Hard Hat Man (11 page)

“All right,”
Laura
agreed, finishing off her tea.

Just then
Kyle stopped by their table. After exchanging greetings, he said, “I saw you over here and happened to think of something. How are you getting to the airport in the morning?”

“I’m driving her,” Jan said.
“The garage replaced the slashed tires, so I have my car back.”

“But that’ll take hours, getting through all that metro traffic both ways,” Kyle said. “You’ll waste much of the day driving instead of working on cleaning out the house.”

Jan frowned at him. Was he going to be a tyrant about getting the house cleaned out?
“I’m sorry, but it can’t be helped. Mom doesn’t drive in the
city
. She hates traffic and got a cab to bring her out here.”

“I’ll order a cab to take you to the airport,” Kyle said.

“Oh, but…”
Laura
said
, her eyes opening wide in surprise
. “I thought there weren’t any out this far. The cabbie who brought me out here said so. And he charged me an arm and a leg to come out this far.”

Kyle laughed. “I’ll bet he wanted you to call him
for the return trip, too,
didn’t he?”

“Yes, he did,”
Laura
said, flushing.
“He gave me his card, but…”

“We have a
local
cab
driver
who does regular runs into the Twin Cities,” he said. “I’ll call him and have him take you. Call it a bonus on our deal. That way Jan won’t get behind at the house.” He winked at her.

Jan eyed him and then looked at
Laura
. “Okay, Mom?”

“Why, yes, that’ll be lovely. Thank you, Kyle.”

“What time do you want him to pick you up?”

“Five o’clock should be fine.”

“Will do. Goodnight, then.” Kyle strode away.

“Wasn’t that nice of him?”
Laura
asked.

“Yes,” Jan said, admiring Kyle’s athletic stride as he moved back to his table. Was he really that worried about her emptying the house in time for him to tear it down that he was willing to pay the exorbitant taxi fee from one end of the metro area to the other?

***

Jan wasn’t a morning person, so she always traveled with an alarm clock. Now she set it to make sure
Laura
woke in time for the taxi.

They’d settled into their beds when
Laura
asked, “Do you really believe you saw Esther’s ghost today?”

Jan stared at the dark ceiling.
She didn’t want to think about ghosts when she was trying to go to sleep.
“I’m not making things up, Mom. I know what I saw.”

“I’m sure you think you did, but there’s no such thing as ghosts, Jan.”

“How do you know for sure?”

Bedding rustled as
Laura
moved. “Everyone says so.”

Jan hesitated, then finally said,
“Maybe everyone is wrong.”

“But…”

“Go to sleep, Mom. Five o’clock will be here before you know it.”

A long-suffering sigh.
“Goodnight, then.”

Jan lay awake for a long time, wondering. Had she imagined seeing her aunt? What was real and what wasn’t in this world? She believed in life after death, but did she really believe in ghosts?

Still, she could close her eyes and remember every detail of her aunt sitting in the rocker. Could see the tears rolling down her wan, pale cheeks.
The image was so real. How could it have been only her imagination?

***

The next morning, after getting
Laura
into the taxi, Jan went back to sleep. But by eight, she’d eaten breakfast and
stopped at the farm store in town for more pairs of jeans and work shirts. She had no laundry facilities, so it made sense to buy extra pairs and go to the local laundromat when she had enough for a load. She got in her car and drove to the
farm.

Today the sun shone and the temperature had already climbed to the high eighties. Working in the hot, dusty old farmhouse wouldn’t be pleasant, but she had to get it done. Thankfully, the electricity now worked, so she could
use the lights to
see better and also have some music while she worked.
Was there any air conditioning? She couldn’t remember, but doubted Horace would have stood for spending money on that luxury.

But when she stepped inside, she gasped. The house was a mess. The boxes they’d packed yesterday had been upended and the contents scattered.
Glancing down the hall, she saw a similar mess in the living room and through the open door to Horace’s office.

She backed outside and sank into the chair on the porch, pulling out her cellphone and dialing 9-1-1. She was promised an officer to investigate the break-in and told to stay outside until he got there.

She stayed on the porch, then decided to call Kyle. After all, it was now his property that had been broken into.

“Kyle, here.”

“Kyle, it’s Jan. I just arrived at the farm and found
someone broke into the house and searched it.
Someone dumped everything out of boxes and drawers.”

“Damn, not another incident. Did you call the police?”

“Yes. They said they’d send an officer shortly.”

“I’m at my office in Blaine. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Thanks.”
She’d barely hung up when a police car drove into the yard.
Carol, t
he same officer who’d investigated her slashed tires
the day before,
stepped from the car.

“More trouble?”
Carol
asked.

Jan nodded. “Someone
broke into
the house.
It’s a mess.
”

“Wait here while I check it out, in case someone’s still here.”
The officer
pulled out her gun and
went inside
.

In a few minutes she came back
t
o
t
he door, the gun back in its holster
.
“
No one’s here.
The house has been empty for months, hasn’t it? Are y
ou sure it wasn’t like this
earlier
?”

Jan stepped inside.
“No. Mom and I were here
yesterday,
sorting stuff
, remember?
Kyle was here, too.
We had t
his stuff
neatly packed
in those boxes.
Now everything is jumbled together all over the floor. I’ll have to sort it all over again.”

“Did you lock the door when you left?”

“Yes, of course. I’m from Chicago. We always lock our doors when we leave the house.”

“Humph. Well, not everyone does, around here. But it does look like someone pried open the door. See this fresh wood beside the lock? Looks like they used a pry bar of one sort or another.”

“Yeah,” Jan agreed, not at all sure what she meant by a pry bar.

They walked through the rest of the main floor and found each room in similar condition
, Horace’s office the worst
.
Books were still on the shelves, but everything from the desk and chest of drawers and file cabinets was scattered on the floor.

“I wonder what they were looking for?” Jan asked.

“Beats me. Do you have any idea whether things are missing?”

Jan shrugged. “I can’t think of anything at the moment. But I really don’t know what all was here. Most of
what I remember seems to be here
.”

“Well, if you think of anything, let me know. I’ll file a report on this.”

A
few minutes
later,
Jan
heard
Kyle
drive up to
the house
and went to the door to meet him
.
O
nce again
, he
wore his yellow hard hat. She’d begun to think of that and his jeans and tool belt as his standard
work
uniform. He pulled off his gloves and hooked them onto his belt
. A smile lit his tanned face
as
he came across the porch and opened the screen door.
Once again, her heart fluttered in response. What was it about this man that made her pulse race?

“Hi, Jan.
More trouble?
”
He stopped at the door and fingered the splintered wood. “Looks like I’d better put a different lock on here.”

“We’ll only need it for a few days.”

“True, but I’d feel safer with a new lock.”

She nodded.
“
Come on in.
The officer has already been here and left again.”

“Well that was fast.”

“Yeah,” Jan grinned. “
She sounded irritated at being called.
I don’t think she thought it was a high priority case.”

“Probably not. I think they’re sick of all the nuisance stuff that’s been happening out here.
On the other hand, they haven’t done much to find out who is doing it and put a stop to it.
”

“
Thanks for getting the power back on for me,” she told him.

“Is the water working too? It should be if the power’s on.”

Jan raised an eyebrow, turning to look at him. “I didn’t think to try it.” Sh
e stepped into the kitchen and turned on the faucet at the sink. “Ye
s
. It works.”

“Is the hot water heater electric or gas?”

She shrugged. “I have no idea.
” She
turned the faucet to hot and
stuck a finger in the stream of water coming from the faucet
, then smiled
.
“T
he water’s already warm.
”