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Unwelcome

By: thornapple



Unwelcome

Philip Johnson

Prologue

Good and bad things often come into our lives without warning, and that's how it was with Ben Whitehead. A simple impulsive notion to alter his homeward travels just so he could spend a short time dwelling on a place and time from his childhood. All so innocent and understandable. Something that many might consider doing, especially on an impulse. Who would ever think that something so innocuous could ever lead to a whole string of life altering events? Events that ranged from entertaining, to adventurous, and on to very frightening and even deadly.

Chapter One

The old man was the quintessential farmer. His face was like tough and very tanned leather, and tufts of sun bleached and windblown hair bristled from under his old weathered cap. His coveralls were worn and faded, and his shoes, that were the color of dust, looked old and heavy and had laces running zigzag up the front.

He stopped his tractor at his rusty barbed wire fence, and leaning on the fender he said, "Looks like you got everything under control."

"Pretty much. I saw that board in the road with the huge nail sticking up, but not in time to avoid it, so I stopped so I'd have this wide spot to change my tire that I knew would be flat in minutes. I have to say, this road is a tough one."

"Ain't it though. I've tried to talk to the county about it a couple of times, but it was about as productive as milkin' a dry cow." He watched me for another second and then told me, "Don't see a lot of unfamiliar cars out this way. You ain't lost are ya?"

I stopped what I was doing and straightened the kink in my back for a second, and then looked up at him before I said, "Now that's a good question. You ever heard of the Palmer place?"

The old man studied me like I'd just crawled out from under a rock before he said, "Palmer you say?"

"Yeah. They were...or are, or whatever, relatives of mine. I'm not even sure I'd know them if I saw them, but I found something in my parent's junk that mentioned the old place here on Yancy Road. I found myself fairly close, so decided to see if I could find them."

"You said your parent's junk?"

"Right, they died in a car crash a couple of years ago."

"Well sorry to hear that. Finish with what you're doin' and come to the house. I'll take a short spell from what I'm doin' and we can sit on the porch and talk about the Palmer place."

"I don't want to take you away from your labors."

"Son, I'm seventy four and I've been laborin' hard all my life, so half an hour taken out of my day now won't put me in the poor house."

"Then thanks, and I'll be up there directly." As he hooked a short turn with his tractor, I thought about what I had just said. Did I really just say, up there directly? Where the hell did that come from? Changing the tire next to the old sagging fence wire was about as close to the country or a farm as I'd been in a lot of years.

He was standing on his porch waiting for me as I pulled up and got out of the car. I made my way up the short and narrow sidewalk and up the two weathered steps onto the porch. I extended my hand and told him, "I'm Ben Whitehead."

"Nice to meet ya Ben, I'm Noah Sarat. Take a seat," and he dropped onto an old dark wood rocker and leaned back. The nearest thing to him was the squeaky swing, so I eased down and tried to hold still as he said, "So about the Palmer place. Tell me what you know or remember about it."

"Well, when I was pretty young, we'd come out here to visit relatives. I remember very little actually, except for being curious about the farm animals. It wasn't much as farms go. A subsistence farm really."

"That would be about right."

"So you do know where it is then."

"I do," he said, but then asked me, "What do you remember about your relatives that lived there?"

"Nothing much at all. Well there was an aunt Nessie or Nettie, or something like that, but I'm sure she's long since dead by now." 

"Now I'm not saying I believe what I'm gonna tell ya. You know how stories can get started. Before ya know it, those stories have been repeated so often they take on a life of their own and are treated like gospel."

"Especially in small towns."

"That's true. Well anyway, the house is empty now. Up for sale for back taxes or something like that. The bank owns it I think, or the county does, I don't know. I was there some time back. The fields caught fire late in the fall. What with all the weeds that had been allowed to grow unchecked, and the long dry spell, well...it was a fire in the making. I used my tractor to help contain it along one side. Anyway, the old house and the outbuildings looked pretty solid. Nothin' fancy, but nice."

"And those stories?"

"I hate to be guilty of even repeatin' them, but I will, at least what little I have heard and can remember. I will say this as fact because I talked to them a few times. They were a strange and standoffish lot. On occasion I saw other cars there, so I guess they had friends come in from someplace, but none that were local that I ever saw or heard about."

"Not very sociable then I guess."

Old Noah almost snorted when I said that and then he added, "Not very sociable is right. Cold as a witches heart." Then he laughed and said, "That's funny because one of the stories is they practiced witchcraft there."

"I wonder what was heard or seen that would start that story."

"I don't deal in gossip, so I don't know. I heard that sometimes, well into the night, and maybe all night, lights would be on in one of those outbuildings. Well there hasn't been livestock there in many years so they weren't tending to animals."

"Who owns the property surrounding the place?"

"Well I own the property on this side, and that farm is maybe sixty acres, and I think Stanley Cooper owns the other side and behind it. So you say you just want to satisfy your curiosity?"

"That's about it. Like I said, I have nice memories of the old place. I was maybe twelve or so and I'd play in the hay or swing on the big rope that hung down from that big upper door where the hay would go up and into the loft. Things like that. Things that a lot of kids did that lived in the country back then I suppose." I looked at him then and asked, "Noah, would I get into trouble if I wandered around out there just to see if I can rustle up some of those memories?"

"Well I can't imagine why you would, but I'll call Sheriff Ensley and tell him you ain't there to steal anything."

"I'd appreciate that, but if it's empty, I don't imagine there's much to steal anyway."

"It's all furnished, right down to some dishes still on the kitchen table and food in the cupboard. They just up and left late one night and never came back. They just disappeared is what I heard."

"That's weird. How long ago was that?"

"Oh, I guess three...maybe closer to four years ago."

"And the place is still empty?"

"Nobody wants anything to do with it." 

I started to make a comment about bad karma, but decided he probably wouldn't understand what I was trying to say. Then he went on with, "Besides, any local that would take that place on might be looked upon as being as weird or crazy, or even dangerous as the people that snuck off in the night, like bad spirits or something." Maybe Noah didn't believe the stories, but he looked like he wasn't about to risk something evil befalling him. "Give me a minute to call Ennis Ensley," he added and then got up and disappeared inside. I could hear the sound of his voice coming from somewhere toward the back of the house, and then he came back out letting the screen door bang shut behind him. "Go on down the road maybe a mile. It'll be on your left, but you'll have to look close for the driveway cause it's all grown up around there."

I eased off of the swing and shook Noah's hand and told him, "Thanks a lot Noah, and it's good to meet you."

"My pleasure. Don't be surprised if Ennis stops by. He's good at his job, but he's nosy too." I smiled and walked to my car, and then waved before I backed out, and headed down the rough road, to find what I wasn't certain, and for reasons that I really couldn't grasp. 

Chapter Two

I saw the old place less than a minute later, but just as Noah had warned me, I had to go slow and look for the driveway. The weeds were tall and healthy looking, but those weeds in the driveway couldn't quite conquer the old and hard gravel surface. I pulled up to the garage and sat there with the motor running and the air conditioning humming. The house was no more than fifty feet back from the road and, except for some ugly graffiti, the white painted siding looked in pretty decent condition. The long covered porch with the six simple posts, and three wide steps looked familiar to me. But what was the story about my distant relatives? Why would they just slip away into the night like thieves running from the law, and never to be heard from again?

I abandoned my temperature controlled environment, stepping out into the very warm late summer air and looked around again. Nothing was moving and the still air smelled dusty and stale. Stepping up onto the porch I moved to my left and looked through the front window, shielding my eyes from the brightness of the day. "This is creepy," I told myself aloud, and almost startled myself with the sound of my voice. Just as Noah had described, it looked like somebody was still living there. I went over to the window to my right and looked in on the dining room, and again, except for the heavy coating of dust on the furniture, everything seemed orderly and in place. An hour of sweeping and dusting and the old place would be a simple turnkey operation. Move in your personal effects and you'd be home. Weird. That word would keep revisiting me in the coming days and weeks.

I stood on the porch and looked around at the surrounding countryside as I pulled my phone out and checked. Not a great signal, but very adequate, so I called my younger brother Ted. "Hey it's Ben. Remember that old farmhouse south of Sparta?"

"Sort of, out in the middle of nowhere that belonged to one of our kinfolk?"

"Kinfolk, that's funny, but that would be the one. Well I'm standing on the front porch, and you won't believe the wild story I'll have for you."

"So when do I hear this story?"

"Soon I guess, like tonight if you can get to my place by about seven."

"No sweat, Dee and I'll be there."

"Great. I'll see if I can get more information before I head home."

"That's a good two hours from here right?"

"Maybe ninety minutes. Nice area. Hilly and pretty green and pleasant except for where the lack of rain has turned things a little brown. Okay, see you two tonight." I closed my phone and wandered around to the east side of the house, but the tall weeds made exploring in my Dockers a little less than pleasant. 

I heard the car door slam shut, so I moved back to the front and saw who had to be Sheriff Ensley walking toward me from his cruiser. "Sheriff Ensley I presume," I said smiling.

"That would be me, and you're Ben Whitehead."

"Correct, nice to meet you," and I offered my hand. I received a weak handshake and then the sheriff looked toward the house. "Pretty much as it was the day we learned the family had run off one night. So they were your relatives I hear."

"About twice removed, but yes, that's right. Did Noah tell you how I came to be here?"

"About the flat tire and curiosity as I understand it."

"That's right." 

"I was looking in the windows, but of course in light it's hard to see a lot, but what I did see sure makes this whole story bizarre."

"That's one of many words that have been used many times regarding this house and your relatives."

"Now I hate to think of them as my relatives for fear that I'll be tainted by their strange and irresponsible actions."

The good sheriff moved up onto the porch, and just as I had done, he peered in through a window. "Either me or one of my deputies has done this dozens if not hundreds of times since they left. We've tried to keep the place intact to protect the county's investment."

"So the county does own it then."

"Yep, every acre and every dish."

"What's with the hex signs and other graffiti all over the front of the house?"

"Well as I understand it, Noah told you a little about that family, so you heard the evilness that people swear took place here. Everybody in our nice county is God fearing, so the thought of there even being a chance of evilness being here is enough to scare some of them into doing things. Things like those superstitious hex signs, protection from the bad forces and all of that."

"Too bad that they ruined what appears to be a good paint job on county property."

"True, but if that's all it takes to keep things in balance and peaceful, I'm okay with that mess for now. Better that than having some well meaning religious zealot burn the whole place down, or at least the sheriff part of me thinks that way at the moment."

"Of course. The outbuildings seem okay."

"We check them when we come out here, but they're empty, so it's just a quick glance around, but yeah, they seem to be solid. It seems that they just don't build barns like that anymore. Big and tall with that gambrel roof to make room for the hay. It would cost a bundle of money to replace it now I'm sure."

"I'd hate to even guess. It seems funny to be standing here again. I can remember standing out here with..." and I smiled and said, "well that's just it, I can't remember who was around here back then. Anyway, we'd stand out here when it was raining. The more I'm here, the more little thoughts like that come back to me."

"The mind is a curious thing. Does it remember what was, or what maybe somebody said when you were young and impressionable?"

"Good question Sheriff."

"Just call me Ennis unless my deputies are around."

Chapter Three

Ennis seemed very willing to spend time talking to me. The policeman in him showed by the way he was asking me questions, but none of them were about anything I considered too personal. Then he asked me, "Wanna see what it's like inside?"

"You have a key?"

"Since it's county property and I'm charged with protecting it, I keep a key to the front door handy. After Noah called I grabbed it on my way out."

"You and Noah go back a long way?"

"Just a few years, but we keep in touch with each other. He reminds me of my father."

Ennis didn't elaborate on how Noah was like his father, but that conversation was forgotten as he unlocked the door and I led the way inside. I didn't go more than six feet before I stopped and looked around. "It's pretty fuzzy, but I do remember all of this. Straight down the hallway there is a bathroom on the left and straight ahead is the large farm kitchen, the utility room and an open back porch."

"As I remember it, you're right." Ennis led the way down the hall and into the kitchen and there were the dishes still on the table just as Noah had described.

"Dust everywhere, but otherwise, we could sit down and eat. The living room carpet seemed just fine, and the hardwood floor in the dining room was in good shape too."

"That's right, and there are still canned goods and dry goods in the cupboard. Somebody was supposed to come out and dispose of the food, but other than empty the refrigerator, that never happened. The electricity is turned off of course, so that also means no water."

"I'm sure the county isn't about to keep paying for the electric connection just to have this house sit here."

"I imagine that the day will come where they'll have to come in and just flatten the place and see if they can sell the land."

"What a waste that would be."

"Going back to the marketability of this place, with two bedrooms down and two up, and with a new upstairs bathroom added not all that long before they left, it's a big house that has to be heated and air conditioned. I guess I'll always wonder why they suddenly couldn't pay their taxes and ran off."

"Plus the bank loses I'm sure," I tossed out as a feeler for more information.

"Oh it was owned free and clear, and that adds more to the mystery. There's really no reason to live out here unless you're a farmer, and nobody can make any money with just this however many acres. So with the runaway witch fears that the locals have about this place, and it's inconvenient location, it's just a burden on the taxpayers of White County." 

"So no buyers have ever come forward I assume."

"We had a public auction two different times, but the only people to show up the first time were the spectators."

"How long has it been since it was foreclosed on?"

"Oh, a couple of years I'm guessing. At the end of the first year we had that first auction and then about...oh, maybe five months ago we tried again. One buyer showed up but tried to pick it up for less than is owed on the taxes, which amount to about eight grand more or less."

"Not much money for a house."

"Well I can't say the property could be bought for taxes owed, but whatever the amount, it would be small dollars. But that's a bargain only if you can do something with it. My office has even received anonymous letters indicating that if anybody does live here, the new occupants can expect to experience unpleasant things. We haven't been able to trace those notes back to anybody."

"You have a real situation on your hands."

"It puts more of a burden on our office than it's worth as far as I'm concerned. I've told the mayor that it's time to get rid of this place and then I can get on with life."

I'm surprised that Noah or...the other neighbor here, I can't remember the name Noah gave me. Anyway, why wouldn't they buy it for the land and increase their farming acreage?"

"Fair question, but as you saw, Noah is getting on in years and old Stanley is even older."

"Then the last thing they need is more work to do. So what...I'm not sure what question to ask. Okay, so let's say Joe Blow buys this place and he's harassed by a party or parties unknown. Can you realistically protect anybody out here?"

"I'll answer that by saying, it's often ten minutes, give or take, before we could have a car here."

"A lot can happen in ten minutes."

"A whole lot. Now you're not thinking of buying this place just for the memories are you?"

"You know, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I like it here, I like the house and I like being in the country, but like you say, what would anybody do with this place?"

"That's it."

"What were they hoping to get out of this place?"

"I'm not privy to that information."

"It amazes me that people could still get caught up in the old concept of witches, spells and evil doing, and especially when everybody seems to be caught up in that craziness."

"I hear what you're saying. What do you do Ben?"

"Computers. I've spent a couple of years in Anchorage, or rather in the outlying areas, and I made damn good money, but that isn't someplace I could call home. Then the home office sent me to Central America for a year and then I was back again. Anyway, that's how my life has been for some time. I'm single so I was okay with all of that. I didn't take vacations because I've seen so much and been so many places that there has been no point in spending big bucks just so I can travel even more. Right now I'm in a more stable position, and to tell the truth, I can do a lot of what I do from home."

"No girlfriends?"

"Friends that are women, but what woman in her right mind would hook up with me when she'd never know where I'd go next or when I'd be back?"

"Sounds pretty lonely to me."

"It can be." I'd been looking around as we talked, but then I shook Ennis' hand and said, "Thanks for your time Sheriff, and if I was to slip off the deep end and buy this place you'd be among the first to know so you can try to keep me safe."


Unwelcome



My dress is a little too tight around the bust, but as it is by far by most beautiful in watered emerald silk with velvet print, I had decided against my better judgement to wear it. My dear fiance approves, remarking on my colouring and kissing my neck. We are leaving the comfort of my quarters to meet his uncle for the first time, and I am anxious to please. I feel unclean, awkward after not washing after his attentions, and hope this new acquaintance will not see me as impurely as I am tainted.

I am much younger than my beau, but I love him as truly as any one of my age ever could. Being eighteen and blossoming into a pale innocent with wide dark eyes, it had seemed fitting for me to leave my mother and my siblings and seek better things in the city. I had gained work as a shop girl in London, but my education from my late father's books lead me to gain a post as a librarian at a crumbling borough. It was there I had met him in the pursuit of a book by Newton, and after several visits he asked me to walk out with him, and eventually stay in his apartments. He was a good fellow and I felt for him well, and I did not wish to stay in the disreputable boarding house. Being virginal and of fair education and voice, I had attracted his attentions before the claws of the brothel madame's had time to reach, and I had lived comfortably in fine quarters with all the books and sweetmeats I cared for. 

He was kind enough, a middling scientist at the Royal Institute, and satisfied his lust in me, being a good pure sort not riled with the diseases of the street, in respectable seclusion. He spoke to me with reassuring formality of what to expect with such dealings in the way of my womanhood, and before long I had grown to enjoy our tender nights and his attentive nature. Soon he had discovered my hunger for books and knowledge, and, impressed at my knowledge of philosophers had began to read to me before I slept. So became discussion, and discussion respect. Before long he had grown fonder of me than just a mistress, and, as unmarried in his fifties, asked for my hand. 

Having no need of inheritance or fear of ridicule on account of my reputation as an innocent, it was not something anyone would reject on the status of my class. I felt for him more than I had ever felt for simple farm boys, and as he was sweet and gentle to me, and holder of my virtue, I saw no reason to deny his hand. After all, what was a pretty young country girl on the arm of an aging middle class gentleman?

The gas lamps were fully lit by the time the hansom cab arrived to take us to the borough of the uncle, and my perfume has worn stale in the air, rendering it a strange mix of soap and rose water. I hope he does not think me too common at such a low scent, as I have heard he is a well to do gentleman from the other side of the family. The Mileau family have lived in London since the terror in France, and despite the lack of a title they hold much influence over polite society. I, in my origins, am humbled by such a connection.

The horses stopped at a tall white plastered house with a pillared front, terraced between an uproaring celebration of cackling ladies on the right and a boarded house on the left. It was normal in those days for houses to be left empty in season if a family had fallen upon hard times. The house itself stood dark with one room lit on the second floor, sparkling with yellow glass. The butler took my cape without so much as a raised brow at it's tallow nature, and addressed my husband with a respectful tone. 

We were led through to the lounge, carpeted in gold cord and soft sand silks, the ceiling adorned with round cherubs and a great dome of empty summer skies falsifying the winter night. Art I had never seen nor truly wished to lay around the room as if half unpacked on easels and out of frames, displaying bizarre half dressed nymphs, their hair crowded with flowers, surrounded with odd gold and strange brush strokes. The seemed to be dancing from the frames and the strangeness of this dazzled me.

A tall man, about six or more foot, stood in the doorway when my eyes became raised, and in truth, alarmed at his silhouette, I rose sharply to my feet. My fiance rose too so not to humiliate me in my humble nature, and took my arm to steady me, his grip firm. The man laughed softly, in an accent I hadn't yet heard. Perhaps it was French, but in truth I knew not.

"I hope I did not alarm you, Mademoiselle. They say I am as tall as St Paul and twice as striking."

I did not know if he was joking or not so I turned to my fiance, who laughed shortly, and I joined him, not wanting to meet his gaze in case he thought me impudent. Every inch of my body wanted to leave that room, run far from this gilded bird cage in which I was being weighed up ounce for ounce. I wanted to turn with my partner and sink into the cold dark of the night away from those bitter blue eyes.

"Madeline, you must learn my uncle has a wit to be reckoned with." my suitor said in a light voice, trying to relax me from such obvious discomfort in my embarrassment. The uncle's eyes shone into me as if seeing all, a wide smile across his thin lips.

"Madeline? You are French?" He asked, stepping closer, watching me carefully.

"No sir, my mother just liked the name." He raised his eyebrows a little, obviously disapproving at such flamboyancy. "Although my father was German-" I added, regretting it immediately for the dark shadow that fell across his face. France had been at war with Germany since I was a little girl. I needn't have worried for angering him- the shadow faded immediately and he kissed my cheek warmly, as if meeting an old friend.

"Welcome, Madeline. And welcome to you too, nephew."

I studied him closely over supper, trying to pinpoint his age. He can't have been more than sixty, although he looked younger in features and gait apart from his fraught hands and greying hair. He was a powerful, cutting figure, and walked with a weight and assurance that left me dwarfed next to him. He talked on eagerly through the night, and I sat listen and occasionally attempting to join the debates, desperate to display my intelligence. He spoke over me a little but I did not dare raise it further. He had a wife, back in France, whom he loved dearly, more children than I could name and a desire to use his fortune to bring peace to Europe, although I did not believe even the Mileau family fortune could stop the angry gunshots shattering through the paper thin borderlines.

After a few glasses of wine, I began to feel more settled, although it was clear that he disapproved of how little I ate of what was clearly expensive cuisine, and I was there simply as a common courtesy. My fiance rose to be excused for a telegram and I sat calmly in front of the uncle, not expecting anything from so gentlemanly a man.

His smile dropped, his eyes filling with distaste and his hand slamming on my wrist.

"How old are you, girl." He demanded, pressing my wrist into the table I nearly cried out in fear.

"18, sir." I gasped, not daring to pull away.

"You will not inherit anything. His wage will stop when he is gone and you will get nothing from me."

"I know sir."

" I do not like being humiliated, Madeline."

I stopped, not sure what to say, so I just met him with a cold stare.

" I know your sort. You are nothing but a common whore." He spat, his fingers tightening around my small wrist until my veins trembled. "Do you have to pox? With how many men have you lain?"

"No sir. Only him sir, I was a virgin before meeting him."

He laughed sharply. "Do not take me for a fool. Pretty girls like you don't last until they are of your years. My nephew may have fallen for you and your elecutional lies but I haven't." He snorted, leaning closer. "German officer father indeed. The only thing Germanic about you is your impudence. Do not keep your airs with me girl. You are nothing in my eyes, nothing. Do you understand?"

I did not know how to reply, as his cruelty had stunned me. "Yes sir." He released his grip slightly, looking into my eyes searchingly. Then, as if unable to stop himself, he reached out and touched my jaw line, tracing my neck. He withdrew his fingers sharply, spitting in my face. 

"Whore."

My husband returned not long after I had cleansed my face, and his uncle's facade of content was placed so firmly on I resolved not to tell him. I could not risk the wedge of disbelief that would drive between us both. They talked on about a bizarre system of scientific instruments I did not fully understand beyond a few basic greek and latinate forms, so I sat calmly and smiled through the conversation like a doll, robust in my innocence, and his.

"I was explaining to Madeline the nature of the new artwork in the drawing room." The uncle said slickly, smiling at me with a kindness that almost left my uncertain of its reality. I nodded limply, my mouth too dry from fear for any quick lies. "Clever little one you have there, my dear nephew." He patted my hand across the table kindly. "Treasure her, God only knows how I miss my Idene in this god forsaken city." He looked up to the heavens with a sorrow that almost left me outraged, after his vulgarity to me minutes ago.

My fiance greeted this compliment gushingly, desperate to validate his desire to marry me beyond lust and silly foolishness. I felt like one of the painted nymphs, hung on the wall, meaningless, for men to boast and argue purpose for while I remained as silent and still as stone. 

"Perhaps if she wishes she could come to the drawing room to examine them while you deal with this irritating flaw in Hedgeham's mathematical device." I heard the uncle say, hitting me soberly back from my daydreaming. "He is only a few streets away, down Old Tavistock Street. There is no need to bore the ladies with such talk here, or bring that confounded contraption here when it is in perfectly good order there."

"It can wait until the morning, uncle."

"Nonsense. I won't hear of it. You have been itching to see it from the minute you heard."

My suitor paused, pushing his glasses up his nose thoughtfully, his thin small body dwarfed as if by Satan himself. His face flickered slightly, and I could see he was eager to excuse himself, however much I gave him my firmest gaze. He looked at me quickly, misreading my wide eyed stare for enthusiasm. 

"Well, my darling does seem awfully keen on those absurd scrawlings of yours." He mused, standing slowly, reaching for his pocket-watch. "Yes. I think I will. It shouldn't take long."

"Not at all." The uncle finished smoothly, like the devil he was signing a deal to some pitiful Faust. "I promise you Madeline will be in the very heights of visual debate. I'll see my butler walks you there."

And so the fool fetched his coat, and his gloves from the butler, and bowed his way from the doors with a quickness in his step. I did not dare meet his gaze, for fear of another mocking. This time he just stood, drank back a glass of bloodish port, and marched round the table to behind me, cupping my neck in his hands, roughly but not with the intent of pain as before. He lowered his lips to my ear and I could feel his hot breath sharp and full against my eardrum.

"There is no reason to pull away, or make a fuss. What my nephew thinks of his whore is his business. But I will have you, whether you are willing or not." He ran his thumb along my neck, pressing sharply into my hollow until I choked. "You see," he said, kissing my earlobe, softly. " If I am going to accept a common bitch like you into my circle I am going to have my fill." He moved his hands down suddenly, cupping my breasts over my corset and bodice, feeling the exposed skin on the surface with his rough hands. 

Quickly, he pulled up my skirts around my knees and threw me to the floor, leaving me half lying there, my long white undergarments exposed in the yellow light. He laughed coldly, enjoying my humiliation. "Oh, you really were going for the innocent virginal act." He sneered, crouching down and holding my shoulders to the ground, a knee against my right thigh. "Why go to all that effort-"he said, pulling down my drawers with such force I cried out. "If you weren't planning on having me inspect them this evening."

I was bare from the waist down, and he reached with sharp nailed fingers into my bodice to force my breasts out. "Yes, dear little Madeline." He held them in either hand, enjoying my fear and disgust at myself. "Why go to all that trouble when you belong naked in some filthy brothel in Fleet Street tied to the bed posts?" Reaching round to my buttocks he slapped me firmly, taking hold and pushing my body up to him. "You are nothing but a common prostitute, coming begging to my door for my nephew's will once you've flattered him into bed."

Hot tears were running down my face, despite my desire to show no emotion, and he pushed deep into me, laughing softly as he cradled my neck and my lower back, forcing himself into me with hard, quick strokes. "Still so tight my dear?" He murmured, mockingly. "Badly endowed clients or did my nephew just not enjoy taking his little innocent the way she deserves?"

I looked at him fiercely, unable to take anymore of his false accusations. "He loves me. I do not deserve this. I am innocent of all you accuse me of!" I tried to push him off but he grabbed my wrists and slammed them down above my head. He leaned closer, laughing gently.

"Petite salope," he said, knowing I did not understand his insult, "Of course you deserve this. All lying, thieving little whores deserve to be taken roughly and without pleasure." I tried to look away, but he pushed my wrists together and encircled them with one hand, grabbing my chin to look at him. "Even pretty ones."

"Let me go. I'll tell my husband what you did to me. I'll tell the world!" My legs were weak from the weight of his thighs, and I felt as if my womb would break from the pain of him inside of me. He smiled, kissing me on the lips firmly, careful not to put his tongue in my mouth in case I bit, then on my nose, then my forehead, as a reassuring parent might. "Hush now, little one. Do you really think anyone would believe you? Or that your husband would still want the sweet little virgin who had whored herself to richer men?"

He was right. Once he had forced up my undergarments and replaced his facade, there was nothing I could do. No one would believe a mistress of a struggling scientist over a well to do, kindly gentlemen. I lay there, trying to count the leaves in the pattern on his cravat, trying to shut out the monstrosity of his actions. It didn't hurt anymore, he had brought me to a shameful pleasure and despite the relief, the guilt was worse. As if in another world, I heard myself speak in a quiet, trance like voice. "Why me?"

He looked at me, a flicker of confusion crossing his cruel face. He smiled to cover his loss of control, and placed his thumb on my bottom lip. "Because you are very pretty, dear." He pressed harder, until it hurt. "Don't you know to say thank you when you get a compliment, you unpleasant little girl?" I didn't answer, just stared at him coldly. He couldn't leave any marks, I realised. That would be the one thing the police would listen to over his sly cunning. He looked at me frustratedly, trying to read my confusion. "You are mine. You will be mine. I have taken you. Do you understand?"

I nodded in exhaustion, but did not give him the satisfaction of my tears, or my care. He could have my body, but he could never have my mind, my soul, my fearful worship. "Yes. Now let me go. My husband will be back in a short while." For a moment, I saw through the mask. I had referred to my fiance as my husband.

The one man who would always own me over him.

He grabbed my neck, stopping his forcing but snarling with the anger of a beast. "If I let you marry him- if- you will have to give yourself to me when I wish. If you decide it would be better to run: run. I will have you hunted down and in my quarters for the rest of your days."

I stared it him coldly, aware that my dark eyes frightened him a little with their emotion masking nature. "Why me?" His jaw tightened, and I believe he himself did not know what had riled him about me so. He hit my shoulders against the floor, moving harder and faster until I was forced to close my eyes and he moved out suddenly, covering my bare legs with his fluid. He looked at me, delighted at having defiled me, and staggered back to do up his breeches. Throwing some napkins to the floor, he walked sharply from the room, turning at the door. "Clean yourself up. You know how. Your fiance will be back soon." He turned slightly, as if hiding a smile.

"Then go stand in the drawing room by the paintings. Your fool will be keen to hear about what you have learnt." He pulled off his drenched shirt and sat there, watching me cleaning my trembling legs. 

"You are mine, dear. You belong to me or the brothels."



Unwelcome Promotion



I work as a mid-level manager in a large company. Until a couple of weeks ago I was miserable. The hours were long, and after four years, I had received two measly raises, and not even a single promotion. My frustration with my job was making me cranky and short-tempered and was hurting my marriage.

I was on the verge of quitting, when I decided to try one last thing. I invited my boss, Jack Green, to dinner. My wife, Kelly, spend several hours cooking a nice meal, and I busted my ass making sure the house looked perfect.

The evening started off badly. Mr. Green showed up more than forty minutes late. he didn't apologize, and didn't even bring a bottle of wine. He snorted as he walked in, and demanded a drink. When I brought him a Scotch, I smelled his breath and noticed he'd already had a few.

For a while I tried to strike up a conversation, but he was surly and sarcastic, and finally we ended up sitting in silence. Just before dinner Kelly joined us. Mr. Green immediately perked up, but I wasn't sure if I preferred him that way. He leered at Kelly boorishly. I am used to men looking at Kelly--she is striking, five-seven, with long brown hair, big blue-grey eyes, and a voluptuous 37-24-36 figure--but Mr. Green was looking at her like a hungry animal.

He stood up and gave her a big hug, and then he pulled her down onto the couch next to him. He talked exuberantly, and rested his hand on her thigh. Kelly gave me a questioning look, but I was too surprised to react, so Kelly just went along. She laughed at his silly jokes, and tolerated his pawing.

At dinner, he totally ignored me, and concentrated on Kelly. As the evening wore on, I got more and more upset at Mr. Green, and I have to admit I was a little peeved at Kelly for not saying something. After all, I could not tell him off, but she certainly could have said something. Anyway by the end of the evening I knew my experiment at getting along with my boss had failed, and that I was probably going to quit the next day. My mind was finally made up when as he walked out the door, he gave Kelly a wet kiss on the cheek and gave her ass a firm squeeze.

Finally he was gone.

"Honey, I'm sorry," I offered.

"You owe me," she said laughing.

I was surprised. "You don't seem bothered."

"What? About your boss? He's harmless. And anyway, why should I care? If my husband doesn't mind seeing his boss grope me, why should I?" her voice had just a tinge of bitterness. She turned and went back to the kitchen.

I was surprised at her reaction, but I was preoccupied with my own anger. That night we went to bed in virtual silence. The next morning, I told Kelly that I was planning to quit.

She frowned. "Are you sure, Bob?"

"Yeah, I need to get out, I could probably get another job, and I bet I could be making as much as I am now pretty soon."

Kelly seemed disturbed by that. My present job really wasn't enough to keep Kelly living like she'd have liked, even with her also working, and the thought of a cut in pay seemed to really worry her. "Well, look you're still angry about last night. Give it a couple of days."

I paused, but then I realized she was making sense, so I agreed to consider her arguments.

The following Monday, I went to work, and at about noon, Kelly appeared at my office. She was dressed to kill, and looked like a million bucks. 

"Wow, what's up?" I asked surprised.

"Oh, just thought I'd look my best to see my husband."

We chatted for a while, and then went to lunch nearby. Kelly was insistent that I not quit for a little while. I finally relented, and Kelly seemed relieved. For the rest of the lunch, Kelly seemed a bit distracted. After we finished, Kelly insisted on walking me back to my office, even though it was out of her way. Finally, around 1:30, she left, and I went back to work. 

About an hour later, Mr. Green suddenly showed up in my office. I was still upset, and looking for an excuse to get into a fight. However, he was kind and genial. He thanked me for dinner and complimented my wife. And then suddenly, out of the blue, he offered me a raise and a promotion. I told him I'd think about it, but I knew I'd accept. The next day I did.

For the next two weeks, I cleaned off my desk before beginning my new job. Finally I was ready to move into my new office. After I got set up, I invited Kelly to see my new digs.

She needed to get some work done in the morning, but she came by in the early afternoon. Again she was totally put together, and I had a little trouble believing she'd been hard at work that morning. I showed her around, and she acted suitably impressed. After about a half-hour, Kelly said she had to leave.

A few minutes later, I realized I need to go speak to Mr. Green, so I went upstairs to his office.

Before I could say anything his secretary smiled, "Oh, that explains it. Go right on in, he must be expecting you."

I was perplexed, but she waved me around the corner, and I assumed Mr. Green must have tried to reach me as I was walking to his office. What a coincidence, I thought. Still, dubious I rapped on the door very lightly. From inside I heard a muffled voice, and I assumed I was being invited in. I gently opened the door, and closed it behind me. Mr. Green had a big, l-shaped office, and I was standing out of sight of his desk.

I was about to walk in further, when suddenly I heard a woman's voice, Kelly's voice. "Oh, Mr. Green, you're so warped," she giggled.

"You're one to speak," he responded cheerfully.

The next sound was chilling. Kelly suddenly let out a long, deep moan the likes of which I never heard outside the bedroom.

I peered around the corner. Kelly was standing in front of Mr. Green as he sat in his big desk chair. He was leaning forward running his hands up and down her long legs. She fully dress, but I could see the outlines of his hands as he reached up and clenched her firm ass. Then I could see as he moved his hands between her legs. A moment later she let out another tantalizingly long moan.

"You are so hot and tight," he muttered.

She groaned and pressed his hands against her. "Oh God, if you keep that up you'll stretch me out," she growled.

"Oh, yeah, I'll stretch you out, and I know just the tool to do it," he patted his crotch vulgarly.

Mr. Green continued working vigorously on her crotch. She was moaning delicately. She was standing straight up, her eyes were closed, and a blissful smile was on her lips as she leaned her head back. Her arms were outstretched and resting on his head.

I was nearly sick to my stomach watching my sleazy boss molesting my beautiful, sweet wife. But they were just getting started and I was mesmerized. As I watched, Mr. Green moved his hands up around her waist under her skirt. Slowly his hands moved down and I saw that he was pulling down her thong panties.

He put her panties into his pocket, and quickly stood up. She opened her eyes, and he immediately kissed her emphatically jamming his tongue deep into her mouth. He grabbed her roughly, spun her around, and pushed her forward onto his desk. He lifted up her skirt, and rubbed her hard round ass. He quickly undid his pants, and let them fall around his ankle. His boxers followed a second later.

For a moment Mr. Green stood behind my exquisite wife. He spread her legs wide, and with one hand her he rubbed between her legs, and with the other he stroked his huge, thick rod. Kelly's butt was pointing in the air, gyrating quickly in anticipation, and looking especially appetizing framed by the straps of her garter belt. He removed his hand from between her legs and grabbed her shoulder. With the other hand he aimed his cock, and suddenly, viciously he hammered himself completely into her. His thrust lifted her feet momentarily off the floor and she let out a loud, "Umph!"

He fucked my hot wife mercilessly, and she squealed in delight at each thrust. He grabbed her hair and pulled her head back as he continued banging her box. Her face was radiant despite the his rough handling, maybe even because of it.

"Oh, baby, you feel so good," he growled, "we should do this more often." He slapped her butt hard to punctuate his point.

"Oow! No way, you get me one hour a week, that's the deal. Anyway," she continued with a smile, "I'm not sure I could take any more of your big, hard cock."

Mr. Green smiled at the compliment, and then replied, "Oh, don't play the innocent little virgin with me. It's just a matter of finding the right price."

She turned toward him, and they smiled knowingly at each other. They continued in silence for a while, the only sounds in the were their straining moans, and the loud slap of flesh on flesh as he reared forward and she thrust backwards to meet his cock. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, he gripped her hips tightly, and plunged himself deep into her. Suddenly his body seemed to shiver throughout and it was obvious he was filling her hot cunt with his cum.

He seemed to wither momentarily. He rested his arms on the desk and caught his breath. Kelly was doing the same, sweat running down her face as he body rose and fell in time with her gasping breaths. 

Finally he seemed to recover. He stood up behind her, his cock dangling in front of him. He vigorously rubbed her twat, and Kelly started moaning again. After a couple of minutes he seemed to tire of that, and he sat back down in his chair. Kelly started to rise, but Mr. Green quickly leaned forward, and pushed her back down.

"No, stay as you are. I like looking at you in that position."

Kelly shook her head, "You are a sick man," she said with a chuckle.

"And you have a great ass," he looked at his watch, "and I have another forty-five minutes to decide what to do with it. For now, I think I'll just watch."

"You don't want me to do anything?" she asked incredulously.

"Naw, I just like seeing your pretty, little muff, spread out on my desk," he responded as he stroked his cock.

She turned to look at him. "You have a beautiful cock," she cooed.

"Aw, man, you have a beautiful face too. I don't know whether I want to stick it in your mouth or in your cunt."

"You're a pig," she said with a pout.

"Yep, and you're naked out on my desk," he answered with a smile. "What does that make you?"

"Stand up," he ordered after a pause. "Now come over here."

Kelly stood up and approached him. Deftly he undressed her. First, her skirt fell to the ground. Then slowly he unbuttoned her blouse and peeled it off. He ran his fingers across her firm stomach, and she shuddered slightly. He reached up and unsnapped her bra, sliding the straps off over her shoulders. She stood up straight, her hands at her sides as he proceeded to cup and fondled her full, firm breasts. She gasped slightly as he tweaked her nipples.

He grabbed her hands and pressed them to her muff. "Play with yourself," he commanded.

She seemed dubious, but he nodded at her, and she began slowly. At first she made little circles between her legs with her index finger, but then she rubbed herself more exuberantly. Soon she was spreading her pussy with one hand as she finger-fucked herself and fingered her clit.

She looked ravishing, her beautiful face and luscious body radiating with sexual energy as she became more and more excited. My boss certainly wasn't immune. His cock was rock hard again, and he was stroking it slowly. I took a good look for the first time, and truly realized its size. He was at least eight inches long and thick as a soda can.

With his left hand on his cock, he reached out and started rubbing her cunt with his right hand. She moaned as his hand replaced hers.

"Play with your tits," he ordered next.

She obeyed eagerly. She massaged her full breasts, concentrating on her swollen nipples. She looked down at my boss, and when she was certain he was watching her, she pushed her breast up and craned her neck so that she could lick her own nipple. Her tongue circled her nipple quickly, darting back and forth.

"Oh, baby, you are hot," he muttered. "I'd like to see that tongue circling my cock." Kelly paused a second. "You heard me, baby, on your knees," he demanded impatiently.

My sweet wife quickly complied. She enthusiastically licked his cock as he pulled her head into his lap. Thrusting his hips slowly, he pumped his huge rod past her full, red lips. He was grabbing her hair firmly, clearly in control. He leaned back, his eyes closed, as he continued fucking her mouth deeper and deeper.

"Oh, yeah, you have a great mouth. You know the minute I saw you I knew I'd be fucking you. I mean, there's no way Bob could satisfy a piece like you," he grumbled oblivious to my presence across the room. "Hey did you see his new office?" he asked Kelly. She gurgled an affirmative, it was the best she could do with her mouth stuffed with Mr. Green's cock. "Good," he continued, "I gave him the office right beneath mine. I like the thought of fucking his wife as he sits right beneath us." Kelly let out a stifled giggle.

Moments later he pulled her head away from his raging hard-on. She looked at him quizzically. But he had his own plan. Still grabbing her hair, he led her around the desk. For a moment, I thought he had seen me. I ducked back, but after a couple of seconds it was clear they were not coming toward me. I peered back around the corner. He had pushed her down on to her back in the center of the room. He kneeled between her legs and spread her wide. Their feet were pointed toward me, so I had a great shot of Kelly's luscious split beaver.

"I've always wanted to get laid right on this floor," he growled. "It'll make for fun memories during boring business meeting, especially, if I'm talking to your hubby." And with that he dropped onto his arms and plunged his huge rod into her wet hole.

She gasped as he hammered her cunt. He was nailing her like a wild animal, his cock looked like a piston pumping in and out. I was mesmerized by the sight of her cunt being stretched out by his huge rod. It seemed to go on forever. I couldn't believe she could take, and I wondered if I'd ever be able to fill her again.

Oddly, Kelly seemed to have the same though. "Oh, God, if you keep this up, you'll make me so loose that Bob'll get lost in there," she whispered through her moans and groans.

"Well, we can solve that," he growled. Quickly he pulled out, and with a swift motion he flipped her onto her stomach. Confidently, he rubbed his slick rod along the crack of her ass.

"Hey, I was just kidding," Kelly whimpered nervously, "you're not going to put that in my ass." Kelly had never let me butt fuck her, and as far as I knew she'd never been had that way.

"You guessed it, baby," he snapped, "and you don't have a damn thing to say about it." He looked at his watch again. "For another twenty minutes, and an hour ever week afterwards, I can fuck you any which way."

"Come on, be reasonable," she started, but her comment quickly turned into a loud screech as he buried his cock into her tight ass. I was sure she was loud enough to be heard in the outer office. Mr. Green must have thought the same thing, because before his next thrust he roughly covered her mouth. After that he reamed her ass hard. Kelly's muffled screeches filled the room, but they were sufficiently stifled that my boss could go on without fear of detection.

He banged her ass hard, but oddly Kelly's cries seemed to die down. Soon he removed his hand from her mouth, and let her submissive little squeals fill the room. He was seemingly tireless. Kelly slowly seemed to relax. She turned her face toward him. Her face was beet red, tears were running down her cheek, and obvious lines of pain around her mouth. And yet there was an underlying look of pleasure on her cheating face.

Mr. Green was grunting louder and louder. Her tight hole was apparently having it's effect after all. He gave her ass long deep strokes, and finally he tensed in obvious climax. He rolled off her, and lay on the floor for a moment as they both caught their breath.

Kelly stood up, and moved to get her clothes, but my boss looked at his watch, "Hold on, baby, I've still got five more minutes."

Kelly shrugged her shoulders, and came back to him. For the next five minutes, he rubbed her clit and her nipples, making sure she was hot and bothered before stopping suddenly leaving her high and dry. Finally he allowed Kelly to dress, and I decided I had to get out of there.

As I was about to creep out of the room, I heard Mr. Green's voice, "Kelly, that was great, but get ready for next week. I think I'll invite some of Bob's coworkers to sample your sweet cunt. You may have gotten him a raise and a promotion, but I'll make sure everyone knows the deal." He was laughing cruelly as I left the room.



Unwelcome Visitors



I was out in the garden naked as usual and feeling extremely horny I'd just stroked myself to a very pleasant orgasm when I heard the sound of a vehicle coming up the lane. With semen still dripping from my penis I walked down towards the house and watched as an unfamiliar car approached and turned into the farm yard, it was 10am and I certainly wasn't expecting visitors. I began to feel a little nervous and for the first time in a long while I felt vulnerable about being naked, yet at the same time a feeling of excitement stirred from within.

The car stopped about 50 feet away from me and I could see that there were three occupants, two men in the front and a woman sitting in the back. All three were sitting and staring at me as if waiting for me to move. After a short while they emerged from the vehicle and as they approached me, I was very conscious of the semen dripping from the end of my penis. The woman led the group with the two men following close behind her, all three were dressed very formally and look like officials of some sort, this heightened both my nervousness and excitement. 

As the woman approached me the expression of disgust on her face was clear, she quite obviously wasn't impressed at my state of undress, and I got the impression I was in trouble. She was a tall woman with short blonde hair, quite attractive with a rather familiar face; her colleagues behind her were both equally tall and looked at me expressionless. The woman spoke first.

"I am Detective Sergeant Golding and my colleagues are DC Wilson and DC Buchanan," as she said this she held out an ID card to confirm who she was.

I didn't reply and just stared at the three of them feeling very conscious of my nudity and the fact that my penis was shrinking rapidly. DS Golding looked me up and down with a further look of disgust.

"Perhaps you would like to put on some clothes sir," she said rather disdainfully.

I shook my head nervously.

"No I'm fine like this," I said rather shakily.

As the words came out of my mouth I wasn't at all sure that I actually meant it. The exhibitionist in me was taking control.

After confirming my identity DS Golding suggested we go inside, I declined and pointed to the garden chairs and table.

"Over there, I prefer to be outdoors," I said.

The four of us made our way over and sat down at the garden table.

"Is there something I can help you with," I said still a little shakily.

"We are investigating reports of a naked man who has been exposing himself to women in the local countryside and on the beaches," said one of the men.

"You wouldn't know anything about this would you," said his colleague, "We know that the local police sergeant has had reason to talk to you on two occasions and he suggested we visit you."

I shook my head.

"I'm sorry I know nothing about it," I said a little unconvincingly, "I am strictly a private nudist and keep myself to myself, as I explained to Sergeant Buchan."

The woman raised an eyebrow and looked at me quizzically.

"So you never venture naked outside your own property or anywhere in public," she said, in a manner which made me think she didn't believe me.

I shook my head in response and wondered where this was leading, particularly as my nude lifestyle was almost public knowledge in the area. The three of them looked at me in silence, then DS Golding spoke.

"Well we need to jog your memory a little back at the police station in Docherty," she said.

I started to protest but in a moment her two male colleagues had taken me by the arms and as I stood in front of DS Golding they handcuffed my wrists behind my back. The feeling of total exposure as the woman looked at me caused a stir of excitement and I felt my penis starting to stiffen.

Sitting naked in the back of a police car with my wrists handcuffed behind my back was an uncomfortable experience and reminded me of the previous occasion many years ago. I was more than a little concerned that I hadn't been given the opportunity to put some clothes on before being cuffed, even though I had initially declined to dress. I was beginning to wonder just what was in store for me, particularly the matter of me being taken into the Police Station naked. Next to me was DS Golding, looking very prim and proper and occasionally glancing at me with a look of disgust and then making a point of staring directly at my penis which was fully erect. The effects of the vibration of the car as we traveled down the rather rough surface of the lane and the feeling of being totally exposed meant my penis was fully erect and was attracting further looks of disgust from DS Golding.

We traveled in silence heading towards Docherty and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get my penis to go down, in fact quite the opposite was happening and it was getting harder as the head was pushing out and forcing back the foreskin. The effect of this was to keep me rock hard and soon precum was oozing from the tip. This had not escaped the attention of DS Golding and she was spending more and more time staring at my swollen penis, in fact at one point I could have sworn that she licked her lips.

We were about two miles outside the village when unexpectedly the car started to slow down and we turned right off the main road heading in a direction away from Docherty. I glanced at DS Golding next to me.

"Where are we going," I asked with an edge of concern in my voice.

She smiled at me.

"We thought we might jog your memory a little," she said.

Shit, I thought to myself, these people are serious, and as I looked ahead along the road I had a pretty good idea as to our destination. A few minutes later we turned into the car park at Red Deer Wood and as it was a Saturday morning there were quite a few cars already parked, none of which I immediately recognised. I had no idea what the Police were intending to do or how they intended to 'jog' my memory but it was either going to excite me or scare the living shit out of me, either way I would soon find out.

Chapter 28: Humiliation

The Detective Constable parked the car at the far end away from the other vehicles and very close to the path I had frequently used before, it was as if they knew exactly where to bring me. DS Golding turned to me as the DC got out and opened the door next to me.

"OK get out," she said rather sternly.

My penis had softened due to my nervousness and it flopped as I struggled out of the car and stood up facing the DC. DS Golding walked around the rear of the car and stood facing me, for the first time since we met she smiled and looked down at my shrunken penis.

"Not quite so cocky now are we," she said.

I grinned and shrugged my shoulders.

"It's the fresh air," I said rather unconvincingly as the warm sun bathed my naked body.

"What now?" I asked.

DS Golding indicated that I was to walk along the path into the woods, something I had done naked on many occasions but never in the company of the Police.

"As we said we are going to jog your memory, perhaps find a few witnesses to your escapades," she said.

I started to walk along the path, followed by DS Golding, and the other two a short distance behind her. Walking with my hands cuffed behind my back made me feel very exposed, particularly since the head of my penis was still fully exposed with the foreskin pulled back; I wasn't exactly in a position to do anything about it unless someone offered to do it for me, which was unlikely.

I walked cautiously fully expecting to meet someone on the path ahead, as I approached a bend I slowed down only to be slapped on my bare bum by DS Golding who urged me to keep on going. The slap actually felt nice and my penis stirred appreciatively in response, although I am certain that was not what was intended.

As I rounded the bend the path lay straight for about 50 yards and ahead I could see a young couple walking towards me with their dog. I stopped and immediately I got another slap on my bum to keep going, I felt totally unprotected as I walked towards the couple who had now stopped on the path and were watching me. I was feeling just a little concerned about what the dog might do, particularly as I was not able to afford my genitals any protection. The couple were about 10 yards ahead of me when DS Golding instructed me to stop; both the man and the woman stared at me intently and must have been wondering what kind of strange entourage they had come across. As I stood facing them DS Golding walked past me and approached the couple, taking out her ID and introducing herself as she did so. The woman was smiling and kept glancing at me as DS Golding explained to them both that they had just arrested me for exposing myself in the woods and they were seeking witnesses, I couldn't believe my ears, this was a blatant lie and stunk of a set up just to get me convicted. I was just about to say my piece when the two policemen behind me each put a hand on my shoulder to restrain me and told me to stay quiet. 

DS Golding turned to me and beckoned me to approach the group, the two DC's released me and I walked over with my penis swinging gently. I faintly recognised the woman who was obviously enjoying my display; her male companion wasn't quite so amused and stared at me in obvious disgust.

"Do either of you recognise this man," she asked them both. 

The man shook his head, all the time avoiding any eye contact with me or my genitals, the woman on the other hand gave a big smile.

"Oh yes I recognise him, he is the male nude model from our WI art class," she proclaimed as she looked me up and down.

I remembered now, she was one of the quiet ones at the back who spent most of the session giggling with her friend. I never actually saw what she painted but I suspected it was more pornographic than fine art.

"I see, and have either of you seen him around the woods here today," the policewoman asked.

The man looked at me in disgust and then to my complete surprise and horror made a completely false statement.

"Yes I saw him skulking around behind the bushes back there, obviously playing with himself; bloody pervert." 

I was speechless, it was all I could do to shake my head and as I looked at DS Golding she smiled at me.

"Well well, we seem to have got our man then," she said with obvious pleasure.

My penis shrunk visibly and my balls were retracting as I realised I really was in deep trouble. She turned to the couple, took their details, told them the police would most likely be in touch and then thanked them as they went on their way; I heard them bickering as they went down the path, apparently the man was unhappy that she had been painting a nude male and didn't like the way she had stared at me.

"You didn't have to keep looking at him," I heard him say.

I started to protest my obvious innocence to DS Golding when she turned towards me, held up her hand.

"Don't waste your time, we have witnesses now, let's go," she said in an authoritative manner.

She indicated we should return back to the car park and the two DC's turned me around to head back down the path. As the path opened out onto the car park I noticed a group of young women emerging from a car, they saw me immediately and started shouting and whistling.

"Hey nudeynuts have you lost something," I heard one shout. 

Then as they noticed my arms cuffed behind my back and the police escort, they went silent as it dawned upon them I was most likely under arrest. 

DC Golding pushed me towards the group and we walked over to where the four women stood, they stared at me as I got closer and my penis was responding to their attention.

"What have you been up to nudey," the tall blond one closest to me said as she glanced down at my stiffening penis.

"We've just arrested him for exposing himself in the woods," said DS Golding, who proceeded to introduce herself and her colleagues.

"Well we can certainly see that," laughed one of the other women, "Looks like he's enjoying it too," she said, pointing at my now fully erect penis.

DS Golding ignored both the comments and my erection, which was more than could be said for the women who were all staring and making whispered comments. I was warming to their attention and for a short while I had forgotten about the serious predicament I was in.

DS Golding stared down at my erect penis and then at me with a look of serious disgust.

"Ladies have any of you seen this man before and more importantly have you seen him in the woods here, naked of course," she asked.

I heard a few coarse remarks about what they would do if they had seen me but they all agreed they hadn't seen me before. Then one of them spoke up.

"Yes I've seen him before, walking naked through the car park near the old watch tower. Oh and he does nude modelling for the WI art class, put on quite a performance last time," as she said this she glanced over at me and gave me a cheeky smile. 

Bugger this I thought, I am getting stitched up here. 

"Thank you," said DS Golding after taking details from the young woman, "We will be in touch further if necessary."

Then she turned to me.

"You've been getting about a bit," and then looking down at my penis again said, "Excited are we."

A few minutes later I was sitting in the back of the car again with DS Golding next to me, we appeared to be heading towards the coast and my guess was we were going to Scotshead Beach. I was starting to get a glimmer of what was going on here and I intended to enjoy it regardless of the trouble I was apparently getting into. 

What happened next took me totally by surprise and did nothing to dampen my visibly heightened state of excitement. DS Golding grabbed my penis very firmly and slowly started to move her hand along my shaft just stopping short of my purple head which by now was oozing precum. She stroked gently but firmly all the time avoiding the exposed head of my penis. I looked over at her and she just stared ahead with an expressionless look on her face as if nothing was happening. She must have sensed my penis suddenly stiffen and twitch, and very gently ran her fingers over my tip at the end of each stroke. I lost complete control at this point and a hot white jet of cum spurted from my penis landing all over my chest and on her hand, the next few spurts landed everywhere including the back of the driver's seat in front of me. I looked at DS Golding as the last of my cum ran down the shaft of my erect penis, she was watching with open mouth and it was evident she had watched the whole spectacle of me cumming with intense enjoyment. I could also see that her other hand was between her legs and moving beneath her slightly raised skirt, revealing stocking tops and a small amount of bare flesh. Without acknowledging me she turned and stared ahead again, removed her hand from between her legs and rearranged her skirt. I was more than a little confused and as I looked ahead I caught the drivers eyes in the driving mirror, he was obviously watching the goings on with some interest. We continued in total silence, my penis lay limp now with a dribble of cum slowly running down my leg and onto the seat beneath.

"Turn left here George," said DS Golding to the DC who was driving.

This intrigued me a little as we were no longer heading towards Scotshead Beach but up towards the Watch Tower which lay half a mile along the road we had just turned onto. We very quickly arrived at the opening to the Watch Tower car park and turned in. This was also a popular walking spot for a Saturday morning and as I expected there were quite a few cars parked, although there were no walkers in sight. 

George parked the car in one of the few available spaces, DS Golding got out and walked around to my side and opening the door beckoned me out. As I wriggled out of the back seat and stood up my soft penis flopped down and a large drip of semen dribbled from the tip and on to the ground by my feet. Behind me DS Golding closed the car door and pointed me towards the path leading to the Watch Tower. As we walked I heard a car pull away, I stopped and as I looked over my shoulder I saw the two DC's drive away leaving me naked and handcuffed with DS Golding who patted me on the bum and urged me along the path. 

"Where are they going?" I asked nervously.

She didn't reply and I kept on walking ahead of her feeling very exposed with excitement welling up inside me, not knowing what lay ahead. As I approached the bend in the path the Watch Tower gradually came into view and ahead of me a group of six people who I assumed to be three couples were walking towards me about 30 yards away. Behind them spread around the base of the Watch Tower were various groups of people enjoying picnics in the warm weekend sun. The excitement of being naked amongst so many people in public was overwhelming and very soon my penis was throbbing fully erect, and with my foreskin still pulled back I felt even more exposed. 

The group ahead saw me immediately and stopped on the path watching me as I approached. Two of the women were grinning whilst the third had her hands over her eyes to avoid looking at me, she did however take the odd peek as I got closer. On the other hand the male members of the group who appeared to be much older than the women were glaring at me angrily which unnerved me a bit.

"What the hell do you think you are doing walking about like that? Where are your clothes?" shouted the elderly man closest to me.

I could hear one of the others mutter something too.

"Bloody pervert, he is obviously enjoying himself," I heard him say.

I assumed he was referring to my erection which was now enjoying the attention of all the three ladies; the shy one had allowed her curiosity to get the better and was now unashamedly staring at my penis.

As I stood in front of the group, one of the women moved behind me, probably to get a look at my bare bum.

"He's handcuffed," she called to the others in a surprised tone.

I expected DS Golding to intervene but there was silence and then the older man who spoke earlier spoke.

"What the hell are you doing handcuffed?" she asked.

"Ask the police woman behind me, I am under arrest," I replied.

They all looked past me to where I thought DS Golding was standing, there was no response and slowly I turned and looking over my shoulder I saw there was nobody there.

"Shit!" I muttered to myself, my heart sank and my penis started to soften too. 

They all looked at me in silence as I tried to explain what had happened to me this morning then the man who had called me a pervert earlier spoke up.

"You are just a bloody kinky pervert, do you expect us to believe all this cock and bull about being arrested," he said, and promptly whacked me across the bum with his walking stick. 

I grimaced with pain as memories of my first acquaintance with Mrs Glenn came flooding back.

"Bill don't do that you will hurt him," said one of the women angrily and then turned to me.

"Are you Ok? Are you seriously saying that you were arrested, taken from your home naked and then abandoned?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes," I replied, wincing with the pain from my buttock.

"It's unbelievable," she said.

"Bloody right it is, damned pervert," said the man who I now assumed to be Bill as he waved his walking stick dangerously close to my penis.

The woman who I believed to be Bill's wife quickly moved in front of me and acted as a shield against the walking stick which was threatening to whack my penis.

"Stop waving that damned thing about, you will hurt the poor man, can't you see he is in distress," she said.

The other two women voiced their agreement to this and joined their friend in front of me. This act of support from the women gave me a warm feeling and soon my excitement was rising again, visibly. As I stood shielded behind the three women I thought about turning and running but the excitement of the situation got the better of me. The men were backing off now and Bill in particular had gone very quiet. The women turned around towards me and all three of them immediately looked down at my erect penis.




Unwelcome Visitors



"Well you are obviously feeling better," said one of them grinning at me as she looked up again.

I shrugged shyly.

"Comes and goes," I said, "I guess your husbands are not too happy with me being here like this."

"Our husbands," exclaimed the one who I thought was married to Bill, "No, No," she said, "They are just friends we all belong to the same ramblers club," and at that the women all started laughing.

"We are going to head back to our cars," said Bill grumpily and as he walked past he gave me another whack on my bum with his walking stick and muttered "Pervert."

"Ouch," I winced.

The women glared at Bill and one of them reached round and gently rubbed my left buttock; my penis reacted immediately and gave a happy little bounce.

The three women introduced themselves to me as Jenny, Mona and Audrey. Audrey was the one I assumed to be Bill's wife and Jenny was the shy one, Mona hadn't spoken up to now but generally just stared at me with a silly grin on her face. She was the one who had rubbed my left buttock and the response of my penis had not escaped her attention. All three of them were tall and all in their early 50's I guessed; they looked pretty good for their age.

"Well young man what we are going to do with you," said Audrey breaking the silence and deliberately staring at my erection, which was again oozing precum. The other two women giggled and I am sure I heard one of them mumble something.

"I know what I would like to do," is what I thought I heard her say, and as I looked at Mona she grinned and winked at me. 

I began to get the feeling things were about to get interesting and looking up towards the tower I could see that the groups of people previously nearby had almost all gone. As if reading my mind, Audrey looked in the direction of the tower.

"Look it is much quieter by the tower now, maybe if we go inside we can get him out of public view and then decide what to do next, we can't just leave him here," she said.

I was bemused by this because the obvious solution would have been to take me back to my home, but excitement and anticipation prevented me from saying so and my penis obviously agreed with me. 

What happened next took me totally by surprise. Jenny, who until now had done nothing but giggle, reached out and took a firm hold on my balls.

"Come on let's go," she said.

With the three women grouped around me I was dragged by the balls towards the Watch Tower at the top of the hill. My erection brushed against Jenny's arm as we walked and soon she took hold of it and began gently stroking.

As we got closer to the watch tower the only people there were a group of three young women and a young man who all appeared to be in their early twenties. They were sitting with their backs against the wall of the tower and were watching our approach in silence, the girls open mouthed and the young man trying to avoid openly looking at my nakedness. Jenny continued slowly rubbing her hand up and down my erect penis and I was having difficulty holding myself back. The situation wasn't helped by being exposed to three very attractive girls and the fact that one of my companions had slid her hand between my clenched buttocks and was teasing my ass wasn't helping either. 

Jenny must have been miles away because when she realised there was an audience she stopped and immediately let go in embarrassment. I clenched my buttocks tighter trying very hard to resist the inevitable, but Jenny had let go just too late. My body started to tremble as the first wave of orgasm took over, my penis gave a twitch and then a hot white jet of semen ejaculated from my exposed tip, followed by another and another. My buttocks were clenched tightly around whoever's hand it was and my knees were trembling as the last of the semen dribbled from the tip of my penis. I opened my eyes and couldn't believe what I was seeing, the young man was now standing back against the wall with his shorts around his ankles, eyes shut and masturbating, whilst his three female friends stared at him in what I thought was disbelief. He kicked his shorts away from his feet and stopped wanking briefly to remove his T shirt before continuing to masturbate completely naked. All eyes including mine were upon the young man; the girls were staring and giggling in shocked amusement at such a display from their friend. One of the girls had gathered up his clothes and was holding them close to her chest as she stared at his small erect penis which was surrounded by the biggest bush of black pubic hair I had ever seen. 

The girls were whispering and then like a flash they dashed down the path towards the car park, the young man oblivious to this, continued masturbating as fast as he could in order to satisfy his inner desires. I was somewhat bemused at what was happening, obviously my own predicament had stirred an urge in this young man and he succumbed to it, a familiar feeling as I recall. In a short few minutes he shot his load, it was quite impressive and thick white semen was spurting from his small but erect penis. It seemed to go on forever and my three friends were mesmerised by the sight as spurt after spurt erupted from his penis. Eventually he stopped, let go of his penis and lay against the wall with his eyes closed enjoying the post orgasmic flow over his body. 

Audrey spoke first.

"Well, that was a surprise," she said walking over to the young man, "Was it good?" she asked standing only a foot or so away from him. 

"Hmm yes," he mumbled.

Then as he opened his eyes there was a look of sheer panic on his face as he realised what he had just done, worse still his three girl friends had gone and with them his clothes too.

"What's your name?" asked Audrey.

"John," he replied as he feebly tried to cover himself with his hands and crouched down trying to hide his nudity.

"Come on let's have a look at you," Audrey said.

She indicated him to stand up, he arose and took his hands away from his genitals, he was skinny and his skin was lily white as if he had never been naked in daylight before. She looked him up and down and then looked over at me.

"Different in many ways," she said looking back at us both.

She was no doubt referring to the fact that my genitals were completely clean shaven and my skin was evenly tanned all over, even where the sun supposedly didn't shine. He was obviously very embarrassed and looked around nervously; all eyes were on him as a string of semen dripped from his shrunken penis. Jenny moved away from my side and walked up to the young man.

"I think you had better run off and find your clothes before you get into trouble, like him," she said nodding in my direction and then casually brushing her hand against his penis.

All eyes were on his little white bum as he ran off down the path in search of his friends and his clothes. The hoots of female laughter and whistles that followed a short time later indicated he had found both, although whether he was allowed to have his clothes back we will never know, I am sure the girls were intent on having some fun with him first.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and a familiar voice said "Come on time to go."

I turned, and standing right behind me was a rather angry looking DS Golding. She grimaced at me and then introduced herself to the other three women indicating that I had escaped from custody and she would take care of the situation from now. Audrey wasn't happy with this and pointed out in no uncertain terms that she thought the police had treated me very badly and I should be taken back to my home at once, the other two nodded in agreement. DS Golding started to laugh and then mockingly turned towards me.

"You don't actually believe anything he says do you? He is a serial flasher and has been running around here naked for months and now we've got him, bloody pervert," she said leering at me.

"Well he seems totally harmless to me," said Jenny, "I don't see anything wrong with being naked," and at that the three of them reluctantly bid me farewell giving me a peck on the cheek and a squeeze.

"Good luck," whispered Audrey in my ear as she let go of my penis. 

As Audrey, Mona and Jenny walked off down the path to the car park, DS Golding turned to me again.

"Been having fun have we," she said, and glancing down at my penis smiled before pointing to the entrance door of the watch tower.

I climbed the spiral stone staircase to the small look out room at the top of the tower with DS Golding following closely behind me. I wasn't sure why we were doing this; I assumed that she was going to hold me here out of public view until her colleagues arrived to take me away. The nervous apprehension I had experienced earlier in the day returned and I began to feel very exposed again. At the top of the stairs I walked into the small room with its stone framed open windows, a cool breeze was blowing and it felt good on my naked body. DS Golding told me to go stand by the open window which overlooked the path from the car park; I turned and looked out of the window, recalling the last time that I had stood in the same place was with Cathy but without the handcuffs. I heard DS Golding rustling around behind me and as I turned I saw she was stark naked, wearing only her high heels.

My mouth dropped open and my penis sprung to life at the sight of her gorgeously beautiful naked body, she hard large firm breasts with equally large nipples. My eyes drifted downwards over her tummy, her pussy had a light covering of blond pubic hair leaving the lips clearly visible with her clitoris protruding between them.

"That's what I like to see," she said as she walked over and took hold of my erection.

She was smiling but it wasn't a friendly smile, more menacing than anything else. I got the feeling I was about to be well and truly used. As she gripped my penis I could see her free hand moving between her legs, and a few seconds later she withdrew it and ran her moist fingers over my lips as my tongue tasted her pussy juices for a brief second, it was like nectar. She moved in front of the window and leaning forward with her breasts resting on the ledge she presented me with a fine view of her perfectly formed buttocks with her moist pussy lips inviting me to enter them. I stood behind her and the tip of my penis touched the opening between her buttocks, her lips were parted and her vagina open, ready to be entered.

Even with my hands cuffed behind my back I was able to easily enter her from the rear, she was so wet that her juices were already running down her thighs and her scent was driving me mad. I buried my penis deep inside her and felt her muscles grip me tight at each thrust, she got wetter and wetter and with each push of my penis she got noisier. I couldn't help but think that as she leant out of the window with her breasts on full display and screaming "Fuck me," at each thrust of my penis our liaison would hardly go unnoticed. It did not.

Over her shoulder I had a clear view of the track below, but I wasn't paying too much attention to that as the view of her perfect ass was all I wanted to look at, and of course I was trying not to launch her out of the window too. I did however glance up just in time to see what I thought was a police uniform appear round the bend in the path, I wasn't wrong, a familiar shape was standing there staring up at the Watch Tower. I suppose the sight of a naked woman hanging half out of an open stone window 70ft up shouting "Fuck Me," whilst her breasts slapped against the masonry is eye catching if not slightly unusual. 

It would appear that Sergeant Buchan agreed with me as he stood there open mouthed wondering what the hell he was witnessing. Two other figures appeared at his side, one was the young WPC who had been with him on my last run in and the other was the grumpy old man Bill with his ever faithful walking stick. I wasn't concerned about the arrival of the Sergeant as I was already under arrest and I suspect DS Golding would be in more trouble than me anyway. However just at that moment she looked up and noticed the audience, she went rigid around my penis and instead of shouting "Fuck Me," she started saying "Shit, Shit, Shit."

I pulled out immediately and staggered backwards as she lurched back from the window to hide herself from view. I said nothing as I watched her frantically trying to get dressed; she didn't bother with the panties and bra but just pulled on her white top, black skirt and black jacket and then stuffing her bra and panties in her pockets made a hasty exit down the staircase. I guess she didn't want her colleagues to catch her in flagrante.

I stood there feeling nervous, foolish and exposed as Sergeant Buchan and his WPC faced me, naked and handcuffed in the middle of the lookout room, thankfully Bill and his walking stick remained outside.

"So you say you were arrested by a DS Golding and two DC's?" asked Sergeant Buchan with an air of disbelief.

"Yes," I replied sheepishly.

"And the naked woman who was screaming from this window, was that DS Golding?" asked the Sergeant.

"Yes," I replied again.

"And you say that when she saw us arrive she ran off."

"Yes," I replied once more with a feeling that the Sergeant didn't believe a word.

"Did they say which police station they came from?" he asked.

"Errr I think it was Docherty," I said a little uncertainly.

Sergeant Buchan grinned, "Well laddy, looks like you have been conned, there is no DS Golding or her two DC friends based around here, they were taking you for a laugh," he said.

I looked at the WPC who was grinning from ear to ear and was deliberately making eyes at my now rather soft penis.

"They have obviously been having a bit of fun with you," she said. 

"Can you take these handcuffs off?" I asked.

"Let me have a look," said the WPC.

Moving behind me she took hold of my wrists to check the cuffs, she wasn't looking at the cuffs and one hand was gently stroking my bum.

"No. These aren't any of ours Sarge, probably from a joke or a sex shop," she said, and then gave my bum a little pinch as she moved back in front of me.

"On this occasion it looks like you are not the one at fault although we have had a number of complaints today about a naked man being paraded around Red Deer Wood, and here of course, but I'll let that go, let's get you back home," said Sergeant Buchan.

"Sarah, drop me off at the station and then take him back home," he said.

"OK Sarge," said WPC Sarah.

"Just one thing," I said, "What about these handcuffs."

The Sergeant looked at me with a smile.

"Well I suppose it's one way of stopping you from going blind," he said.

At this Sarah burst out laughing.

"I am sure he will find a way," she said.

Twenty minutes later after dropping the Sergeant off at the Police Station in Strathen, WPC Sarah and I arrived at the local garage with a view to getting the handcuffs removed. I was very reluctant about this and didn't really want to be paraded naked in front of a bunch of garage mechanics while one of them applied a hacksaw close to my bum. I could see that WPC Sarah was enjoying every moment of my discomfort and eventually coaxed me out of the police car. As we walked across the forecourt there were three mechanics standing at the workshop door, as soon as they saw us they started wolf whistling and making a number of rude comments about flashers and small dicks.

"Hey Constable," shouted one of them "Is this the Red Deer Wood flasher?"

She ignored the comments and took me towards a side door. As we approached, the door opened and a large woman dressed in green coveralls emerged.

"What's all the commotion out here?" she said looking over to the group of mechanics. 

Following their gaze she saw me.

"What the hell!" she exclaimed looking me up and down, "What have you got here Constable? Arrested a flasher have you?" she asked.

"Something like that," replied Sarah, "Can we get him inside."

I was taken into a small room which was some sort of utility space, WPC Sarah explained the predicament and a few minutes later the woman came back with a pair of rather large bolt cutters. 

"These should do the job," she said, "What do you want me to cut off first, his balls or his dick," she said looking down at my penis and then back at me with a very cruel grin.

I got the definite feeling she wasn't joking and my penis and balls shrunk visibly.

"We'd better just stick to the handcuffs for now," said WPC Sarah.

"Ok hold him still while I cut this," she replied and moved behind me, "Not a bad bum," she said running her hands and fingers over and between my buttocks.

WPC Sarah took a firm grip on my penis and balls.

"OK I have got him," she replied winking at me.

Ten minutes later we emerged back on to the forecourt of the garage; my arms were free although the cuff bracelets were still in place on my wrists. The effect of being held still by my penis had an obvious effect as my erection confirmed, the three mechanics noticed my arousal immediately.

"Bugger me, the boss must have given him Viagra," one of them said loudly.

WPC Sarah pushed me towards the car and hustled me into the passenger seat to the sound of wolf whistles and laughter.

"Nice bum," another shouted in a broad Aberdonian accent.

I wasn't sure whether he was referring to me or the WPC.

"Wait here," said WPC Sarah as we pulled up outside the village shop.

I nodded in acknowledgement, I had no desire whatsoever to go naked into the village shop and I was very happy to stay in the car. A few minutes later she came out of the shop and got back into the car tossing a copy of the Buchan Evening News on my lap.

"Take a look, you're famous," she said.

As I unfolded it at the front page the headlines hit me full on - Red Deer Wood Flasher Arrested -- it said and under that a picture showing me naked, facing away from the camera and in handcuffs; I had to admit it was a particularly good photo of my bum.

We sat in silence as WPC Sarah drove the police car out of Strathen towards my croft, the excitement of seeing my nude picture in the evening paper and the vibration of the moving car gave me another erection and I couldn't help stroking myself. Sarah glanced over at me and looked down at my penis.

"You shouldn't be doing that in a police car, you should save yourself," I grinned back at her and stroked a little faster. 

I glanced at the clock on the dashboard and was shocked to see that it was 4pm. When we turned into the yard there were a number of other cars parked next to my house, one was Carol's and another one caused me some concern, it was the car DS Golding had been using. Is this ever going to end I thought to myself. 



Unwelcome



"We'd do our best of course, but realize that we can't be out here all the time."

"That fact alone is enough to keep a sane person away from here, and unfortunately from the whole local area."

"Sadly there's a lot of truth to what you say Ben."

Once outside again I looked around and said, "There are a number of upgrades I'd consider very important, and they would be pretty expensive, but not prohibitive, and I'm sure any other buyers would have many of the same thoughts. Oh well, I'm just rambling anyway. Next time you talk to Noah, give him my best."

Ennis handed me his card and said, "I'll do that, and sorry if I'm not more supportive of you buying the place, but I'm just being open and honest."

"And I appreciate that Ennis." I waited until he backed out of the driveway and then I did the same, and headed in the opposite direction, back past Noah's place and on toward home in Hendersonville, some ninety plus miles to the west.

Chapter Four

Ted and Dee were at my place by seven along with Rob my nephew, and all three were eager to hear my story. We got comfortable at the kitchen table, and sweet Dee made sure we were supplied with coffee before she sat down. "You need to find yourself a woman Ben."

"Maybe someday I will, but not until I settle down a little."

"Whoever your lady might be, just might enjoy having you gone every so often."

"That wouldn't be very flattering."

"A lot of couples are like that. They love each other totally, but the occasional absence really can make the heart grow fonder. So okay, tell us your news."

"Well, I had a flat tire and the farmer talked to me."

"Wait, what farmer?"

I smiled and then told them about Noah and how he shared a little information about our relatives, the house and the rumors.

Nephew Troy was all smiles as he asked, "Is this real? They think the place is haunted or has a spell cast on it?"

"Well something like that anyway. Then the sheriff..."

"Wait Uncle, did you get arrested?"

"No," and I told them the next part of my tale.

"This is so cool, I have nutty or dangerous relatives."

"Now wait," I said and then added, "We're dealing with rumors and accusations only. They left in the night I guess, but we don't know the details."

"Well something was screwy and they did run off like crooks."

"It would seem that part is right, but I still don't know where this business about the hex signs, talk of witches and witchcraft comes from. It's like fear spread like a virus and nobody is using common sense."

"So what now," Ted asked me.

"I don't know. The house and barn appear to be in great shape, and hell, the price would be amazingly sweet."

"But what would you do with it?"

"There's the rub. I like the place and I like the location, but like you said, what would I do with it?"

"So you get a great bargain for something you have no use for. On top of that, it might not even be safe for you to be there."

"Well there is that to consider as well, but I do have some thoughts in that area. I think it's the young ones that are tagging the place. Those messages spray painted across the front of the house have the look of a New York subway."

"And that means what safety wise?"

"Don't know yet."

Rob smiled and said, "Uncle, you've decided to buy that haven't you."

"Not yet, but by damn I'm thinking hard about it."

"But to do what with it," Ted asked again.

"This is the tricky part. I'd have to buy it, improve it and make it safe to be there, and then I'd have to find a way to prove to the locals that the place isn't haunted or cursed. Once that's done I could turn a nice profit when I sold it."

"That whole line of thought is rife with ifs or maybes, and you'd need a whole lot of luck."

"Well I'm sure that Noah and the sheriff don't see me as some kind of nut come back to haunt them again, so I might have two allies right there."

"An old man and then a cop that will see to his town and his friends long before he'll worry about you."

"The town is out maybe...well I think Ennis said eight grand in taxes is all, so whatever they can get out of that place beyond that is pure profit for them. For people like you and me, sixty acres is a whole lot of ground, but for a farmer it's hardly worth bothering with. If I could have sixty acres, a nice house and a big barn plus another outbuilding for say...well twenty cents on the dollar, I could get well over half a million even considering it's inconvenient location. Hell, the house alone is worth close to two hundred thousand."

"Right or wrong, you've talked yourself into buying it, so you might as well get to work figuring out how you'll keep it from being torched or you shot when you go out there."

"Dee, what are you thinking?"

"I think it would be great for you, if you can keep it in one piece and if you don't get hurt and if..."

"Okay, I get your point."

"I'm serious. I agree that there is money to be made there and a lot of it, but you better accept the fact that nothing about your venture is going to go smoothly, and no I'm not just being negative."

I had trouble getting to sleep later because their words and concerns kept haunting me. I had no reasonable argument for buying that real estate, but I had a very strong urge to do just that. Common sense told me to never even go back there again, let alone buy the damn place. Financially it was about as risky a venture as anything I could dream up. If I lost the money I invested in the property I'd survive, but it would hurt me a whole lot and I'd be furious with myself.

Then there was the house itself. I lay there and tried to mentally construct plus and minus columns for the house and barn. Both structures appeared to be very solid and overall in very good repair so that was a plus. The house was fully decorated with pretty decent furnishings and window treatments so that was another plus. The barn seemed to be in almost pristine condition. I rolled to my left and then my right, and kicked the blanket off and then pulled it halfway up again as I continued with my mental exercise. There were things that weren't really in either the plus or minus column. Things like I'd want to pave the driveway and the landscaping would need serious attention. The first thing I would do however is put in a very good security system. Actually, the first thing I had to do was have another chat with Sheriff Ennis Ensley before I went any farther. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep that night and it showed when I got to the office in the morning.

"Morning Hugh," I said as I strolled into the office.

"Nice of you to grace us with your presence Ben. Did you get any sleep last night Romeo?"

"Some, but I had to show up to keep you happy since you're my boss."

"I hope you don't expect me to believe that line of bull."

"When did you get back from Phoenix?"

"Yesterday, and damn was it hot there."

"And don't I know that."

"Oh right, you lived there for a short time."

"That I did." I went on to my office and pushed myself hard, skipping lunch except for a candy bar from the vending machine, but took a long break about three o'clock. During that long break I talked to a couple of contractors in Cookeville, about twenty miles north of Sparta, and then called one of them back and arranged to meet with them at six o'clock. Then I called Ennis. "Afternoon Sheriff, this is Ben."

"Afternoon to you."

"I'd like to have another look at the farm. A much more serious and thorough look."

"You're kidding me."

"That remains to be seen. I want to bring a contractor down and get his opinion."

"We have an excellent contractor right here and I could make a call for you."

"I appreciate your help, but it's...well it's family, you know what I mean," I lied.

Ennis paused for just a moment and then said, "Yes, of course."

I didn't even know why I said that, but as I thought about it later, I was glad I had. Then I added the truth saying, "Besides, with the town folk not exactly in love with that property or anybody having anything do with it, I might do much better if I leave them out of this as much as I can."

"I guess you're right. Something to consider for sure." He paused again and then said, "Because of what you just said, rather than get the local realtor involved that is handling all of that, just give us a call when you come and we'll open it up for you."

"Thanks Ennis, I appreciate you going out of your way for me."

"Not a problem, we'll just keep all of this private. See you soon."

I was really getting into my project now, and I'd told Ted and Dee how things were going. They were much less excited than I was, but even at that, they were very curious, so I invited them to join me on my Friday drive to Sparta. 

Chapter Five

Collin Perkins, the contractor that I had chosen was standing on the porch talking to Ennis, and they waved as we pulled up close to the garage door. I expected a younger more burly looking guy, but he was tall and lanky and stood there in his bright orange hunting cap and jeans. It took us a few minutes to shake hands and introduce ourselves, and then I told Collin, "I know this isn't the typical way to hire a contractor, but I did some research before I talked to you."

"I appreciate your trust in me and I'll see that it wasn't misplaced."

I made it a point to turn to Ennis saying, "This won't take a long time for us to do, so maybe you'd consent to show Ted and Dee around and tell them the horrors of the previous owners."

I thought he was going to pout when he learned that he wouldn't be privy to what Collin and I would talk about. "I'll do that," he said and then reluctantly turned to Ted and Dee.

As Collin and I walked away, he held out his clipboard saying, "I have the list of things you want to consider, but if you think of more, just let me know."

"And I'll be sure to do that. I know a couple of those things listed aren't in your area, but with you agreeing to be my general contractor that saves me a whole lot of grief. To the extent possible I want to keep what you do secret. I'll explain some of that as we go along. That's especially so with some of the wiring that you and I talked about."

"Right, I talked to a guy this morning and he's putting some things together for us to consider."

"Great."

"It won't be a cheap undertaking though Ben."

"I'm sure you're right, but we can tailor that if the numbers shock me too much. First of course, I have to get the county to accept my offer."

"Good luck with that." Once we had inspected the house, I led the way to the barn and for the first time went inside and stopped. 

"Damn, this is a big building."

"It is that, but I'll bet at some point this barn was full of hay and equipment."

"It's hard to imagine that. You know, you could use this to put your equipment in to keep it all safe."

"That would be a smart thing to do." 

The ladder to the loft was of heavy wood and nailed to the wall. The rectangle rungs were worn almost round and they had a dark and shiny patina, no doubt from hundreds of feet and sweaty hands as the farm hands went up and down, and we added our hands and feet to that process. 

I stood a few feet away from the edge of the loft and looked straight up to the peak of the gambrel roof, and then allowed my eyes to follow the roof beams down. "I don't see signs of weather damage."

"It's solid enough. So all we're doing in here is the wiring right?"

"Right. I have no need for a barn, but I want to keep it in good shape so I can get a good dollar on my investment."

"Absolutely."

Then I saw something, but didn't comment. I continued to look a lot closer then as I walked the perimeter of the loft, noticing little oddities here and there. There was no floor down the length of the center going from the large front barn doors on out through the back, but at each end there was a wide walkway joining the two halves of the loft. Collin was looking around as he said, "The previous owners did some modifications in here for some reason that I don't grasp. For one example, look at the flooring here. It's been sanded nice and smooth, and farmers would never spend the time and money for that."

"You're right. I wonder what the reason..." and then I stopped. Maybe I knew the reason for sanding the wood planks, but I left it at that. Combined with what I had noticed, the pieces were fitting together nicely.

"Okay," Collin said, pulling me from my reverie. "I think I have enough to put a rough estimate together for you, but bear in mind that this will be just accurate enough to help you decide on your offer. Based on what you were telling me, I'd say that if they accept your offer, you'll do very well for yourself."

"There are a whole lot of things that could complicate things, but I'm ready to take a chance that I'm right. It might take me a couple of years to sell this place, but I can live with that."

We found Dee and Ted standing in the front yard talking to Ennis, and I told him, "We're done Sheriff, and thanks for sticking with us."

"I just hope you realize what you're getting into."

"So do I, but even if things take a lot longer than I'd prefer, in the end I'll do just fine."

Ennis locked up the house, and with a wave we headed toward home. "Well, what do you think of the farm?" I asked Dee.

"It's very nice. A few areas that could stand some updating, but I like the house."

"Ted?"

"I'm with Dee. I'm still skeptical about getting your money out of the place, but it does have an appeal. I like the open feeling from having so much land around it. I like the barn a lot too, but what that would ever be good for I don't know."

"Right, the barn. So did Ennis tell you some of his stories?"

"Oh yeah, and he seemed to glory in sharing that whole witch and curse thing. How lame is that?"

"Well I'm told the locals seem to agree with him totally. Okay, so while we're on that topic, did you two look inside of the barn?"

"Yeah, but what's to see in an empty barn? A huge empty space that will never be used."

"You missed some things then."

"Like what?"

"The loft floor. Sanded very smooth. Attractive even. I couldn't tell if they put some kind of finish on it, or oiled it or what, but it looked like you could throw a rug up there, add furniture and have a great area for entertaining."

Ted laughed and said, "Yeah, hey let's gather upstairs in the barn and raise some hell and get high on the odor of hay."

"What about the things in the wall and ceiling?"

"What kind of things?"

"Small eye bolts in the wall studs and rafters and the two pulleys fastened to one of the rafters down toward the end of the loft. Things like that."

"What the hell?"

"Well, what comes to my mind is ceremonies. You know, like pagan rituals. I've decided they weren't witches in the traditional sense, but maybe they were into some strange pagan belief."

"Like human sacrifices?"

I smiled and said, "Well it could have been animal sacrifices and things like that. The pulleys would have been used to hoist the animal up and they would place a bucket or tub on the floor and do their thing while they had their ceremony on that smooth sanded floor in their bare feet, or maybe even bare assed."

"Kinky."

"Sick." Dee added.

"Well whatever, that adds credence to what Ennis has been saying. At some point before I try to sell the farm I'll have to get all of those bolts and pulleys down. Noah, the neighbor I told you about, said that on occasion there would be several cars there at the farm. I'm guessing that was when they had their rituals. I can just see them dancing naked in the loft while they chanted or whatever the hell they did."

"Well the naked part sounds like it could have been fun," Ted said as he smiled looked at Dee in the backseat.

Chapter Six

Collin Perkins faxed me his multi page quote and I spent quite awhile going over every detail and every dollar figure. The first thing I learned was, it was going to cost a lot to do everything I wanted to do, but going back through the list I knew that I wasn't going to eliminate anything. I gave myself a short time to ponder what I was getting into and then called the number that Ennis had given me. "Ellie Thayer," the nice feminine voice said.

"My name is Ben Whitehead, and Sheriff Ensley gave me your number."

"Yes Mr. Whitehead, how can I help you?"

"I'm interested in submitting an offer for the house and sixty acres out on..."

"You're kidding me," she said cutting me off.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry, that was very unprofessional of me, but you so totally surprised me."

"So you know the property to which I am referring."

"Yes, I do know Mr. Whitehead, but don't you want to see it first?"

"Well Sheriff Ensley opened the house up for me and..."

"Oh, I see. He knows he's not supposed to do that. Sorry again. But Mr..."

"Call me Ben please."

"Thank you. Ben I'd feel better if I could meet you so we could talk."

"Okay, but it would have to be Saturday morning."

"That's fine, say ten?"

"Let's make it eleven because it's a long drive for me."

"Great, I'll be there at eleven Ben."

I sat there replaying our brief conversation, and wondered if she was so caught off guard that she was rattled, or was she just scatterbrained. Well either way, she was the one I had to deal with, and her role in this process would be a rather brief one, so it didn't really matter.

I saw her car first as I approached the house Saturday morning, but then I noticed her sitting on the step. It was hard for me to tell much about her as I turned onto the driveway, but I did notice she had long legs that were covered in milk chocolate brown slacks. She smiled and stood up and I changed my mind. Long legs, but not as long as I had expected. Her hair was brown and pulled back in a ponytail and her purse was multicolored leather. Nice smile too I noticed as I came to a stop.

We met halfway between the front door and the car, and she offered me her hand. "Nice to meet you Ben, and again I apologize for my unprofessional comments the other day."

"You're forgiven and nice to meet you too Ellie."

"I have iced tea for us inside and I've even dusted the dining room table and chairs."

I'm a guy that rarely misses a chance to observe a nicely proportioned and attractive woman, so I studied the swing of her hips as I followed her inside. We settled at the table and she opened her brown leather briefcase and smiled again as she said, "I confess to being curious why you're considering this property. I talked to Ennis after you and I talked, and he told me you live in Hendersonville just north of Nashville. He told me about your connection to this house, and yet you don't strike me as somebody that would be content to live here."

"He's right on all counts and so are you. Oh I could be happy here for awhile, but I'd get restless before long. My boss would have a lot to say about that too."

"I'm sure," and she dazzled me with her smile again.

"I am drawn to this place for reasons that I can't even grasp. Oh it holds a few memories, but not a lot of them. If we can't reach an agreement on the price I won't be crushed, but I would be disappointed. If, and I must stress that simple word, if I can manage to put it all together, I just might be able to debunk and cast off this whole irrational witch and curse business. Then I can sell this farm and be rewarded with a few dollars for my trouble and for my risk taking."

"So you are fully aware of the relatively recent history of this place."

"I am. Tell me how you see this place, and tell me how you really think the people in the area see this." I smiled and added, "Now be honest because I just bared my soul to you."

"Now Ben I'm sure there is much more to your soul than the little bit you've shared with me, but okay. I don't have any real thoughts or feelings about this place other than it's a nice house to say the least, and we both know that it can be bought very reasonably. By the way, I'm working on a flat fee contract with the county, so I gain nothing by trying to convince you that it's very valuable. What the people in the area think about this place ranges from near panic if they get near it, to scoffing at the very notion of witches and hexes or whatever."




Unwelcome



"So not everybody is on this frantic bandwagon to burn this house to the ground."

"No. Now don't drop your guard, because it only takes a few radical thinkers to do a lot of damage. The ugly graffiti all over the front of the house is a testament to that fact." She looked at me for a second and then asked me, "Just how thoroughly have you looked at what you are considering buying?"

"I had my contractor with me and he thoroughly checked it structurally."

"No, I mean as a home, a place somebody might want to live in. It would only be natural for you to be distracted by those memories you mentioned, or at least the potential for those memories. Let's walk the whole house, the grounds and the outbuildings. I have all day if needed, and it is my job to sell this property, so I want to earn my commission."

"Then by all means, let's do a complete tour of the property. All sixty acres?"

She smiled and told me, "I'm sure you don't need to count the weeds. You probably should see some of it just so you'll be familiar with the lay of the land."

"An excellent point. Okay, you lead and I follow."

We did as she suggested and I studied each room and the furniture. We were in the living room when I stopped and said, "You may have a good idea about looking once again. I never even noticed that garish chair before. It's large. In fact it's out of scale with the rest of the furniture."

Ellie looked at it and then at me before she smiled and said, "I'm telling myself to be neutral, but I have to agree. It looks more like a throne than something you'd find in a living room."

"You're right, a throne. Now that is interesting considering a few other things I have noticed."

"Like what?"

"I'll save it until we check out the barn, but keep a mental picture of that throne in your mind. Another thing about that chair. It makes the room too full as though they stuffed it in here just before they ran off into the night."

She smiled and said, "Now that is interesting. Why would they have bothered to do that?"

"Maybe they weren't planning to disappear when they started to move it."

"We have something of a mystery I'd say."

"With your help I'm seeing a lot that I missed before."

She smiled and her pony tail bobbed as she tossed her head and said, "I guess I'm pretty good at my job. Okay potential buyer, let's move on." We even checked the basement where she reminded me that the furnace was relatively new.

"Now about the bedrooms," she said as we entered the master suite. "Try to think how a woman might feel when she sees this for the first time."

"That's easy, I'll just ask you. How does this room hit you? First impression."

"Well I've seen it a few times before, but give me a second. Okay, it's nice size and there are nice windows. The coloration is rather bland and boring, but that may not be how another woman would see it."

"But why just a woman? I mean wouldn't there be a guy involved?"

"I imagine. Okay, how do you see this room?"

"Well, it's my turn to think." I looked around the room and controlled my smile as I told her, "It's okay, but it's rather bland and boring."

She smiled and asked me, "Are you making fun of me?"

"I'm agreeing with you."

Chapter Seven

As we walked toward the barn she asked me, "Now are you getting anything out of this or are you just humoring me?"

"I'm getting a lot out of this. I'm looking with a more critical eye and at our slower pace I'm noticing more," and without her catching me, I glanced at her nice shape and added, "Yes, I'm noticing a lot more."

"Now what was that about the barn," she asked me as we stepped inside.

"It's up in the loft. Have you been up there?"

"I don't believe I have."

"I do believe you'll be surprised."

"I've never been in a hayloft in my life in fact. I'll bet it's filthy up there." 

"You'll be favorably surprised."

At the ladder I stood to the side and said, "Ladies first Miss Ellie."

The smile she shared with me that time really got my attention. Why that smile I couldn't say, but it was powerful. I had a perfect unobstructed view of her ass clad in those tightly stretched brown slacks, so I made it a point to stay close to her as we ascended the eight or ten ladder rungs.

As soon as I was standing next to her I asked her, "Notice anything unusual? Oh, but then you've never been in a hayloft."

"Well I notice it's larger up here than I would have guessed."

"Now keep in mind that the only reason for this huge hayloft is to store hay for the livestock to eat during the winter. Now look at the boards we're standing on." She looked down and studied them as I helped her by saying, "They've been sanded very smooth and even sealed with some kind of product. This whole blinking loft is like this." She looked at me questioningly and I shrugged. "I have a thought, but it's only a guess."

"What's that?"

"Well the rumor is all about witches or rituals or whatever right?"

"True."

"Now look up and you'll see eyebolts and pulleys."

Her hand went to my shoulder as she tipped her head well back and searched for what I had described. I got close to her and pointed up and she said, "Oh, I see them now. But what's the connection?"

"Okay so we've had maybe an hour or so of quality time to get to know each other, so...well I don't think they were having their rituals and séances while dressed. They used this loft because it was quite large and very private. No windows for example and it's well off of the ground. Now the very smooth and friendly looking floor tells me they were at the very least barefoot if not naked. Can you imagine putting your bare butt on rough unfinished wood?"

"But what about those bolts in the beams?" When I told her my thoughts she grabbed my arm and held on as she said, "You can't be serious."

"I'm just guessing. They could have hung an icon of some kind or about anything. Maybe they just had great parties up here. It would be great as long as nobody needed a bathroom."

She looked at me and her smile slowly reappeared as she said, "You're just too funny." She let go of my arm and said, "Sorry, but your vision gave me the creeps."

"I much prefer a bunch of naked people having a party."

"In a barn hayloft with no bathroom and no bar. Some party."

"Hmmm, good point. Oh well, back to the drawing board."

"I have to say, I've never been so emotionally involved in selling a house before."

"This whole thing could turn into a real adventure before we're done. Maybe that was what pushed me to consider getting into this mess. You, adventure, and learning about naked partiers that don't use bathrooms or drink."

"You're funny," and we headed out past the barn to survey the fields running toward the north end of the sixty acres. We didn't even get close to walking the fields, but we did make it to a high point so we could stand there and look around. 

"Good enough for me for now," I told her. I don't see anything that would be a major issue at all unless they outlaw weeds. If that happens I'm a dead man."

She turned and gave me a push before she said, "You're mind doesn't work like most people I know. In other words, I think you're a little off center."

"Now how can you bait me out here in the middle of nowhere and then say that to me?"

"Now just how did I bait you?"

"Oh, your wiles as a woman of course. You're cute pony tail, your...well anyway, I felt compelled to follow you." I got a smile from her and we headed back to the house.

As soon as we were inside I looked at her slacks and said, "Ooh, we made a mistake. You have stick tights all from those weeds over your slacks."

"They'll just have to wait until I get home I guess."

"You'll have them all over your car, which will then be all over you the next time you go someplace."

"I don't have much choice though."

"We always have choices. We may not like them, but we do have choices."

"How very profound of you. Now what are my choices?"

"You can go as you are, which of course I do not recommend. You can go home in your panties, which of course you will not do, but it is an alternative."

"I hope you have better ones than that last one."

"We could continue our discussion of the house and property while we pick all of that mess off of your nice brown slacks."

"That could take hours."

"But you don't want that mess in your car I'm sure."

"Not really."

"Then it's off to the living room with us."

She looked at me as I took her hand and she asked, "Why the living room."

Rather than answer with words, I pointed at the chair as I told her, "Get comfortable on the throne dear lady."

She smiled and said, "You're crazy."

"It just might be the best seat in the house. Sorry I don't have a crown to loan you, but then your cute pony tail is your crown." Standing in front of the chair she looked at it and then she suspiciously eyed me as I said, "Nice brown leather, padded arms, and a fancy straight high back." She sat down and I continued with my nonsense. "There, now comfy?"

Her smile was crooked as she said, "Not terribly."

"But nothing will stick to the leather."

"And I suppose you have it all in your mind how this will go."

"I think so. If you'll permit me my lady," and I knelt in front of her. That off center smile continued as I gently moved her left leg up and over the chair arm and then raced to the kitchen and came back with a dish from the table. I knelt close to her leg and started picking at the little sticky devils that littered her slacks.

"This is very nice of you sir, but I can't help you while in this position."

"You help me just by being here, so relax and I'll do my thing while you sell me the house."

She laughed and said, "You already want the house even after we talked about the issues that come with this place."

"Yes, speaking of that," I said as I dropped my first handful of brown debris onto the plate. "You don't seem bothered by the supposed possibility of a demon coming to possess your soul, or whatever nasty thing that might befall you."

"After you showed me the loft I was having second thoughts about what I was involved in."

"Try to find solace in the fact that I believe none of that and that we are totally safe. I wouldn't hesitate to sleep here tonight in fact. I mean if I had water and electricity."

She was watching me as I did my chore and she said, "You know, I've never spent a day selling a property that the client was already determined to purchase. Just saying that makes me laugh."

I looked up at her and stopped what I was doing. Her right foot was on the floor and her arms were up and resting against the back. "What's wrong?" she asked me."

"Sorry, nothing wrong at all. Something just flashed through my mind is all, but I can work on that later. Okay so about this purchase," I said as I resumed my labors. "I am determined to purchase this place, but only at the right price. If I can't realize a solid profit for my efforts and taking the risk of buying this tainted land, then I won't buy it. I'm not so wealthy as to buy it only to have it sit here for the next ten years while I pay the taxes every year, or maybe watch as it gets burned to the ground."

"So there is a limit to your emotional attachment."

I looked up at her again and struggled with myself for an instant before I said, "There is a limit, but I have to say, being with you today certainly hasn't hurt your cause." Her diminutive smile beguiled me so I just looked at her for a moment. "Yes, like right now. I know we're here to do business, but I can't help but appreciate what I'm looking at." Then I looked down and said, "There, I think I've saved the left half of your slacks. Shall we continue, or will you drive home with your right leg sticking out of the window?"

Her laugh sounded musical to me and then she said, "I'd have to drive home with my back to the steering wheel."

"Oh, right. Well then beautiful lady, if I may," and though she didn't need my help, I moved her left leg down and put her right leg over the arm of the chair. I adjusted my position and again resumed my duties.

"Ben, I have to think that you have a very responsible position and you're paid well for what you do. So why are you being so determined to save my slacks?"

"Oh it isn't your slacks. We could replace them without much effort. No, this is about your car and you, and as I recall you opted not to go home in your panties."

She didn't say anything so I was afraid my mentioning her panties again had somehow made her uncomfortable. I looked up prepared to apologize, but saw that her cute off center smile was there again, so I pushed my luck. "We had one other option that we didn't consider."

"I'll take a chance and ask you what that option was."

"You could have gone home in my slacks and I would have gone home in my briefs."

She laughed again and said, "My god I'd swim in your pants. I'd have trouble keeping them up even with the help of suspenders."

"I guess that's right," and I smiled as I looked into her eyes for a brief moment before I continued with my chore. "Sadly, I'm almost done. Is there anything else you wish to tell me to further entice me into being a homeowner in White County?"

"I can't think of a thing I could tell you at this point that would have any influence on you."

I focused on what I was doing as I said, "I know it's none of my business but I'll forego proper behavior and ask anyway. Are you married? I see no ring, but not everybody wears them."

"I'm seeing somebody, but not married."

"There, I'm done. I envy him," I added and stood up before we made eye contact again.

She put her hands on my forearms and said, "Ben, you've been very circumspect and so very charming. I said before that I've never had an experience like this before, but that's even truer now. I've enjoyed what we've shared." 

Then she stopped and smiled before she said, "God, that makes it sound like we've had a brief affair. But you've flattered me and entertained me, and we've actually managed to weave in some business in the couple of hours that I've been here, but I don't feel like I've worked at all. It's more like I've been entertained.

"Now that's interesting, because I feel much the same way. I just hope I'll find excuses to see you again without buying more property." Then fearing I'd put her in an awkward position, I added, "So what happens now. You'll take my offer back to...well to the county I'm sure, and then what?"

"They will review and either accept, decline the offer or counter offer. I'll get in touch with you and we'll talk about that, and then you decide what you'll do."

"So I will get to see you then."

She smiled and said, "You'd drive for two hours just to spend minutes with me to go over their response?"

"I would. I've included a list of salient facts as I see them so they'll understand where I'm coming from."

"Ben, I do hope they accept your offer."

"Thanks, so that's two on my side. Let's not take a poll of the neighbors and of the people in the city."

"Well since they are about split on how they feel, you'd surely end up with some support."

"That's encouraging. Ellie, I..." Then I stopped myself and instead just smiled and said, "I'll walk you out."

Chapter Eight

I hadn't been at the office an hour Monday morning before the secretary that I shared with Frank Petty called me. "Mr. Whitehead, you have an urgent call."

"From?"

"Your realtor in Sparta."

"Okay, thanks."

"Ben, it's Ellie."

"What's wrong?"

"Somebody firebombed the house before daylight this morning."

"Oh shit, how bad is it?"

"I'm at the house now and the front is in pretty bad shape. It's not a loss, but some major work will be required to make it right again. The damage is in the many thousands of dollars I'm sure. Oh, and they tried to do the same to the barn, but that one failed. They did throw paint all over it and on the concrete inside, like maybe that was their backup plan."

"Oh great. Look Ellie, I can't get away for several hours, so...well could you meet me there say about five?"

"Of course."

"Needless to say, this voids my offer for the property, so we'll have to see what we can come up with to replace it. I'll call my contractor and see if he can meet us there."

"I'll see you then Ben and...and Ben, I hope you will submit a new offer and this time things go better for us." 

"Thanks, see you then." Then I called Collin Perkins office and left an urgent message for him to call me. 

Within the hour Collin called and asked, "What's up Ben?" I gave him the news and he said, "Oh. Well I'll figure something out and see you there at five." 

"Thanks. It sounds like if I do get that place you'll have an even bigger job."

"It certainly sounds that way, but we'll have to come up with something in the way of security or what we do could be undone very quickly."

"Good point. I'll work on that next, and thanks for calling so quickly."

"No problem, see you there."

I called Ellie again and said, "Hi, it's me. Listen, see if you can get them to turn the electricity on and as soon as possible. I'll explain later what I want to do."

"I'll take care of it Ben, bye." 

There was nothing I could do until I saw the house and talked to Collin, but I had a plan of sorts if I could just pull things together. One thing was certain though. My offer would be for much less, but my post purchase costs would go way up. 

There wasn't much of a porch left for Ellie to sit on, so when I arrived I found her sitting in her car with the door open. We both got out of our cars at about the same time and I walked toward her. We shared weak smiles and she put her hand on the small of my back and said, "I'm so sorry this happened Ben."

"Thanks, but you're not the one that caused this mess." I didn't even realize my hand had landed on her back just above her butt as we stood there and I added, "Looks like a lot of damage. The whole porch and porch roof will have to be replaced, and that could easily be ten grand by itself."

"The front door isn't safe to use, but we can get in the back to see how much the house was damaged on the inside." But then Collin arrived and I introduced Ellie to him, and then another car pulled next to mine. 

A guy in a pinstriped gray suit and his tie loosened stepped out and joined us. "Hi Ellie. 

"Hi. This is Ben Whitehead, and his contractor Collin..."

"Perkins," Collin finished for her.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Dan Atwater. I'm chairman of the county commissioners and I just learned of the fire and I've been afraid this would happen." He looked toward the blackened front of the house and shook his head. "I don't know what to say. The sheriff has tried to protect this place I'm sure, but that changes nothing. Mr. Whitehead, look it all over thoroughly, and if you can, give me a number, and we'll see what we can do to end this nightmare. I'll leave you to your task, but I'll check back with you in an hour or so."

As Mr. Atwater walked to his car, I turned to Collin and said, "Okay my friend, in addition to the obvious, I want you to include a six inch well, double water pressure tanks and sprinkler systems. Oh, and those things that you and I discussed about the house, I want to do the same with the barn." Collin looked a little surprised, but I just smiled and told him, "No I haven't lost my mind. I have a reason for everything. Oh, and add a bathroom to the barn would you? A generous sized half bath. In fact make that a nice half bath on each level," and I noticed Ellie smiling.

"Let's start with the barn then," Collin said, and without even realizing it I slipped my arm around Ellie's waist and the three of us walked to the once traditional red, but now paint stained barn. We were near the barn before I realized where my right arm was and dropped it to my side. "Okay Ben, where were you thinking of putting that half bath in the loft?"




Unwelcome



I looked at Ellie and shrugged my shoulders before I asked her, "Where would you suggest?"

That surprised her so she smiled and made a cute face before she said, "I...well along one of the walls maybe, but...well we'll...sorry, you'll probably want stairs to replace the old ladder, but keep the ladder as a...well as a memento of sorts," and she smiled at me. She was getting into the project now saying, "Okay, the stairs go up parallel to the loft edge to minimize intrusion into the main level. Then...okay, how is this. The bathroom would be at the front wall and near the edge of the loft, and the stairs maybe a dozen feet out."

"Then that's what we'll do," I said to Collin. "And simple barn style railing along the rest of the loft edge on both sides. Oil the existing floor to make it look richer too," I told Collin and he was taking notes as fast as he could.

"What about a wet bar?" Ellie asked me as she leaned into me.

"Great, add a humble barn siding looking wet bar Collin, with acrylic bar surface and we'll have to fully electrify everywhere, ground floor and loft. Okay Ellie, where does the bar go?"

"Someplace more centralized. "Yes, maybe about a third of the way out from the bathroom and centered in the loft with a three sided bar."

"Done," and Collin continued to write. 

Ellie was smiling at me, or rather staring at me as she smiled. "Ben, I'm just offering an opinion. I don't expect you to just go with everything I say."

"You have good ideas." Then I told Collin, "I'll try not to hit you with a lot of other things later, but it's hard to think of everything right now. I may find that I just can't afford some things, but we're going to try."

"That's okay. When we get closer I'll need to talk to you about some things."

"We'll have plenty to talk about. Of course the house has to have priority."

"Of course."

"Okay, now don't stroke when I say this. Take your time. Say...well until Dan Atwater gets back. Then see if you can give me a rough, and I do stress rough idea of what kind of money we might be talking about. I need to have a feel for what kind of offer I want to give Dan."

"It will be worse than rough Ben."

"Well figure on the high side for now and then you and I can argue about the details later."

"You'll crap your pants...sorry Ellie, but you will Ben."

"I'll be sure I'm sitting down when you tell me." 

Chapter Nine

Dan Atwater's timing was pretty good. Collin called me aside and gave me his rough guess of what it would cost to satisfy my desires, and I wished I was sitting down. I didn't know how I was going to afford myself. Looking at the barn a second time with Ellie all sorts of ideas flooded into my brain, and each of them had a serious price tag attached to them. I went back to Ellie and told her, "I'm going to have a talk with Dan, so wish me luck."

"You have a lot on your mind now Ben so I'll leave now."

I took her hand and then realized what I was doing and released it as I said, "Please wait. I want to talk to you some more."

"You'll need to get on the road home though."

"Please? I won't need long with your Mr. Atwater."

"Okay, maybe it would be good for us to talk Ben."

I went over to Dan and we slowly walked away as we talked. "Dan, just minutes ago Collin gave me the roughest of estimates of what it would cost me resurrect this place. Now I'll admit that I asked him to do some other things as well, but he knocked the wind out of me. It's going to be expensive."

"Well I don't know a lot about construction, but I do know enough to know the fire did considerable damage. Okay Ben, give me your best number if you can."

"I'm almost embarrassed to say the number aloud. Damn it Dan, I like it here. I can't possibly live here long term, but I do like it here and I want to save it and protect it. Okay. The land alone is going to be worth more than I'm offering, assuming you could find somebody to buy this sixty acres and then pay to demolish the house and so forth. But...well the best I can do is fifty thousand."

"My god, that's less than a thousand an acre and nothing for the buildings."

"But Dan, the house is barely worth what it will cost to restore it. The barn is great, but for what? It's past its useful life unless I can think of a use for it. The land? Well Noah owns everything on one side of it and he's in his seventies and says he has no interest in it. Stan Cooper owns the other side and he's older than Noah, so he's not going to be interested in it. At least this way the county gets the back taxes plus a lot of money that it has to do nothing to earn. It's a win situation for both of us. Well that is if I can find a way to keep it from being fire bombed again. With that history the insurance alone will probably kill me." I had stretched the truth more than once, but I could live with that.

Dan allowed a small smile and said, "You may be right about the insurance. Okay Ben, I've been in touch with the other commissioners and they've all said for me to do whatever I need to do to get the damn property off of our hands. The potential for liability lawsuits against the county has been haunting us to say nothing of the lost tax revenue. We're not a rich county. We do okay for ourselves, but we're cautious and that has served us well." Dan put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Get something to Ellie in writing as soon as you can and maybe we can close this in a timely fashion, assuming your bank doesn't hold us up."

"I'd like to keep this secret for as long as possible."

"I can understand that, and we as commissioners will do our best to accommodate you on that, but naturally no guarantees."

"Thanks. I've asked Ellie to wait so I could talk to her about things. I won't need to go through a bank for the purchase, so that should speed things up considerably. Of course the funds for the restoration might be another matter."

"You said that when you are pushed, you push back and I'd say that's just about right, and potentially you could make a lot of money when the time comes for you to sell this place."

"I hope so because I'm sticking my neck out a mile."

He shook my hand and simply told me, "Well good luck Ben and we'll talk again I'm sure." With that he got into his car and left.

I went back to Ellie and said, "I'm buying the place and I'm starved."

"We can go into town and get something, but..." and she took my hands in hers. "Ben, what's going on?"

"With what Ellie?"

"You, or rather us. We barely know each other, and earlier you slipped your arm around my waist and..."

"I'm sorry Ellie, it just came so..."

"I'm not complaining at all. In fact I liked it, and it didn't even dawn on me what you'd done or that I had leaned into you when you did that. Then that business in the barn when we talked about the remodeling. You just went along with my thoughts. My god Ben, you were letting me design the loft and play with a whole lot of your money. I have to say it again, we're still getting acquainted."

"Ellie, you had great ideas. I wasn't being careless or nonchalant. When you and I were in the loft the first time and we talked then, it was easy to visualize something neat could be done with the loft. I hope I can get you to help me with more details about the barn and the house." I paused for just a moment and then pulled her just a little closer to me and told her, "Now about me putting my arm around you. Thinking back on that I have to say, I liked it very much too."

"Ben is there anything you aren't telling me? Anything that I should know?"

"I'm keeping no secrets from you, but you know what?"

"Tell me."

"If we go to Sparta for dinner, gossip and rumors will fly."

"Oh damn. I don't know if I'm ready for that just yet."

"Just yet?"

"Sorry, I'm just a little scrambled at the moment. What did you mean you bought the farm?"

"Dan said give him a number so I did, and he accepted it on behalf of the county."

"Really?"

"Really. Okay, now this idea might not work, but I'm going to ask anyway. I'm not going home tonight. I had planned on staying here tonight, but that won't work. So I'm going up to the Holiday Inn in Cookeville and spend some time on the computer. But first I need to eat and I'd love a drink or two. I'd also love to have you join me."

I felt her hands grip mine firmly as she stared into my eyes as she asked me, "Ben, I really like you a lot, but I can't just go up there and spend the night with you."

Maybe I shouldn't have smiled, but I did before I kissed her lightly and thankfully she received me willingly. Then I told her, "I meant for dinner and drinks, but all night would be great too."

"Oh god of course, what was I thinking?"

"You had a great thought. Can you join me Ellie? I really want to share tonight with you."

"Let me think a second." She looked down and put her hand to her forehead and I just watched her until she finally told me, "Okay, but I have to make a call before we go."

"Make your call and I'll go for a walk around the house." I was pretty sure she was calling her boyfriend, and I would have loved to stand there and listen to her end of the conversation. I could hear her voice as she started to talk, but I was too far away to understand anything, so instead of walking around the house, I stood at the corner and looked toward the barn. I was intrigued by that thing. It was many times the size of the house, so maybe that was part of what tugged at my imagination. I smiled as I remembered following Ellie up that rustic ladder when we explored it the first time, and I thought about us standing there talking about what could be done with the loft. Yes, it was the loft that pulled at me so much. The rest of the barn was great too, but that huge and very open loft area just stirred something in me. In fact I was being irrational about the damn thing. I was prepared to spend thousands of dollars for something I had no idea what I was going to do with, and almost certainly would lose money on. Would that help sell the house? That was doubtful at best, but that didn't stop me. But truth be told, what I bought was sixty acres that just happened to have a couple of structures on it. The third outbuilding was just a small storage building that stood forgotten and empty behind the barn.

All of the foot traffic and the actions of the firemen had beat the weeds down over much of the front area of the property, and I was into my thoughts just enough that I didn't hear Ellie walk up behind me. She slipped her arm around my waist, leaned against me and shared a weak and thin smile with me, but said nothing as she looked toward the barn. I had no doubt that she had talked to her boyfriend and it hadn't gone well, but it would be up to her when and what she would share with me later. I put my arm around her and pulled her into my side and told her, "I've been thinking about the barn." She said nothing so I continued with, "I know that what I'm doing is totally without solid reason, and it's a potential money pit, but damn it Ellie I'm having fun with that. The house will end up being a nice house. Mostly new and very up to date and comfortable. But that stupid loft gives me room to play and to create something unique. I feel like it's a blank canvas and I'm getting ready to try my hand at painting." The late evening sun was low in the western sky and was bathing the earth in its golden glow as I looked down at her and then gently kissed her. She looked up at me but still said nothing so I put my other arm around her and just held her to me and said, "I'm so glad you have come into my life."

Chapter Ten

Ellie was holding me in her arms as she said, "I know so very little about you Ben. I don't know if you have a family or where you live and I don't know what you enjoy doing, and yet here I am, my arms around you and ready to be a part of your life."

"You already are a big part of my life Ellie."

She managed a smile then and said, "I don't even know if you have a girlfriend, or for that matter maybe a wife."

I kissed her again, lightly and quickly before I said, "No girlfriend and definitely no wife, and you'll be able to tell that when you see how my small condo is decorated."

"Maybe we better go to Cookeville and have dinner."

"Do you have to work tomorrow?"

That stopped her and once again she studied me before she said, "Ben what are you thinking?"

"Just that we might be up quite late talking. I'm full of thoughts and questions."

"Oh," and she her smile continued as she said, "Yes, we just might be at that. I do have to work tomorrow, but I could be late getting there."

"Then let's go to dinner and see what we can learn about each other."

It took us over twenty minutes to get to Cookeville and to the Red Lobster, and we went in with our arms around each other's waist. We talked more than we ate, so it was over an hour later before I asked for the check. That's when Ellie said, "Ben, could we just go to your motel room and talk? I can't have any more to drink and still drive home, and it would be easier to talk there."

I got as far as smiling before she did the same and said, "Now we're just going to sit and talk."

"But of course and I love your idea."

Neither of us showed any awkwardness as we entered my room at the Holiday Inn. We kicked our shoes off as Ellie looked around and then sat on the side of the bed. She smiled and told me, "Only one chair," but that wasn't quite true, but who was I to argue with her? 

I sat next to her and for the next half hour or so, we sat there periodically holding hands or touching each other and acting like we were committing a mortal sin, but we talked. We talked until I had to go find a vending machine for cold drinks, and then we talked more, ending up lying next to each other with pillows stuffed behind our head and back. And we held hands, smiled and were soon lying on our sides so we could look at each other as we talked. "Ellie, come up to Hendersonville Saturday so you can meet my brother Ted and his wife Dee. We could go to dinner and enjoy the evening. Of course if you would stay in my guest room we could have Sunday to be together too."

"I'd love to. But I better say this too. We've talked about the fact that we just met each other not long ago, and I'm concerned that our new...well relationship will overheat and we could get hurt."

"To that I'll remind you of, what to me, is a very significant point. We're lying in bed next to each other. We're talking, touching and kissing, but that's all. I understand your concern, but I think with just a touch of caution from both of us, everything will be great."

She smiled at me and said, "That was a very nice little presentation, but we both know how quickly that 'balance', for lack of a better word, could fall apart."

I kissed her hand and then told her, "There is no place else in the world that I'd rather be right now than where I am, so I for one am more than willing to take that risk."

She almost laughed as she said, "How very brave of you."

"Thank you. Now here's another point to be made. Let's say that we met and spent an hour talking over coffee or whatever. Then we had dinner twice for, let's give that two hours each. Then after that we spent maybe four hours together followed by another time for a whole afternoon. So let's see, that's what, maybe ten or even twelve hours total, but we've been together five times. So compare that to what we've shared to date. A few minutes the first time. Okay say an hour. Then another couple of hours and then...that time had to be at least three hours. Now here we are spending...let's see, time at the house and then dinner and now here so...wow, that must amount to six or eight hours or more. This is getting complicated now." She watched me spin my story and play fast and loose with the facts, but she didn't interrupt me. "Okay so that comes to about...well nearly the same amount of time and we're still together, so that means we will have spent more time together than had we seen each other in a more conventional, or perhaps a more traditional way."

"Okay smart man, what does all of that mean?"

"I don't have a clue," and she laughed at me.

"Ben are you really going to do those things to the barn loft?"

"Unless Collin shocks me senseless with his numbers I am. Coming up with more ideas love?"

"Not more, but the bar needs to be against the far wall rather than in the middle and it needs a mirrored back bar."

"Oh baby, now you're talking. I wonder if that could be completed in time for a Halloween party."

"That would be fantastic, but that's only...well less than three months away."

"All I can do is ask Collin when I talk to him."

"Who would you invite?"

"Anybody and everybody that I know and or work with, and whoever Ted and Dee want to invite. Your friends of course and whoever else you might want to include. We'd have room for more people than we could ever come up with I'm sure."

"Does your world always move at this rapid pace?"

"Not even close, but things just keep coming up. Damn I hope I can pull this off."

"Can I ask a big favor?"

"Of course you can."

"Would you trust me to work with Collin on the bar? I have some ideas and I'd love to surprise you with what we can create."

"Then the project yours, but don't spend me into poverty okay?."

"I promise I will not exceed expensive."

I laughed and said, "Oh, and I'll have a surprise for you when the loft is complete, assuming I can put it all together in time for Collin to review."

"You're so busy with all of this, when will you work?"

"I'll be working hard the rest of the week to catch up."

Chapter Eleven

Ellie came for the weekend, and we spent a lot of time with Ted and Dee, and Rob even put in an appearance, so Ellie got to meet my favorite nephew. There was no second attempt with firebombs and nearly two weeks later I paid for the farm and collected my keys. Collin had his equipment on site the next Monday so my big project was finally underway. Ellie and I spent all of that Friday at the farm watching Collin and his crew. The front of the house had been ripped away much faster than I would have ever thought possible, but I'd learn that there was a whole lot about construction that I didn't know anything about before the project was completed. 

We did our best to stay out of the way and to leave Collin alone so he could do his job, but about midmorning he asked me, "Ben, while I have the heavy equipment here, do you want those small trees taken out?"

I looked where he was pointing and said, "I don't know why they were planted that way, but yeah take them out. We'll have a better view of the farmland that way."

"That's why I mentioned it. Whoever put them there had to be a little squirrelly." He put fingers to his lips and whistled at the frontend loader driver, and waved him toward the trees and then walked away. It wasn't more than ten minutes later that Ellie's and my life was turned upside down again as the front end loader stopped and Collin came running back up to us at the house. "Ben call the cops. We've found two bodies for sure and maybe more."

"Oh shit." I grabbed my phone and then stopped and looked at Ellie. With just a slight hesitation I called nine one one and asked for the state police. As soon as I disconnected I told Ellie, "I'm going to get a lot of crap from Ennis for calling the state police, but with the problems between me and the locals, I want somebody more detached than from town."

"Wait a few minutes and call Ennis. By then the state police will be here. Maybe that will save you some grief. Tell Ennis that the operator made that decision, not you."

I put my arms around her and said, "Pass the buck, I like that. I'm going to run out and look before the cops get here and send me away." I hadn't run more than a few feet before Ellie joined me and we dashed the short distance to where the trees used to be.




Unwelcome



"Stay back," Collin said and added, "The edge might give way under your feet. They're about fifteen feet down the line," and he pointed straight ahead.

"They were under the trees?"

"Those trees haven't been there all that long. Planted on top of the graves within the last couple of years I'd guess."

Ellie and I had a tight hold on each other as she said, "Oh honey, they must be your relatives."

"Probably. They didn't abandon the farm, they were murdered and buried right here."

"I'm so sorry Ben."

"It's okay, their just too far removed in our family tree, but I'm sorry for them and their immediate family."

"But their belongings. I mean their clothes and personal effects were gone."

"And buried with them maybe. The person or persons that killed them no doubt did that to make it look like the family had just disappeared. The dishes on the table might have been in preparation of a future meal, not knowing they were about to be murdered."

"Look at the...the whatever those things are and things buried with them though. Why would the killers bother to do that?"

We heard the sirens far in the distance as I told Ellie, "I don't have a clue about any of this. Hell I can't even identify some of what I'm looking at. Okay, the police will be here any minute, so study and remember as much as you can, and later you and I can see if we can figure out what we're looking at." 

We backed away and I punched in Ennis' number as the first State Police car appeared. "Sheriff's office," I heard.

"This is Ben Whitehead out on Yancy Road and we have just discovered two bodies on the farm. If Ennis is there, he'll know who I am."

"The old Whitehead farm?"

"That's the place."

"Somebody is already on the way to you."

"Thanks," and I put my phone back in my pocket. The State Police barely glanced at us before they made their way over to the burial site. We had another fifteen minutes to stand there and stare until a detective Unger arrived and we went inside to talk to him. It took us half an hour to discuss my possible relationship to the victims, and how I came to be there and to own the house. Ellie and I weren't suspects, so it was an easy going interview, and without the baggage of grief to deal with, it was all matter of fact and efficient.

"Detective Unger, will it be possible for us to see any of the effects that were buried with them?"

"Possibly, but for what reason?"

"Just hoping we can make some sense of this in terms of family I guess. There has to be a reason those things were buried with them, so those items must have some meaning. With some knowledge of those items, maybe through old memories and discussion we can connect some dots and provide some peace for those that were close to them."

"If nothing else, as things settle down, perhaps I can get you a list of identified items and some photographs."

"We'd appreciate whatever you could provide us with."

"So you're restoring updating and improving in hopes of turning a profit."

"Right. I really do like it here, and it won't be all that easy to part with, but I'll have well beyond a hundred and fifty thousand invested, so I won't have the option of keeping it forever. At the moment I'm real estate poor."

"Well I hope the rest of your restoration goes much more smoothly than this part is going."

"We do too. We're on a self imposed deadline of sorts and this doesn't help us with that at all."

As soon as the detective left I called Hugh and told him about the bodies found on the farm.

"Oh shit Ben, your relatives?"

"We don't know, but we see that is a very good probability. I wanted you to know just in case you didn't see me for a couple of days next week. I better stay here because nosy people are going to try to be all over this place once the word is out." 

"No kidding. Well be safe, and above all and good luck."

"Thanks." Then I called Ted and gave him the news before I put my phone away.

"Are you really going to stay here Ben," Ellie asked me.

"I really am."

"Then I'm going to town and get you some things. You won't even have coffee or linens that could be considered clean. Everything in the house is dusty and smells of old smoke."

I wrinkled my face and said, "I know."

A sheriff's car pulled in and the officer went straight out to join the others. He finally came back and we were waiting, because he'd surely want to talk to us. "Hi, I'm Officer Sorensen, but call me Buddy. The sheriff will likely be here very soon, but I wanted to stop and check with the other officers. We'll be working closely with them of course."

"Nice to meet you Buddy. This farm sure is full of surprises."

"No kidding. I'll leave it to the Sheriff to talk to you, but if you need anything at all, just ask for me, and just for the record I don't buy into the rumors about this place at all." 

"That's good to hear. We don't either, but we have to remember there are others that would just as soon see these buildings just disappear. I don't know what they think should happen to this despoiled land."

"If it wasn't so serious, I'd see it as a bad joke. But it's my job to serve, so I have to be very circumspect about my comments."

"Well thanks for introducing yourself Buddy, and it's comforting to know that there are at least a few that haven't taken leave of their senses."

"Nice to meet you too. I don't think the Sheriff believes those tales either, but he and I don't get into discussions about any of that."

Once he was gone Ellie said, "I didn't get the feeling that he exactly admires the good sheriff."

"That's how it struck me too. Not from what he said, but by his face and the inflection in his words." The good sheriff never did put in an appearance.

Chapter Twelve

Most of Collin's crew moved their efforts to the barn, so the up side of the disaster of finding the bodies was Ellie and I would see a lot of progress made in the barn project. 

Hardly a day went by that Collin and I didn't talk either by phone or in person, and most of those conversations involved the barn. The house project was pretty much pre-determined. The front of the house and the porch would be returned to its original look, and we'd worry about the living room and dining room furnishing later. The custom additions and improvements had to go in first, so those details were nearly complete. Near the end of the day the police packed up and left, and the last of the trees were finally removed, and that whole area graded and smoothed. I had a couple of portable flood lights compliments of Collin so if I heard anything I'd be able to illuminate the front or back area. It wasn't the best night's sleep I ever had, but not the worst, and I wasn't bothered by anybody trying to explore the scene of the crime or whatever the hell it should be called.

The weekdays seemed to drag for me, but staying busy at the office helped a lot. Ellie and I didn't see each other through the week, but I'd be at the farm by Friday night and we'd be inseparable all weekend.

Ennis had been surprisingly quiet through the whole disaster of finding my relatives buried in my backyard, but that was likely because he had to be very careful. He wanted to be sure he'd be reelected.

As I sipped coffee for the first time in my kitchen, Ellie came in with a bag of breakfast goodies from McDonalds. "I know this is totally unhealthy, but it's food for us." She put the bag on the table and asked me, "Did anything happen last night?"

"Not a thing."

"Good for you. I fell into bed and I don't think I moved all night."

Between bites and sips of coffee I said, "Let's go to Cookeville for lunch."

"Ben, I can run into Sparta and get us something. That's a lot closer and faster."

"I want to get on the internet and look something up."

"Oh. Well if it weren't for this crazy town we could just go to my place and do that."

"Do you have a garage?"

"A carport."

"Oh. Well could I get inside without being seen?"

She smiled and said, "I think that would work. Let's forget about Cookeville."

"Thank you honey."

That plan had great merit until a state police car pulled in and two officers got out and came to the backdoor. I opened the door and the shorter one said, "We'd like to look around the area if you don't mind."

"Of course not, have at it. Do you have anything that you'd be allowed to share with us?"

"Not right now. The victims will be autopsied of course, but we don't expect to learn a lot that we don't know. We have a lot of tedious but necessary things to look into."

"I'd never have the patience for that. Anyway, help yourselves. We'll either be in here or out in the barn."

"What's in that smaller building behind the barn?"

"Empty. I didn't really study it because I don't care if it's there or it falls down, but when I toured the property I glanced inside and didn't see anything."

"Okay, thanks," and they turned and walked toward the area behind the barn.

Ellie was close behind me and asked, "Why would they care about that building?"

"I haven't a clue. Let's see...the line of trees would just about line up with that building but...well that takes me nowhere. It has a dirt floor, but...that doesn't mean anything either. Oh well, that's their problem."

"I wonder what was in those bags they hauled out of here after the bodies were removed. I mean other than the odd looking items you and I saw."

"Could be soil samples or anything small. The big stuff they covered and hauled out like they were more bodies. Let's go see how much they got done in the barn yesterday."

"They made a lot of noise out there."

I unlocked the door and opened it far enough for us to enter and I almost walked into a small trailer that was no doubt full of Collin's equipment. We both saw them at the same time. "Oh wow," Ellie said, "Look at the stairs. They're perfect."

"Collin said they would go up fast. They look rustic and...hot damn, look at the handrail. It's a long sapling he picked up somewhere. He stripped the bark and fit it to the stairs. Damn he's good."

"The loft is going to be so cool." We went up and looked around, but there wasn't a lot to see. They were in the process of running wiring but that was all there was to see up there. We locked the door behind us and went a few feet before we saw one of the officers go to their car with a small bag of something. Ellie stopped and put her hand on my forearm as she said, "What could they possibly find out there?"

"I haven't a clue." Then the second officer appeared with another bag. He waved and said thanks again and they left without comment.

"This could get creepy. They found things out there that to us didn't exist."

"Let's go out there and look."

There was nothing to see except trampled weeds. We walked around and I peeked inside of the shed and said, "Honey, they found something buried in here."

"What?" and she came up behind me and peered around my arm. "Oh my god. This is going to drive us nuts not knowing what's going on." 

I closed the door and turned around before I saw something in the trampled weeds. I bent down and said, "Oh shit, look at this baby."

She squatted down next to me and I pointed at the little shiny green square. "Can you see it?"

"Yes, but I can't believe it."

"I'm not touching it, but we both know what that means."

"Oh god, that raises all kinds of possibilities."

"What the hell do they call those little zip bags? I'm not even sure, but I think it's for cocaine. I guess I should pay more attention to the drug world. I do know it's bad news though. So my relatives were either using or selling drugs, or so it would seem."

"Well if they dug something up in that shed big enough to go out in that bag, then I'd think they were dealing."

"So maybe we were firebombed because they...whoever they is, didn't want us to discover this secret."

"But they...the guilty ones are dead now."

"But there may be others that were associated with my kinfolk."

"I don't like this very much at all."

"Well they have to be very careful now because the eye of the law is going to be on a lot of people and this place." I smiled and pulled out my phone and punched in the number that I should have put into my speed dial. "Yes, is it possible to have Officer Sorensen call Ben Whitehead when he has a minute?" I listened and then said, "Yes, tell him it's quite important." I smiled at Ellie, said thanks, and put my phone away. "Now honey, want to have some fun while we wait for the call?"

"Sure. Ben, what are you up to? You're grin tells me to be wary."

"We're going to carry that silly chair from the living room to the loft."

"What would we do that for?"

"I'll explain more as the day progresses."

"Now don't do that."

"Patience my love."

Chapter Thirteen

We carried that high backed chair out to the barn and up the new stairs to the loft. "Here is fine," I said and we set it down. "Okay honey, sit down, and what do you see?"

"Well I'm looking down the length of the loft."

"Right. Now sit straight, your crown on just so and your arms on the armrests with your fingers curled around the rounded part of the armrest. Feel a little like royalty now do you?"

She smiled and said, "I feel pretty silly."

"You look regal love. Okay, now you're wearing a long wrap around skirt and the fabric is open from ankle to hip. Oh you look so sultry and desirable. You're breasts are firm and proud...well just as they really are actually, and in front of you are a number of men and women and all adults, but of varying ages. They like how you look and the men are admiring your sexy exposed thigh. You have power over them." Then I kissed her and knelt in front of her. "Ellie, you do have power over me. You are so important to me honey." 

She leaned forward and we kissed again before she said, "Ben, I care for you so much it scares me." I pulled her to her feet and we stood there in an long silent embrace. We settled down a little and she smiled and asked me, "What was that little scenario about?"

"That was a clue to what I'll share with you after we get back from your place."

"You shit."

"Royalty doesn't talk that way. You'd have me imprisoned instead."

"Now wouldn't that be funny, a small jail cell up here. What a conversation piece that would be. Honey, I don't know what you're up to, but thank you. You are so sweet and so caring," and she kissed me again. My phone rang and I said, "Well damn, talk about bad timing."

I put it to my ear and heard, "Hi, it's Buddy, what's going on?"

"Buddy, when you have a minute could you stop by? I want to show you something we found."

"Sure, I'm just north of Sparta now, so give me about fifteen minutes."

"We'll be out by the barn."

As I put my phone in my pocket Ellie asked me, "What are you up to?"

"I'm not even sure. Our overly friendly sheriff has been conspicuously absent. He never even showed up when the bodies were discovered. He probably has his hands full with the weirdoes though. We both seemed to be impressed with soft spoken Buddy, so why not get him more involved and see how he handles himself."

"Well our friendly sheriff is big on pandering to the locals. I question his skills as a cop, but he's a great bull shitter." 

"That's the first you've spoken against him."

"Oh I have nothing against him I guess, but it's like he has occasional flashes of brilliance that can disappear into the darkness of mediocrity."

"That isn't a very flattering assessment of him."

"That's just how I see him. I agree with you though that it could be interesting to see how Buddy handles himself. Personally I don't trust anybody right now, because things just aren't adding up at all. We have the just discovered drug connection, and not surprisingly nobody is talking. The best that we can say right now is we aren't suspected of anything. We've had bodies in the backyard and we have a lot of people fearful that we're either plagued by, or maybe even are, evilness personified. My friends in town are boiling with curiosity, but at the same time they're a little afraid to be around me too much right now."

"I'll bet you're sorry you got tangled up with me now."

That bought me a very nice kiss before she told me, "You couldn't be more wrong."

"Once all of this is settled, and by damn it will be if I have anything to say about it, we'll miss the excitement."

"I'm ready for a more normal life. This situation is too stressful and distracting. We should be spending time talking about and working on things like your furniture. Normal things that normal people in normal situations might talk about."

"I hear what you're saying. Okay, let's walk out to the barn again." Then I stopped and asked, "How did the bad guys dig that long trench to bury the bodies and all of that crap? That would be far too much to dig by hand and there are is nothing like a tractor or anything like that. Where did those things go? Did they sell them before they were killed?"

"They probably didn't do anything that would justify having a tractor."

"I suppose that's possible, but...well look at the sixty acres. Somebody was keeping it mowed if nothing else, or there would be things like sumac or those little cedars that seem to pop up from nowhere, and supposedly the land hasn't been touched in years. It's ready to be plowed and used so there had to be farm tractors and implements." 

"I see what you're saying."

"There isn't so much as a hand shovel here."

"This whole situation is just getting more confusing."

"To me at least, that has to mean there are locals involved somehow. Who is involved is anybody's guess."

"So everybody in Sparta and the surrounding area are suspect."

"You and I are about the only ones that can truly be seen as innocent. The sheriff and even the whole department could be in on something. Well Dan and the other commissioners would have to be innocent, because they were so eager to sell this place, where the good sheriff wanted to burn it to the...do you suppose?"

Ellie leaned into me and said, "God, what a mess. That's just too wild for me to even grasp. Let's go to the barn and wait for Buddy and pretend everything is coming up roses."

Officer Sorensen's tires crunched to a stop on the crushed stone and gravel driveway as he pulled close to the barn and got out. We joined him and shook hands as he smiled and said, "This place sure has the town in a stir. So what's going on now?"

"Did you know the state police were here again?"

"When did that happen?"

"This morning. Of course they told us nothing, but they left with two bags of something from behind the barn."

"Show me would you?"

"We'll do more than that Buddy. We'll show you what we think they found." Ellie and I led Buddy around to the shed and we stopped as I pointed down. "Look close because it's a soft green mixed in with the trampled green weeds."

He saw it almost immediately and said, "Well check that out," and he smiled. "So they took something out of here."

"The first bag held something that appeared to be heavier because the officer held one hand under the bottom to support it, while the second back appeared to be light, or even empty, but that wouldn't make any sense. Oh, and if you look in the shed you'll see where they dug something up."

Again Buddy smiled and said, "So they weren't just poking around, they had an idea of what they were looking for and where to look for it. It would seem our partners in the fight against crime are holding out on us little county po-lice." I smiled at his intentional drawl as he ended his sentence and he added, "Okay, so you wanted to talk to me about the state boys coming to visit, but I was the one to find this little baggy in the weeds. Now I'm gonna sort of wait a couple of days and then I'll make this discovery on one of my visits here. I need time to think about this and decide what to do. You two doing okay?"