More Harry Hogan stories!
Shirley Lowe swirled the spoon around in the soup pot absentmindedly as she listened to the voice of her friend on the phone.
“I know who you need… but, for the life of me, I can’t recall his name. Apparently, he specializes in cases like this.”
“What do you mean, cases like this?” Shirley asked.
“Unusual things… out of the ordinary… you know what I mean. Just let me… Oh! Now I remember. I heard Janet Thorne talking about him. Do you know her?”
Shirley was shaking her head. “I don’t think we’ve met.”
“Never mind. I’ll get his name for you and call you right back.”
The call was disconnected. Shirley added barley to the soup and stirred it again, before replacing the lid on the pot to let it simmer.
The return call came just a few minutes later. “Hogan’s Investigations, and his name is Harry,” Paula said and she rattled off a number which Shirley wrote on the closest thing to her – a paper towel.
“Thanks, Paula. I owe you one.”
“So you’re going to contact him then?”
“I don’t see that I have a choice.” Shirley sighed. “I can’t solve it myself… though, not for lack of trying… and I can’t put the house on the market as it is.”
“Did you ask the previous owners about it?”
“They never heard anything.”
“Okay, listen, let me know if anything turns up, okay?”
“Will do.” Shirley ended the call and punched in the number Paula had given her. The call was answered after the first ring and she made an appointment for one-thirty that afternoon.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Harry and his volunteer assistant, Bertie Blackett, were both sitting at their desks when Shirley arrived for her appointment. Harry gave a slight nod of approval. Right on time, he thought, as he stood up to greet the woman. “Good afternoon, Mrs. Lowe. Have a seat and tell us what’s on your mind.”
Shirley sat, exchanging a smile and a nod of recognition with Bertie as she did so. “I have a sort of problem,” she said hesitantly. “A little out of the ordinary, perhaps too silly to mention, but…’
With a chuckle, Harry said, “Out of the ordinary, is what we deal with most of the time. If it’s real to you, that’s good enough for us.”
“We’ve dealt with everything from ghosts to UFOs,” Bertie said. “You can tell us, no matter how insignificant it may seem.”
“That’s true,” Harry added. “You mentioned hearing a noise but can’t find the source. What part of your home do you hear the noise in?”
“Oh, it’s not in my home,” Shirley said quickly. “It’s in a house that I’m selling. I’m a real estate agent.”
Harry nodded. “Go on.”
“Well, it sounds like a phone, but I cannot find a phone anywhere in the house. I spent several days taking pictures for the website but the ringing was so annoying that I went home and wrote the captions there.”
