Half a Dozen...Horses? Book 1

Half a Dozen...Horses? Chapter 23...

First Part has been changed i completely left out a bit

Hope you enjoy

xxx

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Chapter 23...

"Why the hell would you want him to hit you?" Jim pounced as soon as they heard Mr Turk's truck roared to life.

"Cause it would have given me a legitimate reason to fire him." Dani replied with a shrug of her shoulder.

"W-what, you wanted, you what?" Jim stuttered out confused. "God women how the hell does your mind work, you could have just gotten him to hit me, that would have been easier and saved you a lot of pain."

"Yeah but he would probably have had justified cause to hit you." Dani laughed digging her keys out of her pocket. "Anyway, it doesn't matter, it worked out better this way." She grinned up at him. "Shall we?" She added poised with the key in front of the keyhole.

"Oh why the hell not, it's the only building that doesn't seem to be falling apart." Jim shrugged in annoyance.

Dani struggled with the key in the lock before it finally gave. She let the door swing open slightly, pausing when the stale, musky air rushed to assault her senses, then on creaking hinges pushed the door opened fully, sweeping it through sixteen years of accumulated dust which leap into the air in a swirl of movement before settling again on the furtherest reaches of the floor.

With a nervous glance back at Jim, Dani stepped over the threshold and into the home that was unknown but familiar, now buried beneath sixteen years of dust sheets and grim.

Dani stood for a minute letting her eyes adjust to the dim light, which was only allowed by the sunlight creeping through the cracks in the boarded up windows. Through the footprints created behind her she could make out the dark parquet flooring that encompassed the entrance hall and stop at the base of a staircase that lead up towards the back of the house and then wrapped around the sides walls of the entrance hall, with symmetrical doors leading off both levels.

"Pretty traditional layout," Jim said behind her. "Where do you want to start?"

"I have no idea."

"Well, if my guess is right, you'll have the living room to your left with a formal dining room next and then the kitchen at the back, utility rooms, then perhaps a sun room or something and finally the study here on your right. Leaving the bedrooms upstairs?"

"Left, definitely left first," Dani said with a determined nod. "I don't think I'm ready for the study just yet."

The living room turned out to a comfortable homely space, not even the dust covered sheet that had be throwing over the furniture could completely hide what once would have been a warm, friendly, family room. A set of double doors led into the dining room, which as Jim predicted was adjacent to a large kitchen and utility rooms.

"Well, I'll give him one thing, he sure knows how to seal up a building," Jim stated as they came out of the T.V room at the back of the house. "Definitely did a good job of acting his part, didn't he? Yet the question remains as to why?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Dani asked.

"I don't know the guy just doesn't sit well with me. " Jim shrugged, pulling one of the covers off a painting that was hanging in the entrance hall.

"Because he's a lawyer?" Dani coughed as dust coated the air she had just breathed

"No, not just because he's a lawyer and not just because he's an annoying little fat man either," Jim stated flatly. "It's my gut instinct and then there's the letter which suggests that something wasn't quite right with him..."