Authors: Susan Rogers Cooper
Before leaving, however, she’d said, ‘I’ve lost so many customers to daddy’s shenanigans that I had to let my helper go. I don’t climb these stairs often, so if you need something you might want to come downstairs to tell me.’
‘We’ll be fine,’ I assured her as I closed the door behind her. Leaning against it, I looked at my husband. ‘Well,’ I said.
‘So get your phone out and find us another place to stay,’ Willis said.
I pushed away from the door and shook my head. ‘Can’t. There’s a big bicycle ride going on this weekend and every room in three towns is in use.’
‘So you took the last room available?’ he said, giving me the evil eye. ‘Didn’t you wonder why nobody else wanted it?’
I sank down on the camel-backed sofa. ‘Honey, I didn’t know about the ride when I made the reservations three weeks ago! I wanted to make reservations for dinner and I tried calling the only restaurant in the area fancy enough to take reservations but the guy told me they were full up the entire weekend, and that all the hotels, B&Bs and motels were too. I just felt lucky that I got this reservation when I did.’
Willis sank down beside me. ‘Oh, yeah, boy are we lucky. In a haunted house with a crazy lady.’
I leaned my head against his shoulder. ‘Babe, you can’t have it both ways. Either she’s sane and the house is haunted, or it isn’t and she’s crazy.’
‘Point taken,’ he said. He was quiet for a minute, then asked: ‘Do you believe in ghosts?’
‘No,’ I said emphatically. Then backed down a smidge. ‘Mostly no.’
‘Yeah, me, too,’ he said. ‘Mostly no.’ Then: ‘But …’
I looked up at him. ‘But what?’
‘When I was a kid, about twelve or thirteen, my grandfather was really sick and my parents took us to my grandparents’ place in Waxahatchie. They lived out in the country and had this big front porch. My grandmother loved wind chimes, so there were bunches of ’em lining the whole length of the porch. Grandma Pugh and Daddy were both at the hospital and Mama and me and Rusty were sitting on that front porch soaking up some sun. The place was real still. Not a leaf was stirring on the trees. Then all of a sudden, starting from the left and going all the way down the line, the wind chimes starting making their songs, one after the other. Mama looked at us boys and said, “Grandpa Pugh is saying goodbye, boys.”’
He stopped and I just looked at him. ‘I’ve never heard this story,’ I said, thinking fondly of Rusty, my deceased brother-in-law.
‘That’s because my mother denies it ever happened and I decided that was probably for the best. But I heard her that night telling Daddy about it and she told him what time it happened, and Daddy said that was exactly when Grandpa Pugh passed away.’
I shuddered. ‘Wow,’ was all I could say. Then, ‘So you
do
believe in ghosts?’
Willis shrugged. ‘Maybe. Maybe not. But either way you look at it, I don’t think Miss Hutchins’ daddy came back from the dead and killed her mother. If there are such things as spirits, I doubt they can wield a knife.’
1915–1934
Clayton Delaware Hutchins and his wife, Lydia Marie Hutchins, were blessed with three sons: Norris and Herbert, born within eighteen months of each other, and then the youngest, Edgar, at which point Lydia Marie died in childbirth. The three boys were raised by their father and a string of housekeepers/lovers that Clayton Hutchins would bring into the home. Young Edgar, the comeliest of the three, was barely thirteen when he was seduced by the then current housekeeper, a girl of nineteen, although she later claimed it wasn’t she who did the seducing. She was sent packing and Clayton refused to speak to his youngest son from that day forward.
Norris, the eldest, was a big, strapping young man and his father’s odds-on favorite. Since he no longer spoke to his youngest, and his middle son, Herbert, was a sickly, and therefore – in Clayton’s mind – inferior specimen, it was only natural – in Clayton’s mind – that Norris would shine. And he did. In the year 1928, Norris excelled at the newish game of football that had been bulldozing through small Texas towns and was revered in his hometown of Peaceful, Texas.
It was in 1932, at the age of seventeen, that young Edgar fell in love with the comely Helen Bishop, the daughter of the richest family in town. Being the daughter of the richest family in town had a lot to do with young Edgar falling in love. Had she been poor it may never have happened. That year in Peaceful was a hard one for most people. Well into the depression, many stores had closed on Main Street, including Clayton Hutchins’ haberdashery shop. Times were lean, and since Clayton still did not bear credence to his youngest son’s existence, Edgar’s pleas for certain food items would often go unanswered. This only made Edgar all the more determined to win the hand of the fair Helen and move into the grand old house on Post Oak Street, where he believed food to be abundant. There were also rumors of treasure within its four walls.
As Edgar set about wooing Helen, he found himself a job at the Rexhall Drugstore, one of the few remaining establishments on Main Street, as a soda jerk. Although his pay was a pittance, the occasional tip enabled him to eat more steadily than he did at home, and he even saved up enough to buy Helen a small bottle of Evening in Paris cologne and take her to an occasional picture show.
The summer he graduated high school, he was working behind the counter, while Helen sat in front of him, sipping on a Coca-Cola and smiling at him, when his brother, Norris, walked in. Helen was a pretty girl, which was immediately noticed by Norris. On her part, Helen also observed that big brother Norris was fetching in his own way. While all three brothers looked much alike in the face, Norris was bigger, with muscles, square shoulders and thin hips, while Edgar was slender and almost feminine in physique. Poor Herbert, on the other hand, was scrawny and slump shouldered, and the only one of the three with hypothyridic eyes.
Edgar continued to see Helen throughout that summer, but in the fall she was off to Mary-Hardin Baylor College in Waco, while his older brother Norris was off to fulfill his scholarship requirements at Baylor University, also in Waco. Edgar, who considered himself quite a catch, never thought of his clumsier big brother as a threat. Until, that is, that Christmas break.
It was then, at the tender age of nineteen, that Edgar Hutchins received the third and final blow that would color the rest of his life. The first being, of course, the death of his mother at his own birth, the second his father’s emotional abandonment, and the third the announcement on Christmas Eve that his brother Norris and his true love Helen were to be married in the spring.
In the wee hours of Christmas morning, Edgar went into his brother Norris’s room with intent to do bodily harm. Unfortunately Norris was awake.
‘Come to try to beat the shit out of me?’ Norris inquired, sitting up in his bed.
‘You son of a bitch!’ Edgar said in a harsh whisper.
‘Didn’t mean to step on your toes, but it just sorta happened,’ Norris said.
‘You just sorta happened to go to her all-girls school and just sorta happened to ask her out on a date? Is that what you’re saying?’
‘Yeah, more or less,’ Norris agreed.
‘Bullshit!’ Edgar hissed. ‘You’re after the treasure! That’s all you want—’
Norris laughed. ‘Treasure? Jesus, Ed, are you still hung up on that old chestnut? There’s no treasure at the Bishop house! That’s just something kids tell each other!’
‘No, it’s not! I know for a fact there’s a treasure in that house!’
Norris smirked. ‘Yeah? So what is it?’
‘I’ll know when I find it!’
‘Guess you’re not going to find it now, huh? Since the only time you’ll be in that house is when I invite you in! Which may be never!’
Three days after Christmas, Edgar joined the Marines and left town – permanently, he hoped.
BACK HOME
T
here were different reactions to being left home on their own, each according to the particular sister’s views and personality. Alicia, the foster sister and newest member of the family, had been left alone on many occasions in her foster career and barely noticed; Bess was stoic about it. Being left alone meant responsibilities, but she was a responsible person and could totally handle it; but Megan … Megan was delighted, if not downright joyful. She could think of a million things to be done in the two days her parents would be gone that would otherwise never be accomplished. She even played with the thought of losing her virginity, but didn’t have a boy in mind for the honor, so nixed the idea. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t stay out late, find someone to buy them beer, or find an adult station on cable … like, there were
so
many temptations to choose from!
There aren’t a lot of rules in the Pugh household: don’t hit if you can help it; if you’re male, put the seat down in the bathroom; if you’re female, keep sanitary products out of sight; if it’s on the floor anybody can use it (like a sweater, scarf, pen, whatever); and the newest one (and mandatory to all), knock before entering a room with a closed door. Megan had that one half down. She knocked on her sister Bess’s door that Saturday
as
she opened it.
Bess had half a second to slam shut her newly acquired yearbook and shove it under her pillow before Megan was upon her.
‘You’re supposed to knock!’ Bess said.
‘I did!’ Megan answered, flopping on Bess’s bed.
‘
Before
you enter the room, stupid!’
‘Don’t call me stupid!’
‘Then don’t do stupid things!’
‘Whatever. Are you going to the dance?’ Megan asked.
‘What dance?’
Megan sighed. ‘The spring dance. Now who’s stupid?’
‘No,’ Bess said emphatically.
Megan turned from her stomach to her side so she could look her sister in the eye. ‘Why the hell not?’
Bess shrugged. ‘Don’t want to.’
‘Bullshit.’
Bess did not reply. She rolled off the bed and headed out the door of her room.
‘Where are you going?’ Megan demanded.
‘To the kitchen. I’m hungry.’
‘You’re never hungry between meals, Miss Goody-Two-Shoes!’ Megan said, following her sister out the door.
‘Whatever.’
‘You’re up to something!’
Bess sighed long and hard. ‘Get over yourself! You always think something’s up when nothing is! You’re an idiot!’
There was also a rule about name-calling, but it was widely ignored.
‘You’re the idiot!’ Megan shot back as they headed down the stairs.
‘Bite me,’ Bess said.
‘No way. Your skinny ass would taste awful!’
‘God, you are soooooo funny.’
They found their other sister in the large kitchen sitting at the table, eating a slice of cold pizza. ‘Breakfast,’ Alicia said with her mouth full.
‘Any left?’ Megan asked, beating Bess to the refrigerator.
‘Yeah. Couple of pieces. Should we put something out for dinner tonight?’ Alicia asked.
‘Naw. We’ve got plenty of money. Let’s go out!’ Megan said.
Bess snorted. ‘We
do not
have plenty of money! They’re gone for three days and Mom left us fifty dollars. We spent seventeen on the pizza and breadsticks last night. Going out for the three of us would be at least twenty to twenty-five dollars. And this is the first full day. Which would mean we’d only have like eight to ten dollars left for all day tomorrow!’
‘So we’re going to church with Grandma, right?’ Megan said. ‘She’ll take us out to dinner after church, right? So what’s the prob?’
‘Bess, I have to agree with Megs. And I don’t want to cook, and I certainly don’t want to eat anything Megan cooks—’
‘Hey!’ Megan interjected.
‘Or you for that matter. I’m not in the mood for tofu and kale,’ Alicia said.
‘Second that!’ Megan said.
‘I do not only eat tofu and kale!’ Bess said. ‘There’s a lovely spaghetti squash in the vegetable bin.’
Megan stuck her finger down her throat and Alicia said, ‘Spare me.’
Bess turned on her heels and left the kitchen, heading back upstairs. Once in her room, she threw herself on the bed and pulled her new yearbook out from under the pillow where she’d hidden it. Without much help the book opened to a certain page. On it were pictures of seniors, like herself and her sisters. But the page wasn’t in the ‘P’s’ for Pugh. It was in the ‘H’s’ for Harris. Logan Harris, to be exact. Blond-haired, blue-eyed Logan Harris, with the dimples and the killer smile. He was in her chemistry class this semester and sat next to her. And he smelled soooo good. Bess again read the information under the picture: ‘Most likely to be running his place of employment before graduation.’ And it even listed his place of employment. Bess stashed the yearbook back under her pillow and headed downstairs.
Once in the kitchen, she said, ‘OK, I give up. We can go out to dinner. And I know exactly where.’
‘Where’s that?’ Alicia asked.
‘The Eyes of Texas Steak House,’ Bess said.
Megan almost choked on her cold pizza. ‘Are you serious? What can you eat there, Miss Vegan-two-shoes?’
‘I’m thinking about red meat,’ Bess said, envisioning Logan Harris bringing her a juicy steak on a sizzling platter.
We had an uneventful night. No spirits rattling chains or moaning in the hallways. Basically, no sign of ‘Daddy’ at all. Well, maybe not exactly uneventful. It was our anniversary, after all.
In the morning we headed downstairs, following the smell of coffee. Miss Hutchins was in the dining room, a carafe of coffee in her good hand.
‘Good morning!’ she said cheerfully.
I tried to be as cheerful in returning her greeting, but I really don’t do cheerful – or human – until after at least my first cup of coffee.
‘It’s so nice to have guests again!’ Miss Hutchins chirped. ‘I’d been so happy here with all my guests to talk to!’ The smile disappeared. ‘That is, until Daddy came back, of course.’ Then the smile reappeared. ‘I hope you slept well.’
‘Just fine,’ Willis said, sitting down and reaching for a cup that he stuck out to Miss Hutchins. She filled it. I immediately followed my husband’s lead.
‘There is breakfast on the buffet behind you and I’ll just refill the coffee and be right back!’ she said with a smile, and scurried off.
After several sips of coffee I was human enough to get up and check out the buffet. Looking at the offerings thereon, I had to assume that Miss Hutchins had been up since the crack of dawn preparing it all. Obviously homemade biscuits, sausage gravy, rashers of bacon and links of sausage, scrambled eggs, hash browns and what looked like homemade preserves. I’ve been to my share of B&Bs, and the usual second ‘B’ encompassed store-bought doughnuts, a bowl of grocery store cut fruit and weak coffee. I figured, Daddy or no Daddy, this was my kind of place. But in deference to my new body, I only had a little of everything. No, really.
After breakfast Willis and I set out to explore the little town of Peaceful. Main Street was where it was happening, so we headed in that direction. It was a beautiful day for a walk – the sun was out and not yet too hot, and the earlier spring rains had helped to make the entire town look greener. Main Street itself had large planters, one at each intersection (there were three intersections – you do the math), filled with all sorts of colorful flowers. The cisterns were artfully decorated and their small square footage was used to the best advantage possible. Some were filled with crap straight from China, others with local-made crafts, and others with antiques. The bigger antique shops were full of junk, most of which I wanted desperately. I’d given myself a budget for the weekend of two hundred dollars to spend on ‘stuff.’ With the cistern shops and the antique shops, I’d only hit three hundred by the time we stopped for lunch. We found a little bistro and settled in. Inevitably, the conversation turned to Miss Hutchins and her daddy.
‘I think we’ve established that even if there are such things as ghosts, which we both doubt—’ I started.
‘Indubitably,’ Willis said.
I rolled my eyes. ‘Ghosts are not known for wielding weapons such as knives. Therefore, someone other than Miss Hutchins’ father killed her mother.’
‘Agreed.’
‘Who?’ I asked.
Willis shrugged. ‘I have no idea. We don’t know anything about the rest of her family, or other players that might have been around back then.’
‘You think we should ask her?’
It was Willis’s turn for the old eye roll. ‘Here you go again, getting involved,’ he said.
‘What?’ I said. ‘I’m not doing anything!’
‘Yeah, but you’re intrigued. I can see it in your eyes, not to mention you’re actually talking about it.’
‘OK, never mind. You’re right. It’s our anniversary. What do we care if the old lady loses her family home because of someone playing pranks?’
‘We don’t know anyone’s playing pranks!’ Willis said. ‘For all we know, she’s lost customers because it’s a lousy B&B.’
‘When she serves breakfasts like that?’ I asked, wide-eyed. ‘I seriously doubt it!’
‘Maybe she sleepwalks at night and the word got around.’
‘Maybe you’re full of it,’ I suggested.
Willis sighed. ‘OK. Let’s ask her why people stopped coming. What it was “Daddy” did that made people run off.’
Inwardly I grinned; outwardly I just nodded my head sagely. ‘I think we can do that.’ Inwardly I also knew that Willis was beginning to enjoy the chase as much as I did.
When we returned to Bishop’s Inn, Miss Hutchins was busy puttering around the living room, straightening things that already looked straight, fluffing pillows that were already fluffed, etc.
‘May we join you?’ I asked as we entered the room.
‘Oh, my, yes!’ she said, smiling joyfully. ‘Please, sit! Mr Pugh, you take this chair,’ she said, pointing to a very old barrel-shaped easy chair that had obviously been recovered at least once in its history. The latest upholstery was a tapestry of books and reading accoutrement, such as reading glasses, a fireplace and a sleeping dog. It had a matching ottoman. ‘This was Daddy’s chair. I’m not sure if he sits in it when he comes back, but I like to think he’s grateful I kept it for him.’
Willis took the easy chair and I sank down on the camel-backed sofa. ‘Speaking of your father,’ I started, ‘what did he do to drive away your customers?’
‘Oh, this and that,’ Miss Hutchins said, sitting down next to me. ‘He started screaming one night, which ran off two couples who were staying here. They just packed up in the middle of the night and left. Then there was the destruction of those suitcases that time.’
‘Tell me about that,’ I said.
‘Well, I had this lovely older couple staying with me. Gladys and Herman. Such nice people. The second day they were here, in the morning, they woke up to find their suitcases had been slashed with a knife and their belongings scattered all around – even some of Gladys’s unmentionables hanging from the light fixture! Needless to say, they were very upset and I had to supply them with paper bags for their belongings so they could leave immediately.’ She shook her head sadly. ‘I didn’t dare ask them to pay for that one night. I mean, that would have just been tacky.’
I nodded my head. Tacky for sure. And a knife again. Were Willis and I wrong about spirits being unable to wield weapons? What did either of us know about ghosts and spirits and other things that go bump in the night? Not a damn thing. But I couldn’t help feeling there was a live human hand at work here.
Before I could ask any more questions, the front door opened with a quick knock and two people stood in the foyer.
‘Oh, goodness!’ Miss Hutchins said, standing up. ‘I wonder who that could be?’ She moved into the foyer, with Willis and me not far behind.
‘Hello!’ Miss Hutchins chirped. ‘May I help you?’
I realized I was staring and quickly looked down at my shoes. I always wondered about people who go out of their way to make themselves look as different as possible then get insulted when other people look too long. The man was short, maybe five foot five at the most. His hair was orange and styled in a faux-hawk, his nose, lip and ears were pierced, and there were tats covering all his exposed flesh. The woman was much taller than him, maybe my height (that’s five feet and all eleven inches) or even taller, and weighed considerably more than was necessary. Her hair was jet black, shaved on one side and hanging long and loose on the other. She wore a shear chiffon dress, floating and billowing about her, over what appeared to be long johns, with a knitted poncho covering the top and more scarves than I’ve ever seen on one person. She had similar tats and piercings.
Ignoring Miss Hutchins’ greeting, the female of the couple said, in a Minnie Mouse-ish voice, ‘I feel it, Humphrey. I can feel it! It’s so strong!’
Humphrey, whom I assumed was the man with her, said, ‘I knew it! This is great!’
‘Excuse me,’ Miss Hutchins said. ‘May I help you?’
‘Miss Hutchins, right?’ Humphrey said, grabbing her hand and shaking it like one would shake a pitcher of martinis. ‘Humphrey Hammerschultz, I made the reservations.’
‘You did?’ Miss Hutchins asked.
‘Last week. Do you have a problem with your memory? A lot of people as old as you do, you know, but it’s not an issue. We made a reservation. This is my partner, Diamond Lovesy.’
‘Reservation?’ Miss Hutchins said, stiffening at the implied insult.
‘Yes,’ Humphrey said, leaning closer to her, speaking loudly and slowly. ‘We made a reservation for two rooms – one for Diamond and one for myself.’
‘We’re not a couple,’ Diamond said, looking at Willis and me and smiling.
I nodded my head, but my husband opted not to acknowledge the new people at all.
‘We’re psychic investigators,’ Humphrey said to Willis and me. ‘Or if you prefer, paranormal detectives!’ He smiled widely. ‘Diamond is a medium.’
Miss Hutchins turned to me. ‘What are they saying?’ she asked, quite anxious.
‘I called last week!
’ Humphrey screamed at her.
‘We were told we could come investigate the things that have been happening here!
’