3 The Ghost at the Farm

by SUE FINEMAN

  “I love you too much to leave you now.”

  Julie felt tears sting her eyes. He loved her. “I love you, too, Andy.” This wasn’t Andrew talking this time. This was Andy, and he was talking to her, not to Paulina.

  Her heart swelled with emotion. He loved her.

  The nurse came in with a wheelchair. “Time for your chariot ride to X-ray, Mr. Kane.”

  Julie gave him a quick kiss and walked out to the waiting room, where she told his family, “He’s on his way to X-ray, but he seems to be doing okay.”

  “Thank God,” said Hannah.

  “The man who torched his car is here in the hospital.” Donovan scowled. “They’re pulling Cassie’s teeth out of his leg. I never thought a gentle collie would attack a man like that.”

  “She was protecting us,” said Julie.

  They settled in the waiting room to wait for news.

  Minutes later, Julie’s cell phone rang. She stepped outside to answer it.

  “Miss Tandry, this is Doctor Jones at the Veterinary Emergency Clinic. I’m calling about Cassie.”

  “How is she?”

  “She has two cracked ribs and two teeth were torn out. Her injuries aren’t life threatening, but she is sore. You’ll want to keep her in a quiet place and feed her soft canned food until she heals.”

  “Poor Cassie. She saved Andy’s life tonight.” If Cassie hadn’t bitten Byron, he might have hit Andy harder, and Andy might have died. Like Andrew.

  Charlie sat beside her in the waiting room. He looked down. “Nice slippers.”

  She lifted her feet and the bunny ears flopped. “I was in a hurry.” Cassie loved playing with those floppy ears.

  “It doesn’t matter,” said Hannah. “Nobody cares what you’re wearing.”

  No, no one cared what she was wearing. They weren’t there for her. They’d come for Andy. The man she loved.

  Julie watched Donovan pace in the waiting room, showing the apprehension they all felt. Billy appeared, then Trevor, and they waited together.

  Finally, the doctor came out. “Andy has a good sized lump on the side of his head and we had to put in a few stitches, but there’s no fracture.”

  “Concussion?” Donovan asked.

  The doctor nodded. “Yes, he has a concussion. We’ll keep him overnight for observation. If he’s doing all right in the morning, I’ll release him.”

  “Can we see him now?” Hannah asked.

  “We’re moving him upstairs. Fifth floor. Give the nurses a few minutes to get him settled before you visit, and don’t all of you go in at the same time. He needs to stay quiet.”

  “He’s probably hungry, too,” said Julie. “We didn’t have time to finish dinner.”

  “What did you have?” Charlie asked.

  “Chinese.” She’d never eat Chinese food again without remembering this night.

  <>

  Andy’s head felt like it would explode, but he was still alive. He tried to think about the gypsy’s predictions, but he couldn’t concentrate on anything with his head throbbing.

  His parents came in to see him. Mom looked worried, and so did Dad. “I guess the gypsy was right about someone wanting to kill me. Only Byron didn’t figure on me fighting back. He didn’t count on Cassie biting him either.”

  “She’s a hero,” said Dad.

  Andy closed his eyes. It didn’t help relieve the pain, and because of the concussion, they wouldn’t give him any pain medication. “Did they get Byron?”

  “He’s in the hospital, under police guard,” Dad said. “Cassie left two teeth in his leg. The gas can on the porch was nearly full, but the fire department watered down the outside of Julie’s house, just in case. They’re charging him with attempted murder and arson.”

  “Is Julie here?”

  “She’s out in the waiting room,” said Mom, “negotiating with Charlie for the Chinese food you didn’t eat.”

  “Figures.” Charlie hated to see good food go to waste.

  Mom squeezed his hand. “We’re going back to the waiting room, so Julie can come in. Billy and Trevor and Charlie are here, too.”

  “Go home, Mom. All of you go home. I’ll be here all night, and they’ll call if they need you. But first…” He pointed to his head. “Kiss it and make it all better.”

  “Poor baby,” she whispered, placing a gentle kiss on his forehead. And darn if it didn’t feel better.

  <>

  Julie stayed by Andy’s side all night. The nurse brought her a reclining chair, and she dozed off and on, but she didn’t leave the room unless they chased her out.

  Around dawn, while the nurse was with Andy, Julie found Bob sitting in the waiting room. “How’s Brent?”

  “He’s essentially dead. They want to unplug him and harvest his organs. Would Brent want that? I didn’t know my own son well enough to know what he’d want.”

  Carefully choosing her words, Julie said, “I think if Brent was thinking clearly, that’s what he would have wanted. He took a life at the mental hospital and he took his own life. It seems only right that his organs should help other people live.”

  Dark rings under his eyes told of his agony. He probably hadn’t slept since Brent hung himself. Julie’s heart ached for him. How hard it must be to have a mentally ill son, one who had been kept from him for most of his life. A son who had killed a man and then hung himself.

  Bob rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. “I’m too damn tired to think straight. What are you doing here?”

  “We had an intruder at my house tonight. Andy has a concussion.”

  “I thought he was the Kane brother who didn’t get in trouble.”

  She smiled. “That was before he met me.”

  “Brent was arrested when he was a teenager. His mother didn’t allow me to have any contact with him, so I didn’t know about it until years later. He took a girl from her home and locked her in a storage shed. They found her three days later. He didn’t hurt her, but she was terrified. Instead of locking him in a juvenile facility, the judge sent him to a mental hospital. He was there three years, and when he was released, he had outpatient care. I guess he was okay as long as he took his medicine, but when his mother died, there was nobody around to make him take it.”

  “What happened to the girl?”

  “I don’t know.”

  They sat quietly for a moment before Bob said, “You’re right about the organs. Might as well do it and get it over with. There’s no brain wave activity at all. If not for the machines…”

  They stood and she hugged him. “In the years to come, when you look back on Brent’s life, I hope you’ll remember the lives he saved with his organs.”

  They walked down to Brent’s room together. Julie stood in the doorway and stared at the lifeless body on the bed and felt nothing. No hate. No fear. No compassion. Nothing. She’d feel more compassion for the stranger in the next room than she felt for Brent. “I hope he finds peace.”

  Bob sighed. “So do I.”

  Julie walked back to Andy’s room. He was awake, although neither of them had gotten much sleep last night.

  Andy looked up. “Did I see Bob Bosch in the hallway?”

  “Yes. He decided to unplug Brent and donate his organs.”

  “Good decision.”

  Andy sat on the side of the bed. “Where are my clothes?”

  “The doctor didn’t release you yet.”

  “I want to be ready to go when he gets here.”

  “Your mother took your clothes home to wash them. Charlie should be here in an hour or so with clean clothes.”

  He glared at her. “You’re lying.”

  She raised her chin and stared him down. “And you’re grumpy.”

  “It’s my turn,” he mumbled.

  “Head hurt?”

  “Yeah.” He stared out the window.

  “You put up with me, so I’ll put up with you. Only I wasn’t this grumpy.”

  He grinned. “Of course you were. Are
you going to take me home with you and take care of me like I took care of you?”

  She smiled at the hopeful look in his eyes. “I don’t have a guest room.”

  “I don’t mind sharing.”

  Propping her hands on her hips, she said, “You trust me with your virtue?”

  His eyes twinkled. “We’ll work on that as soon as my head stops pounding.”

  <>

  Hours later, Andy stood in front of the bathroom mirror in Julie’s house, examining his hair. They’d shaved a spot on the side, and the ends of the stitches poked out. The rest of his hair on that side was caked with dried blood. “What am I going to do with this mess?”

  Julie peered around him. “You could cut it short, so the bald spot won’t show so much.”

  “I’ve had long hair since high school.”

  “Well, then, it’s time for a change, isn’t it? Besides, maybe other women won’t come on to you if you don’t have all that sexy hair.”

  He turned to face her. “What women?”

  She gave him the look his mother used to give him when he’d said or done something wrong. “Why did you let it grow?”

  “Because when it’s short and curly, I look like a sissy.”

  “Honey, there’s no way you could ever look like a sissy.” She kissed him gently. “You’re all man, and as soon as you’re better, we’ll take care of your virtue.”

  “I can hardly wait,” he whispered, kissing her again.

  Charlie tapped on the front door and Andy let him in. He’d brought Cassie home from the emergency clinic. The dog moved slowly, but her tail wagged the second she saw Julie.

  Julie dropped to her knees and hugged her gently. “You’re such a good girl.”

  “Hey, she got more attention than me,” said Andy. He sat on the sofa and called the dog. “You’re my hero, Cassie girl.” If not for her, he’d be lying in the morgue, waiting for the medical examiner to declare a cause of death. Murdered by a man who stole his designs. Why would someone go through all those years of study to become an architect if he didn’t have the talent and drive to design?

  Andy stared out the front window. His car was gone, the burned hulk towed away, but a scorched spot remained in the street in front of the house, a reminder of the inferno last night. Someone had scrubbed the blood off the front step, and the fire department had removed the gasoline can from the front porch, but that black spot in the street would never go away.

  Brent Bosch was dead, his organs taken to Columbus for people who desperately wanted to live. And Byron Kent was having surgery on his injured knee tomorrow. His career as an architect ended by his own hand, just as Brent Bosch’s life ended by his own hand.

  Although his head still hurt, a huge burden had lifted from Andy’s shoulders. Unlike Andrew Jefferson, he’d survived a brutal attack. He was free to move ahead with his life. Free to love and plan a future.

  Free to make promises to the woman he loved.

  <>

  Monday morning, Charlie took Andy to the barber shop, where the barber cut several inches off his hair. Andy stared in the mirror, surprised at the way he looked. With the softness of childhood gone and the lines of his face hardened, he looked more masculine than ever.

  Charlie stared at him. “I’m not going out trolling for women with you again.”

  “Afraid of a little competition?”

  The barber chuckled and swept up the hair around the chair. There was more on the floor than Andy had left on his head.

  Andy brushed his fingers around his ear. “Why do I feel like a little kid with my first haircut?”

  “Because it’s the first real haircut you’ve had since you were a kid,” said Charlie.

  Andy paid the barber, adding a nice tip. Outside, he felt the breeze on his bare neck and pulled up his collar. “Feels like snow.”

  “It’s in the forecast. I drained the water pipes at the farm, just in case.”

  It was December already, and spring would be here in no time. They’d start the new farmhouse in March or April, as soon as the ground thawed enough to dig the basement.

  <>

  Julie entered the condo listing in the computer and took care of all the other administrative chores, like writing the newspaper ads, ordering the sign, planning the brokers open on Wednesday and the open house for the public on Sunday, and writing it on the board in the office. This was one listing that would benefit from aggressive marketing. There was a glut of single family homes on the market now, most overpriced or bank repos, but the condo was different. Different kind of property, different kind of buyers.

  After checking on her other listings—there were no showings, which wasn’t surprising given the time of year and the current market—she called it a day.

  She stopped at the condo to put the lock box on and leave a stack of color brochures on the kitchen counter, something for prospective buyers to take home to remember what they’d seen. Then she drove home to let Cassie out. The dog was still moving slowly, but her tail worked, which Julie saw as a good sign.

  After lunch, Cassie stretched out in the middle of the bed. Julie didn’t have the heart to chase her off, so she left her there and drove to Livingston Avenue, where Andy and Charlie sat at the kitchen table, eating soup and sandwiches. Nobody came to Hannah’s house without being fed, especially her sons.

  Andy turned to look at her, and she got her first look at him with short hair. The soft brown curls softened the hard planes of his face and made his eyes look bigger. He was handsome before. Now he was drop-dead gorgeous.

  If Gina saw him now, Julie would have a real fight on her hands.

  Andy ran his fingers through the side of his hair. “What do you think?”

  “About what?”

  Hannah burst out laughing. “My sons have been arguing about which one is more handsome. What do you think?”

  “Billy, hands down,” Julie quipped, “but these two run a close second.”

  “Which one,” the twins said together.

  “Do you really expect me to answer that?” Before they could reply, she asked, “Did your furniture come yet?”

  “Not yet,” said Andy. “Don’t you like my haircut?”

  “Yes, I like your haircut.” She leaned over for a kiss. “I love your haircut.”

  Andy had barely finished eating when the truck with the furniture arrived. The traditional dark wood finish looked perfect in the room. Kayla not only had good taste, she’d chosen the right pieces.

  After Andy got the room arranged the way he wanted it, Charlie helped him move the last of his boxes and his computer from the condo. Julie met them there. She opened the living room blinds and washed the windows, packed the rest of his clothes, and tidied up the condo. By the time they had the truck packed, the place looked great.

  As they walked out to truck with the last two boxes, a real estate agent arrived to show the condo to a prospective buyer.

  Andy shared a long look with Julie. “Is this normal?”

  “This isn’t a normal listing. There are virtually no other condos in this price range on the market in the city right now. With any luck, it’ll be sold before Christmas.”

  Charlie sighed. “Too bad. I wanted to use it.”

  “For what?” said Andy, but he knew. Charlie wanted a more luxurious place to bring women than his garage apartment. “You wanted a puppy to attract women, and you can’t have both. Besides, I paid Billy rent every month I lived here.”

  “Otis left me some money.”

  “I thought that was for seeds and fertilizer,” said Julie.

  Charlie pulled down his stocking cap and pouted. “Okay, okay, you made your point. Let’s get this stuff home before the snow starts.”

  Andy looked up. A low bank of clouds hung over the western edge of the city, and every breath turned frosty in the frigid air. They were definitely in for snow tonight.

  “Are you coming with us, Julie?” Charlie asked.

  “I’m going home.
I don’t want to leave Cassie alone too long, and I don’t like driving on icy roads.” She hoped to hear from the agent showing the condo this afternoon, and Andy would be busy unpacking and setting up his computer.

  He had all the help he needed at his parents’ home.

  Julie stopped at the grocery store on the way home to buy the ingredients for Christmas cookies. It seemed like half the city was there, doing their last-minute shopping before the storm hit. She filled her cart with items from her list, then added a few emergency supplies—logs for the fireplace, a big flashlight, candles, a portable radio, and enough food to last her and Cassie several days.

  She’d just pulled into her driveway when the snow flurries began. By the time she put the car in the garage, the snow came down so thick she could barely see the back porch of her house just a few feet away.

  The minute she unlocked the door, Cassie ran outside, tail wagging a friendly greeting.

  “Looks like we may get snowed in tonight, Cassie.”

  She hoped it would only be for one night.

  As the sky darkened and the snow deepened outside, Julie lit a fire in the fireplace and listened to the television weather forecast.

  “The snow plows in the city can’t keep up, and the snow is coming down so fast, it makes driving treacherous at best. Unless you have an emergency, city officials are asking that you stay home.”

  Julie immediately called Andy. “Stay where you are tonight.”

  “Why?”

  “Haven’t you looked outside lately?”

  “No.” She heard him walking and then, “Looks deep already and it’s still coming down. Will you be all right by yourself?”

  “Andy, aside from the past couple months, I’ve lived on my own since college. Cassie’s here with me. We’ll be fine. I’m going to look through those trunks you and Charlie pulled out of the hayloft, and I need to get some things ready for the brokers open house on Wednesday.”

  Julie ended her call, then fed Cassie and heated a can of soup for herself.

  She sat on the living room floor with the first of the trunks. The smell of mold hit her when she opened it. She examined each piece of moldy clothing and then stuffed them all inside a black garbage bag. The only thing in this trunk worth keeping was the trunk itself. It looked handmade, with a black horse painted on the front.