The Halloween House

by Kathi Daley

  I called Tony to ask if it was all right if I brought the dog, who everyone had been calling Pisser because he tended to piss on the floor when nervous, with me for the weekend. Tony was fine with the idea. Because we weren’t going to be home that evening to keep an eye on him, Tony suggested we make him a bed in the mudroom, where the tile floor would be easily cleaned if he had an accident.

  I called Brady to tell him what I was doing, then brought the dog out to my Jeep. “The first thing we need to do is find you a new name,” I said as I made sure he was all tinkled out, then loaded him into the cargo area. “How about Buddy? It’s simple and to the point, and it’s sure a lot better than Pisser.”

  Buddy was shaking, I imagined because he was being exposed to a new situation, but when I held out my hand in an offer of comfort, he licked it.

  “Okay, Buddy. We need to stop by Hap’s to pick up some paint, and then we’re going out to Tony’s. I won’t be at Hap’s but for a few minutes, but the drive to Tony’s is a long one. It’d be best if you settled in and took it easy. Maybe took a nap. When we get to Tony’s, I’ll introduce you to Tony, Titan, and Tilly. You’ll like them. I’m thinking after you get used to everyone, you’ll start to relax a bit. I think we’ll wait to introduce you to the cats until tomorrow at least. They can be pushy at times. If I know Tang, he’d probably scare you to death.”

  I left Buddy in the Jeep while I ran in to pick up Tony’s paint. As long as I was there, I bought some orange lights, pumpkin-scented candles, and fake cobwebs for my cabin. The cats would probably shred the cobwebs if I strung them inside, but maybe I’d hang them outside, on my deck. I’d stop at the market later in the week and get some pumpkins as well. When Mike and I were kids, my mom and dad used to take us to a pumpkin patch not far from town, where we’d each pick out our own bright orange gourd to carve a scary face into for Halloween night.

  Tony was outside with Titan and Tilly when we arrived at his house, so I had him put the dogs in the house to start, then lifted Buddy out of the Jeep. He was shaking like crazy when I first brought him down, but Tony had a comforting way about him, and before I knew it, Buddy was wagging his tail and following Tony around like a duckling follows its mama.

  When Buddy had relaxed a bit, I went inside to shower and change out of my vampire costume while Tony let Tilly into the yard. She’s the nurturing sort who finds a way to take care of all the needy animals who come into her life. It took a good thirty minutes before Buddy wanted to play with her, but patience prevailed, and when it was time for Tony and me to get ready for our dinner with Mike and Bree, Buddy was happy and comfortable with all of us. And he was fine being left in the mudroom with food and water, a bed, and some toys. Tomorrow would be soon enough to reexpose him to everything he’d learned to handle today. I figured even if Frank didn’t want to adopt him, it would be easier to find the right placement for him once we got him to the point where he was happy and confident and didn’t shake and cower over every little thing.

  “I think Buddy did really well, and we only had a few hours to work with him,” I said to Tony as we drove toward town and Bree’s house, where we’d planned to meet.

  “I bet he was abused as a pup. He doesn’t seem to know who or what he can trust. It’s almost like he expects people and experiences to bring him pain. I think it might take a while, but he seems to want to find love and comfort. I think he’ll be okay in the long run. Did you have someone in mind for him?”

  “Frank. I haven’t asked him yet, but he’s a good guy, and I can see him having the patience Buddy needs.”

  “You should ask him to come by the house tomorrow. Introduce them to each other. Maybe if there’s a connection between the two, Frank will be willing to work with him the way we did.”

  I nodded. “Okay. That’s a good idea. I’ll call him to see if he’s open to the idea. If not, I’m sure I can find someone else who’ll give Buddy the patience he needs and deserves.”

  “What about Shaggy?” Tony said.

  I frowned. “Shaggy?”

  “I know Shaggy seems like a screwup, but he’s actually a good guy. He has his own home and a job that would allow him to bring his dog to work. If Frank adopts Buddy, he’ll most likely have to leave him home during the day, but Shaggy owns his own business, so that isn’t a limitation.”

  “Do you think Shaggy could take care of a dog? It seems as if he can barely take care of himself.”

  Tony shrugged. “I know that’s how he comes off at times, but remember, his business is successful. If he wasn’t conscientious, he’d be out of business. Besides, he can be very nurturing. He really does have a soft jelly center. I’m not saying Frank would be a bad choice, but it seems as if Frank would do better with a dog who could be a partner. Maybe even a trained K-9. Buddy has special needs and requires a certain environment. Being around Shaggy, who’s about as kick back as it comes, might be just right for him.”

  I paused to consider. “Do you think Shaggy would be interested?”

  “I think he might. I can ask him. Maybe invite him over tomorrow to meet the pup.”

  “I haven’t talked to Frank yet, so that won’t be a problem, and you do make some good points. Shaggy is a fun-loving guy who probably won’t freak out if Buddy piddles on his shoe if they happen across something that scares him while out walking. If you think Shaggy will be a responsible pet owner, I’m willing to give it a try.”

  Tony nodded. “Okay. I’ll call him. I think this is going to work out just fine.”

  Chapter 4

  “Are we meeting at Bree’s house or at the restaurant?” Tony asked as we headed to town.

  “Her house. Mike is going to meet us there as well. We’ll probably all drive to the restaurant together. Mike made a reservation, but the parking lot is sure to be full on a Saturday night.”

  “Seems the restaurant might have provided a larger lot.”

  I nodded. “Yeah. They need additional space, but I guess the man who built the restaurant only had so much to work with and didn’t want to give up any of the square footage inside, so he compromised. A lot of people park on the street now, which is going to be a problem once it starts to snow. By the way, don’t let me forget to ask Mike and Bree about the harvest festival. Bree and I usually go together, but with their new state of coupledom, I’m assuming she’ll be going with Mike. We can all go together if they want.”

  “However it works out is fine with me. Are you getting used to Bree and Mike as a couple?” Tony asked.

  I paused before answering. “I’m still a little bit concerned the whole thing will blow up and ruin what we’ve had since childhood, but they seem really happy now, and I want that for them. At first, seeing them kiss or hold hands felt strange, but I’m used to it at this point.” I turned slightly in my seat. “Bree thinks I’m overthinking things, and maybe I am, but Mike is my brother and Bree is my best friend. I don’t want things to end up weird between them.”

  “If you want my opinion, I think they have what it takes to make it for the long haul.”

  I smiled. “I hope so. If it does work out and they get married, Bree will be my sister, which I’d very much welcome. Mom seems to be happy with the arrangement, and so does Bree’s mom. I guess I’m the only one who still has reservations, but the more time that passes, the better I feel about things.”

  “Change can be difficult.” Tony took my hand in his. “But it can also open doors to wonderful new experiences, and it’s necessary to keep life from becoming stagnant.”

  “I’m sure you’re right, but when you’re happy, content with the way things are, spinning the wheel seems like an unnecessary risk.”

  Tony pulled into Bree’s drive and parked. I paused to admire her seasonal decorations, then slipped out of the passenger seat and headed up the walk. I was looking forward to dinner. It had been a while since the four of us had had the opportunity to get together. In the beginning, I think Mike and Bree knew their relationship was freaking me out, s
o they avoided being together when I was around. By the time I’d begun to get used to their new paradigm, Tony was elbow deep in his project, so he wasn’t available to hang out much. I hoped things would even out a bit over the holidays, so I could spend time with all the people who were important to me together.

  Mike was already at Bree’s, so after we greeted one another, we went out to Bree’s sedan, leaving the guys’ trucks behind. Mike drove, and Tony and I sat in the back. We’d just pulled into the restaurant’s parking lot when Mike got a text from Frank, who was on duty.

  “What is it?” Bree asked.

  Mike’s mouth hardened. “Frank had a call from Jordan Westlake. It seems he found a skeleton in his closet. Literally. I’m sorry, but I need to go. Why don’t the three of you go on in and have dinner?”

  “It wouldn’t be the same without you,” I said.

  “Besides, we all came together,” Bree pointed out. “If you drop us off, we won’t have a way to get home if you get held up. We’ll just come with you.”

  “I don’t know how long this might take,” Mike warned us.

  “It’s fine,” I added. “We’ll wait while you do what you have to, and then we can all grab a bite somewhere after.”

  “I’ll call the restaurant and cancel the reservation,” Bree offered. “I’m sure they’ll understand, given the situation.”

  Mike hesitated, then agreed.

  “So, by skeleton, you mean…” Bree began

  “A body,” Mike finished.

  “Who?” I asked.

  Mike shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “Yeah, but it’s been boarded up,” I pointed out.

  “Maybe, but I’m sure during the past half century there have been squatters who’ve made use of the shelter it provides,” Mike argued.

  Mike was probably correct. While I wouldn’t want to hole up in a house where so many people had died, White Eagle did have a transient population that came to camp here during the summer, then either left or found shelter during the long, cold winters.

  At Harrington House, Mike asked us to wait in the car while he checked out the situation. A few minutes later, he returned and brought us in. The skeleton Jordan Westlake had found wasn’t the remains of a recent death but appeared to be at least several decades old. Once Mike introduced us to Mr. Westlake, we were offered seats in the front parlor while Frank and Mike headed up to the attic with him.

  Mike had warned us it might be a while, and he was right. “This house is even creepier on the inside than it is on the outside,” Bree whispered.

  Structurally, I found the house huge but ordinary, although I could see why Bree found it creepy. The structure was sided with dark wood that gave the outside a sinister feeling. The building was big, with three stories of living space, along with an attic and a basement. The small windows were covered with dark shutters, which had been opened since Jordan Westlake arrived, but must have blocked most of the natural light from the interior in the years it had stood empty. If someone had snuck in and found shelter here, it was unlikely anyone would know from the outside.

  “It looks like no one has touched a thing since the family lived here,” Tony added. “I wonder if there are clothes in the closets and dishes in the kitchen.”

  “I wonder if there are clues to be found up in the bedrooms,” I added.

  “Maybe,” Tony answered. “Tonight might not be the best time to pursue that line of thought, but maybe we can talk to Mr. Westlake at another time.”

  “So whose skeleton do you think is stashed in the closet upstairs?” Bree asked us after we’d been waiting for Mike for at least twenty minutes.

  I frowned. “I don’t know. It seems very odd. If you’re going to kill someone, why would you stash them in the closet? Why not just dump the body in the woods or, better yet, bury it in the family cemetery?”

  “Maybe the body has been here since the Harringtons lived here. Maybe it belongs to one of those poor kids,” Bree said.

  “God, I hope one of those kids didn’t end up stashed in a closet.” I wrinkled my nose.

  “I did some research while you were at the clinic today,” Tony said to me. “Hartford Harrington built the house in 1955. Over the course of the next four years, his entire family died. I can see why you might suspect the body in the closet is one of them, but based on what I could find out, it seems all their bodies, with the exception of Hillary’s, have been accounted for and are buried in the little family plot at the edge of the property.”

  I raised my brows. “So maybe the body in the closet is Hillary. What if the bloody clothes in the woods were a decoy? What if someone living in this house killed her and then stashed her body?”

  “I suppose it’s a possibility,” Tony answered. “Maybe Mike will have more information when he comes down. If it wasn’t Hillary, it’s most likely going to be hard to figure out who it was. No one has lived in the house since the last Harrington died. At least not officially. While the skeleton could be Hillary, I think it belonging to a squatter makes more sense.”

  “It would be so freaky to open a closet and find a skeleton there.” Bree shuddered.

  “I’d think Jordan Westlake must have prepared himself for a certain amount of freakiness when he made the decision to move into a house so many people believe is haunted,” I responded.

  “I think the haunted part would bother me less than the tragic reminder of all the people who died while living here,” Bree countered.

  “It does seem odd there are so many loose threads,” Tony added. “The oldest daughter went missing, but her body was never found, unless that skeleton is her. That led to her older brother being shot trying to avenge her death. Then the middle daughter died after a fall down the stairs. The youngest girl died under very mysterious circumstances, although most people say she was ill, and the youngest jumped from the third story of the house. If I was the one who inherited this house, I think the first thing I’d do would be to dig up the answers for the unanswered questions that are just lurking about.”

  “Maybe Westlake plans to do that,” I said.

  A few minutes later, Frank came down, went to the front door, and let the coroner in. Both men went upstairs with a body bag. I supposed there wasn’t much Mike could do right now. It wasn’t as if there were an active crime scene upstairs to secure. Whoever had been waiting in the closet to be found had been there for a very long time. Maybe since before the last Harrington died and the house was locked up for the final time.

  ******

  After Tony and I got back to his place, we took all three dogs out for a walk. We never had gotten around to having dinner. Mike said the coroner was fairly certain the skeleton belonged to an adult female, not a child. If that were true, it most likely wasn’t Hillary. However it turned out, Mike wanted to wash up after spending time in the dusty attic, so he dropped us off at Bree’s to pick up Tony’s truck. They invited us to stay for takeout, but we decided to head back to Tony’s, where he’d whip up some omelets after we took out the dogs to stretch their legs.

  “Well, that wasn’t the evening I expected,” I said as they trailed along behind us. But even Buddy seemed happy and relaxed this evening, which did my heart good. Tony had called Shaggy, who said he wanted to meet Buddy, so he was coming over tomorrow.

  “Different but interesting,” Tony said. “And Jordan Westlake seems really nice.”

  “I thought so too.” Bree, Tony, and I had chatted with him for a few minutes after Mike and Frank escorted the coroner out. He was surprised by his discovery, but not as weirded out as you’d think. In fact, he seemed to be taking everything in stride.

  “He was interested in finding out who the body belonged to,” Tony added. “Especially when the coroner all but eliminated Hillary.”

  “I wonder if they can figure that out with what they have to work with. It’s not like they can get fingerprints and DNA evidence from a skeleton. I doubt there’s anything left of the Harringtons buried outside t
o match it to, even if they could come up with a sample.”

  “Unless the skeleton can be connected to a missing person, or there are medical or dental records to match, it will be hard to put a name to the body,” Tony agreed.

  “Maybe someone who was around back then would be able to provide some insight regarding who, other than Hillary Harrington, might have been missing. Of course, we don’t know exactly when then is,” I added. “Still, the house was built more than sixty years ago. Mrs. Bradford is close to ninety, and I’m pretty sure she’s lived here her entire life. She might remember the Harringtons and the goings-on at the time. I could give her a call tomorrow. She was willing to talk to me when I was looking for Patricia Porter.”

  Tony bent over and gave Titan a rub. “It’s worth a try. I was pretty intrigued by the Harrington mystery when you first mentioned it. Then, after I did a bit of research, I was even more interested. Now I’m damn fascinated.”

  I grinned. “Yeah. Me too.”

  Tony’s pace slowed somewhat as we rounded the end of the small private lake. I looped my arm though his as the dogs settled in around us. “The lights around the house look really nice from back here. I have to say they’ve inspired me. I bought some lights and a few other decorations to put out at my cabin.”