Ford’s eyes lifted to meet mine. They were endless pools of blue that I knew I could easily get lost in. He looked like he wanted to say something, but when he shifted his gaze to look out the window for a moment, I knew he’d changed his mind.
“You’ve got your work cut out for you,” he said. “It seemed like Fright House would blow over with the next stiff wind the last time I was here and that was more than ten years ago.”
“Fright House?” I asked. “Is that what people call this place?”
Ford nodded. “You didn’t know?”
“My deputy, Alex, said this house had a history when I told him I’d bought it, but he didn’t really elaborate and I haven’t had time to research it. So what, this is the local hangout for all the lost souls of Pelican Bay’s dearly departed?” I joked.
Ford didn’t react other than to stare out the window. “Lots of people believe that.”
“But you don’t?” I prodded. He glanced at me briefly.
“I did.”
His answers were so clipped and vague that I knew I should just leave it alone, but it was his damn eyes again. This time there was a certain emptiness to them that he was trying to mask by not looking at me head-on. I wondered if he knew how much his pretty blue eyes said for him.
“What happened to change your mind?”
“Same thing that happens to all kids that age, I suppose.” He took a sip of his coffee, then returned his gaze to the view outside.
“And what’s that?”
“They learn that real life is a whole hell of a lot scarier.”
“Ford—”
“The way kids talked about this place made me want to see it but I knew I’d get into so much trouble if I did.”
Shocked that Ford was continuing on his own, I kept my voice soft as I asked, “How did they talk about it?”
He shrugged. “They just said it was cool. They talked about the trees that surrounded the house and the way the shadows would cling to the walls when the sun was going down. I knew it would be unlike anything I’d seen before and I could just… I could feel my fingers itching to get it on paper… that excitement, that strangeness.”
Ford shook his head briefly. “It was stupid.”
“You wanted to experience something new,” I said. “There’s nothing stupid about that. I think a lot of artists feel the same way… want that same challenge. They see the world in a different way and the need to capture those emotions so others can see it, feel it… I can only imagine what an amazing feeling that is.”
Ford looked at me and studied me for the longest time.
Like he really didn’t understand what he was seeing.
Like… like I’d suddenly become something different in his eyes.
Would that be a good thing?
Or a bad one?
I reminded myself that it didn’t matter. Ford was here so I could keep an eye on him for a few hours, and in the morning I’d take him home and things would get back to normal.
“So how old were you when you got to see this house for the first time?”
“The only time,” Ford said. “Until today.” He looked around the kitchen. He’d released the mug and was now wringing his hands together. “I was thirteen. Jimmy offered to let me tag along with his buddies one night. They liked to hang out here and just goof off.”
I’d seen the proof of what the kids who’d goofed off here had actually been doing. It’d taken me a full day just to clean up all the dirty needles, used condoms, broken crack pipes, and cigarette and joint butts. I hoped like hell Ford hadn’t been lured into any of that shit. Alex had told me that there were rumors Ford had gotten into trouble with the law at some point but he hadn’t known any details.
I’d found a sealed juvenile record on Ford in the court system, but no police record to go with it. Which meant whatever he’d done had very likely been swept under the carpet. With his mother’s cousin being the former sheriff, and a dirty one at that, I wasn’t even a little surprised that there was no public record of what Ford had done to warrant a sealed court record. I suspected Curtis Tulley had been doing the same thing with Jimmy’s crimes, though the older Cornell brother had finally been caught because Dallas and Maddox Kent had refused to kowtow to one of the town’s most powerful families.
“What happened?” I asked. It was clear that the experience hadn’t been a good one for Ford.
“Not much,” he said. “We hung out here until it got really late. Waited for the ‘ghosts’ to make an appearance. They eventually did. I got scared and wanted to go home.”