Free The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson Page A

tell her that the DeFeos had left the mirrors. But he decided to let the subject pass. The woman was still a nun at heart!
    Theresa followed George to the other rooms. She admired all the new space they had, but when she and George stood outside the sewing room, Aunt Theresa hesitated. George opened the door for her. She backed up a few feet, her face turning pale.
    "I won't go in there," she said, turning her back to him.
    Had Theresa seen anything through the open door? George looked into the room. There were no flies, thank God, or Kathy's reputation for housecleaning would have suffered an irreparable blow! But George could feel the room was ice cold. He looked at Theresa. She was still standing implacably, her back to the room. He shut the door and suggested they try the top floor.
    When it came time to examine the playroom, the former nun balked again.
    "No," she said, "that's another bad place. I don't like it." Just as George and her Aunt came down, Kathy came up from the basement with Missy. The two women hugged each other, and Kathy, guiding her aunt toward the kitchen, said, "George, I'll finish up downstairs later. I want to transfer some of the canned goods into a closet I found down there. We can use it as a pantry." George went to the livingroom to build up his fire again.
    Theresa hadn't been in the house for more than a half hour when she decided it was time to go. Having expected that her aunt would stay for supper, Kathy was disappointed. "George can drive you back," Kathy offered. But the older woman refused. "There's something bad in here, Kathy," she said, looking about. "I must go now."
    "But Aunt Theresa, it's so very cold out." The woman shook her head. She stood up, pulled her heavy coat about her and was heading for the front door when Danny and Chris came in with another young boy.
    The three children watched Theresa nod to George and kiss Kathy lightly on the cheek. As she strode out the door, Kathy and George looked at each other, at a loss for words at the woman's strange behavior. Finally Kathy noticed her sons and their playmate.
    "This is Bobby, Mama," Chris said. "We just met him. He lives up the street."
    "Hello, Bobby," Kathy smiled. The little dark-haired boy looked about Danny's age. Hesitantly, Bobby stuck out his right hand. Kathy shook it and introduced George. "This is Mr. Lutz."
    George grinned at the boy, shaking his small hand. "Why don't you three all go upstairs and play?"
    Bobby paused, his eyes darting about the foyer. "No. That's all right," he said. "I'd rather play down here."
    "Here?" asked Kathy. "In the foyer?"
    "Yes, m'am."
    Kathy looked at George. Her eyes carried the unspoken question: What's wrong with this house that makes everybody so uncomfortable?
    For the next half-hour, the three boys played on the foyer floor, with Danny's and Chris' Christmas toys. Bobby never took off his winter jacket. Kathy went back to the basement to finish making the closet into a pantry, and George returned to the livingroom fireplace. Then Bobby stood up and told Danny and Chris that be wanted to go home. That was the first and last time that the boy from up the street ever set foot in 112 Ocean Avenue.
    The basement of the Lutzes' house was 43 by 28 feet. When George first looked it over, he came down the stairs and saw off to the right batten doors that led to the oil burner, hot water heater, and the freezer, washers, and dryers left from the DeFeo estate.
    To his left, through another set of doors, was a playroom, 11 by 28 feet, beautifully finished in walnut paneling, with recessed fluorescent lights in a dropped ceiling. Directly in front of him was the area he planned to use as his office.
    A small closet opened into the space beneath the stairs, and between the staircase and the right-hand wall, plywood panels formed an additional closet, extending out about seven feet, with shelving that ran from the ceiling to the floor. This walk-in area, George thought, made good use of