Zoe Donovan Mystery: Haunted Hamlet Part 7

"Are you planning to come to the library for the Halloween party tomorrow?" Hazel asked me. "Your mom will be reading to the preschoolers from our selection of seasonal favorites."

"I'd like to come if I can work it out. What time is it?"

"We'll start at ten and be done by noon. We spent the day decorating the children's room, and a couple of our volunteers are bringing cupcakes."

"Can I bring Charlie?"

"Certainly, if you'd like."

Charlie was spending more time at home now that I lived with Zak and Bella, but I still tried to bring him into town with me as often as was convenient. Charlie enjoyed hanging out with the dog Zak had adopted in July, when her human was forced to move to a retirement community, but he loved kids, and I knew he'd be thrilled to attend the party at the library.

"So how did everything work out with Ellie and the pup?" Pappy joined the conversation. I'd mentioned to him the previous evening that we were making the trip down the mountain to look into adopting a German shepherd.

"It went really well. We haven't introduced him to Charlie and Bella yet, but I'm sure they'll all get along great, as long as poor Charlie doesn't get trampled on."

While Charlie weighs less than forty pounds, Shep probably weighs close to a hundred, and Bella, a golden retriever/Newfoundland mix, weighs close to one-fifty.

"Your dad has big dogs and Charlie does fine," Pappy told me.

"That's true, but Shep is a puppy, and a bit more energetic than Dad's dogs."

My dad and mom have three dogs between them. Tucker, a golden retriever, had been with Dad since he was a pup. He's getting on in years and tends to enjoy sleeping the day away about as much as anything. Last October, I talked Dad into adopting a yellow lab whose owner also had to move to an a.s.sisted living facility. Kiva has a bit more energy than Tucker but likewise is happy to lounge for much of the day. The third dog in the family, Sophie, is a rescue my mom fell in love with while pet sitting for me during the time I brought the pregnant terrier to the boathouse to have her pups.

"I'm glad the adoption worked out. Poor Ellie has had a rough time as of late," Hazel added.

"Yeah, it's been a tough few months. She did manage not only to get a puppy but a date out of the excursion to Peter Darwin's ranch, though."

I filled the others in on the chemistry I sensed between Ellie and Peter, and the date they'd set up.

"Good for her," Nick said, joining the conversation. "Peter Darwin is a good guy."

"You know him?" I asked.

"We have some friends in common, so we've played golf a few times."

"Did you know he was a counselor at Star Lake when the camp was open?" I asked.

"No, I don't know that he's ever mentioned it."

"He has a photo of a group of counselors in his office. You know who else was a counselor at the same time? Adam Davenport," I supplied without waiting for an answer.

"Our parapsychologist?" Pappy asked.

"One and the same. Peter told me he only worked at the camp for one summer, but Adam came back every summer until it closed down. I spoke to a man who goes by the name of Puk today. He's another friend of Peter's. He was hired on at the camp the same year Peter was, but he stayed with the program until they shut down. He had some interesting things to say about what went on the night those kids died."

Nick moved forward so that he was barely still on the chair he was sitting on. "Do tell. What did he say?"

I took a sip of my wine and settled in for the interesting tale. It was nice to have all eyes in the room on me as Nick, Pappy, and Hazel waited for me to continue.

"According to Puk, Davenport told him that strange things happened at the Henderson house that night. Davenport was there, one of the few who survived. It seems the survivors all swore never to tell anyone what actually happened at the party, so Puk didn't have a lot of details. He did say that he knew the name of one other counselor who was in the house that night."

"Someone we might know?" Pappy asked.

"His name is Griff Longiness. He moved away after the incident but came back to Ashton Falls last year."

"Odd that he'd move back to the very place where something so terrifying occurred," Pappy pointed out.

"Yeah, I thought the same thing, which makes him suspect number one in Davenport's death, as far as I'm concerned."

Chapter 7.

Thursday, October 23

After spending the morning at the Zoo, digging through the mountain of paperwork on my desk, I called Zak and asked if he and Bella would like to join Charlie and me for lunch in the park. It was another in a string of gorgeous autumn days and it seemed a waste to remain indoors for even one more minute. Jeremy and Tiffany seemed to have things handled at the Zoo, so it was the perfect time to spend the afternoon with my man.

"I'm glad you suggested this," Zak said as he unpacked the sandwiches and soup he'd picked up from Ellie's. "You've been so busy that I've barely seen you."

"I know." I slid onto one of the picnic benches in the sun. "I need to try to focus my energy a little better. I totally missed the Halloween party at the library, which I told Hazel I'd try to attend."

"You have a lot going on right now," Zak sympathized. "Is everything set for the opening of Haunted Hamlet tonight?"

"Almost. I need to buy some candy for the kiddie carnival. I thought I'd stop at the market after we finish here."

"Bella and I will come with you," Zak offered. "What kind of candy are you thinking?"

I shrugged. "I need several thousand pieces since we're giving it out to the children who don't win bigger prizes. I was thinking maybe bubble gum or suckers; the type of thing that comes a hundred to a bag and only costs a few bucks."

Zak frowned. "You can't give a kid a single stick of gum as a prize. Let's get candy bars. Full-size Milky Ways, Snickers, and Twix. I'll donate them."

"Buying several thousand full-size candy bars will cost a fortune."

Zak smiled. "I just happen to have one."

"Okay." I shrugged. "But as long as we're buying candy bars, we need to get Baby Ruths and b.u.t.terfingers. They're my favorites. And the local market may not have the inventory we need. You may need to run down to the grocery warehouse in Bryton Lake."

"Let's check with Ernie first. If he has what we need, I'd rather buy locally. Is there anything else we need for the carnival as long as we're going to the store?"

Charlie looked at Zak and barked.

"I think Charlie wants to remind us that we're out of dog biscuits." I laughed.

"Don't worry." Zak scratched his head. "I won't forget the dog treats."

"Maybe we should have a selection of treats for any dogs that show up at the carnival with their humans," I said. Normally, I wouldn't go to the expense for such a well-attended event, but as long as we were spending Zak's money . . .

"Speaking of treats, I volunteered to work at the snack bar tomorrow afternoon," Zak informed me.

"Ellie wants us to join her and Peter for the haunted hayride. What time will you be done?"

"No later than five. I should be done in plenty of time to meet you guys. Is Levi joining us?"

"Probably. I invited him. I just hope it isn't weird for everyone to get together so early in Ellie's new relationship."

"You think there is a relationship?" Zak asked.

"I don't know for sure, but there was definite sparkage, so maybe. This soup is really good. It sort of tastes like a loaded baked potato."

"Ellie gave me a taste when I picked up the sandwiches. I thought you'd like it, so I asked her to add some to my order. She threw in a couple of pumpkin cookies as well."

"I'm glad we decided to do this." I smiled. "It's nice to take a short breather before I tackle the rest of the day."

"Is there anything else I can help you with other than the candy?" Zak asked.

"I made an appointment to talk to Griff Longiness at three. It would be great if you could come along for the interview."

"I thought you were going to stay away from the investigation into Adam Davenport's death."

"I am. It's just that the more I find out about the events that occurred at the Henderson house, the more curious I become. A group of counselors go to a deserted house to party, three turn up dead and one goes missing, and the cops are never able to piece together who was in attendance and what happened that night. It sounds like the plot for a horror movie."

"So you aren't investigating Adam Davenport's death, but you are investigating the deaths of the counselors thirteen years ago."

"Exactly. Will you help?"

Zak shrugged. "Sure; why not?"

"Maybe we should drop the dogs off at home before we head to the store," I said. "We can buy the candy, deliver it to the community center, and go to talk to Griff."

"Sounds like a date," Zak agreed.

"So what did you think?" I asked Zak as we strolled hand in hand through the pumpkin patch after meeting with Griff Longiness. I had volunteered to carve some pumpkins for the pumpkin walk that weekend and I'd never gotten around to buying any. Since I had Zak to help me, it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

"I think Griff is a man with a secret," Zak said as we searched the colorful hillside for perfect gourds.

"Yeah, I got the same feeling. On the surface, he seemed to be willing to discuss what occurred that night, but there were a lot of holes in his story." I picked up a pumpkin and turned it in my hands to check for roundness.

"It was almost as if he fed us exactly what he wanted us to know," Zak speculated. "His answers to our questions seemed almost rehea.r.s.ed."

"In retrospect, maybe we should have just popped in on him rather than giving him time to plan a strategy. Still, I think the interview was worthwhile."

One of the more useful pieces of information Griff had shared was the ident.i.ty of the other people present at the Henderson house that night. There were eight counselors in addition to Griff Longiness: Adam Davenport, who died in the house a few days ago; George Hingleman, who was. .h.i.t by a car and died the night of the party; Drake Bollington, who moved from the area and, as far as Griff knew, had never returned; Carol Overall, who died after being hit in the head by a flying object; Rachael Jolie, who died after falling down the stairs; Dawn Highlander, who still lived in the area; Marie Good, who had since moved; and Bart Coleman, who'd disappeared that night and had never been seen again. The deputy who investigated the deaths believed that Bart killed George, Carol, and Rachael, and then took off, but Griff seemed to indicate there was more to the story than anyone really knew, although he was unwilling to go into much detail.

"I was thinking, now that we have the names of the survivors, we should try to interview the others." I set the pumpkin I'd been holding in the wagon Zak pulled behind him to carry the ones we selected.

"Of the original nine counselors at the Henderson house that night, five are still alive. We already talked to Griff, so that leaves Drake Bollinger, Marie Good, Dawn Highlander, and Bart Coleman. No one knows where Bart is or if he's even still alive, so we should start with one of the other three."

"We know Dawn is still in the area. I guess we can start with her," Zak suggested.

"Should we go now?" I asked.

Zak shrugged. "Might as well. I'll pay for these and you can grab us some cider for the road."

Ordinarily, I'd be less than certain that we could get a witness to discuss such a horrific night, but Dawn had a crush on Zak, who tended to come into the diner on a regular basis, so I was certain if he asked nicely she'd willingly do whatever he requested. The minute we revealed the purpose of his invitation to share a cup of coffee with us, Dawn's face turned from sunny and slightly flushed to clouded and cautious.

"I'm not sure I can tell you anything you don't already know," she offered hesitantly.

Zak smiled at her. "We understand that the event was very traumatic for you, and it's been a very long time. We hoped that you could simply verify some things we've already learned from other sources."

Dawn relaxed a bit. "Oh, okay. I guess that would be fine."

"Why don't you just start by telling us what you remember?" Zak suggested.

Dawn fidgeted around in the booth a bit before settling in to tell us her story. "One of the other counselors, Rachael Jolie, told me that one of the guys she'd hung out with that afternoon had scored some pot and a group of them were going to some old abandoned house to smoke it. She asked me if I wanted to come along." Dawn looked down at her hands, which were folded in her lap. "I was a big partier back then, so I went. I've regretted that decision every day of my life."

"We've all done things we regret," I shared in an attempt to lighten the mood. Dawn seemed nervous about admitting her role in the affair, and I guess I didn't blame her. "I think sometimes it's our mistakes that make us better people in the long run."

Dawn looked up. She seemed relieved that we weren't there to judge her.

"Okay, so you went to the house with Rachael," Zak said to get her to continue.

Dawn looked at Zak. "When Rachael and I arrived at the house, there were seven other counselors, plus the girlfriend of one of the guys."

"Girlfriend?" I asked. "Do you remember her name?"

"No. We didn't speak to each other that night and we haven't spoken since, although I think she might have been from Bryton Lake."

Griff hadn't mentioned a girlfriend or anyone else other than the nine counselors.

"Do you know who she was with?" I asked.

"No, I'm sorry. I don't really remember. The whole night is sort of a blur."

Dawn sat back in the booth and looked out the window. She seemed to be lost in thought, which I suppose I understood, given the questions we were asking.

"You're doing great," Zak said. "What happened next?"

"It was cold out, so one of the others suggested that we head upstairs to the second floor, where there was a decent-looking fireplace already filled with wood."