Yuletide Peril Read online

  Henrietta and Cecil arrived at the same time. Brooke took their coats and Janice placed Henrietta’s pan of tempting rolls on the kitchen table.

  Cecil whistled “Silent Night” as he and Henrietta took a tour of the downstairs. Henrietta hadn’t been at Mountjoy for a few weeks and Cecil hadn’t visited since he’d finished the repair work.

  “I can’t believe how much you’ve done to this house in four months,” Henrietta said. She fished a handkerchief out of her pocket and wiped her eyes. “John would be proud of you, Janice.”

  “I’m anxious to get the upstairs rooms looking this way,” Janice said, “but my next project is to have the outside painted. I intend to work extra hours at the store all winter to save enough money to pay for it when you start in the spring, Cecil.”

  “Where’d your pretty poinsettia come from?” Henrietta asked, peering at the large floral arrangement on the library table in the living room.

  “From Mr. Santrock and his secretary. He brought it yesterday and asked for a tour of the house. He seemed amazed at the change in Mountjoy. He admitted that I’d made the right decision to renovate the house.”

  In the dining room, she pointed out the nativity scene. “Lance gave this to me. He’d bought it when he went to Israel. He decided this sideboard was the place for it.”

  “I agree,” Henrietta said, with a sidelong glance at Janice, who sensed that her color had risen.

  The minute he spoke to Janice, Lance realized that something was wrong. She wasn’t the same as she’d been when he’d said good-night to her last night after the Christmas Eve service. It amazed him that he was so attuned to her thoughts and expressions that he knew instinctively when she was distressed. But she must have hidden her feelings from everyone else, because there was a lot of happy chatter as Janice served the meal. Her preparations had gone well, except the cranberry salad hadn’t jelled, but the guests joked about Janice’s embarrassment and ate their salad with spoons.

  After dessert, Brooke and Taylor went to the living room to watch a video, and the adults sat around the table, relaxing and enjoying a cup of coffee or tea, according to their preference.

  “So now you’ve added entertaining to your other accomplishments,” Henrietta said, glancing at Janice, approval in her eyes.

  “Other accomplishments!” Janice commented. “They’re few and far between.”

  “After seeing how you’ve transformed this place, I’d say you have more than your share of talents,” Lance said.

  Although Linda had been unusually quiet, she said, “That’s true. And the meal was delicious.”

  “I’d never have made it without Henrietta’s coaching. But I thank all of you for coming and making this first Christmas in our house so special.” She took four desk calendars from a drawer of the sideboard. “I bought calendars for each of you. I hope you’ll remember our special dinner throughout the year when you look at the calendar. Each month there’s a picture and quotation about friendship. As you turn the pages I want you to remember how much your friendship has meant to me this year.”

  They seemed sincerely pleased with their gifts and Janice knew she’d made the perfect choice.

  They lingered at the table until Lance said, “I’m appointing myself dishwasher.” Although they protested, he insisted they leave the work to him.

  “At least let us carry the dishes to the kitchen,” Linda said, and they all cleared the dining room table before moving into the living room.

  “How much longer will the movie last?” Janice asked Brooke.

  “Not very long.”

  “Then please turn down the volume, so we can visit.”

  Cecil patted his stomach. “I don’t know when I’ve had such a good dinner. I feel a nap comin’ on, so the television won’t bother me,” he said.

  “We’ll watch the movie as far as I’m concerned,” Linda said. “I’ve watched kids’ movies until I’m addicted to them,” she added with a smile.

  “Then make yourselves at home,” Janice said, “while I supervise the dishwashing.”

  Lance had already rolled his sleeves above his elbows when she entered the kitchen. He was wiping the dishes with a paper towel before washing them.

  “I do wish you’d leave the dishes,” she said. “It will give me something to do after all of you leave.”

  Busy at the sink, drawing water and stacking the glasses on the sink ledge, he shook his head. “It’s my pleasure, after that wonderful meal.”

  “This is one time a dishwasher would come in handy, but that’s one expense I don’t need at this point,” Janice said. “Brooke and I don’t have a lot of dishes to wash. Maybe after today, I’ll do more entertaining—now that I’ve found out it isn’t too difficult.”

  As Lance washed the dishes, in spite of his protest, Janice started rinsing them and placing them on the drying rack. “I have to keep busy,” she said.

  “What’s wrong?” he said quietly, and she slanted a surprised glance toward him, her face showing the tension that he knew she’d tried to conceal. “And don’t say ‘nothing.’”

  She shook her head and answered quietly, “Let’s not spoil the day.” They finished washing the dishes talking about the previous night’s program, but his concern comforted Janice.

  By five o’clock, Linda said, “It’s been a lovely day, but I must go. Taylor and I have an early morning flight out of Morgantown. We need to go to bed soon.”

  “It’s time for me to leave, too,” Cecil said. “I’ve got livestock to feed.”

  “You stay and have an evening snack with us, Henrietta,” Janice said. “We have plenty of ham and rolls left.”

  When Henrietta agreed, Lance said, “I’ll take Linda and Taylor home, but I’d come back for a snack, if I had an invitation. I don’t have to get up early tomorrow.”

  “You’re invited,” Janice said and surreptitiously pinched him gently on the arm.

  When Janice opened the hall cupboard so the guests could get their coats, she heard Taylor whisper to Janice, “I wanted to go to see my dad, but Mom says I have to go to bed early. I’ll have to make do with a phone call, I guess. He bought me the prettiest outfit, and I wanted to wear it today, but Mom told me to put on what she’d bought for me.”

  Not for the first time, Janice wondered what had caused the Mallorys’ divorce.

  When Janice and Brooke returned to the living room, Henrietta was leaning back in her chair, a faint snore escaping her lips. Janice put her finger to her lips. Brooke grinned and nodded. She spread out on the couch, and Janice, also feeling the need to rest, went to the bedroom and lay on the bed.

  After Henrietta finished her nap, Brooke asked her to play checkers with her. “I used to play checkers with Mr. Smith,” Brooke said, “so I’m glad Mr. Gordon gave me a set of my own.”

  “It’s an old-fashioned game I used to play as a kid,” Henrietta said. “I’m surprised it’s still popular.”

  “Oh, most kids would rather have video games, and I like them, but a game of checkers is fun, too. You want the red or black?”

  “I’m partial to red,” Henrietta said, and Janice left them to their playing, while she went to the kitchen and put the china into the cupboard. She’d bought disposable Christmas plates and cups for supper, so there wouldn’t be any more dishwashing for the day.

  When Lance came back, he challenged Henrietta to a game of checkers, which she won.

  “I see I’m a little rusty on my checker skills,” he said. “Brooke, you play with me.” When she also won the game, Lance said, “Well, Janice, you’re the only one left. Maybe I can beat you.”

  “I don’t doubt that, but let’s eat now.”

  Henrietta left soon after they’d eaten and Brooke asked permission to watch the second movie she’d received.

  “Let’s sit at the kitchen table,” Janice said to Lance.

  Knowing that he’d returned to Mountjoy because he’d seen she was troubled, Janice climbed on the chair, retrieved the
stocking and knife and laid them on the table. She sat facing the door, so she could be sure that Brooke didn’t walk in on them unannounced. Janice indicated that Lance should sit beside her. She pushed the stocking toward him.

  “This was hanging on the fireplace when I got up this morning. I hid it before Brooke saw it.”

  Concerned over the misery in Janice’s eyes, Lance said angrily, “We’re going to get to the bottom of this. If the police can’t find out what’s going on, I’ll hire a private investigator. Someone must have a key to your door.”

  She motioned to the kitchen door. “I had Cecil put a sliding bolt on this door in addition to the lock, so it would have to be the front door. I’ve moved Hungry’s box to the front porch, and I think he would have barked if a stranger had come to the door.”

  “So maybe it isn’t a stranger. We don’t know who else befriended Hungry. Chief Goodman told me he’s had an officer tailing Bob and Albert Reid, but they haven’t been near Mountjoy.”

  “Nobody can get inside the house, but they do. Maybe they’re coming in the upstairs window—you remember I heard footsteps the night I was here alone.”

  “I so hoped that the trouble had stopped.”

  “I know. Maybe they’re mad we found that patch of marijuana.”

  “Probably so, but how are they getting inside?”

  “I don’t know, but I have come to terms with my fear.” She explained about the verse in Job. “I’m convinced that God controls my future and that He revealed that verse especially for me. I’m determined to get to the bottom of this harassment once and for all. I fear for Brooke more than myself, but I’ll try to protect her as much as possible.”

  “Don’t be reckless about it, Janice. You worry about Brooke, but I worry about you.” His eyes conveyed a message that warmed her heart.

  “And I appreciate it.”

  “But I don’t want you to like me out of gratitude—I’m looking for more than that from you.”

  Her eyes sparkled at him. “I appreciate Henrietta and Cecil, too, but there’s a difference in the way I feel about them and the way I feel about you. Or are you hinting for a compliment?” she asked mischievously.

  In spite of their light words, their eyes spoke volumes about the love they shared.

  Lance pulled her to him, but before he kissed her, he said, “In spite of all your troubles, are you happy you moved to Stanton?”

  Her kiss as soft and tender as a summer breeze was his answer.

  Chapter Fifteen

  A train’s whistle woke Janice and she sat up in bed.

  Immediately she realized that no trains ran through Stanton. The clock showed two-thirty. Again she heard the loud whistle of a train, then the rackety sound of cars on a track. The acoustic phenomenon echoed back and forth in the house, to be replaced with the sound of a jet airplane leaving the runway.

  Brooke started screaming and Janice forgot her own fright in trying to calm her sister. When the sounds ceased as quickly as they started, Brooke finally went back to sleep, but she soon woke complaining of a headache and stomach cramps. Since her head hurt also, Janice thought they might be coming down with the flu, but even if they were sick that didn’t explain the sounds in the house.

  The next morning she took Brooke to the medical clinic, but the doctor couldn’t find anything wrong with either of them. Before they returned to Mountjoy, Janice stopped by the library, accessed the Internet and found two records that played the exact sounds she’d heard in the house the previous night and the noises she’d heard when she’d first come to Stanton. At Lance’s insistence, she called Sergeant Baxter, and he promised to check the house for hidden microphones as soon as he could.

  Perhaps because Janice started keeping Hungry in the house night and day, a week went by without any harassment. When a blizzard hit the region and the schools closed because of icy roads, Janice felt relatively safe because so few people were on the highways. The heavy snow also kept shoppers at home, so Janice wasn’t needed at SuperMart.

  She didn’t want to deprive Brooke of the pleasure of watching television, because there was little else the girl could do while they were snowbound. But after one day of being stranded in the house listening to the Disney Channel, Janice had to find something to do.

  Hoping that Brooke would sleep in, Janice got up at six o’clock the next morning, raised the thermostat and opened the stairway door. She went upstairs and lifted the floor register in the room over the kitchen. Brooke had been hinting to host a sleepover and Janice wanted to prepare a temporary room for herself, so Brooke and her friends could sleep downstairs.

  After breakfast, when Brooke headed for the television in the living room, Janice said, “I’m going upstairs to do some cleaning this morning.”

  “Do you want me to help?”

  “I’ll let you know if I need you.”

  Janice tied a scarf around her head and put on old jeans and a sweatshirt. She had swept the rooms a few months earlier, but a lot of dust had accumulated since then. She was still sweeping when Hungry wandered in, tail wagging.

  “You won’t like this dust,” Janice said to the dog. “You’d better go back downstairs.”

  The animal had developed a greater attachment for Janice than he had for Brooke, but Janice did enjoy his company. Hungry was in a playful mood, and as she swept, he darted around her, barking, trying to grab the broom, succeeding in scattering the dirt that accumulated before her broom.

  “Enough is enough!” Janice said. She lightly swatted the dog’s thigh with her broom and pointed toward the door. “Get out!”

  With tail between his hind legs, belly dragging the floor, Hungry crept into the hall. Without the dog’s interference, she soon had the floor swept and the dirt in a dustpan. On hands and knees she crawled around the floor scrubbing the imbedded grime. She enjoyed the emerging beauty of the oak floor, still beautiful even though it showed the scuffs and marks of time.

  She’d forgotten about Hungry until he started barking. She was scrubbing near the door and she peered into the hall. The dog was pawing the wall beside the large wardrobe at the end of the hall.

  Janice stood, stretched her back and called to the dog. No doubt he had heard a mouse behind the wall, but he paid no attention to Janice’s low whistle. Suddenly Janice sensed there was more to the dog’s excitement than a mouse, and her blood chilled.

  She’d laid her phone on the dresser in the bedroom and slowly she went back to the room, wondering if she was making a mountain out of a molehill. She shut the door of the room and dialed Lance’s number. He answered immediately.

  “Busy?” she asked.

  “Busy looking out the window watching the birds fighting over the food I put in their feeder this morning. What are you doing?”

  “I started cleaning one of the upstairs bedrooms this morning, and something unusual happened. Hungry followed me up here, and now he’s barking and digging at the wall at the end of the hallway. I can’t get him to stop, and it’s making me uneasy. Are the roads safe for you can come to help me?”

  “I’ll walk if I have to, but I think I can find another way. Dale has a four-wheel-drive vehicle. He’ll bring me if he’s home.”

  “It might be a good idea for him to come along anyway.”

  “If I don’t call back in ten or fifteen minutes, you’ll know I’m on my way.”

  When Dale and Lance arrived, they had Taylor with them. Janice met them at the door. While the men shrugged out of their heavy clothes and stamped the snow off their boots, Taylor and Brooke gripped hands and whirled around and around.

  Dale laughed as he watched the girls. “Looks like everybody has cabin fever. I was just ready to strike out on my own when Lance called me.”

  Hungry’s barks sounded in the distance and Janice motioned the men to follow her. “He may be barking at a mouse, but I don’t think so.”

  “I filled Dale in on a few of the things that have been happening here at Mountjoy,” Lance explaine
d as they rushed upstairs.

  The men stood for a few minutes and watched Hungry’s actions. Lance sized up the large wardrobe.

  “Dale, you think you can help me move this piece of furniture?”

  “I’ll help,” Janice said.

  “Okay, but be careful. We’ll only need to move it a foot or so to see what’s behind it.”

  “The wardrobe is made out of walnut, so it’s going to be heavy,” Dale said. He opened the door and peered into the dark interior. “Smells like tobacco in here.”

  “It might scratch the floor, but maybe we should push the wardrobe, instead of lifting it,” Lance said.

  “Don’t worry about the floor,” Janice said. “I haven’t done anything to this hallway.”

  The wardrobe slid smoothly away from the wall, and when they peered behind it, Lance whistled. There was a door behind the wardrobe.

  “And look here,” Janice said, pointing to the back of the wardrobe, where a door had been cut. The door was secured with a small sliding bolt. Dale looked again into the interior of the wardrobe.

  “As dark as it is in here, it’s impossible to tell that there’s a door. There isn’t a latch or hinges on this side.”

  Dale opened the door in the wall and looked upward along a narrow stairway. “This must lead to the attic,” he said.

  “Cecil wondered why there wasn’t an entrance to the attic from the second floor,” Janice said.

  “So that’s how people have been coming into the house,” Lance commented. “There’s another entrance to the attic somewhere, and the intruders came down these steps, entering the hall through the cupboard. Ingenious plan!” Lance held Hungry’s collar to keep him from running up the stairs.

  “This looks like a one-passenger stairway,” Lance said, “so I’ll go up and take a look. Do you have a flashlight, Janice?”