Jessie Delacroix_Fright Night at the Haunted Inn

by Constance Barker

  “Great. Constanta then.”

  Ginny passed around the warm pastries, and we all ate silently as we walked to the tall pine trees. In just a few minutes we had arrived, and the morning sun was there to greet us.

  “Nice!” Leo had a big smile on his face. “I was getting ready to dive into the shadows to avoid the direct sun, but – I don’t have to any more! I’m human! Boy, do those rays feel good!”

  “Well, we’re here, but I don’t really know how this pine tree transport system works.” I was hoping some divine inspiration would tell me what to do. Instead, it was Anika who told me.

  Moondance grew into Anika right in front of us. “I’ve done this a few times, but…”

  “I was with Colonel Tramador when we followed you and Leo…and Kaya…to the Inn.” Lilianna stepped up and took charge. “He spotted you and Kaya in a café in Vienna, Leo, and he brought me and the others back to help capture her. I guess I was supposed to convince Kaya to come back to him – though of course, I would never have done that. Then we followed you along the street, and the moon came up much earlier than she expected – before sunset – and she changed. He had me heavily drugged and restrained. And then you know the rest.”

  “Yes,” Leo said. “He snuck up behind us and slapped a handcuff on her wrist as soon as he saw the claws begin to grow. He said she was no longer a human being – because he would never hunt a human being.” He shook his head in disgust. “She was an animal, so he could take her. But she broke loose, and I threw some of his men onto the roof of the buildings next to us, revealing my vampire strength.”

  “I think that’s about when I bopped in.” Anika popped the last bite of her donut into her mouth. “I kept one foot outside the doorway to the wormhole in the basement of the Inn and just pulled you and Kaya through. The wormhole closed, so I really didn’t know how Tramador got to Whispering Pines or how he tracked us.”

  “He time traveled a lot looking for…freaks like me, Anika. And he had heard stories about you and Gus living in the supernatural hub of the whole Aldebaran Sea.”

  I had heard that name before. Aldebaran is the big red star that is the eye of the bull in the Taurus constellation. And the Aldebaran Sea is the sector of space that includes earth, and it is governed by my father from the planet Mikos, near that star. And Whispering Pines is the supernatural hub of that whole sector? I knew it was a special place, but I had no idea.

  “Well, let’s get this show on the road, folks. It’s time for all of us to get home. How do we do this, Lilianna?”

  Anika was right to be in a hurry. We still had a murder to solve in Whispering Pines.

  “I hope we get to climb to the top of one of the hundred-foot trees!”

  Ginny was excited about that idea, but Anika and I just looked at her like she was…unique.

  “The tallest tree is for the present day in the natural timeline,” Lilianna said, pointing to a tree a short distance from us. “But first, Leo and I will use this tree to get to Romania in our present day, which is 1886.”

  They got on opposite sides of the tree and held hands around the trunk.

  “We will simply think of the time and place we want to be, and within twenty minutes we should be in the pine forest that is part of the network and closest to Constanta, Romania. It’s faster if we climb to the top, but I’ve been up enough trees lately, and it’s very hard when I’m a girl and not a strong animal.”

  Anika melted away into the black cat, and then Moondance immediately took the human form of Indy. “I’ll see you soon, brother. I know you will do well.” He hugged Leo and then Lilianna.

  “Well, I’m not so sure if we will do well, but we will do well enough.”

  “Don’t forget, Leo, I am from a hundred and thirty years further into the future than you, When I say I know you will do well, it is because I already know it to be a fact. Godspeed.”

  They shared a lingering handshake, and then the couple joined hands around the tree again.

  Twenty minutes seemed to be a long time to wait for the magic to happen, I thought. “You two should just go to Constanta in 1886 right now, find a beautiful home to share, and have a wonderful, fulfilling, and fruitful life.”

  Lilianna began to open her mouth to speak as I scratched my neck, touching the golden star-shaped birthmarks above my collar. There was actually a popping sound as the two disappeared into a different time and place. I guess my wishful sentiments were granted on the spot.

  “Well, since we have a goddess here, I don’t think we need these trees at all.” Indy looked at me with a smile as he shrunk back into Moondance. “Take us home, Jessie.”

  I did.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I wasn’t sure what time it would be when we got back to the Inn, so I made sure that when we arrived in Whispering Pines we landed inside my carriage house. It was just past midnight, so the grounds were quiet.

  “Girls only,” I told Moondance, and Anika and Ginny sat on the sofa.

  Arthur was asleep in the kitchen on his doggie bed, where he often took naps. At night he usually slept in the bed with me. He opened one eye and then sauntered over towards us in the living room.

  “Well, it’s about time you decided to come back home, Miss Queen of Sheba. I guess you just plain forgot you have an Inn and a Tea Room to run and a best friend who might miss you.”

  “Granny, have you been in Arthur this whole time? You know that’s just for special little…adventures.”

  “Don’t get your panties all bunched up, Jessie. Your mother and I fed him over at the Inn, but he was just too lonely to be by himself all night. Who knows what kind of mischief he would’ve got into. He might have chewed up that shoe collection of yours. Those twenty-five pairs must be worth nearly a hundred dollars.” Arthur laughed out loud at Granny’s joke – which wasn’t far from the truth.

  “Hey there, Granny! Is that you?”

  I swung my head towards Ginny quickly. I knew she could sense when Granny’s ghost was around in the kitchen, but she could never actually hear or communicate with her. And I made sure that our conversation was totally telepathic.

  “Ginny…how…?”

  “Oh, I think I’m just still high on a little of that magic you used to get us here, Jess. Plus the laugh gave it away. I always kinda figured that Granny was hitchin’ a ride with Arthur sometimes. But I can’t really tell what you guys are talking about.”

  “I can,” Anika told her. “You didn’t miss much.”

  “Well, you’re all welcome to sleep here. We’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

  “Yes, indeed we do.” Anika smiled and rubbed her hands together. “We’re going to solve that murder tomorrow – and I suspect it’s not going to turn out the way we had previously thought. I’ll just curl up in my immortal cat, which is the best kind of ageless beauty sleep. That way Arthur and Moondance can share the carpet by the couch, and you and Ginny can have the bed.”

  That sounded like a plan. We were all sound asleep ten minutes later.

  The activity began early around the Inn as soon as the sun came up. Ginny was the first one out, over at the Nirvana Tea Room cooking breakfast at the crack of dawn. Arthur and I followed a half hour later, after a nice hot shower for me and a bowl of medium-well sirloin scraps for him – Granny didn’t like raw or rare meat.

  The courtyard and lawn behind the Inn were still taped off, and I waved to Sheriff Muldoon and Audrey, who were talking back there. Anika and I made our way through the Tea Room to the kitchen, and Arthur headed for the lobby, where Granny came swooping out of him and into the kitchen through the wall behind the front desk.

  “Mornin’, Jess. I saw you coming so…” Ginny flipped two items off the grill and onto a plate for me. “…Here you go. I thought you might be tired of oatmeal, so I whipped you up a couple slices of cinnamon roll French toast.”

  “Mmm! Thanks, Ginny. It smells delicious.” I gladly took the plate and put a spoonful of some warm applesauc
e on it that Ginny had in a tin cup on the corner of the grill for one of her menu items. After all that festival food in Munich, I didn’t really need any sugary syrup.

  “And here’s a little somethin’ for you, Anika. I never know if I should make cat food or what when you’re around. Anyway, it’s a borscht omelet – actually just some marinated beets, parsnips, and cabbage folded inside the scrambled eggs with a dollop of sour cream on top.”

  Anika looked like she was going to get ill. “Thaaaanks, Ginny. This is great. I’d better head over to the pawnshop.”

  I had to smile. Actually, I figured she was going to slide it into Arthur’s dish in the lobby outside the back door of the kitchen. Instead, as she opened the door I saw her morph into old Gus. He grabbed a fork on the way out and took a big bite of Ginny’s creation. I think that was the first time I ever saw him eat.

  Lexi walked in through the swinging doors from the dining room in a cheerful mood. “Good morning! I hope you ladies enjoyed your day off yesterday. Fortunately, it was not busy at all, what with the horrible events on Fright Night and the courtyard still taped off.” Then in her mind I heard the unspoken portion of her statement: “But a little notice that you would both be MIA for a whole day would have been nice!” She gave a tight-lipped smile and grabbed a small box of coffee packets.

  “Sorry, Lex. Something important came up suddenly. I thought maybe Granny…er, Arthur might tell you…I mean…” I didn’t know what I meant.

  “Yes, well, I guess ghosts and dogs aren’t always that reliable. But no worries!” She started out the swinging doors and then turned around, but this time the snark and sarcasm were gone. “Oh…and Wally and Molly just came in. They seemed to be looking for you, Jessie.” Then she disappeared through the doors to make coffee.

  “Uh oh.” Ginny opened her eyes wide with a sheepish look. “They’re probably looking for me – to fire me! I didn’t show up last night or bake any pastries for them this morning. If they’re here, then the bakery must be closed.”

  “Oh, I doubt if they’re going to fire you, Ginny. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to them. Let me go and talk to them.”

  They were sitting at a small table by the window near the French Doors on the side of the Tea Room, sharing a pot of tea. They looked distressed and tired.

  “Hi, Molly…good morning, Wally.” I beamed as brightly as I could and pulled up a chair to sit with them. Look, it’s my fault…”

  “Hey, Jessie!” Wally smiled, though he was never one to show his teeth when he smiled at you. “I really look forward to the third Tuesday morning of the month!”

  I gave him a confused, puzzled look.

  Molly picked it up from there. “We get our ovens and vents professionally cleaned once a month, and it gives us a nice break to enjoy the morning like regular people.”

  Oh. Cool. “Well, if anyone deserves a break, it’s you two! You’ve been running that bakery seven days a week for…well, since before I was born. How long has it been, anyway?”

  Wally swallowed a gulp of tea to answer. “99 years.”

  I laughed. “Well, I’m sure it seems like forever to you when you’re working everyday.”

  Then Wally and Molly both turned towards me with blank but serious looks on their faces.

  “It will be 100 years next March 15.” Molly didn’t crack a smile or bat an eye when she told me, and then she casually stirred some honey into her tea and took a sip.

  “Jessie…” Wally said with an uncomfortable, almost pleading look, “We’ve waited for this day for a long time, and we have a favor to ask of you.”

  “Of course…anything. You’ve always been great to me, and my mom and Granny when they were still here too. Just ask.”

  “Good morning, Miss Delacroix.” Sheriff Muldoon’s deep voice gave me a bit of a start as he walked up behind me with Audrey at his side. He removed his hat and held it with both hands in front of him as he nodded at Wally and Molly. “I wonder if I might have a word with Mr. and Mrs. Pike here. We’re trying to wrap up our investigation.”

  Pike? I never knew that Wally and Molly had a last name. “Of course, Sheriff.” I stood up and pulled up another chair for Audrey. I’ve got some things to do to in the kitchen to get ready for lunch anyway. Wally, I’ll be around all day, so we’ll talk again soon, or this evening at the latest.”

  “Thank you, ma’am,” the Sheriff said as he pulled back the chair to make room for his long legs. “Oh…and my men are taking the tape down now. You’ll have your courtyard back in a few minutes.”

  That was good news. “Thank you, Sheriff.”

  Ginny had already figured out that it was the Tuesday morning when they cleaned the vents and ovens.

  “Yep, I guess I just plain lost track of what day it was, after being in France and Germany and all the things that happened there.”

  “That’s understandable, Gin. I have a hard enough time keeping track of the days under normal circumstances. I usually just figure it out by what special Carlo is serving.”

  Ginny snorted. “That reminds me. I should probably prep some of my New Orleans remoulade for his shrimp teacakes and alligator loaf. The goose is already in the oven for his entrée.” She looked out into the dining room through her pass-through window. “What in the world…?”

  I leaned over the grill and looked out. Sherriff Muldoon and Audrey were escorting Wally and Molly towards the front door. I was frozen, in shock.

  “You…you don’t think he’s arresting them for the Tramador case, do you, Ginny?”

  She leaned as far forward into the window as she could. “Well, they’re not handcuffed, but Matthew Muldoon really wants a rational explanation for a supernatural murder, Jessie. It sure looks like they’re suspects.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  We couldn’t let the Sheriff pin this thing on those two sweet people. I’d known Wally and Molly my whole life, and they certainly weren’t murderers. We had to solve this case and come up with an explanation the Sheriff could accept. The first thing I had to do was schedule a powwow with Anika and Ginny after lunch.

  “So, what do we know about this Tramador thing, you guys?” We were in the courtyard, which was pretty empty in the mid-afternoon sun. Ginny, Anika, and I were there, with Arthur and Granny panting in the shade under the table. “Let’s put everything we know together, and see if we can figure out exactly what happened, and what role, if any, Wally and Molly played.”

  Ginny scratched her head. “We really should have asked Lilianna more questions when we had the chance, but I think we all just assumed that she tore the Colonel apart and then felt badly about it when she laid his broken body on the lawn. And then when we met her at the revolution in France, none of us really wanted to grill her about it.”

  “I was already in France with Leo and Kaya when the whole thing with Tramador transpired, so I can’t really add anything about what happened.” Anika scratched her ankle and I noticed her leather moccasins. I wondered if those were the ones that Gus had made that she bought from him at Oktoberfest.

  I nodded. “Well, Wally told Kyle and Zach that there were two werewolves back there, and it sure did sound like there were two big beasts fighting in the trees.”

  “True…” Ginny rubbed her chin pensively. “…but Wally was back there with that big dog, so it could have been Lilianna fighting with the dog.”

  “The bark of the dog was a lot different from the howls and growls of those wolf creatures, Gin. And I didn’t hear the dog until right before he ran away, after Tramador’s arms and legs were already thrown out onto the lawn.”

  “Maybe Wally’s a werewolf.”

  “He can’t be.” I gave Ginny a grimace and shook my head. “He wouldn’t have come here walking a dog with a full moon on the rise. And afterwards he came out of the woods and sat right there by my carriage house talking to Zach and Kyle. He stopped right here by our table with the Sheriff and Audrey too – and the big super moon was right over our he
ads.”

  “Yup…but he did have blood all over his face. Maybe he chewed off one of the Colonel’s arms before he came out onto the lawn.”

  I remembered the “snake bite” marks we saw on Tramador at the morgue and wondered again if Leo might have had something to do with it. Or Moondance? No… Besides, we brought them to 1793 before the moon rose that night, and we were with both of them the whole time.

  I came to the reasonable conclusion. “It had to have been Lilianna. Maybe she couldn’t control her impulses.”

  “I really don’t think Lilianna did it, you guys.” Anika just smiled and leaned forward onto the table. “I never got that feeling from her the whole time we were with her. There was a gentleness and innocence in her that I could really feel. I sensed that she was mourning over Tramador’s death. He may have been keeping her in his freak show against her will, but maybe she came to love him. It’s not unusual, with that Stockholm syndrome and all. And he was the only father figure she ever had – and the only family other than Kaya, who escaped three years before they all came here from 1886.”

  Anika was right. Lilianna was sweet to her core. But what other explanation is there? I really needed to talk to Wally. Maybe he hadn’t told Kyle and Zach the whole story – or the right story. “Well, then, you guys, we still need to come up with a solution that the Sheriff will accept so we can close this case.”

  “Easy.” Ginny stood up and stretched. “We just need to show him a werewolf out here in the backyard.”

  It wasn’t a horrible idea – except for we really didn’t want to reveal any supernatural things to the Sheriff – and even if we went back and got Lilianna again, the moon isn’t full anymore. Even the day-after full moon is gone now, so she wouldn’t change.

  Anika looked a million miles away, like she was hatching a plan, and Ginny yawned.

  “And now…” Ginny let out another long yawn. “…I’m going to get me out of this hot sun and take a short catnap. NASA says 26 minutes is the ideal length for a restful nap. Can I use your bed, Jess?”