Haunted Fixer-Upper, The (14 page)

“This is your copy,”
I said, pushing the paper toward him.

H
e leaned in even closer to me and I moved back. He looked me up and down like a lion checking out its prey. His gaze finally came to rest on my chest. The creep.

“How long have you and R
eed been together?” he asked as he leered at me.

I thought
my time with this guy was over. Or rather, his time with me was over. If he continued to act this way, I’d have to tell Reed to get rid of him. I wouldn’t put up with him being a creep.

“
Do you have to stand so close?” I asked with disgust in my voice.

He held his hands up in surrender.
“I didn’t mean anything by it, darling. I was just trying to make friendly conversation.”

T
hat was a lie.

“
Well, here are the plans.” I shoved the papers into his hands. “I need a little bit of air.”

“I’ll
just get to work here.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

“
Whatever. Good luck,” I said as I made my way across the room and into the dining room.

I didn’t have to turn around to know that he
was watching me walk away. I felt his eyes on me and it made my skin crawl. I thought about going upstairs to tell Reed about Stan, but what would I tell him? That the guy was standing close and he looked at me? Yeah, that was grounds for firing him right away. I’d keep my eye on Stan though, and if he did anything else, I’d tell Reed. But for now, I’d keep his inappropriate leering to myself.

I needed
a little fresh air to clear my head. There were too many things floating in there at once. Buying another house had been enough, but having your boyfriend questioned about a murder was piling it on too heavy.

I stepped outside
onto the porch and decided to walk around in the front yard. Pacing always helped me work off nervous energy. I still wasn’t sure about going over to the side yard because I worried I’d see the man again. Although I’d told myself if I saw him I was going to say something to him. I’d ask him who he was and what he wanted. With any luck, he wouldn’t come out of the woods and murder me. Okay, we’d see how brave I actually was if it really happened, but in my mind I was courageous.

After a night of much-
needed rain, the sun now buttered the landscape. I paced the length of the front yard a few times, then stopped beside the fragrant rose bush. A colorful splash of scarlet stood out against the vivid green of the grass and trees. I bend down to take a whiff, but as I looked up, I couldn’t help but glance over toward the woods. I’d felt the eyes on me. It was different from the feeling inside the house though. I knew someone had been watching me.

The same strange eyes stared back at me. This man had been watching me on
practically every visit since I’d first come to the house. What did he want from me? This time I had to say something, so I looked him right in the eyes.

“
Hey. Hey, you. What you doing over there?” My voice carried across the yard.

Would Reed hear me and come outside to see what I was yelling about?
The man didn’t move, flinch or lunge toward me. It was as if he was frozen or in a trance.

I continued to call out to the man.
“What do you want?”

I mov
ed a couple of footsteps closer and that was when he took off in a sprint back into the woods. In that split second, I knew that I had to do something. I didn’t know what had come over me, or why I made the decision to run after him, but I did. I ran after the man. What was I thinking? Did I have a secret desire to be murdered? No, I just did stupid things repeatedly. And this ranked up there as one of the dumbest things I’d ever done.

My mind was going a
million miles a minute as I ran across the yard toward the wooded area at the edge of our property. The spring air hit me in the face as my feet pounded across the ground. When I reached the trees, I saw that he had darted to the left, so I took off after him in the same direction. As I made my way through the thick branches, I made sure to look below, watching every step so that I wouldn’t fall. The last thing I needed was to trip over something and break my leg.

The faster I moved
, the faster his legs went. I continued after this guy, but I was out of breath and panting. A couple times he glanced over his shoulder. A look of fear covered his face, as if he was the animal and I was the hunter. He knew I was following him.

I thought
he would’ve turned around and confronted me right then and there. But maybe he thought I was a killer, although the thought had crossed my mind that he was taking me somewhere to kill me, luring me into his trap. Taking me far away from Reed, where no one would hear my screams. My fear of bugs was the least of my worries at the moment.

The shadows from the pines surrounded me,
making me feel cutoff from the world. Would I ever find my way out of there? A pain seared in my side and I didn’t think I could run any longer. My pace was definitely slowing down. Clearly, skipping visits to the gym had not been the best decision. Up ahead, a little bit of a clearing came into view. The man ran through to the open space. He looked back again to see if I was still trailing him. Unfortunately, I was crazy enough to still be following him. He must have wondered what kind of lunatic woman was chasing him. I ran a few more steps until a large black dog appeared at the edge of the opening. The man ran past the dog, but the hound remained in the same spot, guarding the area. He barked and growled as if he’d rip my limbs off in one bite, so I froze on the spot.

There was nothing left for me to do at the moment. I couldn’t get past Fido to track down the man. My mission was officially over.
I turned around and headed back, praying I wouldn’t forget my way. Every few seconds I glanced over my shoulder to see if the dog or the stranger was following me. The more I headed back toward the house, the faster I moved. Now that I thought back on my actions, I realized how incredibly stupid I had been. Sure I’d thought it at first, but now I realized just how lucky I was that something bad hadn’t happened.

I’d just I stepped back to the edge of the property when the roar of an engine caught my attention. I turned around and let out a groan. I recognized the car. It was
the historical society drill sergeant. Her scowl was visible from all the way at the end of the drive.

When her car came to a halt in front of the house, Stan moved down the steps toward her. Neit
her one saw me watching them. Evelyn stepped out from her car and stomped over to where he stood. Maybe I was imagining things, but I guessed that she wasn’t happy. Did she know Stan? Maybe he’d done work on other historic properties.

After Evelyn said a few words, Stan looked around the property,
then he spoke. What was he looking for? Were they searching for me? The conversation seemed a bit heated, but the tension wasn’t coming from the hot-headed Stan. No it was coming from the hotheaded Evelyn. They were alike in a way, both had anger issues.

Why was she even here?
What had I done now? And what had Stan told her? After a minute, Evelyn stomped back to her car and sped off. Stan stood there for a second, ran his hand through his hair, then glanced around again. I ducked behind a tree. Was he looking for me? Where was Reed? My heart pounded in my ears.
Please don’t let him find me hiding behind this tree
. After a few seconds, I eased out from behind the tree for a peep. I fully expected to see Stan standing there. Luckily for me, he was not. He’d hopped in his truck and was pulling out of the driveway. Even though I wanted the house to be renovated, I was glad to see him go. Unfortunately, he’d probably return.

I hurried back across the yard. I wanted to get back inside before he decided to return. But just as I made it to the door, the sound of a car caught my attention again. Damn. I spun
around expecting to see Stan. It was much worse than that though. Evelyn Arlington had returned and was stomping her way toward me.

Chapter Seventeen

“
What do you think you’re doing?” Evelyn demanded as she pointed toward the columns across the front porch.

“
What do you mean?” I glanced over my shoulder, then looked back at her. “We’re just repairing the columns on the porch.”

Her face turned crimson
. “They have the wrong design on them now. They are supposed to have a scroll at the top and the bottom.”

My mouth probably dropped.
“But they have a scroll pattern at the bottom. The one at the top was damaged so we removed them.”

Reed stepped out onto the porch and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. He p
robably thought I was going to pounce on the woman. I knew how to control my temper better than that. She was the one who needed anger management classes.

“
That is completely unacceptable. I will shut down your work here unless you have that corrected immediately.” She wiggled her finger at me.

I looked at Reed.
“Can she do that?”

He nodded.
“If she has connections at the zoning board she can.”

I frowned.
“Would she do that?”

“
I’d say by the scowl on her face right now, yes, with one hundred percent certainty.” Reed flashed his sweetest smile at Evelyn. “We’ll make sure to take care of it.”

“
Just make sure that you do,” she spat.

If looks could kill we’d be on the ground in tw
o seconds with a knife sticking out of us. It looked like she was willing death on me with her beady eyes. Evelyn stomped back to her car and slammed the door. She pulled out and sped away, the wheels throwing up gravel in her wake. Her tires screeched as she pulled out onto the highway.

“
She is such a pleasant woman.” Reed snorted.

“You got that right
.”

“What happened to Stan?”
Reed asked.

“
I was about to ask you the same question. I saw him talking to Evelyn. Their conversation seemed heated. Then he took off.”

“Maybe he went for supplies.”
Reed picked up a brick that had fallen to the ground.

Why was Reed making excuses
for this guy? He’d never done that for anyone in the past. He had always scolded me for doing the same thing.

“By the way, you
left your cell phone inside and it was ringing like crazy. Your mother and Lacey are on their way here.” He tossed the brick on top of the pile of other trash he was collecting.

“Do we have time to leave?”
I crossed my fingers for luck.

He chuckl
ed. “She’d just find you.”

“Don’t you think they’ll get lost trying to find their way here?”
I asked around a laugh.

Reed looked away.
“I gave them directions and told them to call if they had any problems.”

I shook my head.
“Why would you do such a thing?”

“You want to see Lacey
, right? And you know you love your mother,” he said.

How could I say no to anything he said when he flashed that gorgeous smile at me?

“Of course I love her. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t annoy me.” I crossed my arms in front my stomach.

I’d barely finished the sentence when the rental car screech
ed through the gate and down the driveway. I wasn’t surprised to see my mother behind the wheel. A look of horror was spread across Lacey’s face, like she was on a monster of a roller-coaster ride. My mom bounded out of the car and flounced up the steps.

“
I just can’t wait to see the house.” She brushed past us with barely a glance. “I’m going to go in.” She already had her hand on the doorknob.

“
Just be careful, Mama. There’s a mess in there and a lot of ways to get hurt.”

“
Don’t you talk to me like I’m a two-year-old.” She waved her finger at me.

I rolled my eyes
… behind her back of course. There were certain limits on behavior in front of your mother and I’d just met my sassing quota for the day. 

When we entered the foyer m
y mother placed her hands on her ample hips and said, “Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit. This place is something else, but just look at the mess. Don’t you worry though. We’ll get it fixed up real nice now that I’m here.”

Lacey gi
ggled from somewhere behind me. She was putting distance between herself and the action. Call me crazy, but I think she was getting pleasure out of this. There was no way I would allow my mother to pick out any of the décor for the renovation. I’d end up with gold lamé curtains.

“
Whoa, the ghost of a woman is standing in the corner of that room.” Lacey pointed toward the parlor on our right.

“
Who is she?” I asked with excitement.

Finally maybe I’d get answers.

“She won’t talk to me. All she’ll say is that she was murdered,” Lacey said.