Chocolate Covered Murder

by Kate Bell

  Steve shook his head and pushed up the flap of dingy white fabric that covered his mouth so he could speak. “I have no idea. I came in late, just after the police got here. Gary told me what happened. So, it’s Greg Richardson?”

  “It is,” I said. “I don’t know who would want to murder him.”

  He snorted. “He’s a slumlord. I expect there are a lot of people that would want to murder him.”

  A zombie wandered over to where we were standing. It took a few seconds before I realized it was Sarah Johnson. Sarah was my mother’s friend’s daughter. “Joe and I walked through the entire house last night after we closed,” she volunteered. “We made sure no one was left behind. I don’t understand how that guy could have gotten in here.”

  “You guys check every room and every nook and cranny of this place before you leave every night?” I asked. It made sense to do it, but I could also see where it might not get done every night. Someone might have wanted to leave early, or they might have only checked part of the floor.

  She nodded. “Now and then some of the teens decide to hide away in here. They dare each other to stay the night in the haunted house, so we have to make sure everybody is cleared out. We did exactly that last night, and I know for a fact this place was empty.”

  “What time do you guys close at night?” I asked.

  “We close at 1:00 in the morning on Fridays and Saturdays. Sundays we close at ten,” she said.

  Even with all the attractions during the Halloween season, the sidewalks and streets were pretty much cleared by 12:30 a.m. On the weekends we didn’t have much of anything else going on besides the Halloween attractions. We had a couple of bars that stayed open until 2 a.m., but they were on the other side of town.

  “Who actually locked the doors last night?” I asked. The broken window in the basement didn’t make sense, so I didn’t ask her about that. She would have surely brought it up if she had seen it.

  “Gary did. He worked the earlier shift, then came back to lock up since Charlie doesn’t want us to have keys anymore.”

  “Okay, thanks for the information,” I told her and headed back to where Ethan was.

  “This is crazy,” Ethan said when I got to him.

  I nodded. “I asked a couple of people out front about what happened,” I said. “No one knows how he could have gotten in here. Sarah Johnson said they clear the house every night before they lock up. Sometimes teens like to hang out and try to stay the night in the haunted house so they check thoroughly every night.”

  As we were talking, Katrina Hill walked up to us. She was the witch from out front. “Hey, Mia. Ethan, can I tell you something?”

  Ethan nodded. “Please, go ahead.”

  “I know I probably shouldn’t say this,” she said and looked over her shoulder. “But Frank Garcia got fired right before the start of the Halloween season. He worked here last season and was a real troublemaker. I didn’t think Charlie would hire him back for this season, but for some reason he did. Then he got fired because he was such a flake and didn’t show up half the time. I just thought I’d throw that out there to you.”

  “Why do you think he might have something to do with the murder?” Ethan asked.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s a feeling I get. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. I don’t really know anything, but the guy was a real jerk. He was always goofing off, always late. Sometimes he didn’t come in at all. When Charlie fired him, Frank swore at him and said he would get him back. He’s working down at Pizza Town now. Maybe you should look him up.”

  Ethan took his notebook out and made a note of it. “Have you seen him since he was fired?”

  She opened her mouth to answer, then glanced over her shoulder. Charlie had finally arrived and approached us, his face pale and his eyes bloodshot. He looked at us and forced himself to smile.

  “Excuse me,” Katrina said, and nodded at Charlie, then disappeared among the props.

  “Ethan,” he said, sticking his hand out.

  Ethan shook it and then Charlie offered me his hand.

  “Sorry I’m late. I overslept,” Charlie said looking embarrassed. “I’m usually the first person here.”

  First person here?

  “Not a problem, Charlie. I guess you’re aware that Greg Richardson was found dead here this morning?”

  He gave a short nod. “Yes, I’ve been told. I don’t understand how he got in here.”

  “Does Greg come by the haunted house much?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “I suppose he’s been here a few times. I see most of the locals now and then just like every other Halloween business does.”

  “Do you have any idea who might have done this?” Ethan asked. “Have you spoken to Greg outside of the haunted house?”

  “No, I can’t remember when the last time was that I spoke to him. I’m completely puzzled. Although,” he said after thinking about it. “I did fire Frank Garcia a few weeks ago, and he threatened to pay me back.”

  Ethan glanced at me. “Do you think he would pay you back at Greg’s expense?” he asked.

  It seemed like an odd conclusion for Charlie as well as Katrina to jump to and I was pretty sure Ethan felt the same way.

  Charlie’s eyes were on the far wall behind the caveman exhibit. “Maybe. But I can tell you one thing I know for sure,” he said. “He’s been in here. He has a record for destroying property with graffiti. I also caught him tagging the cinder block wall out back.”

  Ethan looked at the wall. “Does he? I’ll check into that then.”

  Charlie put his hands on his hips. “I hope you check into a lot of things where he’s concerned. He was nothing but trouble.”

  “We’ll certainly look into it,” Ethan assured him.

  “How long do you think the haunted house will have to be closed?” he asked, looking at where Greg lay.

  “I can’t really answer that question right now,” Ethan said.

  He nodded without looking at Ethan. “I guess that makes sense.” Charlie watched as the coroner examined Greg’s body. His hands clenched and unclenched and there was a sweat ring around the neck of his t-shirt. The weather was cool at 65 degrees and a low breeze had been blowing all morning. It seemed odd that he would be sweating so profusely.

  “We’ll do our best to get the haunted house open as soon as possible, but no promises at this point,” Ethan said.

  “I appreciate that,” he said. He suddenly turned to look at Ethan. “Do you mind?”

  “Sure,” Ethan said with a nod and watched as Charlie slowly walked over to take a look at Greg.

  Ethan raised his eyebrows at me. I shrugged.

  “I don’t know what’s happening with this town,” I said. “What happened to the sweet town we knew as kids?”

  He chuckled. “I guess things change whether you want them to or not. We’ll get to the bottom of this. Don’t worry. For now, why don’t you go back to the candy shop? I’ve got to hang out around here and question people. Boring stuff. I’ll give you a call later today.”

  “You need to go home and get some sleep,” I said. The dark circles under his eyes were becoming ominous.

  He gave me a tired smile. “I promise I’ll go home soon. I’ll give you a call after I take a nap.”

  I really didn’t want to go, but I didn’t want to be in the way, either.

  “Okay, I’m going to go back to work. I’ll talk to you later.” I stood for a moment too long, wondering if he might give me a quick kiss goodbye. When it didn’t happen, I pasted a smile on my face. “See you later.”

  “I’ll see you later,” he promised.

  The candy shop was only a few blocks away, so I decided to walk and said goodbye to the people that were still hanging around the haunted house as I went. The worries of Pumpkin Hollow and all the problems that we’d been having lately weighed heavily on my mind and I wondered if we were ever going to catch a break.

  Chapter Five

  Ethan had promi
sed he would call me when he got done at the haunted house, but he never did. I kept reminding myself that he had a job to do, and he had to be exhausted from pulling a double. I found myself thinking more and more about Ethan every day. I realized I wanted a relationship, and I hadn’t wanted one in a long time.

  When I still hadn’t heard from him by Sunday morning, I dressed in my black cat costume and went to work, trying not to be frowny. Our part-time employee, Lisa Anderson, had gotten to the candy shop before I did and was busily stocking shelves with candy when I got there. Lisa was a high school student and was cute as a button in her pink fairy costume and a long blond wig.

  Mom and I worked on making candy all morning while Lisa worked the front counter. We had quite a few customers when the doors opened, and that made me smile in spite of not getting a phone call from Ethan. I hoped the haunted house was open by now, but I doubted it would be. It took all the self-control I had to keep from texting Ethan and asking about it, but if he had been out late working on the murder, I didn’t want to wake him up.

  When we had a break from the customers, Lisa went back to work straightening the shelves. As if reading my mind, she looked at me over her shoulder and said, “I know you don’t want to hear this, but it’s the curse.”

  I was putting a tray of orange and chocolate bonbons into the display case and I looked at her. “I really don’t believe in any curse. I know things haven’t been good around here lately, but that’s going to turn around. I just know it is.”

  “You know, Lisa,” Mom said from her place on a stool behind the counter. “Everyone has talked about a curse for as long as I can remember. But no one has ever been able to prove anything. And sometimes talking about this curse can scare the customers off. You know what I mean?”

  Lisa nodded. “That’s why I didn’t say anything earlier when there were customers in here. But I’m telling you, it’s the curse on Pumpkin Hollow. My grandmother told me all about it. What other reason would there be for all these murders happening? My friend Tammy Sutton told me there was another murder at the haunted house yesterday.”

  I had heard about the curse a couple of times when I was younger but I had completely forgotten about it until Lisa brought it up when the corn and straw mazes burned down. Mom had said there were a lot of people in Pumpkin Hollow that believed a witch put a curse on the town back in the early days when Pumpkin Hollow was founded. Apparently, the witch wanted to live out in the woods by herself and resented that a town was being built right next door to her. But like I said, I don’t believe in curses.

  “I think it’s a really good idea not to bring this up around other people,” I said gently. The rumors were already flying, but I didn’t want it brought up in the candy shop. We had enough to worry about with business being down and there being another murder.

  The candy shop door swung open and Ethan stood in the doorway. He stopped and looked at me. Then he smiled and walked up to the counter. He was dressed in business casual attire and that surprised me. I had only seen him in his uniform or jeans and a T-shirt. He looked good in his red polo shirt and khaki pants. My heart fluttered in my chest.

  “Good morning Mrs. Jordan, good morning Lisa. And good morning Mia,” he said. “I’m sorry I didn’t call you back yesterday afternoon, but I was exhausted from working the night before, and by the time I was able to get away from the investigation, it was nearly six in the evening. I was so exhausted I went straight to bed and didn’t wake up until about an hour ago.”

  I gasped. “Wow, that’s an awfully long work day. Did you find out anything new about the murder?”

  “I wasn’t at the haunted house the entire time,” he said. “After I did as much investigating as I could there, I went back to the police station. It’s really too early to know much just yet, but we’ll get to the bottom of it.”

  “It’s the curse,” Lisa interjected.

  He glanced at Lisa and smiled. “Maybe we should call some curse busters in?”

  “It might not hurt to try,” she said with a grin.

  I chuckled and shook my head. “I just wonder what Greg was doing in the haunted house,” I said.

  “That’s the question of the day,” he said. “I do have some news unrelated to the murder.” He grinned when he said it.

  “It must be good news. Don’t keep me in suspense,” I said excitedly. There was a spark in his still tired eyes that was hard to miss. “What kind of news?”

  “I got a promotion. Of sorts,” he said, still grinning. “And ‘of sorts’ is the key phrase here.”

  “Really?” I asked. “What kind of promotion?”

  “I’ve been promoted to criminal investigator,” he said with a grin. “I was kind of surprised about it, to tell you the truth. I had expressed an interest in taking the test to become a detective last year, and I still need to do that, but I didn’t expect this.”

  “Congratulations!” I exclaimed. “I’m so excited for you!”

  “Oh, my goodness, Ethan,” Mom said. “That’s great news. Congratulations!”

  “Congratulations!” Lisa chimed in.

  “Thanks, everyone,” Ethan said and pink crept up his cheeks. “It really was a surprise to me. But the police chief decided we needed somebody that could investigate the more serious crimes like murder and arson. Unfortunately, as you already know, Pumpkin Hollow has been having more of that kind of thing. I hope my investigative services aren’t needed all that often, but as of right now they are.”

  “What do you mean that it’s sort of a promotion?” I asked, wondering. It sounded like a normal promotion to me.

  “Well, the truth is that pumpkin Hollow really doesn’t have that much crime. Except for the last month or so that is. So when I’m not needed to investigate the serious stuff, I’ll be back on the street in uniform. Kind of a bummer, but the good news is that when I’m investigating I don’t have to wear my uniform.” He stood back, and he held his arms out and turned around for us to admire his clothes.

  I laughed. “Well at least that’s a positive, right?”

  “Indeed it is,” he said. “I can be a real detective once I pass the test, so I’m going to work on that. I want to study for a while before I take the test though. Maybe then I’ll be out of uniform permanently.” His blue eyes sparkled in spite of how tired he was.

  “I’m really proud of you,” I said. “So what’s the next step in the investigation?” As soon as it was out of my mouth, I thought better of it. He might be more inclined to tell me key details if there weren’t other people listening in.

  “We’ll be going back over the crime scene again. The problem in the haunted house is that the lights are pretty dim even with all of them turned on. They only needed enough light in there for the actors to find their places,” he said.

  “I hadn’t thought about that,” I said thoughtfully. “It was pretty dim in there. Do you know yet how long the haunted house will have to be closed?”

  “We’re trying the best we can to get it open by next weekend,” he said. “I think we can do it.”

  I was excited and proud of Ethan for getting his new promotion. I also hoped this gave him a little more pull down at the police station. Ethan was happy with his job, but he had mentioned that he wished some things were different. Maybe this would give him leverage to make some changes down there. And maybe that would change other things here in Pumpkin Hollow.

  “So what other perks does your new position come with?” I asked.

  “I can interview suspects out of uniform,” he said, lifting one eyebrow.

  I laughed. “Now, that is a perk.”

  He shrugged. “It’s not bad. I seriously doubt I will do it very much, but I might. I’m actually on my way down to the station right now and I’ve been promised I can work exclusively on the case today. Tomorrow I’ll probably be out in my patrol car and in uniform.”

  “Aren’t you tired?” I asked. I didn’t want to point out just how tired he looked, but I thought
he needed a day off.

  He sighed and nodded. “I am beat. But, there’s a murder to solve and I don’t want the trail to go cold.”

  “Ethan, you work so hard,” Mom said. “Let me get you some pumpkin spice fudge to take with you and help keep your strength up.”

  “That would be great, Mrs. Jordan. I can’t resist your fudge.”

  Mom went over to the display case and took out the tray of fudge to wrap up a piece of fudge for Ethan. I looked at Ethan and stepped closer to him.

  “Is there something I can help you with on the investigation?” I whispered. I knew it might be frowned on by his boss, but I wanted to help.

  “Maybe you can ask around and see if anyone knows anything. People might be more inclined to speak to you than to the police. But, you’ve got to be careful and we’ll need to keep this to ourselves.”

  I nodded. “No problem there. I’ll see if I can find anything out.”

  I was about to bust with pride for Ethan. He would make a great detective. I just hoped he could find Greg Richardson’s killer quickly.

  Chapter Six

  When I got off work that afternoon, I went over to Ethan’s house. I didn’t have any patience left after not seeing him the previous evening, and the few minutes I saw him at the shop wasn’t enough. I rang the doorbell and waited and after a few moments, the door swung open. When he saw me standing there, his eyes lit up.

  “Hey Mia, how are you?” he asked.

  “I’m fine Ethan,” I answered. “Are you rested up yet?”

  “I just got up from a nap awhile ago,” he said, “and I’m feeling fine as can be.”

  “I’m glad to hear that, and I was wondering,” I said as he held the door open for me, “when are you going to talk to Frank Garcia?”

  “I was going over there now. Katrina said he had a job down at Pizza Town. If you’re hungry, why don’t we go down and have a pizza?” he said.