Skull Screw Up: A Halloween Helper's Cozy Mystery

by Linnea West

  "What I don't understand is how Bram has so much power?" Vinnie said.

  "As leader of our pack, he holds all of the power," Tucker said. "He is the one who owns the house and makes the decisions about everyone who lives under his roof. The reason we all thrive is because we are living in a group. Alone, vampires are in much more danger."

  "Danger from what?" Diggy asked. She had a notepad out and she was scribbling down notes about everything Tucker was saying.

  "A lone vampire must always live in fear of mortals," Tucker said. "Being alone means they must either hunt mortals or learn to eat other things all alone. It is hard to do either of those things without drawing attention from anyone, especially vampire hunters."

  "Vampire hunters are real?" Diggy asked. Her eyes were wide as Tucker nodded. "Okay, I totally thought they were made up."

  "Just like vampires and witches are made up?" Tucker asked, one eyebrow raised up. "Either way, living in a group means that there is safety in numbers. Plus we are dedicated to helping vampires not kill their friends and families to feast on and instead focus on animal types of meat and blood donations."

  Vinnie's head was reeling from all of the information. She was glad that Diggy was writing it all down because she would need to go over it later. Of course, her list of questions was still in the library. She hadn't been expecting to run into anyone in the ceremony room. She could think of one question about the vampires.

  "This might seem rude, but I would love an answer to this," Vinnie said. "How do all of you get your money? It seems like there are a lot of expensive things, but how are you all able to go out into public to work?"

  "We take it in turns," Tucker said. "Take Francine for example. In the early days of Hollywood, she was a very famous starlet. She raked in the cash and after about a decade, she packed it in and disappeared. We helped her destroy all of the films she starred in and now there is no trace of her left unless you really scrape through some of the old movie magazines."

  That explained a lot about Francine. The poor woman was a starlet, forced to give up her true love of acting so that no one would get suspicious about her background. But it still left questions in Vinnie's mind. It seemed like every time one was answered, ten more took its place.

  "But how does that work?" Vinnie asked. "When it's your turn, how do you know you'll be successful? If only a few of you are working at a time, how do you afford all of this expensive stuff on top of just the basics?"

  "As vampires, we have quite a few skills that come in handy," Tucker said with a wink. "Besides our handsome good looks, we also have the ability to be very persuasive and charming to mortals. We can sweet talk our way into a movie contract or business deal in the time it takes to shake hands. It doesn't mean we are good at our jobs, necessarily, but we enjoy ourselves and make money too."

  Vinnie had forgotten about the whole "charm the mortals" thing probably because she hated anything scary and refused to watch monster movies with Lavender so that she wouldn't end up having nightmares. Her family used to laugh at her. Wasn't being a witch scary enough to prevent the nightmares? It wasn't for Vinnie.

  "Take Francine, for example," Tucker said. "She is a dramatic and beautiful woman, but she was a terrible actress. She was still able to get a very lucrative film contract and make lots of movies that made millions of dollars even while the critics talked about how terrible she was. It always just seems to fall into place for us."

  Trying very hard not to scowl, Vinnie dismissed that very notion in her head. Things didn't just "fall into place" for the vampires. Rather they used their above average skills to trick mortals into giving them money. It made Vinnie angry just thinking about it. As a non-magical witch, sometimes she felt closer to being a mortal than a witch. She would be very upset if someone used their paranormal skills to take her money.

  "I can see that didn't sit well with you," Tucker said. "My apologies."

  His dark eyes were staring at her, but there was a softness around them that had been missing from Bram's eyes. Tucker wanted to be the leader, but he also seemed much nicer than his brother. Vinnie had to keep in mind that perhaps Bram had started out this way too.

  "No, I'm sorry," Vinnie said. "I let my personal feelings out and that was unprofessional of me. It may also be unprofessional to be chatting next to the body of the deceased. Why don't we make our way to the library and you can tell me more about the vampire pack. I also have some questions about the murder and missing skull that I need you to answer."

  Tucker nodded, still being more agreeable than Bram had been. He held the door of the ceremony room open while Vinnie and Diggy walked out. As he smiled at Vinnie, his sharp fangs glinted in the light and Vinnie had to suppress a shiver from running down her spine. This was not the time to start being a wimp.

  Chapter Nine

  Tucker's uncomfortable position on the wooden chair made it clear that Francine's lounging was done more for show than comfort. He kept shifting back and forth, unable to actually get comfortable while Vinnie and Diggy watched from their plush armchairs. Either that or the questioning was about to get interesting.

  "You dropped some pretty strong hints about wanting to be the leader of the vampire pack," Vinnie said. "What made you think you would be a better leader than your brother?"

  "Bram was obviously not cut out for the job," Tucker said, crossing one ankle over the other knee in an attempt to get comfortable. "He let the power get to his head. That takes a lot for a vampire because we have pretty strong wills. I wouldn't do that."

  "But why would you want to be the leader?" Diggy asked, tapping her pen against her teeth. "What's in it for you?"

  Tucker took a breath in like he was going to speak, but instead he uncrossed his legs and shifted his weight in his chair, once again searching for a comfortable position. Vinnie let him squirm, determined to make him speak first. After several uncomfortable minutes, it worked.

  "I suppose the only answer that will make sense is if I say I want to be the leader so that I can have the power," Tucker said. "But I swear it would be different from Bram's power."

  "How?" Vinnie asked.

  The decrepit looking old house that the witches lived in had one, very old TV that mostly worked because of the spells Lavender put on it. Vinnie didn't turn it on much, but she did like to watch crime shows occasionally. One thing she had learned from them was that sometimes letting the suspect talk was the best, no matter how much the questioner wanted to jump in or no matter how awkward the silence got. It was a way for Vinnie to keep control of the situation.

  "It's just different," Tucker finally said. It came out a bit sharper than his previous statements. His leg was bouncing up and down in annoyance. "Bram was a weak man before he became a vampire. He thought it solved all of his problems and now he would be strong and powerful. But he was still weak. He just happened to be the leader."

  "And it's different with you because?" Vinnie prompted.

  "It's different because I've always been a leader," Tucker said. "Before I became a vampire, I was in the army during the Civil War. I lead large groups of men into battle and I was a great leader. When I became a vampire and I found out that Bram was forming a pack, he had already taken over as the leader. There was no way for me to become the leader. So I've been sitting back and letting him lead, hoping he would let it all go to his head. And he did."

  "Or you murdered him," Diggy jumped in.

  Vinnie had to stop from outwardly groaning. Sometimes Diggy got excited and ended up jumping in with comments that were not helpful to the investigation. Like that one. Tucker's face clouded over again and he seemed to close up. Vinnie just hoped he would talk a little more.

  "I have one more big question that may spiral out into a few smaller ones as well," Vinnie said. "How did Bram become the leader?"

  "It wasn't hard," Tucker said. "He sort of just fell into it. Once he became a vampire, he was hunting for more victims, but he ended up turning Francine into a vampi
re as well because they fell in love. Once there were two of them, others would automatically assume that Bram was the leader. Once they collected a few more followers, they changed their ways. When I joined, I helped lead the charge to stop murdering people and start doing more productive things with our lives."

  "But why did Bram have to stay the leader?" Diggy asked.

  "That's just how it is for vampires," Tucker said with a shrug. "Once there is a leader, the only way they can leave their position is by being killed or agreeing to a mutual takeover. It isn't like we just vote someone new in and Bram was not about to just agree to stop being the leader. That was about all he had going for him."

  A silence fell over the room as all three of the occupants thought about that statement. If Tucker had wanted to be the leader bad enough, he would have felt like he was forced to kill Bram to get the position.

  "Do you become the leader now?" Vinnie asked.

  "I hope so," Tucker said. "This pack needs a firm hand to lead them through this and to get us back to our more productive ways without us falling apart. I don't want to sound too cocky, but I'm assuming I will be the one to become the leader. We will have to let the ceremony happen and see who is selected."

  "Thank you for answering our questions Tucker," Vinnie said. "You are free to go for now, but we may need to ask you more later."

  Tucker stood up and jammed his hand out in front of him. Vinnie stood up and shook his hand. She was a little bit impressed that he did seem like he may be a better leader than Bram was. Bram had been short-tempered and demanding. Tucker seemed more professional and willing to work things out. He seemed like he would make a great replacement leader of the pack, that is unless he was the one who killed Bram. Bram may have been rude and a terrible leader, but that didn't mean he deserved to die.

  "I'm so curious about all of these ceremonies," Diggy said quietly once Tucker shut the door. "Like how do they work and how does the ceremony select the leader?"

  "I wish I knew," Vinnie said. "Tucker made it sound like most likely he would be the next leader, but he doesn't know that for sure. Do you think he would kill his own brother if he wasn't even sure he would be able to take over the pack?"

  "I don't know," Diggy said breathlessly.

  Glancing over, Vinnie saw that Diggy was lost in her own mind. She seemed to be thinking through the logistics of how a ceremony might work. Then she grabbed the pen and flipped her notepad to a new page, scribbling furiously what seemed to be some disjointed thoughts that would probably turn into her new story.

  This job seemed beneficial to Diggy and her hobby. That was fine. Once they solved this case, Diggy could scribble away while Vinnie worked on her puzzle. She had a 1000 piece autumn scene jigsaw puzzle that she had bought brand new, still in the original packaging from the New to You Boutique. It was in the library just waiting for her to finish this case and be able to focus on it.

  Well, she had to finish this case and solve the clue that Norhand had brought. Vinnie pulled the piece of parchment with the childish rhyme on it out of the big pocket on the front of her hand knit sweater. She read it through a few times. It was hard to get past just how immature it seemed, but it wasn't like they'd be able to solve it faster if Norhand was better at poetry.

  Vinnie loved puzzles but it was hard to solve a puzzle where the answer was something she had no idea about. It would be like her trying to solve a puzzle where the answers were complicated medical procedures or scientific names of dinosaurs. She just didn't have the necessary knowledge to get to the end of it.

  But Diggy did. The girl might struggle and she might not think she knows much, but she knew more about magic than Vinnie did so she was kind of their only hope. Vinnie vowed that tonight they would go over the rhyming clue once more together and Vinnie would try to help her niece puzzle it out.

  They had already figured out one, they could figure out this one too. And with the stakes being so high, they both knew that they had to figure it out. Vinnie and Diggy missed Lavender more than anything. Hopefully Lavender was being taken care of.

  Chapter Ten

  The doors to the library burst open and Wayne came charging inside. Vinnie and Diggy both jumped, ripped out of their individual thoughts. The short, mostly unattractive man walked straight to the wooden chair and sat down.

  "I heard you were doing interviews," he said. "Here I am. Come at me."

  The witches exchanged a look. They were more used to having to practically drag people into the interview room, but here was Wayne wanting to be asked questions. What a strange, strange man.

  "Yes we are interviewing," Vinnie said slowly. "Thank you for being so open to answering questions."

  "Yeah, well I know what it's like trying to bust into this vampire group," Wayne said. "Anyone different they try to stonewall. Take me for example. I'm not a picture of vampire beauty like the rest of them, so I practically have to pull their fangs out just to talk to them. Plus, I know basically all that there is to know about vampires."

  "Why are you so different looking?" Diggy asked.

  Having a teenager as the other detective could be trying at times, but this was one of those times where she came in very handy. A teenager could ask the tough questions without being thought of as extraordinarily rude.

  "Ha, you think I'm ugly now?" Wayne asked. "You shoulda seen me before I became a vampire. My dad used to say someone must've hit me with the ugly stick as I came out."

  Wayne talked like he was a used car salesman and Vinnie kind of wondered if that had been one of the jobs he had taken up to make money for the pack. There was just something so smarmy and unlikeable about him and none of it had to do with his confusingly unattractive face. It felt like he should be smacking on a piece of gum as he spoke.

  "Maybe you could tell us about what happened in the day leading up to Bram's murder?" Vinnie said.

  "Yeah, Bram gathered us all and said that the skull was missing and that we needed to find it," Wayne said. "Which like, yeah, we did because believe me, I need that sucker or I'll start to lose the little bit of good looks that I do have. So we searched all around and then he said that you guys were coming. The Harried Hangers or whatever you are."

  Diggy bristled beside her. Vinnie didn't even have to look at her because she could hear the snarl on her face as she spoke. First Wayne had seemed like a know-it-all and between that and his unfortunate looks, Vinnie had felt a little sorry for him. But with this attitude, Vinnie could understand why the other vampires didn't really like him.

  "Halloween Helpers," Diggy growled at him from between clenched teeth.

  "That makes more sense," Wayne said. "Anyway, you broads showed up and then we all searched again even though we still didn't find anything so we had to go sit in this boring room with the empty books while you searched more and you still didn't find it. Instead, you found Bram. That pretty much brings us to today."

  "While we were searching, did you leave the library at all?" Vinnie asked.

  "Most of us left at one point or another," Wayne said. "There ain't no bathroom in here."

  Diggy scribbled a small note to herself and Vinnie didn't have to read it to know that it said that vampires still used the bathroom which was both a cringe worthy detail and an interesting tidbit.

  "Did you leave?" Vinnie asked again.

  Wayne had a way of skirting around the question that Vinnie didn't like. She couldn't tell if he was hiding something or if he just talked in a stream of consciousness all of the time.

  "Yeah I did," Wayne said. "I left a few times. Once to use the bathroom, once to make myself a sandwich, and once just because I was curious if you were almost done searching. You were because you both were coming down the stairs and heading to the ceremony room. It was right before you found Bram's body."

  Whether he knew it or not, Wayne had basically just placed himself at the scene of the murder. Judging from his blank expression, he didn't realize that.

  "Can I ask, how importan
t is the ceremonial skull to you personally?" Vinnie asked.

  "Oh very important," Wayne said. He put his hands on his knees and leaned forward. "One time I skipped the ceremony because I forgot about it and I was ugly for the next month. My nose grew to twice this size and all the warts I used to have on my face came back. I begged Bram to use the skull, but he said maybe I would learn my lesson about missing the ceremony."

  "If you used the skull more than once a month, do you think that would help your appearance?" Diggy asked in a way more tactful way than Vinnie thought she would.

  "For sure it would," Wayne said. "I mean, I'd never get movie star looks like the brothers, but I might improve at least a little. But Bram would never let us use the skull like that. Now that he's gone, maybe Tucker will let us use it more often."

  Well there was a motive. It wasn't a great one, but maybe Wayne had killed Bram so that he could use the skull more often. Vinnie had to hope not because what an absolutely horrid reason to murder someone. Not that there was a good reason for murder, but there were definitely plenty of bad ones.

  "Hey, did Francine tell you about the note she found?" Wayne asked.

  Vinnie's ears seemed to perk up.

  "What note?" she asked.

  "The note from Bram that said he hid the skull," Wayne said casually, as if it were common knowledge.

  "We haven't heard about that yet," Vinnie said. "Tell us more about it."

  Wayne leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head like he was kicking back for a rest in the very uncomfortable chair. He seemed to be enjoying the fact that he was the one with the information.

  "When we were all in the library the other day, Francine left to go to her room for a little bit," Wayne said. "When she came back, she had a note in her hand and she and Tucker were talking about it. I overheard her say that it was from Bram and it admitted that he had hidden the skull and that he wouldn't give it back until she shaped up and stopped haranguing him about it. She was real mad. She said something about Bram knowing about them. Francine looked like she was about to spit tacks, but Tucker got her to calm down somehow. I couldn't hear his end of it."