, women, and trouble, not necessarily in that order. He used to complain he couldn’t get away with anything because his dad was chief of police, but I don’t think it would’ve mattered who his parents were. Charlie goes full out on everything he does. He always has.”

  “I would have given anything for a sister or brother when I was growing up. My cousin Susan is the closest thing I have to a sister, but after Charlie dumped her, she moved to Columbus. She was crazy about him.”

  Andy offered her more food and she shook her head. “Charlie dates a lot of women, Julie. He doesn’t stay with any of them long enough to get attached.”

  Julie took a pill from each bottle, an antibiotic and a pain pill, and sipped her tea while Andy finished eating. “One of these days, Charlie’s going to find a woman he wants to stay with, and when she dumps him, he’ll know how much it hurts.”

  Andy gazed into her pretty green eyes and pictured her in his bed, with those long legs wrapped around him and her head thrown back while he nibbled on her neck.

  She’s trouble, his mind screamed. And he didn’t need more trouble in his life.

  <>

  Brent looked in the mirror and swore. His nose was swollen, his lip had split open, and he had deep bruises under his eyes. It would take days for this to heal. He couldn’t believe the cops charged him with assault and those two bozos in the bar didn’t even get a slap on the hand.

  This was all Julie’s fault. If she’d come with him like he told her, none of this would have happened.

  His attorney said not to contact Julie again if he didn’t want to serve time for stalking, which was bullshit. If he wanted to talk with his fiancée, he’d do it.

  Julie would come around.

  She loved him.

  <>

  Sometime in the night, a vivid dream woke Andy.

  Andrew sat on the seat of a wagon behind a dappled gray horse that seemed in no hurry to get where he was going. The horse’s tail slapped at a fly, and the smell of freshly turned earth filled the clear air.

  In the field beyond their small farmhouse, dust billowed around a man toiling behind a horse-drawn plow. Matthew didn’t seem to mind the hard work, but then Matthew was the brother who inherited the farm when Papa died two years ago. As long as he lived on the farm, Andrew was expected to help farm the land. But he hated farming.

  Little Annie, with her pigtails and big brown eyes, sat in a swing on the front porch of the farmhouse. She looked up and smiled, showing gaps in her front teeth. “Uncle Andrew!” she called. “Can I ride the wagon?”

  He pulled gently on the reins and the horse stopped. Reaching down, he swung the little girl up on the seat beside him. She was a cutie, with dirty bare feet and a blue dress that hung below her knees.

  Matthew’s wife, Betsy, wearing a big flowered apron, put a hot pie on the porch rail to cool. It smelled delicious.

  Andy’s stomach growled and the dream faded. It wasn’t really a dream, though. It was as if he had fallen into the past, as if for a brief moment in time he wasn’t Andrew Jefferson Kane, but Andrew Jefferson, the man who built the house where Andy grew up.

  The dreams always left him feeling uneasy, and since he’d seen the gypsy fortune teller, every time he dreamed of the past, he searched for something—anything—that could be construed as unresolved issues. He should have asked her to define the issues, and he would, if he knew where to find her.

  Hearing Julie stirring in the other bedroom, he went to check on her. She was having a bad dream, thrashing around on the bed. If she didn’t settle down, she could rip her stitches.

  Andy sat beside her and put his hand on her soft cheek. She’d had a bad day. “It’s all right, Julie. You’re safe here. It’s okay.”

  She took a deep breath and stopped stirring. He straightened the covers, eased a pillow under her arm, and returned to his bed.

  They’d both had enough disturbing dreams tonight.

  Chapter Four

  Late that night, Brent drove by Julie’s apartment. The lights were off, so she must be asleep. Unless she wasn’t there. But where else would she go? She wasn’t at her parents’ house or Olivia would have told him.

  She wasn’t with another man, was she?

  Better check it out, make sure she was in there alone.

  He pulled into the parking lot behind the building, walked through the breezeway to the front, and climbed the stairs to her apartment. But his key wouldn’t open the lock. “What the hell?”

  The bitch had changed the locks.

  <>

  The phone woke Julie the next morning. It stopped ringing and then started again. Thinking it must be important, she answered, “Hello?” Her voice sounded husky with sleep.

  A high-pitched voice asked, “Is Andy there?”

  “No.” If he was here, he would have answered the phone himself. “Would you like to leave a message?”

  “Is this the girl from the bar?”

  Julie didn’t want anyone to know who she was, so she made up a lie. “Uh… I’m the housekeeper.”

  The woman giggled. “He can afford a housekeeper? I’m, like, I didn’t know. We only, like, started dating, ya know what I mean?”

  “Uh… yeah. Do you want me to tell Andy you called?”

  “No, that’s okay. I’ll call back.”

  Julie’s balloon deflated. Andy had a girlfriend. The woman on the phone didn’t sound like Andy’s type, but he must like her or he wouldn’t be dating her.

  <>

  In the gym downstairs, Andy went through his normal routine. There were two other people using the gym that morning, including the pretty neighbor who’d moved in last week.

  “You get moved in okay?” he asked.

  “I still have boxes in my living room, but I’m getting there.” Melissa cocked her head. “Are you offering to help?”

  He shook his head. “Can’t do it today.”

  “I’ll throw in a home-cooked breakfast.”

  “Sounds good, but I have other plans.”

  She gave him a knowing look. “Already taken, huh?”

  George, a neighbor who spent about ten minutes on the treadmill every morning, said, “Didn’t you see the news last night? Andy rescued a damsel in distress. He’s a hero.”

  Andy laughed. George was a forty-something guy who obviously liked women, but couldn’t seem to find one of his own. He lived vicariously through other men.

  “Details,” said George. “I want details. Is she pretty?”

  “Yeah, she’s pretty.” She was stunning, a beautiful, sexy blonde who was probably waking up in his guest room right about now.

  He finished his workout and jogged down the street to the bakery to get something for breakfast. Minutes later, he dropped the bag from the bakery on the kitchen bar, started the coffee, and walked i
nto his bathroom to take a shower. Julie lay in the tub with fragrant bubbles covering most of her body. Her injured arm was propped on the side of the tub, out of the water. The tops of her creamy breasts beckoned. What he wouldn’t give to get in there with her.

  He grinned. “Need some help?”

  She flipped bubbles at him. “You said I could use your tub.”

  “Yes, I did. How is your arm this morning?”

  “Sore. Andy, I appreciate all your help, but I need to go home today.”

  He propped his hands on his hips. “Don’t like the accommodations here?”

  “It’s great, but I’m taking advantage. I don’t want to interfere in your life.”

  “You’re not interfering.” He stripped off his T-shirt. “I need a shower, then we’ll go by your apartment and pick up some of your clothes. With any luck, Brent will be too embarrassed to show his face in public for a few days.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  Ignoring the sarcastic tone in her voice, he stepped around the corner of the glass block shower, stripped off his shorts, and took a long, hot shower. The bathroom was a big one, and he didn’t mind sharing.

  When he came out, Julie was not only out of the tub.

  She was gone.

  <>

  Julie sat in her car in the parking lot in front of her apartment building, staring at the open apartment door on the second floor. Her door. How did he get in this time? Was he still in her apartment?

  Using her cell phone, she called 911 and gave her name and address. “I just got home and found the door of my apartment standing open. It looks like the window might be open, too, but I’m not going up there to see until I’m sure he’s not still in there.”

  “Does anyone else have a key?”

  “No, I just had the locks changed. I’m sure it’s the man who tried to drag me out of Sippin Sally’s last night.”

  “Stay on the line until the police get there.”

  “Yes, all right.” Julie’s hands shook. She shouldn’t have come here.

  She looked around and spotted Brent parked down the street, watching her, and that knot of anger in her stomach tightened. “He’s sitting in his car down the street,” she told the operator.

  “The police are on the way.”

  How long had he been sitting there, waiting for her to come home? She wanted to smack him, but the last thing she needed now was another confrontation.

  He opened his car door, and she pushed the lock on hers. If he intended to abduct her, he’d need a tow truck or a crow bar. But he stood beside his car, then sat inside it again, probably waiting for her to get out and walk upstairs.

  He had a surprise coming. She wasn’t putting up with this nonsense any longer.

  Two police officers arrived, followed by Andy and his father, Donovan Kane.

  Andy asked, “Are you okay?”

  “Just mad as hell. What do I have to do to get rid of this guy?” Then, “Sorry. I don’t mean to snap at you. I can’t afford to get my locks changed again.”

  “Why did you leave my condo?”

  She turned to look at him, freshly showered, with an unshaven, bad boy look about him. Instead of dressing like a polished professional today, he looked relaxed in jeans and a leather jacket. “Your girlfriend called this morning and I thought…”

  “What girlfriend?”

  She rubbed her arm below the bandage. It hurt like a toothache this morning. “Don’t worry, I told her I was the housekeeper.”

  Andy shook his head and Donovan wiped a smirk off his face.

  One of the officers walked over. “Looks like someone went in through the window and came out the door. No apparent damage inside.”

  Julie pulled the jacket she’d borrowed from Andy’s closet around her and shivered in the brisk morning air. Andy put his cool hand on her forehead. “You feel hot. Did you take your pills this morning?”

  “No, I forgot. I don’t even know where they are.”

  “In the kitchen.”

  Donovan motioned to Andy. “Take her back to your condo.”

  Julie shook her head. “Brent is watching. If we leave, he’ll follow us.”

  Andy looked around. “Where is he?”

  “Down the street,” said Donovan. “I spotted him when we came in.”

  Julie walked upstairs with Andy. “How did you know where to find me?”

  “The 911 dispatcher called Dad, and he called me. They always call him when Charlie gets in trouble.”

  “And you?”

  He grinned. “I’m the perfect son. I never get in trouble.”

  She packed a few things and listened to her phone messages. They were all angry messages from Brent. She handed the tape to the officer and slipped her spare tape in the machine. Why did she bother? If a client called, they couldn’t get through to her with Brent calling so often.

  As Andy drove her back to his condo, Julie twisted around to look behind her, where the officers were talking with Brent. “Will they arrest him this time?”

  “I don’t know. They don’t have any proof he’s the one who broke into your apartment. But he was watching you, so that’ll go against him when he’s arraigned on the stalking charges. If they have enough evidence to charge him.”

  She might as well give notice to her landlord and find another place to live. She’d never feel safe living there again. If they put Brent in jail, he wouldn’t be there long. He had enough money to buy his way out.

  Back at Andy’s condo, Julie took her medicine and they ate breakfast together. “I hate being such a pest.”

  “A working pest. You’re going to find me some property to look at this weekend.”

  “Right after I change this bandage. It’s starting to itch.”

  “I’ll do it.” Andy removed the bandage on her arm, and she looked at the cut in the mirror. There wasn’t one cut but two, one considerably bigger than the other. It extended into her elbow. “No wonder it hurts.” The doctor had put the stitches under the skin, so the scars wouldn’t show as much, but she’d definitely have scars, permanent reminders of the fight at the bar.

  The scarring didn’t bother her as much as mooching off Andy. She and her problems had taken over his life. “Andy, you don’t have to keep playing hero. If you want to bring your girlfriend home, I’ll stay in my bedroom with the door closed. She won’t know I’m here.”

  He leaned in until their noses were almost touching. “I don’t have a girlfriend. And I’ll tell you when I’m done playing hero.”

  “Yes, sir.” A smile pulled at her lips while he put a clean bandage on her arm.

  <>

  Julie put her clothes away in the bedroom and spent the rest of the morning searching for property on her laptop. There were a few parcels available in the city, but they were mostly small building lots in residential neighborhoods or parcels in industrial areas. One was zoned for apartments. Not what Andy wanted.

  Two properties looked interesting. One had an old house on it, and the other looked like acreage that had been part of a big farm at one time. There were a lot of farms in Ohio, but farming was such a hard life. Some farmers couldn’t make ends meet and ended up dividing the family farm and selling off pieces until there was nothing left but the house. And then they sold the house and moved to town, where they could find work.

  Her grandparents had been farmers, but her father hated farming. As soon as he was grown, he moved to Columbus, where he met and married her mother. Five years later, Julie was born. When her grandparents passed away two years ago, Dad sold the farm and everything on it. He took what was left after taxes and built Mom a new house in a ritzy subdivision outside town. In the burbs.

  Julie would have kept the farm. The house might have been old and the furniture worn, but it was a comfortable place to be. Her mother’s new house was beautiful, but it felt like a furniture store, perfectly decorated with expensive new furniture and accessories. You might sit down to try out the chair or sofa, but you wouldn�
��t dare put your feet on the coffee table. Mom was always fussing at Dad about messing things up, so he hung out in his basement workshop or on the golf course.

  “Find anything?” Andy asked.

  “Two places. One is acreage, probably farmland, and the other is a farm. Looks like they’re including the tractor and other equipment with the farm.”

  He cocked his head. “Estate sale?”

  “I don’t know. Do you want to go see it?”

  “Sure. Do you feel like going this afternoon?”

  She nodded. “I’ll call the agent on the farm and ask if we can see it today.”

  <>

  They found the land first, on the west side of the city. Andy pulled to the side of the narrow farm road. The land was flat and unappealing as far as he could see. No trees. It might be excellent farmland, but he wasn’t a farmer, and it wasn’t for him. For one thing, it was too far to drive to work. “I want something closer to town, and I was hoping to find something with a little more character.”

  “I didn’t realize it was out so far,” said Julie. “Okay, forget this one. The farm is closer in. It’s on the other side of town. I told the agent we’d be there around two-thirty or three.”

  Andy glanced at his watch and drove back toward the city.

  Julie tucked her hair behind her ear and read the directions. “What about financing? Have you talked with a lender yet?”

  “My brother Billy said he’d provide the financing if I found what I wanted to buy. He inherited some money from his grandfather a few years back.” Andy glanced at Julie. “Billy’s actually my half-brother. Dad’s first wife died of breast cancer.”

  She glanced at Andy. “You have an interesting family. How many other siblings do you have?”

  “Just one, a little sister. Ginny’s a senior at Ohio State, studying criminal justice so she can follow in Dad’s footsteps. Everyone thought Charlie would be the cop in the family, but he said he could never live up to Dad’s career expectations or his reputation in the community.” Donovan Kane had spent his whole adult life in public service, first as a patrol officer, then detective, lead detective, captain, and chief of police. Now he served as mayor.

  They rode in silence for a few miles, then Julie said, “There it is, up ahead.”