by Dawn Eastman
“What’s wrong, Delores?” asked Mrs. Peabody. She rolled her eyes at Katie as if to say, “This happens every year.”
“I can’t get in touch with Nathan Nielsen. He’s supposed to drive the float. No one else knows how.”
Katie felt a weight lift off her shoulders. Maybe she wouldn’t have to be the pumpkin after all.
“I can drive it,” Matt said.
Delores looked at him as if her were insane. “Who would lead the pirates if you are driving the float? No, no, that won’t do.”
“I guess we’ll have to have the parade without it,” Katie said hopefully.
Delores wheeled on her. “Of course we can’t have the parade without it. It’s the centerpiece! It won’t be Halloween without the pumpkin float.” Delores put her hands on her hips. “I guess I’ll have to drive it. It’s been a while, but we can manage.”
Katie tried to hide the horror she felt at this development. She said, “I know someone who can step in. Let me just give him a call.”
Katie pulled out her phone and called Caleb.
“Hello? I thought you would be a pumpkin by now,” he said. “Are you calling from inside the pumpkin?”
“No, we have an emergency,” Katie said.
“A pumpkin emergency?”
Katie rolled her eyes, even though Caleb couldn’t see her. “We need someone to drive the float.”
There was a long silence. “You know I’ve always wanted to drive a float.”
“Yes, I remember,” Katie said.
“Where are you?”
“In the high school gym.”
“Be there in ten minutes,” Caleb said, and ended the call.
“I have someone coming in just a few minutes,” Katie said.
“Thank you, Doctor,” Delores said. She turned to Matt and said, “You should go catch up to your pirate crew. They get restless without a leader.”
Matt waved to Katie and headed off in the direction of the pirates.
“When your driver gets here, have him take the float out through those doors and loop around the parking lot to the front of the line. As long as we’re only a couple of minutes late, the crowd will be fine. I don’t let the beer truck start serving until the parade is over, so everyone likes the parade to run on time.”
Delores bustled off toward the double doors that led outside. Katie saw her pull her bullhorn out of her bag, and the yelling began a moment later.
Katie sat on the float and waited for Caleb. She didn’t have to wait long. He rushed in through the back door.
“That woman with the bullhorn told me to come in here,” he said.
“Help me get this costume on,” Katie said.
Caleb lifted the pumpkin up so that Katie could crawl inside. He started giggling as soon as she put her hands in the gloves. “This is the best thing ever!” Caleb said. “I would have volunteered if I’d known.” Katie heard the camera-clicking sound of his phone and knew she’d be showing up on social media somewhere. At least no one could tell it was her.
“Just help me onto the float,” Katie said.
Caleb steered her toward the float, but it became obvious that she wouldn’t be able to climb on board while wearing the costume. Caleb was zero help. He could barely breathe, he was laughing so hard. Katie started giggling too.
A loud siren sounded throughout the gym, and they stopped laughing and turned toward the sound. Katie looked through the small area of thin fabric that served as her only view out of the suit. She could just make out Delores striding toward them with her bullhorn.
“Control yourselves!” she said. “This is not a game. The parade must go on!”
Caleb lifted the pumpkin again so Katie could climb out. They had decided she would have to suit up while on the float.
Delores handed Caleb a face mask that also looked like a pumpkin. “I forgot to give you this. The driver always wears it,” she said.
Caleb’s face fell, and he slipped the mask over his head. “I can hardly see out of this thing.”
“Don’t worry, I’m the parade leader,” Delores said. “You just follow me and only go about two miles an hour. The whole parade is only five blocks long—you just drive in a straight line.”
Katie climbed onto the float, and Caleb helped her into the costume once again.
“See that X on the float?” Delores asked.
Katie looked down and saw a masking tape X to her right. “I see it.”
“You stand there,” said Delores. “If you move too far to the left, the driver’s view will be blocked by the costume.”
Katie stood where she was told, and she assumed Caleb had gotten into the driver’s seat because she heard the engine start up. She almost fell backward when the float started to move forward, but caught herself and remained standing on her X.
She watched through her small peephole as Delores directed the float out to the parking lot. The parade people cheered as the float passed by the ranks of fairies, pirates, ghosts, skeletons, and zombies. Finally, they were at the front of the line, and Delores announced through the bullhorn that they were ready to start.
The float lurched again, and Katie struggled to stay upright. She took her hands out of the gloves and pulled her phone out of her pocket. She texted Caleb to take it easy on the acceleration. The float began to veer toward the right and then adjusted course. Caleb must have checked his message.
It was just beginning to get dark as the float pulled onto Main Street. The high school band was right behind the float, so all Katie could hear were the drums. She kept her eye on the end of the street, waiting for it all to be over. She kept waving, in the sense that she flapped her hands up and down, and stood with her feet as far apart as possible to give herself a solid base.
Things were going quite well, and she relaxed a little bit. She turned to look at the crowd, recognizing many of her patients. She saw a familiar face in the crowd that she didn’t expect.
Eugene Lowe stood at the corner of Main and Second, hands on hips. As they approached, he stepped forward and went to the door of the float. She heard him yelling but couldn’t hear what he was saying. The float veered to the right, and the crowd gasped and moved back away from the slow-moving threat. It then jerked back to the left, and Katie lost her footing. She fell over and landed faceup, legs kicking in the air.
She pulled her hands out of the gloves and wrestled with her shoulder straps to disentangle herself. The float had stopped moving and she felt someone pulling at her legs.
“Katie, are you okay?” Gabrielle asked.
“I’m fine, but I need help lifting this thing over my head.”
Katie and Gabrielle finally got her free from the costume. The band had stopped playing, and she heard Eugene’s voice shouting.
“Ten years, you bastard!”
The crowd surged forward to help Caleb. Eugene had him by the throat and he was screaming at him.
Katie ran up to them. “Eugene, that’s Caleb! What are you doing?”
Eugene turned to Katie. “What?”
“That’s my brother,” Katie said.
Eugene let go of Caleb, who pulled his mask off. He was red in the face and breathing hard.
“I’m so sorry, Caleb,” Eugene said. “I thought you were Nathan. Alicia said Nathan was driving the float.”
“Alicia is okay?” Katie asked.
“Of course she’s okay. She’s been with me.”
John Carlson appeared out of the crowd. “What is going on?”
“Eugene thought that Caleb was Nathan.”
“Oh, that makes assault and ruining the parade okay, then.” Carlson said.
“Where is Nathan?” Eugene asked. His eyes were wild and he looked around desperately.
“No one has seen him today,” Katie said.
Eugene swore. “Alicia went home to get some things for the baby. She thought it would be safe during the parade because Nathan wouldn’t be there.” Eugene ran into the crowd.
�
��Wait!” Carlson said. “I need to talk to you!”
Without stopping to think, Katie ran after Eugene.
45
Eugene had cut through the alley behind the Purple Parrot. Katie caught up with him on the next street over.
“Eugene, wait!” she called.
He slowed and then stopped. “Dr. LeClair, I think Alicia is in danger. We have to find out if Nathan is home.”
“Why?” Katie asked. But as she said it, everything clicked into place. Nathan had been the ex-boyfriend who was jealous. Nathan had been absent from the planning meeting the night before Taylor’s body was found. And Nathan didn’t want Eugene in town bringing up the past.
“I don’t have time to explain, but Alicia thinks Nathan may have killed Heather Stone and Taylor Knox,” Eugene said. “Come on!”
Katie followed him through a backyard into another street and then through a side yard until she saw that they were in the backyard of a two-story yellow house.
“That’s her house,” Eugene said. “Nathan’s car is in the driveway. We have to get inside.”
“Why can’t we just ring the bell?” Katie asked.
Eugene gave her an incredulous look. “We can’t let him know that we’re on to him.”
They sneaked through the backyard to the back door. From this close, they could hear an argument emanating from inside.
Eugene started lifting up the potted plants that sat on the back deck.
“Found it!” He held up a key.
“Wait, we can’t go in there. It’s breaking and entering. Or maybe just entering …”
A loud crash sounded from inside, and they heard Olivia crying.
“I’m going in,” Eugene said.
Katie looked at this skinny guy with his big ears and ridiculous glasses and wondered what he thought he was going to be able to do against a big guy like Nathan. But she saw the determination in his eyes and nodded.
“Okay, I’ll come with you,” Katie said.
Eugene put the key in the lock and turned it. He quietly opened the door and stepped inside. Katie followed, and they stood silently by the door. The argument was louder now that they were inside. They stood in the kitchen, listening. It sounded like Alicia and Nathan were upstairs.
Eugene and Katie cautiously peeked in the living room. Empty. They made their way up the stairs. At the landing, Eugene hesitated.
“Don’t hurt her, please, Nathan,” Alicia cried.
“Stay back, Alicia, or I’ll do it. I swear I will.”
Eugene and Katie exchanged a look. What was going on?
“They’re in the baby’s room,” Eugene whispered.
They moved warily down the hallway to the nursery. The door was open and they heard Alicia crying.
Sirens sounded in the distance.
Katie stepped into the doorway with Eugene right behind her. Nathan stood on the far side of the room with the crib between him and the door. The window was open wide and cold air gusted in from outside. He held the baby, and his hand circled her throat. One twist and he could break her neck. She continued to cry, but in an exhausted rather than outraged way. Nathan seemed to be ignoring it, as if it were just background noise.
Alicia rushed to Katie as she came through the door. “He walked in when I was packing up more of Olivia’s things. He grabbed her and threatened to hurt her if I refused to stay with him.”
“Nathan, give me the baby,” Katie said. Her voice shook with concern for the child.
Nathan shook his head. “This is between me and my wife. What’s he doing here?”
“He was worried about Alicia,” Katie said. “Eugene, maybe you and Alicia should go downstairs.”
Someone began pounding on the front door.
Alicia stepped across the room to join Eugene, but she refused to leave without Olivia.
“It’s over, Nathan; the police are here now,” Katie said. “You don’t want to hurt your daughter.”
“How do you know what I want?” Nathan sneered. “I have nothing left now. Alicia is just like all the other girls. She got tired of me and decided to leave.” He clutched the baby tighter and she cried louder. “Now she can feel what it’s like to lose someone you love.”
“Who did you lose, Nathan?” Katie asked in a calm, quiet voice.
Nathan looked bereft. “Heather,” he said. “I lost Heather.”
“What happened?”
Nathan’s shoulders slumped and Katie worried he would drop the baby, but he seemed to catch himself and he readjusted his grip.
“She just broke it off.” Nathan shook his head. “For no reason. Said she’d met someone else. But I loved her.”
Nathan’s eyes pleaded with Katie to understand.
“I’m sure that was very difficult. I’ve heard she could be cruel to her ex-boyfriends.”
A bark of laughter escaped Nathan. “You could put it that way. But I showed her, didn’t I?”
“Did you?”
Nathan nodded. “I caught up to her after she left the party. She laughed at me and said she was dating a real man, not a little boy.” Nathan stopped. Remembering. “I don’t know what came over me, but I grabbed her neck and squeezed. She actually laughed. Looked me right in the eye, while I had her life in my hands, and laughed. I pushed her away, hard.”
Alicia gasped, and Nathan looked past Katie to his wife.
“I didn’t mean to hurt her. She just made me so mad. She hit her head on a rock, and I couldn’t wake her up. I heard someone coming and I ran back to the party.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Katie saw Eugene slip out of the room. She hoped he was going to let the police in—she assumed that was who was pounding on the door.
“What about Taylor?” Katie asked.
“She had to go. She had figured everything out. She’d been talking to people. Picking apart their stories until she realized I was the one.” Nathan took a shaky breath. “I didn’t want to lose Alicia and Olivia.”
Katie took a step forward. “I’m sure you don’t want to hurt your baby.”
Nathan adjusted his grip on the infant, and she seemed to settle a little bit. Her little eyes were red and swollen and her face was flushed and wet.
They all heard footsteps on the stairs.
Nathan’s eyes went wide, and he looked frantically around the room.
Sean Gallagher and a young woman officer stood in the doorway with guns drawn and pointed at Nathan.
“Put the guns away!” Katie said. “You can’t shoot him without endangering the baby.”
Carlson came into the room and gestured at his officers to stand down. The small nursery had gotten crowded in the past several minutes.
Carlson put his hands out in a calming gesture. “Nathan, you don’t want to hurt the baby. Just give her to Dr. LeClair and we can talk this out.”
“I’m done talking to you,” Nathan said. He stepped closer to the window. He put one foot on the sill.
“Nathan, please, give me the baby,” Katie said. “Whatever is going on here, she is innocent. Look at her. She hasn’t had a chance to even experience life yet. She’s your daughter. Don’t you want to see her walk and ride a bike? Don’t you want to hear all the things she’ll have to say?”
Nathan kept his eyes on Katie, and one tear escaped as he stared at her. He looked at Olivia and smiled sadly.
“Okay, just Dr. LeClair can come take the baby.”
Katie stepped forward, her arms out. She knew the second she had the baby that Carlson and his officers would move on Nathan. She prepared to grab the child and step out of the way.
Nathan waited until Katie was just on the other side of the crib, and then he slowly handed Olivia to her. Katie felt the warm weight of the little girl in her arms and turned away from Nathan, but not before she saw the flash of a gun in his hand. He’d been holding it in the same hand as the baby.
Katie instinctively curled her body around the child and ran away from Nathan. She heard Alicia scream. Then
the shot.
And the rest was chaos.
46
The light fixture shattered and rained shards of glass down on Katie and the baby. She kept her head down and ran for the door. As soon as she turned the corner into the hallway, she stopped and was almost run down by Alicia.
Alicia reached for the baby and in her haste ended up hugging Katie and Olivia at the same time. There was another shot inside the room, and Eugene staggered out into the hall clutching his shoulder. Blood seeped between his fingers. He leaned against the wall and slid slowly to the floor, leaving a bloody streak on the robin’s egg–blue paint.
Katie made sure Alicia had a good hold of the baby, and then she rushed to Eugene’s side. He was awake, but his breathing was shallow and fast. Alicia had appeared at his other side.
“Don’t you die on me, Gene,” she said. “I just got you back. I’ll need my best friend more than ever now.”
Eugene smiled weakly and reached a hand out to Alicia.
Katie heard scuffling and banging from inside the room, and then Nathan was being frog-marched out by a none-too-kindly-looking Carlson. Nathan’s hands were cuffed behind his back, but that didn’t stop him from glowering at Eugene.
“I knew you’d be trouble the minute you stepped foot back in Baxter,” he said.
“Gallagher, get the EMTs up here,” Carlson barked as he passed the trio on the floor. “How’s he doing, Doc?”
“I think the bullet missed anything important, but he needs to get to the hospital as soon as possible. I don’t like the way he’s breathing.”
Carlson nodded and continued down the stairs with Nathan.
Molly Hart came out of the room and bent to help Alicia stand while still clutching Olivia. Olivia’s bawling had drowned out the sound of the sirens outside.
Katie, still crouched by Eugene, turned to be sure they were heading downstairs, and when she turned back to Eugene, he had stopped breathing.
“Eugene!” Katie yelled and shook his good shoulder.
She checked for a pulse. There wasn’t one. She lowered his head gently onto the floor. She got into position and began chest compressions.