Spackled and Spooked by Jennie Bentley Read Free Book Online

rolled up to show muscular forearms.
    “Ricky, this is Derek and Avery,” Shannon said, sliding into the booth next to Josh. Ricky nodded shyly, a pair of bright blue eyes peering out at us through curtains of dark hair. “Ricky Swanson, you two. You remember Paige, of course.”
    I nodded. “Hi, Paige. I haven’t seen you in a while.”
    “I’ve been busy,” Paige murmured, with a surreptitious glance at Ricky.
    “So what are you two doing out this way?” Josh wanted to know. “Not exactly your usual haunt, is it?”
    “So far from the bright lights of downtown Waterfield, you mean?” Derek grinned.
    I snorted, and he put an arm around my shoulders and laughed. Waterfield is a very small, sleepy town, with no bright lights to speak of. No nightlife beyond the Shamrock and places like Guido’s, and very little excitement. Melissa James was doing her best to change that, with her petitions to the city council and zoning board to be allowed to develop more land, build more houses, and bring in more business, but Waterfield still clung to its small-town atmosphere. When I first moved here from Manhattan, I thought it was the slowest, most somnolent, boring place on the face of the earth. Now that I’d been here a while, I’d developed an appreciation for the slow pace and friendly folks, although it must be said that I hadn’t tried to stay through a winter yet. Derek had warned me that the downeast winters could be brutal, and I’ll readily admit I wasn’t looking forward to it.
    I turned to Ricky. “Did you grow up around here?”
    “Pittsburgh,” Ricky said.
    “He transferred in at the beginning of the semester,” Paige explained. “Professor Alexander asked Josh to show him around.”
    I guess she was trying to explain what he was doing with their tight-knit little threesome.
    “Oh. Too bad. I hoped you might be able to tell me whether there’s any truth to the rumors that the house on Becklea is haunted.” I tried to make it sound like I didn’t care much, but I didn’t succeed very well.
    Josh replied for the group. “We were very small when the murders happened, Avery. Shannon wasn’t here yet. And I don’t remember hearing anything about ghosts when I was growing up. You, Paige?” He looked over at Paige, who shook her head. “By the time we got to high school, though, some of the older kids would dare each other to go over there and spend the night.”
    “Really?” I said. Ricky ducked his head for a sip of Coke. Derek and I still hadn’t gotten our drinks. I guess maybe our change of tables had flummoxed the nubile Candy, and she was wandering around looking for us. “That’s a dare I don’t think I’d take. We met one of the neighbors, and he said he hears . . . um . . . noises at night.”
    “Noises?” Shannon repeated. Ricky peered sideways at me through his curtains of hair.
    “Screams,” I said succinctly, and then changed the subject, looking around. “Do you suppose Candy is lost? I want my Diet Coke.”
    “I’ll go look for her,” Shannon said readily, getting up. I opened my mouth to argue—I was sitting on the end and could just as easily do it; in fact, it was part of the reason I had suggested it—but she added, “You’re not familiar with this place, Avery. Just let me find her, OK? I have something to say to Candy anyway.”
    “Sure,” I said, sinking back down. It was a small cinderblock building, no likelihood of my getting lost, but if Shannon wanted to talk to Candy, she was welcome to.
    “Screams?” Josh repeated when Shannon had walked away and he could no longer see her.
    So much for changing the subject. I sighed. Derek nodded. “We think maybe he heard the hinges on the basement door. It sounds like a cat in heat.”
    “And I heard footsteps this afternoon,” I added. “When nobody was there.”
    “Cool!” Josh said. “Can we check it out sometime?”
    “How are you with a palm sander?” Derek answered. Josh was in the midst of