Marja McGraw - Bogey Man 03 - They Call Me Ace Read Online Free PDF

legal, you can’t drive it around here. Take it home, and have fun with it out in the country.”
    He walked away after giving us a warning, and I asked Judith what he meant by “street legal”.
    “It means the vehicle has headlights, brake lights, and rearview mirrors. Things like that. A lot of ATVs don’t have those things.”
    Judith waved to him as we pulled away.
    “ Okay ,” she yelled, “ let’s go meet the Realtor .”
    “ We’ll take my Jeep ,” I yelled back. “ We’ll be a little early .”
    She made a motion like she was turning a key, and I knew she was telling me it wouldn’t matter because she knew
    where the key was hidden.
    The rain arrived right on schedule and by the time we got home we were wet. The ATV had a roof but it was open otherwise. The wind blew the rain in our faces.
    Judith was right. This would be the perfect day to explore a spooky old house.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Five
     
     
     
    I helped Judith load the ATV back onto the trailer before I ran inside the house to change my shirt. She climbed into the motor home, pulling at her wet shirt, ready for a dry one. By the time we finished changing, Mikey was waiting impatiently by the front door, watching out the window. Sherlock and Watson knew the signs and waited next to him. There weren’t too many things they liked better than a bye-bye .
    “Not this time.” I scratched the top of each of their heads before shooing them away from the door. Chris helped by calling their names, and as much as they liked bye-bye , they liked Chris better.
    “Go get your purse so we can go, Mom. Please.” Mikey was anxious, and in all honesty, so was I. I wanted to see the inside of the house I drove past so often. It fascinated me every time I saw it, but I’d never thought about actually going inside.
    When Judith, Mikey and I were finally all loaded in the Jeep, we took off for the old house. I knew we’d be early, but again, Judith knew where the key was. Realtors usually used
    lock boxes, but maybe this house was so old and decrepit that they didn’t think it was worth the effort. I didn’t know, and frankly, I didn’t care. I was finally going to get to see the inside of the house. It had taken Chris’s mother to spur me into action.
    The house was only a few blocks from the restaurant, and I drove by it frequently. Part of the area had been rezoned to commercial zoning, but the area where the house sat remained residential.
    We pulled up in front to find the Realtor wasn’t there yet. We were, after all, more than half an hour early. We were ready for an adventure and couldn’t have cared less. I glanced up at the sky and knew it was about to start raining again. I saw lightning off in the distance, and it was followed by thunder a few seconds later.
    Being the honest people we were, we waited for all of five minutes before Mikey and I followed Judith up to the porch, using the excuse that we wanted to go inside before the rain started. Up on tip toes, she felt around the door sill for the key, and with a smile of triumph, she held it out for us to see. She tried to unlock the door, but it took a couple of tries before she sighed and handed the key to me. It didn’t seem to want to work.
    “Did the Realtor tell you anything about the house?” Appearances told us it had been vacant for many years.
    “He said an elderly woman lived here until her death, and that was twenty years ago. She and her husband lived in the house for sixty years. He died ten years before she passed on. No one has lived here since. The family was going to try to restore it, but eventually decided to sell it instead.”
    Judith stepped off the porch and glanced from one side of the house to the other. She rejoined us on the porch. “You have to admit it has character.”
    “What does that mean?” Mikey asked.
    “It means it’s a neat old house – one someone probably loved at one time.” I took the key out of Judith’s hand