Haunting Danielle 27 The Ghost and the Mountain Man by Bobbi Holmes (great novels to read TXT) 📕

Kelly shrugged and said, “We’ve been together for over three years, and you never really talked about marriage before. And I was the one who first suggested us moving in together.”

Joe let out a sigh and pulled Kelly back closer to him. “It’s what I was talking about. I was comfortable.”

Leaning against Joe, Kelly said, “I don’t understand.”

“I was comfortable with our relationship. Comfortable living together. Real comfortable. And I was afraid I might get too comfortable, and I might decide I want nothing to mess up what we have.”

“You think kids will mess up what we have?” Kelly asked.

Joe shrugged. “It will change things.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Finally, Kelly said, “I ran into Heather at the grocery store.”

“And?”

“She knows I talked to Lily and Ian about her babysitting.”

“They told her?” Joe asked.

“She said they didn’t. I assume Lily said something to Danielle, who told Heather,” Kelly said.

“Was she mad?”

“Actually, no. She said she understood and that if the situation were reversed, she would probably feel the same way.”

“Really?”

“And you know what else?”

“What?”

“If Heather had wanted to hit Ginny, she could have.”

Thirty-Three

Stretched out leisurely on the tree branch, his tail swishing back and forth, Max the cat looked down at Sadie, who raced across the side yard of Marlow House in eager pursuit of the tennis ball Walt had just pitched. Max didn’t get it. What was this fascination dogs had with balls? Yarn he understood—but a ball? And to make it more perplexing, once Sadie caught that ball, she would give it back to Walt. Why? What was the point? If Max ever managed to snag the yarn, he certainly wasn’t going to drop it at Walt’s feet. After all, it wasn’t a dead mouse.

He looked toward the house and spied Lily sitting with Danielle, chatting. With a yawn, he closed his eyes and rested his head on the branch for a nap.

“Maybe Caitlin moved on,” Lily suggested after Danielle told her how Marie and Eva had gone over to Ginny’s the night before but hadn’t found the restless spirit.

“I suppose it’s possible, but considering her tantrum at the museum, I suspect she wandered off somewhere else. I don’t see her moving to the other side in her state.”

“Maybe she stayed at the museum?” Lily suggested.

“Eva wondered that too. They headed over there after leaving Ginny’s but couldn’t find her,” Danielle said. “Plus, Eva had stopped by the museum after Caitlin’s outburst and hadn’t seen her. Of course, at the time she wasn’t aware of what had happened at the museum earlier that day.”

Lily glanced out at the yard and watched Walt and Sadie. “I’m not sure who’s enjoying that more. Walt or Sadie?”

“Good exercise,” Danielle said as she sipped her tea.

“Now I feel guilty just sitting here,” Lily grumbled.

“Meh, you get plenty of exercise running around after Connor.”

“I keep waiting for you to join me,” Lily said with a grin.

“We are trying. Walt is especially enthusiastic about the project.”

Lily laughed and said, “He always was a good sport.”

Danielle giggled.

Lily picked up her tea and asked, “So you guys going up there tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Walt wanted to go today, but Brian has to work this afternoon. I really don’t want Walt wandering around in the mountains and getting lost again. I suppose we could get Marie or Eva to go with him, but if they want to find the spot where they first ran into Bud, it’ll be easier having Brian and Heather there. Together they should be able to find it.”

“What does he hope to accomplish?” Lily asked.

“It’s about Bud’s accusations regarding Walt’s father. It’s bad enough for Walt to learn his parents were probably murdered. Murdered by someone they considered a close family friend. Now, another close friend is accusing Walt’s father of murder. But we don’t see how that is possible. Even if Bud didn’t die in the mountains, someone obviously buried him up there, if he’s right about finding his body. We need a better understanding of the timeline. If Bud talked to Teddy hours before Walt saw him at Marlow House, there was no way Alex had time to kill Bud, take his body to the mountains, bury him, and get back to Teddy’s house. It took hours to get from Frederickport to where Bud was by horseback.”

“I still don’t understand. Why did Teddy murder Walt’s parents? Assuming he did,” Lily asked.

“Bud told Walt that when he found out about Teddy’s girlfriend, he discussed it with Alex, and they decided what to do about it. Yet Bud claims that instead of doing whatever that was, Alex murdered Bud.”

“What did they decide?” Lily asked.

“Bud left before he could explain. But Walt’s sure it has something to do with his father saying he was going to bring Maddie back with him and Anna to Marlow House the night of the fire.”

“I’m sorry, Dani,” Lily said.

“We need clarity on the timeline and on what Bud thinks he knows.”

Danielle’s cellphone rang. She picked it up and answered it. A moment later she hung up and told Lily, “That was Millie Samson. She wanted to let me know the newspapers arrived yesterday, and they’ll be on display today, if I wanted to come down and look at them.”

“I knew how anxious you were to see those newspapers,” Millie told Walt and Danielle as she led them to the far end of the exhibit room on Saturday afternoon. “We’re so excited to have a complete collection of the Frederickport Press. And the Glandon Foundation paid to have them digitalized, so if something were to happen, like another fire, God forbid, they won’t be lost.”

“Heather mentioned that,” Danielle said.

“Oh, Heather, did you hear?” Millie asked. “Not that I’ve been telling people, but I know you and Heather are friends.”

“I assume you’re referring to the incident between Heather and Ginny,” Danielle said.

Now standing by the table with the newspapers, Millie shook