My Hairy Halloween (Peculiar Mysteries Book 4)

by Renee George

  “You keep saying he.” The sheriff nodded. “Are you sure it’s a man?”

  “No. It’s just a feeling. He was jealous of Roger and Karina, but a woman can be jealous too.” I felt a little narrow in my thinking to have assumed it was a guy because of the interest in Karina. “It has to be someone who was on the courthouse lawn at the same time as Roger. I know who I saw, but I don’t know the workers. It could have been one of them too.”

  “Now, on Roger, we don’t even know if he was pushed. He says it happened to fast, and he doesn’t know if he slipped or someone nudged him.”

  “That’s weird. Did he say nudge? Because, if he did, then he was definitely pushed. Do you think he’s scared?” I wondered if he thought maybe his girlfriend had given him the “nudge.” “Besides,” I told the sheriff. “You can’t pick and choose what you want to believe in my visions. Either the invisible man did it in all of them, or he did it in none of them.”

  Sheriff Taylor rubbed his eyes. They were dark around the outside, which was more an indication he was a wereraccoon than an indication of exhaustion. In this case, though, I thought it might be both. “Okay, let’s say you’re right down the board. The victims are a mixed group. Mark Smart, Evelyn Meyers.” He winced when he said his sister-in-law’s name. “Roger Parks, and Tyler Thompson.” He shrugged. “What do they all have in common?”

  “If it weren't for Mark Smart, I’d say they were all assholes to one degree or another.”

  I got a disapproving look for my observation. “I’m looking for something more substantial.”

  “You got me, then. I have no idea. Other than the fact that the invisible person feels persecuted by all of them.”

  “Will you call me if you get any more visions?”

  “Sure, but I don’t know if it’ll do any good.” I sagged down, suddenly feeling very grumpy. “I am useless.” Brrrzzzzt. Oh, joy.

  “Did you say something?”

  With my butt? “Not hardly.”

  The sheriff’s mouth turned up slightly at the corners as he put his notebook away. Laugh it up raccoon-boy. “I best get going. I’ll interview everyone and see if I can find something in common. Are you going to the Johnson’s Halloween Bash?”

  “Princess has made other plans for me.” I rubbed my beach-ball belly.

  “Well, Jean was hoping to see you. She might stop by to visit you at home if that’s okay?”

  Jean and I weren’t friends exactly, but I found her strangely comforting. I smiled. “I’d like that.”

  Both Jean and Sheriff Avery were the kind of people I always wished my hippy, tree-hugging parents would have been. “You have a daughter, don’t you?”

  “Nicole.” He smiled fondly. “She’s at Stanford working on her Ph.D.”

  Wow. Stanford was Ivy League and hella expensive. I got a severe case of panic sweat as I thought about what it would cost to send Jude to a place like that, or, jayzus, two kids. “You must be proud,” I said. “That’s a great college.”

  “She’s coming home for Christmas this year. We haven’t seen her too much since she graduated with her bachelor’s degree in clinical psychology. Her master’s and Ph.D. work has kept her a lot busier.”

  “I’m glad she’s coming home.”

  He leaned forward and touched my hand. “Me too.”

  ****

  Billy Bob and Chav came over in the evening to check on me again. My blood pressure was almost normal. He also checked my cervix, just in case, which was still thick and hard. I hadn’t had any spotting for three weeks, all of which put me on the good list. However, my ankles were just the teensiest bit swollen, so Billy Bob wanted me to increase my exercises to improve my circulation.

  “Don’t do anything that engages your abdominal wall,” Billy Bob warned me.

  Bummer. I could have thought of a few things more pleasant than pressing my feet into the bed repetitively, but that was still a no-no as well.

  “I get it. Be a turnip.” Babe gave my hand a comforting squeeze. I glared at him.

  “What?” he asked.

  “You did this to me,” I said flatly. “This is your fault.”

  He frowned. “I seem to recall you were complicit in the preceding event.”

  “Don’t be logical. You know I hate it when you get all rational and crap.” Especially since I wasn’t sure I had a rational bone left in my body. Maybe my patella, but that was it, and it was about to lose its mind. I couldn’t stop the tears now as they leaked down my cheeks. I suddenly went from agitated to despondent. “You don’t love me.” More irrationality.

  “Aww, Sunny. You’re being ridiculous.”

  “I’m ridiculous? Did you just seriously call me ridiculous?”

  “We’re out,” said Chav. She grabbed Billy Bob by the hand. “You two don’t kill each other.”

  When the happy couple went home, Babe got down on his knees in front of me. He put his cheek on my belly. “You are loved, little one,” he said. “You are wanted. You are a tie for the top three things in my life. You, your brother, and your mom.”

  “No fair,” I murmured, the anger leaving me again. I took a deep breath and let it out. His hair, the color of toasted pecans, as thick as it was, was cool against my hot hands. I ran my fingers through it, massaging his scalp. “I hate being cooped up.”

  “I know.” He rubbed the sides of my belly. “But it won’t be for long.”

  “Unless I get pregnant again.” I loved Jude, and I knew I would adore this baby, but two pregnancies so close together had me pretty freaked out. “I'm not sure if my body could take doing this again so soon.”

  He tilted his chin so he could look up at my face. “Then we’ll use birth control.”

  “I could get my tubes tied.”

  “Can we think about it?”

  I nodded but didn’t smile. “Sure.” I knew he wanted a large family, and I’d planned to give him one. But I wasn’t getting any younger, and having a therian baby was already high risk. The baby moved inside me again.

  “I can feel her against my cheek,” Babe smiled.

  “I’ll admit, I might miss the unexpected joy I experience every time I realize I’m growing our child inside me.” Brrrzzzzttt Ssssssssssss. I would not miss flatulence ruining every pleasant moment.

  Babe stood up, pretending like he didn’t notice. Good man. “I’m going to check on Jude.”

  “Do that.” It was nice he could ignore my body’s breakdown, even if I couldn’t.

  He forgot the baby monitor was on and started laughing when he got into Jude’s room. So much for ignoring.

  “I hear you!”

  He came back out of the backroom with a broad smile on his face. “The boy’s sleeping like a baby.”

  “I’d expect nothing else. It’s exhausting work being that cute.”

  “No doubt.” Babe sat on the couch and pulled me into his arms. “You should probably get some sleep too.”

  “I’m afraid the invisible man isn’t done with his revenge tricks, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

  “You have to quit stressing, darling,” Babe said. “You heard the doc.”

  “Yeah, I heard him.” But was I listening? The invisible man with all his rage was making my life a horror show. Literally. His anger was escalating. What if his next prank did more than injure someone? I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if something happened, and I could have prevented it.

  Chapter Six

  One day until Halloween…

  I’d spent the better part of the night and most of the morning trying to decipher all my vision to no avail.

  A knock on my door startled me. “Mrs. Trimmel,” a man said at the door. “It’s me. Deputy Farraday.”

  “Come in, Eldin,” I said. “Did you bring food?”

  He opened the door, wearing his tan deputy uniform and a big smile on his face, and held out a box of donuts. “I stopped by Becky’s Bakery on the way over.”

  “You are an angel.” If he d
idn’t get his wings soon, this would seal the deal. “Glazed twists with cinnamon.”

  Eldin winked. “Becky insisted once I told them they were for you.”

  “My day is brighter already.”

  Selena Messer came out of the back with Jude in her arms. God, I missed taking care of my son. “Hey, El,” she said. “How are you doing?”

  “Good. Doing good,” Eldin replied. “And you? Michael said you all have already booked your honeymoon in Costa Rica. I’m jealous.”

  She beamed. “I gotta get bikini ready by June.”

  Selena was dating Farraday’s co-worker, Deputy Michael Connelly, a lanky man, skinnier than Farraday. But he was a weresquirrel, and they tended to be wiry. It still astounded me when I thought about the tall, curvy bear shifter dating a squirrel. But Selena and Michael were overjoyed. They were planning a June wedding.

  I’d seen them together in a psychic reading before they were even on each other’s radar.

  Gah! I longed for the days of clear and easy to figure out visions.

  “Selena’s on Sunny duty today, I’m afraid.” I cast her a sympathetic look. “I hate that I’m making so much work for everyone.”

  “Never you mind, Sunny,” Selena said. “We Peculiar folk know how to rally around one of our own.”

  “In deed,” Eldin added with a smile.

  Now I wanted to cry again. I was one of their own.

  “This boy’s a hungry little howler,” Selena teased. Jude giggled when she poked his belly and took him into the kitchen.

  Eldin took a seat in the chair next to the couch. He pulled a notebook and pencil from his breast pocket. It was similar to the sheriff’s. The young man was always so serious about his work. “I have a list of people we’ve identified as witnesses to each of the incidences. Sheriff Taylor asked me to go through them with you to see if any of them will get your,” he waved the pencil at me like a wand, “thing happening.”

  “I’m not a wizard at Hogwarts,” I said, though I thought I could give Hagrid a run for his money in the size department. “It’s a psychic ability. I’m clairvoyant, not magical.”

  “Uh-hm.” He nodded and tapped his notepad. “The list.”

  “Yes, go ahead.” I sighed and moved over to the other side of the couch. The poor cushions were taking a beating from my wide ass, and I switched it up every hour in hopes the deep indentions wouldn’t become permanent.

  “Okay, so with Smart Funeral home, there is the Smart Family, Mark and Judith, along with their children, Jackson, Liberty, and Marianne. They’d had a funeral the day before for Donald Franks.”

  “I don’t think I know him.”

  “He was one-hundred and eighty-seven. He lived in the Silver Fox Senior Center. He and his wife, deceased thirty years ago, never had any children, so he was pretty much alone.”

  “Oh.” I knew were the center was located, but I’d never been in it. Poor man. “How awful to be in an old folk’s home with no one to visit.”

  “Yeah. If it weren't for the high school volunteers, he wouldn’t have had any visitors except for the staff.”

  “How sad is that?”

  “The funeral had a good showing. Thirty-four people from town.” He handed me his pad.

  I recognized a few names, like Ruth, Ed, and all her kids except Tyler. Posie and Kyle Avery. Posie, Kyle’s mom, owned the pawn shop in town now. Beatie and Leonard Parks, those were Roger Park’s grandparents. Brady and Jo Jo Corman. Blondina and Roger Messer, along with their kids Selena, Brandon, and Rudy. Also in attendance was, Evelyn Meyers, Jean and Sid Taylor, Michael Connelly, and Eldin. The rest of the names were unfamiliar, and none of the one’s I recognized were hitting any notes for me.

  “Nada,” I said.

  “Okay.” He took the pad back. “There were no witnesses to the booting incident with Evelyn Meyer’s car.” He smirked.

  “Couldn’t have happened to a nicer woman,” I said.

  “That’s about right.” He had a twinkle in his eyes. “Moving on. The Park’s incident included Kyle Avery, Karina Wells, Selena, Brandon, Jackson, Dakota Thompson, Taylor Thompson, Brady Corman, Jo Jo Corman, Larry Michaels, Kevin Smith, and Tommy Brown. The last three were the heavy equipment operators.”

  “I didn’t see Jo Jo.”

  “He came just as Roger fell into the dig site.”

  “Oh, and Mayor Trimmel and yourself.”

  “Yes, of course. What about the old guy?”

  “Who?”

  It didn’t really matter. The man had disappeared by the time I’d crossed the street. Was there any witness to Tyler’s incident?”

  Eldin’s eyes held a brief flash of anger. When I gave him a questioning glance, he made them carefully neutral. “An anonymous tip sent him in there. We were told there was an animal trapped in the cesspit. Tyler was the closest, so he was first on the scene. When he went inside to assess the situation, a black snake fell onto his shoulders, and then there was an explosion. He didn’t remember anything else.”

  “Any witnesses?”

  “None.”

  “How’s Tyler doing?”

  “Burns are healing, thanks to the doc. Other than that, same as always.”

  “I guess the explosion didn’t knock the asshole out of him, huh?”

  Eldin gave me a small smile. “That’s no lie, Ma’am.”

  I guess I wasn’t the only one Tyler rubbed the wrong way. “Is there more?” I grabbed a cinnamon twist and bit off the soft, chewy, and scrumptious end. “Mmmmm.”

  “That’s it for now.” He stood up. “Do you need anything before I go?”

  “No. Thank you, Eldin, and thank Sheriff Taylor for me.”

  “You are the one owed a thanks, Mrs. Trimmel.”

  “You know you can call me Sunny, right?” I told him, and not for the first time.

  He smiled. “I know. You have a good day, Ma’am.”

  “Thanks for the donuts.”

  Selena came out of the kitchen with Jude a few minutes after Farraday left.

  I lifted the donut box. “Want one I?”

  “Sure…” She hesitated. “Better not. I need to lose a couple of pounds. It’s been a long time since I’ve worn a bathing suit.”

  “Mamamama.” Jude clenched and unclenched his hands toward me. I held out my arms and Selena gave him to me.

  “How’s my good boy?” He made a squealing noise then sprouted fur all over his body and wiggled out of my hands. He’d changed into a coyote pup. His most mobile form.

  Selena laughed. The pup was still wearing a pair of shorts and a T-shirt that read, Moms Rule, Dads Drool. “I’ll take him outside to let him run if you want. I think he’s got a lot pent up energy.”

  “That’s a good idea.” I walked with her to the door, and when she opened it, Jude sprinted past out into the grass and began running in circles.

  “Energy is wasted on the young,” she said.

  I looked at her. Selena was in her mid-twenties, a little younger than Babe. “You’re still plenty young.” I patted her arm. “And perfect just the way you are…”

  A song plays in the background. It annoyingly goes on and on about a graveyard smash with monsters as the main guests. The mummy, who has always been a tormenter, is here, so is Dracula, who won’t let me go, Frankenstein’s bride, who humiliated me in public, the Swamp Man, who is always belittling people, and the phantom, who thinks he’s better than everyone else. All of the invisible man’s targets in one area. Here’s my chance to get them. To make them pay once and for all.

  The area goes bright with blazing hot light. A howl startles me, and I see the Wolfman as the flames consume him.

  I scream.

  “Fire!”

  Selena had her arms around me, holding me off the floor. “Sunny, are you all right?”

  “No,” I told her. “I saw the Wolfman die in the blaze.”

  Chapter Seven

  All Hallow’s Eve…again.

  Chavvah brought me some col
orful clothes and a scarf to wrap my hair. Ruth had a wig from one of Michele’s high school plays. It was a buttery yellow with curls that would make Annie jealous. Ruth’s younger daughter Dakota put my make-up on. By the time she was done, you couldn’t see a trace of the acne. That girl was magic with a concealer wand. I was properly tarted up with dark eye shadow, red lips, and thick eyelashes fluttering like butterfly wings…mostly because I wasn’t used to wearing them and I couldn’t stop blinking.

  Ruth had engaged the Johnson twins to build me a fortune teller booth out of some two-by-fours and plywood, and while they mock grumbled, they happily obliged.

  Me sitting for the entire evening was the only way Billy Bob would approve me going.

  I did not, however, tell anyone about the vision. I mean, Selena knew, but I asked her to keep it quiet until I could talk to Babe and the sheriff. I just hadn’t told her when I would speak to them.

  My nickel jar filled up fast as party-goers kept dropping money in to have their fortunes read. It was good news, all of it, mostly because it was all made-up. My visions weren’t working right now, so I kept my answers happy and vague.

  Delbert Johnson brought me some punch. “Don’t you go having that baby in my barn tonight, Sunny. I know how you like an unconventional birth.”

  “Har har,” I said. “I have no plans to have this kid for at least another month, and in the way nature intended it, on a birthing table in Billy Bob’s clinic.”

  Elbert who’d walked up on the conversation, said, “Good, because Babe ain’t Joseph and your baby isn’t the Messiah. Which means, there’s no room at the inn or in the manger.”

  “Well, I don’t see any wisemen either, just a couple of donkeys, so I think we’re safe tonight.”

  Delbert’s light blue eyes twinkled when he smiled. “That’s my girl.” He winked as he and Elbert left my stand.

  Willy Boden sashayed over in an Elvira outfit that put the voom in vava voom. “Snazzy,” I told her. “You look hot as the queen of the night.”

  “Thanks, Madame Sunshine.” She winked. “I’m glad I came down for the party. It’s so peaceful in this town. Not like in the city. I feel like I can’t even hear myself think anymore when I’m up there.”