The Curse (Seacliff High Mystery Book 2) (14 page)

“Is it okay if we come in?” Alyson asked, poking her head through the door.

“Sure, come in.”

Using the remote, Spyder clicked off the TV and sat up straighter. “I’m really glad you guys came by. I wanted to thank you again for finding me and saving my life.”

“You have Caleb to thank for that.” Alyson sat down in the chair Trevor had vacated when they walked in. “He’s the one who asked us to help find you.”

“He was probably just freaked out that all his props were missing,” Spyder teased. “He can be really obsessive about the decorations for all the events he’s involved with.”

“Well, that too,” Alyson teased back. “But seriously, he was really scared that something terrible had happened to you, and I guess he was right.”

“What exactly did happen?” Mac asked from the foot of the bed. “If you’re up to talking to us about it, that is.”

“V and I went out to the barn to deliver the props and stuff. We noticed the loft in the barn and decided that would be a good place to try out this spell I’d been working on.”

Spyder shifted his weight to a more comfortable position and took a sip of the water on the table beside him. “I know that probably sounds like a strange thing to do, but V’s dad has been beating on her a lot lately. He’s always been pretty abusive, but lately he’s really gotten violent. I think V’s really scared. Anyway, a guy I know told me about a protection spell he’d come across, so I decided to try it out. Chan, the owner of the occult shop downtown, helped me get everything I needed. We originally planned to find somewhere quiet to do the spell after we delivered the stuff for Caleb, but the loft seemed like the perfect spot, so we decided to try it before unloading the supplies.”

Spyder folded the top sheet over the top of his blanket and sat up straighter. “We were getting everything set up when we heard these two guys arguing outside. We tried to be quiet, hoping they’d just go away, but after a few minutes we heard a gunshot.”

“That must have been the dead guy in the room under the floor.” Mac sat down on the chair next to the bed and leaned forward with her elbows on her knees. “What happened next?”

“Several minutes passed, then one of the men came inside. I think he might have noticed our truck out back of the barn and come looking for its owners. We tried to hide, but he must have figured out we were up in the loft. He climbed up and tied us up and then went outside to call some guy he referred to as Mario. When he went out he left the door cracked open and I could overhear part of the conversation. It seems like someone named Butch wanted to take his share of the money and split. It sounded like the two of them were supposed to wait for a third guy to show up, but he was late and Butch was getting antsy. I guess Butch must be the guy he shot.”

Alyson remembered that the man at the costume shop who had been speaking on the phone was talking about someone named Butch.

Spyder smoothed the blanket over his legs. “Anyway, he made us walk through the passage in the back of the loft to the place where you found us. V tried to fight him, and that’s when he hit her in the head with the butt of his gun. I figured we were done for. I mean, who was going to find us? Who would even know about the secret passage and think to look for us there? How did you find it, Alyson?”

“The first time we came to the barn looking for you the rope ladder had been pulled up into the loft. We climbed up another way, which is how we found the symbol you had painted on the floor and the book you left behind. It later occurred to me that it was odd that you’d obviously been in the loft at some point, but the ladder hadn’t been lowered. I mean, how did you get down? I decided to check things out further, which is when I found the passageway.” Alyson decided to leave out the part about the mysterious girl who had led her back to the barn in the first place. That whole thing seemed unbelievable even to her.

“Well, I’m glad your curiosity got the better of you. I thought we were goners for sure. Especially V.”

“Have you heard any news on V’s condition?” Alyson asked. “The last time we checked she still hadn’t woken up.”

“No.” Spyder leaned back against the stack of pillows behind him, obviously concerned. “Here I was trying to protect her, and all I ended up doing was almost getting her killed.”

“It’s not your fault,” Alyson assured him. “There was nothing you could have done.”

“Maybe. I keep going over and over in my head what I could have done differently. It was only one guy with a gun. There must have been some opportunity for me to get that gun away from him. I was so busy freaking out I forgot to try to get away. If I had maybe V wouldn’t be lying in a coma down the hall.”

“Yeah, or maybe he’d have shot you both,” Mac reminded him. “You did the right thing not trying to play the hero. V will wake up and you’ll both be fine. And just think of the stories you’ll have to tell your grandchildren. Grandchildren you never would have had if you’d been shot.”

“Of course if we hadn’t found you the whole not-being-a-hero thing might have backfired,” Trevor pointed out. “It’s obvious the guy left you to die.”

Spyder closed his eyes. “I guess I’m more tired than I thought. All I’ve done for the past week is sleep. You’d think I’d have energy to spare.”

“We’ll let you get some rest.” Alyson got up from her chair. “We’ll try to come by to see you tomorrow if you’re still here. Maybe V will be awake and we can visit with her too.”

Dooley’s Farm was a magical place in the Oregon hills. It sat high on a hillside overlooking the ocean. Hundreds of Christmas trees of various heights covered the hillside, but in the flat meadow at the base of the trees, hundreds of pumpkins were growing on bright green vines. There was a large red barn with rows of picnic tables off to the left. Behind the barn was a large pond where children were fishing and parents were snapping pictures.

“Wow, this place is great.” Alyson clipped Tucker’s leash to his collar as they unloaded him from her Jeep.

“Yeah, I always loved coming here as a kid.” Mac joined Alyson at the back of the vehicle. “They have apples and all kinds of fall produce inside the barn. And they have the best cider I’ve ever tasted. It’s freshly pressed every day.”

“Caleb said to get a dozen pumpkins, the largest we can find.” Alyson looked toward the pumpkin patch. “Carrying all those pumpkins to the car is going to be a bit of a challenge.”

“They used to have wagons you could borrow,” Mac informed her. “Let’s go over to the barn to ask. If we each have a wagon we should be able to get all the pumpkins we need in one trip.”

They walked over to the barn, where they were greeted by the sweet smell of fresh-baked pies.

“Those pies smell delicious.” Alyson looked at the long line of visitors waiting to buy thick pieces of apple pie topped with large scoops of vanilla ice cream.

The girls and Trevor each borrowed one of the bright red wagons with large rubber wheels and went in search of twelve perfect pumpkins. Tucker loped along beside Alyson, pausing occasionally to sniff the wonderful new scents all around him.

“How about this one?” Mac held up a big pumpkin still attached to the vine.

“It’s sort of flat on one side.” Trevor picked up another one a little farther up the hill. “I think this one’s a little better.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Mac set the pumpkin she had been holding down and continued to search.

“This pumpkin looks like a football.” Trevor held up a misshapen pumpkin that was narrow on the top and bottom and fatter in the middle.

“I wonder why it grew so oddly shaped,” Mac mused.

“It was probably crowded by its pumpkin brothers and sisters and just grew where it had room,” Trevor speculated. “I’m going to get it. It’s weird-looking, but I like it. It’s sort of unique.”

“Here’s a really big one.” Alyson stopped in front of a pumpkin that looked too huge for her to lift. “You could really do an awesome face on a pumpkin this big. I don’t know if I can get it in the wagon, though.”

“Let me give you a hand.” Trevor picked up the pumpkin and set it in Alyson’s wagon. “I don’t think you’ll be able to get anything else in there with this one big pumpkin, so I’ll take it to the car and bring the wagon back.”

Trevor traded wagons with Alyson and started down the hill.

“This is really fun,” Alyson said as she continued up the hill. “I’ve never picked my own pumpkins before. Usually the maid just picked one up for me to carve.”

“Maid?” Mac stopped in her tracks. “You had a maid?”

“For a while. When I was little,” Alyson said, trying to cover her slip. “My mom and dad both had these really intense jobs for a few years, so my mom hired outside help.”

“Oh.” Mac looked at her friend curiously.

Alyson knew that every time she let something about her past life slip through the lie that had been so carefully crafted, she was building a bank of doubt and suspicion in her friends’ minds. She really, really hated the lies. She wished she could just come clean and be honest with the people she was coming to care so much about.

“I think Tucker’s going to have to sit in the backseat with Mac,” Trevor said, interrupting her thoughts when he returned with the empty wagon. “These pumpkins are more than going to fill the cargo area, especially if we keep getting such big ones.” Trevor pulled the empty wagon up to a large, perfectly shaped pumpkin and loaded it in. “It looks like we need—” Trevor paused to count the pumpkins in the wagons—“five more.”

They quickly found the five they needed. “Let’s have some of that pie before we leave,” Alyson suggested. “You guys take the pumpkins to the car and I’ll get in line.”

Alyson hurried to the back of the long line. While she waited she studied the menu listing all the different types of pies. She’d almost reached the front of the line when she felt someone watching her. She looked around the crowd but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. She ordered the pie, then went outside to find an empty table. She could see Mac and Trevor walking toward her, leading Tucker. She had raised her arm to wave them over when she saw him again.

He was standing near a stand selling caramel apples, staring straight through her without moving. Alyson froze in midwave. She felt her heart skip a beat. He was the same man from the hospital.

“Hey, you got a table.” Mac sat down.

Alyson turned to face her friend. “He’s here.”

“Who’s here?”

“The man from the hospital. The one who attacked Andrea. By the caramel apple stand.”

Mac turned to look, but there was no one there. “I don’t see anyone.”

“He was there, I swear.”

“Who is this mystery guy we’re whispering about?” Trevor asked.

Alyson filled him in on the events of the past evening and their visit with Andrea that morning.

“It seems a little unlikely that the same guy who assaulted Andrea would be following you,” Trevor said. “You’ve been through a lot over the past forty-eight hours. Maybe your mind is playing tricks on you.”

“I know what I saw. I’m not some idiot.”

“I didn’t say you were.” Trevor held up a hand in self-defense. “I just think your imagination might be in overdrive because of everything that’s happened.”

“Maybe you just need to rest,” Mac agreed.

“I don’t need to rest. I’m telling you, this guy is following me. He seems to want something from me. I think it might be the necklace I found.”

“I thought he wanted a key,” Mac reminded her.

“I know that’s what he said, but I just have a feeling. I can’t explain it.”

“Let’s eat our pie before all the ice cream melts,” Trevor suggested. “We’ll keep an eye out for the guy, but we need to get these pumpkins carved for Caleb.”

They spent the afternoon carving the pumpkins they’d bought at the farm. Alyson had lived a socially active life in New York, but she’d never shared the easygoing camaraderie she did now with her two new best friends. It was nice to be comfortable in a casual situation where there was no need to look like you’d just stepped off the cover of a fashion magazine.

“So,” Trevor began to Mac as he sliced into the top of the first pumpkin in the pile, “are you actually going to carve your pumpkins this year, or are you just going to dress them up in silly hats and sunglasses?”

“I considered the hat-and-glasses thing,” Mac glared at Trevor, “but then I decided I’d just tape a picture of your face to the front of each one, though Caleb said not to make them too scary.”

Alyson looked at both of them like they’d totally lost their minds.

“When we were in first grade,” Trevor elaborated, “Mac announced to the class that she didn’t want to kill her pumpkin, so she wouldn’t be carving it. When the teacher insisted that she decorate her pumpkin for the class party, Mac drew huge eyes and a crooked mouth on the outside and topped it off with this fuzzy pink hat she’d worn to school that day. I guess that wasn’t good enough for the teacher, though, because the next day when we came to school we found Mac’s pumpkin had been carved with triangle eyes and a triangle nose just like everyone else’s. Mac threw a huge tantrum and ran from the room, screaming that someone had murdered her pumpkin.”

Mac picked up a glob of the pumpkin innards Trevor had just scooped out of his gourd and threw it at him. “You know what the problem with having friends you’ve known since kindergarten is? They know all your most embarrassing stories. Like the time Trevor came to school in nothing but his Cookie Monster underwear. Or when he was caught kissing Missy Spangler under the slide in second grade. Or how about the wig-and-lipstick incident?”

“Oh, I’ve got to hear that one. Do tell.” Alyson laughed as she scooped out her own pumpkin.

“I wouldn’t go there,” Trevor warned. “Not unless you want my rather comic description of the incident with Johnny James’s emergency underwear. Or maybe you’d rather hear about Mac’s first kiss, or the pink elephant incident.”

“Okay, truce.” Mac held up her right hand with her palm facing Trevor. “Sorry, Alyson, but there are some childhood stories that should be allowed to fade into the woodwork forever.”

Alyson set her first completed pumpkin aside and started on her second. “It must be nice to have someone who shares your history. Someone who knows not only all your most embarrassing moments but all your happiest and even saddest ones too.”

“Don’t you keep in touch with anyone you knew as a kid? Someone who knows all your deep, dark secrets?” Mac carved a crooked mouth into her own creation.

“Not anymore.” Alyson stared into space, as if reliving some long-forgotten memory. “I mean, you know how it is. You move away, you lose touch.”

“Yeah, I guess. Still, as much as Trev makes me crazy at times, I can’t imagine losing contact with him even if I moved.”

Trevor smiled at Mac. “Mac is right. Friends don’t stop being friends just because there’s a little geography between them.”

Just after three o’clock Caleb came by to fetch the spooky and somewhat funny pumpkin creations to take them out to the barn. “I stopped by the hospital on my way over here,” Caleb informed them. “Spyder told me V woke up earlier this afternoon, and they think she’s going to be okay.”

“I’m so glad.” Alyson sighed in relief.

“She’s still really out of it, and they aren’t allowing her to have any visitors, but Spyder said one of the nurses told him the police had located an aunt—her mom’s sister—and she’s coming out from somewhere back east to be with her.”

“Maybe V can go live with her when she feels better,” Mac said. “There’s no way they should send her home with her horrible dad.”

“He’s still in jail. My guess is that they won’t send her home with him. I’m not sure what the aunt’s situation is, or if things will work out for V to live with her, but I’m sure something will have to change. I’d love to stay to chat longer, but I’ve really got to jet. I’ve only got a few hours before the hayride begins and I still have to change into my costume and make sure the others are all in their places. Having the police underfoot all day while they finished up their investigation has put me even further behind schedule than I already was. Oh, by the way, I meant to tell you: the police found another passage leading from the old farmhouse to the same room where you found Spyder and V. It seems the passageway connected the two locations underground, with the room in the middle.”

“Wow,” Mac breathed. “Who do you think built that passageway? It must have been pretty old.”

“I have no idea, but whoever built it obviously wanted to be able to move around the property undetected. Maybe smugglers or slave traders. I hear there was a lot of that going on during the early stages of this town’s development.”

Alyson thought of the cave system they had found near her house just last month. “You never know. There could be a whole system of tunnels and caverns beneath the town.”

“It’s a possibility,” Caleb agreed. “Anyway, I really do need to get going. I’ll see you all tonight.”

After Caleb left, Trevor and Mac went home to change for the big night ahead and Alyson sat down tiredly at the kitchen table.

“Carving twelve pumpkins is no easy task.” Sarah Prescott set a cup of hot tea in front of her daughter and sat down across from her.

“Tell me about it. Thanks for your help. We could never have done it without you. It’s funny; I don’t really remember carving pumpkins as a child. I can remember having a few carved pumpkins decorating the apartment each year, but I don’t actually remember carving them.”

“That’s because we usually bought the pumpkins already carved. Your dad and I had that big fund-raiser we went to every Halloween, so buying already carved pumpkins seemed easier.”

“I slipped today and mentioned to Mac that the maid usually bought our pumpkins. She was a little surprised to hear that a middle-class family from Minnesota had a maid. It’s getting harder and harder to lie to my friends. I’m getting so comfortable with them, letting my guard down. I wish I could just tell them the truth. We’ve been through so much together. I hate lying to them. It feels wrong.”

“You know that telling them the truth might put them in danger. We have a hard enough time keeping our story straight. The more people who know the truth, the more danger we’re all in. We’ll just have to be more careful about what we say.”

“I know you’re right. I just feel like such a fake. I have to hold so much of myself back. Am I ever going to be able to let go and just be me? I think Mac suspects that I’m not being totally honest with her. And Devon definitely suspects something isn’t quite what it seems. Eventually it’s going to be a problem.”