“Then you have to do something. Call someone,” Lily insisted. “I don’t know, the police?” When she got off the phone a few minutes later, she stood up and began pacing.
Across the street at Marlow House, the haunted house had been open for an hour—and still no sign of Walt and Danielle. With their friends becoming increasingly uneasy, Ian called Chief MacDonald, who came right over. After interviewing each of the volunteers, it was learned someone else was missing—Max.
They sat side by side, each leaning back against the brick wall, with Abe sitting next to his skeleton, Walt on the other side of him, and then Danielle, who held Max on her lap. Abe had not taken as long as Cheryl had to come to terms with his new reality—yet not as quickly as Walt had. After about ten minutes of ranting, followed by wailing and then lamenting, Abe settled down as if suddenly exhausted and began recounting the events of his final days.
“The last doorway you came through is designed to lock when closed, so it can only open from the Marlow House side without the key. The key to open that door is hidden nearby.”
“I didn’t even see where you could fit a key in that door,” Walt said.
“It’s a little tricky to find, but once you know where it is, it’s not too hard. Once unlocked, the door can be pushed inward. But the key wasn’t there. Thomas must have taken it with him for some reason.”
“Thomas?” Walt asked. “What did Thomas have to do with the tunnel?”
Abe looked to Walt. “His father was the one who designed and built it for your grandfather.”
“What did he use it for?” Danielle asked.
Abe only stared at Danielle, yet did not answer.
“Smuggling?” Walt asked.
Abe looked to Walt. “Your grandfather was involved in a variety of projects, some of which occasionally required a hasty departure—or removal of evidence.”
“Who knew about the tunnel?” Walt asked.
“Your grandfather, me, Thomas,” Abe said.
“What about the construction workers who actually dug the tunnel?” Danielle asked.
“That was years ago, before my time. It’s my understanding the workers weren’t from this area. And none of them worked on the entire project.”
“How did you get trapped down here?” Walt asked.
“When I realized the key was gone, I returned to the other entrance. But it wouldn’t open. I don’t know why. It wouldn’t budge. I called for help, but I knew there was no one to hear me. Annabelle had already left and wouldn’t be back for a week. I just kept praying, calling for help, hoping someone would hear me.”
“You said you needed to talk to Walt. Why did you use the tunnel instead of just knocking on his front door?” Danielle asked.
“I’m wondering that too,” Walt said.
Abe turned to Walt. “I didn’t think you would listen to me. I had to show you. Each time I tried to make an appointment with you, that annoying Beatrice Hollingsworth kept telling me you were too busy to see me. I couldn’t tell her why I wanted to talk to you. She didn’t know about the passageway.”
“Who was Beatrice Hollingsworth?” Danielle asked.
“She worked for my grandfather. After he died, Beatrice became a little heavy handed. I think it was her way of trying to make herself indispensable,” Walt explained.
“We had promised Frederick Marlow that when he died, we would tell his grandson about the tunnel, and then let him do with it what he wanted,” Abe told them.
“Sounds like grandfather,” Walt grumbled. “He didn’t want to tell me about it himself because he didn’t want me to start asking him questions about why it was here in the first place. I think he started to tell me about it, and then for whatever reason, changed his mind and his story about a supposed hidden staircase.”
“I don’t know why your grandfather didn’t just tell you, but he didn’t want you living at Marlow House without knowing of the passageway. Anyone who found it could gain access to your house—if they had the key.”
Abe closed his eyes and said, “Oh, my poor Annabelle, I wonder where she is now.”
“Annabelle died not long after you went missing,” Walt told him. “She had gone looking for you and died of exposure. Her spirit has been lingering at the Frederickport Cemetery, waiting for you.”
Abe perked up. “She’s been waiting?”
“Yes, but…” Danielle began.
“Thank you!” Abe interrupted Danielle’s sentence and vanished.
“Nooooo!” Danielle groaned. Pushing Max off her lap, she stood up and shouted, “Abe! Come back!”
“He’s obviously gone to find Annabelle,” Walt said. “It’s rather romantic.”
“Yeah, right, and he is also a ghost—and now realizes he is a ghost. Which means he could have gone through the walls and reached out to Chris or Heather and told them where we are!”
Walt cringed. “Perhaps he will come back?”
“I’m not counting on it,” Danielle grumbled.
Walt stood up and dusted off his slacks. “We need to find that other entrance. The Bellemores obviously went through it, considering that business card you found.”
They began walking down the passageway, flashlights in hand, Max trailing behind them.
“Looks like the Bellemore brothers are in some way related to Thomas,” Danielle told Walt as she walked by his side.
“Yes, I think you’re right. I suspect they’re grandsons, considering their age. And one does share his great-grandfather’s name,” Walt said.
“And I bet that’s who we heard walking around in the hidden stairwell, leaving mud all over the place. I bet their grandfather left them that key and told them about the tunnel.”
“Why did they come? To rob us?” Walt asked.
Thirty-Six
Danielle slowed down and pointed her flashlight on one wall. She then moved it to the opposite wall.
“I don’t think you’re going to find a doorway there. I imagine we’ll find it at the end of this tunnel,” Walt told her.
Danielle stopped walking, focusing her attention to the wall on her right. She moved the flashlight to illuminate one brick. Unlike the other nearby bricks, its side was not smooth but stamped with a word.
“I was just looking…” Danielle muttered, walking closer to the wall. She reached out and ran her hand over the word. It felt like cold sandpaper.
“What’s so interesting?” Walt asked.
“These brick walls. Every once in a while there’s a brick like this, with a word stamped on it.”
“Probably the name of the brick manufacturer. They used to stamp their name on one side. When we were at the home improvement store a while back, I noticed none of the bricks were stamped. I suspect they don’t do that anymore.”
“Do you think these other bricks are stamped,” Danielle asked as she ran a hand over a smooth brick, “but were laid so we can’t see it?”
“That would be my assumption.”
Pointing her flashlight along the wall they had just walked by, she moved the light up and down. “Oh, look. I didn’t notice before. It’s a pattern. I guess the bricklayer was trying to get fancy. Looks like they intentionally set those bricks differently, with the stamped ones making a pattern.”
Danielle turned away from the wall and started back down the corridor with Walt. A moment later she stumbled. Walt quickly reached out to stop her from falling. She grabbed her injured toe and looked down to see what she had tripped over. It was a brick.
“Dang, no wonder my toe hurts so bad. That thing is hard,” Danielle grumbled, lifting her injured foot while she hopped around on the other one, attempting to massage her wounded toe through her sneakers.
“Are you okay?” Walt asked.
Once again standing on both feet, she glanced over at the wall. “Yeah, I think so. Look.” She pointed to the wall. One of the bricks was missing. “It looks like someone pried that out of the wall.”
Walt started down the dark hallwa
y again and then stopped. He moved the light over one wall and then the next. Random bricks had been removed from the wall, abandoned on the ground.
“Why would someone take those out?” Danielle asked. “Or should I say who? You think Abe did that, looking for the key?”
“If you notice, along that section with the missing bricks,” Walt began, shining his light on the area. “Not a single brick with the word showing.”
“He didn’t say anything about ripping out the bricks. I didn’t see any tools with his skeleton. I wonder what he used,” Danielle asked.
Walt shook his head. “I don’t know. But I think we should hurry up. I’m not sure how new these flashlight batteries are.”
“Don’t even suggest that!” Danielle groaned. She picked up her step, careful not to trip over any of the abandoned bricks littering the way. It didn’t take them long to reach the end of the tunnel.
“I guess this is it,” Walt said as he ran his flashlight beam over the back wall. A metal ladder ran up the wall and into what looked like a brick chimney, narrower than the chute they had climbed down from the hidden stairwell.
Danielle looked up into the square hole overhead. The ladder seemed to disappear. “Wow, looks like a long way up there.”
“Remember, we went to basement level at Marlow House, which is underground. And then we went down another set of stairs.”
“So we are, like, two floors underground?” Danielle asked.
“That would be my guess.”
Danielle frowned up at the peculiar exit. “So where does that thing lead? Where are we?”
“I don’t think we’re a quarter of a mile from Marlow House. So I suspect somewhere on Beach Drive,” Walt guessed.
“I wish we could just go back the way we came,” Danielle grumbled.
“If Abe couldn’t get that door open, I doubt we will be able to. But I can try. We’ll have to find the keyhole. At least we know there is one now. But first, let me see if we can get out this way.”
“Okay,” Danielle said with a sigh. She watched as Walt made his way up the ladder. Once he reached the top, he tried moving the section not made of brick. When it did not move, he began pounding.
Nearby, the flames from the portable electric fireplace flickered, providing the only light in the Crawford living room aside from what was coming from the horror movie playing on the television set. Mia had moved the cauldron of candy outside, affixing a note with a strip of shipping tape, telling trick-or-treaters to help themselves, but when the cauldron was empty, there was no more candy.
They had pulled out the sofa bed, brought out their blankets and pillows, and made a large bowl of popcorn. Snuggled together under the blankets, Mia wearing a long nightgown and Austin wearing nothing but boxers, they watched the gruesomely frightful movie. Mesmerized by the horror show, Mia stayed close to her husband as she nibbled on popcorn. When the movie became too tense, she closed her eyes.
Austin normally did not have a problem watching scary movies. It was only a movie, he told himself. But this one was sure to give him nightmares. Mia opened her eyes and peeked at the television while Austin held his breath. On the screen the hapless woman was unaware she was about to get her throat slashed by the man whose face looked as if it had been half eaten off by rats, when a loud pounding sound exploded in the far corner, directly behind the television set.
Mia jumped out of bed, pitching the bowl of popcorn she had been holding over her head, sending the fluffy kernels raining over the room. Austin had also jumped out of the bed and was just turning on the lights when Mia said, “What in the world was that?”
“Sounds like someone pounded on the back of the house,” Austin said angrily. He turned the television off and looked outside into the dark night but saw nothing. “Damn kids. I think whoever it is ran off.”
“I want to clobber whoever did that,” Mia grumbled as she began picking up popcorn from the floor.
“That’s why I don’t like kids,” Austin said as he began helping her pick up the popcorn.
Mia paused a moment and listened. “I hear something.”
“Where’s the flashlight?” he asked.
“In the kitchen, in the drawer next to the refrigerator. Why?” She frowned.
“I’m going to see who’s out there messing around.
Absently chewing her lower lip, she glanced over to the corner where the sound seemed to be coming from. “Is it safe?”
“I’m sure it’s just a couple of Halloween troublemakers.” Austin stomped off to the kitchen and then returned with the flashlight.
“I still hear something. Like squeaking. Maybe we should call the police?” she asked in a whisper.
“We don’t need to call the police,” he said as he stormed out the door, flashlight in hand.
When he returned a few minutes later, he found Mia standing by the sofa bed, waiting anxiously. “And?” she asked.
“They were gone,” he said.
“But I still hear that squeaking sound.”
“That has to be the wind,” he told her, tossing the flashlight on a chair.
She glanced at the bowl of popcorn. “Do you want me to make more? I have to throw this out.”
Before he could answer, pounding came again from the corner of the living room.
Danielle watched as Walt made his way down the ladder.
“Well?” she asked.
“If it is a doorway, it seems to be boarded over,” Walt said.
“Can you get it unboarded?” she asked.
“I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it will take time. For me to get something like a screw to twist around and remove itself from a hole, I need to know where it’s located, and there seems to be a number of them. Plus it’s very dark in there and not much space. I tried keeping the flashlight overhead so I could see what I was doing, but I found it almost impossible to keep it afloat while trying to figure out how to remove those boards.”
“I could hold the flashlight for you,” Danielle suggested.
“Let’s go back to the other door first. If we can find that keyhole Abe told us about, perhaps I can trigger the lock.”
Thirty-Seven
Reluctantly, Chris made the decision to close the haunted house early. He didn’t see any other way. It had been open for over two hours, and there was still no sign of Walt and Danielle. He had even made an appeal to the mystery ghost serving tea in the parlor. Either the ghost was not interested in helping, or he had no idea where Walt and Danielle might be.
Ginny had eventually showed up, but since she hadn’t been around when they went missing, Chris was not surprised to discover she was as clueless as the rest of them. Adam suggested it might all be some prank—something to add mystery to the haunted house, but after they remained missing for over an hour, he abandoned that idea.
Most of the haunted house volunteers gathered in the Marlow House living room. Before assembling in the room, Heather, Chris and Ian had gone through the house, turning on all the lights, transforming the once darkened haunted house into a brightly lit space. Lily had come over to join them, while Connor slept in her arms.
Chief MacDonald sat with them in the living room while Joe and Brian searched the house again, beginning at the attic and moving toward the basement. Ian accompanied them, to show them the location of the hidden staircase. Joanne went to the kitchen to make sandwiches and lemonade. Earlier they had checked and rechecked the grounds and the garage.
“Max is definitely missing too,” Heather told the chief.
“I keep thinking about that secret staircase,” Melony said.
“I still haven’t seen it,” Adam muttered, glancing up to the ceiling.
“Maybe there’s another secret passage in the house. Something Walt and Danielle didn’t tell anyone about,” Melony continued.
“She didn’t tell most of us about the staircase,” Adam said.
“Exactly. And maybe there’s another hidden space. These old houses often have
hidden passages. Maybe they got locked inside.”
“There is only one problem with that,” Chris said.
“What?” Melony asked.
“I’m sure if they got stuck in some secret passage, they would start pounding on the wall. We’ve had people going through this house for two hours, and no one mentioned any knocking. Ian and I have been checking and rechecking the rooms all evening. Nothing,” Chris explained.
Melony let out a sigh. “True.”
A moment later Joanne walked into the library, carrying a tray with sandwiches. She set it on the table and then returned a few minutes later with a tray of beverages and cookies. “Help yourselves,” she said.
“And the Packard is still here?” Lily asked. She had asked the question earlier.
“Yes. It doesn’t look like it has been moved,” the chief said. “And both of their phones are still in their bedroom.
“You don’t think they have been kidnapped, do you?” Heather gasped.
“How would kidnappers get them out of the house?” Chris asked.
“They are obviously not in the house, so someone, somehow got them out of here!” Heather snapped.
When Brian and Joe walked into the living room with Ian a few minutes later, Joe said, “We couldn’t find anything. No sign of them.”
“Chief, we just got a call about a disturbance down at the Crawfords’ house,” Brian added.
“Next door to my place?” Chris asked.
“Yes,” Brian said. “He claims someone keeps pounding on his back wall in their living room, and then they run off before he can get out there. He’s pretty upset.”
“Do you want us to go check on the Crawfords or stay here?” Joe asked.
Ginny jumped up and looked at Evan. “I think I know where Walt and Danielle might be. Tell your dad to have them go to the Crawfords’.” She then vanished.
The Ghost and the Halloween Haunt Page 23