by Leslie Meier
“Obviously this street was spared because homes like the one next door are still standing. There was a report that the girl who killed her family died up in an institution in Bangor. Took her own life, from what I understand. The bank foreclosed on the house and sold it to a new family that moved to Bar Harbor in the early fifties. That’s when the first reports of the house being haunted started to surface.”
Hayley leaned forward, enraptured by Sal’s supernatural tale. Maybe Danny was right. Maybe there was something to all these stories.
“My mother didn’t want me spending the night there, but my father said she was being ridiculous and let me go. I didn’t think much of it. I just wanted to play with Timmy’s new Hot Wheels set. I remember his bedroom was in the attic, and I remember hearing strange sounds, and at one point when a banging woke me up, I saw a ghost staring at me from the doorway. . . .”
“Sal, are you serious?”
“Scared the living daylights out of me! I yelled bloody murder! Timmy shot up and nearly dove out of the window. I cried like a baby and begged Timmy’s mother to call my parents, which she did. They weren’t too happy driving over there after midnight to take me home.”
“Is that all you remember?” Danny asked.
“Pretty much.” Sal shrugged.
“So you agree the house is haunted,” Danny said confidently.
“I wouldn’t say that. Who can be sure?” Sal said, polishing off his drink.
“But based on what you remember, how can you not be?” Danny argued.
“I remember what happened the next day when Mrs. Radditz called my mother and apologized because Timmy’s older brother, Aaron, confessed to throwing a white sheet over himself and trying to scare us.”
Hayley couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
“The ghost was his brother?”
“Yeah, a real cutup, from what I remember. Always playing practical jokes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that part when you first told me the story?” Danny cried.
“Because I still heard strange noises in the night, which Aaron denied having had anything to do with, and there was a murder that happened there, so there is no way to say one way or the other if the house is haunted or not.”
Danny slumped back on the couch, deflated.
Hayley prayed this would be the end of his crusade to expose the Salinger family as possessed, or at the very least, your run-of-the-mill homicidal maniacs. And frankly, given their recent behavior, Hayley was not a hundred percent sure he wasn’t at least right about that part.
“How about another Cutty Sark?” Sal said, raising his empty glass. “Hayley, that lasagna was out of this world!”
Hayley had worked for Sal a few years now. She knew him well. And it was clear he was willing to play along with Danny, tell him whatever he wanted to hear, in order to get a free home-cooked meal.
Actually, she was rather flattered that her boss would go to such lengths to enjoy her cooking. She also couldn’t help but chuckle at her husband, who was at that moment stewing on the couch, disappointed that his latest firsthand testimony was a wash.
Chapter Thirteen
When Hayley returned home from work the next day, she arrived to find an empty house. There was no sign of Danny or the kids. She set about making dinner, having thawed a pound of turkey meat, and grabbed some canned beans and tomato sauce and spices from the cupboard, along with a green pepper and onion from the produce drawer in the fridge to cook up a pot of chili. She was washing the pepper underneath the faucet when she happened to glance out the window to see Danny coming out of the Salinger house with Damien. She was startled at first. How on earth did Danny, after completely alienating Rosemary just yesterday with his veiled accusations in her garden, worm his way into the house for a chat with the patriarch of the family, Damien? But then, upon reflection, there was no reason to be at all surprised. Danny was a charmer and could talk his way into just about anywhere. Danny good-naturedly slapped Damien on the back as he trotted across the lawn toward the house. Once he was in the kitchen, Hayley stopped chopping vegetables and turned to greet him.
“You never cease to amaze me, Danny Powell,” Hayley said, shaking her head.
“What?”
“How did you get to be buddies with Damien Salinger after his wife basically kicked you off their property yesterday?”
“All it took was a six-pack of beer and a disarming smile,” Danny gloated. “My mother always said I possessed an undeniable charisma. That’s why you married me, isn’t it?”
“I admit, you can have a certain magnetism, but a little bit goes a long way . . .”
“Ouch. Anyway, he’s also a Red Sox fan, so that coupled with the beer as a peace offering was what really broke the ice.”
“You’re never going to give this up, are you?”
“Not until we figure out what’s really going on next door,” Danny said excitedly. “We were sitting in his den tossing back a few beers and talking sports, and I happened to notice there was a copy of the Island Times on a side table and it was open to the page with the article on Wendi Jo Willis’s body being discovered in the woods, like he had just been reading about it before I showed up. He saw me glancing down at the picture of Wendi Jo and got real nervous, and then quickly directed my attention to his gun cabinet in the corner, like he was trying to distract me. Turns out Damien is a real gun nut and has a huge collection and is very proud of it. But get this. It was this really nice piece of furniture made of birchwood and had something like a fifteen-gun capacity for ten rifles and five handguns, but there was this empty slot right in the middle where a pistol should have been.”
“Maybe he only has fourteen guns,” Hayley said.
“I thought about that so I came right out and asked him, and he told me he had fifteen guns, but one of the handguns was out getting repaired because the barrel was jammed.”
“He could have been telling the truth,” Hayley argued.
“Maybe, but he looked really spooked when I mentioned the missing gun and he hemmed and hawed before coming up with the jammed barrel excuse. I know people, Hayley, I’ve got a knack for reading them, and I’m telling you, he was lying. He was acting suspicious, and I think it may be because that missing gun was the weapon he used to shoot Wendi Jo.”
“You don’t know that for sure, Danny.”
“I’ve got a pretty strong feeling, and it’s only a matter of time before I gather enough evidence to nail him,” Danny said, like he was a dogged cop on an episode of one of the Law & Order shows.
The back door slammed open and Dustin wandered into the kitchen. “Mom, when’s dinner?”
“It’ll be a little while. I’m making chili,” Hayley said, noticing someone hiding behind Dustin, almost crouched down in order not to be seen. “Who’s your friend?”
Dustin turned his head and stepped aside, revealing little Carrie Salinger, a blank expression on her face, clutching a DVD. “This is Carrie. . . .”
“Yes, I recognize her. How are you, Carrie?” Hayley asked, smiling.
Carrie stared at her, like she was some hideous scary witch, and didn’t answer her.
“We’re going to go up to my room and watch a movie before dinner, okay?” Dustin said. “Come on, Carrie.”
Hayley glanced at the title on the DVD. “Nightmare on Elm Street?”
“Yeah, Carrie says it’s awesome. She’s seen it like a hundred times.”
Hayley grimaced. “I’m sorry, but I think you’re a little too young to watch that movie. It’s pretty scary and gory from what I remember. . . .”
“Carrie’s parents let her watch it!” Dustin protested.
“That may be true, and that’s perfectly fine for them, but we have our own rules here and I don’t want you watching an R-rated horror movie.”
“I’m nine years old!” Dustin whined.
“Exactly,” Hayley said firmly. “You have plenty of movies in your room you can watch with Carrie, but yo
u’re not watching this one.”
Dustin whirled around to his father. “Dad . . .”
“Sorry, champ. I’m with your mom on this one,” Danny said solemnly.
Hayley nearly fainted. She was shocked that Danny actually was backing her up. She reached out and gently took the DVD from Carrie, who glared at her so intently, it sent a shiver up Hayley’s spine. She set the DVD down on the kitchen table. “I’m just going to keep the movie here until you’re ready to go home, Carrie, and then you can pick it up on your way out, okay?”
“I watch R-rated movies all the time and I don’t have nightmares,” Carrie said quietly.
“Good for you, and that’s okay if your parents allow it, but here I just feel—”
“Serial killer movies are my favorites . . .”
Hayley exchanged a glance with Danny, whose mouth had just dropped open. The girl could not be more than ten years old.
“I have a whole MySpace page dedicated to the world’s most dangerous serial killers. I’ve even written letters to a few, the ones that haven’t been executed for their crimes yet,” Carrie said matter-of-factly.
“Oh . . .” Hayley had no idea how to respond. “Well, that’s nice, but today I’m afraid you’re going to have to settle for watching Kung Fu Panda, okay?”
“Whatever . . .” Carrie shrugged.
Dustin started to head out of the kitchen with Carrie following behind him when Hayley called out after him, “Have you seen your sister? She’s not in her room.”
Annoyed, Dustin turned back around. “I saw her earlier outside talking to Casper.”
Hayley glanced out the window. On the front porch of the Salinger house, the older son Casper was stretched out on a wicker two-seater, wearing earplugs and listening to music on an iPod.
“Can we go up to my room now?” Dustin asked.
“Yes, dinner will be around seven,” Hayley said.
Dustin led Carrie up the stairs. Danny waited until they were gone before he turned to Hayley and whispered, “She’s so weird!”
Hayley didn’t respond. She marched past him and out the door, crossing the lawn to the Salinger porch. Danny followed behind her like a puppy. She could hear heavy metal music blasting through the earplugs.
“Casper!” Hayley yelled.
He didn’t hear her or chose to ignore her. She tried yelling his name a couple more times before she gave up and reached out and wiggled the kid’s foot. He jumped out of the wicker chair, startled. Noticing Hayley and Danny, he angrily yanked the earplugs out of his ear.
“What do you want?” Casper barked.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Hayley said.
“Nothing scares me,” he spit out, insulted.
“Okay . . . we’re looking for our daughter, Gemma, and her brother said he saw the two of you together earlier.”
Casper studied both of them as if he was considering how to respond and then nodded slightly. “Yeah, she was here. We played a game of hide-and-seek.”
“Hide-and-seek? That’s odd. Gemma’s a little old for that game,” Hayley remarked.
Casper shrugged. “She went to hide in the woods and I waited here something like five minutes before I started looking for her. But I couldn’t find her . . .”
“What do you mean you couldn’t find her?”
“Just what I said. I looked for her for almost twenty minutes and so I finally gave up and came back here to listen to some music,” Casper said, almost sneering.
“Well, did she eventually come back?” Hayley asked, suddenly worried.
“Nope. I never saw her after that,” Casper said, bored enough with the conversation that he put his earplugs back in.
Hayley clutched Danny’s arm. “Where is she? Where did she go?”
“The sun’s almost down . . .” Danny said, his face full of dread. “Come on . . .”
Danny led Hayley into the woods. Hayley tried to stay calm, but the memory of finding Wendi Jo Willis’s body was so strong and alarming, she began to panic as she and Danny called Gemma’s name over and over again. When the sun was finally gone and darkness encroached, Danny suggested they go back to the house and call Sergio. Hayley wanted to keep searching. What if Gemma had fallen and was hurt or unconscious and couldn’t answer them? Danny insisted they go back to the house and round up reinforcements. When they returned to the yard, Hayley gasped and pointed at the kitchen window. They could plainly see Gemma standing at the counter. They raced inside.
Gemma had browned the turkey meat and was adding it to the pot with the rest of the other chili ingredients. “I’m so starving. I decided to finish making the chili myself!”
“Where have you been?” Hayley demanded to know.
“Lori Alley’s house,” Gemma answered, nonchalantly.
“What were you doing there?” Danny asked.
“Studying for a spelling test we have tomorrow. You said I could walk to Lori’s alone after school as long as I let you know where I was.”
“Which you didn’t.”
“But I did. I left you a voice mail on your phone,” Gemma insisted.
Hayley snatched her phone out of her bag, and sure enough, there was a voice mail from Gemma that she had missed earlier.
Danny stepped forward. “So you didn’t play hide-and-seek with that creepy kid from next door?”
“Casper? No. We just chatted for a few minutes when I was on my way to Lori’s about his favorite heavy metal band. He sure likes Guns N’ Roses. I had never even heard of them.”
“That was all? No hide-and-seek?” Hayley asked.
“Mom, please, I’m twelve.” Gemma nodded. “I left for Lori’s.”
Hayley shook her head. “Why would he lie to us like that?”
“He was probably just joking,” Gemma said as she set the pot on the stove and turned on the flame. “He’s kind of an oddball.”
Danny, infuriated, glanced out the window. “He’s gone inside. I’m going over there right now and have a talk with that punk. What he did was not okay!”
Hayley put a hand on Danny’s shoulder. “Danny, just forget it. I don’t want to stir up any more trouble with that whole ghoulish family.”
“Thank you for letting me come over, Mrs. Powell,” a tiny voice said.
They all turned to see Carrie Salinger staring at them from the hallway.
Quickly covering, Hayley smiled and took a few steps toward the little girl. “Is the movie over already?”
“No, Dustin’s still watching it. I was bored. Nobody got killed. Have a good night,” she said before walking past them like a zombie, an empty look on her face, as she picked up her DVD from the kitchen table and disappeared out the back door.
“Not exactly Shirley Temple, is she?” Danny cracked.
Chapter Fourteen
Hayley thought she had heard wrong when she picked up the phone while sitting behind her desk at the Island Times office. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“This is Nurse Tilly from the Bar Harbor Hospital, Hayley. I thought you should know that your husband was just brought in. He’s been shot!”
A numbness swept through Hayley’s body as she tried to stand up, but she stumbled and fell back in her chair. “I . . . I’ll be right there.”
She dropped the phone and grabbed the desk with both hands and struggled to her feet. Her head was cloudy and her only thought was I have to get to Danny.
Without alerting Sal who was working in his office, Hayley ran out the door to her car, which was parked just up the street. As she approached the driver’s side door, she realized the key was in her bag underneath her desk. Instead of returning to retrieve it, she broke into a run in the opposite direction toward the hospital, which was located not too far from where she worked. By the time she bolted through the automatic glass doors that swung open, leading into the emergency room, she was out of breath and felt as if she might pass out from the shock of the news that she was just beginning to absorb.
&nbs
p; Although she knew most of the nurses who worked at the hospital, she didn’t recognize the woman behind the reception desk. She was rather rotund, with rosy cheeks and a severe perm underneath her white nurse’s hat. Her name tag read NURSE JOLLEY.
“Excuse me. My name is Hayley Powell and I was told my husband is here,” she said, looking around, half expecting to find him in the emergency waiting room.
“Yes, Mrs. Powell, he’s with the doctor now, but since you are family, you can go up. He’s on the third floor,” Nurse Jolley said, smiling, but with a concerned look on her face.
“Is he all right?” Hayley asked desperately. “How serious is it?”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to speak to Dr. Rose,” Nurse Jolley said, with a sympathetic smile.
Hayley rushed to the elevator and took it up to the third floor where she spotted Nurse Tilly coming out of a room with a bedpan.
“Tilly!” Hayley cried.
“Hayley, thank heavens you’re here,” the usually perky Nurse Tilly squealed. “Your husband is in exam room three.”
“Which way?” Hayley cried, swiveling her head around.
“Down there!” Nurse Tilly answered, pointing down a hall.
“Thank you!” Hayley dashed down the hall. When she came upon exam room three, she knocked loudly on the door, but didn’t wait for an answer before she rushed inside. She found Danny wearing a baby blue hospital gown sitting on a table while Dr. Rose, a pudgy, bespectacled African American man in a white coat, kneeled in front of him while bandaging his foot.
“Hey, babe!” Danny said with a big grin on his face.
A wave of relief now swept over her as she took in the sight of her husband looking perfectly healthy except for a wounded foot.
“What happened?” Hayley gasped.
Danny held up a finger. “In a sec, babe. How does it look, Doc?”
Dr. Rose stood up. “Try to stay off it for two weeks. I’ll get you some crutches you can use when you need to get around.”