by Leigh Perry
The rest of the evening passed reasonably smoothly, if not quietly, considering the screams coming from both the midway and the haunt. Deborah kept a careful eye via security camera, and caught a pickpocket to turn over to the police, tossed out a guy who was trying to get too friendly with one of the scare actors, and stopped an argument between drunken customers before it came to blows.
When time came to cut off ticket sales, there was so much protest that Deborah kept McHades open an hour longer than originally planned, and given the reaction when she did shut things down, she could have kept it going all night long.
We were in my minivan and gone ten minutes after the haunt closed. Though I’d been prepared to keep Deborah company while she oversaw cleanup and bookkeeping, I was just as glad when she shooed the rest of the family off so she could work in peace.
Since Phil confessed that he was so tired that for once he had zero interest in cooking, we went through the Aquarius Drive-In for burgers and throat-soothing milkshakes on the way back to the house. As soon as he and Mom finished their share, they were off to bed, but Madison, Sid, and I lingered at the kitchen table to compare notes.
“So your exciting chase led to naught?” Sid said.
“I did trace the ninja suit back to lost-and-found at McQuaid, and I’ve got an excuse to visit the student center to see if I can find out where the outfit was abandoned. That’s a little more than naught.”
“Not to mention getting a chance to hang with that guy Brownie,” Madison said. “That’s the first time you’ve had anything like a date in a looooong time.”
“Hey! It hasn’t been that long.”
Funny how Madison and Sid, who I would not normally describe as resembling each other, made the exact same expression of disbelief.
Sid followed up with, “You know she’s had the hots for him ever since he showed up at McQuaid.”
“Sid! I never said one word—”
“Oh, please. As if I can’t tell when you’ve got the hots for somebody. I remember that first crush you had on Steve Jones—your eyes sparkled every time you said his name.”
“They did not. As for Brownie—”
“Sparkle sparkle sparkle,” he said.
“Fine, be that way. I won’t tell you about the sexy skeleton I saw.”
“Big deal,” he scoffed. “All skeletons are sexy.”
Since there was no way I was going to win that argument, I said, “Did you two hear or see anything helpful?”
“I spotted the cowboy!” Madison said proudly.
“Why didn’t anybody tell me?”
“Because it happened when you were off sparkling.”
“I was not— Never mind. What happened?”
“Not much,” she admitted. “I saw the guy, let Aunt Deborah know, and she had Sergeant Raymond meet him at the exit to question him. He didn’t know anything—he hadn’t realized he was running out on a lockdown last week because he thought it was all part of the McHades experience. Since he doesn’t live in town, he didn’t even hear about the murder until the middle of the week, and since he’d been drinking before he went into the haunt, remembered almost nothing about it.”
“That would make a great cover story,” I said.
“It would, but the guy had been drinking again tonight, so I don’t think he was capable of making up stories.”
“I don’t know why Deborah tipped off the cops instead of letting us take care of him,” Sid said.
“Be glad she did. He barfed all over Sergeant Raymond’s shoes.”
“Better his than mine,” I said with malicious glee. I was still holding a grudge for Louis arresting Linda. “How about you, Sid? Anything good eavesdropping?”
“Nothing. I think I was able to spy on just about everybody, and nobody showed any signs of anything suspicious. Not that I expected anybody to start monologuing about how he or she had gotten away with murder, but I was hoping for some clue from body language.”
“You’re fluent in body language, too,” I said, especially considering he didn’t have a body.
“There is one thing. Maybe. I think I should stay overnight at the haunt tomorrow.”
“Why?” I asked.
“To see if the rumors are true.”
“What rumors?
“Georgia, you know I’m a skeptic. I’ve always been a ‘I’ll believe it when I see it with my own eye sockets’ kind of guy. But I heard several of the actors telling stories . . . What if the place really is haunted?”
“Sid, Deborah says every haunted house has rumors about being haunted. Okay, that didn’t come out right. I mean, every haunt has rumors. They’re usually old buildings, people are screaming, there’s creepy makeup, it’s dark. Add a real murder to that, and of course people are going to be a little uneasy. That’s no reason to start believing in ghosts.”
Madison started laughing. “Do you know how ridiculous it is to hear you two talking about skepticism and whether or not ghosts exist? I mean, just look at Sid!”
“I am not a ghost,” he said haughtily. “Ghosts are intangible, tied to specific locales, and haunt people, whereas I’m tangible, go wherever Georgia takes me, and never haunt.”
“But—” she started to say.
“Why don’t we table the idea of whether or not ghosts exist?” I said. Sid didn’t like to talk about why it was he was alive, and I was afraid that if he thought about it too hard, he might just stop living. Like Green Lantern, he was powered by force of will. “The question is whether or not this particular location is haunted. Madison, you’ve spent more time there than we have. What’s your take?”
“I did hear that one of the McQuaids committed suicide in there when the original art school was running because she wasn’t a good painter or her father was making her give up art or she had a broken heart or something.”
“Vague much? Sid, you’ve climbed up and down the McQuaid family tree. Any family suicides?”
“Not a one,” he said, “but remember what Paige McQuaid said at that meeting? According to her, a guy died from a knife fight at that building, and a girl fell down the stairs. And we know for a fact that Kendall died there.”
“If those first two fatalities led to spirits haunting the building, it was a long time ago, and finding those ghosts wouldn’t help us any. As for Kendall, didn’t the ghost rumors predate her death?”
“Yeah,” Madison said, “but things really have gone missing.”
“You mean the bat and the rubber gloves that the murderer took?”
“Okay, that part wasn’t a ghost. Still several cast members said they were hearing noises tonight, like something was moving behind the scrim when nobody was around.”
Sid said, “I overheard a couple of people say that, too, but I didn’t hear anything when I was back there.”
I waited for them to connect the dots, but when it was clear that they weren’t going to, I said, “Guys, did it ever occur to you that it was Sid who was making noises?”
Madison put a hand over her face. “Wow, I am an idiot.”
Sid protested, “I was being quiet.”
“I’m sure you were, but there’s a limit to how quiet bare bones on the floor can be. We’ll get you some socks or slippers to wear tomorrow, and see if we can exorcise the ghost. In the meantime, you guys have reminded me of an interesting question. If the killer wasn’t a member of the cast or crew, then how did he or she get the bat and gloves?”
None of us had an answer to how somebody had gotten onto the third floor of a locked building, so after kicking it around uselessly, Sid went to play computer games overnight while Madison took Byron to her room and I took my memories of Brownie’s kisses with me.
* * *
It was late when the breathing members of the family dragged themselves out of bed the next day, and none of us had the energy to do
much more than get prepped for the next night’s stint at the haunt. When we got to McHades, Deborah was in a state because a pair of her scare actors had canceled on her, so she had to shuffle the people she did have. Mom ended up helping out in the greenroom while Phil and I handled ticket sales, and since the crowd was even larger than it had been the night before, we were so busy we probably wouldn’t have noticed if the killer had paraded by wearing a sash with sequined letters spelling out It was me! Bwah ha ha!
The worst part of the evening was when Louis came by and reported that they’d identified the other people he’d been trying to track down. He’d run into the witch himself, and found out that she’d zoomed out to get to a hot date, and the two guys without costumes had called the station to confess that they’d left because their parents had grounded them and they shouldn’t have been at the haunt. As for the loser who’d tried to put the moves on Madison, Louis had cleared him days before. He’d left the haunt only to get back in line to go through again, thinking he’d be able to convince Madison to go out with him if he kept trying. Louis said he’d explained the difference between flirting and harassing.
I delicately brought up Scooby-Doo, and Louis said that he’d concluded he’d never be able to tie up that particular loose end, and had returned the costume to the rental place.
Though I was relieved the cops were no longer trying to find Scooby, and that my deposit would be credited to my charge card, the rest of the news was hardly cheering. We were running out of people to investigate, and the more time passed, the less likely it was that we’d ever get Linda out of jail.
Once again, we stayed open an extra hour, which meant that by the time Deborah chased off the last people insisting that she sell them a ticket, everybody was exhausted. Even Sid said he was tired, though he may have just been commiserating in his own way. None of us even had the energy for food, so we went home to collapse.
22
The situation looked a little better in the morning, partially because I remembered I still had Hector Garza’s ring to return, but mostly because my father made French toast for breakfast. After that, a drive to McQuaid seemed like a fun thing to do. Sid, predictably, wanted to come along, so I indulged him by putting his skull back into my oversized handbag.
To make sure Hector was actually there, I’d had Madison call and ask for him, and when he responded, she hung up. I suspected real detectives didn’t count prank calls among their usual techniques, but it did the job for us.
The McQuaid student center is a concrete-and-glass building, and it had been ultra-modern when it was built, but these days it was looking stuck in the seventies. The design clashed with the older parts of campus, which may be why it was located as far from the main gate as possible. I found Hector Garza at the center’s information desk, looking worse for the wear. Either he’d been out later than I had or had woken up considerably earlier.
I plopped my bag on top of the counter to give Sid optimum eavesdropping range. “Hi, Hector.”
He looked at me with absolutely no hint of recognition.
“We met Friday night at the carnival.”
Nothing.
From in the bag came the whispered word, “Costume.”
I thumped Sid. “I was in costume—the Day of the Dead outfit. And I helped rescue you from your ex-girlfriend.” Of course, I’d also chased him down, but I preferred to lead with my strengths.
“Yeah, right.”
“I stopped by to bring you this.” I pulled his ring from my pocket. “You dropped it at Bailey’s place. She was going to toss it, but I convinced her to let me give it back to you.”
“Man, I’d totally forgotten I left it there. I’ve been going crazy looking for it, too. If Dad ever found out I lost it, he’d blow a gasket. Thanks! I owe you one.”
“No problem,” I said. “So did you talk to the police about finding that ninja suit in the lost-and-found?”
“Oh, hey, no. I meant to, but I haven’t had a chance.”
“It’s probably not a big deal, anyway, what with them already having somebody in custody.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” I had a hunch he didn’t want to confess to “borrowing” from the lost-and-found.
“How did that costume end up here anyway?”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t you guys keep track of who turns stuff in or where it’s found?”
“Why would we do that?”
“I don’t know, I just thought you might. Were you on duty when the costume was turned in?”
“I don’t think so. I didn’t notice it until Tuesday, when somebody came by hunting for a missing textbook and I had to look in the box.” He looked over my shoulder. “Hey, Oscar!”
“Hi, Hector, Georgia. What’s going on?”
“We’re not supposed to keep track of when stuff comes into the lost-and-found, are we?”
“Not that I know of. Why?”
“This lady here was asking about the ninja costume.”
He blinked. “Beg pardon?”
“Somebody left a ninja costume in the lost-and-found, but I don’t know where it came from. Do you know?”
“Can’t say as I do.” He looked at me quizzically.
“I was dropping off a ring Hector misplaced, and I was just curious.” A thought occurred to me. “Oscar, do you have a minute?”
“Yeah, sure. Come on into my office.”
The security forces at McQuaid had a small block of rooms right off the student center lobby, and Oscar opened the glass-fronted door to let us in.
“Are you running things all by yourself?” I asked.
“Not quite, but it’s definitely a skeleton crew. I’ve had people working extra hours on the Howl, and they’ve got to get rest sometime. Have a seat.” He waved me toward a chair and took his own behind a desk nearly as battered as the ones in the adjunct office. “What can I do for you?”
“I’ve been helping Deborah with the haunt, and a couple of the scare actors have complained about items going missing. Nothing valuable, but props and such. I know Deborah is careful about locking up, but I wondered how difficult it would be for somebody to get into the building.”
“I’ll be honest with you, Georgia,” Oscar said, “McQuaid Hall isn’t as secure as it should be. There’s no alarm system, just smoke detectors, and the locks on the doors have been there since the place was built, so there’s no telling how many keys are floating around. Of course my guys keep an eye out, but you know how it is. McQuaid is a busy campus, and a building that’s left empty most of the time isn’t our main concern. So when you ask if somebody could have snuck in there, I have to say that he could have, and it wouldn’t have been hard.”
“The cops know this, right?”
“Oh, they know. Sergeant Raymond didn’t mince words when he told me what ‘real cops’ think of security around here. And what could I say? He’s right, and there are going to be some changes. For one, we’re requisitioning a new set of locks for McQuaid Hall. Of course that’s locking the barn after the horses have run off, but in our defense, we’d never had a problem involving that building until now.”
“You haven’t gotten into any trouble about the murder, have you? I mean, it’s not something anybody would have expected, and you guys responded right away.”
“Thanks for saying that, and no, I’m not taking any heat from the administration. I just want to make sure nothing like this ever happens on my watch again.”
“Deborah feels the same way.”
“Yeah? She and I see things the same way a lot of the time. She’s not, you know . . .”
“Seeing somebody? Not a soul.”
“That surprises me. Sergeant Raymond said . . .”
My ears pricked up, and I felt Sid wriggling in my bag as if he, too, wanted to be sure he didn’t miss the end of that sentence.
Unfortunately for both of us, Oscar’s phone rang, and he said, “Sorry, I need to take this. Anything else I can do for you?”
“No, I’m good.” I went past the information desk on my way out, but decided not to hector Hector any further. As much as I would have liked to know where that ninja costume was abandoned, I didn’t think he’d be able to help me.
It was one of those glorious fall days that show up on travel shows, sunny with a bit of a breeze riffling the flamboyantly colored foliage, so rather than head straight for my car, I strolled toward the quad.
“Where are we going?” Sid whispered.
“Just getting some exercise. It’s a nice day out.”
“We’re heading for the carnival, aren’t we? You want to canoodle some more.”
“Shush,” I said. “Somebody might hear you.” Nobody was close enough, but why take chances? And what if I was thinking of popping in to see Brownie? He’d come by McHades briefly the night before, but I’d been so busy there’d been no time to do anything but wave and accept the caramel apple he’d brought me.
I was nearly to the main gate when I glanced over at McQuaid Hall and spotted somebody familiar. Treasure Hunt was sitting on the stone bench in front of the building, looking up at it. I changed course to go toward him.
“Now where are we going?” Sid asked.
“Shush!” When I got close enough, I said, “Good morning, Treasure Hunt.”
“Oh, hi, Doc,” he said. “How’s the skeleton?”
“Still dead. Are you considering coming to college? Or are you another stealth academic like Brownie?”
He snorted. “The boy can keep his books and papers. I was just curious about this place.”
“Because of the murder? Yeah, that’s where that girl was killed.”
“That’s not why I was looking at it.”