The Halloween Haunting Read online

  I shook my head. “This is really bizarre.”

  “It is,” Bree agreed once again.

  “And even if someone thought we should have black walls and a skeleton in a tub of blood, why would they go to all the trouble of changing the locks? How did they change the locks? Did they call a locksmith?”

  “Mike told me he checked with the two local locksmiths, but neither one was called out to the house last night. Tony said that the locking mechanism inside the knobs could have been replaced. Seems like a lot of effort to go through just to pull a few pranks if you ask me.”

  I slid my bag off my shoulder and set it on the floor at my feet. “This whole thing is just so bizarre. Maybe the prankster was in the house for another reason, and the pranks are just a way to distract us from what is really going on.”

  “Like what?”

  I pursed my lips. “I’m not sure. Did anything else other than the paint, locks, and skeleton in the tub happen last night?”

  “Well, there was the crying and the water.”

  “Crying?”

  “When Tony finally got inside the house this morning, he heard someone crying. Or at least it sounded like crying. The sound was coming from upstairs, so he went to check it out, but there was no one there, so he went to check in the attic. He didn’t find anyone, and the crying had stopped by the time he got there, but he did find a large puddle of water. The water to the house has been turned off since there is a small leak in the basement and the water isn’t needed for the event, so Tony had no idea where the water had come from. He followed the wet footprints, but they ended at the wall separating the main body of the attic from the secret room.”

  Okay, this whole thing was just too bizarre. It sounded like someone was going to a lot of trouble to carry out pranks that were a nuisance but weren’t really hurting anything. Who would go to all the trouble? I chatted with Bree for a few more minutes and then continued on my way. I’d lost precious minutes chatting with Bree, so if I did want to get off early, and I did, I’d need to pick up the pace. Still, the fact that someone had broken in and done such odd things had me intrigued. I hadn’t delivered the mail to the police station yet. Maybe Mike would be in, and I could get a rational explanation as to what was going on.

  “Morning, Frank,” I said to Mike’s partner. “Is Mike around?”

  “In his office.”

  I bent over to pet Mike’s dog, Leonard, who’d come trotting out to greet Tilly and me when he heard my voice. Leonard loved Tilly, so I left them to visit and headed down the hallway.

  “I just spoke to Bree,” I said, poking my head in through his open door.

  “I guess she told you that we had another visit from our prankster last night.”

  I nodded. “She did. Do you have any idea who might have done such a thing?”

  “No idea at all. I checked with every locksmith within a sixty-mile radius, and none admitted to changing the locks on the haunted house. Normally, I’d brush for fingerprints, but half the town has been in that house this week helping to get ready for tonight, so I doubt it would do any good. I did check for prints on the doorknobs, but the only prints I found were Tony’s. As you know, the house is very secluded, so I doubt I’ll find anyone who saw anything. At least no real damage was done.”

  “Bree said there was a puddle of water in the attic, but that the water to the house is turned off. How do you explain that?”

  “I suppose someone might have brought water up to the attic in a bucket.”

  “And the wet footprints Tony saw?”

  “I guess whoever is responsible for all this, walked through the water, and left the prints.”

  “Bree said the prints ended at the wall. Where did this person go from there? And how did he disappear without Tony seeing him? He must have still been there when Tony arrived, or the wet prints would have dried.”

  “I guess he might have gone up that ladder to the clock tower. I’m not sure how he got down from there. Maybe he had a ladder and used it to get down while Tony was calling me. We were on the phone for a good fifteen to twenty minutes discussing the situation before we hung up and Tony went to take another look around.”

  I supposed all of that made sense. Actually, it made sense from the perspective of how a person would do such a thing, but it didn’t make sense from the perspective of why a person would go to so much trouble. Part of me wanted to be angry that someone was messing with us, but another part of me knew that the more odd things that went on, the more people would be hooked into the mystery of the whole thing and the more tickets we’d be able to sell.

  Chapter 8

  By the time I arrived at the haunted house, the back lot we’d reserved for volunteer parking was close to full indicating to me that most if not all of tonight’s volunteers had arrived. I parked near the back of the lot and got out of my Jeep. I’d stopped at home to drop off Tilly and to change out of my uniform, but once I took a minute to stand quietly in the night air, I realized I might not have dressed warm enough.

  As I approached the house, I paused to admire Tony’s handiwork. The graveyard had been completed, and the tombstones were in place. People were milling around under the lights Tony had hung, reading the inscriptions while waiting for the main attraction to begin. The front door was open, and one of the volunteers was standing by to take tickets and form groups once the clock struck six. Even from the yard, the sounds of thunder, hackling, and screaming could be heard from the sound system. Add in the intentionally flickering lights, and the stage for an evening of horror had been set even before the first mortal was allowed entrance.

  “Oh good, you’re here,” One of the volunteers, a woman named Rayleen Walter, said.

  “The place looks great. Are we ready to open?” I asked.

  “I think so,” Rayleen answered. “Tony is doing a final walkthrough, but the volunteers are all here, and everything seems to be working. Mike said to wait until about five minutes until six to form the first group. Once the tour guide starts, I thought I’d bring in the next group of twenty to wait in the entry.”

  “Sounds like you have things well in hand.”

  “I think so. I’ve had a bunch of people come by wanting to buy tickets, however, and I will admit they aren’t happy when they hear the event is sold out. Some of the other volunteers and I were talking about spacing the tours closer together in order to accommodate additional guests. The way it is now, a single group is taken through the entire haunted house before the next group starts. What if we took group one through the first floor and then as soon as they head upstairs, we start group two on the first floor, while group three gathers in the entry.”

  “Won’t the groups collide when group one comes down the stairs just as group two is ready to head up?” I asked.

  “Not if you bring the group on the second floor down the back staircase. Sure, it’s narrow, and it might be a bit intense if anyone is claustrophobic, but I guess the guides could ask anyone if they would prefer to be escorted out the front. We’ll need to steal a few of the volunteers who signed up for other duties to be guides if we are going to bring additional groups through, but in the end, we will make a lot more money, and we will be able to keep those who come by wanting to buy tickets happy.”

  I paused to consider the idea. “I like your idea, but being a guide requires that the volunteer learn a script. Do we have anyone available who knows the script?”

  Rayleen nodded. “Tawny and Valerie both know the script. They are working as floaters tonight, but I bet they’d be happy to do the tours.”

  “And those who don’t want to take the narrow and winding staircase down?”

  “I thought we’d use cones to set up a designated area for anyone not comfortable with the back stairs. The tour guide could radio you and let you know we have guests needing an escort, and then you could head up and bring the one or two people who might fall into this category from each group down the main staircase in the front.”

>   I nodded. “Okay. Let’s try it. Gather all the tour guides together and tell them to offer a warning to every group that the staircase to exit is steep and narrow and that they can be escorted down the front staircase if they prefer.”

  “Okay.”

  “And have the guides call Bree to escort those who choose that option. I want to stay flexible in the event we have any more problems.”

  “Have Bree set her walkie talkie to channel five, and I’ll let the guides know to call her on that channel,” Rayleen instructed.

  “Okay. I know she’s here, so I’ll track her down and fill her in.”

  I smiled as I walked toward the house. If Rayleen’s idea worked, that would mean we would be able to sell almost double the number of tickets I’d planned. Now wouldn’t that be awesome!

  “Looks like the crowd is gathering.” Tony walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.

  I took in his scent, leaning back into his chest, and letting his strength help to calm my nerves. “Are we ready?”

  “As we’ll ever be.”

  I filled him in on Rayleen’s idea to take additional groups through. Tony agreed it was worth trying it out a time or two to see how it went as long as we had additional volunteers who were willing to cover all the shifts. I assured him that Rayleen had assured me that we did.

  “I need to talk to Bree, and I want to check in with Mike. Do you know where they are?” I asked.

  “The last time I saw Bree, she was upstairs in the second bedroom trying to untangle cobwebs that had fallen, and I think Mike is outside. He said something about walking the perimeter.”

  I turned in his arms and put my arms around his neck. I reached up, and gave him a quick peck on the lips, before taking a step back. “Okay, I’ll head up to talk to Bree first. If you need me. I’ll be on channel two, I’m going to have Bree switch to channel five, and I think Mike is on one. The majority of the volunteers with radios are on channel six.”

  Tony held up his radio. “I’m monitoring channel six, but if I need you, I’ll look for you on two.”

  Tony headed outside to check in with the volunteers who were monitoring the parking area, and I went upstairs to let Bree know about Rayleen’s plan. The first group would be gathering before I knew it, and I wanted to be sure everyone was dialed in before we started bringing guests through. Once I’d caught Bree up with the new plan, I headed outside to find Mike who, along with his rookie, Gage, had volunteered to provide security.

  “Have you seen Mike?” I asked one of the volunteers after exiting the house.

  “I think he is around back. He mentioned something about looking for a secret entrance.”

  “Secret entrance?”

  “You know these old houses have them. Especially weird old houses like this one. Mike and I were chatting earlier about the fact that Joe had somehow gotten up into the clock tower without having had access to the secret room, and I brought up hidden passages within the walls. Mike wasn’t sure this particular house had hidden passages, but I guess I made a good enough argument that he decided to take a look around.”

  I paused to consider this. “So are you suggesting that the house might have hidden passages like the sort in the movies where a bookcase opens, and a staircase is revealed?”

  “Basically. I know it isn’t all that usual here in the States, but there are a number of old estates in Europe with hidden passages in the walls. Toured a few in my time.”

  I sort of doubted that was what was going on here, but I supposed it was possible. After all, the secret room had most likely been there for a long time, and it didn’t seem that anyone had noticed it until Tony had realized the roofline looked odd. The house was large, and the rooms were divided up in such a way that figuring out what was on the other side of any of the walls had proven to be a challenge. I thanked the volunteer and then walked around to the back in the hope of finding Mike.

  As I rounded the corner, I noticed a shadow cross the attic window. We’d locked the attic since it wasn’t part of the tour and we didn’t want people messing around up there given the secret room and the unsolved murder. The only people with keys to the attic were Mike, Tony, and me, but maybe Tony had gone up to check the electrical box one last time.

  “Did you find the secret passage that I understand you now suspect Joe might have used to access the clock tower on the night he died?” I asked Mike after I found him staring at the exterior staircase that led down to the basement, which we were also not using.

  “I haven’t. Yet. And I don’t know for certain that there is a hidden staircase, but I suppose that it is conceivable that one might be found in a house with both a widow’s walk and a clock tower. Whoever designed this place obviously had a taste for the ornamental and unconventional.”

  “I guess if there is a hidden passage that leads up to the widow’s walk, that would explain how Elizabeth came to be up there when she fell. I have been wondering about that. And if a passage likewise exists that leads to the clock tower, that could explain Joe being there. The idea that he climbed up three stories on a ladder to get to the roof to access the tower never really worked for me. Still, I doubt you’ll be able to figure it out from out here. Maybe once the haunted house is over and the volunteers have all left, we can take a look around inside.”

  “That’s a good idea. In the meantime, I’ll be outside making sure everyone lines up in a polite and organized manner, and that no one parks anywhere except in the area designated for parking. I have a feeling we might have more cars than space.”

  “I guess the overflow can park on the street. It’s a pretty long walk from the street to the house, but it’s a nice evening.”

  Mike nodded. “That could work. I’ll have the volunteers monitor the entrance to the parking area so they can let another car in every time someone leaves.”

  “We do have those spaces in the front that we’ve set aside for handicap parking as well,” I reminded Mike.

  “I’ll let my guy know. I’ll be circulating the parking area and the grounds, so if anything comes up, just let me know.”

  “I’m on two,” I informed Mike. “Bree is on five, and Tony is on six along with the other volunteers.”

  “Okay. I’ll monitor all the channels.”

  The next few hours went by quickly. So far, everything had gone smoothly, and only a handful of people had requested to be escorted down the main staircase. It almost seemed as if the others enjoyed the creep factor of the back staircase, which did have a feel to it that seemed to mimic the narrow staircases found in old manors. While a majority of the home was constructed of wood, the back staircase, as well as the grand entry and the widow’s walk, had been constructed of stone. I found this interesting in and of itself.

  “Is Shaggy still around?” One of the volunteers who’d been helping with the props, sound effects, and lighting asked.

  “He should be. Is there a problem?” I asked.

  “The lid on the coffin in the second bedroom on the second floor is supposed to go up and down, but it is stuck in an upward position. It’s not a huge problem. There is a vampire inside, and it still makes a creaking noise and looks spooky, but I figured that if Shaggy is around, you might want him to take a look at it before he leaves.”

  “I’ll find him and let him know,” I promised. “How is everything else doing?”

  “Good. We had a problem with the lights in the chamber of torture on the first floor right after opening, but Tony seems to have them working again. I’m actually sort of surprised that the electrical system in this old house can handle all these props.”

  “We had the primary circuit board updated, and we added a second board for the props. It was a bit of an expense, but we wanted to be able to provide the ultimate experience, so the upgrade was necessary.” I looked toward the entrance. It appeared as if the crowd was thinning. “I’m going to go and find Shaggy, and then take a look outside. Will you be here tomorrow?”

  “I�
�ll be here.”

  “Awesome. Thank you for all the time you’ve put in.”

  I found Shaggy just as he was getting ready to head out, and told him about the malfunctioning coffin. He told me that he’d come by and fix it in the morning since tonight’s event was coming to a close and he had a date. I agreed that that was fine. I checked in with the parking crew and was informed that everyone was filing out in an orderly fashion and that they didn’t expect any problems. Then, I went and looked for Mike to let him know that the volunteer crew would be gone in about an hour, and once they were gone, we could begin looking for the secret passage. I walked one of the volunteers, a grandmother named Gloria, out to her car and it was during our walk that I stumbled across the first real clue as to what might have occurred on the night Joe died.

  “I was chatting with Gloria as I walked her out to her car, and she swears that she saw Joe up on the widow’s walk on the day he came to volunteer with Grange,” I said to Bree, Mike, and Tony after everyone else had left. “She said she was heading out to her car after most everyone else had left and saw him standing up there. She thought it was odd, but she knew he was a contractor, so she figured he had a good reason to be up there. Like maybe, something needed repair. She never mentioned it to anyone since she didn’t think it was relevant, but then when I was chatting with her tonight, she told me she had been thinking about it since she found out that Joe’s body was found in the clock tower, and wanted to mention it.”

  “And she has no idea why he was up there other than her assumption that he was repairing something?” Mike asked.

  “She said he was looking over the railing, so it entered her mind that perhaps he was repairing the railing, but she didn’t know for certain.”

  “So how did he get up there?” Bree asked.

  “Mike and I think there might be secret passages hidden in the walls of the house,” I answered.