House of Dark Shadows by Robert Liparulo Read Free Book Online

Could Dad have been looking at the wrong property listing ? he wondered. If so, how had they found the house?
    Another thought occurred to him, and it chilled his skin. What if the house’s power was so strong it made Dad see something on the page that wasn’t there? Or maybe it had even changed the page after getting them there.
    That’s called paranoia, Xander thought. Stop it!
    He crunched the paper back into a ball. He tossed it into a wastebasket by the desk.
    â€œThere’s nothing here. I’m sorry,” Kathy Bates said. Then something dawned on her. “You’re talking about the old Konig place!”
    â€œKonig?” his father said. He glanced at Xander.
    â€œThat ol’ rundown place?” she laughed. “I didn’t know it was for sale. Was there a sign?”
    â€œNo, but . . .”
    Xander said, “There was a property listing.”
    â€œReally?” She squinted at him as though he had just said his name was Johnny Depp.
    â€œOff the Internet,” his father said. “I think it was your Web site.”
    She shook her head. “Not mine. Not if that property was listed. But then we all share the same listing service, so I don’t know . . .”
    â€œIs it for sale?” Dad asked.
    She laughed. “Well, my daddy used to say everything is for sale. Let me look into it.” She looked at Xander, then back to Dad. “It’s pretty rundown, you know. Nobody’s lived there for . . . I don’t know, thirty or forty years. Way before my time.” She leaned over her desk—as much as she possibly could—and whispered, “The man who lived there . . .” She looked again at Xander. “Well, I shouldn’t say.”
    Dad turned to leave.
    Xander knew he had no patience for rumors. Xander had no such qualms. He said, “What about him, the man who used to live there?”
    Happy to have Xander’s ear, she said, “They say he killed his wife.”
    Xander took a step back. He threw a shocked expression at Dad, who had turned back, interested.
    â€œSchoolteacher. Just disappeared. After the authorities started asking questions, the man and the rest of his family vanished.”
    â€œFamily?” Xander said.
    â€œLittle boy and girl. I don’t know how old. Sweetest family in the world, if you listen to the old folks around here.”
    Xander was stunned. “And nobody knows what happened to them?”
    â€œSome say they high-tailed it to Europe.” She raised her eyebrows at him. “Most believe he took them somewhere and killed them. Then took his own life.”
    Dad forced a smile. “Just old rumors,” he said. “Thank you for looking into this for us. I’ll be back.” He strode for the door.
    Xander’s feet felt like cement. He didn’t like that a house he already thought had problems also had a gruesome history. He knew it shouldn’t have surprised him. Every haunted house in every movie he had ever seen got that way by some tragic event in the past. He wanted to ask the woman what else she knew, but his dad had already pushed through the door. He nodded at her inquisitive look and hustled to catch up.

CHAPTER

twelve
    MONDAY, 11:27 P.M.
    â€œIt is haunted.”
    Night again. The same swath of lamplight stole through the curtains. The same parental breathing. That tick tick tick lip sound.
    â€œWhat do you mean?” David squirmed under the covers.
    â€œThat toy you found? The lightsaber? It belonged to a little boy. His father killed the whole family.”
    David’s eyes got huge, then flickered as he thought about that.
    â€œIt’s like The Shining ,” Xander continued. “The hotel drove the dad crazy.”
    â€œHow do you know?”
    â€œI saw the movie.”
    â€œNo. How do you know about the family, the dad who killed them?”
    â€œThe real estate lady told us. They never found any of