Page 32 of The Haunting of Paynes Hollow
“People exploring abandoned buildings.”
“Yeah. With the history here…?” He trails off with a shrug. “But it was a fad. They lost interest years ago.”
He heads back toward the spare room. I shine my light around. It lands on the door to my grandparents’ room. I glance toward Ben again. Then I push open the half-shut door. Footprints in the dust show where he’d walked in for a few steps, looked around, and then left.
I’m about to do the same when I spot an open book on the right-hand nightstand. My grandmother’s side of the bed. I smile and walk over to see what she was reading. Old-school historical romance with a classic clinch cover, a busty maiden in the arms of a half-dressed pirate. That makes me laugh softly under my breath, old memories sweeping back, me tracking down Gail to find her in the forest, devouring one of my grandmother’s romance novels. How she’d turn bright red when I caught her and stammer some explanation about liking history.
I reach to pick up the novel, my smile turning to a grin as I plot where I’ll leave this book and what Gail will say. But when I step toward it, my foot falls and I pitch forward, my knee knocking hard into the nightstand as I yelp.
By the time Ben arrives, I’m standing on one foot, cradling my knee.
“There’s a broken board,” I say. “I was grabbing that book.”
His flashlight beam lands on the cover. “Interesting choice.”
“I like pirates. Especially half-naked ones.”
“Not judging.” His light sweeps down. “Huh.”
“What?” I follow his beam and see that I was wrong. The board isn’t broken. It’s missing.
The light moves on, and when he gives another “Huh,” I track the beam to a second removed board at the foot of the bed. He carefully skirts it as he rounds to my grandfather’s side.
“Two more here,” he says.
“Someone looking for treasure,” I say. “Or more of my grandmother’s romance novels. I always did wonder where she stashed them. Gives awhole new meaning to pirate booty.” I pause. “Well, they already gave a whole new meaning to pirate booty, but that’s another story.”
He doesn’t even crack a smile. Just crouches to shine his beam into one of the holes. I do the same with another board. Underneath the wooden plank, there’s just a gap with joists before the solid layer of the structural floor.
“There’s a crawl space underneath,” I say.
“Yes. I know. I’m the caretaker.”
“I just mean that I don’t know what someone would be looking for under the floorboards. Any storage would be down below.”
“That’s hidden and locked.” He rises and goes into the bathroom. I follow, and he pushes aside the moldering mat to show the crawl space hatch. There’s a built-in lock, just like the one in our cottage.
“What’s down there?” I ask.
“No idea. I don’t have the key.” He rises from checking it. “And before you ask, I did mention it to your grandfather. Just like I mentioned clearing all this shit out before it rotted. He never answered.”
“I wouldn’t have asked why you never went down there,” I say. “I know Sheriff Smits…”
I trail off, not sure how to finish that.
“Smits thinks I’m a lazy kid who can’t bother doing more than I absolutely have to.” He brushes past me. “I don’t much care what he thinks of me. We had run-ins when I was a teen, and that fixed his opinion for eternity.”
“Does anyone know…?” I struggle for the right words. “The, uh, terms of your employment.”
“No one’s business. I told you because it’s your business, being the new owner.” He slows, as if realizing something. “It’s between us. Smits is the only one who expects me to be grateful for my job here and, like I said, his opinion isn’t changing.”
“Okay.”
He’s moving fast, and I need to jog to keep up as he heads back into the spare room. When he reaches the window, he turns, considering before saying, “That stuff with Smits, back when I was a kid, it had nothing to do with my job here.” Another pause. “Also nothing violent. Just angry teenager shit.”
“Got it.” I glance back. “But about that crawl space. I have the key for ours, and it probably works in that one. Should we open it?”
“For what?”
