"That's uplifting," I tell him.
"You never know. Just leaving the options open. Look, you were at a haunted corn maze. I'm sure you saw a lot of things. Let's just go back there and straighten it out. Would you rather go in the car or the hearse?"
"What?!" My voice reaches a pitch just under what would only be audible by dogs.
"Do you want me to drive you, or would you rather have the driver from the carriage ride bring you?"
Pressing my hand to my heart to stop it from coming out of my chest, I compare the options. Climbing up into a hearse, equipped with a driver or not, does not sound like my idea of a good cap-off for this evening. Riding with a stranger isn't a lot better. Even a gorgeous stranger in a mask and cape. But I have to get back to the maze and let someone know what I saw.
"I'm going to go with neither. No offense. It would just be faster to walk back." I hesitate. "Though... if he is waiting out there."
"I'll go with you. No one is out there. Trust me. And if they are, they're not going to take me down, too."
Coming from anyone else, it might have sounded like a joke. But this man's rich, rumbling voice make the words ripple through my belly and create feelings that don't seem appropriate, considering my near murder. But they're better than fear, so I'll take it.
The walk back feels shorter than my desperate run, but with every step, I'm waiting for the murderer to jump out from behind a tree or swing down Tarzan-style and slash me. The masked man walks along beside me, close enough to make me feel more secure, but not enough so we brush against each other. Debating whether that's a good thing or not helps to distract me from the fear walking back through the trees.
We're almost back to the spot where I ran when a heavy-set man in a stained T-shirt and suspenders comes toward us. I'm sincerely hoping his outfit is supposed to be a satirical costume.
"What are you doing back here?" he demands. "This area is off-limits to customers."
"Who are you?" I ask.
"Sterling Jones. I'm the manager of these attractions?"
"Perfect. I need to talk to you."
Sterling Jones, Manager, doesn't seem thrilled at the prospect of talking to me, but I'm not leaving until he does.
"You need to get away from this area. See those orange lines in the grass? Customers aren't allowed past them."
I didn't notice the lines of spray paint in the grass before, but now I see my shortcut put me well inside the employee-only area around the maze.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to… never mind. You need to come with me."
He maneuvers his substantial frame in front of me to stop me from walking around him toward where I'd witnessed the stabbing.
"This area is not for customers," he repeats.
"You don't understand; I saw a murder."
Sterling immediately steps out of my way and follows close behind me as I rush toward the body.
At least, that's what should have happened. What actually happens is a big, booming, mocking laugh.
"A murder?" he asks. "Honey, don't you see where you are? This is a Halloween haunt. The violence is all fake. These are actors."
Being called 'honey' like that makes my skin crawl, but I refrain from kicking him in the kneecap. That seems like a counterproductive move.
"I'm familiar with the haunts," I darken my voice. "I come every year. My friends and I went through all the houses, and I went through the maze twice. The second time, I got turned around and used a shortcut to get out. When I did, I saw someone get stabbed."
"If you went through the maze, you saw the sign. The experience is different every time. You just saw some of our talented actors at work," Sterling says dismissively.
"No," I insist, shaking my head. "It wasn't inside the maze. It was beyond the corn. In the area you just told me isn't for customers."
"You must be mistaken. Our experience can be pretty intense. You were probably just scared."
"I wasn't scared. Your talented actors telegraph most of their scares, and the majority of the costumes are Party City specials. I know what I saw."
"Can you just let her look?" the masked man asks. "Just let her get a peek. It will reassure her, and you can finish closing up for the night."
Sterling looks back and forth between us, his expression growing defensive, like he feels outnumbered. He finally nods, and I don't hesitate to push past him. Both men follow me as I follow the edge of the maze back to the shadowy spot where I broke through the corn. I brace myself to encounter the body.
It's not there.
Bales of hay have been moved into the area, broken pieces scattered through the grass. Sterling points at them and scoffs.
"Did one of these bales murder someone?" he asks.
"They weren't here," I tell him. "These hay bales weren't sitting here when I came out of the maze."
"Look. I get it. You think you can handle the shock, but then you go into a real attraction, and it’s more than you're ready to cope with. You get turned around and confused. A couple startles get you one right after the other. It's a lot. You start seeing things, and maybe they seem too real. You don't have to be embarrassed about it."
His tone makes me want to graduate from kneecap kicking to peeling off his face.
"I'm not embarrassed. I know what I saw," I tell him through gritted teeth.
"We're heading out, Boss."
A young man's voice makes us turn. Two teenagers stand a few yards behind us, remnants of stage makeup and prosthetic facial features clinging to their skin.
"These are two of my best actors," Sterling says. "They're the ones who are assigned to the back portion of the maze. This is who you saw."
"No," I insist again. "It's not."
"Is something wrong?" the second teenager, a girl whose eyes are still bloodshot from scrubbing off her makeup with cleansing wipes, asks.
Sterling shakes his head.
"Everything's fine. You guys did a fantastic job tonight. Scared this little lady so much, she thought she witnessed a real murder."
He laughs again, and the teenagers join in.
"Call me 'little lady' again, and there might be a recreation," I mutter.
"Now that you've been shown the hay bales, I really do need you to leave. We're closing up for the night."
Sterling ushers us around to the front of the maze. Almost immediately, I see Sylvia rushing toward me.
"There you are! We were so worried!"
She gathers me into her arms for a tight hug.
"I'm fine," I say. "Sorry I didn't meet you at the diner."
"Are you alright?" Jackson asks.
Sterling walks by slowly, and my eyes follow him.
"There's something I need to tell you. First, I need to thank…"
I turn to look over my shoulder at the masked man. He's gone.
Chapter Six
Gavin
The young woman seems fine now. Her friends scooped her up and are huddling her away from the maze, so I turn and walk away, back toward the woods. It's ridiculous, but I wish they hadn't shown up. Now that she's calmed down and the manager of the haunted maze has shown her she didn't actually see what she thought she did, I was looking forward to the walk back to the party with her.
Of course, she has no reason to go in that direction again. She admitted the only reason she went that way was because she thought she was running from a murderer. It's almost funny to think about that moment when the actor looked up and saw her watching them. I wonder how long he actually chased her. Probably no further than those orange lines in the grass.
In any case, her scream said differently. That sound wasn't playful. It definitely wasn't the scream of a woman who knew she had only witnessed part of a Halloween haunt and got a little spooked. Whatever she saw, she thought it was real, and it sent her running.
Right into my arms.
Where the fuck did that come from?
I push the thought out of my mind. She's just a Shadow Creek local who got
more than she bargained for at the Halloween festivities, and I happened to find her. But she was beautiful. Creamy pale skin, glossy dark hair, and wide eyes that were definitely enough to make my jaunt across the field in my mask and cape worth it. Her curvy body in my arms, breasts crushed against my chest, was a bonus.
Someone has found the gazebo by the time I get out of the field, so I make my way past it. By the sounds coming from it and the way the shadowy figures are moving, I'm going to assume it's a couple. Whether they were when they showed up to the party tonight or will be when they wake up in the morning, I'll chalk up to one of the great mysteries of the Universe.
"There you are, Gavin."
Mystery solved.
I tried to give a wide arc around the gazebo on my way back toward the party, but it apparently wasn't enough to not get me caught. Beck's voice comes out of the shadowy gazebo. I cringe as I stop to wait for him. Nothing awkward about this.
Grin plastered on my face; I turn to them. "Hey, guys. Getting some fresh air?"
Beck grins as he walks toward me from the gazebo. A few seconds later, Ruby follows, adjusting the buttons along the front of her costume.
"Where have you been?" she asks.
"What do you mean?"
"Marilyn said she saw you walk out here, but when we came to look for you, you were gone. We haven't been able to find you," Ruby explains.
"Marilyn?"
"Snakes on her head," Beck says, holding his fingers spread out from his hair like the snakes from the woman who tried to get me to dance with her.
"Ah." My eyes flicker over to the gazebo, then back to them. "Did you do a whole lot of looking?"
"We looked all over the party," Beck insists. "We just ended up back out here."
I laugh.
"Fair enough. I'm fine. Sorry to worry you. I came out here for a little break and heard screaming. It didn't sound right, so I went to check it out."
"Screaming?" Ruby asks.
"It was coming from out in the land. It was a woman."
"Did you find her? Is she alright?"
I nod and gesture toward where I chased the sound of the screaming. "It's fine. I caught her running through the field a bit that direction. She was really scared but fine."
"Why was she scared?" Beck asks. "Did something happen?"
The smile is gone from his face, replaced by dark concern in his eyes. I understand the reaction. After what he and Ruby went through when they first got back together, it makes sense. That's all behind them now, and everyone responsible for the year of fear and misery they went through is in jail. But he hasn't fully recovered. I don't know if he ever will. The threat to his wife and baby son were too much. I can imagine part of him will always carry it with him.
"Don't worry, she's fine. She was up at the haunts and got a little carried away with the corn maze. Apparently, she was going through the maze for a second time alone, and the actors got the best of her. It scared her, and she ran. She was turned around, so she thought she was running toward the front but actually ended up out here," I explained.
"The haunts up near town?" Beck asks. "I used to go through those when I was a teenager. They aren't that intense."
"The corn maze is new," Ruby points out. "And I've heard the company that does the attractions revved them up over the last few years."
"How scary could they actually make it?" Beck asks.
"Enough to make a woman think she witnessed a murder," I tell him.
“Seriously?”
“She was completely convinced. When I got ahold of her, she was terrified. She was positive a man was chasing her and was going to kill her.”
Ruby cringes and reaches for Beck. Memories of that year must still be in her mind, too. She shakes her head.
“That must have been horrible for her. What did you do?”
“She insisted on going back to the maze to tell someone what happened. We ran into the manager, and he introduced her to the actors who were working the back section of the maze. She thought she was out of the maze when she saw what she did, but it turns out she wasn’t,” I say.
“How could she think she was out of the maze?”’ Beck asks.
I shrug.
“She was confused and didn’t know where she was going. The manager let her go where she thought she’d seen it, but there was nothing there. Just some bales of hay.”
“That’s eerie,” Ruby says. “What did she say when she left?”
“Oh, I left. The manager wasn’t happy we were there, and some of her friends showed up, so I figured she was fine and came back here. I’m sure she’s embarrassed about the whole thing, and I didn’t want her to have to deal with that.”
“That was nice of you,” Ruby tells me with a soft smile. The kind of smile I’m sure is one of the things every mother is taught when their first child is born.
“There you go proving you don’t know Gavin well enough yet,” Beck chuckles. He flings his arm around my shoulders and steers me toward the party. “He isn’t nice to anyone. What he’s not telling you is he snuck away from that girl, so she doesn't become another of his admirers."
I nod, taking the ribbing in stride.
"Yeah, yeah. Very funny," I say.
"Admirers?" Ruby asks.
"Gavin here has quite the collection. All vying to become Mrs. Hall. I thought he was getting close a little while back, but, alas, he released her into the wild as well."
"Hilarious," I roll my eyes, then look to Ruby. "I don't have a collection."
The statement is no more out of my mouth as we step back into the dungeon than Medusa runs at me across the room.
"There you are! You disappeared. I thought you'd left without giving me another chance to get a dance with you," she trills.
Beck takes his arm away from my shoulder and takes Ruby's hand.
"Be sure to sign me up for the Fan Club newsletter," he calls as his wife pulls him out of the room.
I throw a glare after him, then turn to Marilyn. The rubber snakes really take a lot away from what I can only assume is the seductive look she's giving me. Long metallic green false eyelashes bring it to another level.
There has never been a more perfect moment for my phone to ring. Marilyn pouts in response to my apologetic look, and I reach for my phone before she can try to inject herself in some other creative way. I turn my back to her before glancing down at my phone.
Shit. Eva.
I could ignore it. But she'd just call back. This is my cue to bow out of the party.
"What do you want?" I ask.
"You really have hit a sag in your social skills, haven't you?" Eva needles me.
"Eva, I'm busy. Why don't you just tell me why you're calling?"
"I hear music, Gavin. I know you aren't working. Are you at a party? Without me?"
"Why would I be at a party with you?" I ask. "We are broken up."
"How long are you going to hold on to that?" she asks.
I climb into the hearse carriage and pat the side. The driver nudges the horses, and we lurch forward toward the house.
"Always?"
"Let me change your mind," she says, her voice dropping to a murmur. "It's chilly tonight, Gavin. Come keep me warm, and we'll talk about us over breakfast."
"Can't do it, Eva. Even if I was interested, I'm out of town. Give Brad a call. If he's not currently playing quilt for someone else, I'm sure he'll step in for you. He always has."
It's petty, but her high, offended gasp makes me laugh as I end the call. At the same moment, the horses stop in front of Beck and Ruby's house. Thanking the driver, I head inside past rows of jack o’ lanterns glowing along the sidewalk. With weeks left before actual Halloween, I can't even imagine how much more elaborate their celebration will become. I'm starting to wonder if I was invited to only the first of a wave of parties.
I change out of my costume and into pajamas before taking a seat at the small desk in the corner of my room. Opening my computer, I try to bury my
self in the work waiting for me on the screen. But my mind keeps wandering back to the woman from the maze. Even through her terror, she was stunning. My draw to her was immediate.
I'm not used to anything but my work dominating my thoughts. But as I try to sift through the documents and reply to messages, I can't keep my mind off of her. She was so convinced of what she saw and so rattled by the chase.
I hope she's alright.
An hour later, I give up trying to work and climb into bed, still thinking of her wide eyes and rethinking walking away.
Chapter Seven
Scarlett
The next day…
I don't care what Silver James or whatever the hell his name was says. I know what I saw last night, and it wasn't hay bales playing tricks with my eyes in the light. First, there wasn't enough light to play tricks. Second, the last time I checked, hay bales don't bleed. And I've checked. Last year featured some aggressive harvest decorating at an open house, and a particularly pesky corner resulted in me getting very familiar with what happens to a bale of hay when it encounters a saw. No blood is involved.
And this was a lot of blood.
Sylvia thinks I'm out getting ingredients for muffins right now. The house we decorated yesterday has an open showing this afternoon, and it calls for baked goods. What I'm actually doing would not make her happy.
Just the story of what I saw gave her the heebie-jeebies, according to her eloquent wording. She’s been very eager to go right along with the theory of the actors unexpectedly scaring the shit out of me, and that fear blocking my ability to see, hear, or tell direction. That way, she doesn’t have to think about her best friend witnessing someone getting stabbed or deciding it would be a good idea to go about digging up the truth.
I cringe, rolling my shoulders to shake off the feeling of ick that comes over me. Maybe that wasn't the best choice of words.
Sylvia was happy to just put it behind her and years from now bring it back up as that hilarious time Scarlett was fooled by the haunt actors. It would not be her favorite thing to find out that I'm back at the farm and about to step over the orange spray-painted lines in the grass, into the employee-only section around the maze.
Baby and the Billionaire Page 4