Haunted House Murder

by Leslie Meier

  One of the fishermen, with wind-burned cheeks and a long brown beard speckled with gray, leaned in and bumped arms with Liddy. “Whatever you say, kitten. You got me under your spell.”

  Hayley couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

  The other fisherman, Cappy, more roly-poly and with a cheery scruffy face, downed his beer. “If you ask me, I think she joined some kind of cult. I heard there were a couple groups stockpiling weapons and supplies for when the Blackhawk government helicopters come to take away their guns.”

  “That’s ridiculous, Cappy!” Liddy bellowed, shaking her head.

  “Yeah,” Emmett agreed, slipping an arm around Liddy’s waist. “I heard she was up in Bangor at one of those Italian restaurants where the Boston mob sometimes frequents in order to bring their racketeering operations here to Maine and witnessed some kind of hit and now she’s been put in the Witness Protection Program and is living in some cornfield in Iowa.”

  Liddy swiveled around to face her amorous fisherman. “Are you kidding me, Emmett? Is that honestly what you believe? That’s just silly.”

  “It’s no more silly than believing she got out of Dodge because she was afraid of you selling more houses than her,” Emmett said, snickering.

  Liddy arched her back and then pushed his arm down that encircled her waist. “Don’t touch me.”

  Emmett bowed his head as it dawned on him that he had just ruined his chances of a make-out session with the glamorous and alluring Liddy Crawford.

  “Go play darts or something. I need to talk to my best friend for a while,” Liddy snapped.

  Emmett and Cappy, resigned to rejection, picked up their beers and shuffled toward the back of the bar just as Liddy’s mouth dropped open after turning back around and facing the front door of the bar.

  “What is it?” Hayley asked, spinning around to see what had so suddenly gotten her attention. She spotted Danny hustling toward them, his face a ghostly white.

  “My God, Danny. What happened to you?” Hayley cried.

  Danny reached out and grabbed her hands, squeezing them tight as he opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

  Hayley shuddered. “What is it? Did something happen to the kids?”

  Danny shook his head. “No . . . nothing like that . . .”

  “Then what?” Hayley demanded to know.

  Danny took a deep breath. “I was out in the yard raking leaves. . . .”

  “That is shocking news,” Liddy said. “Hayley says she can’t get you to do anything. . . .”

  Danny shot her an irritated look and then turned his attention back to Hayley. “I kept hearing this banging and then the sound of a power saw, and I couldn’t tell where it was coming from at first so I followed the noise around the back of the Salinger house. It was coming from Damien’s shed, the one I see him going into all the time where he spends hours . . .”

  Hayley wrenched her hands out of his grip. “Danny, tell me you didn’t . . .”

  “I couldn’t help it. I had to know. I snuck up and just took a quick look through the window. . . .”

  “What did you see?” Liddy exclaimed, dying of curiosity.

  “Please don’t encourage him!” Hayley begged.

  Danny swallowed hard. “The window was pretty dirty, and it was hard to get a good look, but I swear I saw him holding what looked like a woman’s arm . . .”

  Liddy screamed.

  The entire bar fell silent except for Carrie Underwood’s singing coming from the jukebox. After a moment, the bar patrons went back to their own conversations and Emmett and Cappy returned to their dart game.

  “A woman’s arm? Oh, come on, Danny!” Hayley snorted.

  “I’m telling you, it looked to me like he was dismembering a body!”

  Randy appeared, eyes wide. “What happened next?”

  “Not you too, Randy!” Hayley cried.

  “Nothing. I just got the hell out of there! I didn’t want him to see me spying on him and then come after me with his chain saw!”

  “Danny, I’ve had it up to here with your wild murder conspiracy stories!”

  “I saw what I saw, Hayley!” Danny shouted.

  “Then tell Sergio!” Hayley said, calling his bluff. “He’s still at the office. You can go over there right now.”

  Danny hesitated.

  “What’s the matter? If you’re one hundred percent certain you saw Damien Salinger cutting up Wendi Jo Willis’s body, then what are you waiting for?”

  Danny shifted uncomfortably, his mind racing. “Well, I’m pretty sure it was a woman’s arm, but I can’t be absolutely sure. Like I said, the window was smeared with dirt and it was kind of hard to see. . . .”

  “Then that’s that. If you’re not confident enough to report it to the police, then that’s the last I want to hear about it. Do you understand me, Danny?”

  “But babe, just because I can’t swear to it—”

  Hayley was having none of it. “Do you understand?”

  “Yes, babe,” Danny whispered, defeated. “I need a beer.”

  “No, you need to go home right now and look after the kids while I enjoy some girl time with Liddy! It’s Mommy’s night off!”

  “Yes, dear,” Danny said sheepishly as he retreated out of the bar.

  Chapter Nine

  After walking home from Drinks Like a Fish about an hour later, Hayley instantly sensed something was wrong as she entered the house through the back door. Danny stood in the kitchen wearing a heavy plaid vest over his gray corduroy shirt, gripping a flashlight in his right hand. Gemma and Dustin hovered around him, both looking worried. Dustin’s eyes were watery as if he had been crying.

  Oh no, Hayley thought to herself. What’s happened now?

  Dustin ran to his mother and threw his small skinny arms around her waist. “Mommy, I’m sorry! Please don’t hate me!”

  Hayley hugged him and tried to comfort him. “I could never hate you, honey, no matter what.”

  “You haven’t heard what he did!” Gemma sniffed, almost as upset as her brother.

  Hayley eyed Danny for an explanation.

  “He left the back door open when he got home and Leroy got out,” Danny said quietly. “I’ve been around the block a few times already, calling to him, but so far there’s been no sign of him.”

  “Well, he’s got his tags on. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before someone finds him and calls us . . .” Hayley said before noticing the guilty look on Dustin’s face.

  “You told me to give him a bath and so I did, and I took the tags off first like you said, but I forgot to put them back on him after he was clean . . . !”

  “Dustin, no . . .” Hayley gasped.

  “See? You hate me!” Dustin wailed.

  “No one hates you,” Hayley tried assuring him.

  “I do!” Gemma cried. “How could you be so stupid?”

  Hayley whirled around and jabbed a finger at Gemma. “You stop that right now. It was an accident. Don’t make your brother feel worse than he already does!”

  “But Leroy’s out there all alone! What if he can’t find his way home? What if someone finds him and decides to keep him because they don’t know who he belongs to! We may never see him again!” Gemma cried.

  Dustin covered his ears with his hands to block out her voice.

  Hayley kneeled down and kissed her son on the cheek. “Don’t you worry, Dustin. We’ll find him. We’ll put an ad in the paper and blanket the town with pictures of him. Leroy will turn up. I’m sure of it.” She gently took his hands and lowered them from his ears. “Okay?”

  Dustin sniffed, wiped his nose with the back of his hand, and slowly nodded.

  Hayley stood back up. “Now I want both of you to go upstairs and get your homework done before dinner. I’ve got some leftover spaghetti pie in the fridge. I’ll warm it up when your father and I get back.”

  “Where are you going?” Gemma asked.

  “We’re going to go out and search som
e more. He may not have gone far,” Hayley said.

  “I’ve combed the neighborhood calling his name. He’s not answering.”

  “What about the woods?” Hayley asked.

  Danny didn’t answer her. He didn’t have to. She knew he had a fear of the woods after dark and it was almost pitch-black outside. The streetlights did little to illuminate the large pine and fir trees that swayed back and forth ominously in the fall night breeze.

  “We’ll be back soon,” Hayley said, heading out the door.

  “Maybe we should wait until morning to search the woods. It’s awfully dark now . . .” Danny whispered warily.

  “You can wait until it’s light out. I’m going now,” Hayley said, snatching the flashlight out of his hand.

  Danny only had to take one look at the expectant looks on his children’s faces before he realized he had no choice. What kind of dad would he be if he stayed home while his wife ventured out into the night alone in search of the family’s missing pooch?

  “You heard your mother. Upstairs, now! Your homework’s waiting!” Danny barked as Gemma and Dustin whipped around and scrambled up the stairs to their rooms.

  Hayley marched out the door to the backyard. Across the way, she could see through the dining room windows of the Salinger house, the whole family seated at the table eating dinner in silence. None of them looked the least bit happy. Danny came up close behind Hayley and whispered in her ear, “You think maybe they snatched Leroy?”

  “Stop it, Danny,” Hayley said, nudging him in the stomach with her elbow. “Let’s go.”

  With Danny close on her heels, Hayley hustled toward the thicket of trees, which served as a gateway to the scary unknown of the woods. She could sense Danny’s rising panic as they trudged through the leaves and dirt, deeper into the darkness. Hayley swung the flashlight back and forth, following every sound, at one point revealing a mama deer and two baby deer chewing on some plants, gawking at them, blinded by the light. They just stood there, not making the slightest move to retreat until Hayley moved the light off of them and onto a squirrel scurrying up the bark of a tree. The tiny critter froze for a brief moment as the light shined on him and then continued on his way.

  “We’re never going to find him out here in the dark,” Danny moaned, wanting any excuse to return to the comfort and safety of their home.

  Hayley ignored him. “Leroy! Here, boy! Leroy!”

  She stopped and listened.

  Nothing.

  And then she continued on.

  She heard Danny sighing behind her.

  “Leroy!”

  And that’s when she heard it.

  A faint yap.

  She stopped dead in her tracks. “Did you hear that?”

  “Hear what?”

  “I thought I heard a dog barking.”

  “I didn’t hear anything.”

  She took a few more steps and heard it again.

  More yapping.

  “That!”

  This time they both stopped, not moving, waiting to hear the sound again.

  Sure enough, another faint, almost inaudible bark, but it was loud enough for Danny to hear it this time. “That’s Leroy!”

  “It came from that direction,” Hayley said, pointing east. They picked up their pace, but not so fast that they could run into a tree or trip over a fallen branch. They reached a small clearing, and as Hayley swept the flashlight over the area, she almost missed the puny-sized fur ball nearly buried in a pile of orange and yellow leaves. It was the sudden movement that caught her attention, and she pulled the light back until it hit the wiggling little four-legged body.

  “Leroy!” Hayley called out.

  But the puppy didn’t answer. He was too preoccupied with something.

  Hayley rushed forward. Danny stuck so close to her she could feel his hot breath on her neck. She was practically on top of Leroy now, still shining the light down on him. “Leroy, what in the world have you been up to?”

  And then her eyes rested on something she couldn’t quite make out at first. Leroy was busy digging something up from the soil. Hayley looked closer, not sure what it was, but as she crouched down to get a closer look, her eyes widened in horror.

  Sticking up from the dirt was a fingernail painted with pink nail polish. It was a woman’s finger and Leroy was hard at work digging up the rest of the body that went with it.

  “What’cha got there, boy?” Danny asked, kneeling down next to Hayley to inspect what was in the dirt, and then he shrieked louder than Jamie Lee Curtis in the final scenes of the original Halloween movie.

  Bar Harbor Cooking

  by

  Hattie Jenkins

  Now as you all know, I am never one to complain about things, but I really wish someone in this town could enlighten me as to why all the folks around here have such a crazy obsession for the Halloween holiday. Because frankly, if you ask me, allowing children to dress up in costumes from a small age well into their teens and go around the neighborhoods begging for candy is just asking for trouble. Why would anyone in their right mind honestly think that is a good idea?

  And another thing while I’m on the subject. Why would anyone with a clear head promote an entire night of mischief and mayhem? I have personally borne witness with my own eyes to all the destruction resulting from this gruesome annual tradition, including egg-splattered windows, shaving cream sprayed all over cars and mailboxes, and Lord, don’t forget all those smashed pumpkin carcasses strewn across the roads.

  Now as you also know, I never engage in gossip, BUT I am sure many of you remember the Robinson twins, Gabe and Abe, who used to live here in town about ten years ago.

  Well, let me tell you, those boys were a handful for their momma and daddy. Those ruffians were running around the streets from the time they were five years old, and always up to no good! Lordy, every time a helpful neighbor brought them home after catching them lighting matches on the front lawn or calling to complain to the boys’ parents that they were chasing a poor cat, Dick and Joan Robinson would just laugh and say, “Boys will be boys!” Apparently, discipline was not a part of their vocabulary.

  Well, as you all know, I would bite my tongue before I told someone else how to raise their kids, but those boys needed a good swat on their behinds from a very young age, if you ask me! But Dick and Joan Robinson didn’t ask me, so they continued to allow their evil spawn to continue running around the streets unsupervised.

  So it came as no surprise to me that when they got older they became the leaders of a gang of wild and unruly troublemakers who wreaked havoc on many Halloween nights. Those boys kept the local police very busy, and it was a rare occurrence when you didn’t see the twins solemnly riding in the back of the police cruiser after getting caught breaking the law with one of their latest escapades.

  Seems to me the final straw was Halloween night around 1996 when the Robinson twins were fourteen years old and they, along with their pack of faithful followers, were in the middle of town egging and smearing shaving cream all over the windows of the fire station when a young police officer, just out of training, pulled up in his cruiser and hopped out of his vehicle to put a stop to the hooligans’ destruction of public property. The boys took off running down the alley next to the drugstore with the young officer in hot pursuit. As the story goes, the officer caught up with a couple of the boys, but the twins managed to give him the slip. They doubled back and jumped into the police cruiser to play with the sirens and lights. Unfortunately, the inexperienced officer had left his key in the ignition. Unable to resist, Gabe and Abe took the cruiser for a joy ride, racing straight down Main Street, and then left on Cottage Street, blue lights flashing and sirens blaring. They were going like a bat out of hell when all of a sudden a group of young trick-or-treaters began crossing the street in front of them. Gabe, who was driving, panicked and yanked the steering wheel hard to the right. According to the parents who were accompanying their kids and nearly got mowed down by the police c
ruiser, it was like watching a scene from a movie with the speeding car jumping the sidewalk curb and then launching into the air, landing halfway up the Bar Harbor Post Office’s front steps with a horrendous crash. Eyewitnesses confirmed that the sirens were still blaring and the lights were still flashing as the twins howled loudly in the front seat, terrified, tears streaming down their faces. Serves them right, if you ask me.

  Well, Dick and Joan Robinson finally decided they needed a fresh start since their twins now had a hardened reputation, so they packed up and moved the boys to another town in Maine. I heard a while later that the family had relocated to Thomaston, which ironically is where the Maine State Prison is located. I wondered to myself if it might not have been out of convenience for when the boys turned eighteen and could move right in, but as you all know, I’m not one to gossip.

  A co-worker here at the Island Times recently told me that she made my delicious Creamy Cheese Fall Vegetable Casserole, and how much her family had enjoyed it! She said she was thinking about trying to make one for a friend’s birthday potluck, but then she had heard her friend had a dairy allergy. Well, I’ve never heard of anything more ridiculous because back in my day, you ate what was served to you, and you didn’t worry about such a thing as allergies! But I’ll save that discussion for another day. So for you non-finicky eaters, be sure to try my special fall recipe!

  Hattie’s Creamy Cheese Fall Vegetable Casserole

  Ingredients:

  3 cups milk

  2 carrots, peeled and diced

  2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

  2 parsnips, peeled and diced

  2 stalks celery, diced

  1 small onion, peeled and diced

  1 small butternut squash, peeled and diced

  1 8-ounce package cream cheese, cubed

  1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

  Salt and pepper, to taste

  1 cup seasoned panko or seasoned bread crumbs

  2 tablespoons melted butter