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“Sure.”
So we went up the porch steps, and I unlocked the door and let us inside, pausing to turn on the outside lights and the ceiling fixture in the foyer. The bowl of candy was waiting on a marble-topped side table, so we didn’t have to go searching for that, but the carved jack-o-lanterns were still waiting in the service porch.
I told Jude to stand guard in the foyer, just in case any trick-or-treaters came by while I was fetching the pumpkins. He nodded, and I hastily made my way to the back of the house, got some tealights out of a drawer and placed them inside the jack-o’-lanterns, and lit them.
No one had knocked on the door or rung the doorbell while I was gone, so I was able to go outside and set the pumpkins down on either side of the porch steps. Once that task was done, I went inside, where Jude was still waiting by the table that held the bowl of candy.
“I like that you had those jack-o-lanterns ready to go despite everything else that’s been going on,” he remarked, looking somewhat amused.
“Halloween is very important,” I told him. “If things hadn’t been so crazy, I would have done more to decorate the house.”
“It’s sort of Halloween-y all on its own,” he replied.
I had to admit he was right. Not that the house was all black and red and decorated with caskets and skulls and whatnot, but the dark wood and the antiques and the heavy velvet curtains did make it look like the quintessential haunted house.
Plus, it really was haunted, although Hazel wasn’t the kind of ghost to jump out at you just for a good scare.
In fact, I could see her in the parlor, standing by her favorite chair. She was smiling at me, as though she was glad I’d brought Jude to the house.
And Chauncey had taken to him right away, had gone up to him, tail wagging, almost as soon as he came inside the door and stayed at his side while I handled the jack-o-lanterns.
Then the doorbell rang, and the dog went berserk, barking and running back and forth. His tail was still wagging, though, so I guessed he was more excited than being territorial.
Grinning, I said, “Take a chill pill, Chauncey,” and opened the door.
Outside was a group of five kids, really young ones I thought were probably in kindergarten, accompanied by three adults.
“Trick or treat!” they all screamed, and I dutifully gave each of them a mini candy bar.
After that, they started coming thick and fast, sometimes in batches of as many as ten. Jude and I took turns handing out candy and shushing Chauncey, which was an exercise in futility but which we did anyway. At one point, there was a big enough break in the action that I was able to call in an order for some pizza, and after that, Jude and I ate our slices of pepperoni standing up in the foyer in between giving candy to all the kids who showed up.
It wasn’t anything close to a date, but it still felt darn good.
And a little after nine, when it became obvious that the trick-or-treaters were done for this year and had gone home to count their loot, Jude said he should probably be going.
“Sure,” I said. I almost offered to walk him to his car, but I knew he’d only tell me to stay inside where it was warm. Then I added, “Thanks.”
I didn’t know if I was thanking him for helping me hand out candy, or for coming to my rescue at Meg Lindley’s house…or simply for being someone who’d kept me from going through this alone.
Probably a little of all three.
He seemed to understand. “You’re welcome.” A pause, and then he added, “Maybe I’ll stop by for a drink sometime.”
I smiled.
“I’d like that,” I said.
Chapter 20
A Chance to Breathe
After Jude left, I went back into the house. Hazel was standing in the foyer, Chauncey nearby.
“It’s taken care of, isn’t it.”
I noticed how she hadn’t phrased the sentence as a question.
“Mostly,” I replied. “That is, Wes is in custody, and Meg confessed to Detective Ruiz — or at least, she told him something, and said she’d come by the police station tomorrow with her attorney. And Ruiz was making noises about possibly charging Diane as an accessory after the fact, but I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
