Haunted Fixer-Upper, The (9 page)

“
I’m just happy you talked me into being adventurous.” He planted a big kiss on my lips, then set me back to the floor.

“I think you’ve been working too hard.” I laughed. “What’s on the agenda for today?”

“Gordon says he has some old papers that he found in the house a while back and he’d like to give us them too. How about we stop by there on our way for breakfast?” Reed rubbed my still-damp shoulders.

“I actually have a few things to pick up at the store. How about I meet you there in an hour?”
I asked.

“You got it.”
He flashed his perfect smile.

After picking up a few necessities, I pulled
my car into the lot and spotted Reed’s truck. We’d decided to drive down from Kentucky separately so that we’d both have our vehicles. It was hard to get things done with only one means of transportation. I parked the car beside his truck and got out. It was getting late and I wanted to get to the house soon before we wasted the whole morning. The afternoon sun shone in the front windows of the house and really heated the place up. I hated working in the heat. Not to mention I didn’t like staying after dark in the house. I wasn’t sure when I’d get the nerve to be in that house alone after sunset. Would the man be lurking in the woods then too? I had to find out who he was and what he wanted.

I hurri
ed up the stone steps of the old house that was now Millerton Used Cars and pushed through the door.

“
Hello,” I called out.

Where was everyone?
The tick-tock of a clock was the only sound. I turned to my left and headed toward Gordon’s office.

When
I stepped into the room, I spotted Reed standing over Gordon’s motionless body. Gordon was lying on the floor with a pool of blood surrounding him. Reed held a hammer in his hand. My eyes widened and my mouth fell open. My stomach sank. I closed my eyes for a second, praying that when I opened them again this would all be a dream. When I forced my eyes open again, I realized this was real and nothing short of a nightmare.

“What the hell is going on?”
I yelled.

A
look of sheer panic was in Reed’s eyes. “Gordon is dead,” Reed whispered.

“
I can see that.” I rushed over and pulled Reed toward me. “What happened to him?”

Reed still held the hammer
in his hand. He was silent for a moment, as if his vocal cords no longer worked, until he finally lowered the hammer and placed it on the desk. “I don’t know,” he said breathlessly. “I came in to get the papers from him and found him on the floor.”

“
Have you called the police yet?” I asked.

He shook his head.
“No, this literally just happened seconds before you came in.”

“Are you sure he’s dead?” I asked as I peered down at the body.

I’d had the unfortunate experience of discovering a dead man before. This time looked no different. The life had left Gordon’s body. Reed looked at me blankly, so I didn’t repeat the question. I scanned the room, but nothing seemed out of place. The only odd thing I noticed was a piece of peppermint candy still in its wrapper next to the body. It was the kind of candy that my grandmother kept hundreds of in her purse.

I pulled the cell phone from my purse.
“Come on, let’s wait outside on the porch.” I pulled Reed’s arm with one hand and held the phone up to my ear with the other.

Within seconds
the swirling lights of the police cars descended on the car lot. I’d never seen this much madness. Not even when I’d discovered the body of the owner of the other house I’d bought. This was not going to look good for us. The last person I’d bought a house from had been murdered too—plus, Reed and I had been the ones to discover the body this time. Well, technically Reed had discovered the body and I’d found him standing over the man with a hammer in his hand. Yeah, that wouldn’t look good to the police either.

Who had killed Gordon Millerton
and why? Was the killer still around? Chills ran up and down my spine at the thought.

Chapter Eleven

The parking lot was full of screaming sirens and flashing lights. My heart rate spiked just thinking about the fact that I’d have to talk with the police. I’d had my share of doing that recently and didn’t care to be a part of an investigation ever again.

An officer in a crisp, blue uniform rushed out of his cruiser and straight toward us.
With his dark hair and slim physique, he was night and day from the sheriff back home. He was younger than the sheriff too, but oddly enough, they had the same scowl down pat. This conversation probably wouldn’t end well.

Another policeman who looked like a steroid-laced version of the first one climbed out from a car and joined his colleague. Now they both had their laser-like focus on us.

I really hoped I didn’t have to deal with another hostile officer. Reed and I were standing at the foot of the steps when the officers approached.

“
The body’s in there.” I motioned, hoping to avoid conversation. Yeah, fat chance of that.

The
uniformed men eyed us suspiciously, then the beefy one said, “Stay there.”

I watched as the
y ascended the steps and entered the building. This wasn’t how I’d thought the day would turn out. I imagined it wasn’t how Gordon had thought it would turn out either. Reed seemed to still be in a state of shock. I wanted to grab his arms and shake him out of it. Now was not the time to become catatonic.

The paramedics weren’t far behind. The only thing they’d be doing was removing Gordon’s body.
The poor man. One officer emerged from the building and brushed past us. Within seconds he returned and an influx of other uniformed men followed him. Another officer stood beside us, but didn’t say a word. It was as if he was standing guard over us. Probably so we wouldn’t take off.

There was nothing we could do but
stand around and wait. I hoped I could be away from there before they brought out the body. My mind wasn’t ready to remember such a horrific scene again. I’d try my best to push it to the back of my mind.

When
I spotted the officer headed our way, I cringed and wanted to run in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, running from law enforcement was not the best of ideas. Orange was not my color and I’d never looked good in jumpsuits. My experience with the police back in my hometown while they investigated the murder of the last person I’d purchased a home from hadn’t gone well. I imagined the Bay Point police department probably wouldn’t understand that I’d been involved in two murder investigations in the past year.

When the officer approached, he said,
“I’m Officer Morgan, can you tell me what happened here?” He looked from me to Reed. “As a matter of fact, why don’t you go with Officer McAdams.” He gestured toward Reed.

Oh no, they
were splitting us up. This was where things always took a turn for the worse in the movies. I wished I’d reminded Reed not to talk about anything without a lawyer. He had nothing to worry about, right?

Officer
Morgan cleared his throat to catch my attention. “Now, why don’t you tell me what happened.”

It wasn’t a question but more of a demand. I’d give him the basics and let him figure out the rest. I didn’t want to accidentally say anything incriminating.
I slowly explained what had happened. He listened but seemed somewhat uninterested. How could he be so nonchalant about the whole thing?

When telling my version of what had happened, I omitted the part about seeing Reed holding
a hammer. I didn’t know why he was holding it, but there was no need to give that info to the police. Besides, what Reed had been doing when I walked in could’ve been completely irrelevant. After all, I had no idea how Gordon had been murdered. I assumed he had been murdered by the amount of blood underneath his body, but I had no way of knowing for sure.

The coppery scent flooded back to my mind as a flash of Gordon’s body came to me.
I just wanted to get this interview over and get out of there.

“
Is there anything else?” Officer Morgan asked. “Maybe something you forgot. Any little detail is important.”

“
Well, there is one thing…” I let my words trail off while I debated whether I should really divulge the information.

Why did I
feel like a rat for doing this?

He looked at me suspiciously.
“Yes?”

“There was a guy here when we first met Mr.
Millerton. His name is Stan Kern. They were fighting over money.”

There. I’d done it. The police needed to know. I wanted them to find Gordon’s killer.

Officer Morgan stared for a couple seconds. “We’ll take that into consideration,” he said stiffly. “Thank you for the information. We’ll be in touch.”

He seemed oddly detached from this dire situation. Was I missing something?

Reed was still talking with the police and Officer Morgan joined in on the interrogation. I wouldn’t allow them to do this long before I called a lawyer. They couldn’t keep him forever. As I stood at the side of the building watching the confusion, I spotted Reed’s cousin Melody.

Our eyes met and she wasted little
time walking over to me. I wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone, but I had little choice at the moment. Since Melody worked for Gordon, why hadn’t she been here earlier?

“Alabama, where’
s Reed? I heard what happened.”

I pointed. “He’
s still talking with the police. Where have you been?” My words came out harsh, but I didn’t care. I was too worried about Reed.

Melody was fidgeting and nervous as she moved from foot to foot. I felt guilty for being so harsh with her, but like I said, I was worried about Reed. Her boss had been murdered and she was obviously was upset, so I’d cut her some slack.

She held her head in her hands. “I can’t believe this has happened. I was late for work today.”

Well, if ever there was a day to be late, this was it.

“So, you found the body?” she asked shakily.

I swallowed hard as the memory came back. “Actually, Reed was the first to find him. I came in right after that.”

She stared off into the distance. If only I could read her mind.

“Do you have any idea why someone would want to do this to him?” I asked.

She glared at me. “What makes you think I’d know? I have no idea. Don’t ask me.”

Wow. She’
d gone from one emotion to the next in a split second. She had to know something since she’d worked with the man.

“Did you know about his fight with Stan?” I asked.

She frowned. “Yeah, I knew. That Stan is an asshole.”

I couldn’t say that I disagreed with her on that.

“Did Gordon fight with anyone else like that?” I pushed.

“I told you
that I don’t know.”

“
Have you heard anything about the plantation? This may sound crazy, but do you know why a man might be in the woods watching us?”

She
looked at me swiftly. “There’s a man in the woods?” Her face blanched.

I had a feeling there was something she wasn’t telling me and I intended on getting to the bottom of it.

Chapter Twelve

That night we’d sat in silence around the cabin’s fireplace
for hours, shocked by what had happened. When we finally did collapse into bed, we held each other tighter than ever. If we’d arrived at Millerton Used Cars moments earlier, we might have been murdered along with Gordon.

But we finally pulled ourselves together though because we knew life had to go on.
Despite what had happened the evening before, we had to get started on the house. Time was money and right now Reed and I hadn’t even had a serious conversation about what we’d do with the house. It had been a spur-of-the-moment impulse buy—something I was all too good at doing. That wasn’t usually in Reed’s character though. Was I rubbing off on him? I hoped he didn’t hold that against me. We definitely needed to have that talk though. Some kind of plan was needed. I liked to fly by the seat of my pants as much as the next girl, but there was a time to get serious in every situation.

We’d decided to start with the major things
around the house, of course. The columns needed to be repaired on the porch and the floors stabilized in places. Electrical work, plumbing, and plaster had to be addressed as well.

I looked at my watch.
“What time is that guy supposed to be here anyway?”

Reed sat on the
wide step. “Alabama, you know how these guys are. They’re never on time.”

Despite my gut feelings, I’d agreed to hire Stan to do work around the house. Reed said he was good and he’d known him from when they were teenagers, so maybe he wouldn’t screw us over.
Still, he gave off a bad vibe and I had a hard time shaking it. Not to mention now I suspected him of murder. Okay, it was ridiculous to be suspicious of him, right? Reed wouldn’t be friends with him if he was capable of something like that.