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at her. "Is it something I have done?"
"No, you've been just fine, Mr. Pinson." She still was not volunteering anything.
"The children? Did they misbehave?"
"No, nothing like that. You're a nice family. I just have to go."
Josh went inside, set down his suitcase, and dug out his checkbook. Everything seemed to be in order. He
returned outside and made out the check. "Look there has to be some reason. I thought you were
working out well here. I have certainly been satisfied, and if there is anything I have said that suggested
otherwise "
"I said you're fine, Mr. Pinson."
"Then I think you owe it to me at least to tell me what bothers you."
She sighed. "I'd better tell you, Mr. Pinson. It's only fair. You'll think I'm crazy, and maybe I am, but "
She shrugged.
Josh began to have a premonition. He was tired from his trip and realized he hadn't been fast on the
uptake. "The house something about the house?"
"In a way. Mr. Pinson, remember when I said I'd believe in ghosts when I saw one? Well, I saw one."
"Some trick of the light? I doubt "
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"This morning, in daylight. A woman in the kitchen and when I hailed her, she just she was gone!"
"A woman," Josh repeated. "Maybe a neighbor?" Yet the only neighboring female to come on the
property was Pip the horsewoman, and she would not enter the house uninvited. "You're sure she wasn't
outside, with the animals?"
"Quite sure. She wasn't even dressed for outdoors. Young, pretty, but not dressed. And I swear she just
faded out like smoke, not ten feet from me. Two days ago I heard the phantom train. Yesterday the dogs
treed me upstairs; something was in those animals, something that didn't like me. Today I saw a ghost. I
don't know if it's me or the house but Mr. Pinson, I've got to get out of here. It's not your fault at all. I
like this job. I just have to go."
There was no arguing with superstition. "I understand. I'm sorry to lose you, Mrs. Brown, but I can't tell
you that you didn't see what you saw. If you should change your mind "
"I'm better off somewhere else." She went to her car. "I'm sorry, Mr. Pinson. I really am."
"I'm sorry too." Josh watched her drive away. No, he couldn't blame her. The stories about this place had
gotten to her. Maybe Old Man Foster had spun her a lurid tale.
Josh had hardly started to unpack before Foster arrived. Think of the devil! Josh was tired, and uneasy
about Mrs. Brown's abrupt departure; but he had to be polite. He went out to meet Foster. "Something
up?"
"I seen Brown zoom by like a bat out of hell," Foster said with grim relish. "You fire her?"
"Of course not! Why should I fire her?"
"After the way she goofed off yesterday, sleeping upstairs instead of working."
"I didn't require her to work all the time! She was just here to keep the house in order and take care of the
children." Then a tangent question occurred. "How did you know she was sleeping?"
"I came by, same's I always do. Knocked, and them dogs went crazy, but she never answered. Then your
kids said she'd blocked off the stair with all them boxes so she could sleep in peace. Didn't you know
about that?"
"I just got back. She told me the dogs had I believe her expression was they had treed her."
"Them harmless mutts?" Foster asked derisively.
"Pharaoh is not harmless. He'll attack any other animal, and sometimes a person. Nefertiti sometimes
follows his lead. I can understand how Mrs. Brown could get concerned."
"Same's Rooster Cockburn. That ol' bird goes after anything."
"Rooster Cockburn? Apt name. I know how he is. I met him the other day."
"He's been here? I've lost him. Been looking all over."
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"Why not let the ornery bird go?"
"Well, I let him be for a long time. Us tough old birds got to stick together, you know. But when he starts
wandering, the neighbors start complaining. He speared a child yesterday; hand all bleeding, looked like
a piece of shrapnel had hit that kid. So I got to put him away before the sheriff puts me away, don't you
know."
"I see. So that's why you're out today."
"Yep. If you see Cockburn, give a holler. I'm going to make gristle soup out of him, more's the pity. Don't
want him going after one of your kids."
"I'll call you if I see him here. What's your phone number?"
"No phone. Just send a kid to yell. I'll hear. So why'd she leave?" Foster asked abruptly, and Josh realized
that curiosity had inspired Foster's visit as much as the business of the bird.
"She saw a ghost," Josh said with a straight face.
"That so? Which one?"
"A woman." Josh wasn't certain how seriously to take this.
"Must be that high school girl got raped here three years back. They say her ghost comes back under the
tree and gets raped again. Funny thing " He broke off.
"Funny?" Josh prompted, finding this story unfunny.
"Sure. Because she ain't dead. You ever hear the like? Her ghost comes back, but she's alive. She moved
out of town, of course, but " He shrugged.
The ghost of a living woman? "This ghost was a woman in the kitchen."
"Couldn't be. Weren't no house here when she got it. Man ran her down under the tree " Foster broke
off again, brightening. "Maybe it's still okay. Ghost is just where she always was, only the house was
built around the spot."
"I had the impression this one was standing by the sink, not alarmed. Since the floor is above ground
level "
"Must be some other ghost, then."
Josh chuckled. "That must be it."
Old Man Foster toddled off. Josh went inside again. The dogs were glad to see him all over again, though
he had been gone only a few minutes. They had driven Mrs. Brown upstairs? It must have been mostly
her imagination. Dogs could be sensitive to human reactions. But she had seen a ghost in broad daylight.
Perhaps there was an unstable streak in her. So Mrs. Brown's departure might after all have been for the
best. But this was an uncertain conclusion.
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r r
Now he unpacked the six gold coins. He had had them checked by a reputable numismatist, who had
informed him that each coin contained approximately 1.2 ounces of virtually pure gold worth several
hundred dollars on the present bullion market; that these were not in good condition, but their special
numismatic value would be much greater than that of their gold content alone.
Josh, taken aback, had decided not to market the coins. They were really part of Elijah's estate, and
should be kept with it until settlement. But how had Elijah acquired them, and why had he hidden several
thousand dollars worth of coins so carelessly? This find suggested that the man, whether sane or
deranged, had had a good deal of money that the estate lawyer did not know about. Of course Old Man
Foster had said Elijah avoided bankers. Still He heard the distant roar of the school bus. He put away [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]