Read Online The Dark Stairs R/I by Betsy Byars - Free Book Online Page A

Herculeah began and, then as if she’d gotten off to a bad start, she began again. “Yesterday, I got a strange sensation in front of Dead Oaks. There was something that I had to know.”
    She could feel her mother’s fury. It was actually heating the air around them. Herculeah pulled at the collar of her sweatshirt.
    â€œWhen something like this happens, I get this terrible energy. It’s like I’ll do anything for the truth.”
    Herculeah still had not looked up to meet her mother’s eyes. Her mother’s silence was a wall of anger.
    â€œAnd then, last night, I learned that the Moloch was somehow tied up with the house and—”
    â€œHow did you learn that?”
    â€œI saw him there.”
    â€œAt the house?”
    â€œYes.”
    She waited for her mother to question her, to make her tell about those awful moments when she was trapped in the basement, but to Herculeah’s relief, her mother said, “Go on.”
    â€œMeat saw him too, and we both got—well, it’s more than interested.”
    â€œMeat was at the Crewell house too?”
    Herculeah nodded. “So today I was sitting over there on the sofa, and I had on my glasses—these glasses that help me think—and I remembered your tape recorder.
    â€œRight away I wondered if you’d taped the conversation with the Moloch. And when I found out that you had, Meat and I listened. I knew it wasn’t right, but you know I have a terrible curiosity. I got it from you.”
    â€œNow, listen to me,” her mother said. “The reason I did not want you to know about this case is because of your ‘terrible curiosity,’ as you put it. You get into things that don’t concern you, and you never stop to think of the danger that might be involved.”
    â€œOh, maybe, every now and then, there’s a little danger, but, Mom—”
    â€œThis man—Hamilton Crewell’s son—has hired me to find his father’s body. He is convinced that his father is dead, but he cannot rest easy until the body is found. It’s mixed up in his mind—like a dream.”
    â€œWhere are you going to look?”
    â€œI’m going to start with the house. That’s where he thinks the body is.”
    â€œWhy doesn’t he just look himself ?”
    â€œI don’t know. He’s afraid of something.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œSomething that happened in the house. He wouldn’t tell me what. He’s a very complicated man.”
    â€œCan I go with you?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œMom, I would love it—looking for secret passages and stuff.”
    â€œAbsolutely not!”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œThere’s something about this I don’t like, Herculeah, something I don’t trust.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI don’t know myself.”
    â€œBecause the Moloch was in a mental asylum?” Herculeah asked, then she went on quickly, “I couldn’t help but hear that on the tape.”
    â€œDon’t keep calling him the Moloch. He’s William Crewell. Mr. Crewell to you.”
    â€œWell, is that what worries you—that he was insane?”
    â€œNo, I’m not at all convinced he deserved to be in there. And he has been released from the asylum. I checked on that.”
    â€œThen what?”
    â€œI don’t know exactly. I found out that he escaped from the asylum twice. The first time he escaped was about ten years ago, and Mr. Crewell was never seen alive after that date.”
    â€œAnd the second time?” Herculeah asked.
    â€œThe second time he escaped was ... sometime in the fall of 1990.”
    â€œOctober fourth,” Herculeah said.
    â€œHow do you know that?”
    â€œHis picture was in the paper the next day,” Herculeah said. “Meat and I looked it up in the Journal. He was in the crowd of people waiting to see if Hamilton Crewell’s body would be brought out