“Close to a year now.”

“Why’s that, do you suppose?” Before he could respond, she walked back into the dining room and asked, “Do you suppose there’s a fireplace behind that wall where the mantel is?”

“I’d certainly look into that.” He followed her into the room. “It sure does look like it might have been a working fireplace. Let’s take a look outside, see where the chimney is.”

He went out the front door, and Vanessa followed him.

“Yes, see? There’s your chimney.” He pointed to the side of the house where the chimney rose past the roof. “You could look into opening that up. I’d call Stan Westcott and have him take a look.”

Vanessa had nodded and gone back inside to take another walk from room to room, her head spinning.

“Why did you say the house had been on the market for so long?” Before she arrived, Hal had primed her to focus on anything negative as a bargaining chip. The only negative she could think of was maybe there was a problem with the deed, or the structure, something that wasn’t readily visible, because to her eye, the place was perfect.

“I started to tell you about the previous owner. Alice Ridgeway was a little… eccentric. She never left her house except to water her plants, maybe toss some fish food into that pond, putter around in her backyard. Never came out the front, had one of the neighbor boys mow the lawn. Of course, the pond is dry now, but at one time, she had an impressive number of koi out there.”

“But what does that have to do with the house not selling?”

Ham cleared his throat. “There are some who think Miss Ridgeway never did leave.”

The silence hung in the air between them for a very long moment.

“Oh.” Vanessa paused. “You mean, she might still be here?”

“In spirit only.”

“I see.” Vanessa wandered from room to room and tried to decide if she felt something otherworldly accompanying her. “Has anyone actually seen her?”

“A few of the neighbors claim to have, but who knows?” He shrugged. “Maybe we see what we want to see.”

Vanessa thought that he might be sorry to have brought it up. Still, there was that full-disclosure thing.

“What was she like?” Vanessa asked. “When she was alive, that is.”

“She was… well, as I said, a bit eccentric. Kept to herself, always did, as I recall. She read a great deal, I remember that about her. My sister worked for the library many years ago, and would bring books to her and pick them up when she was finished with them and take them back. Brought her a new stack twice a week.”

“I’m not seeing where she was so eccentric. Lots of people don’t like to leave their homes.” Vanessa defended the home’s departed-or not-owner.

“True enough. But to the best of my knowledge, Miss Ridgeway was the only true agoraphobic in St. Dennis.”

“Well, then, that gave her some distinction, didn’t it?” She gazed out the kitchen window. “I wonder what she had planted in those beds.”

“Well, she did have a big herb garden, and they say she liked those bug-catching plants.”

“What?” Vanessa turned to face him.

“Venus flytraps, that sort of thing.” He hastened to add, “But I hear she liked mint, too. Had several varieties. And as I said, she had her herbs. Those who know say she had bunches hung over the doors and some of the windows. I noticed there’s some still around, here and there.”

“Her version of room freshener, I suppose.”

“Miss Grace could probably tell you more about it. She grew up right around the block there.” He pointed out the back door toward the rear of the property. “That’s the old Abernathy place right through there. You can see the back of the carriage house right beyond those trees. I believe Miss Grace’s mother may have known Miss Ridgeway.”

They’d already been in the house for over an hour, and there was no mistaking the fact that Ham was more than ready to leave. With great reluctance, Vanessa followed him out the door and watched him place the key back into the lockbox. She’d wanted to grab it from him so that she could stay awhile longer, but she was supposed to meet Hal and Beck at Lola’s for dinner and she was already late.

She’d been almost hyperventilating by the time she reached Lola’s.

“So what did you think of the old Ridgeway place, Ness?” Hal had asked after Vanessa had taken a seat at the table.

“It’s so… perfect. Just… perfect.” The words came out in a rush. “There’s a fireplace in the living room and maybe another one in the dining room but that one’s boarded up so it’s tough to know for sure if there’s a fireplace there or not, but there’s a chimney outside so it could be.” She turned to Beck and grabbed him by the arm. “It has bay windows… I always wanted to live in a house with bay windows. And this funky kitchen with old cabinets but I could paint them and maybe do something with the floor in there because it’s-”

“Ness.” Beck waved a hand in front of her face. “Take a breath.”

She did.

“So I guess you liked it, then,” Hal said.

“Oh, I loved it.”

“I knew you would.”

“Fat lot of good it does, but yes”-she sighed-“I love it. If I were in a position to buy a house, I’d be back in Ham Forbes’s office signing the papers right now.”

“Well, now, maybe we could give you a little help with that,” Hal said gently.

“What are you talking about?”

“Ham probably mentioned that the house is held by an estate. It passed to a niece of Miss Ridgeway’s who came down here once, for the funeral, and hasn’t been back since. I heard she isn’t hurting for money, but still, she has to keep up the taxes, keep the house heated so that the pipes don’t freeze, and she pays one of the Morton boys to keep the lawn mowed.” Hal rested both arms on the table in front of him. “Add to that the fact that the market’s slow and we’re headed toward winter, and I’m thinking we could make a low offer and see what happens.”

Vanessa stared at him as if he were mad.

“Hal, we can’t get the price down low enough for me to cough up a down payment. I have savings but not that much.”

“I doubt the mortgage payments would be more than what you’re paying in rent for that apartment you’re in now,” Beck noted.

“That may be, but like I said, I don’t have…”

Hal and Beck exchanged a conspiratorial look.

“What?” she asked.

“Beck and I have been real proud of the way you put that business of yours together,” Hal told her. “You have a real fine work ethic, Ness, and a real head for business. You pay your bills on time, and from what I hear from the ladies in St. Dennis, you carry real nice stuff there in the shop. Classy, they tell me. You contribute to the community in a lot of ways, and you’ve made a place for yourself here in St. Dennis.”

“Thank you.” Her eyes welled. “It’s the only place where I ever felt I belonged.”

“Of course you belong here.” Beck patted her on the back. “You’ve earned your place.”

“Now, as you know, I’ve bought up properties here and there in town. Like the building your shop is in, and the ones on either side. I have a lot invested in St. Dennis, so I don’t like to see vacant buildings. It’s bad for the town’s image, especially since we’re trying to establish ourselves as a tourist destination. We’ve come a long way in the past five years, but we have a lot more to clean up before we can compete with some of the other Bay towns. That’s why I bought some of those old warehouses over by the marsh. I’m thinking maybe something like an antique mall would be good in there, once I finish the renovations.” Hal stopped and turned to Beck. “What do you think of that idea?”

“I think it’s a good one,” Beck replied, “but I also like the idea of a boatbuilding venture.”

“That’s another thing altogether, and a conversation for another day,” Hal said. He turned back to Vanessa. “So I’m thinking that I’m going to buy Miss Ridgeway’s property from the estate myself, then sell it back to you for whatever I pay for it.” He took a sip of the one beer he limited himself to each evening. “That is, if you want it.”