“Yes, but you’d better be prepared to carry me back,” Lily said as she opened the door, Sadie’s leash in hand. “You know how fragile I am.”
Heather rolled her eyes at Lily’s comment and followed her and Sadie out the back door, Danielle trailing behind them.
As they headed to Andy Delarosa’s neighborhood, Lily told Danielle and Heather about the baby shower, about the gifts she had received, and her trip to visit her family. Heather told Lily of the changes to the Glandon Foundation headquarters now that the contractor had started work. By the time they reached Delarosa’s neighborhood, Danielle was telling them about her week with the raffle winners.
Returning from church, Millie Samson started to turn into her driveway when she spied three young women walking down the sidewalk with a golden retriever. She recognized Danielle first. After parking her car, she went to say hello.
“Afternoon, Millie,” Danielle greeted her.
“What are you girls up to today? Enjoying this fine weather?” Millie asked. She stood at the sidewalk near the end of her driveway.
“Lily just got home from visiting her family for spring break, so we decided to take a little walk with Sadie,” Danielle explained. “We thought we would come see if they’ve done anything with the Presley House property.”
Millie shook her head in disgust. “It’s still a vacant lot. I heard it’s gone through a couple of owners since it burned down.” She looked at Heather and said, “I always thought you might buy the property back.”
“Me?” Heather frowned. “Why would you think that?”
Millie shrugged. “I know you used to own it. And I heard about the unfortunate business over the property tax. I just assumed now that you are working for the Glandon Foundation, you might be buying it back.”
Heather glanced down the street at where the house in question had once stood, and then looked back to Millie. “Maybe the foundation has money, but I don’t. Anyway, I figure the property is probably cursed.”
“Oh, don’t say that!” Millie scolded. “I really want to see someone rebuild on the lot. It will be good for the neighborhood.”
“Maybe. But it won’t be me.” Heather shrugged.
Millie looked to Danielle and said, “I ran into Elizabeth Sparks at church this morning, and she told me the raffle was a success. Congratulations. Are you planning any future fundraisers?”
“We’re working on a few ideas,” Danielle told her.
“I also heard Faye Bateman was one of the winners,” Millie said.
“It was actually her son who had the winning ticket, but he gave it to his mother. She had never been inside the house before in spite of growing up next to it all those years. She’s a very nice lady,” Danielle said.
“I don’t think I’ve seen Faye since Leo died,” Millie murmured.
“Leo?” Danielle frowned.
“Her husband. He was the funeral director before he passed and his son, Norman, took over. They used to go to our church. But after Leo died, Faye stopped going.”
“Leo is the one who took over the funeral home after Faye’s father died?” Danielle asked.
Milly nodded. “Yes. From what I understand, he had worked for the Morton Funeral Home before he got another job in Portland. When Mr. Morton died unexpectedly, Faye eventually offered him the job after the man who was working for them didn’t work out.”
“That’s not a family business I would want to take over,” Heather grumbled.
“Maybe not, but it seems to be a very lucrative business,” Millie pointed out.
“I guess someone has to do it,” Lily said.
“So how was Faye?” Millie asked. “How did you handle her smoking? I understand you don’t allow smoking in Marlow House.”
“Smoking?” Danielle frowned. “She didn’t smoke when she was with us. And I never smelled any tobacco on her.”
“Well, good for Faye!” Millie said. “She finally stopped smoking. Faye was a notorious chain smoker. That woman always had a cigarette in her hand. The minister at church had to remind her to put it out. But it’s how she dealt with stress. She always wanted to quit. I’m glad she finally did.”
“Stress?” Lily asked.
“Yes. She told me once at church, she started smoking after her father died, and then her sister took off, and she was alone trying to oversee a business she had no business running. And of course, once she started that nasty habit, she just couldn’t kick it.”
“Maybe Faye Bateman should be a poster child for the tobacco company,” Heather suggested after they left Millie’s and headed toward the property she once owned.
“No kidding. Didn’t you say she was ninety-five?” Lily asked. “Gosh, my favorite uncle died in his early sixties from smoking.”
“There is always the exception. But it doesn’t surprise me that she was once a smoker,” Danielle said.
“Why do you say that?” Lily asked.
“It’s not a nice thing to say,” Danielle began, “but her face. Smoking really ages a person—and she looks every bit a hundred, if not older.”
“She is pretty wrinkled—and leathery—but you have to give the old gal credit,” Heather said. “She carries herself like she’s on the way to the Oscars. Really nice clothes, jewelry, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her without perfect hair and her nails done.”
“She’s also pretty sharp,” Danielle added. “I have to say, if I lived as long as Faye Bateman and was given the choice of a youthful face or having all my mental faculties, I certainly wouldn’t choose a pretty face.”
“Not me,” Heather grumbled. “If I someday look in the mirror and see an old woman looking back at me who looks like Faye Bateman, I’d rather not know that woman is me. If I had all my wits about me, I’d know it was.”
“Then you have nothing to worry about,” Lily teased. “You don’t have all your wits about you now.”
“Oh, shut up. But you have a point.” Heather chuckled.
They stood at the center of the vacant lot, looking around while Sadie, now off the leash, sniffed curiously, exploring new and familiar smells. Since the fire, everything had been removed—even the concrete foundation and traces of the basement where Danielle and Lily had been held captive by a misguided teenage ghost.
“They’ve filled everything in. You wouldn’t even know a house had been here,” Lily said.
“What are you doing over there?” a male voice shouted.
The three women looked toward the sound of a voice—it came from a young man standing on the adjacent property.
“That has to be Andy Delarosa,” Heather said under her breath for just her friends to hear. “He has the same nasty attitude as his cousin Pearl.”
“Hello,” Danielle called out cheerfully to the man, giving him a wave.
Lily hastily reattached the leash to Sadie’s collar and watched as the man stomped toward them.
“Unless you’re buying this lot, I don’t think the owners would appreciate you hanging around,” the man said as he approached them.
“I used to own this property,” Heather told him unapologetically. “It was in my family for years.”
“Are you Heather Donovan?” he asked, suddenly sounding far more friendly than before.
“You know who I am?” she asked with a frown.
“Sure. I know you used to own Presley House. I heard what happened. That really sucks about losing it for taxes. You also own that house over on Beach Drive.”
“Umm…how do you know that?” Heather asked.
“I used to own the house next door to you.” He reached out and offered her a hand in greeting. “My name is Andy Delarosa.”
She accepted his hand and then said, “You used to be neighbors with my friends too. This is Danielle Marlow and Lily Bartley.”
By Andy’s grin, it was obvious he was familiar with their names. “Nice to meet you! Wow. I’m a huge fan of your husband’s. I think I’ve watched all of his specials,” Andy told Lily. H
e then looked at Danielle and said, “Yours too. I’m normally not much of a reader, but someone told me about Moon Runners and how it took place in this area, and wow, it was great. I hope they really do make a movie out of it.”
“So how come we have never met you before?” Danielle asked after they all exchanged additional pleasantries.
Andy shrugged. “Well, to be honest, I owned the house with my cousins. And let’s just say that was a major pain in the butt. So I never really went over there.”
“Your cousin Pearl owns it now,” Danielle said.
“Yeah, well, sorry about that,” he said with a snort.
“You don’t like Pearl?” Lily asked innocently.
“What is it they say, you can’t pick your relatives?” he said.
“Umm…now Pearl’s grandparents originally owned the house, is that correct?” Danielle asked sweetly.
“Yeah. Pearl’s grandmother—I guess she would be my great-grandmother—left it to her two daughters. Pearl always carried on about how it was so unfair her parents couldn’t afford to keep her share and was forced to sell to my grandmother. Which was total BS.”
“What do you mean?” Lily asked.
“According to my parents, they could afford it, but Pearl’s mom had some major issues with her mother and, after she died, was happy to sell her share of the house to my grandmother,” Andy explained.
“I’m curious,” Danielle said. “I’ve always heard about Pearl’s grandmother. What happened to her grandfather?”
“You mean the bigamist?” Andy said with a snort.
“Bigamist?” Heather asked.
Andy nodded. “Yeah, my family is all kinds of messed up. Nuts on all branches of our family tree. I guess my great-grandmother found out the old man had another family. He was a traveling salesman. Apparently he didn’t like to be alone when he was on the road.” Andy laughed.
“Did he end up with this other family?” Lily asked.
“Nah. From what I understand, he ditched them both. Took off, never paid any child support. He’s the infamous scoundrel in our family tree.”
“Never had anything to do with any of his kids? Grandkids?” Danielle asked.
“Nope. One of the cousins who’s into genealogy found the other family, but no one knows where he ended up. But I imagine with everyone taking DNA tests these days, we’ll probably find he landed with another family, which means there are more nutty cousins out there.”
“You seem to find it all rather—amusing,” Heather observed.
Andy shrugged. “They’re really nothing to me. To be honest, as much as I would’ve liked to have kept the Beach Drive house and moved into it—great location—I was happy to sell just so I wouldn’t have to deal with any of the cousins again. Like I said, a bunch of nuts.”
Thirty minutes later Danielle, Heather, Lily and Sadie started on their way back home. When they were out of earshot from Andy, Heather said, “Well, that was too easy.”
“No kidding,” Lily agreed.
“It is looking more and more like those bones might belong to old gramps,” Heather said.
Twenty-Five
On their walk back to Beach Drive, the three friends decided to have an early dinner barbecue at Marlow House. Lily, whose refrigerator and pantry were empty because she and Ian had been gone all week, loved the idea. Heather hated eating alone, so she quickly agreed, and Danielle offered to run to the store to pick up some steaks. Danielle had lots of leftover salads, side dishes and desserts from Easter week that needed to be eaten up, so there wasn’t anything else they needed to prepare. On the way home they stopped at Chris’s house and extended a personal invitation for him and Hunny. When they reached Marlow House, Lily headed home with Sadie to see if Ian was still napping and let him know the plans, while Heather went on to her house to shower and change.
Pearl opened her front door late Sunday afternoon to find Craig Simmons standing on her doorstep. She glanced over his shoulder and spied his truck parked out front with a trailer hitched up behind it, filled with concrete pavers.
“Afternoon, Mrs. Huckabee,” Craig greeted her. “I have the pavers I picked up Friday. I’d like to leave them here if that’s okay, because I’m planning to use my truck to bring the Bobcat over in the morning. I’d like to get started early.”
Pearl looked over his shoulder again and frowned. “I don’t think you can leave that in the front.”
“I was thinking around in the alley, by your back fence. That’s where most of them are going anyway.”
Still standing in the open doorway, her hand on the edge of the door, she looked back to Craig. “I don’t think you should leave them in the alley. Someone might steal them. I told you someone came in that way and pulled up one of my rosebushes. And in broad daylight. The thief got away with it.”
“Maybe just inside the fence?” he suggested.
Pearl considered the question a moment and then nodded. “Fine, I’ll meet you back there and unlock the gate.”
Walt and Danielle returned from the grocery store and pulled up the alley, heading for their garage. En route, they passed Craig Simmons’s truck backing into the open gate leading into Pearl’s backyard.
“Looks like Craig is dropping something off,” Danielle noted as they drove by. “Wonder if he’s going to start working this week.”
“And if he does, what will he find?” Walt asked as he brought the Packard to a stop in front of the garage and pressed the remote to open the garage door. A moment later they pulled the vehicle into the garage and closed the door.
After they got out of the car, Walt scooped up the large bag with the beer and steaks, and Danielle said, “I’ll meet you in the house. I am going to go say hi to Craig.”
“No, you aren’t,” he said with a chuckle. “You’re going to snoop and see when he’s starting over there.”
“That too.” Danielle grinned and gave Walt a quick kiss.
“Hi, Craig,” Danielle greeted the landscaper a few minutes later as she walked up to his now parked truck. Craig, who was in the midst of unhooking the trailer from the hitch, looked up and flashed her a smile.
“Hi, Danielle.”
“Pavers, huh?” Danielle asked as she stepped up to the back of the truck and looked down at what Craig was doing.
“I’m putting a small patio in the backyard,” he explained.
“Doing anything with the rosebushes?” she asked, glancing to them.
Standing upright, the trailer now unhitched, Craig briskly wiped his hands off on his denim pants. “No. She doesn’t want me to touch them.” He lowered his voice and added, “Just between you and me, they’re dead. When I was here the last time, one of them looked as if it might make it, but someone stole it.”
“I heard about that. Why would anyone rip up an old rosebush? Wouldn’t it be easier to just buy a new one that isn’t already half dead?”
Craig shrugged. “People do steal plants, but normally not ones most people would get rid of.”
Danielle glanced to the backyard again. “Did Joe tell you about the skeletal remains a bird dropped in our yard?”
“Yes. I imagine that freaked out your guests.” He chuckled. “Any idea where they came from?”
“No. I assume Joe told you to keep your eye out when you’re digging around in this area?”
“Yeah. But I won’t be doing much digging here.”
“No?” Danielle frowned.
Craig shook his head. “Nope. Bringing over the Bobcat in the morning and leveling the backyard. The rain and a water leak caused a mess. But I need to do that before I start laying the pavers.”
“Oh…so no digging?”
“No. Why? You don’t think that bird found the bones in Mrs. Huckabee’s yard, do you?”
Danielle shrugged. “Well, the bird did fly from this direction.”
“I bet anything that bird picked it up on the beach. Crap is always washing up.” Craig glanced at his watch. “I’d better get going.
I need to pull the truck out so I can lock the gate. But I don’t know why she bothers. Someone backed into it, and anyone can climb through it.”
When Danielle headed home a few minutes later, she couldn’t stop thinking about how Craig was going to be grading Pearl’s backyard and there was a good chance the bones—if they were there—would never be found. So engrossed in her thoughts, Danielle opened the gate leading into her backyard and failed to close it properly.
Ian and Walt stood by the barbecue, each with a beer bottle in hand, while Chris manned the grill. Heather, Danielle and Lily sat nearby in patio chairs, discussing what may or may not be buried next door. Off on the nearby lawn Hunny and Sadie romped while Max and Bella perched in a nearby tree, watching the dogs.
“I think the chief was counting on Craig finding those bones, but I don’t think that is going to happen,” Danielle said.
“We still don’t know if there are more bones over there,” Chris reminded her.
“He needs to try for a search warrant again,” Lily said.
As the friends debated the matter, Sadie took off running toward the garage, a tennis ball in her mouth, Hunny close on her tail. None of the humans were particularly concerned the dogs were no longer in view, considering the yard was fenced.
Hunny chased Sadie to the back gate. When they arrived, Sadie noticed the gate was ajar and dropped the ball. Curious, she ran out into the alley, followed by Hunny, who failed to pick up the ball Sadie had dropped.
Pearl walked into the spare bedroom across from hers so she could look out the window at the backyard. She wanted to see where Craig had parked the trailer with the pavers. When she got to the window and looked outside, her attention was immediately diverted to two dogs who were wildly digging up the soil behind her rosebushes. The dogs, both in a fit of frenzy, sent dirt flying, their butts wiggling in the air as they furiously tore up her yard. She immediately recognized the invading canines. One was the golden retriever from across the street, and the other was the pit bull from up the street. Just minutes earlier she had looked out her bedroom window and peered into the Marlows’ backyard. She had seen the couple from across the street, the man who owned the pit bull, and the woman who lived on the other side of her all over there, and the dogs had been in the Marlows’ backyard.
The Ghost and the Baby Page 16
