Schuyler Square Day 74 Is DeeDee Paranoid...or Right?

"I think DeeDee is totally paranoid," Veronica commented as she moved her last box into Tom's house. She still wasn't sure if she was doing the right thing staying with Tom but she knew for sure that she couldn't stay at Chelsea's while she was looking for a new house or apartment. She liked Chelsea but all the drama that was going on in Chelsea's life was too much for Veronica.

"Probably," Tom agreed, "although that mirror falling was pretty weird."

"Oh, come on. You don't really believe that Mary Austin's ghost made that mirror fall, do you?"

Tom shrugged. "I'm getting to the age where I'm too old to say that I know the reason why anything happens. Let's face it: Mary was murdered in that house and there have been very strange things happening there ever since. For all I know she is haunting it."

Veronica shivered. "Then I'm glad to be out of there. Thanks again for letting me stay with you, Tom."

"No problem. The guest room is all ready for you." Tom eyed Veronica curiously. "Did you ever see anything weird while you lived there? Or hear anything?"

"No...but I did, oh, forget it. Never mind. I'm sure it was nothing."

"What?" Tom asked.

"Well, every night I used to wake up and smell toast. For the longest time I thought it was Kirk fixing himself something to eat but then one day he asked me why I made toast every night. Then after he moved out, I still smelled it."

"A ghost who makes toast. You should probably tell DeeDee about that. It might be some kind of a hint."

Veronica laughed. "Maybe whoever killed Mary was a short order cook who specialized in BLT's or breakfasts with toast as a side. Oh, I know we shouldn't joke about this. It's terrible that she was killed."

"It was very sad," Tom agreed. "Not completely unexpected but still sad."

"What do you mean by that? You've said a few things like that, Tom. What was Mary Austin like?"

"She was all right. Just average, I suppose. After she left her husband she got kind of wild."

"What do you mean? Wild like in hanging out at bars?"

"More like wild like in sleeping with any guy who showed the slightest bit of interest in her."

"Such as Ron Schuyler?"

"Well, he wasn't known for keeping his pants zipped."

"You don't have to tell me that. What about her ex-husband? He just vanished one night?"

"He moved south, I believe. He did pretty much vanish. He was gone right around the time Mary was murdered so naturally the police wanted to question him but they never found him. Maybe he moved to another country or took a new name. I don't really know."

Veronica shook her head. "I wish Steve and DeeDee luck in their new house. Frankly, I'm glad to be out of there."

"And I'm glad to have you here," Tom replied.

Schuyler Square Day 73 DeeDee Starts to Dig

"Veronica, I feel very badly about all of this," DeeDee Robertson began. "You shouldn't have to move out of your own house. Steve and I wouldn't mind at all if you stayed on with us for awhile."

The two women were standing in the kitchen of Veronica's rented house, the house that Steve and DeeDee now owned. DeeDee watched as Veronica finished packing the few items she had left in the kitchen cupboard.

Veronica shook her head. "That's very sweet of you, DeeDee, but honestly, I'm fine with moving out. I'm going to stay with a friend of mine until I find something new. This house is all yours."

There was a definite tone of relief in her voice that DeeDee picked up on immediately. "It's the ghost, isn't it? You're glad to be moving out because of the ghost! Did you ever see her?"

"No, but after I heard about Mary's murder I've never been comfortable here. But please don't pick up on my paranoia, DeeDee. You have Steve and I was living here by myself. It was just a little spooky."

A knock on the back door interrupted them and made DeeDee jump. 'Stop it,' she warned herself. 'You can't get freaked out over every little noise and knock on the door. This is your new home. Start embracing it.'

A handsome man with brown hair and brown eyes stood on the back steps. "Hello," he said. "I'm Tom Hartman. I'm here to pick up Veronica."

DeeDee's eyes widened. Well, well! If this was Veronica's 'friend' then she totally understood why she didn't mind moving out. This guy was gorgeous. "How do you do? I'm DeeDee Robertson."

Tom smiled. "The new owner?"

"Along with my husband Steve."

"Welcome to Schuyler Square and good luck with your new house."

Okay, was DeeDee getting paranoid or did everything everyone say sound like a warning of some sort. "Did you know Mary Austin?"

Tom's face turned slightly red. "Schuyler Square is a small town. Everyone knew Mary."

"Do you have any theories on who might have killed her? I'm sorry to be grilling you like this but I promised myself that I'd try to get to the bottom of her murder. I know I'll sleep better at night if whoever killed her is at least accounted for."

"Good luck with that one. Mary died ten years ago. Besides, everyone thought her husband did it and he's long gone."

"I know but Mary doesn't seem to be at peace so I'm thinking that her husband didn't do it. I'm thinking that whoever killed Mary must still be in Schuyler Square and that's why she's still in this house."

A loud bang shook the house. DeeDee, Veronica and Tom stared at each other. "What was that?" DeeDee whispered.

"It came from the living room." They rushed out of the kitchen, down the hallway and into the living room. There a large mirror that had been hanging over the fireplace lay on the ground, shattered into thousands of pieces.

"See?" DeeDee said excitedly. "It's a sign! Mary heard me and she's telling me that I'm right!"

Schuyler Square Day 66 Steve and DeeDee

Steve Robertson grinned at the woman with the flaming red hair who answered the door. She was cute, a little zaftig, but nice looking. Although Steve was nuts about his wife DeeDee, he still noticed other attractive women. “I know,” he said. “Steve and DeeDee. We hear it all the time.”

The redhead blinked. “Hear what?”

“Steve and DeeDee. It sounds like Steve and Eydie—the singers?” Steve suddenly felt quite old. “You don’t know who Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme are?”

“I think I remember my mom listening to them.” The redhead wiped her nose on the back of her hand and then held it out for Steve to shake. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Robertson, but I’m afraid I haven’t seen your wife. Are you new to the neighborhood?”

“Not yet. We’re buying the house next door.”

“You’re what?” A dark haired woman poked her head around the kitchen door. “Which house next door? The brick one or the yellow one?”

“The brick one.”

“You can’t buy that house. That’s where I live.”

Now it was Steve’s turn to blink. “We inherited the house from Ron Schuyler. It’s our house now.”

“Oh, crap. When was I going to hear about that?”

Steve felt terrible. He’d known it was a bad idea to come to Schuyler Square without letting anyone know but DeeDee had been sure that it would be all right. That was DeeDee—a born optimist if ever there was one. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

“Veronica Chandler and I’m renting that house from the Schuyler Corporation.”

“Perhaps we could work something out,” Steve began. What that something would be he didn’t know. They’d already packed up their apartment back in the city and their furniture and belongings were on their way to Schuyler Square.

“There you are!” DeeDee walked up the driveway. “I thought I lost you. I saw some of the most gorgeous flowers and I wanted to ask the owner what they were called. I’m going to have a beautiful garden, Steve! I want it to pop—lots of color and lots of variety. It’s going to be so wonderful to finally have our own house after living in shoeboxes for all of these years.”

Steve put a steadying hand on his wife’s arm. “Honey, this is Veronica Chandler and—“

“Chelsea Van Husen,” the red head said.

“It’s nice to meet both of you,” DeeDee replied. “I want to meet all of our neighbors. I’m going to have a big housewarming party as soon as we’re settled and I want you both to come.”

“There’s a slight problem, DeeDee,” Steve said. “Veronica’s living in our house. She didn’t know that we inherited it.”

“Oh, dear.” DeeDee’s face lit up. “I know! You can stay with us until you find another place to live! That way we’ll all be happy.”

Steve looked at his wife fondly. It was just like DeeDee to want everyone to be happy. He glanced over at Veronica and saw that she didn’t look too displeased with the suggestion. “I’m game if you are,” Veronica said.

“Or you could stay with me,” Chelsea offered. “Besides, you wanted to move anyway. Who wants to live in a haunted house?”

“Haunted?” Steve and DeeDee repeated together.