Read The Blackham Mansion Haunting (The Downwinders Book 4) for Free Online Page A

cocked his head at him. “I’m
sure you didn’t mean that the way it sounded,” Cloward said. “I tell you these
details merely in the role of repeating folklore, not because I believe any of
it. The facts of the matter are the house and its inhabitants. The rest is
speculation, and I’m relating that as context. Nothing more.”
    “Did they ever find the bodies of the ones who disappeared?”
Deem asked.
    “No. Not that I ever found in my research. There were some
memorial markers placed, but from what I could discover there were no bodies
under them.”
    “Then what do you think happened to them?” Winn asked.
    “That is a mystery,” the professor replied emphatically, “and
will likely remain one for a very long time. I can tell you that in my line of
work, some lines of inquiry just come to an end, and you can’t find anyone
living or any document anywhere that can explain the conclusion of the story,
and you have to live with a string of unexplained events that appear unusual
because we don’t have all the facts.” He paused, looking at them for agreement.
“Happens all the time. It doesn’t mean anything supernatural occurred, such as
the ghost of a serial killer kidnapping or killing them. Right?”
    Winn could tell the professor was well practiced at
explaining a rational theory and having others agree with it. You’d have to
be, to be a successful academic, he thought. In his line of work, no
one’s going to take you seriously if you espouse supernatural explanations. He
wouldn’t have had a career if he did. But there’s a part of him that doesn’t
entirely believe everything he’s saying. Do I call him out on it? I know Deem’s
not going to bring up what she experienced in the house, and he already
suspects I’m not on the level, with what I said about the dead. What do I tell
a closet-gifted professor emeritus with such a strongly voiced opinion?
    “Right,” Deem injected, smiling while agreeing with him. “We
appreciate your time.”
    The professor stood and escorted them back through the house,
asking them questions about where they’d gone to school and what careers they
hoped to have later in life. They exchanged goodbyes at the front door, and
Winn observed the professor’s grandson tugging on the starter cord of the
lawnmower, trying to revive it. He walked across the grass to the kid.
    “You look tired,” he said, watching the child tug on the cord
without success. Sweat was pouring down his forehead.
    “This lawn is brutal,” the boy replied, “and this mower
sucks.”
    “How about I tell the old man you flooded it, and it needs to
sit for a few?”
    “Would you?” the kid asked. “He’d never believe me if I said it.
He’d think I was trying to get out of working.”
    “Sure, kid,” Winn said, turning to walk back to Deem, who was
already at the Jeep. He called back to the professor over his shoulder.
    “He flooded it! It’s gotta sit for ten minutes before it’ll
start!” Cloward acknowledged him with a wave.
    He got into the Jeep, and Deem joined him.
    “It wasn’t flooded, was it?” Deem asked.
    “I don’t think so,” Winn replied. “I didn’t smell any gas.”
    “Why’d you lie to him?”
    “He’s been lying to himself his whole life,” Winn replied. “He’s
used to lies.”

Chapter Four
     
     
     
    When they arrived at Carma’s several hours later, they found
David sleeping in the drawing room and Carma on the phone.
    “I don’t understand what you mean by an e-ticket,” she said.
“Why can’t you just deliver the tickets to the house, like last time?”
    Winn and Deem exchanged quick glances, wondering what Carma
was up to. Then they wandered to the back porch, hoping to leave David asleep.
Winn turned on the misters, and a light fog of water began to descend from the
awning overhead.
    “The water’s too hot for the first minute or so,” Deem said,
retreating to a shady area away from the nozzles. “It makes me feel like