Haunting at High Tide Read online

  She stared at me like I was an idiot. "Listen. Tomorrow is Halloween and you can't just go doing what you've been doing on the biggest night of the year. Yes, we are pulling out our A-Game. Because that is what we do. Act like professionals. Especially since we are going to take all of your customers both from the tour and the bakery." But she interrupted herself, distracted, as Ralph fiddled with the lid to sneak a peek at the cake. "Ooo! What is that for?" Madison asked. I think she might have been starving herself to fit into that sexy pirate outfit, because she honed in on that cake like a heat-seeking missile. "I mean, I don't eat that much sugar but... well... it smells really good..."

  "Paige's granny made me a little gift," he said, lifting the cake so we could all admire it. His eyes twinkled with anticipation. "Celebrating that the inspector is coming in and things are moving forward with the sale."

  Trying to tamp down her hunger, Madison became surly. "She should have made one for the inspector," Madison sniffed. "Bribing you does nothing."

  I rolled my eyes. "She was just doing something nice."

  Tango made his way back to the counter. He saw the cake, and I guess it was cheat day on his fitness regimen, because he asked. "You gonna share that or what?" It came out as more of a demand than a question.

  But Ralph carefully put the cake back in the box. "Not a chance."

  "Really?" Tango challenged, as if he couldn't believe Ralph's selfishness.

  "I have a poker game tonight and the fellas are going to be thrilled. Everyone knows Cindy's bakes are the best." He gave me an acknowledging nod. "You're a close second."

  Listen, with an old coot as cranky as Ralph, I would take the compliment.

  Tango's face darkened, but instead of pressing the matter on the cake, he launched back into Ralph about the séance. "Listen, tomorrow is Halloween, and it is the perfect time for another séance. Let me just bring in a group. I'll add another 10% of to your split—"

  I would have sat there eavesdropping some more, but Nate took my elbow and guided me for the door.

  "See you Ralph!" he said, giving a wave.

  I couldn't believe he didn't want to be nosy about all this. As the door shut behind us, I leaned over conspiratorially, "We could have gotten some great inside scoop, Nate! You're never going to succeed as a town gossip if you duck out when the gossip gets good."

  He laughed, brushing back his floppy brown hair as the wind blew it in his eyes. "I think we got all the gossip we need." He glanced over his shoulder. "So Tango is going to try to hold another séance..."

  "And is going all out with extra special effects and stuff?" I shook my head. "As much as I love Johnny, I think that he is going to be in trouble if his tour goes into a head-to-head matchup."

  Nate rubbed his chin. "Well, we could always help."

  "What are you proposing?" I asked, feeling an impish smile inch its way across my face.

  "I mean, with Echo still locked up, there's no one here to maintain his... personal standards."

  "Oh," I replied, thinking it through. "OH! We could, like, come up with some of our own stuff."

  "And I've already got a million ideas!" said Nate.

  My mind started spinning through all the possibilities. Instead of letting Nate bring me to Bitter Beans, I steered him toward Wanda's souvenir shop.

  "Where are we going?" he asked.

  "Well, if anyone can pull this off, it is going to be Granny and her posse." I checked my watch. "She shut up shop for the afternoon, which means it is wine o'clock over at Wanda's place."

  "Lead on!" Nate replied.

  We headed down to Main Street and hung a right. I was happy to see my knowledge of Granny's social habits was finally paying off. She and her posse were gathered around Wanda's till. I couldn't help but smile when we opened the door and discovered Wanda had hooked up Halloween sound effects to her bell. We were greeted by rattling chains and screeches as we walked in.

  The posse turned around to see who it was and then lifted their wine glasses in greeting.

  "Nate! Paige! Welcome to the haunted souvenir shop!" Wanda exclaimed.

  Her store always smelled of potpourri and candles. She had swapped out the more summery scents for cinnamon and spice. There were snarky seasonal souvenirs everywhere you looked. T-shirts that read: I Fall for You with autumn leaves and English Teachers Put a Spell on You with vocabulary words embroidered all over. She had also beefed up her joke section – those dribble wineglasses she had mentioned, rubber rats, and easy magic tricks for the kids.

  "What brings you to this side of Main Street?" she asked.

  "And more importantly, was Ralph impressed with my cake?" Granny added.

  We filled them in on everything, from Echo to Johnny's tours, to Ralph and Tango, and also Ralph's reaction to her cake. I could tell this was the sort of gossip they spent most mornings trying to round up. From their reaction, I think they hit the jackpot. But then, Nate began hatching his plot for helping Johnny out. I could see there were some reservations.

  "Are you sure about this?" Marnie said.

  "It'll be a hoot! A whole entire Haunted Main Street!" said Nate. He pointed to a flyer on Wanda's counter. "We know the kids will be coming through to trick-or-treat. It's part of the annual tradition. Why not push it a little and give them an extra thrill? And make sure any of the visitors on Johnny's tour get to share in that wealth, too? Paige and I can totally pitch in and give you a hand."

  "I do have my craft booth at the festival to man," Marnie pointed out, still not quite onboard.

  "We'll stagger it," Nate suggested, trying to allay any concerns. "Or maybe we can just set up a... web of terror in your yarn store using some old skeins. Something that gets people to your shop and also gives them a little thrill, but you won't have to be there for. We can even have signs pointing them to your craft booth afterward."

  "I'll take care of the booth," said Holly in her gentle voice as she patted Marnie's hand. "The general store is still a mess from the renovations and I don't want the risk of any real blood spilled due to some kid in an active construction site."

  Wanda poured herself another glass from her box of rosé. "Although we could offer a hands-on haunted construction site experience. Get them to pay to swing a hammer for you, Holly!"

  The ladies laughed now that everything was settled, and Granny rapped her knuckles on the counter. "I, for one, love it," said Granny. "Consider me sold! Tomorrow, we are going to make sure all of Main Street is in the Halloween spirit!"

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Johnny stood at the surf shack, which was covered in cobwebs. He gave Nate and me a great big thumbs up. All of his snorkels and fins were dressed up like spooky Halloween creatures. He, himself, had dressed up like a sea creature, dripping with green netting to look like seaweed and algae.

  Nate planted a kiss on my cheek. "Okay, I'll start getting everyone ready on Main Street. I'll text you if we need to slow things down or speed things up."

  "Perfect!" I said.

  He dashed up the hill as the crowd continued to gather around Johnny's shop. There were families and their kids all lined up after getting off the ferry and seeing sandwich board signs that read, "Haunted Main Street Trick-or-Treat Tour."

  But then I got a twitch in between my shoulder blades, like I could feel someone staring at me. I glanced over. I realized Madison was standing at the top of the road, dressed in her pirate-princess-about-to-invade-a-frat-party uniform, glaring at us. She seemed to be pretty darn miffed over the massive crowd we had gathered. I gave her a friendly little finger wave.

  I know it was petty to want to take her down, but it sure felt good.

  Her eyes narrowed even further, and then with a huff, she snapped her bedazzled eye patch into place, flicked her long ponytail over her shoulder, and marched away.

  I smiled.

  I really loved it when I could get under her skin.

  I walked back to Johnny. He wiggled his tentacle fingers at me he had built out of ol
d respirator hoses. "Ready, Paige?"

  "Abso-booooo-tly!" I replied, wiggling my fingers back at him.

  He turned to his crowd of witches and goblins. "Ladies and Gentleghouls!" There was a titter through the crowd. "I welcome you to our Halloween haaaaunted tour of Main Street! Tonight, we shall guide you through the streets of this historic town, filling you in on all of the local legends and lore." He spun quickly and pointed at someone in the crowd, causing her to squeal. "Are you ready?" He held up his hands. "Bring everything with you! We will be traveling through this maze of mayhem, to your fiiinal destination... the Halloween Festival!"

  It was a rowdy bunch and they cheered and hollered as we climbed the hill. I took up the rear to keep the stragglers moving along. As we reached the street, I spotted Nate over by Wanda's door and smiled. He gave me a little nod, acknowledging we were headed his way, and then stepped surreptitiously over to Yvonne's Café to warn her she was up next.

  Johnny led the group to the souvenir shop and they all quieted down to hear what he had to say. "First stop, Witch Wanda has a trove of treasures she has pulled out from the shipwrecks that have washed upon our shores."

  I was glad that the truth police weren't out to fact check us. The only thing to wash up on Wanda's shore was imports trucked across on the ferry.

  Wanda stepped out from her shop with a rumble of thunder and a cloud of smoke from one of her theatrical smoke machines. Her purple hair was covered in green glitter and tucked beneath a black pointed witch's hat. She held a broomstick and pointed it threateningly at some of the children as haunting music played behind her. She broke character, though, when one little girl dressed like a kitten got scared.

  "There! There, Melody! It's just me! Regular ol' Wanda!" she soothed, crouching down to her level. She pulled out a candy bar as Melody's parents laughed and picked up their daughter, explaining to her that it was all pretend. The candy bar seemed to help a lot, though.

  Seeing that Melody was okay, Wanda snapped back into character for the rest of the crew. "Come, my pretties..." she cackled, drawing them over to her front door, "And hear the tale of the witch of Seaside!"

  We stepped inside and she spun a tale about the sea witch who captured people and the only way they could communicate was in the pithy sayings printed out on the t-shirts and objects in her shop. I noticed a couple of parents spot some things that needed to come home with them, and they piled up their treasures on the wrap counter for later. Wanda followed up her story time by handing out seashells with "Seaside" sandblasted into the top, and said they had been etched by Poseidon's own trident.

  Everyone laughed and giggled. They were having a great time.

  We worked our way down Main Street. Yvonne was handing out hot cider in little paper cups for anyone who wanted a taste. Johnny paused in front of Trevor's saloon to give a rundown on all of the stuff that went down there. I could tell that Madison was still mad at us, because all the signage went out like a cranky person who flips off the lights on trick-or-treaters. But instead of it dissuading Johnny, he spun it into a tale of how ghosts like to mess with your electricity and they were clearly now haunting Trevor's saloon. I had to hand it to my buddy, he might not be that great at thinking in a straight line, but he was awesome at thinking on the fly.

  Speaking of flies, we paused in front of Marnie's yarn shop. Sure enough, she had draped the whole thing like one gigantic spider web. We paused. Nate was working the door and allowed each member of the tour to climb inside, having to weave their way through the web without being "caught" in order to get a treat from Marnie at the far end, and then Johnny and I guided them over to Bitter Beans to wait. I gave Nate's hand a grateful squeeze as the last person headed in, but he decided to steal a kiss in the shadows as his payment, instead. I guess we all get our treats.

  I smiled as I walked the last person into Bitter Beans. Granny had transformed it into a steampunky mad scientist laboratory. Richard, with his neat brill-creamed hair and waxed mustache, met us at the door in a lab coat. He gave me a wink as he held out a tray of free coffee and treat samples. I don't know where she hauled it out from, but Granny had found a Van de Graaff generator and everyone had an opportunity to touch the silver ball and cause their hair to stand on end from the static electricity. And for those who had opted out or finished their turn, they seemed to be enjoying a little time away from the October chill. I was even happy to see a bunch of people were even lined up to buy something fancier from the bakery case. My eyes just about fell out of my head when I saw what Granny had done. She had recreated the orange and chocolate cake she had made for Ralph. And in a feat of genius engineering, she had gotten a magnetic stand that floated the plate and caused the cake to levitate.

  Nate entered to see how fast we were moving and stepped up beside me. "I think we're a hit."

  "Echo is probably turning in his cot over this blasphemy," I giggled.

  When things began to wind down, he headed over to warn Tim at the bait shop that we were on our way, leaving us to gather the group. We trooped down the last of the boardwalk. Tim had set up a painted cardboard wall that looked like a pond and everyone had a chance to fish for a prize. We only had one more stop before dropping off everyone at the Halloween festival, and that was the Grand Hotel. Johnny led us through the alley, showing off the grody backside of all the shops on Main Street. He spun a tale about the apocalypse and warned everyone to watch out for zombies. And then I realized he had created some zombie scarecrows out of old clothes and tucked them here and there so it looked like they were climbing out of the dumpsters.

  We passed by the hardware store. Ralph's place wasn't open, but he had decided to use some sound effects of a chainsaw, which Johnny wove into a tale of "The Haunted Builder" who would come to your house and undo all the work so that construction was never on time and always over budget.

  Over at the Grand Hotel, Johnny launched into a spiel about the ghosts of guests past who haunted the hotel's halls before touring us through the garden. It was lit with lanterns and led to one of the members of the desk staff in the wedding pagoda who was handing out treats.

  As Johnny announced the end of the tour, he was met with a wild cheer. It had been a rousing success. Everyone was smiling and happy as he led the group up to the fairgrounds for the Halloween festival. We waved them a fond farewell.

  "That was amazing," Nate commented as the last of the group disappeared into the night. "People are going to be talking about this for years."

  I gazed up at him, my heart so overflowing with love and pride, I thought it was going to pop with happiness. "Yeah, they are. And you made it all happen."

  Nate's eyes were so soft and tender. It felt like we were the only two people in the world. He lifted his forefinger to my jaw and tilted my chin up. Slowly, he lowered his mouth towards mine. I could smell the cedar and sage of his cologne mixing with the salty sea air of the island.

  When suddenly, a police cruiser sped towards us, the lights flashing. Nate grabbed my hand and we leaped back as it screeched to a halt. Keeping me behind him, he stepped forward as Fred exited the car.

  "Are we too late?" he asked, his tall, lanky frame throwing off long shadows on the road.

  "What?" Nate asked, confused.

  Fred walked to the back door of the cruiser and opened it up. Echo stepped out. He seemed a little dazed, but there was also an urgent energy to him.

  "It wasn't right," Fred said, almost trembling with anger as he explained it to Nate and me. "This was Echo's night and... and it wasn't right that he was stuck in a cell when this was his BIG NIGHT." He turned to Echo and shook his hand like he was in the presence of a hero. "And I just want to take this opportunity to say thank you for contacting my auntie from beyond the grave, for delivering that message. We never should have arrested you and I, for one, am sorry."

  But just then, Stan came waddling down the road from the direction of the fairgrounds. "Fred! What in tarnation are you doing freeing a convicted vandal in a
place where there are families?"

  Fred pointed his finger at Stan. I don't know what went down between him and Echo, but a line had been drawn in the sand. "He hasn't even been charged yet, Stan. You know it and I know it. But you don't know what you're talking about when you try to tie this person to a criminal act. This upstanding young man did nothing." Fred's voice trembled and cracked. "And my dead auntie traveled through time and space to speak through him and she told me so. SHE TOLD ME SO, Stan. Don't go messing with the dead. I won't let you do it."

  Stan threw up his hands like he couldn't believe Fred. "There goes my promotion!"

  But Echo seemed totally fine with whatever was unfolding in front of us. He ran over to Nate and me. "Okay. Am I too late? Where's the tour? I can pick it up wherever Johnny is. Or hold a late tour. Tell me what I need to do."

  Nate's brow furrowed and he pointed over to the fairground. "You're too late. The tour is over."

  "NOOO!" shouted Echo toward the sky. "How the heck am I supposed to pay rent without this stupid tour gig??"

  But suddenly, Trevor came running at us. He was still wearing his bloody makeup and torn up shirt. Scared the bejezus out of me coming out of the shadows like that.

  "TREVOR! Don't DO that!" Stan said, placing his hand on his heart like he thought he might have a heart attack. "You just about sent me to the great beyond."

  Fred stepped forward, swallowing. "I, for one, would not shirk from such a fate," he admitted seriously. He blinked back the tears. "If nothing more than to spend another delightful day on my auntie's farm. She's up there, slopping the pigs and cuddling the baby chickens... and I could be there, too..."

  Trevor bent over to catch his breath, and I saw Madison and Lottie walking up the hill to join us.

  "What's going on?" I asked, concerned.

  Madison flicked one of her long, pointy nails in Lottie's direction. "I told Lottie to come out to cover our Halloween tour, and Tango flippin' stood us up."