“I don’t really care about the peppershaker,” Walt said angrily. “You can’t just barge over there without a plan!”
Lily stood up and looked at the chair where she assumed Walt sat. “Maybe I need a plan.”
Taken aback briefly by the fact Lily virtually parroted his words, Walt studied Lily for a moment and then said, “Someone needs to know you’re going over there so they’ll look for you if you get trapped with Danielle.”
Tapping her finger against her chin while trying to formulate a plan, Lily was silent a moment before she burst into a smile and announced, “I know! I’ll make sure someone knows where I’m going so if I do get trapped they’ll know to come looking for me!”
Walt smiled. “Interesting…”
Lily snatched her cellphone from the counter. “I’ll call Marie!”
Walt frowned. “Marie? She’s ninety. How will she be able to help you?”
Holding the phone to her ear, she waited for Marie to answer her call.
Walt stood up. “Lily, call someone else. Not Marie. She’s ninety. At ninety she might forget in ten minutes you ever called!”
“Hello Marie? This this Lily…no, Dani is not home yet but I think I know where she may be…”
“Lily, please call someone else!” Walt looked over to the table and the broken peppershaker. He raised its lid.
Phone in hand, Lily wandered back to the table and sat down. The peppershaker lid, hovering over the table, caught her eye. She dismissed it with a wave and focused on her phone conversation.
“I can’t really explain it now, not enough time, but I know Dani went over to Presley House, and I have reason to believe she may be trapped there…a secret room…how do I know?…I was thinking about how that body went missing…I did call the police…Joe says they are working on another lead and can’t be bothered….I just want you to know I’m going over there and if you don’t hear from me in two hours please let someone know where I went….yes I am going alone….Ian is out of town…no, I don't think anyone is holding her…okay….thank you!”
When Lily got off the phone, she shoved it in her pocket. “Okay, Marie knows where I’m going so if I don’t call her in two hours she’ll send someone looking for me.”
“I think this is a bad idea.” Walt shook his head.
“Although…now that I think about it, it wasn’t really necessary to call Marie. After all, I will be driving Dani’s car over there. If I get trapped with Dani, someone is bound to notice the car parked in front of the house.” Lily snatched the car keys from the counter and then opened the junk drawer, looking for something to use to pick the lock.
“I suppose that makes me feel slightly better.” Walt looked down at Sadie. “Go with Lily, Sadie, she might need your help.”
Sadie jumped up, tail wagging, and ran to Lily who was now heading for the back door.
“No girl, you need to stay here,” Lily told her.
“Take her!” Walt shouted.
Lily paused a moment. “Well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt if you came along. Might actually be helpful.”
Lily was two streets away from Presley House when the Flex ran out of gas. Cursing, Lily got out of the car with Sadie and began walking toward Presley House.
Pulling her phone from her pocket, she looked at the battery level and let out a sigh of relief. Glancing down at Sadie, she tucked the phone back in her pocket. “I got a little afraid for a moment there, Sadie. Figured it would be just my luck to have a dead battery on top of an empty gas tank. But it’s over eighty percent, so we’re fine.”
When Sadie and Lily reached Presley House, Lily knelt by the front door with the small screwdriver she had brought with her. Fiddling with the lock, she glanced down at Sadie. “I saw how to do this in a YouTube video once.”
After ten minutes of frustration, Lily tossed the tool aside. “It sure looked a heck of a lot easier in the video!” Standing up, Lily headed for the back of the house, looking for some other form of entry.
Harvey heard the rattling at the front door. Under other circumstances, he would be tempted to simply open the door and have a little fun with whoever was trying to break in. But, it was Halloween, and as history proved, when this night ended he would be whisked back to the cemetery for another year. He needed to find the journal and then make Danielle promise to make it public so the world would know what had really happened to himself and his uncle. The fact the world believed the loving uncle—the man who cared for Harvey when everyone else abandoned him—had been his murderer was unbearable.
Harvey then heard something at the kitchen. Someone was trying to remove the plywood covering the broken kitchen window.
Lily managed to squeeze through the small opening between the plywood and window frame. By the missing nails and angles of the plywood, it was obvious someone else had been messing with the makeshift covering. It looked as if it had already been removed and then reattached, yet who ever reattached it didn’t do a very good job, which was fortunate for Lily.
“I’ll go open the front door and let you in, and then we’ll find Dani.” Lily called out to Sadie in a hushed voice. Sadie sat outside the house looking up at the partially boarded up window, her tail wagging.
The minute Lily was inside the kitchen she cursed herself for not bringing a flashlight. “I guess I didn’t think this out very well.”
Once her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, she made her way through the kitchen into the hallway. Just as she was about to turn in the direction of the front door, to let Sadie in, she heard a knocking on the wall coming from the opposite direction.
“Dani?” Lily whispered, looking in the direction of the knock.
Lured by the steady knocking, Lily continued in the direction of the sound when suddenly a door swung open.
“Is someone there?” came Danielle’s voice from below.
“Dani!” Lily called out, heading for the open doorway.
“Lily is that you? Be careful! There’s stairs and watch the door it will…”
Just as Lily stepped through the doorway, the door slammed close behind her and locked. Fortunately, she managed to grab onto a handrail and steady herself, avoiding a tumble down the stairs. Turning back to the door, Lily tried opening it.
“It’s locked!” Lily called out.
“I was afraid of that,” came Danielle’s reply.
“Are you okay?” Lily looked down the stairs. Overhead a light flickered on, she could see Danielle sitting on the bottom step. Without thought, she hurried down the stairs to her friend.
“I sprained my ankle,” Danielle explained as Lily gave her an enthusiastic hug.
“Who is this?” Harvey asked when he appeared a moment later.
“Harvey is here,” Danielle explained.
“Where?” Lily asked.
Danielle pointed to Harvey, who stood in the middle of the room. Although Lily could not see him, she glared in his direction.
“Do you have any idea how worried we have been?” Lily shouted at Harvey.
Startled at Lily’s outburst, he took a step back away from the women, his eyes wide.
“And she has hurt her ankle! What kind of monster are you?” Lily charged forward toward Harvey.
“Can she see me?” Harvey asked in a quivering voice.
“No. But she knows you're there,” Danielle explained.
Harvey disappeared.
Lily launched into a fresh verbal attack when Danielle interrupted her. “He’s gone, Lily. I think you scared him away.”
“We have to get you out of here,” Lily whispered. “Aside from your ankle, how are you?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been as thirsty in my life before. Which helps me not think about being hungry.”
“We will take care of that.” Lily pulled her phone from her pocket.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling for help.”
“You came alone?”
Instead of answering, Lily frowned at
her phone. “I don’t understand.”
“What’s wrong?”
Lily looked from her phone to Danielle. “I had over eighty percent charge on this phone fifteen minutes ago. Now it’s dead.”
Danielle glanced up to the ceiling. “It’s probably Harvey. I was cursing myself for forgetting my cellphone, but I guess it wouldn’t have helped me.”
“Harvey? You saying he’s messing with my phone?”
“Angela did it to me, that time she forced me to stop at the cemetery. Remember, she did something to my car and phone. Neither of them would work. Most spirits seem to be able to mess with phones or anything electric.” Danielle glanced to the ceiling light. “Presley House doesn’t have an electric meter.”
Lily looked up to the lit ceiling light. “Then I suppose, all we can do is wait. Wish I had brought something for you to drink.”
“Wait?”
“Reinforcements should be here in a couple hours. And poor Sadie is outside; I hope she’s okay. But first, let me see if that door is really locked.”
Danielle watched as Lily walked back up the stairs and rattled the doorknob. She repeatedly slammed her shoulder against the door.”
“Crap, it’s locked all right. Anything down here we can use as tools?” Lily walked back down the stairs and glanced around. “I brought a little screwdriver with me but I’m afraid I left it upstairs.”
“I’m afraid not. This room’s empty.”
Lily nodded to the coffee can sitting in the far corner. “What’s that?”
“Umm…nothing…”
“Hey, maybe there are some tools in it!”
“Lily, trust me. You do not want to be looking in that coffee can.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Marsha wedged the tip of the letter opener under her thumbnail, digging out a piece of pumpkin. The night before she had helped her son carve a Jack-O-Lantern, yet the removal of the pumpkin seeds and pulp had fallen on her and had destroyed her manicure. Frowning, she tossed the letter opener onto the desk and glanced up at the wall clock. It was almost time for her lunch break. She would miss lunch today because she would be spending that time at the grocery store picking up Halloween candy.
The phone rang and she answered it. “Frederickport Police Department.”
“I need to speak to Joe Morelli,” came an elderly woman’s voice.
“I’m afraid Sargent Morelli is out of the office right now. Would you like to leave a message for him?”
“This is very important; I need to speak to Officer Morelli, now!”
“I’m sorry, but he’s not here right now. Is there someone else who can help you?”
“No. Do you know when he’s going to be back?”
“He should be back any minute now. Would you like me to leave him a message to call you?”
“No. He doesn’t need to call me. Just give him a message. Can you do that?”
“Certainly.” Marcia grabbed a pen and pad of paper.
“Who am I talking to?” Marie asked.
“This is Marcia, Marcia Hoffman.”
“Tell Joe, Marie Nichols called. He needs to know Lily went over to Presley House to find Danielle and now she’s stuck there.”
“Stuck there?” Marcia frowned.
“She must be. She didn't call me.”
“Call you?”
“Are you listening to me?” Marie snapped. “Why do you keep repeating everything I’m saying?”
Marcia rolled her eyes and tapped the end of the pen against the pad of paper. “I am just trying to understand, Ma’am.”
“Lily Miller told me to have Joe go over to Presley House and look for her if she didn’t call me. And she hasn’t called me. Danielle is there. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I think so.” Marcia jotted down notes on the pad of paper. “You want Sargent Morelli to go Presley House because Lily Miller didn’t call you.”
“Yes. And he needs to do it right away.”
“Okay, I’ll make sure he gets this note as soon as he gets into the office.”
When Marcia got off the phone, she looked at the note she had just written and wrinkled her nose. Crumpling up the paper, she tossed it in the trash and grabbed a fresh piece of paper. Starting to re-write the note in a more legible handwriting, she paused a moment, trying to remember the name of the caller. Shaking her head, she figured it really didn’t matter considering the woman didn’t want Joe to call her back.
After Marcia finished writing the note, she stood up and took it to Joe’s office, tossing it on his desk before taking off for lunch.
When Joe returned to his office that afternoon, he found a note on his desk. Picking it up, he read it: Lily Miller wants you to go to Presley House to get Danielle.
“I don’t understand.” Lily paced the basement. “I was sure someone would have been here a couple of hours ago.”
“I’ve lost all track of time. I can’t believe it’s Halloween.” Danielle stood up, attempting to walk on her still sore ankle, but the pain was too great so she sat down again.
“Halloween morning, at least it was when I got here. I figure it must be close to evening by now.”
“I just hope Harvey has the good sense to unlock that door before the night is over.”
“If he wants you to find the missing journal, I don’t see how he expects you to do it, locked up in the basement.”
“I’ve begun to think it’s not so much as me finding the journal—it’s about me taking the journal with me after it’s found and making it public. He wants to keep me safely tucked away until he finds it. Although, I did try looking for it down here.”
“That couldn’t have taken long. Can’t imagine where someone would hide something down here.”
Danielle glanced up to the ceiling and then back to Lily. “Quite honestly, I suspect the journal is long gone. Probably went with the Presleys when they moved. Or maybe one of the tenants found it; this place was a rental for a number of years. Who knows?”
“On the plus side, this is Halloween and if Marie can’t get the police over here, I don’t expect we’ll be alone for long.”
Danielle smiled. “I assume you are talking about the teenagers who can’t resist breaking into a haunted house on Halloween?”
“Exactly. And we need to be prepared to make a lot of noise.”
Sean Kelley wanted to be a member of the Hell Raisers. What freshman wouldn't want to be a member of the secret club? Unfortunately, being asked was just the beginning. He had to pass the initiation. Silently, he watched as three of his classmates—all seniors—climbed into the window at Presley House. They wedged their bodies between the window frame and the piece of plywood. He was next. Glancing behind him, he looked at Steve Potts, a junior.
Steve gave Sean a little shove. “What are you waiting for? Go in.”
Reluctantly, Sean climbed into Presley House, with Steve right behind him. Once in the house, the four boys led Sean upstairs, to the second floor and into a bedroom, its window completely covered from the outside with plywood. Without the flashlights the other boys carried, Sean would not be able to see anything.
“Are you going to leave me a flashlight?” Sean asked nervously.
“You don’t need a flashlight,” one of the boys said with a laugh. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out two short candles and a book of matches. He handed them to Sean.
“Remember, you have to spend the entire night upstairs. We’ll come back in the morning and get you,” Steve explained.
Sean looked at the candles in his hand. “I don’t think they’ll last all night.”
The other boys laughed. “That is sort of the idea,” one of them said.
“You also have an entire book of matches,” another one reminded.
“Hey, you don’t have to do this. You can leave with us right now. But if you want to be a member of the Hell Raisers, you have to prove you have the right stuff,” Steve told him. “We don’t take chickens.”
&nbs
p; Sean clutched the candles in his hand and glared up at the boys. “I can do this. You’ll see. No big deal. This will be easy!”
“Remember, there will probably be some other kids who come here tonight, trying to be cool. Don’t let them know you’re here. Scare them away.”
Sean nodded. “This will be fun.” He didn’t quite believe that.
Sean stood at the top of the staircase, watching members of the Hell Raisers make their way to the entry. Instead of exiting the way they had come in, they left through the front door, leaving it unlocked. With the flashlights gone, darkness engulfed the interior of Presley House.
Instead of lighting a candle, Sean went into the one bedroom that still had a windowpane. He looked outside. He watched as the boys who had brought him to Presley House walked down the street. They weren’t the only ones on the streets; costume clad trick-or-treaters made their way to the other houses in the neighborhood.
Sean had been standing at the window for over an hour when he heard what sounded like pounding noise coming from downstairs. He walked into the hallway, but it was pitch black and he couldn’t see anything. Retreating into the first bedroom the boys had taken him to, he lit one of the candles and looked around for someplace to set it. He noticed a broken beer bottle lying in the corner. Picking it up, he used it as a make shift candleholder and set it on the dresser. He then lit the second candle, and took it with him to investigate the noise.
Harvey watched as the teenage boy slunk down the stairs, candle in hand. He wished Danielle and her friend would stop making all that racket. He needed to concentrate on finding the journal before the night ended. He didn’t have time to deal with the teenager and whatever prank he was attempting to perpetrate.
The boy approached the hallway, walking in the direction of the pounding sound, the candle held high over his head.
“This will not do at all. I will not have three of you locked in the basement! You must leave!” Focusing his energy on a footstool in the living room, he made it lift up into the air and float in the direction of the intruder. Harvey couldn't help but laugh at the wide-eyed horrified expression of the teenager when he spied the small piece of furniture floating his way. The boy let out a scream and then raced for the door his friends had left through earlier that evening.
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