Page 22 of The Gallagher Place
“We’d like to speak to him, if he’s able, when we’re back,” Ariel said. “Neighbors all recalled he was here full-time every summer; he must know this area as well as you.”
“Perhaps even better,” Glory said. “I’ll see if he’s up to it.”
Ariel stood in silence while Marlowe pulled on her coat, hat, and gloves.
Their footsteps were muffled by the dusting of snow as they traversed the lawn. Marlowe cleared her throat and pointed toward the chestnut tree as she crossed the road.
“The Gallagher Place was beneath the tree,” she said. “Over there by that hydrangea bush. And there was a small milk barn beside the bigger barn; you can still see the foundations.” They paused where Marlowe estimated one of the cornerstones of the house had been.
“After it was torn down, the grass was replanted. It was just a modest farmhouse, smaller than the Gray House. I remember it was painted dark green.”
Ariel nodded and then tipped her head back, peering up at the arching boughs of the chestnut.
“The brothers didn’t spend much time inside,” Marlowe continued. “They were always in the barn or the fields, trying to keep things up. The farm slipped more out of their hands each year.”
They continued tramping over the slippery grass, and Marlowe pointed out where the earth rose in a lump. “There was a cellar there. It’s filled in now, but there was a trapdoor in the house that once led down into it.”
“How do you know so much about the place?” Ariel asked.
“We explored the empty house before it was demolished.” Marlowe didn’t clarify whom “we” meant, but it had been the four of them as usual, including Nora. “There wasn’t much to see after they died. It was a simple place to begin with. The cellar was the only exciting thing. It was pitch black down there, and the stone walls were cold and slick. It felt old, far older than the house itself.”
“The house was torn down right after your father bought the land, is that right?” Ariel paused, and Marlowe nodded her confirmation.
Marlowe couldn’t tell what Ariel was after with this line of questioning. The ground began to feel flimsy beneath her feet, as if it might crumble and send her and Ariel tumbling into the ancient pit. And she hated to admit to herself that she felt the dull beginnings of a craving for a glass of wine taking form.
“Leroy died first, yes?” Ariel looked up as a flurry hit her cheek and melted. “Then Tom shortly after, and then Dave. Here, on the farm, right?”
“Yes,” Marlowe said.
“Pretty strange, don’t you think? All of them passing within two years of each other?”
“Strange things happen all the time,” Marlowe said.
“Funny,” Ariel said. “Your father said the same thing.”
“It was more sad than anything else.” Marlowe’s instinct was to defend the Gallaghers. Who was Ariel to judge how their lives had ended?
“You mourned them?”
“I was a teenager; I barely understood it,” Marlowe said. “But those men were kind to me and my brothers, even when they didn’t have to be.”
“So they were fond of you?” Ariel asked.
“We were probably annoying, running around playing in their fields and barns,” Marlowe admitted. “But they never seemed angry. They told us we could play on their land, even encouraged us to, as long as we didn’t mess with their operation.”
“Your father says he was on good terms with them, that they even knew he planned to buy the land from whoever inherited,” Ariel said. “He says he had their blessing.”
Ariel’s voice was tinged with cynicism, as if to imply that a blessing had to be given, rather than claimed.
“As far as I know. But like I said, I was just a teenager. I didn’t have much insight into those things.”
“I wonder what set Harmon off, in that case,” Ariel said, walking toward the barn. “Why he decided to start sending those messages so many years after the property had passed hands.”
“I don’t get it either.”
Ariel paused and took in a long breath. Her mouth softened, as if even she was soothed by the beauty of the land, just as Marlowe always was.
“One of the threats mentioned Nora Miller by name, and a few others referenced her indirectly,” Ariel said. “Could you tell me more about her?”
