The Haunted Halls by Glenn Rolfe Read Free Book Online Page B

find one thing to complain about. Everything had been perfect. The breakfast was terrific (bacon and eggs). The indoor pool was 9-feet-deep, had a diving board and two Jacuzzi’s to boot. The inn, which seemed empty when he arrived on Thursday morning, was now crawling with beautiful college girls, and unfortunately, their parents. According to the cute young girl at the front desk, this was a parent’s weekend for the nearby college. The sights around the pool the night before were unbelievable. Blondes, brunettes, red heads, and even a punker girl with blue hair, all hanging out around the crystal clear water, wet from head to toe and showing off their nubile bodies in bikinis and hot shorts. He couldn’t believe his luck. Timing is everything.
    He strode into the lobby clad in a midnight blue dress shirt, a Henry Jacobson black and white striped tie, and a pair of skinny jeans, armed with a case of Maine’s best beer, Shipyard Summer Ale.  There were two dark-haired girls who could have passed as sisters watching him. He smiled behind his shades. They smiled back, the taller one on the left giving him a quick wave. This is going to be a great weekend .
    He got into his room, unloaded the beers in his fridge, and flipped on HBO.
    There had been one girl last night at the pool with long, dark curly hair, swimming around in a silver two piece bikini that was barely big enough to hold her in place. She’d made eye contact with him numerous times, but seemed to stay in the pool forever. By the time he finally gathered the balls to get into the pool and talk to her, she was gone. He hadn’t seen her leave, but figured she must have slipped away while he was busy gawking at the plethora of other beauties. Still, she was all he’d been able to think about since. Something about her seemed familiar, but he couldn’t quite figure that one out. Whether it was that she looked like someone else, maybe a celebrity or something, or whatever, he felt drawn to her.
    Timothy sat back, killing time watching a showing of The Departed while he waited for the evening to come on. Hope whispered in his mind of getting another crack at the beautiful mermaid from the pool.
     

 
    Chapter Ten
     
    Kurt Costello watched the elderly couple from room 106 pouring themselves tea at the coffee station off to the right of the front desk. Something about them seemed off to him. He couldn’t really explain why he thought this. Maybe he was just projecting his own state of disenchantment. His date last night with Rhiannon had not gone as well as he’d hoped. The movie had been great, but she had been distant, just out of his reach the whole evening. He couldn’t shake the feeling that their date would be a one-time gig. Sure enough, she called out of work today, leaving him flying solo for the Saturday afternoon shift. Jeff, the night audit guy, was sleeping upstairs. He’d told Kurt to call his room if it got too busy. Things were quiet at the moment, but there was a strange currency flowing through the fading rays of the sun-brightened lobby.
    Stepping out from behind the front desk, Kurt watched the elderly couple shuffle back down the first floor corridor. As their cup-free hands reached for each other, a small bit of warmth penetrated Kurt’s somber vibe at this ancient display of affection. He watched as they came to a sudden halt halfway down the hall. The old woman with the long gray pony tail hanging down over her worn-out pink cotton sweater turned her face back in his direction. He could sense, more than see, a blackness reaching out for him from behind her eyes. His stomach tensed. Bile rose in his throat, making its way to his mouth. Engulfed by a sick flash of terror, he cupped a hand to his lips and rushed to the employee restroom in the back office.
     
    The little old lady’s wicked smile faded. She wasn’t sure why she had stopped here. Their room was two doors down. She glanced past her husband, Harold, through the glass