The Pumpkin Killer: A Bakery Detectives Cozy Mystery

by Stacey Alabaster

  I scrambled for a phone, almost dropping it with my trembling hands.

  There were a ton of texts from Pippa, but the most recent one stood out.

  "I'm in labor, Rachael. The ambulance is on its way."

  I stood outside the hospital room clutching the bouquet of flowers and the balloons I'd gotten from the gift shop. They seemed so trifling and insufficient. How could I ever apologize for not being there when she had needed me the most? How could I ever explain where I had been during that time? If the Belldale Halloween Murderer didn't get to me first, Pippa was going to kill me and string me upside down from a tree.

  She is going to be furious with me.

  I took a deep breath and stepped inside. "Pippa, I-I--"

  I stopped dead in my tracks, transfixed by the tiny pink baby in Pippa's arms. This wasn't about me. I didn't matter at all.

  When I saw the baby in Pippa's arms, and then the look on her face, I realized that being angry with me was the last thing on her mind. I was insignificant in that moment. Everything was.

  "This is Lolly," Pippa said, her eyes shining with tears of happiness and the widest grin I had ever seen spread across her face. "Short for Louise. But I am never going to call her that. She just looks like a Lolly, doesn't she?"

  I tiptoed over to the bed in awe and placed my gifts down on the table beside her.

  "She's beautiful, Pippa. She looks just like you. Well, except that she has normal-colored hair," I said, looking at the blonde wisps on Lolly's tiny head.

  Pippa let out a laugh. "She's not allowed to dye her hair until she’s at least eighteen. She's just so perfect, isn't she?"

  "She is, Pippa."

  Pippa finally pulled her eyes away from her newborn to look at me. "I'm really glad you're here, Rachael," she said sleepily. "I was getting worried about you."

  "I'm so sorry," I said, climbing up on the bed beside her, teetering on the edge of the small mattress. "My phone died, Pippa."

  "It's okay," she said. Nothing could wipe the grin from her face in that moment. "It really doesn't matter now."

  "I want to explain, though. After our fight, I foolishly went to see someone." I'd been all gung ho on coming clean with her, but now that I was actually trying to say the words, my throat was closing up. How was she going to react when I told her I'd gone to visit one of our top suspects?

  "I've been hanging around with Kenneth."

  "You've been doing what?" Pippa's mouth was wide open. For a moment, she forgot about the infant in her arms. "For a second there, I thought you were talking about that cake decorator with the tattoos. You know, the one we suspect of being a serial killer. But then I realized that was crazy and you would never do such a stupid thing. So you must be taking about a different Kenneth."

  Her face was set in stone as my silence clearly told her I wasn't talking about a different Kenneth. I was talking about Serial Killer Kenneth. I mean, Cake Decorator Kenneth. That was all I knew about him for certain.

  "Rachael, have you completely lost your mind? I thought you were supposed to be the sensible one?"

  A nurse who had overheard her yelling from the corridor cast us a strict look. Great. I was going to be kicked out of two buildings in one day, if I wasn't careful.

  "Just listen. I had my reasons."

  "For hanging out with a killer?"

  "He's not a killer," I said carefully. Maybe it was better that I tread carefully when revealing what I had discovered in Kenneth's study. "He's more like an amateur detective. Like you and I are."

  "Uh-huh." Pippa glared at me with the newborn in her arms. "The Pumpkin Killer would HAVE to be a good detective, Rachael. Otherwise, he wouldn't know exactly how to recreate the original crimes." Her eyes changed from anger to fear.

  "What is it?" I whispered.

  "It's just that I don't want to freak you out, okay?" Pippa lowered her voice and pulled Lolly closer to her.

  "Well, you already are."

  "It's just... If this killer really is recreating events... Well, the next killing..." She paused dramatically. "It’s gonna happen tonight."

  My heart stopped for a second. Thank goodness I hadn't known that ahead of time, before I'd come home to find our apartment empty and Pippa missing. Or before I'd been caught in Kenneth's study. I shivered.

  "What happened?" Pippa asked. "You didn't actually go to his home, did you?"

  I tried to sidestep the question. "He wanted to tell me what he'd discovered. That's all." Why was I in such a hurry to defend the guy? I was still teetering on the side of Pippa's hospital bed, trying not to slip and fall to the ground.

  A nurse came in, watching me carefully as she took Lolly. "It's time for her to go to the nursery for a quick check-up. I’ll bring her back in a few minutes."

  Pippa was almost in tears over the separation and took a full five minutes saying goodbye and kissing Lolly on the head while I awkwardly kept out of the way.

  "Oh, it's so hard, isn't it?" Pippa asked, leaning her head back against the pillow. "What am I going to do when she leaves for college?"

  "I think you might be getting slightly ahead of yourself there," I said reassuringly.

  After a few moments of pouting and sighing—and me wondering if I should leave to let her get some rest—Pippa returned to the topic of conversation. "If it's research and facts you want, then I'm the girl you should be seeing." Pippa pouted. "I know you don't want to admit anything I say is right, but I AM the expert on this case. And I'd be offended if you were listening to some random baker over me!"

  I sighed and nodded. "You're right." I smiled at her. "Tell me what you know. If you have the energy right now, that is."

  She sat up straighter. "I always have the energy for the paranormal."

  She really was dedicated. An hour after giving birth and she was right back into it. Maybe things between us weren't going to change so dramatically after all. Maybe we'd still work at the bakery together, still solve mysteries together, and Lolly would simply tag along.

  Pippa had newfound excitement and enthusiasm in her eyes as she spoke. "You know how the original killer was never found, right?"

  "Right."

  "They only had suspects. Not one of them ever confirmed. In fact, there were no actual eyewitness accounts of the killer, ever."

  "So what was he, a ghost?"

  Pippa let out a low laugh. "No. Well, who can really be certain. But there was one suspected sighting of him, of a strange figure walking away from the second crime scene, by an eyewitness. It's all in that book I borrowed out."

  "What happened?"

  "After the second killing, a witness told the police that they spotted a very strange figure walking away from the park." Her eyes had that same glint of fear in them again. "You know how they nicknamed him the Pumpkin Killer?"

  "Yes, because he put pumpkins over the heads of his victims."

  Pippa shook her head. "No, that's not the only reason they called him the Pumpkin Killer."

  "What other reason could there be?"

  She lowered her voice and looked very scared as she explained. "The strange figure they saw, fleeing the park. He was wearing a pumpkin over his own head."

  Chapter 10

  "I have to go," I said, standing up and pulling on my scarf. "I think visiting hours are almost up, anyway."

  "Rachael, what is the real reason?"

  To warn Kenneth again. To let him know that the next killing is scheduled for tonight.

  But maybe he already knew.

  I was just turning to leave when someone walked through the door.

  Uh-oh, I thought, staring at the figure there. She was holding the same sorry bouquet and balloons that I'd come in with half an hour earlier.

  "Tegan?" Pippa's mouth fell open. "What on earth are you doing here?" From her tone, it was clear that Tegan was anything but welcome.

  Ha. So, it seemed that Pippa COULD be mad with someone in her moment of joy. I was just glad it was Tegan on the receiving end of P
ippa's wrath and not me. I wasn't sure whether I still wanted to leave or whether I wanted to stay and witness their showdown.

  "I just wanted to come and congratulate you," Tegan said, gingerly entering the room. "I bought you some presents." She saw my own gifts in the corner and stopped, turning red.

  "Yeah, well, it's a day late and a dollar short." Pippa crossed her arms and turned her face away.

  "Where is your baby?" Tegan asked, looking around the room.

  "She's gone," Pippa said childishly. "She doesn't like being around traitors." Yes, it was immature, but I had to bite my tongue trying not to laugh.

  Tegan let out a heavy sigh. "Pippa, this is not the time to be holding grudges. You've just brought new life into the world. Can't we give our friendship some new life?"

  Barf.

  "Pippa, I'm truly sorry for our argument."

  I tried to look away, tried not to listen during their awkward moment, but it was a very small room. All I could do was turn my face away a little and stare at the wall. I could still hear everything. And I wasn't all that sorry about it.

  It also didn't sound like Tegan was truly sorry. The more Pippa ignored her apologies, the angrier Tegan grew.

  "You took advantage of the situation, Pippa! You know I've been trying to get my tours off the ground. Grow my business. But I can only do that if I am known as being the top paranormal expert in Belldale. You swooped in and undermined my authority."

  Pippa let out the loudest scoff. "It's not my fault you didn't know about one of the biggest murder mysteries this town had ever known." I caught her crossing her arms out of the corner of my eye. "You would think the so-called premier expert would know about that."

  Uh-oh. It was about to turn ugly. That was truly my cue to leave. I didn't want to get in the middle of a hospital brawl with a new mother.

  "I think I'm going to take off!" I said, grabbing my coat. "I'll leave you to rest," I said to Pippa, giving her a kiss on the forehead.

  Cleary, Tegan had no intention of leaving Pippa to rest. Ha. I really was the better friend to her. I'd always suspected I was. Now it was just confirmed.

  It was still two days away from Halloween. So far, we'd failed at our task of 'saving Halloween.' The town was still on total, though unofficial, lockdown and I'd barely seen any Halloween parties taking place, or gotten invites to any. Then again, maybe I was just really unpopular and they were happening in secret without me.

  Still, even with the streets deserted, I drove down the roads slowly and carefully due to the rain and hail, keeping both hands on the steering wheel.

  The park was approaching. Even though it wasn't possible to drive right through it, I was getting close enough to be able to see the elm tree where the body had been found hanging.

  There was a person walking along the road up ahead, right on the outskirts of the park, with the elm tree to the right of both of us.

  That's strange, I thought, to actually see someone outside, on the street, in this town at this time of night. I realized how long it had been since I'd seen someone casually walking outside in Belldale.

  The sun was setting so I had my headlights on, and I slowed a little more just to make sure I didn't hit him—he was walking perilously close to the road. Was he aware just how close to the road he was?

  I almost honked my horn at him to get out of the way when my headlights reached him and I saw...

  I almost slammed on the brakes in shock.

  He was wearing a pumpkin on his head.

  I'd only managed to get back into the hospital wing by claiming I was Pippa's sister and that it was an emergency.

  And, really, it was. There was no way I was about to go home to an empty house after what I'd just seen.

  I barged back into Pippa's room. "Where's Tegan?" I asked breathlessly. The one time you actually need her, she's no where to be found.

  "Gone, thank goodness," Pippa said. "She was kind of ruining a precious moment in my life here."

  I just looked at her in distress. "Well, I'm sorry, but I'm about to ruin it even further," I said.

  "What do you mean?"

  I was too wound up to sit so I paced back and forth, my coat and scarf still on. "He was wearing a pumpkin..." was all I could manage to say through my heaving breaths. "A man...a man...walking along the side of the road...wearing a pumpkin over his head."

  "Okay, slow down and breathe. Relax, it's okay." Pippa stopped and laughed. "Funny, a bunch of nurses and midwives were telling me to do that a few hours ago. I didn't want to listen to them either."

  "Okay, Pippa, I am officially freaked out. I admit it." I turned and stared at her. "I think you were right all along."

  "Of course I was right all along," Pippa said, sitting up straight in her bed with her hospital gown on. But she didn't seem triumphant, which surprised me. She looked scared out of her mind.

  "Are you sure you really saw it?" Pippa asked, slinking back down into her hospital bed. "I mean, it's pretty dark out, and it's raining...and you've got a lot on your mind."

  "I wasn't imagining it, Pippa!"

  "Maybe it was a ghost."

  Oh, boy.

  "Pippa, I'm finally standing here in front of you, swallowing my pride, admitting that you were right." I held my palms out in a show of surrender. "Now is the time I actually need you."

  "Need me to do what?"

  I stepped towards the hospital bed. "So, this guy exists. There truly is a copycat killer out there. And he is about to strike again. Now. Tonight. So what do we do to stop this guy?"

  Pippa shook her head. "I don't think there is anything we can do to stop him," she whispered. "I think all we can do is hide." She pulled the blanket up over her head and didn't come back out.

  Hiding didn't work for me, though. This was an emergency. If someone else was about to die, I had to do everything in my power to stop it.

  Starting with warning the next victim.

  Kenneth wasn't picking up his phone, though. Great, he was probably still mad at me for snooping around on his computer. Didn't he realize there were far more serious things to worry about now? Like, his life? I texted him. "Let me know that you are okay. And stay inside. Don't leave the house. And that knife under you pillow might not be such a bad idea."

  I texted him again. "Actually. Forget all that. Can you meet me?" I had to put away my dignity, my preference for playing hard to get, at times like these.

  I sat in my car in the hospital parking lot for ten minutes waiting for a reply. But none came. He was really icing me out.

  But if I didn't have Kenneth on my side, and Pippa was stuck in a hospital bed, who else did I have to turn to?

  I only had one other option, and I really, really didn't want to take it.

  I inhaled a lungful of air before I pushed through the doors of the Belldale Police Station. It was eerily quiet inside. Maybe even the criminals were too scared to go outside these days.

  Well, some of them at least.

  "Can I speak with Detective Jackson Whitaker?" I asked the receptionist. I was relieved to hear that he was in and that I wouldn't have to try him on his cell phone.

  My heart fluttered a little when he walked into the bull pen where I was waiting. It had been ages since I'd last seen him, aside from that brief glimpse the night of the haunted town tour. He was still as handsome as ever, probably more so.

  Was he better looking than Kenneth?

  "Rachael," he said with concern, fidgeting with the buttons of his jacket. "Is everything all right?"

  Yeah, everything is great, that's why I'm in a police station at night.

  I shook my head. "Come into my office," Jackson said.

  For just a few seconds, sitting in that well lit office in the middle of a police station, I felt safe. For just a moment, my fears seemed awfully silly. But I knew it was all an illusion. The instant I walked out the doors, the fear would return. The risk would return.

  I was going to have to tell Jackson what I'd seen, even
if he laughed right in my face.

  "I saw something very strange down by the park this evening," I said. "Well, more like a someone who was very strange. I just thought you should to know."

  Jackson tapped a pen against the desk and interrupted me. "If you're talking about some weird guy with a pumpkin over his head, we've already dealt with him."

  I was actually a little flabbergasted. "I, er… What do you mean dealt with him?" I asked, a little confused.

  "We picked him up for walking along the road while intoxicated. Wasn't hard to spot, considering there's no one else around and about tonight. He was heading toward a Halloween party," Jackson explained, shaking his head. "There are hundreds of cases like that every Halloween. It's usually our busiest time of the year. Not in a good way."

  "But not this year?" I asked.

  He shrugged. "There aren't as many parties this year. Not as many people out and about, either."

  I scratched my face a little, thinking over it all. The wind had kind of gone out of my sails. I should have been ecstatic to hear that it was just some drunk dude heading to a party. So why didn't I feel happy? "Did you ask him any questions?" I asked.

  Jackson sighed wearily. "Questions about what, Rachael?"

  "Just...questions," I said. "Was he carrying any weapons on him?"

  Jackson raised his eyebrows. "Don't tell me you've bought into all this nonsense."

  "It can't hurt to be safe."

  "Believe me, we're doing everything we can to find out who killed Oscar Malone."

  I tried to bite my tongue, but I'd been doing it so much lately that I couldn't. The words came tumbling out. "And have you actually found anything? Or are you just as incompetent as the cops were a hundred years ago."

  Jackson tilted his head to the side and shuffled a stack of papers. "I'm going to assume you are tired and worried and cut you some slack for that remark."

  I let out a long, frustrated sigh before I stood up. "I suppose I'm not needed here then. I suppose everything is just hunky dory." I stared at Jackson. "I suppose I can just go home and sleep soundly in my bed tonight."