Free Tymber Dalton by Out of the Darkness Page A

to do anything to jinx the situation so he could get his book turned in on time. At least he was trying to be nice.
    She cleaned up the leftovers and turned the TV off, turning the stereo on instead. There were still plenty of things needing attention in her office. She pulled her new desk away from the wall where the movers left it and repositioned it near the window, admittedly a great view. The wall sockets were close enough to access, and she set up her laptop.
    She’d also ordered a bookcase and locking file cabinet. Once she had them positioned where she wanted, she realized something about the dimensions didn’t feel right.
    In the hallway, she opened the closet between her office and Steve’s. His door was closed so she didn’t have to spend time answering questions. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary.
    Back in her office, she looked into the closet, which shared a wall with Steve’s office. It was tiny, but she supposed the one in Steve’s office was probably fairly large, taking up the remainder of space along the wall.
    Writing that night wasn’t an option because mental exhaustion had set in. Restless and bored, she turned off the computer and wandered upstairs, catching sight of the attic access. She had yet to venture up there.
    Sami stretched and grabbed the handle, and the staircase easily unfolded. She spied an old-fashioned button-type switch at the top of the steps and tried it. A dim bulb flickered to life, barely making a dent in the shadowy gloom.
    Retrieving a flashlight and brand-new 100-watt bulb from the kitchen, she climbed the attic stairs while watching for cobwebs. She replaced the old bulb, but the fixture wasn’t well placed and only cast more shadows across the attic floor.
    It was large enough to convert into another usable floor if needed, extending nearly the entire length and width of the house. There wasn’t as much junk as Sami expected. Just several jumbled piles of old boxes and more furniture, all covered in thick layers of dust. It couldn’t be attributed to disposal by recent residents because the thick, undisturbed layer of dust also carpeted the bare floor. Sami glanced behind her. Except for her footprints, there were no traces of other people.
    The turret and window seat at the front of the house was the highlight of the attic. She walked over. Despite the leftover heat from the day, she briefly felt a small chill, like she had in the basement.
    Shaking it off, she peered out the large window. The nearly full moon revealed a spectacular view of the woods looking out over the front of the property, the barn, all the way to where the cemetery trail disappeared into the woods.
    The house possessed a secret. Sami wasn’t sure what, but nothing about it made sense. The house had many residents throughout its history, none who stayed long, and an owner willing to sell far below fair market value. Acreage, especially in the middle of a state forest, wasn’t cheap. The house was large even by modern standards. A house renovated, in spits and spurts, by different residents, none completing a full refit.
    Leave it to Steve to get us involved in a real-life mystery.

Chapter Twelve
     
    Riding was out of the question. It wasn’t even seven thirty in the morning, and already Sami heard the whine of bikes and ATVs all over the park. She sat on the front porch with her coffee and watched the horses graze near the truck. She had closed the main gate so they could freely roam the property.
    Mutt spied her on the porch and carefully stepped to the walkway and stood there, bobbing his head up and down.
    “What do you want, you big mooch?”
    He shook his head again. Jeff ambled over.
    “Okay, hang on.” She retrieved a few carrots from the fridge. Then she sat at the bottom of the steps and encouraged the geldings to come all the way up the walk to her.
    Sami admitted she enjoyed having property where the horses could roam free. In Ohio, their pasture was only an acre. Even