by Leslie Meier
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Grease a 3-quart casserole dish and set aside.
Place your milk, carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips, celery, onion, and squash in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally until vegetables are tender.
Stir in the cream cheese and mix until melted. Now stir in your Parmesan and season with the salt and pepper to taste. Pour the mixture into the prepared casserole dish.
Stir the panko or bread crumbs with the melted butter and top casserole with the crumb mixture.
Bake covered in the oven for 25 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Remove cover and bake for another 5 minutes to brown topping on casserole.
Let your casserole rest for a few minutes, then serve and enjoy!
Chapter Ten
Hayley immediately scooped up Leroy. The curious puppy wiggled in her arms for a few moments before settling into the crook of her arm and trying to reach up to lick her face. “Danny, call 911!”
“I don’t have my phone with me! I left it back at the house!”
“Well, I didn’t bring mine either! You go, and I’ll stay here with the body,” Hayley offered, although the idea of keeping an eye on a mostly buried corpse was unsettling.
Danny dashed off toward the house. Hayley nuzzled Leroy and rocked him gently like a baby to calm him down. She glanced over at the finger with the pink nail still disturbingly pointing up from underneath the dirt, and it sent another shiver down her spine. She stepped away from it, trying to keep her distance, half expecting a whole hand to shoot up and grab her ankle or arm like in that final shocking gravesite scene in the movie Carrie.
She was huddling with Leroy near a tree when she suddenly noticed a shiny object on the ground next to her feet that was illuminated by a stream of moonlight through the thick trees. Holding Leroy in one arm, she leaned down to examine it more closely. It was a heart-shaped silver locket. Did it belong to the woman who was buried a few feet away, or did someone else drop it?
Hayley stood back up, and nervously eyed the pointing finger with the chipped pink nail polish, waiting for it to move, but mercifully it never did. She shivered again and asked herself why she didn’t make Danny stay with the body so she could have been the one to run back to her warm and safe house. Finally, she heard sirens in the distance and within a few minutes she was surrounded by police officers and crime scene investigators. As they set up some lights and worked to dig up the corpse to see who it was, Hayley pulled Sergio aside and pointed him toward the tree near where she had spotted the piece of jewelry. “I found a locket over there, which might be important. Don’t worry, I didn’t touch it.”
“Thanks,” Sergio said, heading over to inspect the clue.
Danny returned, out of breath, and stood next to Hayley, watching as the team of county CSI guys unearthed enough of the body to get a good look at the face. Hayley had to lean to one side to peek through the space between two of the investigators, but she finally managed to get a glimpse of the dead woman.
“It’s her . . .” Hayley gasped.
“Wendi Jo?” Danny asked.
Hayley nodded solemnly. Leroy suddenly shot out of Hayley’s arms and scampered over toward the crime scene. “Leroy, come back here!”
She raced to intercept him, but he was too fast for her and ran over and started sniffing around Wendi Jo’s body. Hayley pushed her way through the crowd of investigators surrounding the corpse. “Leroy!”
“Ma’am, please get your dog and step back, please,” one of the CSI guys admonished.
“I am so sorry! Leroy! Get over here!”
Leroy was too curious to listen, so Hayley had to awkwardly step over the corpse, being careful not to bump into anything or disturb any evidence, before she managed to get her hands around Leroy’s little body and carry him off. As she backed away, gripping a squirming Leroy as tightly as she could, she caught sight of the dirt-smudged pink blouse that Wendi Jo was wearing. She noticed that it matched her nail polish. It was also covered in blood. She overheard one of the investigators remark as he lifted the blouse, “Looks like she’s been shot twice.”
Hayley walked back to Danny, carrying Leroy. “Let’s go home.”
“No, I want to stick around until we find out what happened to her,” Danny said.
“I know what happened to her. Someone shot her twice and then dragged her body out here to bury it so it would never be found.”
Danny gulped as he took this in, and then, with steely-determination in his eyes said firmly, “And we both know who did it.”
“No, we don’t, Danny.”
“Come on! Look how close we are to their house! You know the Salingers had something to do with this!”
“We know nothing, Danny, and I do not want you getting involved. Do you hear me?”
Danny didn’t answer her, and that worried Hayley, because when Danny remained silent, which was exceedingly rare, that always meant he was about to stir up trouble.
Chapter Eleven
The following morning as Hayley scurried down the stairs and into the kitchen to grab her bag on the kitchen table and head off to work, she found Danny standing by the sink, staring out the window.
She fished around inside her bag for her car keys. “What’s got you so curious?”
“She’s gardening,” Danny said in a somber tone.
“Who?”
“Morticia Addams.”
Hayley sighed as she grabbed her keys and threw the leather strap of her bag around her shoulder. “I don’t have time for this. I’m going to be late for work. Make sure the kids don’t miss the school bus.”
Hayley brushed past Danny and out the back door. At first she didn’t notice him following right behind her, but by the time she had reached her car, she realized he was practically on top of her. “Are you coming with me? Is it Bring Your Husband to Work Day?”
Danny kept his eyes trained on Rosemary Salinger who wore a gray floppy hat and sunglasses while shoveling dirt with a spade in her small flower bed that was mostly weeds. “Who tends a garden in November?”
“Maybe she’s planting bulbs for next spring,” Hayley said before waving at Rosemary. “Good morning!”
Rosemary looked up, startled. She lowered her sunglasses and stared blankly at Hayley and Danny before realizing she should say something. She instantly plastered on her fake Stepford Wife smile and waved back.
“Why is she wearing sunglasses?” Danny wondered. “It’s cloudy and gray out.”
“Would you please just leave it alone, Danny?”
But Hayley knew he wasn’t about to listen to her. Danny bounded over to Rosemary’s garden, his hands thrust in the pockets of his sweatpants, and hovered over her. “You haven’t seen Leroy digging around here, have you?”
Rosemary gave him a puzzled look. “Leroy?”
“Our new puppy,” Danny answered. “Shih Tzu. Nosy little guy. Likes to go around digging things up. I just wanted to make sure he didn’t disturb your beautiful garden.”
Hayley shook her head. She knew exactly what Danny was up to and she didn’t like it.
Rosemary stared at the weeds. “No, I haven’t seen him anywhere near here.”
“Happy to hear it,” Danny said.
Hayley lamely tried to put a stop to the conversation. “Danny, the school bus will be here any minute! You need to nudge the kids along or they’re going to miss it!”
“Got it, babe,” Danny called back to her, never taking his eyes off Rosemary. “Once he smells a bone or something buried in the ground, there’s no stopping him from digging and digging until he finds it, which is why the police have him to thank for finding Wendi Jo Willis.”
Hayley noticed Rosemary gripping her spade, stabbing it into the dirt faster and faster. She looked as if she was hoping that if she just kept at it and ignored Danny, he would finally stop talking and go away. But Hayley knew her husband would never take the hint.
“I’m sur
e you heard about Wendi Jo,” Danny said, looking down at her, the gray floppy hat hiding most of her face.
“Danny . . .” Hayley said, mouth clenched.
“In a minute, babe . . .” he said, waving her off.
Hayley thought about just getting in her car and driving away, but she didn’t want to leave Danny on his own in case she had to intervene and put a muzzle on her chattering husband, who clearly was not welcome on their neighbors’ property.
“Who?” Rosemary asked, never taking her eyes off the weeds in her garden.
“Wendi Jo Willis. Her body was found not too far from here,” Danny said, not quite accusingly but pretty close.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know who that is,” Rosemary said evenly.
Danny raised an eyebrow. “You don’t? That’s odd. She’s all anybody’s been talking about in town the last few days. You didn’t hear she had gone missing?”
“No,” Rosemary said as she climbed to her feet, realizing the only way to escape this conversation was to stop gardening and go inside her house.
“It’s strange you don’t know her. I thought she sold you this house.”
Rosemary dropped the spade in a basket full of gardening tools. “Oh, her. Yes, I’m not very good with names. And I certainly did not hear that she was missing. But that’s not unusual. We don’t like to get involved in town gossip.”
“It’s more than just gossip. Our dog dug her up over there in the woods,” he said, pointing toward the trees just beyond their backyard. “And the police say she was shot twice. Murdered.”
Rosemary stared at Danny, but the sunglasses hid her expression. Her ruby red lips remained pursed and were in stark contrast to her ghostly white skin. “That’s a shame.”
“Yeah, I’ll say it is. I mean, who would do such a terrible thing?”
“I’m sure I don’t know,” Rosemary muttered before turning and wandering toward her front porch.
“Although I did hear that she had a few enemies. I’m sure the police will want to talk to them. Your husband wasn’t exactly a fan of hers, was he?”
This stopped her in her tracks. She slowly turned back around. “Excuse me?”
“I saw, in fact, my whole family saw Damien arguing with Wendi Jo while we were coming back from trick-or-treating on Halloween night. It got pretty intense.”
“I’m sure if my husband was upset with this woman, he had a good reason.”
“Right. How upset do you think he got?”
Hayley’s stomach churned as she watched Rosemary slowly remove her glasses. The whole blank, Stepford Wife fake smile slowly faded. Her brown eyes seemed to darken until they were almost coal black. She glared at Danny, no longer pretending to be the utmost example of calm and civility.
“You ask too many questions,” Rosemary sneered.
“I’m guessing the police will, too,” Danny said, refusing to back down.
“Get off my property,” Rosemary barked before spinning around and hurrying into the house.
Danny ambled back over to Hayley. “Believe me now?”
Hayley shuddered. Although she didn’t approve of Danny’s methods, she couldn’t argue that Rosemary Salinger’s sudden turn had been disturbing. Maybe he was onto something.
“Come on, you better drive me to work,” Hayley said, circling around the car to the passenger’s side.
“Why can’t you drive yourself?”
“Because you’re going to need the car to take the kids to school,” Hayley groaned as she pointed at the school bus, red lights flashing, picking up some kids on the corner and driving off.
“Sorry,” Danny said sheepishly.
Chapter Twelve
Hayley knew she was in for it when Danny burst through the back door armed with a manila folder stuffed with pages. She had just taken a meat lasagna out of the oven to cool, which she had made for dinner, and the kids were upstairs finishing their homework. She had been looking forward to a quiet evening with a glass of wine and maybe an episode of NCIS with her imaginary boyfriend, Mark Harmon, that was stored on the TiVo. But no, Danny was single-handedly going to make sure she wasn’t going to have a moment’s peace this evening after the kids went to bed. She could see it written all over his face.
Danny waved the folder in front of her face. “You are never going to guess where I have been!”
“I’m not even going to try,” Hayley said with a sigh.
“The Jesup Memorial Library!”
“You’re right. I never would have guessed that. When was the last time you actually read a book?”
“High school, I think. Mark Twain. It was Tom Sawyer, maybe Huckleberry Finn, I can’t really remember. Who faked his own death and sailed down the river with an escaped slave?”
“I believe that was The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but don’t quote me. Do you even have a library card?”
“I wasn’t there to check out a book. I spent all afternoon in the periodicals section researching.”
“I’m afraid to ask, but here goes. Researching what?”
Danny set the folder down on the kitchen counter and grabbed a beer from the fridge. “I wanted to find out more information about the house next door and its history. People have been talking for years about all the strange goings-on that have happened there, and I remember my parents telling me about one family back in the 1970s who were so spooked by the evil spirits haunting it, they ran screaming into the night and left town and never came back.”
“Everyone’s heard those stories, Danny. I’m sure they’re exaggerated.”
“Didn’t you see The Amityville Horror?”
“Yes, and it was a scary movie based on a news story that was later proven to be mostly made up. If I thought there was any truth to those rumors, why would I ever have agreed to buy this house right next door?”
“Because it was the only one we could afford,” he said matter-of-factly, taking a swig of his beer.
Hayley couldn’t exactly argue that point. He was right.
Danny picked up the folder again and flipped it open. He showed Hayley xeroxed copies of some newspaper articles. “It’s right here in black and white. An article written in the Bar Harbor Herald back in 1978. The Radditz family bought the house but only lived in it for three months. They were constantly calling the police because they kept hearing prowlers, but it turned out no one was trying to break into the house. Then, a few weeks later, they reported seeing apparitions roaming the hallways. They overheard their daughter talking to someone in the middle of the night, and the daughter claimed she had a new friend, a ghost who was hiding under her bed. Finally, the parents couldn’t take it anymore and just packed up and left. The house stayed abandoned for almost six years before another family bought it. They lasted two years and then it stayed empty another seven. Why is it that no one can live in that house for very long?”
“Maybe the Salingers will break the curse,” Hayley offered.
“Or maybe the Salingers have been possessed by the evil spirits that inhabit it and are here to do their bidding. Maybe what’s called for here is some kind of exorcism.”
“Do you hear yourself right now, Danny?”
“Of course I do. And I’m determined to get to the bottom of it.”
“Okay, Ghostbuster, but do it after dinner. I hope you’re hungry. I made a huge pan of lasagna.”
“Good, because I invited Sal over for dinner.”
“Sal? My boss, Sal?”
“Yeah.”
“Why would you do that without telling me?”
“You just said you made a huge pan of lasagna. We have plenty for one guest.”
“That’s not the point. I had a long day at the office, and now you expect me to entertain my boss?”
“Listen, I remember talking to Sal a few years ago at your office Christmas party, and he mentioned to me that back when he was a twelve-year old kid, around 1978, he was friends with a kid named Timmy Radditz, who lived in the house next door, and f
rom what I recall, he spent the night there once and got so scared he called his parents to come get him.”
“Sal never told me that,” Hayley said, suddenly curious.
“Why would he? You’re a total skeptic! You’d probably accuse him of making the whole thing up.”
The doorbell rang and Danny dashed out of the kitchen to answer it. Hayley called the kids down for dinner and mixed Sal his favorite cocktail, a Cutty Sark and soda. She pulled Danny aside and ordered him not to discuss any of this unpleasantness about evil spirits and haunted houses in front of the children. Danny surprisingly complied, and so the dinner conversation was focused on a few local news stories the Island Times was currently covering, although the major story right now was the Wendi Jo Willis murder. Hayley served dessert, a simple cheesecake, which the kids quickly devoured. Gemma and Dustin were finally sent upstairs to bed, allowing Danny and Sal to settle down in the living room and get right down to business. Sal knew he had only been invited to dinner to discuss his childhood memories of the haunted house next door, but he didn’t seem to mind since his wife was visiting her sister up in Hampden and he didn’t want to be stuck at home eating warmed up leftovers when he could be enjoying Hayley’s homemade lasagna.
“So what do you remember about that night, Sal?”
“I had heard the stories about a murder taking place at that house back in the 1940s right after it was built,” Sal said, sipping his third whiskey.
Hayley figured they would have to drive him home.
“Yeah, the details about that are kind of sketchy,” Danny said breathlessly. “I couldn’t find much about it in the archived issues of the Herald.”
“From what I was told, and mind you, it was years ago when I heard it from my uncle, who was still around at the time, there was some kind of Lizzie Borden situation. A disturbed young woman hacked up her whole family. . . .”
Hayley gasped. “I never heard that! How awful!”
“It was right around the time of the big Bar Harbor fire, which destroyed a lot of the town back in the 1940s. The murder got buried after that because people were more interested in reading about the super-rich families like the Rockefellers and the Astors and the Vanderbilts, who used to come here all the time, who lost their huge mansions in the fire. That grabbed all the headlines.
