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by ornate columns that in early days, Mary thought, must have been
beautiful.   But now the ceiling of the
decorative entranceway was rotted and splintered. The paint on the columns was
nearly non-existent, and what remained was yellowed and chipped.   Mary stepped carefully over the broken boards
and rubbish that lay in front of the entranceway and walked to the front
door.   Peering through the broken front
window, Mary tried to see into the interior of the school, but it was too dark
inside to see anything.
    “Excuse me, can I help you?” said a male voice.
    Mary turned to see an older man walking towards her from the
backyard across the alley from the school, wiping his hands on a rag.   Mary glanced behind him and saw the
automobile he’d evidently been working on. “Hi,” she said. “Sorry to interrupt
you.   I’m here to meet someone.”
    “You don’t look like a demolition expert,” he replied with a
shake of his head. “That’s all this old school needs, a date with a wrecking
ball.”
    She sighed.   He was
probably right. “That’s so sad,” she said. “It looks like it once was a great
building.”
    He nodded. “Yes, my wife, her brothers and even her father
attended that school,” he said. “They have good memories of it.   But now, it’s an eyesore and a danger.”
    “Danger?” Mary asked.
    He put his hands on his hips and shook his head.   “One of these days a good wind is just going
to blow it over,” he said, and then he winked at her. “Just teasing you, girl.”
    He paused for a moment and studied her. “Hey, don’t I know
you?” he asked.
    Mary shrugged. “I’ve never really been in Polo before
tonight,” she confessed.
    He snapped his fingers decisively. “That’s it, you’re that
gal from the paper,” he said. “Think you can see ghosts.”
    Mary closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. Would she ever
stop regretting her decision to do that article?
    “Yes, that was me,” she admitted. “I’m Mary O’Reilly.”
    “Dale. Dale Epperly. I had an aunt who saw ghosts,” he said,
nodding his head. “Course, she also talked with the barnyard animals, so we
never did pay her no mind.”
    “Well, thank you for that,” Mary replied, not quite sure how
she should respond.
    Dale nodded. “Sure, no problem,” he said earnestly, and then
he motioned with his head in the direction of the car. “Well, since you ain’t no arsonist, guess I’ll get
back to my car.”
    “Yes, please,” Mary insisted. “Don’t let me stop you.”
    He nodded his head at her and then walked back across the
alley to peer underneath the hood of his car. A moment later she heard the
rattle of the door in front of her and looked up as Andrew pushed the school’s
door open.   “Sorry to keep you waiting,”
he said, stepping out into the night air. “Thanks so much for meeting me here.”
    Mary pointedly looked around and then turned back to Andrew.
“Are you sure it’s safe to go in there?” she asked.
    He nodded. “Oh sure,” he said. “This place was built like a
rock.”   Lifting a hand, he slapped it
against one of the pillars, and Mary had to jump out of the way when a shower
of rotted wood rained down on them.
    “What kind of rock?” she asked skeptically.
    He shook his head and laughed. “The inside is much better
than the outside,” he assured her. “Come on, I’ll give you the VIP tour.”
    He turned and stepped back inside.   After a moment, Mary heard a series of
clicks, and to her delight the lights came on inside the school. “See, all the
modern conveniences you could ask for,” he said with a smile.
    “That’s much better,” she said, stepping into the hallway.
She started to say something else, but her words froze in her mouth when she
heard a scream of terror and the sound of a body falling down the stairs.

Chapter Nine

 
    “What?” Andrew asked, seeing the terrified look on Mary’s
face.
    “Didn’t you hear that scream?” she asked,