Ghost House (10 page)

Two hours later when Cooper and Jim got back
to the room, Sarah and the girls had apparently not returned. Not
knowing if Cooper would be allowed down by the pool, Jim called his
wife and asked her what she felt like doing for lunch. He said that
he and Cooper would go pick up whatever she and the girls wanted to
eat.

When Sarah, Riley and Suzanne came back into
the room they were laughing and soaking wet. They squealed when
they saw Cooper, who had been to the groomer and had all that hot
hair cut off of him. Sarah felt like squealing when she noticed the
chicken dinners and ice tea Jim had set out for all of them. She
hadn’t realized until just then how hungry she was. It was a treat
just to have someone else do the cooking, or at least the setting
of the table.

The Gaunter family talked and laughed all
through their meal. It was so good not to worry if someone was
going to knock on the door or shoot out a window. So good to know
that they were somewhere Mr. Witters could not reach them. Jim had
set his cellphone on silent when they left the house that morning.
He had everything he wanted and needed right here in this hotel
room and did not want the outside world interfering with their down
time. Sarah had only turned hers back on when she and the girls
went down to the pool.

None of them planned to, but each fell asleep
within three hours of finishing their meal. It had been so long
since any of them, with the exception of Suzanne, had managed to
have a full uninterrupted night of sleep. In fact, since before
they left Tennessee. The sun and the fresh air and central air also
helped lull Sarah and Riley into a deep, rejuvenating slumber.

Jim awakened about midnight and closed the
drapes and turned on the light. He opened his laptop and went on
line to check on a feed that he had set up at the house. He had not
mentioned this to Sarah, but he decided that they should get out of
that house and the sooner the better. He wanted to do so, however,
without having to be liable for the remainder of the rent until the
lease was up.

Jim had gone to Meijer before they left and
had purchased home security cameras and set them up in various
places in the house. Jim tried to check it, but they must be too
far out of range since all he saw were white flashes and ribbons of
motion. A very grainy view of their backyard looked fine. He
decided he would have to check it closer to home.

Jim then checked on houses to purchase that
were approximately five to fifteen miles away from the house that
they were renting now. Jim liked the downriver area and still felt
it was a good area to raise the girls in. They just needed space
from that intrusive Mr. Witters and that house.

Jim hadn’t mentioned it to Sarah, but the
night he went downstairs after they heard that loud noise, there
had been more than one light bulb broken. The one in the lantern,
as well as the one over the washer and dryer had exploded. Neither
light had been turned on, so why they had exploded had been a
mystery to him. Then there was that business about the glass from
the window only being on the outside. He wondered if Mr. Witters
had somehow found a way to get into the house and even for a short
moment considered if there might be some sort of tunnel from the
garage to the house.

None of these theories made any sense at all,
of course, but Sarah was not the kind of woman who scared easily,
and yet she was.
And what about the lock?

Before they left, Jim had gone into the
basement to install a camera, do a quick look-see and grab a
suitcase. He had noticed a padlock on that coal room door. Who had
put it there? Why or when, Jim had no clue. God only knew what was
on the other side of that door. Drugs? Guns? Dead bodies? A
hostage? Jim had been so surprised and had his mind made up to
leave that house ASAP, that he decided to deal with it when they
got back.

He wondered if Riley had something in there,
or if perhaps someone from her party placed something forbidden
there to be recovered later. It was a sad day when you viewed your
child through jaundiced eyes. Had Alex asked her to hide something
for him?

Jim had taken two swings at it with a
baseball bat they had in the basement, but when the lock didn’t
budge, he thought the hell with it. He would have to make sure he
had that lock opened when they returned. If no one could produce a
key to it, he would call a locksmith. It was about time he became
proactive. Never before had he had so many issues pulling him in so
many different directions. He needed time to think and decide how
to handle this new situation. Should he ask for his old position
back and take his family back to Tennessee?

Jim took a deep breath. Logically, he knew
that no matter where they lived that Riley and Suzanne would still
go through all of the angst of the teenage years and that he and
Sarah would be right there with them. He dreaded the first time a
boy asked one of his little girls for a date. What would he do the
first time one of his children got their hearts broken? What would
he do the day that Suzanne considered Mr. Pickles and Freddie her
former child toys? He could not bear to think of it.

Jim knew he was taking another big risk in
finding a home to purchase without having Sarah in on the deal, but
if he couldn’t manage to get them out of their lease with Witter,
then any purchase of a new home might have to be put on hold and he
just could not face the three faces he loved most in this world
with that news.

Jim looked for a three bedroom brick home
with an in the ground pool and a big kitchen. A finished basement
and central air were deal breakers. He was determined he wouldn’t
screw up like he did with this little house with no room and with a
horrible landlord. He wanted an attached garage and granite for the
kitchen surfaces. Sarah and his girls deserved the best.

Cooper nuzzled Jim’s leg. “O.K., boy, let’s
go for a walk.”

The Gaunter family were a much happier bunch
the following morning. Each one felt relaxed and in good spirits.
After a big breakfast that included Belgium waffles, pecan
pancakes, bacon and plenty of fruit, they went back to their room
to pack.

“How come we have to go back home so soon?”
Suzanne said.

“We can take our time, stop along the way if
we see something we want to visit, but I have to get back to work
too, so we need to leave here today.” Jim explained.

“It is still your birthday week, Riley, is
there anything special that you would like to do today?” Sarah
asked her.

Riley was surprised when her mother brought
up her birthday. She had figured that was one subject they would
all like to forget. “I saw a miniature golf place down the street
that looked really cool.” Riley said. Suzanne jumped up and down
clapping her hands and laughing. “Can we go there daddy? Can we?”
“Let’s get our stuff in the car and go.” Her father said.

They were very pleasantly surprised to find
out that the owners of the miniature golf place were animal lovers.
They told them that as long as they kept Cooper on a leash and had
a pooper scooper with them just in case, that they would not mind
just this one time if Cooper joined them. The only other condition
was that if anyone else became afraid of their dog, or if he caused
any damage, or if he started barking at the other customers, that
Cooper would have to wait for them outside of the attraction.

Sarah had a doggy bowl for Cooper in the car
and they kept bottled water in their ice chest, so Cooper had
plenty of refreshing water to keep him happy and hydrated.

“Little sweetheart.” Sarah said, patting
Cooper on the head. “I know you are loving that hair cut too.
Momma, momma. Momma.” Sarah said, repeating that mantra. Cooper was
happy except that he could not understand why he was not allowed to
chase after those little balls that his humans were hitting with a
stick.

Next to the miniature golf place was an
arcade and a coffee shop which sold several items besides coffee.
Sarah convinced them that she would love to get a protein shake and
sit outside at one of the cement tables that were covered with a
big blue and white awning with Cooper. Just to enjoy the beautiful
day and read her new eBook, ‘Jennifer’s Journey – The Journey
Continues, purchased the other day on her Kindle. She always
carried her Kindle with her in her purse wherever she went. It
really helped to calm her nerves when she got caught by a very long
train or when her doctor or hair stylist was running way
behind.

Jim took his daughter’s hands and they
hurried off to the arcade. He looked as happy to spend time there
as his girls did.

Two hours later, when Jim and the girls had
played every game in the place at least twice and after Sarah had
taken Cooper on a walk in the park across the street, they were
ready to hit the road again.

They drove and sang songs and thoroughly
enjoyed just being together and being happy. Jim started to wish
that he had told work that he would be off yet another day, but he
hadn’t wanted to push it. They stopped at a mom and pop grocery
store and a couple of miles down the road stopped at a roadside
grill and roasted hotdogs and ate potato salad from the store.

Jim meant to stop at some point before they
got back home. He was anxious to check the feed from the house
cameras. He knew they were pretty far away and way out of range,
but he wanted to check out the white streaks he had seen in the
film. He wondered if the brand new cameras had some sort of defect
or had stopped recording.

It wasn’t quite dark yet when they pulled the
van up to the curb. Everything looked O.K. in the back yard. Sarah
was surprised to see people in their backyards and walking down the
street. She had always found it odd that no one spent time outside
in this neighborhood. She had renewed hope that perhaps the girls
would find friends nearby before school started.

They came into the house and found their
toaster on the floor. “How did that happen?” Sarah asked no one in
particular.

“Maybe a big truck went by and jarred it off
of the counter.” Jim said, not quite sure he believed that
explanation himself.

Sarah noticed that Riley hadn’t been in any
hurry to go to her room in the basement. She let it pass without
mentioning it.

Sarah put their dirty clothes in a laundry
basket and Jim, trying to sound as casual as he could, told his
wife that he would help her carry it downstairs. Sarah looked at
him like he was nuts, but she went along with it.

When they got in the basement Jim asked her
if she noticed anything different. Sarah walked over to the
beautiful satin blanket and pillows that Riley had picked out for
her bed and picked up one of the pillows. “Look, Jim, it has a
cigarette burn in it.” She also picked up the decorative lamp that
had been sitting next to Riley’s bed on the night stand. It was
laying on the floor and the light bulb was shattered.

She walked over to the wash machine and
sniffed. “Jim, this laundry tub smells like urine. This just makes
me sick to my stomach.” It was then that Sarah noticed what Jim had
been referring to. “What is that lock doing on that door?”

“I don’t know, I found it right before we
left. I didn’t want to mention it while we were on our mini
vacation.”

“Jim, we can’t let something like this go.”
Sarah said, yelling up the stairs for Riley to come downstairs.

Riley came down the stairs slowly, looking at
her parents. She then went and sat on her bed, looking scared.
“Yes, mom?” “Do you know how this padlock got on that coal room
door?” Sarah forced herself to speak slowly and in a low voice.

“I put it there.”

“Why would you do that, Riley?” Her father
asked her in a slightly louder voice than Sarah had used.

“I will tell you, but you will freak out!”
Riley said. “More than I am freaking out right now?” Her mother
asked.

“I didn’t want to tell you because I was
afraid you wouldn’t let me have the party. Especially since it was
raining outside and I knew we would have to have it down here if at
all.” Both Jim and Sarah waited patiently for their daughter to
continue.

“I kept seeing shadows. One was a big fat
shadow and the other one was a taller, thinner shadow. They were
going back and forth really slow by the foot of my bed and I have
seen them more than once! That is why I had the baseball bat by my
bed, and why I would come upstairs and sleep on the couch or with
Suzanne in her room.”

“Riley, we live on the corner, didn’t the
shadows go away after we put the curtains on the windows?”

“No, at first I thought they were from the
cars driving by too, mom, but even after the curtains were up, I
saw those shadows.”

“So, you put a lock on the door to – to what?
Trap the shadows in there?” Her father asked her.

“No, daddy, Julia and I put the lock on there
because the door kept swinging open and slamming shut, all by
itself and I couldn’t sleep and we were afraid.”

“Why didn’t you tell us any of this stuff
before, Riley?” Sarah asked her, putting her arm around her.

“Because I was afraid, because I thought you
might call me a baby, because Suzanne was talking about Harry
Potter living here and because I wanted that party. I don’t know
why, mom, honestly, I don’t.”

“Give me the key to that door.” Jim said,
holding out his hand. Riley looked at her dad and got up and took a
key out of the drawer of her dresser and handed it to him. Sarah
bit her lower lip and Riley looked afraid. Jim gave his daughter a
stern look and then opened the lock.

“What is it, Jim? What is in there?” Sarah
asked from her place with Riley on her bed.

“Nothing, there is nothing in here.” “I told
you.” Riley said. “Do you want to sleep upstairs with Suzanne from
now on, until we can get to the upstairs bedroom after the hot
summer?” “Yeah, sure.” Riley said.