by Cia Leah
Thankful for that, Krista was about to turn away from the window when she saw a delivery truck drive up. She laughed when the driver got out with a box. He was dressed like a skeleton and had a skull hat on.
Heeding Dan’s warning not to open the door to anyone, she stayed where she was and watched as the man left the package on the front door step. After he left, she saw no reason not to go out and get it and bring it in for him.
Krista opened the door, walked to pick up the box, and stared in shock at the picture painted on the top of it. It was a skeleton and her picture was taped beside it, and beside that was a picture of a smoking gun. “Oh God,” she cried, just as a shot rang out and the bullet whizzed by her ear to lodge in the siding of the house.
She raced back into the house and slammed the door, locked it, and felt her heart pound fiercely in her chest. Inhaling deeply, she ran to the phone, picked up the receiver, and dialed before lifting it to her ear. It was dead. She tired again, but to no avail.
When she heard footsteps on the floor above her, her blood ran cold. Someone was in the house, but how was that possible? How could anyone have shot at her a moment ago and then be in the house already?
“Think, Krista,” she whispered, remembering Dan had a CB radio in his den. She rushed inside, shut and locked the door, and walked over to his desk where he kept it.
She turned it on and turned the knob to channel 9. She knew that Dan’s office always monitored their CB radio in the office. “Dan, if you’re there, I need help. Someone shot at me and is in the house! Please tell me you’re there!”
“Krista?” She heard his voice come over the radio.
“Dan help me!”
“Listen, there’s a gun in the drawer of the desk. A handgun. Get it and click off the safety and use it if you have to. I’m on my way!”
Krista opened the desk drawer and saw the gun lying there. She gulped back the bile that rose in her throat just at the thought of having to pick it up. She had never been one for violence and she didn’t think she’d have the heart to kill anyone if she had to no matter what, but maybe just holding it for appearances sakes would make whoever was in the house leave. They didn’t know she wouldn’t use it.
Moving towards the door, she listened. There was no sound now that she could discern. An unearthly quiet that was suddenly shattered by the sound of music broke the deathly stillness.
Krista jumped and gripped the gun tightly. She hadn’t turned off the safety, but the screams that met her ears made her want to turn it off and start shooting. It was a boy’s screams and she turned her head a little to hear them better by. “Oh no,” Krista whispered. Hank. God don’t let those screams be Hank’s. She couldn’t bear it if he were being hurt.
Undecided what to do, Krista was about to open the door and bravely face whoever was in the house with gun aimed, but Dan’s voice boomed above the music.
“Krista! Where the hell are you?”
Krista yanked open the den door and rushed out into the living room. “Here Dan,” she cried, as he stood in the doorway, gun aimed.
“Are you all right?” He asked, moving up beside her.
“Yes, but someone was up there and those screams. They sound like Hank!”
“Stay behind me, Krista and do what I tell you. I have a couple men checking out around the house and I want you close so I can protect you.”
Krista followed Dan up the stairs, feeling protected since his body definitely overshadowed her petite one. As they stepped onto the landing, Dan moved towards the bathroom where the inhumane screams were coming from. He charged inside gun in hand as she hovered just on the other side of the door, waiting to hear gunfire, but nothing happened and suddenly the screams stopped and Dan came back out.
“There’s no one inside, but my ladder is up to the window. Stay right where you are while I check out the rest of the rooms.”
Krista waited and when Dan returned, gun in holster, she inhaled a deep breath. “All clear? No one’s here?”
“Not now, but they were.”
“Hank’s not there? He’s not hurt?”
“No. Someone had a tape player plugged in and that’s where those screams were coming from. You think they were Hank’s?”
She nodded. “Yes,” she said, handing him his gun that she still gripped tightly in her hand.”
“Come on, I’ll have one of my men stay here and watch the house while we go check out Hank’s place and make sure he’s all right.”
Krista walked with him outside and saw the box still sitting there. “A delivery truck delivered this and I came out to bring it inside for you when someone shot at me. There’s a painting of a skeleton and a picture of me beside it.”
“And the smoking gun beside it,” Dan said, kneeling down to inspect the plain brown paper wrapped box.
Krista watched as he picked it up and turned it over.
“Reiker!” Dan yelled.
Krista watched as an officer stepped from the side of the house.
“Yes Chief?”
“Let’s find out what’s in this thing.”
“Yes, Chief.”
“You think it’s anything we need to worry about as far as explosives?”
“Don’t think so.”
“Well Reiker here is our expert and he doesn’t think so, so we’ll just open it and see,” he said, tearing off the tape that held it together. When he lifted the lid, he reached inside and pulled out a costume along with a note.
“What does the note say?” Krista moved closer.
“It says Happy Halloween, Halloween Lady. Wear this at midnight on Halloween’s Eve this eve and I’ll make sure to kill you then and a skeleton you’ll become.”
Krista shook her head. “Who is doing this and why? This is more than a practical Halloween joke. This person means to kill me!”
“Yes, he does, but I won’t let him. Reiker put that box in the back of the cruiser. We’re going to Hank’s to see if he is all right. Make sure the house is safe while we’re gone.”
“Right, Chief.”
Krista got into the car and waited for Dan to get in the driver’s side. She’d spent more time in a police car in the past couple days than she had her whole life and she sure didn’t want to make a habit of it. “Do you think Hank is all right?”
“I’m hoping he is. That kid has had a hard enough time without someone trying to kill him or hurt him. He’s also a great kid too.”
“Yes he is. I was going to pay him for helping out at the Halloween events this week, but with Gene’s death…”
“Krista, Gene’s death is not your fault. I know what you are thinking and the only one responsible for his death is the killer and I plan on getting him and locking him up for it too and I will not let you get hurt.”
Krista smiled at him as they turned into Hank’s driveway and she saw Hank sitting on the front step looking through a box of stuff. She got out and walked over to him. “Hi Hank.”
“Ms. Krista!” He cried, standing up and smiling.
“I’m happy to see you’re all right. I thought maybe you were hurt or something,” she said, as Dan walked up to them.
“Oh, you mean the tape of me screaming! Wasn’t that something? Some skeleton came and asked me to do that and he paid me ten dollars and gave me this box of costumes! Hi Chief!”
Dan smiled at Hank. “You can call me Dan, Hank. You say someone came here and paid you to make that tape?”
“Yeah. He said it was a surprise for Ms. Krista and just a silly old Halloween prank that she would get a kick out of. Since it was for her, I couldn’t refuse.”
“Do you know who it was that paid you to do that? ‘
“No because he was dressed in his Halloween suit already and his voice sounded muffled. Almost like he had cotton in his mouth or something. He looked scary!”
Krista smiled at Hank. “You did a good job on the tape, Hank. It really scared me to think you might be hurt.”
“So I did real goo
d?”
“Yes, you did really good. Since the man was in his costume and you couldn’t see his face, can you tell me what color his eyes were?”
“Oh yeah, they were blue.”
“Dark blue or light blue?”
“Yeah dark blue like Mr. Warren’s eyes.”
Krista looked at Dan and saw him grin. “Thanks Hank and we appreciate all your help. Will you be going to the fire hall tonight for the party?”
“Yeah, the skeleton told me to go there. He said I’d have a good time with all the other kids.”
“Then you do that ok?”
“Sure Ms. Krista. Will you be there too?”
“I might be, but if I’m not, don’t you worry about it and you have a good time okay?”
“I will cause you told me too Ms. Krista. Happy Halloween!”
“Happy Halloween Hank,” she said, and turned and walked back to the cruiser with Dan. Once they were inside, she turned to Dan. “It’s Bret Warren.”
“Yeah, I know, but the question is why?”
“Well, let’s go find out,” Krista said, as Dan got on his radio and told one of his officer’s to meet him at Bret’s house. She knew without a doubt that Bret was behind this, but for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why and why he would kill Gene.
***
Krista sat straighter in the seat when they arrived at Bret’s house. It was on the outskirts of town and quite a beautiful place. Well kept lawns, a brick ranch type home, and his sports car sat in the drive in front of the garage.
When they got out of the car and walked up the walkway to the front door, Krista froze. Standing right inside the open door was Bret, gun in hand, and aimed at Dan’s heart.
“Don’t move, Dan, or I’ll kill you too. It doesn’t matter to me since all she could ever think about was you. Guess a uniform is a way to a woman’s heart.”
“Put the gun down, Bret. It’s over. Hank told us what you had him do.”
“That stupid kid didn’t know who I was!”
“No, but he was smart enough to know your eye color and that helped us put two and two together.”
“I should have just killed him and got it over with, just like I did Gene when he came up on me when I was trying to cut the brake line on Krista’s car. If it weren’t for his interference, she’d already be dead and no one any the wiser!
Krista stepped in front of Dan and when he reached to shove her back behind him, she faced Bret with chin raised and a deadly gleam in her eyes. “Why do you want me dead?”
Bret laughed. “You really don’t know, do you?”
“No.”
“How many times have I let you know I was interested in you? How many times have I helped you out with these affairs, never once asking for payment of any kind? All I ever wanted was a little attention from you and all you did was ignore me. Stuck that pretty, little nose up in the air as if I were beneath you and looked at me as if I had the plague. What is wrong with me except that I don’t wear a uniform? Well how do you like my skeleton one? Since you are Miss high and mighty Holiday Queen of Deadly, you may as well be dead for all the good it did me!”
“You want to kill me because I’m not romantically inclined towards you? That’s crazy!”
“Oh, you want to talk about crazy? You want to talk about how crazy you are to waste your time in this dead little town where people only want to have a good time on holidays but never want to do anything to help? I could have taken you away from all that!”
“I don’t want taken away from it. I love it here and the people.”
“You don’t know how much I love you and I was hoping that you would change your mind this year at the Halloween Song Fest, but when I tried, you just ignored me. Well you can’t ignore me any longer and it’s time that I made your favorite holiday your last!”
Krista saw him raise the gun, felt Dan shove her out of the way, and heard the blast of gunfire and then quietness ensued. She pushed up to find Bret lying in a pool of blood and Dan clutching his shoulder. “Dan!” She cried, scrambling over to him on her knees. “He shot you!”
“I’m fine, Krista, honey. Are you alright?”
“Yes,” she said, feeling tears fall freely down her cheeks, as sirens sounded in the distance.
“About damn time help got here!” Dan hissed, falling back onto the sidewalk.
“Don’t you die on me Dan!” Krista cried, as two officers ran up the sidewalk.
“Don’t you worry about that. It’s just a flesh wound I think and I plan on taking you to the Halloween party at the fire hall.”
Krista leaned down and kissed him lightly, then moved out of the way as the officers came to kneel down beside him and check his wound. She listened as one called an ambulance and knew that Dan’s wound was worse than what he thought.
Time seemed to stand still until the ambulance finally came and Krista realized just how much Dan meant to her. She loved him and there was no mistaking the feeling that swamped her heart and soul and she knew she couldn’t bear it if she lost him.
As they carried him to the ambulance, put him inside, and started an IV, she stood and watched. When they were about to close the doors, she heard his voice boom with authority. “Hey, I’m not going anywhere without my gal. This is our night! It’s Halloween’s Eve and no matter what, we’re going to celebrate this holiday!”
Krista laughed and jumped up into the ambulance and sat down beside him. “This is one Halloween that I will settle just being with you. I’ve had my fill of ghosts and goblins and especially skeletons!”
“Will you marry me, Krista?”
“Yes!”
“Then this is the best Halloween treat I’ve ever received!”
“Me too,” she cried, and leaned down and kissed him. “Happy Halloween, my love.”
The End
