Maid in Teaberry

by R A Wallace

  “Mom, Seth brought a deck!” Evan said excitedly.

  Seth chuckled at the surprised look on Jessilyn’s face. “I didn’t bring a whole deck. It’ll take a couple of trips hauling the wood here in my truck. I’ll bring more tomorrow.”

  Jessilyn realized she was staring at Seth with her mouth open. She had tried to explain to him that she couldn’t afford a deck. She closed her mouth but looked imploringly at Seth.

  “It didn’t cost a thing, honest,” Seth said. “I found a guy that wanted his deck taken off his house. His wife wanted to put in a stone patio instead. Sounds like it’s going to look real nice when they’re done.”

  “He gave you the wood for free?” Jessilyn asked incredulously.

  Seth barked out a laugh. “In exchange for my labor to tear it apart and remove it all.”

  “Oh!” Jessilyn was stunned. “I can’t believe you did that.”

  “It was Trina’s idea,” Seth said as he filled Evan’s plate and set it in front of him before filling his own. “Evan and I can start working on building the deck this weekend.”

  “That sounds amazing. I want to help too,” Jessilyn said. She knew she sounded as excited as Evan, but she didn’t care. She’d really wanted a deck. She envisioned the great things they could do as a family when they used it.

  ***

  Lauren smiled to herself as she fixed plates for Mia and Noah. For two children who had hated the idea of Kids Camp just four days ago, they were sure fans now. They hadn’t stopped talking about their teachers and the activities they’d been doing in their classes. They were currently competing over who had the most fun in school today. Lauren called to them to go wash their hands and listened to their voices grow muted as they walked down the hall and went into the bathroom.

  Justin was working another double. She hadn’t seen much of him this week, but she knew they needed the money and appreciated the sacrifice he was making. She knew that their schedule would probably remain hectic until the end of the summer.

  She could hear the kids continue their chatter about their day as they returned to the kitchen. Lauren was feeling better about the Kids Camp also. She’d been concerned at first about sending them to a building with such a colorful history of ghost stories attached to it. But she was beginning to think they were really just that. Old stories that had been repeated too many times. She was glad she’d let Bev talk her into letting the kids go to the camp. She turned to place their plates of food on the table as the children sat down.

  “I got to help move all the chairs after the ghost put them in the wrong places,” Noah said to his sister to one-up the story she’d just told him.

  Lauren dropped both plates on the table. “What did you say?”

  Noah and Mia looked up at their mother with surprise.

  “Noah, tell Mommy what you just said,” Lauren said as calmly as she could.

  Noah shrugged. “The ghost moves things around the room. I helped my teacher move things back.”

  Lauren looked at Mia. Her daughter was nodding as though having ghosts move things in classrooms was a common event. Lauren so needed to speak with her mother-in-law.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Megan parked her truck on the street in front of Liz Hamilton’s house Friday morning. It was a small house, but everything looked tidy and it was attractively landscaped with a variety of flowers planted strategically around the house and yard.

  The woman answering the door looked to be in her late sixties or early seventies, Megan thought. Liz Hamilton was wearing capris and some sort of tee shirt covered with a gardening smock. Her head was covered with a matching kerchief, keeping her bobbed gray hair from her face.

  “Can I help you?” Liz asked. She was wiping her hands on a towel.

  “Mrs. Hamilton. My name is Megan Parker. Do you have a few minutes talk about your brother, Jonah?”

  Liz Hamilton took a step back, almost as though she were struggling for her balance. Megan reached out a hand and took her arm to steady her.

  “Why? Why do you want to talk about Jonah?” Liz asked cautiously.

  “I would like to learn more about the day that he died. I understand you had questions about the accident that took his life?” Megan hoped that Liz would be willing to open up about those questions to a stranger.

  “You caught me taking a break from my gardening. I was about to get a glass of iced tea. Would you like one?” Liz asked.

  Megan smiled. “I would like that, yes.”

  Liz led Megan to a room in the rear of the house. Three of the walls had windows that also had screens. Liz currently had the air conditioning on, but Megan could imagine the cool breeze blowing in on less humid days with the windows open. She’d thought that the flowers in the front of the house were impressive, but they didn’t come close to the abundance of color in the rear.

  “You have lovely flowers,” Megan said as she took the glass of tea from Liz.

  Liz set her own glass on a table near her chair. “What makes you interested in Jonah? You aren’t trying to prove he’s haunting the old elementary school, are you?”

  “No, ma’am. I was hoping to dispel that myth,” Megan answered truthfully.

  Liz let out a breath and sat back in her seat. “You’d be amazed at how many people have asked me over the years if Jonah talks to me.”

  Megan wondered at the pain the other woman must have felt each time she’d been asked a thoughtless question. To many, the idea of a haunted building was just a story to be embellished. For Liz, it was something much more personal.

  “I’m sorry about that. Did you know that the building is now the community center?” Megan asked.

  “Yes. I was hoping maybe it would help people to forget about those stories.” Liz shook her head.

  “I understand that you had questions about Jonah’s death? Can you tell me about that?” Megan asked.

  Liz fixed Megan with a hard stare. “Do you know how Jonah died?”

  Megan thought back to all of the snippets she’d heard and shook her head slowly. “Not exactly, no. Just that there’d been an accident.”

  Liz looked out toward the backyard, her mind returning to a time over forty years ago. “I couldn’t believe it when they came to tell us at first. I was still living at home with my parents then. We both were. Jonah was thirty when he died, but he was a simple man and he led a very simple life. He enjoyed his job, he liked the children at the school, and he helped my parents. We were pretty poor at the time,” Liz confided. “I gave part of my income to them also.”

  Megan listened quietly, afraid to disturb the woman’s reminiscing.

  “Jonah was down in the belly of the building, where the janitor area was. Down where the boilers and whatnot to heat the old building were. It was basically the area he used for his office, when he needed one. It was a large space, as you might imagine, for all of that equipment with big pipes running through it. The pipes fed the heat to all the rooms in the building. When they found him, he was lying on the floor next to a ladder. They said he’d been working on the pipes and had fallen from the ladder.” Liz turned back to Megan. “I never believed that.”

  Megan thought it sounded plausible. “Why not?”

  “Jonah was deathly afraid of heights. He’d never climb a ladder, especially not when he was all alone,” Liz said adamantly.

  Megan thought about the part-time janitor. “Ronald Logan wasn’t there when it happened?”

  “Ronnie? No, he said he was in another part of the building. And that’s another thing. Why wouldn’t Jonah just wait until Ronnie was there?” Liz said, her voice filled with emotion. “I’m sure Ronnie would have climbed the ladder. You should ask him. He would tell you.”

  Megan wondered at first what Liz meant. Was she referring to Jonah? “Ask him?”

  “Ronnie. He’s here, you know, in town. I’ll call him and ask him to come here now,” Liz said as she rose and left the room. She returned a few moments later. “He’s on his wa
y. You can ask him about Jonah. He’ll tell you how much Jonah hated heights.”

  Megan hadn’t thought she’d have the opportunity to speak with the part-time janitor. “I didn’t realize Ronnie lived in the area.”

  “He doesn’t. He was so upset when Jonah died that he ended up moving away from Teaberry. But he and Jonah were so close, he has visited me often over the years. It’s such a kindness, you know, for him to spend time with me and talk about Jonah.” Liz offered more tea to Megan, but she declined. They spoke of her flowers while they waited for Ronald Logan to arrive. It didn’t take long before Liz stood to answer her doorbell.

  Megan remained where she was. Liz led a man in his late fifties back to where Megan waited and left them alone to get Ronnie a glass of tea. Megan studied the man for a moment as she waited for him to settle in a chair.

  “I understand you’re asking about Jonah?” Ronnie said with an easy smile. He thanked Liz profusely when she returned with his tea. She patted his arm before taking her seat again.

  “Yes, I was wondering what you could tell me about the day he died?” Megan said.

  Ronnie shrugged and his easy smile slipped for a moment. “It was a difficult time for all of us.” He glanced over at Liz and she nodded sympathetically. “He and I were such good friends, you know.”

  “I understand that you were in a different part of the building at the time of the accident,” Megan said. From the corner of her eye, she saw Liz stiffen at her use of the word accident.

  “I was, yes,” Ronnie agreed amiably.

  “Where were you?” Megan asked.

  “Oh, you know. It’s been so many years now, I’m not sure I remember exactly,” Ronnie said with a frown.

  “Someone mentioned that you may have let them out of a locked supply closet?” Megan prompted. “They were trapped in there in the dark.”

  Megan saw Liz swivel her head toward Ronnie. He frowned, as though he were trying to remember, then his face broke into a smile. “Why, yes. You may be right. I remember that now.”

  “Can you tell me about it?” Megan asked.

  “Well, just what you said. There were two people in the supply closet. I’m not sure why they didn’t just turn the light on inside the closet,” Ronnie frowned again momentarily, but then cleared. “They probably just didn’t want to. You know,” he added suggestively.

  “What made you check the supply closet?” Megan asked.

  “Oh, I was probably just looking for supplies,” Ronnie said easily.

  “Where was the supply closet?” Megan asked.

  Ronnie hesitated and looked at Liz. “It was near the janitor area, of course. So we could get to the supplies quickly.”

  Liz frowned. “I’m not sure I remember that,” she said slowly and raised her eyebrows in question at Ronnie.

  “Oh, sure you do. Remember that room with the brown door?” Ronnie said quickly.

  Liz began shaking her head. “It must have been too long ago.”

  “You may not be aware of it, but the old elementary building is now the community center,” Megan said.

  Liz smiled and turned to Ronnie. “Yes, I was telling you about that. The Kids Camp is there now. I’m so glad the old building has children in it again taking classes.”

  “Yes, I’m sure they’re enjoying the Kids Camp. I would have loved robots and making popcorn in school when I was a kid,” Ronnie said as he glanced at his watch. “Oh, I’m sorry, Liz. I need to go.” He stood and looked at Megan. “It was nice meeting you. I need to be on my way. I was planning to leave Teaberry this morning. Liz, I’ll call you the next time I’m in town.”

  Megan watched Ronnie leave, then said her own goodbyes to Liz Hamilton soon after. As she drove away, she thought about what she’d learned.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Megan completed her chores when she got home. She was outside with Henry in the garden when she heard the delivery truck pull into her driveway just before dinnertime. Remembering the baby monitor that she’d ordered for Erica and Brad, she quickly went to the front of the house to retrieve the box. She was bringing it into the house when Dan pulled in.

  “Hey, what do we have here?” Dan said, looking at the box in Megan’s hands as he followed her into the kitchen from the rear of the house.

  “A baby shower present. I ordered two since they’re having twins. Want to test one of them out to see how well they work?” Megan asked as she opened the box.

  Dan looked at the outside of the packaging. “I think we have the right batteries for this. Let me check the drawer and see.”

  Megan watched him pull the batteries from her junk drawer as she finished opening the package. “Here we go,” she said as she took out each end of the monitor. “This part stays in the room with the kids. This is the part you keep with you so that you can hear them.”

  “Okay,” Dan said after putting the batteries in. “Which end do you want?”

  “I’ll take the part that stays with the babies and go upstairs. I want to see what the distance is for the reception,” Megan explained. “That way, we’ll know how far you can go before losing the signal.”

  Dan stayed where he was in the kitchen with the receiver on and got a cold beer from the refrigerator while he waited. A minute or two later, he heard Megan’s voice coming through the unit. He went out into the hallway and called upstairs. “Loud and clear.”

  Megan returned to the kitchen with a bemused look on her face. She set the unit down and started putting everything back in the box.

  “What’s up?” Dan asked as he leaned against the counter watching her.

  “I’m going to call Ava and see if I can visit her tonight when she’s cleaning.” Megan looked up at Dan as she finished with her task. “I think I have an idea.”

  ***

  Ava had managed to keep to her schedule today by starting a hour earlier and was hoping she wouldn’t have to stay late at the old elementary school. She couldn’t explain the relief that she felt just knowing that Megan would be arriving at the old building soon. She didn’t know what Megan had in mind, but she was glad that she would have company in the building that frightened her, if only for a short while. She had finished cleaning the first long hallway on the first floor when Megan arrived.

  Megan saw Ava visibly relax as soon as she found her in the hallway. “Hey, Ava. I don’t want to keep you from your work.”

  Ava smiled in relief. She was willing to help Megan if it meant the voices would stop. But she didn’t want to stay after hours to finish her cleaning job. She would already be here late enough.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever been in this building,” Megan said. “Can you point me to where the janitor’s area might have been? I’ll look around while you’re working and then I’ll find you again in a bit.”

  Ava explained where the janitor’s area was and then outlined her cleaning routine to Megan. That way, Megan would know where to look for her. She watched Megan walk down the hall away from her, marveling at the other woman’s lack of fear.

  Megan wished she had an old treasure map to follow. That would have been awesome. She should have asked Vince or someone if they remembered it enough to draw a replica and give her some of the original clues. Following Ava’s directions, she went down toward the lower level of the building where the old boiler would have been. Along the way, she stopped at the last door in the hallway before the boiler room.

  Remembering what Ronnie said, she opened the brown door and then flipped the switch inside the closet to turn on the light. Checking the door, she saw that you could now unlock it from the inside. Obviously, they’d made some changes when they renovated the building, no doubt to comply with the current codes.

  She found cleaning supplies and assumed this was where Ava now kept her supplies for the first floor, just as they had done decades ago. It made sense. She thought of Laura and Frank sneaking away to the closet and smiled to herself. She walked the short distance to the boiler room and opened the doo
r. It was a large room. It looked like some of the heating equipment had been newly installed, no doubt replacing the old boiler system.

  Scanning the room, she tried to memorize the layout, fixing it in her mind to better understand what may have happened. She wasn’t sure what would have prompted a man afraid of heights to climb a ladder. But she knew of a woman currently working above her who was scared to death to clean an old school building and did it anyway to earn money for her family.

  Megan retraced her steps and returned to the office area near the front entrance to the building. She let herself into the area, which looked as though it would serve a similar function in it’s modern day role. What was once the administrative office area had over time been used an office area for other businesses that had taken over the building for short periods. None had ever lasted long. Megan couldn’t even recall what any of them had been now.

  The area was separated into smaller offices. When it had been a school, she assumed there was an office for the principal, the assistant principal, the secretary, the nurse, and possibly some sort of guidance counselor. Scanning each room carefully, she finally found what she was looking for. She wanted to test it out, but not without warning Ava. If her hunch was correct, pushing buttons could cause the voices to return.

  She went in search of Ava and found her upstairs on the second floor in the farthest corner. She called to Ava before entering the room, so that she wouldn’t surprise her. Ava smiled in relief when Megan entered the girls’ restroom at the end of the hall.

  “Did you find what you were looking for?” Ava asked as she pulled off her gloves.

  “I think so, but I didn’t want to test it without telling you first,” Megan said.

  “I’m done here so we can go back downstairs. I just need to put this cart back in the supply closet,” Ava said as she grabbed the cart and began pushing it toward the door.