The Ghostly Hideaway by Doris Hale Sanders Read Free Book Online Page B

parents from across the hall and they had come in to
discover the disarray, also. After discussing the phenomenon most
of the day, they were no closer to solving the mystery than they
had been in the morning.
    That evening after supper, they had brought out the
journal and were about to begin reading another segment of it when
a knock sounded on the front door. They weren’t sure whether to
answer it. They wondered if someone was, in reality, at the door or
if it was another paranormal event. Ed went to check, however, and
found the County Sheriff waiting there. Ed invited the sheriff into
the living room and introduced his family.
    “I don't want to trouble you," Sheriff Lampton said
as he took the chair Ed offered, "and I’m sure Mr. Coy has already
retired for the night; but seeing the lights on and the
improvements that have been made, I was sure there must be someone
else here. Cliff hasn’t been able to fix things around here for
several years. You said your name is Penny. I’m sure that means
you’re their niece, Penelope. I’m truly glad there’s someone here
to look after him and his place. Is he as well as usual, do you
think?”
    “As a matter of fact, Sheriff, we haven’t seen him
since our arrival a few weeks ago. It was raining extremely hard
when we got here and after knocking several times with no answer,
we found the back door unlatched and just came on in. We could see
lights that had been left on in the house, and we assumed he would
be home soon. When he still didn’t come in after some time had
elapsed, we thought he might be visiting a neighbor, or perhaps in
the hospital or something similar and we had no idea where to begin
to look. We weren’t even sure where the nearest hospital is or even
the nearest town. We had become completely disoriented on our way
here in the pouring rain. We had never been here before and we
weren’t even sure we had found the right place." Ed had made the
best scenario he knew how to make and still be honest.
    “When he still wasn’t here after a week, we began
reading Uncle Cliff’s journal thinking it might give us a clue as
to his whereabouts. As we understand from reading it, his biggest
concern was the death of his wife, Aunt Lorraine. He seemed
terribly distraught still over losing her." Penny didn’t see that
it should be necessary to tell anyone that she had only recently
realized that it truly had been the home of her relatives.
    “As far as anyone in town knows, Penelope is Cliff’s
only living relative; she and her family, of course. Sheriff
Lampton inclined his head toward Penny and got up preparatory to
leaving.
    “Sheriff, could you tell us the best way to get to
town for some supplies? There are a few things that we are
beginning to need very badly." Ed tried to make sure he didn’t
leave the same impression he’d had on Mrs. Thorne.
    Sheriff Lampton explained the best way to get to
Fordsville.
    “Do you think we should start a search party to see
if he is around here, maybe at a neighbor’s? We also wondered if he
might be in the hospital or something.”
    Sheriff Lampton suggested that he do some checking
back in town and if they had no word about him or from him in the
next few days, they would indeed need to make a search of the local
area. The sheriff said his goodbyes and went on his way back down
the muddy road.
    A couple of days later, Chrissy heard someone
whistling out about the storage shed. She stepped out on the back
porch to see if what she had heard was spirit or flesh and saw a
young man who looked to be in his mid-twenties with a beautiful
golden retriever at his heels. He was undoubtedly the best-looking
‘ghost’ she had ever seen in the almost nineteen years of her life.
When he removed his cap as a form of respect, she could see that
his hair was an almost fiery red and the freckles on his face tried
unsuccessfully to hide the deep, deep dimples in each cheek. As
fate would have it, her parents had made the trek