Hard Hat Man (6 page)

“
I guess not.
And this photo appears to be Horace and Aunt Esther when they were first married.
”

“
Yes, it is.
I have a copy of that one in my album.
Esther sent it to my mother years ago.
”

Jan brushed off the dust from her hands and moved into the music room where they found a dusty grand piano and more delicate Queen Anne style walnut chairs.
More whatnot shelves held cups and saucers and dusty dried flowers.
A floral wool rug, circa the 1940s, covered the floor, except for a foot or so around the edges where the gray painted pine boards could be seen.

Sneezing, Jan moved on to open the door to the next room and stopped, mouth open.
F
loor to ceiling
bookshelves
lined
e
very wall
, packed full of
books.
“
Yikes!
Will you look at this?
”

Laura
peered over her shoulder.
“
Yes, Horace always liked books.
I think this was his private study.
I know we were never allowed in this room.
”

“
I thought you said I could do this in a couple of days?
”
A knot of tension tightened in Jan
’
s stomach.
She could see her whole vacation eaten up with sorting through all this stuff.
She opened a door in one corner, revealing a closet jammed full of boxes.
Pulling one down from the stack, she opened it.
It was full of snapshots and studio photographs, curled with age.
Dust flew and she sneezed again.

“
Bless you!
”
Kyle
’
s deep voice said behind them.

Jan started and turned to stare at the tall man standing in the doorway.
“
Kyle!
What are you doing here?
”

“
Looking for you two.
I
saw your car and
guessed you
’
d be
in
here.
”
He stood looking around.
“
Wow, I guess Horace liked to read.
A bit dusty in here, isn
’
t it?
”

“
Yes,
”
Jan said,
grimac
ing and
brushing her hands together.
“
I suppose no one has been in here for the past six months since Uncle Horace died.
”

“
Probably no one had authority to do anything with it.
They were waiting for you, the heir, to decide its fate.
”

Jan watched him move about the room, reading the titles on the shelves curiously.
He appeared surprised and she wondered why.
“
Didn
’
t the realtor show you through this house before you agreed to buy the property?
”

He glanced at her and shrugged.
“
No, he didn
’
t.
I wasn
’
t interested in the house, only the land.
He told me the house was in poor shape, and its contents aren
’
t part of our deal, anyway.
”

“
Then you plan to tear it down?
”

“
Yes.
”
He met her eyes.
“
Do you object to that?
”

Jan shrugged.
“
No, I don
’
t suppose I do.
It
’
s obviously in pretty bad shape.
”

“
Why were you looking for us?
”
Laura
asked.

“
I
thought you might like some lunch before we go to the realtor
’
s office for the closing.
”

Jan frowned.
“
You drove all the way out here to ask us to lunch?
”

Kyle grinned.
“
Actually, no.
I
’
ve been here all morning
. I was
going over the land again with the surveyor.
I wanted to double check his figures to refute Alex Porter
’
s charge we
’
ll cause water runoff onto his property.
”

“
Oh.
And will your work cause him damage?
”

“
Not that we can see.
I don
’
t understand his attitude.
He
’
s been bitterly opposed since he found out I was planning this.
”

Laura
shrugged.
“
Some people are hard to figure out.
Maybe he dislikes change in his neighborhood.
Come along, I want a look upstairs before we go.
”
She headed back to the wide staircase.

Jan looked at Kyle and shrugged.
“
We might as well see how big this job will be.
”
From the landing, she could see doors on both sides of the hall.

B
oxes and old furniture
filled t
he first room
.
“
Looks like this was the catch-all room,
”
Laura
said.
“
Ugh.
This is going to be dirty work.
”

Jan jumped as she walked into a spider web, and reached out to wipe it away.
“
Ick.
I hate spiders
. W
ith a shudder
, she backed out of the room
.

Kyle laughed.
“
You
’
ll be lucky if that
’
s all you find in an old, empty house.
”

Jan gave him a sideways frown and opened the next door.
It opened onto a dingy bathroom with a large claw-footed tub and free standing sink.
A faded blue plastic curtain hung on the window and another
surrounded
the shower stall in the corner.

Grimacing, Jan closed the door and moved on to the next room.
Nancy
’
s room.
She remembered the
dainty white-painted furniture
Nancy had loved
.
A pink floral bedspread neatly covered the bed.
Dolls and books filled a bookcase beside the bed and a teddy bear sat in a high chair.
A large doll sat in a rocking chair as though waiting for its owner to return and hold her.
An elaborate dollhouse full of miniature furniture sat on a table under the window.

A sick feeling of dread washed over Jan as her gaze swept the room.
It looked much the same as Jan remembered it from years ago.
But not as it had looked when Nancy was a sixteen year old, more like when Nancy had been a child.
The furniture was the same, but a
ll the high-school pennants and
books were gone and the things Nancy had loved as a young girl brought back in their place. Why? That was so weird!
Had
Aunt Esther
done that? And she
must have kept it closed up from the time
Nancy
had di
sappear
ed.

As Jan gazed at the room,
trying to make sense of it all,
she saw Aunt Esther sitting in the rocking chair where the doll had been a minute ago. Tears rolled down Esther’s face. She
wore the favorite blue dress she’d worn at their
last family
Christmas get-together. She
stared at the opposite wall and cried, the rocker slowly moving forward and back. Her grief was all the
more poignant
for its silent expression.

Laura
gasped beside Jan.
“
Why, it looks like
Nancy
just left it this morning.
Except for dust, of course.
”

“Don’t you see her?” Jan asked, turning to her mother.

“See who?”
Laura
raised a curious eyebrow.

“Aunt Esther…in the rocker.”

“What are you talking about?”
Laura
said, frowning and looking around the room.

Jan
swung back to point at Aunt Esther, but now the rocker sat, unmoving, holding only the dust-covered doll. No crying aunt sat in the chair.

Jan
swallowed and
spun away again
, blinded by sudden tears.
She met a solid chest
,
and Kyle put out his arms to steady her.

“
What
’
s the matter?
”
he asked.