Halloween Scare Read online

  HALLOWEEN SCARE

  By Maggie Sefton

  Featuring Characters from the NYTimes Bestselling

  Kelly Flynn Knitting Mysteries

  Copyright 2014, Margaret Conlan Aunon w/a Maggie Sefton. All rights reserved. No part of this E-Short Short Story may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the author.

  This is a work featuring fictional characters in a series of mystery novels. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Cover Photo: Copyright Scarlett Rugers Design—Halloween Scare www.scarletrugers.com

  KELLY FLYNN KNITTING MYSTERIES

  Knit One, Kill Two

  Needled to Death

  A Deadly Yarn

  A Killer Stitch

  Dyer Consequences

  Fleece Navidad

  Dropped Dead Stitch

  Skein of the Crime

  Unraveled

  Cast On, Kill Off

  Close Knit Killer

  Yarn Over Murder

  HALLOWEEN SCARE

  “You’re kidding?” Lisa said, staring at Greg across the patio table filled with pizza boxes. “Half the kids in town will be dressed as Zombies. Walking Un-dead, Dead Again, Used to be Dead.”

  “Wait’ll you see me. I’m gonna have scabby wounds, rotten skin, and blood dripping. Totally gross,” Greg bragged then tipped back his bottle of ale.

  “Hey, I’m still eating here,” Marty said without looking up from his pizza slice. It disappeared quickly.

  “We haven’t decided what we’re going as yet,” Megan said, leaning back in one of the wrought iron chairs on Kelly’s and Steve’s backyard patio. “I was thinking of dressing up like that vampire woman that used be in late night horror movies. Then Marty could be the mad scientist with crazy hair and glasses.”

  “That’ll be easy. He won’t have to dress up. All he’ll need is the glasses.” Greg inhaled half his slice of pepperoni pizza.

  “Actually, I’m thinking Count Dracula from Transylvania,” Marty said in an exaggerated horror movie accent.

  “Do we really have to get in costume?” Steve looked over at Kelly as he reached for another slice of pizza.

  Kelly smiled at her boyfriend. “You need to if you want to scare people and raise money for the new kids Pediatric wing at the hospital. Mimi says only costumes are allowed on the Lambspun Cemetery grounds.”

  Steve swallowed a huge bite of pesto cheese pizza. “Okay, I need ideas, then. We’ve got a zombie, Count Dracula, and Vampira.”

  Kelly stared out into the backyard, prettier now that there were several shrubs and Fall flowering mums planted around the edges. “Why don’t you go as a cowboy? Then you can wear what you wear every weekend,” she teased. “Stetson, denim shirt, and jeans.”

  “Boring.”

  “That’s not a costume.”

  “You’ll be banished from the cemetery.”

  “Yeah, doncha want to scare little kids. And their parents?” Marty asked with an evil grin.

  Steve just laughed, clearly enjoying the pizza too much to reply.

  “I know. Steve can be Bad Bart. Meanest hombre in town,” Kelly said. “Big scar on his face.”

  “Still not scary enough,” Greg decreed as he tipped back his bottle of local craft brew.

  “How about a noose around my neck,” Steve ventured, eyes lighting up. “I can be returned from the dead or something.”

  “Put some blood on that scar,” Marty offered.

  “That’s got possibilities,” Lisa said, reaching for another pizza slice. “But let’s put a bullet hole in your chest.”

  “Excuse me,” Steve gave her a quizzical look.

  “I’ve got a grad student friend who works part-time as a graphic artist. Maybe she’d like to make some realistic wounds we could use. On paper of course. We could pay something. She’s just getting by on her graphics part-time income.”

  Kelly sat up. “Hey, that sounds like a great idea. She could make a knife wound, too. With blood, of course.”

  “How many times are you gonna kill me?” Steve asked with a grin.

  “As many as it takes, dude.”

  “Okay, I’ve decided. You guys are getting way out there, so I’ll stay Old School. I’m going to be a witch,” Lisa announced. “Plain, old fashioned ugly witch. Straggly hair and snaggled-tooth. Oh, and I’ll paint my face green. Gross green.”

  “That’s my girl. Traditionalist.” Greg saluted her with his ale.

  The doorbell sounded faintly with its cascading rings. Kelly rose from her chair. “That’s probably Jennifer and Pete. I told them we’d be out here on the patio.”

  “Did you guys leave any pizza?” Megan accused, looking at Marty then Greg.

  “Uhhhhhhh, one or two,” Marty said sheepishly.

  “You two are pathetic.”

  “Hi, there,” Jennifer’s voice called through the sliding screen door. “Kelly said you’d all be on the patio.”

  “Hey, guys,” Pete said with a grin as he followed Jennifer.

  Kelly pointed to two chairs. “Grab those, and we’ll expand the circle,” she said, pushing her chair back. “Then you can tell us all about the seventh grader birthday party.”

  “Oh, yeah. It’s one of Cassie’s softball friends, right?” Lisa asked, shooing Greg and Marty into widening the circle.

  “Yeah. Beth, who plays catcher, was the birthday girl,” Jennifer said as she sat in the chair Pete pulled out for her. “Brother, I’d forgotten how loud seventh grade girls can squeal.”

  Pete laughed. “Scream is more like it. I think they broke through some decibel levels when we went through that corn maze.”

  Steve handed Jennifer a canned soda. “Was it scary? We’re trying to figure out how we can scare kids for charity.”

  “Oh, they were scary, all right. Zombies were everywhere. Blood all over their faces.” Jennifer shivered. “Gross.”

  “Yeah, kids were crashing into corn stalks trying to get away.” Pete laughed then tipped back his Fat Tire ale.

  “I’ve been to those corn mazes, and they really are scary,” Megan said. “How’re we gonna make Lambspun scary, even if we turn the outside and the garden into a graveyard?”

  “Good point,” Marty said.

  “You’re right, all we’ve got is us dressed up as zombies and vampires. That’s enough to make it fun for little kids.” Elementary school,” Lisa observed.

  Greg nodded. “Yeah, that’s elementary school scary. What we need is junior high school scary. Then they’ll tell their friends.”

  “And we’ll make more money for the kids hospital unit.” Kelly sipped her Fat Tire ale, pondering. Then, an idea wiggled from the back of her brain. She thought for a second. Hmmmmm, that might work.

  She leaned forward, setting her ale aside. “Guys, I just got an idea. A really wicked idea. Maybe it won’t work, but tell me what you think. It could be scary. We could make the Lambspun basement into the Haunted Cellar. All of the rooms would be dark except for candlelight. I mean, that basement is kind of spooky anyway with all those little rooms running into each other, lots of dark corners. Then you guys could be hiding in each of the rooms and scare the kids as they go through.”

  Greg sat up. “I like it.”

  “Yeah, I do, too. We could have some Halloween sounds in the background, like banshees wailing.” Marty’s eyes lit up.

  “Oooooooh, yeah. And we could have cobweb things and spider webs covering up the yarn down there. Make it spook
y dark,” Megan said.

  “Speaking of yarn, we’d better not use candles,” Lisa added.

  “Ooops. Good point,” Kelly said. “We can use some of those special colored bulbs that glow or send pulsing light through a room.”

  “Love it. Great idea, Kelly,” Jennifer said. “I already have an old nurse’s uniform and hat and stuff. I can go as a horror nurse. Nurse Wretched.”

  Kelly laughed, picturing Jennifer as a freak show nurse. “Yeah, and we can make a gigantic injection needle and fill it with a yucky colored liquid. Then you can squirt it at people.”

  “Ooooooo, nice.”

  “Okay, I can be the doctor,” Pete said.

  “Why don’t you be the patient Nurse Wretched experiments on?” Jennifer suggested. “I’ll have bloody scissors and scalpels and that big needle.”

  “Oooooooo, oooooooo,” Megan bounced in her chair, finger pointing at Pete. “Yes! That graphic artist could make some pictures of body parts and glue them to Pete’s costume.”

  “Man, this is getting good,” Greg set his ale bottle on the table.

  “Sounds like you’re gonna scare the daylights out of those kids,” Steve teased. “And the parents, too.”

  “That’s good. Then, they’ll tell their friends. That’s how we’ll get more victims... uh, visitors.” Marty grinned. “They’ll be texting as they escape up the stairs.

  Lisa frowned. “Now that you mention it, that Haunted Cellar may be too scary for the little kids. You know, pre-schoolers and primary kids.”

  “Boy, you’re a real wet blanket,” Greg complained to his girlfriend of many years. “First we can’t have candles. Now, we can’t scare the really little kids.”

  “Lisa’s got a point,” Kelly said. “Why don’t we tell parents kids from eleven and older can enter the Haunted Cellar.”

  “And little kids can go down with their parents. Otherwise they’ll be crying because their older brothers or sisters get to go and they can’t.” Jennifer suggested.

  “Yeah. No crying kids.” Greg shook his head. “Definitely.”

  Delighted that her friends had taken to her idea and run with it, Kelly grinned. “Okay, let’s see who and what we’ve got. We can’t have that many spooks in the basement. We should lure people into the storage room at the foot of the stairs with no spooks. Then you guys can pop out from the other dark rooms down there as they explore.”

  “Well, I’m definitely gonna be there. I’m the Bloody Zombie. You can call me Spook One.” Greg gave an officious nod.

  Kelly laughed. “Okay, Spook One is down there. And I think Nurse Wretched should be there operating on Bloody Pete the Patient. Spooks Two and Three.”

  “Got it,” Pete nodded. “And I think I just thought of a way to have my guts fall out. That will really gross out the junior high kids.”

  “Excellent. Bloody falling guts.”

  “Ooooo, I’ve always wanted to be a doctor,” Jennifer teased. “Now’s my chance.”

  “That’s why my intestines are falling out,” Pete laughed.

  “I should definitely be in the Cellar,” Marty announced with authority. “I’m Count Dracula, complete with red-lined cape, white face, and glow in the dark fangs.”

  “You’re a natural,” Steve said. “Spook Four in the Cellar.”

  “If I’m gonna be Vampira, I should be in the cellar, too,” Megan countered.

  “You can be Vampira, just not in the cellar,” Greg decreed. “You’re not scary enough to be in the cellar.”

  “Yeah, Megan, he’s right,” Lisa said. “I can see Marty now with a white face and that red hair and those glowing fangs.” She pretended a shiver.

  “But I want to scare kids, too,” Megan pouted. “I can be scary.”

  Lisa giggled and everyone else grinned at Megan. Then Kelly had another idea. “I know. We can have a scary place

  in the yard outside my cottage. Green-faced Witchy Lisa and Vampira can roam around the cottage yard and cemetery and scare families as they come in. We can have more tombstones there and spooky music coming from inside.”

  “Hmmmmm, what we need are some ghosts. Ghosts hiding in the bushes outside the cottage and in the outdoor patio in the garden.” Pete looked up. “Mimi said she was going to put tombstones there, so we can have Vampira and some ghosts out there and Lisa and ghosts in the cottage backyard.”

  “You’re right. We’ll need more volunteers. Ghost volunteers.” Kelly said.

  “Hey, what are you gonna be?” Megan asked Kelly. “Steve’s Bad Bart with bullet wounds.”

  Steve held up his hand. “And I’m gonna be upstairs in Lambspun helping Mimi and Burt and Connie in the shop. Gotta ride shotgun over all those cookies and baked goods for sale.”

  “Dude, you better leave us some, or we’ll take you down into the basement so Nurse Wretched can operate on you.” Greg warned.

  “What are you going as Kelly?” Jennifer asked.

  “I’m still clueless, but I’ll definitely be something less scary so I can be upstairs, riding herd on those kids and their parents. Helping out Mimi and Burt.”

  “You mean Little Bo Peep and Farmer Brown,” Lisa said with a chuckle.

  “Mimi is so excited,” Megan said. “She told me she found the perfect costume. She even found a crook.”

  “What kind? Burglar? Bank robber?” Greg asked with a straight face.

  “No, silly. A shepherd’s crook. With the hook on the end

  so you can catch wandering sheep.”

  “So all we need now are some ghost volunteers,” Steve said.

  “I betcha Cassie will do it,” Jennifer said. “Maybe Eric, too.”

  “Oh, for sure. And Eric can spread the word to the Loveland Middle school crowd. Then we’d get even more visitors.”

  “Okay, sounds like we’ve got a game plan,” Lisa said with an authoritative nod. “So, everybody work on getting their costume organized, and we can touch base at the end of the week.”

  “Yes, sir! Uh, I mean ma’am!” Marty snapped out a brisk salute.

  “If anyone can ride herd on a cellar full of spooks, it’s Lisa,” Jennifer said with a grin.

  “That’s my girl,” Greg said with a crooked smile.

  “Okay, people, Halloween’s in ten days,” Megan announced, in her Softball Team Manager voice.

  “This is gonna be a lot of fun,” Kelly said with a grin.

  * * *

  Kelly stood outside her cottage, drinking coffee from her portable mug and staring at her cottage backyard. Rottweiler Carl snuffled the grass along the back fence, scenting squirrel feet no doubt.

  Tombstones, where to put those tombstones, she wondered. Plenty of open space in the middle of the yard, but Carl would probably knock them over. It would be too tempting. Strange objects in his yard. She and Steve would have to make sure Carl was safe and secure elsewhere.

  “Hey, Kelly!” Burt’s voice called from behind. “Are you coming to the shop or just left?”

  Kelly turned to see retired Fort Connor police detective Burt Parker walking across the driveway which separated her look-a-like cottage from the beige stucco, red-tile roofed Spanish style house that held Lambspun knitting shop. Mimi Shafer Parker had created a wonderland of wool and other fibers in the shop. Kelly had also met her friends there several years ago when she returned to Fort Connor for her aunt’s funeral.

  “I’m heading for the shop, but I was just picturing where we could put the tombstones. We’ll have to wait for afternoon so Carl will be out of the yard. By the way, how are you planning to stick the tombstones in the ground?”

  “My son-in-law is a great gardener, and he’s going to help me make the tombstones with gardening stakes in the middle. It should work.” Burt held up crossed fingers.

  “Sounds good,” Kelly said, walking toward Lambspun’s front entry, Burt beside her. “All of us got together last night and had a pizza and beer planning session. We’ve got our costumes all decided. Except me. I’m drawing a blank.
Greg will be a zombie, Marty a vampire with cape and glow-in-the-dark fangs, Jennifer will be Nurse Wretched with bloody scalpel, and Pete’s her patient she experiments on. All I can tell you is his body parts are falling out.”

  Burt paused on the front steps, laughing. “Good Lord, Kelly. You folks sound awful. You’ll scare the little kids to death.”

  “We already thought of that, and we’re aiming for junior high and older elementary students accompanied by parents. We’re gonna convert the basement into a Haunted Cellar. The scariest ones like Greg and Marty, Jennifer and Pete will hide in all those dark rooms.” Reaching for the heavy wooden door, Kelly held it open for her friend and mentor. Burt was still laughing.

  “How’re you going to make the basement scary?” he asked as they entered the colorful wonderland of fiber that was Lambspun. “It’s filled with yarns.”

  “We’re going to cover all the yarn shelves with netting like spider webs. And we’ll take all the basement lights out and have just little greenish bulbs that will create shadows and such.” Kelly trailed her finger over a pumpkin orange skein of mohair and alpaca yarn.

  “What’s this about the lights in the basement?” shop owner Mimi Parker, Burt’s wife, asked as she rounded the corner into the foyer.

  Burt was still laughing. “Kelly and the gang... are going to... to turn the basement into a horror show.”

  “What!” Mimi’s mouth fell open.

  “We all thought we could sell more tickets like that and earn more money for the hospital wing.” Kelly headed toward the main knitting room and dropped her over-the-shoulder bag onto the long library table there. “We’re also going to put Vampira Megan in the garden cemetery behind Lampbspun with those tombstones. Then green-faced Witch Lisa will be lurking around my cottage with the tombstones there.”

  “Wonderful! Where will you and Steve be?” Mimi asked.

  “We’re going to be upstairs with you and Burt because we’re not scary enough. Steve’s Bad Bart, a mean cowboy who was hung. And shot. Oh, and stabbed, too.” She grinned.

  Mimi started laughing. “And... and you? Who are you?”

  “I haven’t figured that out yet. I have absolutely no ideas for a costume.” Kelly drained her coffee mug.