The Passed Prop--The Morelville Cozies--Book 1 Read online

  Beth turned on her flashlight app and handed her phone to Chloe. “Here, you lead.”

  They moved into the interior of the haunted house and started calling for Boo. Beth stayed close behind her aunt’s mother.

  The first two rooms yielded nothing but darkness and props. Going into the third room, Chloe thought she saw a flash of something moving. She shone her light around toward the floor but she didn’t see anything else.

  “This room is creepy,” Beth said.

  “This one? You didn’t think that last one with all the clown stuff was but this one with a basic vampire layout is creepy? Baby, this one’s all about the actor that plays the vampire. There’s hardly anything else here; Look.” Chloe shone the light briefly on the bier where the vampire’s victim lay. A mannequin was in place on top.

  Spying movement again in the flash of the light, she quickly aimed the phone toward the floor and caught Boo lapping at the fake blood the vampire actor periodically spilled on his even more fake victim.

  “Boo, no! Bad!” she called to the dog. It stopped lapping and watched her approach. “That stuff can’t be good for you little girl. Come here.”

  Chloe bent at the waist and reached for the dog but it skittered just out of range. “Come on Boo, come,” she called to it. The dog just sat there a couple of feet past the bier.

  “My,” Chloe said to Beth, “He really poured it on with the blood last night. It’s all over the floor. I see the janitor’s mop bucket in here...I wonder why he didn’t clean it... AHHHHHHHHHH!”

  Her scream rang out, piercing the quiet of the darkness. The little dog took off through the haunt and Beth, not even knowing what Chloe had seen, bolted too, back the way they’d come.

  “Dana! Dana! Dana!” her mother screamed.

  “Dana charged through the access door from the outer hallway and shone her light at her mother. Chloe pointed a shaky finger toward the bier.

  On it lay Old Man Purcell, a stake through his heart.

  Chapter 3 – Inquiring Minds

  Halloween night, Friday, October 31st, 2014

  6:30 PM

  Sheriff Melissa ‘Mel’ Crane looked at the body on the bier. Addressing her lead detective, Shane Harding, she told him, “It’s the community center janitor, Old Man Purcell.”

  “Old man?” Shane raised his eyebrows.

  “His real name is...was...Lawrence, after ‘Lawrence of Arabia, the famous soldier and diplomat who died earlier in the year that Purcell was born. He was no Lawrence of Arabia though; I’ll tell you that. He was only in his mid to late seventies but everyone around here called him ‘Old Man Purcell’ for as long as I can remember.”

  “Who would have wanted Purcell dead?”

  “Off the top of my head, I can think of several people in town who probably won’t be sorry that he’s gone, God rest his soul.” She shook her head and then, glancing behind her at the sound of footsteps, made way for the forensic team as they came into the room.

  “We haven’t touched anything in here but,” she told them, “I’m here to tell you this place was open to the public as a haunted house last night so you’ve got your work cut out for you. I’d concentrate right around him, on that stake, and also dust down his mop and bucket. He’d have likely brought those in here. Anything else could be from anybody in a five county area, maybe farther. The coroner is enroute so hold off on pulling the stake for evidence until he gets a look at everything.”

  Mel tipped her head to Shane and pointed to the doorway out to the hall and gymnasium. He stepped through it and she followed. She stopped when they reached the hardwood and rubbed her face with her hands.

  “This is crazy, isn’t it Sheriff,” Harding stated more than asked, as he observed her actions. “We didn’t have a murder in the county for a few years and now, all of a sudden...they’re just dropping like...like flies.”

  “Yeah, its been crazy alright. And, what’s worse, this looks like some sort of ritualistic vampire killing sort of thing; it’s just nuts.”

  Mel took a quick look around and then focused on Shane again, “Look, I’ve got Treadway out there keeping the crowds that thought they were coming to a festival and a haunted house at bay while the vendors that were setting up for the evening close up. I need to pull him off that detail, put someone else out there, and get him in here to help us interview.

  “I’ll start rounding up the staff that was here last night, that’s already on site tonight, and put them in the cafeteria, boss.”

  “Chloe Rossi and Dana are the only ones here right now Shane who know for sure who’s in there,” Mel pointed back toward the haunt. “They’re in the actor’s area. Continue to keep them in there, separated from everyone else.”

  “Roger Sheriff.”

  Chloe

  7:00 PM

  “I never even met the man before, Mel. Seeing him there, even though it was so dark, I just knew it was a real person because I helped the actor that’s the vampire with a little costume issue yesterday. He does his own make-up, you know.”

  “Chloe, I’m not making a connection here; how did helping him tell you the victim in there was real?”

  “Oh, I asked him about his set while I was fixing his tear and he told me he had a very lifelike, female mannequin prop he used. He said it was too hard to get a live person to lay on that thing for hours at a time, and all.”

  “Female huh? Hang on a second.” Mel keyed her mic, “Harding?”

  “Yes Sheriff,” He responded.

  “Check the crime scene for a female mannequin the vampire actor would have used on that set and call me right back.”

  “Roger, out.”

  A few minutes passed before Harding responded back, “Negative on the mannequin Sheriff.”

  “Grab a couple of officers and turn this place upside down. We need to find that.”

  “Roger.”

  Dana

  7:30 PM

  “Mel, all the actors left before I did. Most of them kept to the code. If they were in street clothes, they went out the door and through the gym to the main lot. If they were still in any part of a costume, they used the interior door from the service area so no one would see them.”

  “Code huh?”

  “If you want to be believable in this business, you can’t be walking around among the public in partial costume.”

  “Okay. So, what happened after the actors left?”

  “Craig locked the interior door over there. I saw him do it. I asked him if he wanted help closing down. He told me he had it, to go on home. He said tonight would be a long one.”

  “He wasn’t kidding there!”

  Dana shuddered and then corrected her, “He meant because it’s Halloween Mel. They were expecting 1,500 or so people to wander through here tonight let alone what came for the festival that were too chicken to do the haunted house.”

  Mel stretched her neck from side to side, “I knew what you meant, sorry. Can you remember anything else?”

  “No. Until I came in today and found that door unlocked, everything was normal, run of the mill stuff. I collected up my mom last night and your sister’s kids. I dropped the kids off and mom and I went to our house. You know the rest.”

  “Had you met the victim, Lawrence Purcell?”

  “No. Today was the first...and last time I’ve ever seen him.”

  Shane Harding

  8:00 PM

  “Sheriff? When she turned to face him, Harding continued, this is Rich Johnson.”

  Mel interrupted, “I know Rich, Shane.”

  “He’s the vampire actor.”

  “Oh, well, I didn’t know that.”

  Rich chuckled then cleared his throat, “Sorry, didn’t mean to laugh in the face of an actual death. That was crass. It’s just that I keep doing this kind of stuff under my hat. It adds to the mystique.”

  “Ah. Yes, I can see that...sort of like the code...”

  “The what Mel?”

  “Never mind that. Sh
ane, I presume you and Rich have something to tell me?”

  “Unfortunately, no. We’ve turned this place upside down like you asked and Rich here helped. We can’t find the mannequin he usually uses anywhere.”

  “Nowhere?” She looked at Rich.

  “No, sorry. I’ve used her for the last couple of years. Amy and I actually made her. She’s nowhere to be found.”

  “Well that’s not good news.”

  “Mr. Johnson, I appreciate your help,” Shane thanked him. “If you’ll excuse us?”

  “Oh, sure, sure. No problem. I’ll let you know if Victoria mysteriously shows up...that’s uh...that’s what my wife and I named her, Victoria.”

  Johnson sketched a wave and backed out of the room.

  “Man,” Shane railed, “some of these folks I’ve talked to tonight are just plain weird, especially the ones involved in the haunted house end of this wingding.”

  “I think you have to be on the weird side to do this, Shane,” Mel rolled her eyes. “Anyway, did you have something else to tell me?”

  “Well, yeah, there’s no easy way to say this but I, uh, um...I talked to a couple of people who helped in the kitchen last night that showed up again tonight. They both told me that your mother was in charge last night and that she got into it with Purcell late, after the festival closed and they were cleaning up.”

  Mel didn’t blink.

  Shane continued, “I’m sorry to have to break that to you but, well, do you want me to interview her or...I don’t know, how do you want to handle that?”

  “Look, I’m not at all surprised my mother got into it with him. Their feud goes way back. It’s a long story but not a violent one. I guess what I really need to know right now is what the witnesses said they were arguing about Shane.”

  “Their stories differ a little but the gist is that Purcell was mad that they were still in the kitchen cleaning after closing; he said they were messing up his cleaning routine. They both said she got in his face. What differs is what they say she said to him.”

  “Shane, did she threaten to kill him?”

  “No; neither one of them said she said anything like that. One did say there was quite a bit of swearing involved...on both sides.”

  “Again, I’m not surprised. Here’s what I want you to do: If you haven’t already, I want you to get formal statements from both of them and interview my mother for her statement. I’ll stay out of that completely. No bias Shane. Just get their statements. If there comes a time when my mom looks like a suspect, I’ll cross that bridge then.”

  “Okay boss.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Craig Stroud is out there. He won’t talk to anyone but you Sheriff. He was apparently the last one out of the haunted house side last night.”

  “Yes, Dana confirmed that when she left, he was here but everyone else was already gone.”

  “Well, apparently, Stroud and your mom were the last ones to see Purcell alive.”

  “Oh brother!”

  Craig Stroud

  8:30 PM

  “How long have you been doing this Craig?”

  “This makes seven years.”

  “You direct the entire mushroom festival and the haunt for this festival; what are you, some kind of glutton for punishment?”

  Craig cracked a thin smile. “I enjoy it Mel. It keeps me busy...you know...since Marlene died. We did everything together. I was lost without her. Cancer has got to be one of the worst ways to go...it was horrible. Someone pulled me out of my misery and drug me off to the mushroom festival a year or so after she passed. I didn’t want to go at all but then, when we got there, they were shorthanded judging something and I got roped into that and it snow balled and snow balled and now I run the thing. That’s where I met Val. She was one of my judges one year.”

  “You must really love it. It takes a lot out of you, I know.”

  He nodded, “That it does but doing this gives it all back. I love doing this stuff.”

  “Haunted houses?”

  “Right on. Love it!”

  “I’ll have to introduce you to Dana’s dad. Apparently he’s been big in the Jaycee’s back in Pittsburgh and he lives for this time of year and their annual haunted house too or, at least, he did for years. It sounds like he’s pulled back a little.”

  “I’d still love to meet him. We could use his expertise around here. All new ideas are good ideas. Quite frankly, anything can be new if people here haven’t seen it before.”

  Mel sat back a little in her chair and tapped her pen on her notepad, “You’ve already been pretty innovative with this, Craig. It blows me away, that’s for sure.”

  “Honestly, I can’t take all the credit. Some of that isn’t me, you know...some is, some isn’t. I have some truly great actors, for one thing. Then, there are people like your wife; she took us up leaps and bounds this year in safety and security measures during the show but I can tell she really wants to be out there on the attraction floor mixing it up too.”

  Mel nodded heartily, “You got that right. She’s said as much.”

  “I know; I can see it. There’s her and then there are four guys I don’t know what we ever did without; you know most of them. They’re all from right around here, older men, but very creative.”

  “The ones that call themselves the Quadvillians?”

  “Yes. That’s them. Normally this haunted house stuff is a young man’s game but they’ve had some brilliant set ideas. Three of the four are consummate actors too and the fourth one ain’t half bad.”

  “It’s funny to me, they’re all kind of fringe characters in town. I’m sure my grandfather knew them but, growing up, I only knew them to see them.”

  Craig smiled again but fleetingly. After taking a long breath, he asked, “Why am I here Mel? What do you think I know that will help you?”

  “Old Man Purcell is dead Craig.” Mel watched him closely for a reaction.

  “I know. Even though you’ve kept it pretty quiet about what happened, the ‘who’ of it has gotten around. How?”

  “That’s not something I can talk about just yet. Suffice to say, we have a team on site trying to figure it all out.”

  He nodded.

  “Dana told me she left you right here in this room last night and that, as far as she knows, you were the only one left back here.”

  “That’s true, yes.”

  “My detective told me when he tried to question you about that, you asked to speak to me instead.”

  “Also true. Frankly, I don’t have anything to hide but I knew you would understand; that’s why I asked for you.”

  “Understand what?”

  “You know Purcell, Mel. You live here, a half a block from him. When I found out it was him back there, I sort of knew my personal feelings toward him would come out. Purcell...he isn’t...wasn’t the easiest man to get along with in the world.” He paused but Mel didn’t respond.

  “We’ve had our ups and downs over the years, him and I. None of it is important in the grand scheme of things, mind you, but it’s all over personal matters and these last couple of years I really just didn’t even bother with the man. I rarely spoke with him at all nor he with me. We ignored each other.”

  “Did you speak to him last night?”

  “No,” he answered as he shook his head. “I have keys to the main part of the building since I come in a lot to work on the haunt around my day job. Last night, I locked up back here but, when I got up front, some of the kitchen help was filtering into the gym area so I knew I wasn’t the last one out of the entire facility. I didn’t lock up. Purcell wasn’t in the haunted house yet to clean. He was sweeping the gym floor when I left. He didn’t even look up at me.”

  Faye Crane

  Interviewed by Detective Shane Harding – 8:30 PM

  “I wasn’t due up here until 7:00. I heard on the scanner...I’ve been listening to that whenever Mel’s on duty since she became a cop...but I heard the call for you all to come
here. I knew it must be bad and so I came too.”

  “Mrs. Crane, you do know there’s been a death, right?”

  “Yes, of course I know.”

  “Do you know who’s dead ma’am?”

  “Everyone’s saying it’s Old Man Purcell.”

  “That’s correct. Only he didn’t just die Mrs. Crane, he was murdered.”

  “Oh my!” I put my hands up to my face. The news shocked me. No one mentioned murder! “That poor man...Who? How...”

  “We don’t have those details yet, that’s why we’re talking to everyone who was here last night.”

  “You think someone here did it?” I was astounded that they’d suspect any of the volunteers of such a thing.

  “We have to look at everything ma’am.”

  Shane cleared his throat, “How well did you know the deceased?”

  “Why, most of my life. I grew up here and he was from here too. He’s older...was older than me of course.”

  “Seventy-six Mrs. Crane.”

  “Is that all? I would have thought he was even older than that.”

  “Why is that?”

  “I hate to speak ill of the dead, you understand, but Purcell’s always been just a plain old pain in the keister. He was just a crotchety old man; that’s why the younger ones called him ‘Old Man Purcell’.

  Shane wrote something in his notes.

  “Did you personally have any problems with Purcell?”

  “You’ve heard I had an argument with him last night and that’s why you’re questioning me, aren’t you?”

  “As I said before, we’re talking to everyone who was here last night Mrs. Crane.”

  “You don’t have to lie to me detective. I know you’ve heard we got into last night. I’m not a fool.”

  “So then, do you want to tell me what that was all about?”

  “Last night was Purcell being Purcell: a royal pain. He wanted his way and when he realized he wasn’t going to get it, he threw a little temper tantrum. I admit it; I let him get to me.”

  “Have you two argued before?”

  I held my tongue and thought for a minute but the detective wasn’t very patient.