Read Online The Skeleton Haunts a House by Leigh Perry - Free Book Online

no trouble at all.”
    â€œWell as long as we divide up the housework—and the expenses—I’m willing to give it a shot, but if you start to feel crowded or taken advantage of, speak up immediately!”
    Mom patted my hand. “I’m sure things will work out just fine.”
    â€œSounds great,” I said, but I wasn’t completely sanguine. I’d known a fair number of people in my generation who’d had to move back in with their parents for financial reasons—it was distressingly common among adjuncts—but I hadn’t known any who’d enjoyed the process. Still, I was going to need a new set of tires on my car before winter set in, and if Madison and I could stand to share a house with my parents for even a month or two, it would help my bottom line quite a bit.
    Since Mom had taken care of the grocery shopping, I got started on laundry. Madison eventually woke up, and after Phil fed her, I took her aside to tell her about the idea of sharing the house.
    I was expecting a little pushback, since it had been just the two of us for most of her life, and adding Sid to the mix had required some adjustment. But she said, “Makes sense to me.”
    â€œYou’re sure?”
    â€œIt’ll take a lot of the burden off of you if we don’t have to move, so why not?”
    â€œSweetie, my job is to make life easier for you, not the other way around.”
    â€œI know, but seriously, the house is big enough for all of us, and you get along with G-Mom and G-Dad. Now if it were Aunt Deborah—”
    â€œDon’t even go there,” I said. “Speaking of my beloved sister . . .”
    â€œPlease don’t tell me you two are feuding.”
    â€œWe don’t feud. We just disagree some of the time.”
    â€œAs in all the time.”
    â€œSome of the time,” I insisted. After all, 99 percent of the time still counted as “some,” and Deborah and I weren’t that bad. I explained the plan for us to head to the haunt to get her things and retrieve Sid. “Are you okay with that?”
    â€œSure,” she said. “I didn’t have anything planned for today other than working at the haunt, and that’s not happening.”
    â€œI mean are you okay with going back to McHades Hall after what happened there?”
    â€œWell, I wouldn’t want to go there alone in the middle of the night, but otherwise, it’s no problem. I am just as glad I didn’t see the body.”
    â€œI could have done without seeing her myself,” I said, though it hadn’t been my first dead body. I still wasn’t sure how I felt about being able to say that. “Anyway, are you sure about going over there?”
    â€œMom, I go to PHS every day, and there was a murder, an attack, and an abduction there last year.”
    â€œTrue,” I said, “but if you change your mind or want to talk to your therapist again, just let me know.”
    â€œWill do,” she said. “What about you?”
    â€œWait, I’m the mother. I’m supposed to ask these things.”
    â€œI could call G-Mom and get her to ask.”
    Phil, who wandered through the living room at that point, cleared his throat.
    â€œOr G-Dad,” Madison said.
    â€œI’m fine. Living with a walking, talking dead guy takes a lot of the scare out of it.”
    â€œI get that, but I meant going to McHades when you’ve got a thing about haunted houses. What’s the story with that, anyway?”
    Fortunately the phone rang, so I was able to dodge the conversational bullet.
    â€œThackery residence,” I answered.
    â€œIt’s Deborah. The police say people can come get their belongings now. Be sure to bring something big enough to carry all Madison’s
stuff
.”
    â€œMessage received.” I hung up the phone and said, “Time to go get Sid.”

7
    T hough it was just past one in the afternoon