by J A Whiting
Viv clucked some comforting words about how difficult it could be to work with the public and handed John a plate. “Eat up. You’ll feel better. I bet you haven’t eaten since breakfast.”
John loaded his plate with food. “Come to think of it, I didn’t even eat breakfast today.”
Viv rolled her eyes and smiled. “You need a nanny to care for you.”
The conversation turned to Viv’s day at the bookstore, Jeff’s new rehab project at his friend, Neil’s, house, and Lin and Leonard’s landscaping of Neil’s backyard.
John asked where Neil’s house was located and when he heard where it was, he said, “I showed a few houses in that area today. What street is the place on?”
Jeff gave the address and John nodded. “I know Neil’s house. In fact, I showed the house next door to a client before I finished for the day.”
Lin felt a rush of unease. “Which house? On the right or the left side? I didn’t see a “for sale” sign.”
John swallowed his bite of burger and said, “The house to the right. The owner refused a sign in front of the house. He huffed about not wanting to advertise that the place was empty. He told me a decent Realtor would be able to sell a house without a sign.” Shaking his head, he added, “I didn’t say this to the man, but yes, sure, I can bring in some offers, but it would be a lot quicker and smarter to use every method available to spread the word that the house is on the market.”
“Has it been for sale long?” Jeff asked. “It’s a nice peaceful neighborhood, lots of nice-looking antique houses.”
As darkness settled in, a refreshing breeze rustled the leaves at the top of the backyard’s trees.
“It’s been on the market for a couple of weeks. It’s a little run down inside, not updated to today’s demands.” John added some pasta salad to his plate. “There’s the ghost thing, too.”
Lin sat up and stared at John, a shiver running over her skin.
Viv took a quick look at Lin and Jeff before asking, “What ghost thing?”
“I’ve sold plenty of houses that were supposedly haunted,” John said.
Lin flinched at the word haunted.
“The house is haunted?” Jeff asked. “Lots of places on the island have the reputation that ghosts inhabit them. They always get sold anyway.”
“Yeah,” John sipped his sangria. “But, this one is supposed to be angry and menacing.”
“Who said that about the ghost?” Lin questioned.
“The owner. He’s rented the house for years. Most everyone leaves after the lease finishes or they leave before the lease runs out. He told me no one ever renews a lease for that place.”
“Really? No one?” Viv found it hard to believe.
“The owner is tired of the endless turnover so he put the place on the market. He said he knows I have a good reputation for moving properties so he hired me because he’s afraid no one will want the dang house. Those were his words.” John chuckled. “Dang house.”
“Do you feel a ghost when you’re inside?” Lin asked. “Does anything ever happen when you’re showing the house?”
John scoffed. He had not yet been told about Lin’s ability and did not believe in ghostly apparitions. “Absolutely not. Those tales are just that … ghost stories. People hear stuff about a ghost in the house, then they start believing every little thing that happens is because of some spirit. They scare themselves and then they want out. It’s all in their heads.”
Nicky let out a whine.
“I don’t know….” Jeff said. “I don’t think such things can be dismissed so easily.”
John looked at Jeff and raised an eyebrow. “Anyway, this place got the reputation that an angry spirit lives there and lots of people don’t want anything to do with it … which makes my job more difficult … and unfortunately, I don’t get a bigger commission because of the difficulty.”
“You didn’t have to take the listing.” Viv smiled knowing John would never refuse a client.
“Yes, I did have to take it.” John laughed. “I consider it a challenge.”
Lin wanted to hear more. “Has the owner ever experienced a ghostly event in the house?”
“If he has, he didn’t tell me.”
“Did you ask him?” Lin pressed.
John thought about the question. “The man told me about the place’s reputation. He didn’t confide any of his own experiences and I didn’t ask. All I needed to know to list the house was that some people think the place is haunted. No testimonials required.”
Lin asked another question. “Does the owner think there’s some validity about the ghostly presence?”
John shook his head. “He didn’t say anything about whether he believes the stories or not.”
“The owner doesn’t live in the house?” Viv looked pensive.
“No. It’s empty. I don’t think the guy has ever lived in the house. He’s always used it for rental purposes.”
“Where does the owner live?” Jeff added some ketchup to his burger.
“In Madaket.”
Lin put her fork on the edge of her plate. “Have you heard any specifics about what the ghost does? Why do people think it’s angry?”
“Got me,” John told her. “The owner stops by the house regularly to check on it. You’ll probably see him one day when you’re at Neil’s working on the landscaping. Go over and ask him what people say about the ghost.” John made eye contact with Lin and grinned. “But don’t spread around the bad things the owner says about the ghost or I’ll never sell the place. Enough people have heard the rumors already.”
“If I see the owner, maybe I’ll go over to talk to him,” Lin said. “It’s intriguing. Or if I don’t run into the owner, maybe I’ll ask the caretaker what he knows about the house.”
John looked up blankly. “There’s no caretaker.”
“Yeah, there is. I met him the other day. A young guy, in his twenties.”
John made a face. “Well, no one told me about a caretaker.”
“Maybe the owner recently hired him because no one’s currently renting the house,” Viv said as she reached for the platter of grilled corn on the cob.
“Maybe that’s it,” Jeff said.
Remembering how the young caretaker seemed to know a few things about her made Lin feel uncomfortable all over again. Maybe when she ran into the owner, she’d ask him about the ghost … and the caretaker.
7
Lin loaded another shovelful of soil into the wheelbarrow and wiped her sweaty forehead with the back of her hand. The heat and humidity were at full force and she longed to bike to the beach and jump into the ocean. Nicky was inside the air-conditioned house with Jeff and more than once that morning, Lin thought about giving up landscaping altogether and returning full-time to programming where she could sit at her desk, warm in the winter, and cool in the summer.
After pushing the wheelbarrow to the marked-off flower bed’s boundary and unloading the loam into it, Lin decided she needed a break, grabbed her water bottle, and walked over to sit in the grass in the shade of a huge Beech tree. Her face felt hot and she bet her cheeks were as red as a beet. From her spot under the tree, she admired the work she and Leonard had already completed. The space was taking shape and, despite having to work in the middle of a heatwave, the landscaping project was ahead of schedule.
Leonard was off handling some of their other clients’ yard maintenance and then he was going to come to Neil’s place to join Lin and Jeff for lunch and then the two landscapers would tackle some planting of flowering shrubs during the afternoon.
Two hours later, Lin’s tank top and jean shorts were drenched in sweat and she sighed with relief when she heard Leonard pull the truck into the long driveway and slam his door.
When he came around the corner of the house, he said, “You look like a drowned rat, Coffin. What did you do, fall into a pond?”
Lin dropped her shovel on the ground and headed across the lawn. “I fell into a vat of my own
sweat.”
Leonard scowled. “You’re disgusting.”
“How come you’re not covered in grime and perspiration?” Lin eyed her partner. “Have you just been sitting in Viv’s bookstore all morning sipping a coffee in the nice cool space while I’ve been slaving in one-hundred percent humidity?”
“The heat doesn’t bother me.” Leonard walked to the beds to inspect what Lin had worked on.
“How can the heat not bother you?” Lin trailed after the man. “That’s not normal.”
“I guess I’m not normal then.”
“And the darned humidity.” Lin redid her ponytail to capture the loose ends that had fallen out of the elastic. “It’s like carrying around a wet blanket over my shoulders. A heavy, gross wet blanket. It’s hideous.”
“I don’t mind it.” Leonard picked up the shovel from the grass.
Lin put her hands on her hips and stared at Leonard with puzzled blue eyes. “I swear, there must be something wrong with you.”
“You’re the one complaining,” he said. “Maybe you’re the one who has something wrong with her.”
“Let’s go inside to eat lunch.” Lin headed for her truck. “I brought a change of clothes. I knew I’d be drenched.”
“Thanks for small favors,” Leonard teased. “I won’t have to eat lunch with a drowned rat.”
Lin felt refreshed after changing clothes and eating lunch with Jeff and Leonard sitting inside in the air-conditioned dining room of Neil’s house. The three talked about the day’s work and what still needed to be accomplished. Jeff showed them the new kitchen cabinets that were to be installed and they praised the fine craftsmanship and the beauty of the cherry wood.
Lin and Leonard returned to the yard and spent two hours planting the shrubs and mulching part of the beds. When Leonard left to pick up two more hydrangeas, Lin handled the planting of some perennials. She walked to the edge of the driveway where they’d unloaded some of the flowers and carrying the flats back towards the beds, Lin noticed someone in the side yard of the neighbor’s house.
Wearing wire-rimmed glasses, the man looked to be in his mid to late-thirties, was clean-shaven, had short brown hair and a slim build. Lin waved to him as she walked over to the property line and when the man saw her approaching, he went over to meet her.
Lin introduced herself, but didn’t offer her dirty hand to shake.
“George.” The man nodded. “You’re working next door?”
Lin explained the job she and Leonard were doing. “Are you the owner?”
George nodded and looked over to the antique Cape. “I’ve owned the place for years.”
Lin said, “I know your real estate agent. I had dinner with him and some friends last night. He mentioned that some people talk about a ghost being in your house.”
“My what? What did you say?” The man blinked at her. “A ghost?”
“In the house,” Lin said. “Some people say there’s a ghost that lives in the house.”
The corner of George’s mouth turned up and he looked at Lin like she was kidding with him. “Well … a ghost, is there? I haven’t made his acquaintance, as yet.”
“You’ve heard the rumor, though?”
“I haven’t, no.” He shook his head. “Maybe the rumors are from some late-night tales shared to put a scare into folks.”
Lin wondered if the man was playing dumb to dispel the idea of spirits haunting his house. “My friend, John, told me that the house is hard to rent because of the ghost so you decided to sell it.”
“Did your friend say that?” George seemed bemused. “I never lease the house, perhaps that’s the real reason it’s not easy to rent.”
Lin was befuddled by the conversation. “You’re the owner, right?”
“I am, indeed, along with my wife.”
“Does your wife ever talk about a ghost in the house?” Lin asked.
The man chuckled. “My, no, she wouldn’t like that one bit. I don’t believe she’d set foot in a house with a ghost.”
Lin considered for a moment that maybe she and John had been talking about two different houses.
“Why so much interest in my house?” George asked.
“I like it. I’ve been working here,” Lin gestured to Neil’s backyard. “I was admiring your place. I heard that some people think there’s a ghost inside. I thought it was intriguing.”
George smiled kindly. “Well, I am sorry to disappoint you, but there is no spirit keeping company within those walls. Your friends must be talking about a different house or maybe they’re playing a prank on you.”
“I talked to your maintenance man the other day,” Lin began.
George’s eyebrow raised as he scrunched his face in confusion. “My maintenance man?”
“Yes. He was working here a couple of days ago. I had a short chat with him.”
“A man was working here?” The man’s face became serious.
Lin nodded. “I don’t know his name. I’m not sure if he told me his name or maybe I didn’t hear it.”
“We don’t employ a man.”
Lin’s mouth opened, but she didn’t know what to say, so she put her lips together.
“I don’t know who you could mean,” George told her.
A rush of adrenaline ran through Lin’s veins from confusion and anxiety. “He was in his early twenties, maybe mid-twenties. He was pleasant. Dark hair. He said he was the maintenance man.”
“Maybe he works for the owners of the house on the far side of that one,” the man pointed to Neil’s house. “Maybe the neighbors on the other side employ a man to take care of their property.”
Lin heard Leonard’s truck coming into the driveway. “My partner is back. Maybe we can talk another time?”
“That would be very nice.” George nodded and headed for the rear of his property.
Lin shook her head, thinking for a minute that she might be turning crazy from the heat.
“Slacking off again, Coffin?” Leonard unloaded some shrubs from the rear of his truck.
“I had the oddest conversation with the man next door.” Lin looked back over her shoulder.
“Maybe you shouldn’t talk to strangers.” Leonard lifted a large burning bush from the truck bed and set it down at the end of the driveway. “Especially when you’re supposed to be working.”
“Don’t you want to know why the conversation was odd?” Lin asked.
“Nope.” Leonard hoisted a bush and headed away to the bed they’d been working on. “We got work to do.”
Lin pulled her phone from her bag of tools and texted John asking which house was the one he had listed that had a ghost in it. While waiting for John’s reply, she lifted one of the hydrangeas and heaved it over to the new bed.
When her phone buzzed, she took a look at John’s answer.
If you’re facing Neil’s house, it’s the Cape to the right.
Lin stared at the message. The house John held the listing for was the same house where she’d met the caretaker and where she’d just talked to the owner. A shiver ran down Lin’s back. Both John and the owner claimed there was no caretaker working at the house. John said people talk about a ghost in the home, but the owner claimed that a ghost in his house is only a silly story someone made up to frighten people.
Lin scratched her head. What’s going on?
8
In the late afternoon sunshine, Lin and Viv walked down the wooden staircase from the top of the cliff where they’d left their bikes. The sparkling, blue ocean of Nantucket Sound stretched out below and beyond them into the distance all the way to the mainland of Massachusetts. The expansive view never failed to take Lin’s breath away.
The gorgeous white sand of the beach was soft and fine, green vegetation grew in the dunes, sails of boats dotted the sea, and the sky met the ocean way on the horizon. Every time they came to Step’s Beach, Lin had to stand at the top of the staircase for a minute before descending, needing a few moments to revel in the beauty that s
pread out before her.
As soon as they dropped their towels on the sand, the young women raced each other into the water where they swam way out and bobbed in the calm, cool, refreshing ocean.
“So tell me more about the owner of the house next door to Neil’s,” Viv said floating on her back in the water with her sunglasses on.
Switching between treading water and floating, Lin told her cousin about the exchange she had with George, the owner of the Cape. “Maybe I was addled by the heat and didn’t understand him correctly.”
Viv lifted her sunglasses and eyed Lin for a second. “The heat didn’t cause any confusion. Ole George is trying to take the focus off the ghost by poo-pooing the idea that a spirit is real. He’s all about selling the house so he makes light of the stories that a ghost lives in the place.”
“Maybe you’re right.”
“I’m always right,” Viv kidded.
Lin thought over what George had said to her. “What about the caretaker guy?”
Viv rolled off her back and treaded water next to her cousin. “I think the guy may have been telling you a fib about being a caretaker. Either he was walking around the property to give it a look before deciding if he wanted John to show it to him or he was casing the house to break in at a later date.”
Lin’s eyes went wide. “A robber, huh? I didn’t think of that. And you’re right about the other option, the young guy might have been interested in buying the place, but wanted to look around the outside of the house before making a commitment to see it with a Realtor. When I approached him, he must have made up the story about being the caretaker.”
