Bun in the Oven - Sequel to Cooking with Bucky

Chapter 17 -- Tahoe

When we came back to the hotel, James told me what the two saw in the basement. He mentioned the antiques or early twentieth century items. He said they followed the smell and found the body under one of the basement windows. Also, they thought the body must have been dead about six months or less. James also said it was a man they found. Zeke was the one who mentioned calling the police and finding out more. That was when James discovered that Zeke used to be a cop because Zeke did some prelim investigating in the basement but when it came to the body Zeke told James not to touch it and that the police will do their work on the guy and mentioned his past career as a cop. James also admitted to me that they didn't want to tell me while we're in the house. He thought I would go crazy considering my condition and wanted to protect me from their discovery.

"Well, thank you for doing that! Did Zeke mention how long the house has been for sale?" I said to James as we sat in our room.

"He say it's been for sale about two months. He said the other owners were pretty anxious to sell it." James said.

"Did he say anything about what will happen to the house now?" I asked James.

"He said he will get back to us after he gets a report from the police." James answered.

"That's good. I guess then we can go back home unless we need to stay for anything." I said.

"Well, when did we tell Scott we're returning?" James asked as he looked at me with concern.

"Uh, I told him next week sometime on Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest." I said as I swallowed some from nervousness. He had that look of something on his mind and then looked at me.

"We can stay here until tomorrow or early Monday morning, if Zeke needs to see us for anything." He said. We sat cross-legged on the bed, facing each other and held my hands.

"Don't worry, I don't think they need us for anything but I think we should stay in case they do." He reassured me as he continued holding my hands.

"OK. Sounds like a good plan. Also, it sounds like you put much thought into this. Where did that come from?" I asked him.

"When I was on the run and escaped from Hydra. I needed to find a place where no one will find me. I also had to fend for myself and relearn some things on my own. Remember I was trying to rebuild my life after I escaped Hydra. You learn to cover your tracks. Sort of like a certain animal in the wild. Survival becomes a part of you." He explained to me and squeezed my hands. "Now that I have you to worry about as well. I would stay for a day to see how things turn out. We're not on the run, Christina. We're just looking out for our investment of the house. I have a feeling that everything's going to work out for us." He expressed.

"If we get the house, do we have to bulldoze the house down and rebuild it from scratch?" I asked getting anxious about ruining a house like that.

"No, we don't have to do something that drastic. The first floor is OK. It's the second story that's off. I guess the builder got sloppy in building the house." He laughed some.

"Didn't you notice the floor in some of the upstairs rooms was lumpy or not level at all? That's a sign that they were in haste." James also explained about the house. I wanted to interrupt but he went on.

"Now hear me out, we can ask nicely Father Ralph and Jesus to come to this house to rid the house of the negative energy. After they finish with doing that, we can rebuild the second floor and add some rooms upstairs. I'm sure the construction workers will do a miracle on the house's existing structure." He further explained to me. "Also, we have the original floor plans plus the ones that were redrafted before our house was converted back to the original upstairs. I think we should take pictures when we return so we have those too." He said with much patience.