“Maybe.” I had to admit, since seeing the tower room, I’d had a fantasy or two about actually living here. “I can’t afford to make it a museum. But if it’s used for events, then everyone can have the chance to experience it once it’s fixed up.”If it’s ever fixed up.“What would the art museum get out of helping?”
“The art museum is always looking for unique places to have its fundraisers,” Alex said. “In exchange for attaching ourselves to the project and the permit, we’d like to barter for use of the facility for one of those fundraisers down the road.”
I laughed. “I love the idea, but you may not be so enthusiastic after you see the place.”
He smiled, his gray eyes friendly and keen at the same time. “We’ll let you fix it up first.”
This time Landon laughed. “You’ll have to, unless you want to fall through the floor. But you’re going to love the ballroom.”
Alex and Sloane were full of questions, so we gave them the abbreviated tour of the first floor so we didn’t have to hazard the stairs. While Alex and Landon lingered in the ballroom, I showed Sloane to the library.
The door creaked as we went in, and the whole house seemed to sigh. A high, faraway sound reminiscent of laughter followed.
Sloane’s gaze snapped to mine. “What was that?”
I fought back a chill and shrugged. “You tell me.”
“Freaky.” She took a ginger step into the bookcase-lined room, now brighter since I hadn’t replaced the curtains. And then she sneezed.
“Sorry. Old books. When we get the air-conditioning going, it’ll be better.”Cha-ching.
“This is incredible,” she said, truly in awe. “It will make a great scene in the haunted house, that is, if you want to open it to the public.”
“We can do that. I’m thinking we’d lead tours through and scare the crap out of people at each stop.”
“If the house does what it just did every time you open a door, that won’t be a problem,” Sloane joked.
“Wait till you see this,” I said, stopping in front of the sliding panel. I pressed it and pushed it to the side. Landon had oiled the wheels, so it moved with barely a whisper.
“Whoa!” Sloane stepped forward. “What is it?”
I gestured to the door-within-a-door that wouldn’t open. “It’s locked. We don’t know.”
“Locked?” she asked in fascination. “How are you going to get in there? Because youhaveto get in there.”
“Maybe we can let the skeletons out of the closet for the haunted house.”
“Spooky.” She tried the doorknob. “Sorry. Couldn’t resist.”
“Landon’s getting some skeleton keys. Apparently a lot of locks in these old houses can be opened by the same types of keys.”
“Landon, huh? He’s a cutie.”
“He’s a pain in the ass.” With a great ass. I sighed. “Yeah, he’s a cutie.”
“I could think of worse guys to get sweaty with.”
“I’m not getting sweaty with anyone anytime soon,” I said, just as I heard a throat clear behind me.
Landon and Alex were standing in the doorway of the library, both of them grinning.
“I beg to differ,” Landon said. “You’ve been getting sweaty with me all afternoon.”
Damn it.Sloane came to my rescue as my face got even hotter.
“You know,” she said, “if you put out the call, you could get some really creative help on the haunting of your haunted house.”
I reset my brain back to the topic at hand and realized what Sloane, a potter who worked at the Bohemia School of Art and Design, was suggesting. Some of the pressure in my head eased a little. “Do you think they would help?”
