Graham swore under his breath. “I’m still not getting why you’re involved.”
“I told you, I was officially asked by a member of SFPD to investigate. A little.”
“You mean you weren’t planning on looking into it yourself?”
“Not really.” Again, I thought about going into the shed. And the fact that I met with Hugh, and couldn’t seem to leave the story alone. “Okay, maybe I would have. Probably I would have eventually given in to curiosity and looked through the house. Those ghosts are calling me, Graham. I think they need something from me.”
“And you’re going to respond, even if it means putting yourself in danger?”
“Like I said, I’m getting tired of explaining myself.”
Twenty minutes of clipped, overly polite conversation later, I dropped Graham off at his place. He didn’t invite me in.
Chapter Fourteen
I wasn’t far from Monty’s house. I figured I might as well stop by and see if it would be convenient for him if I came to finish up the ramp tomorrow afternoon, assuming my schedule stayed clear.
Also, given that Stan had shared some misgivings about my Neighbors Together client, I wanted the chance to talk to him with those things in mind. There were a few things Monty had said or done over the last few weeks that seemed off to me, too. It was worth a visit without the pressure of construction around us.
Monty answered my knock on the door, as he most often did, with a book in his lap. He invited me in, and we chatted for a moment about the unfinished work on his house. Then he changed the subject.
“Have you ever read any of Hubert Lawrence’s poetry?” Monty held up a small green volume.
Twisted Memories: A Life Forged from Fire.
“I thought you were more of a nonfiction guy.”
“I’m trying to branch out. And after everything that’s happened . . . I dunno. I guess that whole family’s on my mind. I read this a long time ago, when I first moved in. Etta gave it to me.”
“Do you like it?”
He shrugged. “It’s a little . . . raw. Especially when you know it comes from real life. Especially when you live right next to the freakin’ Murder House.”
I nodded.
“You know,” Monty continued, “Etta told me the whole story when I moved in a coupla years ago, and how Hugh Lawrence was this famous poet. She said he wrote about what had happened, that his heart was still broken from it, but that it made good literature. Doesn’t that seem like kind of a weird thing to say?”
“A little. She probably didn’t mean anything by it.”
“I wish I’d known he was actually going to be working on my house! I would have loved for him to have signed it.”
“I have the sense he’ll be around more. I’m sure you haven’t missed your chance for an autograph.”
“I guess that’s true. I’ve seen him once or twice in front of the Murder House.”
“What does he do when he comes here, do you know?”
“Just looks around, I guess. That’s how I met Ray—he was with him one time. His wife, Simone, comes a lot.”
“Simone comes a lot without Hugh?”
“Not ‘a lot’, exactly. But she’s come through a few times with a Realtor, looking it over.”
“Are they planning on selling it?”
“I guess. I mean, if you were Hugh’s wife, wouldn’t you want to get rid of the place? I don’t even understand . . . why would anyone who had gone through something like that want to be in that house again?”
“I think he’s using it as a sort of catharsis. I guess exposure therapy can be useful sometimes.”
“And that’s what they were trying to do with the sister?”
“I guess so. I’m not really clear on the details, myself. But then, I’ve never been through something like that. I imagine the trauma sticks with you. Poor Linda.”
I watched him carefully, but unlike some people I knew, I wasn’t much of a human lie detector. I knew this about myself. I had been fooled too many times.
Something occurred to me. “Last weekend you assured me the Murder House was vacant, full only of ghosts.”
“That’s true. I mean, every once in a while somebody stops by, but they don’t live there. All’s I’m saying is that if they want to sell that house, now’s the time to get it fixed up so they can sell it when the new research campus goes in.”
“What new research campus?”
“They’re building right down there at the bottom of the hill. They say all our houses are going to double in value. Or maybe not double, but increase, that’s for sure.”