A Little Spooky (Small Town Lovers #7)

Luna 7

Later that night, while I dressed for the Witches Ball, I couldn’t help but think back to my afternoon with Vince. Not only did I have some of the best sex of my life, which I’d thought I’d already had with Freddie, but we’d contacted Henrietta Cruz and made an appointment to meet her at the ball. We wanted to ask her some questions about her relatives as soon as possible, and what better place than a spooky Halloween ball.

Once I put the last touches on my green makeup, grabbed my elegant witchy hat, made sure my strapless red dress covered my breasts, slipped on my black witchy long coat, and grabbed my red-handled, Amish-made, cornhusk broom with added golden threads woven through the brush. I was out the door and on my way to Moon Street Hall, where Cricket now held most all of the themed, seasonal balls. A large enough hall to hold five hundred people, which was the expected attendance for this ball, at least according to June Maplewood, our local events planner.

The air smelled of cinnamon and apples, probably from Sweetie Pies. Wherever the scent came from, it only made the crisp, stary night feel electric with excitement for the ball. I passed The Elegant Stich and waved to Melinda De Long who was just closing her shop for the night. She was also dressed in a gown, ready for the ball. Geppetto’s Toys was closed and locked up for the night, and I felt certain Rudy, the owner, had already gone to the ball.

The whole town was lit up with orange lighting, making it look as though you were walking into the mouth of a giant pumpkin.

I loved it.

When I finally arrived at the hall, the guys, dressed as handsome warlocks, were waiting for me at the entrance.

“You look positively beautiful, even with your green makeup,” Bram said, taking my arm.

“Scary beautiful,” Freddie said, as he took my other arm.

“A witch goddess,” Vince added, as he led the way. Creepy music welcomed us, and after the night we’d had, it made me a bit nervous. Normally, I’d think it was fun but not tonight. Still, I felt sheltered by my three ghost warriors.

I wondered how long we’d be staying, even though we were all dressed in our Halloween best. Something told me we’d be back inside Stoker House before the night was over.

The thought gave me a momentary fright, so I pulled my two handsome escorts in tighter, which they did willingly.

Vince wore a tux with tails and a top hat. His face was painted a sickly white, and his lips were bright red. I wanted to kiss him right there, he looked so adorably wicked, but I restrained myself. Bram also wore a tux but no tails. His face, while still made up with white makeup, wasn’t quiet as white as Vince’s. Bram preferred black lipstick, while Freddie hadn’t worn any makeup at all. He preferred a bloody gash on the side of his neck and oily, slicked-back hair. I wanted to kiss all three of them, but now wasn’t the time to get all lovey. We were on a mission, and once that had been established, we would stay the course until we completed the task. We’d been like that since we were kids, and there was no changing us now.

“Is she here?” I asked as we walked to our table. We’d spent the extra hundred dollars on our tickets to secure our own table. I hated standing all night, even if I did dance for most of it.

“Yes,” Bram said as he helped me out of my coat. “But we haven’t approached her yet. We were waiting for you. By the way, you look incredible in that dress.” His hand lingered on the small of my back, causing a spark of heat to race down my spine. We hadn’t had sex, but I knew it was only a matter of the right time.

“Thanks,” I told him, standing a little too close. The dress hugged my body like it loved me, a thought I had whenever I tried on something new… did it love me? This dress absolutely fit that description, and from the looks I was getting from my best friends, I’d say this dress adored me. “How ‘bout we talk to her before this dance gets started, while everyone is still sober?”

“Good idea,” Vince said, and we took off for her table at the opposite end of the large room.

I loved how Moon Hall sparkled this year with hanging cobwebs, big and small spiders, and floating ghosts that laughed and screamed periodically. Black flower arrangements adorned each table, and each table had been covered in either black or a muted orange tablecloth. Henrietta and her friends sat around one of the larger tables, covered in orange. As we approached, the woman sitting to her right stood, leaving the chair empty.

She gazed over at us as we walked in closer to her table. Her wide smile instantly made me feel welcomed. Her grin grew with each step, like she was genuinely happy to meet us.

“You must be Luna.” She remained seated but held out her hand. “I’m so happy to meet you. I can’t tell you how much I’ve been looking forward to this. I even brought the family Bible with the information you might need. I’ve kept it up, so all the dates and names are current.”

I took her hand in mine and didn’t shake it, rather surrounding it with both of mine. I had an instant connection to this lovely older woman, with her blond hair, her lovely face with just the right amount of makeup, and a witchy outfit that belonged on a stage. I knew from the moment I saw her, the late Scarlett Camarari must have designed it. She had designed costumes for Broadway, and in her later years, took up the art here in Cricket. I also knew, from my research, that Henrietta and Scarlett had been best friends.

There was something about Henri’s smile that made me feel accepted. The woman exuded kindness and warmth.

“Thank you so much for bringing it, Henrietta.”

“Oh, please call me Henri,” she insisted. “No one calls me Henrietta but my accountant, and he’s an old fart.”

I sniggered and knew I liked this woman.

I turned to the guys and introduced them. They each shook her hand, then we all grabbed chairs and sat around her at the table. Her friends seemed to know we were having a short meeting, so they graciously left us to it.

“This means a lot to us,” I told her, trying to make myself comfortable while sitting next to her. I couldn’t wait to hear more about her family, and I could tell the guys were just as anxious.

“So, what’s this all about, exactly?” Henri asked. “You mentioned something about my grandmother Chantel. What did you want to know about her?”

“Let’s start with how many children she had. And were they boys or girls?” I decided to get right to the main question.

Her face brightened, like she was happy to share this information. “I know she had three children, two girls and a boy.”

I instantly felt as though we were on the right track here.

“Did they all make it to adulthood?” Bram asked, totally interested in what she had to say.

We all were.

“Well, my mom certainly did, or I wouldn’t be here,” she said, chuckling. “And my uncle Hank died on the beach in Normandy, during World War II.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Vince offered, leaning in so he didn’t have to shout over the voices and music in the hall. “A brave man, to be sure.”

A wide grin stretched on her pink, glossy lips. “I don’t know how brave he was, but the poor boy was just twenty years old. I only met him once, when I was too young to remember him, but I do. He had kind, sea-blue eyes and could make me laugh. He always brought me an apple whenever he visited. It’s those kinds of things you never forget.”

She had kind, sea-blue eyes as well, and I would never forget her either.

“What about the other daughter? Whatever happened to her?” I asked, hoping this would be the information that would lead us to Carrie Ann’s true identity.

“And what was her name?” Vince asked, anxiously waiting for her response. He looked intense and nervous at the same time. Still incredibly handsome though, despite his chalky skin color.

She turned and opened the large Bible on the table in front of her. It had all sorts of yellowed papers stuffed inside. At first glance, it looked more like a journal, rather than a Bible, but when she flipped through the pages, I saw the text, and it was absolutely the Bible.

“Let’s see if I can find the document with all the full names and dates.” She flipped through the pages. “My mother called her Matty, so I never knew her real name.”

Henri’s fingers were as nimble as a woman’s half her age. No sign of arthritis nor were there any dark spots. Just a diamond the size of Texas and a pinky ring with a sapphire bigger than the diamond, and I noticed a matching large sapphire, encircled in diamonds that hung from a thick golden chain around her neck. The woman had exquisite taste in jewelry.

“Here it is,” she said, holding up the delicate slip of paper. “According to this, Chantel and Sven Darling had three children: Hendrik, that’s my uncle Hank, Gertrude or Gert, my dear sweet mother, and Matilda, that was her name. Aunt Matilda, who disappeared way before I was born. I think my mom wasn’t even ten yet.”

“Matilda disappeared?” I asked. I could hardly believe this news. I had to control my excitement. I could tell the guys were excited as well. “How did she disappear? Do you know?”

Henri shook her head. “That was always a mystery in our family, and my grandmother didn’t like to talk about it. According to my mother, who was the oldest sibling, she simply walked off one day when she was around three, and they never found her. Everyone looked for her, even the police, but she never turned up. My mother told me that my grandmother never gave up hope. I personally think she either died somewhere, or someone took her. She was a cute little thing.”

“Did someone tell you she was cute? How do you know?” Vince asked. I knew he wanted as much information as he could get.

“Because I have a picture of her,” she said and handed it to me. As soon as I saw the black and white photo of a smiling toddler with golden locks and a frilly little dress, I knew I was staring at Carrie Ann Stoker, the girl trapped inside Stoker House. We already had a picture of her as a young girl, and from what I could tell, these two pictures were of the same child, only at different ages.

I passed the cracked photo to the guys and as each of them gazed down at her, I saw the terrible sadness on their faces for this once-happy little girl.

“Why did you think someone took her?” Vince wanted to know. We were all mesmerized by what Henri was saying.

“Because my mother said that on the day Matty disappeared, she and my mother were fighting over a doll. My mother thought that Matty had gone somewhere to hide it but then got lost coming back. She liked to hide things that she wanted, and she really wanted that doll. They were dirt poor. Sweets and toys were a luxury. Matty liked to hide things like that. My mother sometimes cried over the story, until she stopped talking about Matty altogether. Why do you want to know about her? What made you so curious? Did someone find her remains?”

I reached out and touched Henri’s arm. “We think Matty or Matilda might be Carrie Ann Stoker. That Boris and Carmen Stoker kidnapped Matilda and locked her up in her playroom when her mom, Chantel, came looking for her. Carrie Ann kept a journal, and we found it. She had memories of a woman with blond hair who played with her and was kind to her.”

Henri’s eyes filled with tears. “Both my mother and my grandmother were blondes, just like me. If this is true, it would mean so much to me and my family.”

“Carrie Ann had blond hair, while both her so-called parents had black hair, like me,” Vince said. “I think my ancestors kidnapped her.”

I knew Vince said he didn’t care that his relatives were murderers, but I think this version made it even worse for him. Now that he was talking to Henri, a relative of Matilda, I knew he struggled with all this information.

“Is it true that she haunts Stoker House,” Henri asked. “Have you seen her?”

“Yes, it’s absolutely true,” I said, while holding her hand.

“Can I come by and talk to her?”

I wasn’t expecting that response.

“Of course. Anytime,” Vince told her. “Now that we know the truth, I think she’d love it.”

Vince had already made up his mind, and I suppose we all had. Carrie Ann Stoker was in fact Matilda Darling.

But who were the other ghosts that haunted the house? Would we ever know who they were?

“How about Saturday night, after the casket races?” she asked, looking as though she meant it. “The race ends in front of the Stoker House, so it’ll make it easy on everyone.”

I didn’t know if it was safe to bring anyone else into that house after we learned there was another, more threatening ghost haunting the place. However, Vince had other plans.

“Sure, that will work,” he said. “We’ll make hot cocoa.”

“Sounds like a plan,” she said. “If everything you say is true, and Carrie Ann or Matilda has haunted Stoker House long enough, it’s time to send her home to her family. Plus, I’d really like to meet her.”

I didn’t know whether I should tell her or not, but I thought whenever we smelled roses in the house, that was Chantel, her grandmother, looking for Matilda.

“Henri, one more question. Do you, by any chance, know what Chantel’s favorite scent was? I know that’s a crazy question, but I have my reasons for asking.” I wanted an answer before I got her hopes up about her grandmother.

“That’s easy. Roses. They both loved roses.”

I swear to God, my whole body shook from that answer.

TWENTY MINUTES LATER, we entered Stoker house once again. He couldn’t wait to confront Carrie Ann with everything we’d learned.

“Should we lower the lights or something? Sit around a table? Play scary music?” Vince asked with all the seriousness of an undertaker.

“I think we should just head on up to the playroom?” Bram said, getting to the heart of the matter.

“Bram is right. She’s stuck there. It’s where you two found her journal,” Freddie explained as he slipped out of his black overcoat. “I think we should confront her there.”

We all took off our coats and hung them on hooks near the front door. The guys slipped out of their suitcoats and made their shirts more comfortable. I was stuck in my dress, but I did slip my heels off, which felt like heaven.

“At least it’s not raining tonight,” Bram said, and not two seconds after he said it, lightning flashed against the windows, and thunder shook the house. I jumped with a little yelp, while the guys took it as a matter of course.

“Whoa, that was too weird,” Freddie said, looking much comfier now that his shirt collar was open, and he’d pulled it out of his pants. He still had the fake bloody gashes on his throat, which looked creepy, and the rest of us still wore our makeup.

We needed a group shower in the worst way, but first, we were determined to deal with Carrie Ann.

“It’s fall in Cricket. It rains almost every night,” Vince reminded us, as he raked her fingers through his hair.

I felt better about entering the house again now that we knew more about the ghost. I knew it didn’t mean anything, but I somehow felt as though Carrie Ann, or rather Matilda, would like us all to visit her with the news.

“One thing we shouldn’t forget,” I said as we walked up the stairs in single file. “There’s also that malevolent ghost inhabiting this house. We don’t know whether it’s a man or a woman, but either way, the voice sounds as if it could be the devil himself.”

“I suspect it’s either Boris or Carmen guarding Carrie Ann, keeping her from experiencing anything good,” Bram said. “Getting rid of that ghost might be a challenge.”

“Don’t even say things like that out loud,” Vince scolded. “That thing might hear you and figure out a way to hang around.”

“I think it’s already figured that out,” I told him. “But maybe if Carrie Ann accepts her true identity, she can help get rid of whatever demon that might be.”

“I like that idea, Luna. We’ll pit the ghosts against each other. Like some kind of war of the ghosts,” Vince said, sounding a bit happier about this whole thing.

We barely made it to the top of the steps when a cool breeze swept through the hallway, and the lights flickered. This time, the air felt heavy, like it took effort to breathe.

“Not again,” Freddie whined. “I’ll grab some flashlights and headlamps just in case.”

He hustled back down the stairs as the lights went out completely, and the playroom door slammed shut. For a moment, we were in complete darkness, and I swore something touched my head. I jumped right into Bram’s arms, who tapped his flashlight on his phone so we could see until Freddie returned.

“Looks like that evil bully wants us the hell out of here,” Bram said. “This could get ugly. Are we sure it’s worth it?”

Yeah, I was crazy scared.

Yeah, I didn’t like any of this, but there were things that needed to be done… needed to be said.

Vince lit up the dark hallway with his phone, then opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off.

“Yes, it’s worth it. I don’t care how ugly it gets,” I said, without giving it another thought. “We’re not going anywhere until we talk to Carrie Ann. She needs to know the truth.”