Free Marja McGraw - Bogey Man 03 - They Call Me Ace by Marja McGraw Page B

tables that had been left behind and opened it. “I also brought some baseball caps. This stuff should protect us.” I studied the backpack. It looked heavy, and full.
    Mikey grinned and took one of the hats from her, putting it on as he reached for a pair of gloves. “Good thinking, Grandma.”
    Giving up, I grabbed one of the hats. I pulled my long auburn hair up and pulled the hat on over it. No spiders were going to make a nest in my hair.
    “Okay, let’s find the door to the basement. Pamela, you lead the way.”
    “Me?”
    Judith nodded and I headed for the kitchen. I figured there might be a doorway there that led to the cellar. And I was right. One door led to the outside, and a door on an interior wall led to a set of stairs. I leaned over and looked down, into the dark.
    “We can’t go down there. We won’t have any light.”
    Judith pulled three small flashlights out of her backpack.
    This time she saw me when I crossed my eyes. “Careful, Pamela. They might get stuck that way.”
    “Oh, my gosh! Is that a standard line for mothers?” My own mother used to tell me the same thing when I rolled my eyes.
    Judith smiled but didn’t reply. She held her hand out to indicate I should go down the stairs first. My heart sank. What were we getting into?
    “Be careful, Mom.”
    What were we getting Mikey into?
    I tested the first step and it seemed sturdy. At least the staircase had a handrail. I shook it to see if it was sturdy. It was. I carefully tested the next step, and turned back to Mikey and Judith, or Ace and Mom, or whoever they were at the moment. “You two stay upstairs until I know this staircase is safe.”
    I shined the flashlight down and saw that the wood of the next step had a split in it, although it wasn’t split all the way across the board. I decided not to chance it and skipped that step, going to the next one. Two dogs whizzed past me, looking for some trouble to get into. Considering their combined weight equaled around one hundred ninety pounds, I figured the rest of the stairs were probably in good shape.
    I didn’t see any spiders or spider webs as I descended the stairs. Maybe the Realtor had cleaned, at least a little. How could they show the house if it was full of bugs? I saw a canister and realized they’d set off a bug bomb. I picked it up so the dogs wouldn’t get it.
    Stepping off the last step, I slowly swung my flashlight around the room. There were boxes stacked everywhere. I could see the shapes of furniture under old sheets, too.
    “Come on down,” I called out, “but watch out for the third step. Judith, hold Mikey’s hand so he can bypass that one.”
    I turned my light toward the dogs. “Sherlock and Watson, come! You keep your noses out of those boxes. The
    last time you got too curious in a cellar, you found a stiff.”

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Eleven
     
     
     
    Glancing up I saw a hanging light with a chain. I pulled the chain and we had light, although not a lot of it.
    Judith ignored me and began tapping on the walls. Mikey followed suit. The dogs, also ignoring me, started investigating, sniffing each box as they padded past them.
    “What on earth are you doing?” I asked, turning to Judith.
    “I’m checking to see if the walls are hollow. What did you think I was doing?”
    Hollow? She was actually hoping to find a secret passage or hidden closet.  “I wasn’t sure, but you could have been testing to see if the walls are sturdy.”
    I didn’t know whether to cross my eyes or roll them, because I suddenly realized that basically I was babysitting two dogs, one child and one aging child.
    Briefly I thought about my own mother who would have been back at the house sipping tea and talking about her neighbors. She’d never dream of looking for hiding places. She might be a little boring, but at least she was safe and sane. She’d never lead me astray.
    Shaking my head, I approached the boxes and pushed Sherlock out of the way