Read Online House of Dark Shadows by Robert Liparulo - Free Book Online Page B

to show the reality of the family: faded from the earth, faded from memory. His heart ached for them, for the people they never became. Even the dad, who had done the dirty deed. If the house had gotten to him, was anything he did after that his fault? Wouldn’t it be like being hypnotized and forced to do something against your will? Xander resolved again to be alert against the house’s power. His family would not suffer the fate of that family. He would not let them fade away.
    â€œWeird they left so many personal things,” David said.
    â€œBut not everything,” Xander said. “Like they left in a hurry.” “If the father murdered them, why would they take anything at all?”
    â€œMaybe they were trying to get away from the house. Maybe it was the police who took their clothes and stuff. Evidence.”
    David went to a closet. He opened the door and flashed his light inside. “Hey, what’s this?” he said.
    Leaning into one of the corners was a wood pole, similar to a broom handle. One end had a brass cap with a small hook coming off it.
    â€œI don’t know . . . wait a minute, yes, I do.” Xander swept the light over the ceiling. He stopped on a rectangular hatch. “The attic entrance. That pole hooks the door and pulls it down. I saw it in a movie.”
    â€œWe should wait for Dad,” David said. “He’d want to come.”
    Xander smiled. “He’d want to, or you’d want him to?”
    David stared at the door for a long time. Finally, he said, “I’m all right.”
    â€œOkay, then. Come on.”

CHAPTER

sixteen
    THURSDAY, 2:29 P.M.
    It was a bust. The attic turned out to be nothing but dust, mouse poop, spiderwebs, some decomposing cardboard boxes of disintegrated clothes like in the basement, and a few pieces of furniture. They opened a wooden chest, big enough for a man to fit inside, but it was just full of papers—a child’s schoolwork, sheet music, stuff like that. They cautiously approached a large wardrobe—definitely where Xander would have hidden if he were a creepy guy hiding in someone else’s house. But it contained only a dress and some other clothes on wooden hangers. The space up there was smaller than the other floors, probably having to do with the way the roof canted inward, he figured.
    Xander was glad to have cleared the attic without relying on his father. He was also relieved they hadn’t uncovered some crazy maniac living up there . . . relieved and a little disappointed. That would have been something to call his best friend, Dean, about. Danielle too.
    They clambered down the hatch’s built-in steps, then used the pole to shove the whole thing back into place. David reached up and slapped at Xander’s hair and shoulders. Clouds of dust billowed off him. Xander returned the favor, then said, “Let’s check our bedroom. Maybe we can clear the whole house before Dad gets home.”
    â€œThat’d be cool,” David agreed.
    Heading to their room, Xander pointed his beam at a narrow door in the corridor wall.
    â€œCheck the linen closet,” he told David and stepped into the bedroom. Corners, closet, tower: nothing, nothing, nothing. At least no intruders or hidey-holes. In the closet, he did find a garment draped over a wire hanger.
    â€œDavid,” he called over his shoulder, “check under the bed.”
    He stepped farther into the closet to examine the clothes.
    It appeared to be a man’s suit. Old-fashioned with wide lapels and pinstripes. He remembered something like it from the movie Bugsy . A zoot suit, it was called. He tapped it with the end of his flashlight, igniting a small explosion of dust from the fabric. He coughed and waved his hand in front of his face. He left the closet and shut the door. Scanning the room, his brother was nowhere in sight.
    â€œDavid! Where are you, dude?” He bent and flashed the light under the