how many more loose keys were floating around. Changing all the locks in this barn of a place would be a mammoth job, but it was something she should do as soon as possible.
Sending Josh a belligerent scowl, Chester handed Stacy the key.
“How we supposed to get in the place when we come to work?” Rob demanded.
“I’m sure Miss Ashford will make an arrangement to let you in. She’s the one who’s going to be your boss.”
Chester’s smile showed clearly that he was pleased, and even Rob nodded his bald head in approval. “See you tomorrow.”
The two men ambled away, headed for an old car that had been parked at the side of the building. They still carried the tools Josh was positive they’d lifted from the hotel.
Slowly Stacy mounted the front steps and waited as Josh opened the front door of the building. A chilled, dank air touched her face. She hesitated. The premonition was there, loud and clear.
Once she crossed the threshold, her life would never be the same again.
Sensing her trepidation, Josh put a guiding hand on her arm as they passed through a foyer into a lobbylike room with a high ceiling. The spacious area was faintly illuminated by shadowed light coming in through dirty windows.
A wide hall stretched ahead like a tunnel into the depths of the building and a staircase rose like a curved specter against one wall. A series of doors were visible on both sides of the main floor, all closed.
“The electricity is supposed to be on,” Stacy said in a hushed voice as if some unseen presence was listening. “But where are the light switches?”
Josh set down the suitcases. Chester and Rob must have used a flashlight to get around, he thought, or they were familiar enough with the place not to need one. No telling how much stuff they’d been carting out while it was empty.
“Let’s check one of the rooms and see if we have electricity,” he suggested.
When she hesitated, he took her hand and was surprised to find it sweaty and trembling. He realized that for all her outward bravado, she was plain scared. His first impulse was to take her out of the blasted place as fast as possible. The very air was permeated with a dark evil that had claimed his sister’s life. He couldn’t believe that he was here with a woman who had crashed into his life less than twenty-four hours ago. He was tempted to pick her up bodily, carry her out of the building and slam the door behind them.
And then what?
Even as he asked himself the question, he knew the answer. Even though she must be cringing at the idea of staying here during the renovations, she wouldn’t give up meeting the terms of her inheritance. He’d already glimpsed a bone-deep stubbornness in Stacy Ashford that both impressed and annoyed him. Trying to talk her into leaving was a waste of breath.
As they crossed the marble floor, their footsteps set up a weird echo in the empty building. The first set of double doors had warped so badly, Josh had to put his weight against them to get them open.
As they stepped through the doorway, he found a light switch on the wall. Just as he flipped on the lights, the sound of cracking timber overhead assaulted their ears.
“Look out!” He shoved Stacy back out the door. A large beam came crashing down just inside the room where they had been standing.
“What in the hell—?” Josh swore.
Stacy’s heart was pounding loudly in her ears as the crash of the falling timber faded away and left a haunting, weighted silence. Bright lights showed a party room that at one time must have been furnished with small tables, matching chairs, and a dusty hardwood dance floor. Only a few scattered pieces of furniture remained.
Looking up at the ceiling, they could see that part of it had been stripped away and some of the rafters were gone.
“Looks like the job was left half-finished,” Josh muttered.
“That rafter must have been loosened and left hanging,” Stacy said. “The vibration of your slamming against the door probably brought it down.”
Josh wasn’t so sure. Maybe it had been positioned to fall? Chester and Rob must have had the run of the place since Willard’s death, and Josh was convinced they weren’t above booby-trapping the place to keep others out. He was more convinced than ever that Stacy should cut her losses and let the whole damn roof fall in on itself.
As they continued their tour of the building, he could tell that her anxiety was growing. The main rooms on the first floor consisted of the party room, a bar and lounge, a recreation room with card and pool tables, and an office. A kitchen and laundry were in the back of the building.
They turned on lights as they went, and he could see that all of the rooms were in various states of disrepair. And nearly empty. Apparently Stacy’s uncle had not been able to decide on priorities. As a result, every room on the main floor was in a renovation limbo. They found several telephone wall jacks, but no telephones. Josh couldn’t help but wonder if Chester and Rob had made off with them and sold them for a few bucks.
There was electricity in the kitchen, and a butane tank at back of the building supplied gas for heating. All of the appliances were connected, and probably working, but a large refrigerator was empty. A collection of mismatched dishes and tableware remained on a few cupboard shelves and in drawers.
The large laundry room was bare except for a single washer, dryer and several washtubs. Stacy prayed the washer and dryer were in working order.
Josh opened a basement door revealing steep wooden stairs disappearing into the darkness below. “Maybe there’s a wine cellar. Want to take a look?”
“No,” she said quickly as a rush of stale, cool air touched her face. “Let’s check the upstairs.”
A wave of despair swept over her as they started up the stairs to the second floor. If the whole place was in the same state of chaos as the downstairs, how could she manage to stay here? The stipend that the lawyer had promised depended upon her living on the premises and controlling an allocated amount for the renovation—an amount that seemed totally inadequate, considering the state of the place.
When they reached a landing halfway up the stairs, a large window looked out on a steeply rising mountainside. Thick drifts of pine and spruce trees and jagged rocks shut out any view of the sky. Stacy realized that in a storm like last night, thunder, lightning and lashing rain would be right outside this window.
And you’ll be alone, some mocking inner voice taunted her. Alone in this nightmare.
She turned away quickly, avoided looking at Josh, and climbed the remaining steps to the second floor. Small sconce lights on the walls lent feeble light as they walked the length of the upper hall from one end to the other.
Peering into rooms through open doors, they saw the area was empty of furniture. The windows were bare, the floors littered with boxes filled with discarded furnishings.
“You can bet all the rooms are like this,” Josh said gruffly. The sooner she realized the truth, the better. “This whole place is totally unlivable.”
“I want to check out everything, but there’s no need for you to stay. You’ve done enough already,”
