The Pumpkin Man

CHAPTER

THIRTY-EIGHT

The ride down the hill from Emmaline’s house to River’s End seemed to last forever. That was in part because Scott Barkiewicz was not doing the speed limit through most of it. He and his squad car were thinking. Well, he was thinking. The car was just creeping along.

Emmaline Perenais was apparently the only person left in town related by blood to the Pumpkin Man. She’d said that George, her brother, was the last of the male line to carry the name, and that Jennica Murphy, the current heir of George’s house, was likely to die. The two things weren’t necessarily connected, but, out of the hour conversation they had, they were what Scott remembered.

He thought of the latter because he was sworn to protect the innocent; he’d had his doubts about Jennica Murphy, mostly, he admitted, because of his own personal prejudices. But now he worried he might be letting her down. The former fact worried him differently. Maybe he’d missed something in his questioning of Emmaline. He didn’t know what else he could have asked, but her relationship to the Perenais family and the fact that she was really the last of the line gave him a feeling that there was more to her than met the eye.

On a whim, he turned his car off the route to the police station and went in the opposite direction. Doing so, he pressed his foot down on the gas pedal with some urgency. A couple minutes later he stopped in front of the gate to the Perenais house. He let himself in, and the car crunched up the gravel road to stop in front of the house. He had parked and walked up to the front door before it occurred to him that he didn’t know what he was going to say.

The door opened before he’d had a chance to formulate a plan. Twice in one day he’d appeared on someone’s doorstep without fully doing his homework. This wasn’t like him at all.

“Hi, Officer.” Jennica stood in the doorway, her dark hair still kinked and curled funny from sleep. It cascaded down her oversize T-shirt and, looking at her, Scott had to laugh at himself internally for ever suspecting that she could have any complicity in a string of murders. Jennica Murphy was the ultimate girl next door, pretty in an understated way and pleasant as a sunny spring day. And apparently she slept late.

Her boyfriend appeared behind her, also looking somewhat rumpled. Scott suddenly wondered if he’d interrupted them, and if Jenn’s ratty (though still beautiful) hair was actually mussed from something other than from sleeping. Sex hair, they called that. Not that he saw it much.

“Is there some news?” the boyfriend—Nick, was it?—asked.

Scott directed his answer at Jenn. “No suspects captured, if that’s what you mean. But I did just visit with someone I found rather interesting. I believe she’s the last in-law your aunt had.”

Jenn’s eyes widened. “There’s a Perenais still in town? I thought Uncle George was basically the last.”

Scott shook his head. “Apparently his sister lives up on the ridge. I guess she’d be your aunt. Step-aunt? Her name’s Emmaline Foster. She lost her son to the original Pumpkin Man killings. She told me something that bothered me, so I wanted to stop up here and see if everything was all right.”

“We’re okay,” Jenn offered, opening the door farther. “Did you want to come in?”

Scott shook his head. “I don’t want to intrude. I just wanted to know if you’d seen or heard anything unusual since you got back from San Francisco.”

Jenn opened her mouth to speak, but Nick answered first. “No, it’s been quiet so far.”

“What did this Emmaline say that bothered you?” Jenn asked.

Scott hesitated a minute and then decided it hurt nothing to warn the girl. Something bad was on the loose and, like it or not, she’d plopped herself in its epicenter. “She told me that you were in danger living here in this house.” He shrugged. “I didn’t want to let you back in right after a murder myself, but the captain figured you had no place to go. So . . . keep an eye out, okay? And keep your doors locked. I’ll check up on you whenever I can.”

Nick nodded, but said nothing. Scott searched for something more to say, but came up with nothing. Feeling awkward, he stepped back off the porch “Call me if you see anything unusual. Anything at all.”

He hadn’t felt this unprofessional in all his days. Not that he’d had too many of them.

Jenn and Nick watched the policeman get into his squad car. He’d been unfriendly when they first met, but this time he’d been a heck of a lot more considerate. Nervous. She wondered what he knew—or what he thought he knew.

She mumbled under her breath, “Unusual? Well, there’s this dead guy behind my pantry, and last night I followed a ghost in there. Other than that, nothing strange at all.”

Nick elbowed her. “I didn’t think you wanted the cops ripping the house up again, and if you started talking about ghosts and bones and mummies, they’d either insist on seeing the evidence or cart you off to talk to the nice doctor about what the ink blots look like.” He pushed the door shut and turned the lock before folding her into his arms and bending to kiss her. Her lips tasted warm and softly sweet. Wonderfully familiar after the past few days.

“I think that he gave you a lead for your own investigation, though,” he admitted.

“How’s that?”

“Emmaline Foster. Maybe you should invite her over for dinner.”

“What do you think she—?” Jenn began, but Nick cut her off.

“Jenn, she was George Perenais’s sister. I bet she could fill us in on this house. She grew up here. She’ll know more about it than anyone in town, and I’m betting she’s not telling the cops a thing about the secret mummy room, though I would bet my right arm she’s been inside it. How could you grow up in this house and not know about that room? Kids find every hiding place there is!”

Jenn’s eyes widened. “He said Foster with an F, right?”

Nick nodded.

“Grab the phone book.”