Free Mysteries of Holt House - A Mystery by Marja McGraw

renting a furnished
apartment. I don’t have too much to take with me when I move.”
    I smiled. Nice way to live.
    “By the way,” she added, “I stopped at the
post office and picked up your mail like you asked me to, and while I was there
I got myself a post office box.” There was no mail delivery to Holt House
because it was so far out of town so I’d given Sharon my key, asking her to
pick up my mail.
    “Why don’t you keep the key and you can
pick up my mail when you pick up your own.”
    “Okay, that’s what I was going to do
anyway.”
    While Sharon finished unpacking, she
filled me in on the latest news in town, and I told her about my new plans,
people I’d been dealing with, especially Mike, and we finally stopped talking
and started laughing.
    “You’d think we hadn’t seen each other in
a year,” I said.
    “I know. It feels that way. You’re the
closest thing I’ve got to a sister. It’s hard to spend too much time apart.”
    “You’ve got competition. Lucy wants to be
my big sister,” I said.
    She looked at me questioningly, so I
explained about Lucy’s comment and told her I thought Lucy was probably lonely.
    “You may be right, but the sister thing is
sort of cute. I think I’m going to like her.”
    “You will. She’s so down to earth. She’s a
little bossy, but she really seems to care about people. She fancies herself a
matchmaker, too.”
    Sharon finished putting her things away
and we strolled to the kitchen where we found Lucy and David already having
coffee.
    “Took you two long enough,” Lucy said.
“Come and sit down.”
    “We had a little catching up to do,” I
said. I was watching David out of the corner of my eye, and had to suppress a
chuckle. He couldn’t keep his eyes off Sharon, although I could see he was
trying to be nonchalant.
    We women were carrying the conversation
when David stood up and said, “I’m going to go look around the place and see
what needs to be done first. Be back later.”
    “Come in around noon for lunch,” Lucy
said.
    “I will.”
    We looked at each other after he left and
started laughing.
    “Sharon, I think you have an admirer,”
Lucy said.
    “ I think he got tired of listening
to us ladies run on about everything,” Sharon replied. “We do get carried away
sometimes. And, Kelly, you were right. He’s about as hot as they come.”
    “You were right about something else,
Kelly,” Lucy said. “He’s a nice guy. I don’t know why I made up my mind about
him without even meeting him. I’m not normally that quick to judge people.”
    Lucy seemed to study Sharon for a moment.
    “You know, while the two of you were in
Sharon’s room we talked about a lot of different things, and he’s a very intelligent
man.”
    “He’s got a college background, but says
he prefers the outdoor life,” I said.
    Bing! Bong! That wild doorbell was calling my name.
    Lucy stood up.
    “I’ll go,” I said. “It’s probably Mr.
Forbes. I mean Josh. He said to call him Josh.” I left the kitchen and answered
the door.
    Josh stood on the porch.
    “Hi,” I said. “Come on in, and welcome to
your new home. Can I help you with your bags?”
    “No, I can take care of them. It’s good to
see you again. I thought about you and Lucy last night, and I think I’m going
to like it here.”
    “I certainly hope so. We have another
boarder I’m sure you’ll like, too. Her name is Sharon, and you’ll meet her at
lunch. Which reminds me, lunch will be served at noon.”
    “Fine. I’ll put my belongings away, and if
you don’t mind I’ll roam around and familiarize myself with the layout of the
house.”
    “Make yourself at home. After all, this is
home now. I’ll have a key to the front door ready for you at lunch time.”
    He smiled and headed upstairs.
    Returning to the kitchen, I was just
sitting down when the telephone rang. My ad had started running in the paper,
so I hoped this was a potential boarder.
    “Hello, Holt House. May I