Black Cat Weekly #49

Chapter 6

byDetective Joan Stanley wished that she could sleep through October 31st every year rather than having to deal with the Halloween madness that descended on her small town. She had survived the previous night’s chaos, but here it was 10:30 the next morning and she hadn’t slept a wink all night.

The calls had started a little after nightfall and not let up until the early hours of the morning. Pumpkins smashed out on Route 21…cars egged at the mall…even a late-night report of a ghost sighting not far from where she had just parked her cruiser after getting a desperate call from her Aunt Tilly.

Joan rubbed her eyes and wished she had a double espresso as she entered her aunt’s bungalow.

Seemingly out of nowhere, her aunt appeared, wringing her hands and babbling under her breath. “Oh, Joanie,” she blurted out, “I’m so glad you’re here. I’ve been worried sick.”

Joan took her aunt’s trembling hands. “Now, Aunt Tilly, just calm down for a second and tell me what’s wrong.”

“It’s Susan.”

“Where is she?” said Joan.

“That’s what has me so worried,” said Tilly, a tear forming at the edge of her eye. “I don’t know where she is, and I can’t contact her.”

“Susan’s a big girl, a college woman,” said Joan, still hoping to calm down her aunt. ”I’m sure everything’s okay.”

“You don’t understand, dear,” said Tilly. “Susan’s theater group finished their final performance last night after a week-long run. She planned to get a good night’s sleep, then drive home from the University early this morning.”

“That’s it then,” said a relieved Joan. “She just overslept this morning and will be home any time now. It’s only about a two-hour drive.”

Tilly sank into an overstuffed couch. “When I couldn’t get her on her cellphone—the number kept going to voice mail—I called her roommate.”

“And?”

“Kate said that Susan hadn’t returned to their dorm after the play, and while we were talking, she looked out the window and Susan’s car was sitting in the lot.”

Joan didn’t want to upset her aunt further, but she was getting an uneasy feeling. With Susan’s car still at school, she didn’t need to check for auto accidents on the two-lane state road that ran between their town and the University. Still, her law enforcement gene was telling her something was wrong.

“Perhaps Susan decided to spend some time with a friend and plans to check in later,” tried Joan.

Tilly shook her head. “I don’t think so. She had a big day planned with her boyfriend, Devin. They made reservations several weeks ago for lunch at that new restaurant across town. She’s been talking my ear off about it.”

“Have you contacted Devin? Maybe he knows something.”

Tilly seemed at the point of total collapse. “I called Devin as soon as I hung up from Kate. He hadn’t talked with Susan since before the performance last night and has gotten only her voice mail this morning.”

Trying to gather her thoughts, Joan walked to a window that faced her aunt’s backyard. When she spotted the large barn that sat toward the back of the property, the same barn around which the terror-struck neighbor had sworn she saw a ghostly figure floating in the wee hours that morning, Joan asked, “What was the play Susan appeared in?”

“One based on Bram Stocker’s Dracula,” said Tilly, a bemused look on her face. “She had the starring role of Mina.”

Joan smiled. “I don’t think there’s a ghost of a chance that anything’s wrong.”

What has Joan figured out?

When Joan heard that Susan had starred as Mina, things fell into place. She led her aunt to the barn where they found Susan, still in her white gowned costume, sound asleep on a pile of hay. Awake, Susan explained that after the play she had decided to drive back home that night. When her car wouldn’t start, she hitched a ride with another performer who had a long drive home and had to leave campus immediately. When she got home, it was so late that she didn’t want to scare her mother and decided to sleep in the barn as she had many times growing up. Exhausted, she turned off her phone and fell into a deep sleep.