Haunting Danielle 27 The Ghost and the Mountain Man Bobbi Holmes (best pdf ebook reader for android .TXT) 📖

fell. Which is possible if she’s moving things around, and if she hit her head, she could be unconscious.”

“Then I should go with you.”

Walt let out a sigh and said, “Please just stay here in case it’s something else. Humor me.”

“Okay,” Danielle reluctantly agreed. She pulled her phone from her purse. “I’m going to call for help if we need it.”

Walt gave her a nod and continued down the hallway. Danielle remained standing in the entry hall, not far from the open doorway.

“Ginny?” Walt called out. “It’s Walt Marlow. Is everything okay?”

Danielle didn’t hear a response to Walt’s question, and she could no longer see him. She glanced back to the open door, the afternoon sunshine streaming in. To her right was the archway leading to the living room, to her left the open doorway leading to the study. Next to it was another door, which Danielle assumed was the coat closet.

Danielle anxiously waited for Walt. A loud crashing sound coming from the back of the house startled her. Before she had time to respond, the door she assumed led to the coat closet flew open, and standing in its doorway stood Cory, an ax dangling from his right hand.

He grinned at her. “Hello.” He stood in what looked like the entrance to the basement. Danielle had been wrong. The door led to the basement, not a coat closet.

Her eyes fixed on the ax. Something red covered its blade. Blood?

“Are you alone?” Cory asked.

Danielle inched away, her back hitting the wall. She froze, her eyes still on the ax.

“She said your husband was coming,” Cory said.

Danielle licked her lips nervously and then looked from the ax to the front door. A part of her wanted to run for it, while another part did not want to abandon Walt and have him stumble into Cory without warning. She looked back at the ax. But where was Walt? she wondered. And what was that crashing sound?

Cory laughed, and Danielle’s eyes flashed up to his face. He waved the ax and said, “The way you keep staring at this, I have to wonder if you think I’m going to use it on you.” He laughed again. “But don’t worry, it’s duller than dull.” He tossed the ax aside and said, “But I guess I could still use it to smash open your noggin.” He laughed again.

Danielle stared at Cory, uncertain what to say, when Walt came walking down the hallway. He didn’t immediately see Cory, who continued to stand in the doorway leading to the basement, out of Walt’s view.

“I couldn’t find her,” Walt said.

“Oh, your husband came with you,” Cory said, stepping into the hallway. His sudden appearance brought Walt to an abrupt halt.

“Where did you come from?” Walt demanded.

“I was in the basement,” Cory said. “Ginny told me to leave the front door open for you, said you might get here before she returned.”

“Where is Ginny?” Danielle asked, her heart no longer racing.

“She’s at the store, buying drain cleaner. If you have to use the bathroom, don’t use the first one down the hall. The sink is backed up,” Cory explained. He turned around and picked up the ax.

“What are you doing with that?” Walt asked.

Cory looked at the ax in his hand and smiled. “I was looking for a plunger; I saw its handle and thought that’s what this was. I’d just picked it up when I heard something upstairs. Ginny said you were coming over. Forgot I was holding it when I saw your wife. I’m afraid it might have scared her.” He giggled.

“What’s that red on the blade?” Walt asked.

Cory touched the blade with one finger and wrinkled his nose. “Looks like paint. At first I thought it was blood.” He laughed again.

“I’m afraid I knocked over some boxes when I walked into the kitchen. I don’t think I broke anything,” Walt said.

Cory shrugged. “No problem. I put those boxes there. Those are some things Ginny thought you might be interested in. Come on, I’ll show you.”

Ax in hand, Cory started down the hallway, walking past Walt. Walt and Danielle exchanged glances. Halfway down the hallway, Cory stopped and opened a door, which, unlike the first door he had stepped from, did lead to a closet. He set the ax in the closet and then closed the door. “I’ll take that back to the basement later,” he mumbled and then continued down the hall. Walt and Danielle again exchanged glances before silently following.

Danielle stood by the refrigerator and watched as Cory and Walt straightened the boxes, returning some items that had fallen onto the floor.

She silently watched, studying Cory’s face and asking herself why he looked familiar. It was possible she had run into him around town, or perhaps he had shown up at one of the events she had hosted at Marlow House. She was about to ask him if he had attended any when she remembered Ginny had introduced him as Cory Jones at the museum. Recognition dawned.

“Are you related to Bill Jones?” Danielle asked. Bill Jones was the handyman who worked for Adam Nichols. When she had first moved to Frederickport, Bill and Adam had broken into Marlow House, searching for the Missing Thorndike. But they had put all that behind them, and she now considered Adam a close friend. While she didn’t think of Bill as a friend, she trusted him enough to hire him for work around Marlow House. Cory looked like a younger version of Bill.

Cory looked up to Danielle and asked, “You know my uncle?”

“Yes. So you are related to Bill,” Danielle said. “I definitely see the family resemblance.”

Walt, who had not been paying attention to the conversation, had instead been picking through some photographs in one box. He pulled out a photo and said, “Here’s a picture of Bud.”

Cory looked curiously at Walt. “You know who Bud was?”

“I know he was a good friend of Alex Marlow, one of my distant cousins,” Walt said.

“They say he disappeared. Some