Costume Catastrophe (Zoe Donovan Mystery Book 21) (9 page)

“I spoke to Albert Adams yesterday. He told me that he planned to look you up.”

“Why would he want to do that? He hated me when we were both in high school. In fact, he went to great lengths to let everyone know how much he hated Levi, Joey, and me. He blamed us for losing his starting position on the varsity team.”

“He made a vague reference to wanting to see how your scholarship turned out. I guess that’s sort of a lame reason to look you up after all these years.”

Tommy frowned. “You think he’s the shooter?”

“I think it’s possible. Sheriff Salinger is looking into it.”

“Albert always was a little unhinged. The fact that he blamed Joey, Levi, and me for intentionally ruining his life is crazy. We were just better football players who did what we were asked to do by our coach. I can guarantee you that we didn’t set out to ruin anyone’s life.”

It occurred to me that there were probably other football players who were displaced when the younger boys were promoted to the team. If Albert wasn’t the killer it might be worth my time to dig out my old yearbook to try to figure out who else might have a similar motive for wanting both Joey and Tommy dead.

“You mentioned when we spoke at the Zoo that you and Joey had had a falling out a while back. Do you mind telling me what your disagreement was about?”

“It was nothing, really. Just guy stuff. You know how it is. Broads and booze are never a good combination.”

“You didn’t speak to each other for five years,” I reminded him.

Tommy shrugged. “It was nothing. Really. I’m getting tired. I think I’ll take a nap.”

“Okay. Please do let me know if we can do anything for you.”

“What would you like to do now?” Zak asked as we left the hospital. Scooter was at soccer until five and Alex was going over to Ellie’s to work on her costume after school.

I looked up into the sky. Dark rain clouds were making their way over the summit. By the look of things, we were in for rain that afternoon.

“Let’s go out to the house where Joey was shot. I know Salinger and his men looked things over, but maybe we’ll see something they missed. It seems, based on the timeline that’s been established, that the killer was actually the one who texted Levi about bringing the key the following evening, so that means the killer knew Joey
and
Levi well enough to have gathered that information. I guess I’m hoping we’ll stumble across a clue that will point to a link between the two men that has nothing to do with Levi. Maybe we’ll find it at the house.”

“Okay, but let’s tell Salinger what we’re doing. We need to work together on this.”

Salinger was fine with Zak and me looking around, so we headed to his office to pick up the key and then to the house, which was located just outside the town limits, arriving just as the first raindrops began to fall. Based on the rapid drop in temperature and the increase in wind velocity, we were in for a doozy of a storm.

“This is really nice.”

Zak turned slightly and glanced at me. “It is?”

“Sure. You and I are alone for the first time in forever. It’s like we’re on a date. A sleuthing date.”

Zak smiled. “You know you’re crazy.”

“Good crazy?”

“Most of the time.” Zak placed his right hand over my left hand, lifted my hand to his mouth, and kissed the back of it. “If this is a sleuthing date will I have a kiss at the end to look forward to?”

“Play your cards right and you’ll have more than that to look forward to.”

The rain began to intensify, so Zak had to release my hand to turn up the windshield wipers. I really wanted to find the shooter, but all of a sudden I was sorry this wasn’t a real date. Things had been so crazy since school had started up in the fall that we’d barely had any couple time.

“I spoke to Willa today about the haunted house,” I said as Zak turned into the dirt drive leading to the house. “She’s of the opinion that we should skip the event this year. Based on her tone of voice, I’m pretty sure she’s going to suggest we skip it permanently.”

“I know the haunted house is your baby, but that does make the most sense. We don’t have time to find another venue at this late date for this year’s Hamlet, and it does seem that the venues we’ve identified as haunted houses over the years have had more murders than would be statistically normal. Maybe we should focus our energy elsewhere.”

Zak pulled up in front of the house and parked. The dark clouds and increasingly heavy rain gave the isolated, deserted property an eerie feeling.

“We’ll need to make a dash for the front door. It doesn’t look like the rain is going to let up anytime soon,” I observed.

“I’m ready when you are.”

“Do you have the key?”

Zak held it up.

“Okay, let’s go.”

I opened the door to the truck and jumped out. I jogged up to the covered steps at the front of the house. The wind was beginning to pick up, causing hundreds of yellow leaves to fall from the aspens and blow through the air. Zak unlocked the door and the two of us entered the dark house.

“Are we looking for anything specific?” Zak asked.

“No. I just wanted to look around to see if anything stood out.”

The house was sparsely furnished, with just a few old pieces that looked as if whoever the last tenants had been simply had left behind because they no longer wanted them. The structure had two stories, with a wooden staircase leading from the main living area to the upstairs, where I knew the bedrooms were located. I’d been to the house once before with Levi, when we were sent by the committee to evaluate its potential as a venue for the Haunted Hamlet.

My eyes gravitated to the dark red spot on the dirty carpet where I assumed Joey had been shot. We’d determined he’d been shot before he’d had the opportunity to fix the electrical system. If Joey had been shot shortly after he arrived the idea that his presence had disturbed someone such as a squatter actually held some water. Of course if there had been someone living on the property there should have been evidence of that as well, and so far, I hadn’t seen anything to support that hypothesis.

I walked through the first story of the house, which consisted of the living room at the front, where Joey had died, a kitchen and laundry room in the back, and a small half bath off the laundry area. The kitchen was empty and covered in dust, although I noticed a streak in the dust on one of the counters that looked as if someone had set something down and then moved it.

The laundry room and bathroom were likewise empty and the living room contained two old chairs and a scratched desk. It really didn’t look as though there was anything to find in the deserted house, but I decided to head upstairs to look around just to be certain. The stairs were carpeted in the same dirty pattern as the living room. Several of the steps had missing carpet, as if someone had peeled it away. I jumped when something crashed in the distance.

“What was that?”

“I think something hit the house,” Zak answered. “The wind has picked up quite a bit. I’m betting what we heard was a tree branch.”

The light from the windows had been adequate downstairs, but the windows in the bedrooms were much smaller, leaving me in an eerie darkness that had my heart beating with heightened stress. “Maybe we should have brought flashlights.”

Zak headed down the hallway. “It’s dark because the doors at the end of the hallway are closed. I think if we open them the entire second floor will lighten up.”

Zak was correct; opening the doors helped quite a bit.

The bedrooms, like the rest of the house, were sparsely furnished. One room held only a bed, while another was furnished with just a dresser and an empty bookshelf. I opened the closets, which were mostly empty, although one did contain discarded hangers and another a stack of empty shoe boxes.

“I don’t think we’re going to find anything here to help us,” Zak commented.

“Yeah.” I sighed. “I guess you’re right.”

I looked out one of the dirty windows at the back of the house. I could see a light in the distance, most likely coming from one of the summer cabins that dotted the area. “We can check out that cabin.” I pointed into the distance. “It’s probably too far for anyone to have seen anything, but maybe someone heard something.”

Zak shrugged. “Let’s take one more look around here and then head in that direction.”

The rain was coming down in sheets by the time we left the house where Joey had been murdered. The road that led to the little cabin whose light had caught my eye was nothing more than packed dirt that currently had tiny streams of water washing over its surface. I realized we’d best not wait too long before returning to the paved road lest the dirt one become impassable.

When we arrived at the cabin I saw a small white car in the drive and smoke coming from the chimney. Someone was definitely home. Zak and I hopped out of the truck and made a quick dash to the front door. This time the doorway wasn’t covered, so we couldn’t help but get totally wet. Luckily, the door opened after the first knock.

“Can I help you?” an older gentleman with short gray hair wearing a pair of fatigues asked.

“We’re working with the sheriff’s office and wanted to speak to you about the murder that occurred down the road,” I volunteered.

The man didn’t answer right away. He looked Zak and me over, as if trying to make up his mind about us. I guess it did seem odd that two people with no official ID would knock on his door in the middle of a rainstorm claiming to be working on a murder investigation.

“We really are who we say we are. Promise. You can call the sheriff if you’d like and check out our story.”

“That won’t be necessary. Come on in. We can talk in the kitchen. Would you like coffee?”

“That would be great.”

Zak said he’d like some too as we followed the man to the back of the small cabin. The kitchen was rustic yet functional, if you didn’t mind cooking on a wood-burning stove.

“Have a seat at the table. I wish I could offer to dry your clothes, but the cabin doesn’t have laundry facilities.”

“It’s not a problem. We won’t stay long; we just wanted to ask about Monday,” I answered.

“I didn’t see or hear anything, I’m afraid. I went into town to buy some groceries on Monday, though, and when I returned I noticed a white truck in front of the cabin down the way. I’ve never seen a vehicle there before, so I suppose that could be a clue. I mentioned it to the sheriff when he was here yesterday. If you’re working together and he didn’t mention it to you the truck must not have turned out to be significant.”

“The truck you saw most likely belonged to the man who was murdered. He had a white truck that was parked out in front of the cabin. What time was it you passed the truck?”

“I guess around six.”

So Joey was already dead. Darn, I’d really hoped someone had seen something that would lead to the killer. “Have you seen anyone hanging around the area? Maybe someone walking or riding a bike, if not driving a vehicle?” We still had some random person Joey might have surprised on the suspect list, but at this point I was pretty sure that wasn’t going to turn out to be the answer.

“No. Not a lot of folks come out this way. Those who do generally drive. It’s a good distance into town.”

“What time would you say you left to head into town on Monday?”

“Guess around four-thirty.”

“Was the truck in front of the house when you left to go into town?”

“Nope. Didn’t see it on the way out, only on the way back.”

Okay, that was new information. Joey had picked up the keys at three-thirty and everyone assumed he’d come straight out to the house, but if he hadn’t been there as of four-thirty he’d obviously gone somewhere else first. The question was where?

“The murder victim was shot. Based on the timeline you’ve provided, it seems that occurred while you were in town, but the sound of a gunshot can carry pretty far. Are there other cabins in the area that are currently occupied? I know most of them are already boarded up for the winter.”

“Guess you can ask the witch across the river.”

“The witch?”

“I’ve never actually seen her ride a broom or turn a person into a toad, but the folks who live around here know she has certain powers.”

“What sort of powers?”

“She sees things. Things that haven’t even happened yet.”

Suddenly I remembered the note. Could a very intuitive woman have been the person who left it for me? “Can you tell me how to get to this woman’s cabin?”

“Just follow the road to the bridge and then take it across the river. Keep heading north on that road. You’ll see the cabin. It’s all by itself.”

Zak and I thanked the man and headed back to the road, following the directions he had given us. It was almost Halloween. It might just take a witch to solve this mystery.

Chapter 7

Unfortunately, the cabin was deserted when we got there, though there was evidence someone had been there recently, so Zak and I decided to come back again the next day. After talking it over we agreed there wasn’t much more we could do that afternoon, so we headed home. By the time we got there the rain was coming down in a steady downpour. Ellie was drinking hot cocoa with Alex, who she’d brought home after they’d finished her costume for the dance.

“Is Scooter home yet?” I asked.

“Yeah, he’s up in his room,” Alex answered. “Soccer was canceled because of the rain so his coach dropped him off. He said to tell you that they’re canceling tomorrow’s practice as well because it’s supposed to rain for the next twenty-four hours.”

“I’m glad they made the call ahead of time. I hate it when they wait to cancel something everyone knows is going to be canceled way in advance.”

“The coach said we’re in for more than two inches of rain,” Alex added.

“Well, we can use it. I just hope it clears up by Saturday.”

“I think it’s supposed to,” Alex verified. “Although it’s going to make for a soggy opening day of the Haunted Hamlet.”

“They probably won’t even open the outdoor venues if the rain is still coming down as hard as it is now,” I realized. “It’s too bad. The hayride, the maze, and the pumpkin patch usually do really well on opening night.”