An Unhappy Medium

by Dawn Eastman

  “I’ll go get some flashlights from the judge’s table.” Alex strode to the other side of the circle.

  Seth rounded up Mom, Dad, and Vi and we prepared to head back into the woods.

  “Let’s split up into pairs,” Mac said. “Clyde, you and Grace head east. Rose and Frank, south. Seth, Alex, and I can head west. I doubt they passed through Message Circle, so let’s meet back by the bonfire in fifteen minutes.”

  “What about me?” Vi said.

  “It’s most likely they’ll arrive here before anyone gets back,” I said. “Wait here and keep an eye out for them.”

  I knew she didn’t want to be late for the costume contest, so she happily accepted this assignment.

  Diana and Lucan rushed up to us looking worried. “What’s the matter?” Diana asked.

  “Paul and Sophie are missing—we’re going back into the woods to look for them,” I said.

  “I have my car at this parking lot—Diana and I can drive around to the south lot where the race started and see if they ended up there.” Lucan took Diana’s hand and they moved back through Message Circle.

  We made plenty of noise as we spread out through the woods. I tried to keep Grace calm, but walking through dark woods with a weak flashlight beam, shouting your child’s name, isn’t something that a mother can do calmly.

  After we got about five minutes from Message Circle, we couldn’t hear much from the gathering of zombies and runners.

  “You go that way, and I’ll head this way toward the bridge,” Grace said. “We can cover more ground. Let’s just make sure we can still hear each other.”

  I nodded and took the path toward the right. I shone my light along the dirt track and into the undergrowth. I had no idea why they would have ended up in this section of the woods; it was too far from where the run had been and too far from Message Circle. But neither one of them knew these woods the way the rest of us did. Maybe they got separated from the crowd and then got lost.

  “Grace! Can you hear me?” I yelled.

  “I hear you. Did you find anything?”

  “No.”

  Another couple of minutes passed. Then I heard Grace scream. I turned in the direction of the noise and ran as fast as I could through the fallen branches and dead vines.

  “Grace! I’m coming!” I whistled loudly through my fingers to signal the rest of the searchers that we had found something.

  “Oh, no, no, no!” Grace wailed.

  My gut turned to ice as I imagined what she must have found. Were they injured? I didn’t want to know, I didn’t want to see, but I kept moving.

  Grace crouched on the ground near the Initial Tree, a large oak presiding over a small clearing near the bridge. Every couple in Crystal Haven had carved their initials there for as long as anyone could remember.

  Then I saw what was on the ground.

  “Grace!” I ran to her and pulled her away from the tree. A pirate zombie lay at its base, a knife protruding from his ribs.

  “Paul! I can’t believe it . . .” Grace was crying and alternately clinging to me and trying to go back to where the zombie lay against the tree.

  “Grace, stop. I have to check and see if he’s . . . if he’s okay.”

  Grace nodded and took a deep breath.

  I knelt next to the pirate and forced myself to feel along his neck for a pulse. Nothing. There was so much makeup and fake blood on the costume that I wanted to double-check that the knife was real, but knew I shouldn’t touch anything.

  I heard crunching through the woods and then Seth’s voice.

  “Here they are!” Seth said. “What’s all the screaming about?”

  I turned and tried to block Seth’s view of his father’s body, but what I saw didn’t make any sense.

  Paul, Sophie, and Mac walked just behind Seth and Alex. Paul was laughing at something Mac had said. Grace turned at the same time I did and then launched herself at Paul.

  “You’re alive!” she said and threw her arms around him.

  Paul staggered backward as the full force of Grace hit him.

  He laughed. “Well, I’m a zombie, but I’m alive,” he said. She clung to him and he stopped smiling. “What’s going on?”

  “Seth, take Sophie to Message Circle and get her something to drink,” I said. I stayed crouched in front of the zombie in a vain attempt to block their view of the dead man.

  “Where are my mom and dad?” I asked.

  “They went back to tell Vi we’d found Paul and Sophie,” Alex said.

  Seth hesitated and then Mac leaned over and said something to Alex. Alex slung his arm over Seth’s shoulder and took Sophie’s hand.

  “I’m pretty sure there are cookies,” Alex said, “But we better hurry before your Papa and Nana Rose eat them all,” he said.

  Seth craned his neck around to see what I was hiding but went with Alex back into the woods.

  Mac approached and knelt next to me to examine the body.

  Grace continued to cling to Paul and they stayed back away from the tree.

  “That guy’s in a pirate costume just like mine,” Paul said. His voice cracked and I saw him pull Grace tighter.

  “I thought it was you when we found him here,” Grace said. She sniffled and buried her face in Paul’s chest.

  I signaled to Paul that they should step farther away from the body. He nodded and pulled Grace away from the clearing toward the path that led to Message Circle. I felt Paul’s eyes on me as he comforted Grace.

  Mac leaned forward to look into the face of the dead man. “Who is it? I can’t tell with all the makeup.”

  My old police training kicked in and I scanned the scene for clues. Even though I had never worked homicide, I knew that even a small detail could be important.

  The pirate costume was remarkably similar to Paul’s. He wore knee-high brown suede boots, with gray ripped pants tucked into them. A formerly white shirt with long cuffs peaked from under a jacquard vest and a long coat with a row of buttons running down the front. A red sash held a fake pistol and small sack of treasure. His hair was long and matted and he had worn a red bandanna under a three-cornered hat. His plastic sword lay next to him among the moss and leaves.

  I noticed his left hand and my breath caught.

  He wore a large signet ring on his middle finger. I bent to examine the ring—gold with the initials “DEV.” I hadn’t seen it in fifteen years, but Derek had worn it as long as I had known him.

  I cleared my throat. “I know who this is.” I pointed to the ring and lowered my voice so only Mac could hear me. “I think it’s Derek Vaughn.”

  Mac puffed out air. “Will you take Grace and Paul back to Message Circle and send Tom Andrews and Charla this way? Tell them to call the medical examiner.”

  I left Mac crouched by the body and walked to where Paul and Grace stood huddled together.

  “Did you know there was another pirate?” Grace asked Paul.

  He shook his head. “I only saw our team of zombies. I didn’t really pay any attention—all the costumes were pretty gory.”

  “What if you were supposed to be the dead pirate?” Grace asked.

  10

  Mac stood and held his hands up as he walked toward us.

  “Grace, we don’t know anything about this yet,” he said. “Don’t jump to conclusions, and please, both of you, don’t talk to anyone about what you’ve seen here.”

  Paul nodded agreement and tightened his hold on Grace. She wiped her eyes with her T-shirt and took a deep breath.

  “Let’s go check on the kids and I’ll send Tom and Charla here to help Mac,” I said.

  We crunched through the leaves along the makeshift trail that led from the bridge to Message Circle.

  “We’ll have to leave as soon as possible,” Grace said. “I had hoped to have t
he whole weekend to spend with Seth and Sophie before . . .” She turned her head into Paul’s shoulder.

  “No one is going anywhere tonight,” Paul said. His arm was tight across Grace’s shoulders. “We don’t even know how the pirate died. Maybe he had a heart attack.”

  Grace pulled away from him. “There was a knife sticking out of his chest. I’m sure his heart stopped when the blade sliced into it.”

  Paul took a deep breath and let it out.

  “Lots of zombies had fake knives as part of their costume,” Paul said in what I was beginning to realize was his Grace-calming tone.

  “He’s right, Grace,” I said. “I couldn’t tell in the dark if the knife was real or not. Maybe this wasn’t murder.” I didn’t believe that. The knife looked pretty vicious to me. But Grace needed to pull herself together before we got back to the group or she’d cause a panic. She was just like my mother—you could never tell whether she was going to freak out or lead her troops into battle. Grace was in freak-out mode right now.

  The celebrating was still going strong back at Message Circle. Vi approached as we entered the clearing.

  “What’s going on?” Vi asked. “The kids said someone was hurt? We have to be onstage in three minutes.”

  The costume contest was in full swing. Each team was allowed to enter two members for the contest and Vi had elected herself and Paul as representatives.

  “Mac is dealing with it, Vi, don’t worry,” I said.

  “Who is it? I haven’t noticed anyone missing besides Paul and Sophie earlier.”

  I shook my head and tried to give her a quelling stare.

  “I have to find Charla and Tom,” I said. “Mac needs their help.”

  Vi grabbed my arm and pulled me away from Grace and Paul.

  “Did you find another murder victim?” she asked.

  I took a deep breath and reflected that this was, unfortunately, not a crazy question.

  “I don’t know yet,” I shrugged her hand off my arm. “He was dressed as a zombie and we have to wait for the medical examiner to tell us what happened, but whoever it is, he is dead. You need to keep this quiet for now until we know more.”

  Only the costume contest stopped her from quizzing me further. She grabbed Paul’s arm and pulled him toward the center of the circle where the judges waited.

  I pushed my way through the crowd, scanning for Tom. He was taller than Charla and I figured I might be able spot him more easily. I finally found him by the cookies with Seth and Sophie.

  “What’s this about someone hurt in the woods?” he asked.

  “Mac needs you and Charla to help him. Do you know where she is?”

  Tom nodded and stuffed the rest of his cookie in his mouth. He pointed to the front of the crowd that was watching the zombies parade in their costumes.

  I turned to the kids. “Your mom is over there by the back row of benches. Why don’t you go sit with her while Tom and I help Mac? And please, don’t talk to anyone else about the man in the woods. We don’t want a bunch of people showing up or worrying.”

  Seth took Sophie’s hand and they skirted around the crowd. Tom and I approached Charla and I quietly filled her in on the situation. The three of us headed back into the woods.

  * * *

  Mac stood guard over the body as we approached the tree. Charla had called the medical examiner on our way to the bridge.

  “Who do you think it is?” asked Tom.

  Mac shook his head. “I can’t tell for sure with all the makeup on and there were so many visitors, it might be someone we don’t even know. But Clyde thinks it’s Derek Vaughn.”

  “How can you tell through all the makeup?” Charla asked.

  I pointed at his hand. “That’s his ring.”

  Tom and Charla turned to look at the body.

  Tom knelt next to the zombie.

  “Don’t touch him, Andrews,” Mac said.

  Tom’s shoulders tensed. “I know,” Tom said.

  “We’ll need to send him for an autopsy and collect what we can from around the body,” Mac said. “When the crime scene team gets here we’ll rope off the area. It’s going to be a long night.”

  Mac drew me aside. “You should go keep an eye on Grace. She seemed pretty shaken up. If she didn’t already know who this was, it’s only going to be worse for her when she finds out. I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

  “What do you mean? Of course she doesn’t know.”

  Mac held my gaze for a moment and then looked away. “You said she got very close to the body when she thought it was Paul. She had makeup on her hands and face. And she used to be engaged to the guy. Maybe she already knows.”

  I opened my mouth to argue and then stopped. Mac was right. Grace could just as easily have seen the ring as I had. She had been kneeling over the body. Maybe she did know. But why would she pretend she didn’t?

  I didn’t want to leave the scene, but knew there was nothing I could do to help them and Grace would certainly require some support when she found out it was Derek. If it was news to her.

  I walked back through the woods to Message Circle where the costume contest was finishing up. I got to the circle just in time to see Mayor Winchester hand the trophy to Vi. What a relief. If she hadn’t won, we never would have heard the end of it. As it was, she was going to be insufferable, but at least she wouldn’t seek revenge against anyone who beat her.

  I saw Grace through the crowd and she spotted me at the same time. She pushed her way through zombies and runners, dragging Paul behind her.

  “What’s going on out there?” she asked. “Do they know who it is?”

  I shook my head, deciding it would be better to wait for confirmation before telling her about Derek.

  Grace turned to Paul. “We’re going to have to tell her.”

  11

  “Tell me what?” I said and regarded them both with narrowed eyes. Did they already know it was Derek?

  Paul looked down at his tall brown boots that matched the ones on the dead body in every way. As I examined him, I agreed that the costume was identical. I remembered that they had cobbled together a costume quickly after they arrived. I thought Vi had said she sent them to the costume shop in Grand Rapids. It would be something to look into.

  “We saw a couple of men following us this morning,” Grace said. “After we left Rupert’s office, we noticed them and instead of going home, we went to the marina just to see what they would do. There were a bunch of people there and we figured they wouldn’t try anything with so many witnesses.”

  “I saw them,” I said. “But they went into Alex’s restaurant. They didn’t follow you.”

  “We think they realized we’d seen them and decided to back off,” Paul said.

  “But we saw them again just before the race started,” Grace said. “They were loitering in the parking lot. I know they saw Paul in his costume.” Her voice rose and I saw her take a breath. She lowered her voice and continued. “They absolutely would have known he was the pirate.”

  Paul put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

  “What happened to you, Paul?” I said. “We were worried when you didn’t show up with the rest of Vi’s team.”

  He glanced sheepishly at Grace. “Yeah, I’ve already heard about the search party. Sophie had to use the bathroom and the only one I knew of was back at the parking lot. I meant to call Grace to let her know, but my phone had fallen out of my pocket. These costume pants are really loose and the pockets are shallow. By the time we’d walked to the bathroom and back, and I had located my phone, Mac and Seth found us and said everyone was out looking for us.”

  “Where did you get the costume?” I asked.

  Paul shrugged. “Some costume shop in Grand Rapids. Vi drove us there yesterday afternoon.”

  Grace pulled her arms
across her chest and shivered. “How did that other person get the same costume as Paul?”

  “I’m sure that’s a question that the police will be asking as well. You two should take the kids and go back to the house,” I said. I studied the crowd for Seth and Sophie. Grace’s fears fed my own. What if the killer did mean to attack Paul? As I ruminated on their concerns, the bonfire and torches cast menacing shadows on the woods, and the zombie makeup on half of the crowd made me nervous.

  I spotted Seth talking to Alex and Diana. The three of us pushed our way through the throng. The crowd was getting rowdy now that the contest was over. Laughter and snippets of conversation floated around us. Zombies and runners stood together discussing the race.

  I reached Seth and told him it was time to head out just as a sudden hush fell over the clearing.

  Flashing lights shone in the distance through the trees and two men with a stretcher came along the path. I saw Tom Andrews approach them and point them in the direction of the bridge and the body.

  Questions began immediately.

  “Has someone been hurt?”

  “What’s going on?”

  Charla approached Mayor Winchester and whispered something in his ear. His shoulders slumped and he handed Charla the microphone he’d used to announce the winners of the costume contest.

  Zombies and runners turned in her direction.

  “There’s been an . . . accident in the woods,” she began. She held up her hand to halt the questions. “We’ll need everyone to cooperate by staying calm while we try to gather some information.”

  This caused more muttering and people continued to shout questions.

  “Is the Vaughn Jewelry’s zombie team still here?” Charla asked.

  The crowd parted as five zombies came forward. I recognized Tatiana’s pale blonde hair and wondered why she was on the Vaughn team. Even with makeup on, Logan’s black swoop of gelled hair stood out. I assumed the other three were Logan’s parents and Theo Lancaster. Richard and Nora Vaughn, dressed like normal people, joined the crowd of zombies.