The Restoration Read online

  “What’s that, Mom?” Dallas asked, pointing.

  Terri wondered what Dallas had discovered this time. Her daughter was turning out to have a great eye, with a talent for finding unique details that rivaled Terri’s own.

  At first, it wasn’t obvious what she was pointing at. The butler’s pantry? The decorative wall tiles? The cast-iron stove?

  “That thing on the wall that looks like a weird round keyhole.”

  She smiled, eager to share one of her favorite features of old Victorian homes. “That’s a speaking tube. It connects the kitchen with Lady Vandermere’s bathroom. When the lady of the house was enjoying a bath but wanted her cook’s attention, she’d blow into the tube, creating a whistling sound. The cook would hear the whistle and hurry over to the tube so they could talk, kind of like the intercom system we used to have at home.”

  “Cool! Does it still work?”

  “It should.”

  “Can I try it?” Dallas was already half out of her chair.

  For some reason, the idea of her daughter using the tube made Terri shiver, and she spoke more sharply than she’d meant to. “Not right now. Sit down.”

  Dallas looked stunned, and no wonder. It wasn’t like Terri to snap at her, or to curb her enthusiasm for exploration. She couldn’t understand what was wrong with her, but ever since they’d had the conversation in Niles’s room, she’d felt anxious, jumpy. Her grandmother would have said that a goose had walked over her grave. Lack of imagination or not, the old saying wasn’t exactly comforting.

  “But why?” There was a whiny note to Dallas’s voice that set Terri’s teeth on edge. She could handle almost anything but whining.

  Because I said so leapt to her lips, but she refused to be that kind of parent. That explanation, or lack thereof, had driven her crazy when she was Dallas’s age. Not until she became a mother had she understood how tempting it was. “Because I’d like us to finish our dinner first. Takeout food is expensive, and I don’t want it wasted.”

  At the mention of their finances, Dallas settled back in her chair, staring down at her plate. Terri regretted that her child was aware of her situation. It was her problem, not Dallas’s, but it had been one way to quell the constant demand for things. Dallas may have been ten, but she had a desperate desire to keep up with the Joneses. Or in this case, the Tammys and Traceys.

  Her daughter picked at her pizza, the happy mood ruined. Terri let several minutes of uncomfortable silence pass before she addressed it. “Why are you so upset? You’ll have plenty of time to try it after dinner.”

  “But we’ll go to another room after dinner.”

  “You’ll have time to try it, I promise. We won’t leave until you do. How’s that?”

  Dallas gave her a don’t-you-get-it-Mom? look. “But then we won’t be here when someone answers.”

  This time the goose-walking-over-grave feeling was accompanied by actual goosebumps. “Who’s going to answer back? There’s no one else here.” She laughed, but it didn’t sound sincere. She doubted it had fooled Dallas. Few things did.

  Her daughter lowered her gaze again and shrugged, looking guilty. Icy fingers traced a path up Terri’s spine.

  “Dallas, have you seen someone in this house?” Oh God, no, not the infamous Gertie. Or perhaps a vagrant had managed to find his way in after the house had closed for the season, and had been doing his best to avoid her all week. That would explain the sensation she’d had of being watched.

  “Not really.” She still refused to meet Terri’s eyes. Her daughter’s reluctance was beginning to scare her. What if there was someone in the house? What if the ‘ghosts’ that had spooked the other restorers hadn’t been ghosts at all?

  “What do you mean, ‘not really’? You’ve either seen someone or you haven’t.”

  Now her daughter glared at her, her cheeks turning red. “Why are you getting so mad?”

  “I’m not mad,” Terri denied, though she realized she was angrier than the situation warranted. Again she wondered what was wrong with her. Landing this project was a big success for their little family – if they managed not to kill each other first. They should be celebrating, not at each other’s throats. “But I want to know the truth. If there is someone in the house with us, you need to tell me. They could be dangerous.”

  Dallas glanced away. “He’s not dangerous,” she muttered, so quietly Terri almost didn’t hear.

  “Who’s not dangerous?”

  “The boy I told you about earlier.”

  Ignoring the feeling of freezing fingers along her back, Terri said, “I don’t remember you mentioning a boy. Which boy?” Please don’t say it….

  “You know, the boy who stayed in my room before me. His name is Niles.”

  “That isn’t funny, Dallas.”

  “I’m not trying to be funny. You asked me to tell you who’s in the house, and I told you.” She crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes.

  “What does he look like?” While she hoped Dallas’s imagination had been working overtime, maybe there was another explanation.

  “He has dark, wavy hair. Sad eyes. His cheeks are bright red, almost like he’s wearing makeup.” Dallas lowered her voice. “He dresses funny. The collar on his shirt is stiff. It sticks straight up, like he’s wearing a costume. Is he an actor, Mom?”

  Terri coughed, trying to clear the lump that had formed in her throat when her daughter perfectly described Niles Vandermere. There was one possible solution. “Have you been reading about this house online, honey?”

  “No. Why would anyone write about this old house?”

  “The family who lived here was very important. You’ve heard of the Rockefellers, right?” At Dallas’s nod, she continued. “They were kind of like that. They were quite wealthy. Howard Vandermere owned a law firm and became a powerful senator. He helped a lot of people, and there was talk about him becoming president one day. His wife, Elizabeth, was active in the community, and very well thought of.”

  But then Howard’s son had succumbed to a terrible disease, and it destroyed him. He’d withdrawn from the public eye, turning into a recluse. No one appeared to know how the man himself had died, or what had happened to the rest of the family. Terri hadn’t wanted to ask Miss Vandermere. It hadn’t felt appropriate to pry.

  One thing Vandermere had told her: there had been tours in the house not so long ago, with costumed actors playing the roles of various family members and servants. Maybe the boy her daughter had seen was an actor, a confused young man still playing the role of Niles even though the house had closed.

  Seeing her daughter had finished eating, Terri wrapped the leftovers for their breakfast. They both loved cold pizza in the morning. “Where did you last see this boy?” she asked, striving to sound casual. As soon as she had a moment alone, she was going to call Henrietta Vandermere and report this so-called Niles for scaring the wits out of them. He wouldn’t be employed in this house again, if she could help it. No wonder the other restorers had thought the place was haunted. Ghosts, her ass.

  “He was in the hallway near my room. He says there’s a game he likes, but that it’s been packed away. Can we look for it?”

  Chills raced up her spine again, but this time she focused on her anger. The nerve of this kid, hanging around where he wasn’t wanted and playing tricks on her daughter. “Maybe later. I was going to do some work in the parlor for a bit. Want to help me?”

  “Can I use the speaking tube first?”

  Terri longed to say no, but she prided herself on not breaking promises, especially to her daughter. “Of course. Go ahead.” She struggled not to show how unnerved she was. As much as she’d like to believe he was harmless, it wasn’t normal for this boy to have stayed in the house after the tours ended and the rest of the employees went home. Someone must have told him the house was closing for the restoration. What if there
was something seriously wrong with him? What if he was dangerous?

  Don’t court trouble. Another one of her grandmother’s favorite expressions, and it remained true today. Dallas was a logical, older-than-her-years kid, but she was still a child, and probably as likely to have her imagination run away with her as any other kid.

  Her daughter dashed over to the speaking tube like a racehorse who’d been cooped up for too long. She paused long enough to shoot Terri a wicked grin before blowing into the tube.

  As the girl pulled back, staring at the contraption with a look of anticipation, Terri found she was holding her breath, praying no one would answer. Great. Now she was the one whose imagination was out of control. Tales of potentially disturbed boys aside, there was no one in the house aside from them. She hoped.

  She let her daughter ride it out, not wanting to risk another skirmish. Minutes ticked by, feeling endless, but the kitchen remained silent. Finally Dallas gave up, looking disappointed. “I guess no one’s there. We might as well go.”

  “Sorry, kiddo.” Terri rested her hand on her daughter’s head. “Maybe next time.”

  As they left the room, she could have sworn she heard a funny sound – a long, low echo, almost like a moan.

  Air in the pipes, she told herself.

  Chapter Two

  It took an hour before Dallas uttered those three little words every parent dreads.

  “Mom, I’m bored.”

  Terri took a break from removing the wall covering. It broke her heart to do it, even though she’d managed to source a reasonable likeness from one of her favorite heritage-house suppliers. The replicas were never quite the same, no matter how expensive. But there was no way around it – the water damage had been extensive, and the old wall covering needed to be replaced. Still, it hurt. People didn’t make things with that level of care anymore.

  Wiping sweat and dust out of her eyes with a forearm, she regarded her daughter, who had an impressively large pile of the wall covering at her feet. She’d done a good job and had stayed with it surprisingly long, longer than Terri had thought she would. She had to remember that for Dallas, this was a holiday. Soon enough – too soon – the summer would be over, and she’d be back in school. A new school, if she decided she wanted to stay.

  “It is boring, isn’t it? You’ve done great, though, honey. I appreciate the help.”

  “Can I go look around?”

  Her impulse was to say yes, of course she could, but then Terri remembered the boy in funny clothes. She hesitated, and before she could voice her misgivings, Dallas rushed to reassure her. “I won’t go far. There’s an old closet near my room and I want to see what’s in it. Maybe I can find the game Niles was talking about.”

  Terri leaned back on her haunches, setting down her putty knife. “About that….” She took a deep breath. This was new territory for her. How was she supposed to explain this without terrifying her daughter? “Honey, he isn’t really Niles. Niles was the Vandermere’s son, and he died a long time ago. I think the boy you’ve seen used to play Niles for the tours they gave here, but he shouldn’t be hanging around the house. If you see him, I want you to tell him to go home and come tell me right away, okay?”

  Her mouth gaping a little, Dallas nodded. “I think he believes it, though. He really thinks he’s Niles.”

  “That’s why I want you to come tell me right away if you see him. He might be sick – okay?”

  Sick covered all manner of ills, but from the time her daughter had been old enough to understand, it had meant a combination of don’t touch and stay away. Terri hoped Dallas got that the deluded soul playing Niles was ill in a much more dangerous way, but she didn’t want to scare her daughter.

  “Okay.”

  “Promise?”

  “I promise.”

  “Do you have your phone?”

  Dallas pulled the small phone with its glittery pink case from her back pocket. Other parents complained about their children’s attachment to such devices, but in moments like this, they were a godsend. The house was too large for Terri to hear Dallas if she cried out, and definitely big enough for the girl to get lost if she wasn’t careful. “Good. Call me if you see him, and hurry right back here.”

  “I will, Mom.”

  “And if you decide to go any farther than the closet, give me a call.”

  “Okay.” The novelty of a mentally ill boy wandering the house had given her more leeway than usual, but Terri could tell Dallas was growing impatient. Too much longer, and too many more directives, and her daughter would storm off and that would be that. The temper came from the girl’s father, so she always reminded herself that it wasn’t Dallas’s fault. But it was hard not to resent that she still had to perpetually walk on eggshells long after the divorce.

  “We’re a team, right?” Attempting to coax a smile, Terri tried to hide how troubled she actually was. This fake Niles had unnerved her more than she wanted to admit. What if he didn’t leave them alone? What if he terrorized them the entire summer? Her heart sped up at the thought of it, pounding in her chest with an intensity that was nearly painful.

  Dallas nodded, ponytail bobbing. She wasn’t the type of child to cheerfully parrot back her mother’s suggestions, never had been. Terri would have to be satisfied with non-verbal gestures.

  “Please be careful.”

  “Mom….”

  “I know, I know.” She raised her hands in surrender. “I’m being overprotective. Go ahead, go. Have fun.”

  Though she’d appeared to be exhausted a moment before, Dallas flew away from her like a bird escaping a cage.

  “No running,” Terri yelled after the rapidly retreating figure, but it was too late. Her daughter was gone. Rubbing her chest in a futile attempt to lower her heart rate, she was frustrated at the level of helplessness she felt. There was no way around it; she was going to have to call Vandermere in the morning. It was the last thing she wanted to do. She had too much work to be able to hover over her daughter all summer, and doing so would make Dallas nuts and drive a bigger wedge between them.

  Tea. Tea was what she needed now.

  Though it was nearly eighty degrees outside, the house was cool and yes, drafty. Vandermere had been right about that. On the hottest of days, a cold breeze could be felt, consistently winding its way through the estate. While it was welcome now, Terri worried about how uncomfortable the place would be in the winter, as they would be there past the end of the year; there was no doubt about it. As with all old homes, she’d no sooner fix one problem before she’d discover another, lurking behind the one she’d just repaired. She was relieved she hadn’t found black mold under the water-damaged wall covering yet, but Terri was willing to bet it was there. Sometimes it was difficult to catch her breath in the house, as if her lungs were being squeezed.

  Maybe this is a sign. She pushed the thought aside as she walked to the kitchen. Ever since her father had died of a heart attack at a tragically young age, leaving her alone with her kindly but ill-equipped-to-be-a-single-parent mother, dying the same way had been Terri’s greatest fear. She’d driven herself to the hospital too many times to count, convinced that each minute was destined to be her last.

  The diagnosis was the same every time: panic attack.

  “There’s nothing wrong with your heart, Terri,” the last nurse had told her. He’d had kind eyes and a gentle voice, and had taken the time to sit with her for a moment, perching on the edge of the bed. She’d been hooked up to a frightening array of machines. “But if you don’t learn how to deal with stress, there will be.”

  Dallas would be fine. She was strong and street smart, as much as any child with a comfortable life could be, and she had her phone. There was no reason to worry about her.

  Except there was.

  “The boy who stayed in my room before me. His name is Niles.”

 
Screw it. What had she been thinking, leaving this until tomorrow? This kid could have a knife, or worse. How could she have thought they’d be able to sleep in this house tonight, with him wandering around?

  She took her phone from her pocket and called Dallas.

  “I haven’t even been gone five minutes.”

  “I know. Sorry, but I can’t help it. This Niles, or whoever he is, scares me. Everything all right?”

  “Yes, Mom.” Heavy sigh, mostly for effect. “No one’s here but me and a bunch of spiderwebs.”

  Though her daughter wasn’t the cuddly type, at least she wasn’t scared of spiders. That would be impossible to deal with while doing restorations. “Find anything yet?”

  “It’s been five minutes, Mom. I just got here.”

  “Okay. Call me if you see anything.”

  Her daughter ended the call without a goodbye, and Terri tried not to be hurt, reminding herself that Dallas didn’t mean to be abrupt or rude. She’d been telling herself that since the girl had learned to speak. Hopefully Vandermere would be less impatient.

  If there was anything she hated, it was complaining. She prided herself on being a positive person, a can-do person. In the best-case scenario, her clients heard from her twice: when she applied for a job, and when she finished the job. However, this was far from the best-case scenario, and the sooner she let her employer know, the sooner it would be fixed.

  “Ms. Foxworth. This is a surprise. I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon. Are you and your daughter settling in?”

  Startled, but not annoyed. That was a good start. “Everything’s fine, Miss Vandermere. The house is beautiful, and I don’t anticipate any problems with the restoration.”

  “But….” The older woman sounded bemused.

  “Sorry?”

  “I sense a ‘but’ coming. I somehow doubt you’ve phoned me to chat.”

  Terri mentally crossed her fingers. What if the boy were a relative? She hadn’t considered that before. Even so, the woman needed to know the child had scared her daughter.