by Leslie Meier
Hayley gasped. “Sergio?”
The Mummy nodded slightly.
“But it sounded like a woman screaming,” Liddy said.
The Mummy sighed again, now utterly humiliated. “No, Liddy, it wasn’t a woman; it was me. I apologize for startling everybody. I got scared, and I lost it for a second and yelled.”
“That was no yell,” Mona said. “That was a full-on, damsel-in-distress scream if I ever heard one!”
All the party guests erupted in laughter.
Sergio was normally the brave, macho chief of police of Bar Harbor, and so it was quite disconcerting that such a high-pitched cry had come flying out of his mouth.
Although wrapped up like a mummy, Sergio Alvares’s handsome face was still exposed, and he looked as if he wished he was anywhere else in the world at this moment.
“What scared you so badly, Sergio?” Hayley asked.
Sergio again did not want to admit anything. He just stared at the floor, lips pursed.
“Pennywise,” Randy, his husband, answered for him.
Suddenly, Pennywise the Clown, from the It movies and another popular Stephen King novel, proudly stepped forward, white-gloved hand raised. He certainly looked exactly like the creepy killer with the white painted face, large forehead, gray crinkle clown suit with ruffled pant legs and puffed sleeves. In one hand, he held a red balloon. Pennywise moved slowly, eerily toward Sergio, holding out his balloon.
Sergio shrieked again and jumped back.
The partygoers erupted in laughter, even louder and more raucous this time.
“So I hate clowns! Sue me!” Sergio bellowed.
In an effort to alleviate her brother-in-law’s supreme embarrassment, Hayley recruited everyone nearby to help set out whatever food was left and not missing. Pretty soon her guests forgot all about the Pennywise incident and were focused on the appetizers fresh out of the oven, while Hayley, Liddy, Mona, and Randy gathered around Sergio, who was shaking slightly, more than a little discombobulated.
Hayley gently patted his back.
“He just snuck up behind me and scared me half to death. I’m fine now, please don’t everyone make a fuss,” Sergio said, waving them off.
Liddy turned to Pennywise. “Who are you anyway?”
He gave her an awful, shiver-inducing, I’m-going-to-kill-you-in-your-sleep wide grin. “I’m Pennywise.”
Liddy was hardly spooked. “Okay, cut the crap, clown. I mean, who are you really?”
“You don’t recognize me? It’s Boris. Boris Candy.”
The high school music teacher.
At first, Hayley forgot she had even invited him. But then she remembered that it had been Mona who had strong-armed her into e-mailing him a last-minute invitation. Mona wanted to stay on his good side because she was afraid Mr. Candy might flunk her son, Chet. Apparently Chet, who played the trombone in Mr. Candy’s jazz band, had had a few truancy issues and was also having trouble in his music appreciation class. Hayley barely knew the music teacher since both her kids had long graduated before Mr. Candy started at the school, but she had decided to grant Mona’s request. Hayley had to admit, Boris Candy’s Pennywise costume was well thought out and highly effective. It had made Bar Harbor’s chief of police scream like a frightened little baby.
And, frankly, Boris was quite proud of that fact.
“I should get some kind of prize for scariest costume, right? Let’s face it! If the big, strong, strapping Chief Alvares was so spooked by me as Pennywise that he screamed at the top of his lungs and nearly ran to the bathroom and locked himself inside, that deserves something!” Boris excitedly turned to Hayley. “What do I win? Might I suggest a free dinner at Hayley’s Kitchen?”
“I’ll figure something out,” Hayley said, politely brushing him off.
Sergio had finally managed to calm his nerves. “This all started when I was a boy . . .”
“Back in Brazil?” Liddy asked.
“Yes. There was this crazy old man in our village who sat on his porch every day drinking cachaça and yelling at all the kids who passed by. Then, when he was drunk, he would dress up as a clown and take a perverse pleasure in hiding until we were close enough, and he would pop up and terrorize us,” Sergio solemnly explained. “I was so scared every time it happened. Finally, one day, I could not take it anymore, and so I went to the local municipal guards and complained, and he was given a warning to stop. Well, that just chickened him on even more . . .”
Hayley, Mona, and Liddy exchanged confused looks.
“Egged him on, Sergio. Not chickened. The warning just egged him on even more . . .” Randy said softly, correcting his husband.
English was not Sergio’s first language.
Sergio sighed. “Chicken, egg, who cares? Anyway, because I had dared to stand up to him, he decided to exact his revenge. One night while I was asleep in my bed, I heard tapping on the window, and when I turned over to see what it was . . .” He stopped, quivering at the horrible memory. “There was that evil clown staring at me. I screamed bloody murder until my parents came running in to see what was happening. I pointed at the window, but the clown was gone, and my parents thought I had just had a bad dream. But I never forgot the terror I felt, and I have been afraid of clowns ever since.”
“Well, I can certainly see why,” Liddy said. “That’s terrible. Whatever happened to the old man?”
“As far as I know, he’s still alive in the village; he’s just a really old man now, probably still yelling at the kids and dressing up as a clown at night to scare them.”
Somebody tapped Sergio on the shoulder.
He turned around and was face-to-face with Pennywise again.
“Boo,” Pennywise blurted out, wearing that grotesque evil grin.
Sergio yelped, but thankfully this time didn’t scream.
It looked as if he wanted to punch Boris in the clown face, but as a law-enforcement officer, he refrained and just stalked off, trying to get away from him.
“Who knew this costume would be such a big hit and so much fun?” Boris gushed, chasing after Sergio.
“Randy, he’s not going to stop needling Sergio. You should do something,” Hayley suggested.
“You’re right,” Randy said. “I missed recording Sergio screaming earlier on my phone; maybe Boris will be able to get him to do it again, so I get it on video!”
“You are not being a good husband right now, Randy,” Hayley scolded.
Randy nodded. “I know, but Sergio says we can’t afford to go to Provincetown next summer on vacation. He’s being pretty stubborn about it actually, but if I have him screaming like Janet Leigh in the Psycho shower scene on a phone video that I can post on YouTube at any time, well, then maybe I’ll have more leverage to convince him!”
Randy excitedly trotted off.
Hayley felt the burning need to remind him one more time, “Not a good husband!”
Chapter Two
“You’re late,” Hayley said, clutching her phone to her ear as she supervised Liddy and Mona setting out the last few remaining trays of food for the guests.
“I know, sorry, babe,” Hayley’s husband, Bruce, said on the other end of the call. “I was leaving the office when a report came over the police scanner about a residential break-in on Hancock Street.”
“Another break-in?”
There had been an unsettling rash of home burglaries over the past several months. Well, “rash,” in a town as small as Bar Harbor, actually meant four break-ins. But that was still a lot and was a developing pattern, especially since the summer tourist season, which ordinarily caused a spike in local crimes, was long over.
“There was no one else around to go cover it; all the reporters are probably at your party, so it was left to me. You know only a late-breaking story would keep me away,” Bruce said apologetically.
“Is it the same M.O. as the others?” Hayley asked.
“No,” Bruce said solemnly.
Hayley immediately tensed
up. “How is this one different?”
“All of the previous break-ins occurred at empty houses; the residents were either not home at the time or out of town,” Bruce quietly explained.
“Oh, dear . . .” Hayley heard herself saying.
“Apparently the thief broke in thinking no one was inside the house, but the elderly widow who lives there was upstairs taking a nap. She heard some kind of commotion, and when she came out her bedroom to investigate, she came face-to-face with the burglar.”
Elderly widow.
Hancock Street.
“Was it Clara Beaumont?” Hayley gasped.
“Yes,” Bruce said quietly.
Clara Beaumont was about eighty-six years old, widowed fifteen years ago when her husband Irving died at seventy-six following complications from a stroke. Clara had lived in Bar Harbor her entire life, married Irving straight out of high school, and had one daughter, who went on to give her three grandchildren, all of whom lived in California but visited once a year for the holidays. Hayley had had the pleasure of interacting with Clara at the Congregational Church services, a number of library bake sales, and at the village green during the summer band concerts, since Clara was an avid music lover. She was a sprightly, happy woman, and still remarkably sharp for her age.
Hayley held her breath. “Is she all right?”
There was a long pause on the other end of the phone.
“Bruce?”
“I’m afraid not, babe.”
Hayley’s heart sank. “Oh, no . . .”
“From what the cops can gather, Clara suddenly appearing out of nowhere spooked the guy. One of the neighbors walking his dog past the house at the time heard Clara screaming and called 911. What happened next is a little fuzzy. Either Clara slipped and fell down the stairs, trying to get away, or there was a struggle and the guy pushed her,” Bruce said. “The police found her lying at the foot of the staircase when they arrived. At that point, she was still conscious.”
“Did she know the man who broke into her house?”
“Hard to say. All she managed to get out was that the thief took off with her diamond wedding ring. I guess she saw it in his hand when she came out of her bedroom. But she passed out before she had a chance to identify him. She’s at the hospital in intensive care right now. The cops are still combing the house for clues.”
“Poor Clara . . .” Hayley moaned.
“I’m still waiting to talk to one of the officers at the scene, but I will get to the party just as soon as I can,” Bruce promised.
Bruce continued talking, but Hayley could not hear what he was saying due to an argument happening right behind her just a few feet away.
“What was that, Bruce?” Hayley asked, holding the phone closer while pressing a finger into her other ear.
“I said I’ve got my King Kong costume in the trunk of my car so I can change in the parking lot and make a grand entrance.”
“I can hardly wait,” Hayley laughed. “See you when you get here.” She ended the call, then spun around to discover Annie Wilkes and the Mummy, or Randy and Sergio, snapping at each other in a heated exchange.
“You’re completely overreacting,” Randy insisted.
“No, I am not,” Sergio griped, his hand held out. “Now give me the phone.”
Hayley quickly interceded. “Please, you guys, I really want this party to go off without a hitch, so I’m begging you, don’t fight. Not tonight.”
Her emotional appeal seemed to do the trick and brought the temperature down a bit between the bickering couple.
“He wants me to erase the video I’ve been recording of the party because he can’t stand the thought of anybody seeing him scream like a little girl,” Randy sighed.
“I am the chief of police in this town, and so I have a certain image to maintain. I do not want that video getting passed around and making me look like a fool!”
“I’m not going to post it on social media, Sergio, I promise; it’s just for family and friends,” Randy said with a Cheshire-cat-like grin.
Sergio glared at him, skeptical.
“Don’t you think he’s making too much of this, Hayley?” Randy asked, turning to his sister to back him up.
“I think it’s none of my business, and so I plead the fifth.”
Sergio’s phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen. “It’s Donnie. I better take this.”
Randy turned to Hayley. “He’s been calling all night. There was another break-in on Hancock Street . . .”
“I just heard. Bruce is covering the story for the paper. I pray Clara Beaumont recovers,” Hayley said.
“What’s the status, Donnie?” Sergio asked, listening intently.
Officer Donnie, after eight years with the Bar Harbor Police Department, had finally been promoted to lieutenant. It had been a long time coming. Sergio had been grooming him, putting him in charge when he was out of town on vacation. Donnie had grown quite a bit from his early days as a wet-behind-the-ears rookie and was now ready to do the chief proud. Hayley was not surprised that Sergio had not immediately rushed out of the party to the crime scene the moment he heard about the 911 call, because Donnie was anxious to prove his mettle and run an honest-to-goodness police investigation all on his own without the chief there to look over his shoulder. This was Donnie’s big chance, but Hayley could tell just from Sergio’s agitated tone and gestures that staying out of it was killing him.
“Are you sure you don’t need me there, Donnie? Not in any supervisory capacity, just as an observer? No, I promise, you are point man on this, but I can just be there if you have any questions,” Sergio said, pausing to allow Donnie to argue his point. Sergio nodded. “Okay, if you are sure. But you will call me the minute you are done sweeping the house for evidence, or if Mrs. Beaumont’s condition changes? I can be over at the house or at the hospital in less than five minutes!”
Hayley smiled to herself. Sergio was obviously desperate for any excuse to ditch this party and the embarrassing moment he had endured earlier.
“No, Donnie, I trust you. Just keep me updated, that’s all I ask,” Sergio said before ending the call. With a half-smile, he cracked, “I just promoted him to lieutenant last month, and I think he’s already gunning for my job.”
“Donnie’s loyal to you, Sergio, and he’s developed into a good cop over the years. Give him a chance to spread his wings a little,” Randy said.
Sergio nodded. “You’re right.”
“Now relax, and enjoy the party,” Randy said, aiming his phone at a nearby gaggle of guests in a wide variety of colorful Halloween-movie-monster costumes. “Everyone looks so great. Although if there was a costume contest, I would be a shoo-in to win. You have to admit, I make an awesome Annie Wilkes.”
“It’s like you’re channeling Kathy Bates. Hey, what happened to your sledgehammer?” Hayley noticed.
“It was too heavy to carry around, so I left it in the kitchen,” Randy said, swiveling his phone around to capture all the revelers in his video.
“Just keep the camera away from me, or the Mummy here will mummify you,” Sergio warned.
“Promises, promises,” Randy joked.
Hayley busted up laughing.
Chapter Three
What sounded like a woman’s bloodcurdling scream pierced the air, startling Hayley, who was in the kitchen, lining a garbage bin with a big plastic bag in order to begin the clean-up effort. She raced back out into the dining room to see what was happening, stopping short at the sight of Sergio confronting Pennywise, who had snuck up behind him yet again.
“I warned you, Candy! If you don’t stop following me around, I will arrest you for stalking!” Sergio yelled.
Mona, who was sweeping the floor with an industrial broom, and Liddy, who was folding up a linen tablecloth, both suppressed smiles. Mona’s son, Chet, was slumped down in a chair in the corner, eyes glued to his phone but with a smirk on his face. Randy gulped down the last of the spiked punch, red-faced, trying not to
laugh too hard. There were no other guests left at the party.
Pennywise, who had been stacking leftover cookies and brownies on a paper plate, just stared at Sergio without saying a word.
“Don’t look at me like that!” Sergio warned.
Pennywise didn’t budge.
It was almost as if he wasn’t sure what to do.
Sergio pointed a finger at his clownish, exaggerated, scary red lips. “Did you hear me? This is not funny!”
“It’s a little funny . . .” Randy interjected.
Sergio threw him a fierce glare, and Randy mimed zipping his lips. He was not going to say another word and upset his husband any more than he already was. Randy also held up his phone to show Sergio he was not still recording.
Sergio returned his attention to Pennywise. “Would you at least take off that mask?”
Again, Pennywise stood frozen, not moving a muscle.
Sergio took a deep breath, collected himself, and then said calmly, “Look, Boris, the party’s over. Unless you’re going to help us clean up, maybe you should consider just going home.”
Pennywise continued to stand motionless a few more seconds, ratcheting up the tension.
Hayley stepped forward. “Boris, is everything all right?”
He then nodded his head slightly, grabbed the last few remaining cookies off the table, piled them onto his paper plate of leftover desserts, and lumbered away. But he did not head for the front door. Instead, he wandered toward the kitchen, passing by Chet, who reached out and snatched a praline square off the plate and stuffed it in his mouth.
“Chet, stealing sweets from your music teacher is not going to help get you a better grade! Now get off your duff and help us clean up!” Mona ordered.
Chet stood up and sighed, annoyed, then reluctantly took the garbage bin from Hayley and began half-heartedly dumping empty cups and paper plates into it.
Pennywise disappeared out the back of the restaurant.
“What was that all about?” Hayley wondered. “And why isn’t he leaving out the front door?”
“Front door, back door, who cares? As long as he’s gone. What an odd seagull,” Sergio said, shaking his head.
