The Wicked Waffle: Book 1 in The Diner of the Dead Series

by Carolyn Q. Hunter

  Flying made Sonja feel trapped and claustrophobic, something she hoped that she’d overcome with more experience. For the seemingly endless hours that it took to get to Denver from New York, she dealt with her anxiety while crammed between two large, snoring, men. There was no immediate reprieve from her travel woes on the other end, either, the drive from the airport to Haunted Falls was going to be another two-and-a-half hours.

  Knowing that she would be utterly exhausted by the time she arrived at her childhood home, Sonja considered staying the night in a hotel near the airport, but ultimately decided that she didn’t want to take that kind of hit to her finances. She headed directly to baggage claim, grabbed her bag, and made a beeline to the car rental service desk. The weary traveler was beginning to regret not accepting her mother’s offer to make the drive down to get her, as fatigue started setting in, but she fully recognized, realistically, that she’d need a little down time before dealing with her well-meaning, but omnipresent mother.

  The sun was still shining when Sonja left the airport in the rental car, but it was slipping lower in the sky, and driving mountain roads in the dark wasn’t the safest or most enjoyable experience, so she would try to get as far as she could in the limited daylight that she had left. By the time she was almost through Commerce City and into the foothills, however, she was wishing the sun would disappear. The waning rays of light were shining right across the tops of the mountain range, directly into her eyes.

  Ultimately, the sun set, providing a much welcome relief from its glare, and as a cool blue darkness covered the land, Sonja felt a sense of peace that she hadn’t expected. Her entire day had been filled with chaos and travel, the thoughts of her father returning, infectious. But the idea of resting in her hometown, in her childhood bedroom, brought with it a much-appreciated sense of relief.

  * * *

  The road into Haunted Falls was on a land bridge that cut across Black Lake, a huge body of water that took up half of the valley that was occupied by the charming town of Haunted Falls. When Sonja was a little girl, almost half of the land bridge had been destroyed, washed away in a violent summer rainstorm. The town was cut off from the rest of the world for three weeks until they could come up with a solution.

  Now, there was a ferry that took you—and your car—the rest of the way across. Sonja drove along the land bridge until she got to the ferry dock where she pulled up next to a small terminal—a silver box that controlled the ferry. The whole system was automated. Sonja leaned out her window and put a dollar into the terminal. There was a buzzing noise and then the gate on the ferry opened.

  She drove into one of the designated parking spots, and waited for the buzzing sound. The gate closed behind her and the ferry lurched forward. Turning off the car, she leaned back, listening to the low hum of the ferry’s engine and the lap of the water against the sides of the vessel. Letting her mind wander, with comforting thoughts of home, her stomach rumbled and she decided the first thing that she wanted to do when she drove into town was to stop at Alison’s Diner.

  * * *

  Sonja drove through the streets in the lower part of Haunted Falls with the confidence of a lifelong resident. Every street, house and building was familiar. Alison’s Diner, her favorite place in town, was just off the road going up the incline towards her mother’s house. As a teenager, she’d often saved her allowance and bought breakfast there on the way to school. There were also game nights on Fridays when the town’s kids would come together, eat delicious half-priced food, and play board games and card games.

  As she made the turn onto the road which eventually led to her mother’s house, she had to smile. She could see the little diner, all silver and shiny, even in the dark, sitting a little way up the incline. She glanced quickly at her watch, realizing that it certainly wouldn’t be open at this hour, but found herself irresistibly drawn to her old hangout, wanting to take a peek inside. Pulling into the parking lot, Sonja turned off the engine. The whole diner just seemed to glow in warm summer moonlight, welcoming her.

  She opened her door and got out, the mountain air cooling her skin and riffling through her loose auburn curls. It was a feeling she remembered well. Walking around the diner, she examined the cute neon signs, the siding. The grass and weeds seemed a little taller than usual, growing up the sides of the diner—but Sonja paid it no mind. Heading for the glass doors, the ones with the silver trim, she peeked inside the darkened interior of the diner.

  Something immediately seemed odd, wrong even. Where were all the interior decorations? Sonja’s eyes darted from table to table. There were no napkin holders, condiment caddies, or even table cloths, and the front register was devoid of any of the familiar things that she remembered. The giant replica of a chocolate sundae, an iconic symbol that had been in the diner for decades, was missing too.

  Wondering what was going on, Sonja quickly stepped away from the glass door and walked around to the back. Maybe they had just decided to store everything back there? The back door was mostly made of metal siding but had a small square glass window in it. Standing up on her tippy toes, she peered in, straining to see anything in the utter darkness.

  She saw something move, and her eyes darted towards the corner, where the walk in freezer was located. There was a faint bluish glow that seemed to ebb and flow into and out of that corner. It was misty, like the steam from melting snow in the sun, and seemed to have no definable source. Surely it couldn’t be from the freezer? When her eyes moved up, toward the ceiling, Sonja screamed as she found herself staring into a face, a pale, blue, translucent face.

  Chapter 3

  Sonja ran back to the car, slamming the door shut, engaging the locks, and grabbing her cell phone out of her purse with shaking hands. She couldn’t have seen what she thought she saw, there was just no way - her eyes had to be playing tricks on her. There was no ghost in the diner, ghosts weren’t even real. She realized that the exhaustion from her day of travel must be getting to her, and rationalized that there must be an intruder of some sort - someone robbing the place. That would certainly explain why everything was missing.

  Sonja opened her phone and hurriedly looked up Alison’s name. Alison was a dear friend; they had grown up together. Her father had owned and run the diner before he passed, leaving the diner to Alison. As a last gift, he’d had the sign changed from Bob’s Diner to Alison’s Diner. She’d just give Alison a quick call first, before calling the police, to make sure she wasn’t jumping to any conclusions.

  “H-hello?” Alison answered on the third ring, her voice thick with sleep.

  “Ally? Hey, sorry to wake you up, it’s Sonja.”

  “Sonja!” Alison’s tired voice was suddenly charged with excitement. “Oh my gosh, how are you?”

  “I think there is someone in your diner,” she blurted, glancing nervously at the building.

  “Wha…huh? Are you in town? Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” Ally demanded, thrilled.

  “Ally, I’m really looking forward to seeing you, but you have to listen to me for a minute,” Sonja pleaded.

  There was silence for a moment. “Okay, what’s wrong?”

  “I just got into town and decided to stop and look in the windows at the diner, for old time’s sake, and I think there is someone inside, robbing the place,” Sonja lowered her voice, looking behind her again.

  Alison paused, then sighed. “Alright, I’ll come on down.”

  “It looks like there’s a bunch of stuff missing.”

  “Yeaaah,” Alison’s voice sounded resigned.

  Sonja paused. “You know stuff is missing?”

  “It could just be Vic,” Alison said, changing the subject. Vic was the diner’s head cook. “He might have forgotten something.”

  “Wouldn’t Vic turn on some lights or something?”

  “Maybe not,” Alison said.

  Sonja heard what sounded like a baby crying in the background.

  “I’ve gotta go,” her friend s
aid, sounding distracted.

  “Wait, was that a baby?” Sonja asked.

  “Just stay there and wait for me. I’ll come down as soon as I can.”

  “But, Alison…”

  The line went dead.

  * * *

  Alison finally arrived, looking more weary than Sonja had ever seen her, about thirty minutes later.

  “Hey!” she said with a smile as she got out of the car.

  Sonja ran over and hugged her old friend.

  “Most people would be mad if someone called and dragged them out of bed in the middle of the night,” she laughed, apologetic, but oh-so-glad to see Alison’s familiar face.

  “For you, I’ll make an exception,” Ally chuckled, just like old times.

  “Come on,” Sonja grabbed Alison’s hand and dragged her around the building to the back door.

  She suspected that Ally was hiding something from her, which was more than odd, but first things first, they needed to figure out what was going on in the diner.

  “Sonja, wait,” Alison said, coming to a stop by the back door.

  “What is it? We have to catch whoever is in there. I think they saw me, and knew that I was out here waiting for them.”

  “Why didn’t you just call the police?”

  “I don’t know. I assumed that if something else was going on you would know about it.”

  Alison sighed.

  “What is it, Ally? What aren’t you telling me?”

  “I’m trying to tell you,” she replied, looking embarrassed. “I didn’t want you going in there until I told you,” she took a deep breath before continuing. “I closed the diner.”

  Sonja’s heart dropped. “You what?”

  “I closed shop. I just didn’t have the time to take care of it and a new baby too.”

  “New baby?” Sonja’s head was spinning. “When did you have a baby?”

  “A few weeks ago.”

  “I didn’t even know you had a boyfriend,” she murmured, stunned.

  “I’m married.”

  Sonja’s jaw dropped. “You got married and had a kid while I was gone and you didn’t tell me?”

  “Yes, and there is a good reason why,” Alison replied quietly.

  Sonja folded her arms, looking so much like her mother that it was uncanny. “There’d better be.”

  Alison sighed. “Look, let’s check inside on your burglar first.”

  Sonja had nearly forgotten the intruder, with the glowing ghost-like face, in light of all of the stunning news that she was trying to absorb. But her friend was right, they could talk about all of those things later. She stepped out of the way to let Alison get to the back door. When she put her key in the lock, it gave way immediately, clearly it was already unlocked. Sonja felt her heart beat accelerate. She really didn’t want to see that face again, hoping that the whole thing had been a figment of her imagination.

  “What exactly did you see?” Alison asked, turning on the light.

  Sonja stepped in behind her. The back room of the diner seemed empty, harmless in the light.

  “I . . . I saw a face. A pale face staring at me.”

  Alison smirked. “Maybe you saw a ghost.”

  “Not funny,” Sonja retorted. “Look, there’s no one in here. Not even Vic.” The room was bare, no boxes, no food, no condiments, not even any dishes. “There’s literally nothing here.”

  “Hmm...that’s weird. I thought maybe Vic had…forgotten something. He…” Alison stumbled a little on her words. “He was taking care of moving everything out for the past few days.”

  “Let’s check the front,” Sonja said, headed for the dining area. She fumbled in the dark and found the light switch, turning it on. Again, the room was bare and empty.

  “There is no one here, Sonja,” Alison commented, sounding tired and folding her arms over her midsection.

  “The walk-in freezer – that has to be it. Whoever I saw was standing next to the walk-in freezer. They could have hidden in there,” she suggested, not ready to give up until she found an explanation for the strange intruder that she had seen.

  Alison sighed again. “Alright, we’ll look, if it will satisfy you, but we’re not going to find anything.”

  The two friends made their way to the back again and Sonja reached the freezer first. She gripped the handle, hesitated for just a moment, then pulled the heavy freezer door open.

  Alison screamed. Sonja felt the blood drain from her face. Inside the freezer was the perfectly preserved body of a woman, propped up against one of the shelves.

  “It’s Ronda Smith,” Alison whispered.

  Chapter 4

  By the time the police arrived, investigated the scene, and put up all the yellow tape, it was nearly dawn. Sheriff Thompson had approached the two young ladies with a stern look on his face and questioned them both about how they had found the body and why they were out at a deserted diner at this hour. They recounted the night’s events step-by-step and he seemed satisfied with their explanation. Obviously, Sonja made no mention of the ghostly apparition that she thought she had seen.

  After closing his notebook, Sheriff Thompson remarked, “It’s good to see you back in town, Sonja.” He held out his hand and she shook it. “I hadn’t heard that you were coming.”

  “Neither had I,” Alison raised an eyebrow. “Until she called me in the middle of the night.”

  “It was a last minute decision,” Sonja shrugged, hoping desperately for a change of conversation.

  “Well, welcome home,” he smiled, turning back toward the diner. “Now, if you gals will excuse me, I have to go deal with a dead body in a freezer and no leads.”

  “I’m sure you’ll figure out what happened,” Alison said.

  “I’d say it was a good thing you’ve already closed shop. If you hadn’t you might be out of business for a day or two,” he mused, surveying the potential crime scene.

  “Or maybe it would just bring in all the tourists,” Sonja said. “A dead body in the diner of a town called Haunted Falls? That’s the stuff news stories are made of.”

  “I suppose so,” said the Sheriff. “It’s a shame you had to close up shop, though, Alison. My family came to this place for years.”

  “It broke my heart to do it, Sheriff,” Alison said. “I just don’t have the time to take care of the place with the new baby and everything,” she shrugged sadly.

  “Yep, new baby, and still a fairly new husband to go with it. That sometimes makes it seem like you got two babies to take care of, don’t it?” the Sheriff grinned at his own joke.

  Ally ignored his well-meant, but crass comment, still feeling bad about the diner. “And seeing that it’s my dad’s place, I just couldn’t bring myself to let someone else manage it without me, let alone sell it. There is just no one I trust that much.”

  A lightbulb clicked on in Sonja’s mnd, and before she knew what she was saying, the words were tumbling out of her mouth. “Let me take over!”

  Both the Sheriff and Alison turned to look at her, surprised. Sonja hesitated, realizing that she hadn’t really thought things through before speaking.

  “Well, it sure would be nice to have the diner back,” the Sheriff commented, only halfway listening to the conversation as he provided direction to the officers working the scene.

  “But, what about your writing? What about working for a real publisher?” Alison said, using Sonja’s own words. Listening to Alison say ‘real’ like that kind of bruised Sonja’s already-fragile ego, but she brushed the feeling aside, her mind racing.

  Sonja stuttered, “I . . . I’m done with New York,” she said, realizing that she’d actually made that decision long before she left.

  Alison’s eyes widened. “Really? You mean you’re going to stay here?”

  “Well, I’m not sure yet,” Sonja faltered slightly, not having considered all of the possible outcomes of her snap decision.

  “If I let you take over the diner will you stay in Haunted Falls?”
Ally persisted, her eyes sparkling.

  Sonja took a moment to think before she spoke, “Probably,” she squeaked, biting her lip.

  “Oh, Sonja, I can’t believe it,” Alison embraced her old friend in a tight hug.

  “Sounds like it’s settled to me,” the Sheriff said, heading back to work. “Let me know when you gals reopen.”

  “I suppose we will,” Sonja said with a smile, her expression dazed.

  * * *

  It was seven in the morning before Sonja finally got back into her rental car and drove it the rest of the way to her mother’s house. She was exhausted from traveling and from the night’s excitement. Could she really take over the diner? Could she actually manage a restaurant? All she had ever known, or wanted to do with her life was to spend her days writing, but now, everything had changed, and Sonja was delighted to realize that she was excited about it.

  She pulled into the circular drive outside her mother’s small Tudor-style home, turned off the engine, and walked up to the front door without even grabbing her bags from the back seat. She knocked, using the old iron knocker, and heard her mom’s exclamation of excitement inside. The heavy wooden door swung open.

  “There you are,” she trilled, her familiar face more deeply lined but still sweetly comforting.

  “Hi, Mom,” Sonja replied in a tired voice, moving into the warmth of her mother’s embrace.

  “Come in, come in!” she ushered Sonja through the entryway, into the kitchen. “Have some breakfast.”

  The small kitchen table was graced by a stack of fresh, fluffy waffles, with perfect pats of butter melting into the crevices and boxes, and another plate with two eggs, sunnyside up, and four strips of crispy bacon.