Murderously Sweet Read online

  Murderously Sweet

  A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery

  by

  Kate Bell

  Copyright © 2017 by Kate Bell. All rights reserved. This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination, or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author or publisher.

  Other books by Kate Bell

  Apple Pie A La Murder,

  A Cozy Baked Murder, Book 1

  Trick or Treat and Murder,

  A Cozy Baked Murder, Book 2

  Thankfully Dead

  A Cozy Baked Murder, Book 3

  Candy Cane Killer

  A Cozy Baked Murder, Book 4

  Ice Cold Murder

  A Cozy Baked Murder, Book 5

  Love is Murder

  A Cozy Baked Murder, Book 6

  Strawberry Surprise Killer

  A Cozy Baked Murder, Book 7

  Pushing Up Daisies in Grady,

  A Gracie Williams Mystery, Book 1

  Kicked the Bucket in Grady,

  A Gracie Williams Mystery, Book 2

  Candy Coated Murder

  A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, Book 1

  Murderously Sweet

  A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, Book 2

  Books by Kathleen Suzette

  Clam Chowder and a Murder

  A Rainey Daye Cozy Mystery, book 1

  Short Stack and a Murder

  A Rainey Daye Cozy Mystery, book 2

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Author’s Note

  Chapter One

  “Let the murders begin!”

  My head jerked around to see who had shouted. Two teenagers ran toward the entrance to the corn maze, laughing and screaming. I smiled and breathed in deeply. Everything was fine. Hazel Martin’s killer was behind bars and the Halloween season would go on as planned.

  “You aren’t scared of a little corn maze, are you?” a voice said close to my ear.

  I squealed and jumped, spinning around to face whoever had spoken.

  “Ethan!” I exclaimed. My hair blew across my face and I tucked it back behind my ear.

  “Whoa. Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said, holding the flat of his palms toward me. “Sorry, Mia.” He grinned as he said it, making me think he didn’t mean it.

  I rolled my eyes. “Thanks a lot, Ethan. My blood pressure just shot through the roof.”

  He grinned. “Scaredy cat.”

  “I am not scared, Mr. Police Officer. I was just taking in a lovely sight,” I said, motioning to all the people wandering around the haunted farmhouse with its two frighteningly fun mazes. The three horse-drawn hayrides were just pulling away from the barn and were filled to capacity. “Isn’t it lovely?”

  “It certainly is,” he agreed, looking toward the mazes.

  The haunted farmhouse was one of the most popular attractions Pumpkin Hollow had to offer. The tamer maze was made of bales of straw that boasted wooden pumpkin and ghost cutouts. It was well loved by families with small children.

  The not so tame maze was made from cornstalks. After the corn was harvested and the stalks dried out, trails were plowed through the field. Lurking in its shadows were Freddy Kruger, Michael Myers of horror movie fame, and an assortment of generic ghouls and goblins, ready to jump out and scare the brave souls that dared enter.

  “I was worried we might not have large crowds after what happened to Hazel,” I said. When Hazel Martin was murdered earlier in the season, the business owners worried it would scare tourists off.

  Ethan nodded, his blond hair falling across his forehead. He pushed it back. “It is a pretty wonderful sight. Hazel Martin’s murder didn’t run off the tourists after all.”

  Pumpkin Hollow was a small town that boasted a Halloween theme year-round. But the Halloween season was from Labor Day to mid-November and the town relied on this season to bring in revenue to keep it going.

  “It’s a huge relief,” I said, pushing back my long hair. It was medium brown and I wondered if I should color it orange or green to celebrate the season.

  “Are you going into the corn maze?” he asked. Ethan was a police officer but was off duty and wearing jeans and a black t-shirt. I had to tilt my head up to look him in the eye.

  “Maybe,” I said, looking at the entrance.

  “You’re not scared, are you? Because if you are scared, there’s always the straw maze. I’m sure the kindergartners won’t mind you joining them.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Listen, smarty-pants, I’m not afraid of the corn maze. It’s just kind of crowded in there right now.”

  He chuckled. “I haven’t seen very many people go in there. It’s pretty dark now and the ghouls will come out from the shadows. But don’t be chicken. They don’t bite that hard.”

  I sighed and crossed my arms over my chest, giving him the eye. It had been years since I had been in the corn maze. Ten years to be exact. October of my senior year of high school, I had gone through the corn maze with a group of friends that included a boyfriend who I had felt I was on the verge of breaking up with. The corn maze sealed the deal when he hid behind some corn stalks and jumped out at me, squirting fake blood on my face and blouse. Yeah. That did it for me. I went home with one of my friends and left him behind, refusing to answer his phone calls.

  Ethan tilted his head and looked at me questioningly.

  “Fine. Let’s go through the corn maze,” I said. What could go wrong? I knew most of the actors that played the scary creeps hiding in the maze. It wasn’t like they would hurt me.

  “I knew you’d do it,” he said. “If you get too scared, you can hold my hand.”

  I snorted as we headed toward the entrance. “I don’t think that will be necessary.”

  Ethan and I hadn’t been friends in school. In fact, in the seventh grade he had started a rumor that I had spiders in my hair. Try living that one down in a Halloween town.

  Ethan took out his wallet for the entrance fee and I stuck my hand in my pocket for the money I had stowed there so I wouldn’t have to carry my purse around.

  “I got it,” he said over his shoulder as he handed the zombie at the entrance the money.

  “Oh, you don’t have to do that,” I insisted. It felt a little awkward to have someone I really didn’t know very well pay my entrance fee. I had been away from Pumpkin Hollow for ten years, earning three master’s degrees at the University of Michigan, and had lost contact with most of the kids I knew in high school. After ten years of studying, I still didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life and here I was, back in the small town I thought I had left behind for good.

  “I said I got it,” he said glancing over his shoulder.

  “Thank you,” I said. There was n
o use arguing with him when the police officer in him came out.

  We could hear screams coming from the corn maze and if I was being truthful, I felt a little nervous about the whole thing. It was dumb. There was nothing to worry about, but having someone jump out at you with a chainsaw can be scary even if you know they won’t actually hurt you.

  As we walked down the first path, I heard a growl coming from the stalks of corn. I stepped a little closer to Ethan.

  He chuckled. “I must have left my dog out. He won’t hurt you, though.”

  I took a deep breath and smiled. It was all in fun. Right?

  “What’s that?” I asked, pointing at a hulking figure in the shadows up ahead.

  “Let’s go find out,” he said with a grin.

  There were dim lights put up in the corners of the maze, but large portions of the maze were in complete darkness. I kept my eye on the dark figure as we approached it.

  “Hey buddy, you lost?” Ethan asked it.

  The thing started groaning and swaying back and forth. It was covered in a black cloak and a blank black mask covered its face. I pressed against the walls of the corn maze, hoping it wouldn’t reach out and grab me.

  “Let’s go.”

  The groans got louder. Ethan laughed again and stepped around it.

  As I passed, it reached out and took hold of my wrist. I screamed, jerking my arm away from it. The figure dressed in black screamed along with me, and then broke out in loud cackles.

  I broke into a trot and headed up the path. Ethan brought up the rear, still laughing.

  “Don’t talk to strangers, Mia. It’s stranger danger 101,” he called to me.

  “Yeah, thanks for the advice, Ethan,” I said, trying to control the fear. It was dumb to be scared of this place, but I couldn’t help it. I stopped and let him catch up to me. “This was a bad idea.”

  “It will be fine,” he said when he caught up. “I won’t let them get you. This is what the Halloween season is all about.”

  “I prefer the family-friendly entertainment,” I said. We walked on, turning a corner. A green goblin jumped out at me and I screamed again and ran, dodging him as I passed.

  I heard footsteps running after me and I glanced over my shoulder. It was Ethan and he was still laughing. I slowed to a stop and turned toward him, hands on my hips.

  “What’s so funny? I don’t see anything to laugh about,” I huffed.

  “Honestly, Mia, I didn’t think this was going to be so entertaining.” He bent over and put his hands on his thighs, still laughing and trying to catch his breath.

  “I’m glad someone is enjoying themselves,” I said and turned around and headed down the path. Two teenagers pushed past me, laughing and screaming, and ran up ahead.

  “I’m sorry, Mia, you are correct. This is no laughing matter,” Ethan said, trying to sound serious. He straightened up and caught up to me.

  I smirked. “Whatever, Mr. Officer. Laugh all you want. I’m going to find a hole in the side of this maze to escape through and get out of here.”

  “You don’t want to do that. You’ll miss all the excitement. We haven’t seen Freddy yet.”

  “I can do without seeing Freddy. I should have trusted my instincts and done the straw bale maze.”

  “The first rule of avoiding assault is to trust your instincts,” he informed me. “You should have listened to yourself.”

  I snorted and we walked side by side down the path. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end as I squinted my eyes in the dark. There was a lot of screaming going on and I really did wonder if there was a way out of this thing without going all the way to the end. The path we were following dead-ended in the dark and we turned back.

  “How do we get out of this thing?” I asked him.

  “If you want your freedom, you’ve got to earn it,” he said. “That’s why they call it a maze. It will be amazing if you live through it.”

  “Ha ha,” I said.

  A mummy with bloody bandages jumped out at me and I screamed and ran again. I let Ethan catch up with me and we walked on while I searched for an exit. The air was humid inside the maze with the evening turning warmer than expected, and I wished I hadn’t worn a light windbreaker. All the running I was doing was making me sweat.

  We turned another corner and came face to face with a chainsaw-wielding madman with a white-painted and scarred face and red hair. He pulled the start pulley and revved the chainsaw at us. I screamed and ran down a path leading away from him.

  My senses told me I was headed the opposite direction from the exit, but I didn’t care. I was done with things jumping out at me and I was going to make my own exit in the side of the maze if need be.

  “Mia, slow down!” I heard Ethan call.

  It was fully dark now and there weren’t any lights down this corridor. I kept running. At the last moment, I realized I was going to hit a wall. I tried to pull up, but hit the cornstalks, tripped over something on the ground, and sprawled onto the hard-packed path.

  My head spun and I gasped for air. I tried to inhale, but my lungs didn’t seem to work after the fall knocked the air out of them.

  “Mia, are you okay?” Ethan asked, catching up and kneeling beside me. He was breathing hard and put one hand on my shoulder.

  I looked up at him, still trying to get some air in. After what seemed like a very long moment, my breath caught and I inhaled. I willed myself not to cry with the effort of breathing.

  “Mia, are you okay?” he asked again.

  I nodded and forced myself to smile, pushing myself up onto my elbows. I rolled over and winced.

  “My ankle hurts,” I said, sitting up and trying to pull my leg closer so I could get a look at it.

  “Be careful, it might be broken,” Ethan said, and took his phone out of his pocket. He turned on the flashlight app and shined it onto my ankle. “Tell me if I’m hurting you.”

  I winced as he gently slid the cuff of my jeans up away from my ankle. “Ow,” I said.

  “Sorry,” he said. “Lie down, it might make it easier. I know a little first aid, but we may need to call an ambulance if you can’t walk out of here.”

  “Oh, no, don’t do that,” I said, and lay down on the ground. I could just imagine EMTs having to drag a gurney back through the maze to bring me out while everyone gathered around to watch.

  “It’s starting to swell a little,” he said as he ran gentle fingers over my ankle.

  I gasped. “Ow.”

  “Sorry. Sit up and let’s see if you can put any weight on it,” he said and put his hand out for me to take.

  I took a deep breath and glanced to my left before sitting up again. That was when I screamed.

  Chapter Two

  Trying to get out of a corn maze with thirty other people screaming and running through it is no easy task. Trying to do it with a sprained ankle is nearly impossible.

  Ethan called for backup and rounded up some of the organizers to clear out the maze. He had deposited me onto a nearby wagon and went back through the maze to make sure everyone was out.

  Freddy Krueger sidled over to me and I looked up at him, not sure if I should scream or not. Running away was out of the question, so I hoped he wanted to be friends.

  “Hey, Mia, it’s me. John Jones,” he said, pulling his mask off. “Do you know what happened back there?”

  I stared at him a moment, then shook myself. I had gone to school with John and he was safe. “There’s a body back there,” I whispered.

  He looked at me, eyebrows furrowed. “A real one?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. Ethan thought it was a prop. It was laying among the corn stalks in a back corridor. But when he checked, it wasn’t a prop.”

  “A real dead person?” he asked skeptically. “Because there’s some pretty realistic looking props planted in there.”

  “Ethan’s probably pretty good at being able to tell a real dead body from a prop,” I said, trying not to sound sarcastic.

 
“Yeah, I guess so. Well, that’s not good,” he said, taking this in. “Did you see what happened to the dead guy? Was it a man?”

  I nodded and breathed out. “A man. A dead man. I saw his face, but it all happened so fast and it was so dark, that I couldn’t tell who it was.” This was true, but Ethan got a good look at the man. I decided not to name names. When the victim’s identity got out, it would spread like wild fire.

  “That’s crazy,” he said, looking at the maze. “And scary.”

  We both turned toward the parking lot when four police cruisers pulled up, lights flashing and sirens blaring. An ambulance pulled up behind them.

  Ethan walked out of the corn maze and went to the other officers. After a minute, he pointed at the corn maze. Three of the officers headed to different clusters of people and started talking to them. The rest of the officers went into the corn maze and Ethan made his way over to me.

  “Hi, John. How are you doing, Mia?”

  “I’m in one piece,” John answered.

  “I’m okay,” I said. My mind felt a little disjointed and I kept asking myself if I had really seen a dead body among the corn stalks. How did he get back there? He had been almost completely off the path and was lying between the stalks that made up the exterior wall of the maze. Everything seemed surreal.

  “How is your ankle?” he asked.

  “I don’t think it’s as bad as I first thought. Help me down and I’ll see if I can put weight on it,” I said.

  He put his arm around me and helped me slide down to the ground. I landed on my good foot and delicately put the other one down. My ankle screamed in pain when I put weight on it. I took a deep breath and waited. After a moment, the pain eased up and I found I could put the slightest bit of weight on my toes if I was careful.

  “Careful,” he said, as I leaned on him for support.

  “It’s not too bad,” I said as he helped me walk a few steps.