Halloween Hayride Murder

by Linnea West

  "This is Susy," I said. "She has some information about Earl's murder that she wants to tell me, but we need privacy. Can we get that here?"

  "Of course," Mandy said. "I'll just be out front stocking the display cases again now that the rush is over."

  She grabbed a tray of donuts and pushed her way out to the front of the store. I winked at her as she went, letting her know I would clue her in once we were done talking. I would probably need her levelheadedness to make sure I wasn't jumping to any conclusions.

  "Okay," I said. "We're alone. Now spill."

  Susy sat down on one of the bar stools from under the large, metal table that sat in the middle of the room. She took a deep breath and launched into her story. I cleared my head and tried to focus solely on her.

  "My uncle was sick for a while before he died," she said. "I had gotten wind of the fact that his will may leave Earl with the business, but I wasn't sure. I knew that if he was put in charge, he would run it into the ground with some of his typical, shady dealings. But I needed some proof. That's where Ralph comes in."

  I grabbed two glasses of water and brought over a plateful of donuts I had found. Susy took a long drink of water while I managed to gobble down half a donut. I couldn't resist the siren song of sugar while I waited for her to tell me more.

  "Ralph is actually a private investigator that I hired to get information on Earl," Susy said. "So I'm the one that got him into this mess. He would have no reason to kill Earl because then he wouldn't get his final pay, which he desperately needs."

  "Why don't you go down and tell the police that?" I asked. It would be simple enough to tell them and they would be able to look into the matter and let him go.

  "Because he made me swear not to," Susy said. "His mother is very sick and he needs the money to pay her medical bills. Ralph doesn't want her to find out what he's been up to because he's had some bad dealings in the past as a PI and his mother made him swear not to take another case. He was desperate and needed the money, but he thinks if he tells his mom, it might cause her enough stress to make her even sicker."

  I realized that I had picked up a second donut that I was currently nibbling on. I forced myself to put it back down on my plate and take a big gulp of water instead. I added "drink more water" to my mental list of future New Years resolutions.

  The swinging door opened up and Mandy came through carrying two cups of coffee. She set one down in front of each of us. I took a big gulp, wondering if black coffee counted as a cup of hydration.

  "Sorry ladies," she said. "I'm all done restocking and needed to pop back here, so I figured I would bring a peace offering."

  Susy took one look at her cup of coffee and dashed to the trashcan where she proceeded to vomit up her breakfast. Mandy gave me a look and started to apologize before I held up my hand to stop her. I was pretty sure she might have just helped give me a very large clue. I waited for Susy to come back to the table, where I handed her a napkin and a fresh glass of water.

  "I think there is something else you want to tell us," I said.

  Susy sat for a moment looking around the kitchen. I could almost see her mentally weighing what she should say next. Finally, she sighed.

  "Okay, I can't really deny it now," Susy said. "I'm pregnant. It is still pretty early, though."

  "But that's not all, right?" I asked. While Susy had been throwing up, I had finally put the now obvious two and two together.

  "No, that's not all," she said. "Ralph is the father."

  Chapter 19

  As I drove Susy back to the B&B, she explained that she and Ralph had fallen in love as he was working on this case and they had just been wanting to wrap everything up so that they could be together for real. But then Susy learned she was pregnant, which is why she had come down to Shady Lake. She had just told Ralph about the baby the morning before the murder. That is why Ralph hadn't been with Earl when I saw him arguing with Candy that morning.

  "So on one hand, that could be the motive," I said to Mandy. After I dropped Susy off, I had a strong urge to think through everything I had just learned and Mandy was always ready to lend an ear. I had done a three point turn and headed back to the Donut Hut. Okay, I'd done more like a 10 point turn because the station wagon did not have a very good turn radius. "Ralph could have been tired of Earl's shenanigans and just want to settle down with Susy."

  "That's true," Mandy said. "Especially because if they ended up raising a child together, Earl would have figured out their relationship and I get the idea that he wouldn't have been too happy."

  "On the other hand," I said. "Would Ralph really risk going to prison for murder and not getting to be in his child's life? I didn't ask how he felt about being a father, but I just don't really think it makes sense either way."

  "True," Mandy said as she put two salads down in front of us. The bakery served a limited lunch menu and Mandy had a large chef's salad every day. Somehow she managed to not stuff her face with donuts all day, which is what I know I would do if I worked here. I already do that without being employed at the Donut Hut.

  We both munched our lunches in silence for a few moments while Claire, Mandy's part-time lunch waitress came in and out to serve the customers who were here for lunch. I had to admit that Mandy made a pretty tasty salad, even if it didn't really compare to her donuts.

  "Maybe we should go over the other suspects," Mandy said. "If we think about each of them, maybe something will become clearer."

  "Well, Susy is also a suspect," I said. "She has the same motive as Ralph and the day after the murder, her car was all dusty and dirty. And let me tell you, she does not seem like the kind of woman who just goes out for a drive on a gravel road."

  "But she is pregnant," Mandy said, gesturing with her fork. Somehow she managed to swing it around wildly without throwing droplets of dressing all over the place. "I feel like if she can't even stomach a cup of coffee, she might not be able to murder someone."

  I nodded. But running over someone with a tractor felt a little different than stabbing them. That was another point. Did the suburban mom to be know how to operate an old tractor?

  "And then there is the watch that we found," I said. "I went in to meet with Ronald about the Hayride a few days ago and his watch was still missing, so it is definitely his. And he admitted to me that he was out at the field that day practicing how to drive the tractor, but he says he left before Earl and Ralph showed up."

  "But would Ronald really kill someone to save the Halloween Hayride?" Mandy asked. I could hear the doubt in her voice.

  I know we both wanted to think he wouldn't but he had committed his entire life to Shady Lake. He allowed himself to be pied and dunked in the dunk tank to raise money for the town. He routinely ended up dressed in dumb costumes to make the children of Shady Lake happy. But would that commitment to Shady Lake really extend to murder?

  "There is also Candy," Mandy said, rolling her eyes. "I can't quite figure her out."

  "Have we ever been able to figure her out?" I asked. I feel like she hadn't changed at all since high school, even though we had all gotten older. She was still desperate for attention and friends and even though she was a regular at the Loony Bin, she still didn't quite fit in.

  "Well, she told me she was arguing with Earl that morning because she thought he was cheating on her," I said. "He canceled a date with her and later she heard he was out with another woman. But she is awfully broken up about his death, so she obviously loved him."

  I poured myself another cup of coffee. I offered some to Mandy, but she shook her head no. She didn't have a love of coffee like I did. If she had more than two cups a day, she got all jittery and then her donuts looked weird and everyone thought she drank on the job. It actually happened once and it took Mandy an entire year to convince some people that she wasn't a functioning alcoholic, just someone who was highly sensitive to caffeine.

  "Well, what are you going to do?" Mandy asked me. She wasn't there to make a judgm
ent call; she was just the sympathetic ear.

  "I'm going to take some time to really figure out what I should do," I said. "I know time is running out, but it is the one thing I need to figure out this case."

  Just then, there was a loud knock on the swinging door. Mandy and I looked at each other. Who would knock on the swinging door?

  "Yoo hoo," a voice called as the door swung open.

  Chelsea appeared through the door with a smirk on her face. She had a pen and notepad in her hand.

  "Claire said you two were back here," she said. I could tell by her ultra sweet voice that she was here to schmooze one of us. "I was wondering if I could get a quote for the paper from you, Tessa? After all, you were there to find the body and I haven't interviewed you yet."

  "Yeah, why haven't you interviewed me yet?" I asked. Usually Chelsea was practically knocking down doors to interview people, but she hadn't even talked to me yet.

  "I was a little busy with Clark," she said with a wink. I wasn't exactly sure I wanted to know what that meant. But I had to admit, it did make me feel a bit of rage, so I hit her right where I knew it would hurt her the most.

  "I have no comment for you," I said firmly. "Now, if you would please leave."

  Chelsea just smirked as she repacked her notepad into her messenger bag. I could tell she was annoyed, but something was also making her feel vindicated. I figured I would find out that bit soon enough.

  "That's fine," she said. "I'll just give Clark a call. You two have a nice day."

  She pushed back through the swinging door and a moment later, the bell on the front door rang as she left the Donut Hut. I rolled my eyes. I thought a good journalist tried to report on the story, but Chelsea seemed to try her hardest to insert herself sometimes.

  "What do you think that was about?" Mandy asked. She was gathering up our lunch dishes. I grabbed them from her and walked them over to the dishwasher. I wasn't going to make her do all of the dishes after she was the one to make our lunch.

  "I have no idea," I said as I loaded a rack of dishes. "You know how she is. She knows Clark and I go out on a few dates and she just wants to try to start drama. But Clark and I both know we see other people and that our relationship is casual. If she wants to date Clark also, she is free to."

  "But are you actually okay with that?" Mandy asked. She knew me too well. Sometimes, I could be competitive to a fault.

  "Well, I have to be," I said. "I'm not going to raise a big stink seeing as how I've been dating two guys. Although, his choice of Chelsea may make me question his judgment a bit."

  Mandy giggled conspiratorially. We tried our hardest to stay out of drama and not be too gossipy, but Chelsea was always determined to try to drag us into it.

  After I washed a few racks of dishes as payment for lunch, I jumped back in the station wagon. I needed to take a ride to clear my head a bit. There was still something about this entire murder investigation that was bothering me. Something seemed to be lurking just below the surface. I just hoped it would break through soon so we could solve this and put it all behind us.

  Chapter 20

  The next few days were pretty quiet around town. Things were starting to go back to normal and I was trying to not think about the inconsistencies in the case. Every time I saw Susy, I tried to convince her to go to the police with what she knew about Ralph, but she refused and made me swear not to go either. I figured I would give her a few more days and then make a final decision.

  The long postponed tractor driving class was finally going to take place for anyone who wanted to and potentially could drive the tractor for the Halloween Hayride. Clark had asked if I would come to help demonstrate while he taught. I had tried to ask him about Chelsea, but he had just blushed and started stammering, so I had eased up. I didn't really care anyways, or at least I didn't care a lot.

  I arrived out at the field shortly before the class was going to start so that Clark could walk me through how he wanted it to go. When I got out of my car, I was a little surprised to see him walking over with a clipboard in hand. I guess I thought he would kind of wing it, but if there was one source of pride in Clark's life, it was his status as a great teacher. I should have figured he probably made a lesson plan for this.

  "Hey there," he said with a big smile. "I'm glad you're here this early. I really wanted to run through a few things with you."

  I gave him a big hug and breathed in the smell of his cologne. I tried to push the thought of Chelsea breathing in his scent out of my mind. She wasn't going to be here today, so I wouldn't have to worry about her. She knew that the person driving the hayride wouldn't get much attention, so there was no way she would take on that role.

  "So I put together a handout," he said, taking a sheet of paper off of his clipboard and handing it to me. I giggled at his thoroughness, but I should have known it was coming.

  "Will there be a test at the end of today?" I joked as I poked him in the stomach. I could feel his muscles through his shirt.

  Clark laughed, giving me a playful shove. He set his clipboard down on the open tailgate of his truck next to a large disposable bag full of pens and a stack of clipboards so people could take their own notes.

  "There will be a test, but only for you," he said. "Don't worry, it'll all be hands on."

  He gave me a kiss, a nice, long kiss before pulling back. He ran his hands up and down my back before he stepped back. I bit my lip when it was over, wishing it could go on longer.

  "But right now, we need to go over stuff before everyone else gets here," he said, switching over to his serious teacher self again.

  We walked together over to where the tractor was still sitting in the middle of the field. I looked around, trying to figure out if it had been moved at all since the murder. Was I gonna have to sit in the hot seat where the murderer had also sat just over a week ago? I shivered at the thought.

  Clark obviously thought I was cold, as he put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to him. I appreciated the thought, as the warmth of his body seeped through his down vest and my jacket to bury itself deep inside of me.

  "Clark, has anyone actually moved this tractor since it was used to run over and kill a man?" I asked. I had to know. I don't think I would really care one way or the other, but it was the not knowing that was the worst.

  "Well, I don't think they actually started it or drove it," he said. "But they pushed it back and forth a little bit to gather, umm, evidence from the tires and stuff."

  I shuddered again at the thought of them inspecting the tires for pieces of Earl. I found myself wishing that the murderer had just stabbed or shot him. It wouldn't have been any cleaner, but at least I wouldn't have to think about them scraping Earl off of the tires of the tractor we used to haul around happy, laughing children. Happy Halloween kids!

  At least the tractor still looked the same as always and it wasn't surrounded by caution tape anymore. We walked up next to it and stopped. I looked it up and down, half expecting to see something gory, but it just looked like the same old pumpkin colored tractor.

  "Okay, so I'll first have you show everyone how to safely climb up onto the tractor," Clark said. I snickered a little bit because there was really only one way to get up on the tractor. Clark frowned slightly at me. Apparently he didn't see the humor in it.

  "We need to make sure that we keep safety as an utmost priority," he said, sounding very much like a stern high school teacher. "We don't want anyone else getting run over, do we?"

  I shook my head. I certainly didn't want anyone else to get run over. I hadn't even wanted Earl to get run over. I prefer my Halloween Hayrides to be free of any maiming, accidental or otherwise.

  "Okay, so show me how you climb up there."

  I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at Clark as I turned towards the tractor. I grabbed onto the handle and hoisted myself up to the seat, swinging my leg over the seat to sit down. When I looked down at Clark, he nodded his head at me.

  "Ok
ay, now I'd like you to show everyone how to adjust the seat," he said. "It is very important that everyone can drive it comfortably. That will help cut down on potential accidents."

  "But what if it is in the right spot for me right now?" I asked. When I sat down in the seat, my feet fit onto the pedals just right. I didn't need to move it at all.

  "Well I still need you to show others how to adjust it," Clark said, with a bit of snark in his voice. He continued on explaining the need to properly fit the seat to each individual person, but I had stopped listening to him.

  As Clark droned on, I started to have a realization. I glanced around at the entire tractor and then back down at my feet on the pedals. I could feel an idea rising to the surface. It was like a bunch of things were clicking into place until suddenly, the light bulb in my head seemed to go on.

  "Wait a minute," I said, interrupting the safety spiel. "You said no one touched the tractor since the murder, right? Like no one touched the seat or drove it?"

  "That's what they told me," Clark said with an annoyed look on his face. I assumed he was annoyed at me for interrupting him with what seemed like a trivial question. But to be fair, I was a little tired of his tirade against people who drive tractors with the seat in the wrong position. "Now if we could just..."

  "And Ralph is a really big guy, right?" I soldiered on, not letting him continue just yet. I already knew the answer, but I kind of liked playing detective like this.

  "Obviously," Clark said, crossing his arms across his chest. "Now what is this all about Tessa?"

  "If the last person to drive this tractor was Ralph when he ran over Earl, how come the tractor seat is set for someone my height?" I asked. It was like the heavens had opened up and angels were singing. This was what had looked so odd. This was the thing I just couldn't put my finger on for so long.

  Clark's arms dropped to his sides. Instead of trying to push on with his safety lecture, his mouth opened and shut a few times as he tried to think of what to say. I felt the same way, but I had to get proof.