Halloween Hayride Murder

by Linnea West

  "I don't need privacy," Candy said. "I just need you to stay here. In fact, I need you to stay here forever."

  I looked at her quizzically. Was she having a breakdown? I didn't know what she wanted and it was unnerving me.

  "Candy, why don't we go get a coffee and you can take a break," I said. "It sounds like you might need a little bit of time to get yourself back together. I can help you set up a break from work."

  I took a chance and quickly hopped down off of the tractor to start walking back to the car. Candy bent down and grabbed my shoulder to yank me back towards her with almost inhuman strength. Her long fingernails dug into my skin, even through the layers I was wearing.

  "You're going the wrong way," Candy said.

  I turned to look at her. She opened up her purse and pulled out a small pistol that had been tucked inside.

  "It's all gone too far now," she said. "I can't have you running to your boyfriend to tell him everything. For a while, I thought it would all be okay because you thought the watch was Ronald's, but I know you've put everything together now. I can't have you telling everyone else. You've been the only one smart enough to put it all together. Now I need you to walk the opposite way and stand in front of the tractor."

  I gasped involuntarily. The watch I had found was Candy's, not Ronald's. Candy was right about one thing. All of the clues were falling into place now.

  Chapter 33

  Her hand let go of my shoulder, but she kept the pistol pointed at me. Her empty hand was shaking, but she somehow managed to keep the pistol leveled at me. I swallowed hard and followed her directions.

  "Candy, what is going on?"

  "I can't take any chances," she said. "I didn't do anything wrong. I can't have you ruining everything I did to protect myself. Everything was just a big accident. No one can know what happened."

  "Maybe I can help you," I said. I knew I needed to keep her talking. I needed to stall as much as possible. "Tell me what happened and I can help you figure out a plan. I won't tell anyone about this."

  Candy shook her head violently back and forth. More of her hair spilled out of her ponytail around her shoulders. A few tears were leaking out of her eyes and falling down her face to where her teeth were clenched together.

  "If you're going to kill me, you might as well tell me," I said. "A confession always feels good and it'll feel even better to give it to someone who will be dead in a few minutes."

  She stared unblinking at me for a few moments while I tried hard to look her straight in the eye. I wanted her to see me and think about what she was threatening to do.

  "Okay, I'll tell you," Candy said. "But only because I've known you so long that I think you deserve an explanation."

  I nodded. I was working hard on breathing through my nose and keeping a neutral expression. Candy was obviously volatile and I didn't feel like poking the bear any more than I already had.

  "The morning before Earl died, we had an argument," Candy said. "I had seen him having coffee with another woman. When I asked him about it, he wouldn't tell me much about it. He just brushed it off like it was nothing. But if it was nothing, why wouldn't he just explain to me what was going on? I just wanted him to reassure me that I was his girl, but instead he got all defensive. We were supposed to get married."

  Candy started pacing a little bit. She was waving the gun around as she gestured wildly, but always kept it pointed in my direction. Her face was starting to get red now as she immersed herself in the memory of the fight.

  "Earl had mentioned that he and Ralph were coming out here to cause some mischief that night, so when I just couldn't stop thinking about our fight, I decided to come out here and confront him. I saw that woman driving around out here when I was pulling up and I figured she had been out here with him. I was so mad that he was still lying to me."

  I realized suddenly that the other woman Candy had seen with Earl was Susy, his cousin. She had absolutely no idea that Earl's problem wasn't an affair, but money issues. Of course Earl would keep her in the dark about it. He couldn't let her know that he wasn't as successful as he let others think he was. He was no dummy. He would have figured out that the biggest reason Candy was with him was for his money.

  "So I drove in here and he was all by himself," Candy said. "I jumped out of my car and found him out by the tractor. He was trying to get it stuck in the mud or something, but he had no idea how to actually drive a tractor. I offered to do it. I didn't really know how to do it, but I couldn't resist showing him up a little. I mean, I'm from a little country town. I should have been able to figure it out. Then when I was up there, I told him he should dig down by the front tire to get it stuck down in the mud."

  I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. Candy immediately leveled the gun at me and scowled before she continued her story.

  "Earl was an idiot," she said. "I loved him, but he was an idiot. He thought I was some ditzy blond who would do whatever he said. So when he got close to the wheel, I rolled it forward and I was lucky that it was just enough to trap his toes underneath."

  Candy started to cry a little more. I put my hand in my pocket and she waved the gun at me until I pulled a tissue out and handed it to her. Her muttered 'thank you' let me know she wasn't too far gone yet.

  "Once I had him trapped, I told him I'd seen the other woman. I'd seen her at the coffee shop and I'd seen her in her car as I was on my way out here. I told him that I wouldn't stand for it. There was no way I'd let a man step out on me. He started muttering on about it not being what I thought it was and he could explain it all to me."

  Her voice started to shake and she took a minute to compose herself. When she spoke again, her voice was so quiet I could hardly hear her.

  "I wasn't sure I believed him, but then he said he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. And I realized that I should give him another chance. So I hopped out of the seat to give him a kiss, but I forgot to put the tractor into park. As I turned to jump down off of the tractor, it lurched forward and ran over Earl."

  By now, Candy was sobbing and I even found a few tears falling down my face. I almost wanted to reach out and comfort her, until I remember the gun she still had pointed at me.

  "I didn't mean for it to happen," she said. "I really didn't. I loved Earl."

  I believed her. I really did believe that she loved Earl. But I had to tell her what I knew about him. I still needed more time.

  "Candy, I know the woman that you saw with Earl," I said. If she was going to kill me, I at least wanted her to know the truth. "That woman was Earl's cousin, Susy. She was here in Shady Lake to try and force Earl to sell her the business and field."

  All of the color drained from Candy's face until her previously red face was left ghostlike. She started jerkily shaking her head back and forth.

  "No, that can't be right," she said as she lowered the gun to her side. "Earl would have just told me that. Why would he keep that from me? You must be lying."

  "I'm not lying to you, Candy. Susy is staying at the bed and breakfast right now. I've talked to her and she told me all about meeting Earl to try and talk him into selling to her. She also admitted she tried to follow Earl out here that night, but she had to stop and she lost track of him."

  Candy staggered backward a step and doubled over with her hands on her knees. My news had socked her right I the gut. For a moment, I thought she was going to be sick, but instead she took a few deep breaths before standing back up straight. Candy slowly brought her gun back up to point it straight at me again.

  "That just makes this so much harder," Candy said. "Killing Earl was an accident, but now I have to kill you too. And it turns out I have to do all of this over a mistake. What a waste this all was. I'm sorry Tessie. I really do like you."

  That's when I heard the sirens in the distance. I heard them just a split second before Candy did. It was the one time in my life that I was glad to hear a police car screaming towards me.

  "Why are you s
miling?" she snarled at me. "I have to kill you."

  I looked over my shoulder and saw multiple squad cars barreling towards us down the gravel driveway, lights flashing and sirens blaring. One look at Candy and I could see that she was momentarily distracted, so I started running as fast as I could towards the sheds and I didn't stop until the lead squad car drove right up on my right side. The passenger door flew open and Mandy appeared in the open space.

  "Jump in," she yelled.

  I dove in and curled up in her lap as two more squad cars pulled up on either side of us. Max leaned over from the driver's seat and kissed my forehead.

  "My knight in shining armor," I smiled up at him.

  "I'm just glad you're safe," he said. "Now I have to go bring her in."

  Max jumped out of the car and Mandy squeezed me tight as we watched. As the officers ran towards Candy, she dropped the gun and put her hands in the air. She was sobbing and her hair was sticking in all directions. The officers approached with their guns drawn until they were able to grab her.

  Mandy turned and looked at me. She kept trying to form a question, but didn't quite know what to say.

  "What happened?" she finally said.

  "I'll tell you everything, but I need three things first," I said. "I need those pumpkins unloaded out of my car and then I need a giant cup of coffee and a donut."

  Chapter 34

  I drove my now empty station wagon to the Donut Hut with Mandy. We didn't even have to talk. We just listened to Don drone along on the radio as I drove. The soothing baritone helped me come back down to earth once the adrenaline stopped pumping. When I walked in the front door of the cafe, the shop was filled with my parents and siblings. Even my sister Trina who is away at college was there over video chat. The shop was warm and filled with laughter and good cheer.

  When I walked in, I was rushed by my family. Everyone took a turn to give me a hug before they escorted me to a a seat at a large table they'd made by pushing together the small tables. Everyone was clamoring for me to tell the story. As I sat down, Mandy pushed a Halloween donut and a mug of coffee in front of me.

  "Hold on everyone, I will tell you all what happened," I said. "But first, I really need this."

  I lifted my mug to my lips and took a long drink of coffee. The warmth spread down my throat and all through my body as my family laughed. They all knew I loved coffee, but after staring down the barrel of a gun, I really needed a strong cup of coffee. The warmth helped as I realized my fingers were half frozen from being out in the field for so long.

  As I ate, Mandy brought out donuts and coffee for everyone. I made a mental note to pay her for all of this later on. Once I felt full of caffeine and sugar, I told them the entire story of finding out Candy was the murderer, from picking her up at her house and discovering the dent on her car to driving the tractor for her to her admitting the truth right before the police showed up. When I got to the end of my story, my mother chuckled a little as she raised her hand slightly into the air.

  "I have a question," she said as the group tittered. "How did the police and Mandy know you were in danger?"

  "I think Mandy should answer that while I have another donut," I said.

  I grabbed another donut and took a big bite. Tomorrow I'd go back to try to limit the amount of donuts I eat daily. But today I faced down death and I was going to eat as many donuts as I wanted to. Mandy came over with a carafe of coffee and filled my cup.

  "Tessa sent me a text message that just said In danger. Get police. Field," Mandy said. "I've known Tessa long enough to know that she wasn't joking around. Thankfully, Max was actually here in the shop having a donut, so I was able to show him the message and get him out there just in the nick of time."

  "Okay, just one more question," a voice in the back said. I had been so preoccupied up until this point that I hadn't noticed the bush of red hair in the back of the crowd. As Chelsea spoke, the crowd parted to let her through. Judging by her pen and notepad, she had been writing down everything I had said.

  "Chelsea, this isn't a press conference," I said as I rolled my eyes. "But I suppose you can write about this."

  "When in the world did you manage to send a message to Mandy?" she asked. The way Chelsea was asking was making it sound like she thought I was lying. I hoped she didn't sound like this at any of her other interviews. "After you picked up Candy, you were driving and then you said that she almost immediately took your phone. So when were you able to send that message?"

  I thought back to earlier that afternoon. I had started to have the gut feeling that something was wrong as soon as I pulled up to pick up Candy. Even before I saw the dented car or even talked to Candy, the pit of my stomach had an odd feeling that I just couldn't shake. So as I was bent down pretending I was looking at the headlights, I quickly made a draft text message to Mandy, but didn't send it until we got to the field. I had just enough time as Candy walked around the car to hit send and get the message to Mandy.

  "I guess we all know what we'll see on the front page of the paper tomorrow," my brother Teddy joked. Everyone laughed as Chelsea blushed.

  "Okay everyone, press conference over," I said before taking another big bite of donut.

  Everyone laughed and started milling around again. I stood up and walked over to Chelsea as I chewed up the bite I had just taken. She was hurriedly packing up her bag, but I managed to catch her by the elbow.

  "Hey, you're only going to hear me say this once," I said. "But you do a great job reporting at the paper. I'm glad you are the one who will be writing this story."

  Chelsea smiled at me. Her shoulders relaxed and she stopped shoving things into her backpack.

  "Thanks Tess," she said. "And you'll only hear me say this once. You did a great job solving this murder and I'm glad you gave me something exciting to write about for once."

  I smiled at her one more time before I felt a large arm wrap itself around my waist. I turned around to find myself face to face with Max.

  "Hello Officer Marcus," I said. "I bet it isn't often that you come to the aid of a damsel in distress."

  Max laughed and pulled me close to him.

  "Stop teasing," he said quietly. "You aren't a damsel in distress. You just forgot to bring a gun to the fight apparently."

  He leaned down and gave me a quick peck on the lips. Normally a peck on the lips would seem so ordinary and common place, but today it was the most romantic gesture in the world, especially considering that Max was still technically on duty.

  "Now I have to report back to duty," Max said as he walked away. "Something about an extraordinary woman citizen solving a murder this morning I have to go deal with."

  Max pushed the front door open and glanced back over his shoulder, throwing me a beaming smile. I smiled back before noticing the clock above the door. My heart leapt into my throat as I realized there were only a few hours left until the Halloween Hayride started.

  I found the nearest chair and stood up on top of it. As I cleared my throat, everyone looked up at me.

  "Attention everyone," I said with my hands cupped around my mouth. "As it appears none of you have anything better to do this afternoon, I am signing you all up for the Halloween Hayride set-up crew which is going to be meeting as soon as we all drive out to the field. So, if you have a small car, please meet me at the field. If you have a large vehicle, please go to my house to load up with stuff. Thank you."

  Once again, the crowd laughed, but I was pleased to hear them making plans about who was riding in which car as they made their way out the door.

  "I've got to hand it to you. You have done a good job taking over the Halloween Hayride."

  I turned around to see Ronald standing with his hands in his pockets. Melinda was scowling next to him. Together, they looked like they should be in a children's book about opposites. I ran over and gave him a big squeeze.

  "I'm so glad to see you," I said happily. "But I'm going to come right out and ask you because I just have t
o know: if the watch I found was Candy's, where in the world is your watch?"

  Ronald looked around nervously. He seemed to be making sure that Melinda was out of earshot before he leaned forward and whispered to me.

  "That night I was supposed to go to the gym and walk on the track for some exercise," Ronald said. "Instead, Earl made me so mad that I drove to the truck stop and bought a giant jelly donut. When I took the first bite, jelly squirted out all over my watch and I couldn't clean it off. I didn't want Mellie to know about the donut, so I hid it from her. I couldn't say what happened to it because otherwise Mellie would know. I didn't want to disappoint her because I'm trying so hard."

  "I'm just glad they let you out in time for the Hayride," I said. I knew the secret of the watch had something to do with Melinda. I was just glad to hear it had to do with a jelly donut, no matter how ridiculous that may be.

  "Me too, but it appears they didn't have to," Ronald said, his eyes twinkling. "You've done a fine job of making sure it still goes on as planned. And you've shown me that maybe I can loosen my grip on some of the town's traditions so others have a chance to step up and take over. But mostly, I just wanted to say thank you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I will meet you at the field."

  I smiled at him as he turned to walk away. After he was out of hearing range, Melinda grabbed my sleeve with her claw like hand. I was about to protest when she spoke.

  "Thank you," she said. "I know everyone thinks I'm never happy, but the one thing that always makes me happy is Ronald. I'm forever indebted to you for getting him out of jail."

  Before I could say anything, Melinda was gone. She trailed behind in Ronald's wake as they exited the Donut Hut. I knew she would be scowling out at the Halloween Hayride field soon. And now I knew why she was always with Ronald, even if she did have a sour look on her face the entire time.

  Chapter 35

  The first couple of loads of hayride people had already been driven through the course, so I was finally able to relax a little bit. It could take a while for everything and everyone to get into a good groove, but so far they'd had all happy customers.