by Nicole Ellis
I shook my head and grabbed his hand, dragging him over to the main room.
“What did you think of it?” he asked eagerly. “I only have a few last touches to do on it.”
“I loved it,” I said heatedly. “But she has other ideas.” I poked my finger in Angela’s direction, where she was easing the sarcophagus out of the box.
His gaze followed my finger. “What is she doing? Who is that?”
“That’s Angela Laveaux.” I pursed my lips. “And she thinks she’s making the scenes better.”
“Over my dead body,” he said. “That’s not happening.” He strode over to her.
I hung back by the door, letting them hash it out before I got involved. This was Adam’s baby and I wanted to let him talk to Angela first.
“Hey, I’m Adam,” he said.
“Ok? So?”
“So I’m the one who took over the design of the haunted house after you were indisposed.” He smiled at her. “My wife, Jill, mentioned you might have some feedback for me.”
She snorted. “Feedback? This needs to get ripped out.” To emphasize her point, she shoved a hay bale aside to make room for her sarcophagus.
He stepped back. “My crew and I have put a lot of work into this, and I’m happy with the results.”
“Well, I’m in charge of the haunted house this year and I say this all needs to go.” She swept her hands dramatically across the room.
“Don’t you like the haunted farm theme?”
“No. It looks like something you found on Pinterest. So derivative.”
Whoa. After watching Adam with Nancy, I’d begun to think he was a snake charmer in disguise, but it looked like this was one asp he couldn’t control. He looked like he was about to say something, but I stepped in first.
“I’m sorry, Angela, but you need to leave.”
Her mouth gaped open. “What did you say?”
“I said you need to leave.” I smiled pleasantly at her, but my voice held a steely undertone. “We’re hosting the event here at the Boathouse and I’m overruling you. Adam was nice enough to step in when you weren’t here. I’m sorry about this, but you’re going to need to wait until next year to implement your ideas.” I spun her around and gently guided her toward the door. She sputtered the whole way there.
“You’ll be sorry about this. I can make being in a local MUMs group miserable for you.”
“Ah. Well, I’ll have to risk that.” I waved at her as she exited the door, locking it tightly behind her.
“I didn’t think you had it in you,” Adam said from behind me. “You’re always so calm and polite to the Boathouse’s clients, no matter how rude they are to you.”
I shrugged. “She deserved it. No one talks to my husband like that. And she’s not really the client—the Ericksville Chamber of Commerce is.” I locked eyes with him. “Thank you for working so hard on this. I didn’t know how we’d get it all done, but you’ve done an amazing job.”
He blushed, making me laugh. Then he wrapped me in a huge hug.
“Thanks, honey.”
“No problem.” My voice was muffled by his chest.
Beth came out of her office. “I heard you arguing with Angela. Is everything all right?”
“It is now,” Adam said.
“Angela wanted to make some last minute changes to the haunted house. And by last minute, I mean to change everything. She wasn’t too polite in her demands or assessment of the current decorations either.”
Beth’s lips formed an O. “I thought it looked great.”
“Me too,” I agreed. “Which is why I told Angela she needed to get out of here.” I looked up at her, suddenly anxious. While in the heat of the moment, it had felt good to tell Angela off, the Boathouse belonged to my in-laws. Angela might be a witch, but she had influence in town. “I hope you don’t mind.”
Beth laughed. “Nope. I would have told her off months ago, but you seemed to be able to handle her. I would have done the same thing if I’d heard her insult Adam’s hard work.” She smiled at her son. “Are you sure you don’t want to join the Boathouse crew?”
He held up his hands. “I’m good, thanks. Actually, I have a lead on a new client at the office, so I’d better get over there.”
She nodded.
“I’ll see you back at the house tonight,” he said to me, giving me a kiss on the cheek. “Bye, Mom.” He gave Beth a quick hug.
I unlocked the doors for him to leave.
“Lunch?” Beth asked. “My treat.”
I was relieved that she wasn’t mad at me, but I knew I hadn’t seen the last of Angela yet. Maybe lunch would alleviate the acid churning in my stomach.
I smiled at her. “Lunch sounds great. Thanks.”
20
The Friday before Halloween finally arrived—opening night. My advertising efforts had paid off and a crowd was already starting to form outside the Boathouse, two hours before we officially opened. Lincoln had instructed the setup crew to create a waiting area in the parking lot with double stacked hay bales. Judging by how many people were already there, we’d need the overflow parking across the street tonight.
Creepy noises from the soundtrack Beth had ordered online floated through the air from a speaker set up near the door. For once, the weatherman had been right, and as day turned to dusk, we found ourselves enjoying a cool but clear night, complete with a full moon. Everything was shaping up to be a cackling good time.
To get into the spirit, all of the Boathouse staff and the MUMs members who were helping that night had dressed in clothes appropriate for working on a farm. Lisa had arrived, clothed in a pristine pair of overalls and a crisp gingham shirt. We’d put her to work chatting up the crowd.
Adam and I were both going to work the opening night, so our parents were going to take all of the kids out to a new indoor sports place in the area that had bouncy houses and arcade games. When my folks showed up, we ushered them in through a side door. I’m not sure how the crowd would have reacted if we’d allowed them in via the front door.
“Do we get to see the haunted house before we go?” my dad asked.
I nodded. Beth and Lincoln had already gone through, so they volunteered to watch the kids.
“I want to see it!” whined Mikey.
“Me too,” said Anthony.
I knelt in front of Mikey. “Sorry, sweetie. The person who’s running the kids’ section of the haunted house isn’t here yet. I’ll take you through it tomorrow, ok?”
He sulked, but allowed his grandparents to take him and his cousin away to one of the other rooms, no doubt to bribe them with cookies or candy.
Adam and I stood with my parents at the entrance to the haunted house. It would be my first time through it in the dark and with the fog machines running.
“I’m a little nervous,” Adam admitted.
I squeezed his hand. “Don’t worry. It’ll be great.”
We let my parents go first, and while I said it was to be polite, in reality, I wanted to see their reactions. Although Halloween had never been huge in our household growing up, my mom was known for her love of horror movies, but they never failed to terrify her. Maybe that’s why she liked them so much.
The overhead lights were off. The only visible light in this section was a fake full moon that Adam’s crew had constructed, oddly similar to the real one outside. He’d used tall wooden sets to create a lonely road leading up to a farm, like something right out of a zombie movie or any other horror movie for that matter. A draft fluttered the corn stalks next to me and caused me to shiver.
“Brr,” my mother said, wrapping her arms tight. She was so focused on the sudden chill that she didn’t notice the undead approaching. Two realistic-looking zombies approached us, walking in a zigzag pattern, too close for comfort.
“Ahh!” she screamed.
Adam grinned and whispered to me, “I told them to get close to people. Looks like they’re creepy enough.”
We quickened our pace
and the path turned before the zombies could reach us. We came out in the middle of a lonely graveyard, set in the middle of a cornfield. Some of the tombstones wiggled and fog oozed from the graves.
The farmhouse was the haunted house’s finale. They’d created a terrifyingly realistic front porch with a door that creaked as you walked over the threshold. Inside, blood streaked the floor and fog seemed to come out of every crevice. I shivered again, right before a woman jumped out at us with a bloody knife.
“Ah!” This time it was my dad screaming. The woman with the knife didn’t seem to notice us and just walked by, as though we were the ghosts. Further into the kitchen, we saw the woman’s husband, lying dead on the floor. Ominous organ music came from behind a closed door.
By the time we’d exited the haunted house into the cool night air, all of us were laughing.
“I loved the murderous wife in the farmhouse,” I said.
“Yeah, I figured you would.” Adam laughed. “I’d better get out to the front to start taking people’s money though. I think we’ll be sold out tonight.” He strode across the deck to the doorway back to the indoor areas.
“This was even better than what I imagined,” my mother said. “Even your dad was scared.” She smiled at him.
“I wasn’t scared,” he bluffed. “The woman with the knife startled me.”
“Uh huh.” She smiled knowingly and patted his hand. “Right.” She turned to me. “What was up with the sarcophagus at the end though? It didn’t seem to fit with the theme.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s a long story.”
She laughed.
“Thanks, you guys. I’m really glad you were able to see it,” I said. “If you’d like you can go through again tomorrow with Mikey and see the kids’ section. Adam outdid himself there, too, although it’s much less frightening.”
My dad nodded. “I’ll go again.” He looked at my mom and they communicated without speaking.
“Honey,” my mom said, “we’re a little worried that you’ve gotten yourself into another murder investigation.”
“After hearing Tomàs mention it at Ella’s birthday party, we asked Beth and Lincoln about what was going on. They told us that the woman who was supposed to design this haunted house has been arrested for the murder,” Dad said. “That’s a little too close to home for our comfort.”
“That’s true, she has been arrested,” I said carefully.
“So the police are sure that this woman is the culprit?” My mother looked around the dock nervously, as if expecting someone to jump out at her even outside of the haunted house.
“Hmmm,” I said. I didn’t think it was a good idea to tell them that Angela was out on bail. Besides, I didn’t really think that she had done it although I wasn’t 100 percent certain. That also wasn’t something I wanted to tell my parents, or they would’ve locked me up until I was sixty.
“We aren’t trying to interfere with your life, honey,” my father said. “It’s just we are so far away usually and we want to make sure you’re safe.”
I wrapped an arm around his waist, giving him a squeeze. “I know. And I’ll be careful, I promise.”
“Well, we love you, and we don’t want anything bad to happen to you,” my father said in a gruff voice.
“We better get back inside, so we can meet up with Beth and Lincoln to take the kids to that arcade place. We’ll bring the kids back to your house before bedtime and stay with them until you get home.” My mother linked arms with my father. “You think you’ll be home by eleven, right?”
I felt as though I were a kid agreeing to a curfew with my parents. “Yes, it ends officially at ten, so we should be done with cleanup by eleven.”
My mom nodded. “See you later, honey. Have fun.”
“Have fun with the kids.”
They walked off, arm in arm. Despite the cool weather, warmth filled my heart. I knew it was unrealistic to expect that every marriage could be salvageable, but in my parents’ case, there didn’t seem to really be a big catalyst for their separation. That fact had always given me hope that they would one day return to being a couple.
I looked out over the water, where the full moon had risen high in the sky above Willoughby Island. It cast a cool glow into the inky depths of Puget Sound below. At this time of year and time of night, there were few boats out on the water except the ferry boat that crossed between Ericksville and Willoughby Island.
From behind me, shouts and screams floated through the air from the haunted house. Soon, the deck would be inundated by excited teenagers. I took one last look at the peacefulness of the water, and went back inside the Boathouse through the side entrance. So far, this had been a wonderful evening and I hoped that nothing would happen to change that.
21
Unfortunately, things don’t always go according to plan. When I reentered the boathouse, I found Angela Laveaux sneaking around. I really wasn’t in the mood to deal with her or her shenanigans.
“Angela, what are you doing here?” I asked. “The haunted house is ready to go—you can’t make any changes to it.”
“I know.” A wistful expression crossed her face. “I’m not here to make any trouble, but I had to come. The haunted house has been mine ever since it started. Even if the design isn’t mine this year, I still want—no, need, to be a part of it. Please, Jill. I know I behaved badly earlier, but I want to help. I don’t have much else going for me now.”
I didn’t know what to think. The Angela I knew would never have admitted any weaknesses. I studied her silently. She was uncharacteristically subdued, whether from being a suspect in Mindy’s murder or because of issues in her marriage. She looked like she was telling the truth, and I could understand where she was coming from. Unless she truly was the one who killed Mindy, she hadn’t caused any of this to happen, and had merely been an innocent victim of the whole thing. I didn’t want to take away the haunted house from her as well, although there wasn’t much for her to do at this point. I racked my brain trying to come up with something that would make her feel useful.
“You know, I bet Adam could use some help out front, selling tickets. Would you be willing to do that?”
Her face lit up. “Oh, yes, that will be great. I love seeing how excited and scared people are before they go in.” She looked down at her clothing. “But I don’t have anything to wear.” I assessed her attire. She wore a black corduroy jumper over a red and black plaid shirt. The corduroy didn’t exactly fit in with our farmhouse theme, but I could work with that.
“Come with me,” I said. I motioned in the direction of my office. “I brought in an extra pair of overalls, just in case someone needed a change of clothes or we got some extra volunteers. They should fit you.”
“Thanks,” she said, smiling at me gratefully.
I got Angela set up outside taking tickets with Adam and then I patrolled the Boathouse to make sure there weren’t any stray guests wandering the rest of the grounds. When the last person went through for the night, we sent the MUMs and other volunteers home. Only Angela, Adam, Desi, and I remained. The cleaning crew would come through in the morning, but for now, I wanted to get everything straightened up and ready for the next night’s haunted house.
“Desi, can you help me make sure we’ve got enough snacks for tomorrow? If not, we’ll need to make some in the morning.” We’d sold a lot of cupcakes and other goodies to people who’d gone through the haunted house and I wasn’t sure we had enough left. It was already ten thirty, and I was crossing my fingers that I wouldn’t have to come in early to help Desi with the baking.
“Sure.” She set down the prop she was moving back into place.
Angela and Adam were hanging up the cast costumes and organizing the makeup tables so everything would be ready to go for the next day. The volunteers dressed as zombies had cast off their clothing in a heap in the makeshift dressing room and the stage makeup was in shambles. Angela seemed happy to be a part of the team and hadn’t made a pee
p about any of the decorations or how we were running things.
“If these weren’t volunteers, I wouldn’t be very happy,” Adam said, eying the mess. He handed me the master remote for the fog machine. “I have no idea how this got here, but can you please return it to the entrance for me when you go?”
I nodded and took it from him. “They may be messy, but we’re lucky the volunteers stayed until the end.”
Desi and I left to determine our supply levels. Luckily, it appeared that we were good for another day. There was plenty of popcorn, apples for dipping in caramel, and pumpkin donuts to eat with apple cider. Desi popped one of the donuts in her mouth.
“Hey, those are for the guests.” I laughed and ate one too.
“I’m just doing a quality check.” She brushed a crumb off of her lips. “Do you think they’re about done in there? I need to get home to my kids. Tomàs is working until midnight tonight, so Mom and Dad are watching them at my house.”
I looked around. “I think we’re done in here. Let’s check in with Angela and Adam and see how they’re doing.”
We got back to the main room of the Boathouse, but they weren’t where we’d left them.
“Adam? Angela?” I called.
Desi ducked her head down a few of the pathways in the haunted house. “I don’t see them.”
“The music is off, so they should be able to hear us.” I looked around. All of the supplies had been put back where they belonged. “Maybe they went outside for some reason?”
“I guess. Adam mentioned taking out the garbage when he was done,” Desi said.
A loud crashing came from the direction of the farmhouse scene. Desi and I looked at each other.
“What was that?” she whispered.
“I don’t know,” I whispered back. “Do you think one of them went back there?”
“What if some of the scenery fell on one of them?” She peered into the dark corridors of the haunted house.
Visions of lawsuits ran through my head. If Angela was hurt, she’d sue us for sure. I ran down the pathways in the direction of where the noise had come from. Desi followed close on my heels.
