The space was long rather than wide, so to explore it we had to keep moving toward the back, where we would eventually come upon the counter. Hildegard liked to sit behind it and watch old film noir movies, knitting while she did. Strangely enough, everything she had ever knitted was black.
“Crescent? Is that you?” an old voice came out of the darkness.
“Sure is. Sorry I’m late. Family trouble,” said Cookie.
“Nothing serious, I hope,” came the voice as we passed by a row of owls.
“No, no,” said my grandmother. “Simply that I still have one.”
A soft caw came from the distance. Hildegard had much the same humor as my grandmother. Gallows and terrifying.
“Hi, Hildegard,” I said, reaching the counter at last.
The old woman appeared to have shrunk even more since last year. Her wizened shoulders drooped so much it seemed like they’d soon be on the level with the bottom of her rib cage. She was draped in a series of black fabrics, giving the impression that she had simply collected them over her body as the months passed. I wondered when she had last bathed.
“There’s a series of enchantments hanging over her head,” Lark whispered to me, reading my mind.
“So?” I asked my cousin.
“They’re meant to ward off smells,” she whispered.
I nodded slowly. That answered one question. Kind of.
“Have you seen the scarecrows? Very realistic,” said Hildegard, peering out at us from beneath what looked dangerously like a hairnet and bonnet.
“Yeah,” said Pep. “That’s where we’re going next. I wanted to go yesterday, but we didn’t have time.”
“You have some on your own property, don’t you?” Hildegard asked. “How are those?” She was always very concerned that someone had created better decorations than hers. Not that she made scarecrows as such, it was the principle of the thing. While the rest of us were moving on from Halloween, Hildegard never did.
“They’re all well and good. I’m sure you could do better,” I said.
The woman smiled at me, revealing all three of her teeth.
“What can I help you four loves find this time?” she asked, turning her gaze to Cookie. Smart move. My grandmother was clearly the one in charge.
Cookie fished out a list from her bag. As usual, it was very long. “My daughter-in-law saddled me with these three. She’s trying to make it so I can’t fit much in the car. Little did she know I’m willing to make several trips,” said Cookie, glaring at the three of us.
I exchanged looks with my cousins.
“Some people would be happy to spend quality time with their family,” Hildegard pointed out, looking slightly amused. I couldn’t really tell what she made of Cookie’s dislike of her own relatives.
“Yes, some people would be perfectly happy to spend time with family. Others are me,” said Cookie.
As the two old women got to looking around the cluttered store, it was clear that Hildegard had held several decorations back especially for when Cookie came looking for them.
“Should we run interference?” Pep asked.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
She wrinkled her nose. “I mean try to talk Cookie out of buying some of the stuff on her list.”
“Not if you want to live,” said Lark. “Let’s just look at stuff and leave as quickly as possible. I want to see the decorations too.”
While we waited for Cookie, we wandered around the dingy space. Even though I worked at a haunted house, I was pretty sure this place would give me nightmares.
“Can you believe there are so many fake mice?” Pep asked. “What could they possibly all be for?”
“To creep us out,” said Lark. “Hey, look at this.”
She waved us over to a display of fake candy, a sign above which said that it would turn your teeth purple if you actually ate it.
“When did this place become a joke shop as well?” said Lark. I shook my head, knowing the answer no better than Lark did.
We continued to look around, but it turned out that Cookie was surprisingly efficient. She knew exactly what she wanted, and since it was all already there, it didn’t take her long to find it.
“I’m ready to go with the first load. If we have to leave Pep behind, so be it. Lark always did want to be an only child, didn’t she?” Cookie called out from near the door, where she was standing with Hildegard.
Pep glared at her grandmother. “I’m not staying behind. Are you trying to say that some plastic toys get a place in your car but I don’t?”
“These plastic toys are going to bring joy to a lot of people,” said Cookie.
“When I think of the holidays, I don’t really think of bringing joy,” said Lark.
“I would argue that that’s your problem,” said Cookie, disappearing through the door without another word.
Hildegard nodded to the rest of us and said goodbye with a little wave. Black lace gloves that left her fingers free covered her hands. I wondered if she played the piano. Either that or she planted dead flowers. In short, I was happy to be leaving.
As we walked away we passed several women going in. “If you’re looking for decorations, you’ve come to the right place,” said Lark.
“We sure are,” said one of the women.
“Our kids want us to decorate the house like the mansion on the bluff,” said another woman. “Creepy if you ask me.”
The women disappeared inside, and Pep shook her head.
“Will you three hurry up? This is going to take all day,” Cookie yelled, stamping her foot as she stood impatiently next to the car. The three of us hurried over, and I climbed behind the driver’s seat.
“To the decorations?” I said.
“Definitely,” said Pep quickly. She wanted to get us to go before Cookie could say no, but my grandmother didn’t say a word. The whole car was now piled high with cheap decorations. Some made my stomach turn, while others were just tacky.
At last we reached the town green, where the scarecrows now sat forlornly at one end. The whole rest of the green was covered in holiday decorations. The Christmas trees were covered in lights, the gazebo was covered in lights, and many of the buildings were covered in lights and wreaths. The whole place felt like a winter wonderland.
Pep and Lark climbed out of the car, but Cookie stayed where she was. “I’m not coming.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“I have to guard my stuff. What if somebody tries to steal it?” she demanded.
“No one is going to break into the car,” I told her.
“Of course not. I’ll be sitting right here,” she said, making herself comfortable.
I rolled my eyes. “Have it your way.”
I closed my door and went to join my cousins. Lark raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything as we joined the small crowd of people milling around and enjoying the day.
For a while we wandered amongst the decorations with the other townsfolk, everyone ooh-ing and aah-ing appreciatively. Pep rubbed her hands in excitement.
“They really outdid themselves this year,” said Lark. “Look at all the lights and cheer!”
The scarecrows had been set aside so they wouldn’t ruin the ambiance while they were waiting to be picked up, but after a while I realized that there was some activity near them, and that seemed odd when everyone else was enjoying the holiday decorations. There were four scarecrows, each dressed slightly differently, and now a small crowd of people had gathered, some gazing at them from a distance and others moving slowly closer.
“What’s that?” someone asked as I got nearer. She was pointing toward a certain scarecrow.
Following her gaze, I noted that one of the scarecrows looked a bit wobbly. He was also the only scarecrow whose face we couldn’t see from where we stood. Now that I looked more closely, I felt that something very strange was happening. I might just have been imagining it, but it seemed like there was blood dripping off the scarecrow’s
hand.
“He does look like a more solid scarecrow than the others,” Pep agreed. “But the scarecrows should be gone tomorrow, so why does it matter? Anyhow, these lights might be my favorite,” she said, pointing to some especially bright lights high in the nearby trees, all shaped like huge Christmas ornaments in greens, reds, and sparkling silvers. “They outdo themselves with the decorations every year!”
I shifted uncomfortably. “I suppose you’re right about the scarecrows. We’re just being silly. We we’ve seen these scarecrows for years. They’re just getting more elaborate as time passes.”
“Is that the same scarecrow we’ve seen before?” Lark asked. Now she was concerned too.
Just then I felt rain on my face and glanced at the sky, which made me decide that we shouldn’t stay out here much longer.
“I don’t really remember their outfits,” I said. “Besides, I wasn’t even here last year.”
“That’s right. You used to avoid all these weird traditions and the holiday season. Too much hard work,” said Pep with a grin.
“Exactly. That was always my problem. Too much hard work,” I chuckled. “I’m just going to go take a look. Hopefully the chief of police isn’t around to be angry.”
People were supposed to keep their distance from the scarecrows, since the town spent a significant amount of money renting them each year and didn’t want them vandalized or damaged in any way.
As I made my way toward the furthest scarecrow, the scattered straw crunched under my feet and the winter wonderland started to fade into the background. The people near us didn’t seem to have noticed what we had seen. The only person who was looking at us was the man who had pointed out the oddity in the first place. He was watching me curiously.
When I got around to the front of the scarecrow, my stomach rolled. Not only was it not a scarecrow, but I recognized the face of the man who was hanging there. Despite the fact that there was a hat and straw shoved down over his ears, I could see enough of his face to recognize him. He was even wearing the same clothes I had seen him in the day before. He and his friend had been at the haunted house, and before that he had come to the farmers market. I had thought he looked suspicious back when he was alive. Now he just looked deceased.
I glanced at Pep and Lark, who were having a friendly discussion about something I couldn’t hear. It took me a moment to catch their eyes, but the second they saw my look they came rushing over. They could tell by my expression that something was terribly wrong.
“Whoa,” said Lark.
“This is bad,” said Pep.
“You can say that again,” said Lark.
“This is bad,” said Pep. Her cheeks had gone red from the cold, and the rain was falling harder. That made the scene in front of us all the clearer. At least it wasn’t snow.
“I hope Grant is coming back soon. There’s now a mystery for him to solve,” I said. “Make that a murder.”
Chapter Seven
I thought about trying to hide the fact that the scarecrow was in fact a dead human, but there was no time, and really no way I could think of on the spot. A kid came running over when he saw my face, his mother hurrying after him. I tried to shoo him away, and with Pep and Lark’s help I did manage to keep both mother and son from seeing anything more than they already had. But that was already too much; they both recognized that something was terribly wrong.
“Is he dead? Is he dead? I knew it was something strange,” the kid yelled.
His mother glared at me.
“This isn’t even original,” said Pep. “Scarecrows have been found to be dead bodies before.”
Lark glared at Pep.
“You’re right. I’m becoming jaded,” Pep said, hanging her head.
“You want something like a Skeleton Trio that was crushed to death by a clock?” demanded Lark.
We both glared at her. The mother wasn’t quite out of earshot, and she had clearly heard the word crushed. She hurried her son away, looking over her shoulder to give us another dirty glance as she went.
“We have to call the police,” I heard her telling someone else. Inwardly, I sighed with relief. At least we wouldn’t be left to reveal what had happened to the chief of police by ourselves.
“Do you recognize him? He’s from yesterday,” I whispered.
My cousins nodded, both of them looking pale and unhappy. “We have to get out of here. Like, right now. The last time any of us saw him he was at our home.”
The three of us started to fade into the background. Luckily, it wasn’t that difficult, because the crowd’s concern was all about the scarecrow now. None of them even noticed when the three of us disappeared.
We hurried back to the car and found Cookie sitting in the front seat eating chocolate candies. “Shouldn’t you have saved some?” I asked.
She unwrapped another piece of candy. The crinkling of the paper made it difficult for her to hear me.
“There’s been a murder. We have to get home as quickly as possible,” I said.
The three of us watched our grandmother closely. Unsurprisingly, she only paused for a moment, then popped the chocolate into her mouth. “Really?” she said, purposely sounding as bored as she could. “Was it the town gossip? How about the chief of police?”
“No, it was neither. How could you think such a thing?” I asked.
She shrugged. “Just an idea. I tried to think murder . . .”
“Don’t even say stuff like that. Besides, what did the chief of police ever do to you?” Pep demanded.
“Yeah, you’re right. Not him. Maybe the apple seller though,” said Cookie.
“I have an idea. Maybe you shouldn’t ponder this question any more,” Lark suggested.
“Anyway, who was it?” Cookie asked, chewing on her candy insistently and nonchalantly at the same time.
I had already pulled out of the parking space and started speeding toward home. As we drove, a police car with flashing lights rushed past us in the other direction, soon followed by an ambulance. I swallowed. I didn’t know why I felt so desperate to get home, all I knew was that I did.
“It wasn’t somebody from town. It was somebody else,” I explained.
“Interesting. And to think I was curious,” said Cookie.
“I take it back. I’m not the jaded one,” said Pep.
“The title can be shared,” said Lark testily.
“He was at the haunted house last night,” I said, drumming my fingers on the steering wheel and trying to think.
Like everything else we had said, this did not seem to faze Cookie. “Did you kill him?” she asked.
I glared at my grandmother. “No, I did not. I investigate murders. Not the other way around.”
“You haven’t been doing much of that lately,” she pointed out.
“I would argue that it’s a good thing and not a bad thing that there haven’t been any murders around here recently. This isn’t a big town. There are not a lot of individuals in the area. If there were murders all the time, then eventually there would be nobody left,” said Pep.
“My dream,” said Cookie.
“We just have to get help. We have to tell Mom. I’m sure the chief of police will be coming soon,” I said.
“What would he do that for?” Cookie demanded. “Did Pep do it?”
“He’s going to come because he is going to find out who that guy was and where he was last night. He was at the haunted house. When was the last time we all saw him?” I asked Pep.
“I don’t know if I ever saw him,” said Lark. “Alive.”
By the time we got home, the family had already heard the news. The apple vendor had come to deliver some vegetables Audrey wanted, and while he was there he had gotten a call letting him know that something had happened in the village. He was concerned enough to pass along the information, including the fact that the police were out in force and speeding toward the crime scene. When I heard that, I wondered how fast Grant would get there.
&nb
sp; “My legs are stiff,” Cookie complained as she stepped out of the old vehicle. “Lark, be a dear and find the boys? We’ll need help moving all of these goods.”
Lark had the good sense to turn away before she rolled her eyes.
We were just heading toward the house with our arms filled with Cookie’s new purchases when the front door was flung open and Mom came sprinting out, followed closely by Meg, then Rose, who was in an uncharacteristic rush. Meg and Mom looked frantic, but they calmed down when they saw us.
The four of us stopped dead, shocked at their panic.
“We know they aren’t that worried about me,” said Cookie dryly.
I coughed. “I’m surprised they’re so upset about anything, actually. What’s going on?” I asked, with fear twisting my heart. I wondered whether something had happened to one of the guys; haunt hunting was, after all, a dangerous business, although we took it mostly for granted at Haunted Bluff. But new supernaturals were volatile at best and dangerous at worst. Anything could have gone wrong. I swallowed hard and braced myself.
My mom didn’t stop running until she had wrapped her arms around me in a huge hug. Meg did the same with her two girls. Mom whispered something in my ear that I could barely hear. I’m pretty sure it was that she was glad I was alive.
“What on earth is going on?” Cookie demanded.
“Yeah, what’s going on?” I asked into my mom’s shoulder. I couldn’t remember her ever hugging me so hard before.
“We heard there was a murder,” Meg explained, relaying what the apple vendor had told Audrey.
“And therefore your first thought was that something had happened to one of us?” I asked.
By now my mom had pulled back and I could kind of breathe again.
“We don’t know what happened. Apparently the whole town is buzzing about it. I’m sure the town green is covered with concerned citizens by now,” whispered Meg.
As usual, the early mist had burned away around the mansion, so I could see that the place was abuzz with busy supernaturals. But even they had stopped to stare at Mom and Meg, shocked by my family’s display of emotion.
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