Halloween Hijinks (A Zoe Donovan Mystery Book 1) by Kathi Daley

I’m totally freaking out.”
    “Have Jeremy meet you there,” Ellie suggested.
    “He has a date.”
    “Okay.” Ellie paused. “Then just wait until morning. I’m sure the dog will be fine.”
    I was seriously considering just th at option when the dog began howling again. “I can’t wait. The poor thing sounds terrified.”
    “You can’t go in alone,” Ellie warned.
    “I know. That’s why I called you.”
    “You want me to go in with you?”
    “Sort of.” I could almost see Ellie’s look of panic . “I’m going to go in, but I want you to talk to me while I look for the dog. That way if there is a deranged serial killer or vengeful spirit inside, you can call the sheriff and tell them where to find my body.”
    “That’s not funny,” Ellie scolded.
    “I know,” I agreed in a slightly more serious tone. “I’m going to start up the steps now. It’s dark, so I have the phone in one hand and my flashlight in the other. If I accidently drop the phone while I try to work the lock on the front door, don’t panic.”
    “Okay.”
    I could hear Ellie breathing in my ear as I carefully made my way up the broken steps and across the rotted porch. I noticed that the front door had been left ajar, saving me the trouble of breaking in. I giggled as I pushed it farther open, and it gave a huge moan, like a bad cliché.
    “What was that? ” Ellie must have heard the door as well.
    “The front door,” I answered .
    “Are you inside?”
    “Yeah,” I answered as I stepped inside. I shone my flashlight around the large entry hall and tried to get my bearings.
    “What do you see? ” Ellie whispered.
    “Someone has been here recently . There’s fresh graffiti on the walls.”
    “You don’t think they’re still there?”
    I hoped not.
    “Can you tell where the dog is? ” Ellie wondered.
    I listened as the howling grew louder. “It seems to be coming from the basement.”
    “The basement? ” Ellie gasped. “You can’t go into the basement. That’s where all the bodies are.”
    “I’m sure if there really were bodies , someone would have found them by now.” I sounded braver than I felt. “I’ll just pop down, free the dog, then get the hell out of here.”
    I stood in the middle of the room and tried to figure out how to access the basement . Through the kitchen? Seemed a logical choice, although I had no idea where the kitchen was. There were stairs in front of me and hallways to both the left and the right. The basement wouldn’t be up, which left me a fifty/fifty chance of guessing right the first time.
    “H ave you ever been in here?” I asked.
    “God , no,” Ellie said. “Why do you ask?”
    “I’m trying to figure out how to get into the basement. The wailing coming from the dog is echoing all around me so I can’t tell in which direction to look.”
    “Are you sure you don’t just want to come back in the morning?” Ellie tried again.
    Something crashed overhead . My heart leaped into my throat as I stifled a scream.
    “Did something fall? ” Ellie asked.
    I couldn’t help but imagine all sorts of undead creatures prowling around upstairs. I focused on slowing my breathing as I struggled to answer. “It was probably just the wind.”
    I decided to take the hallway to the left . It was dark and narrow. All of the doors were closed. I opened each one as I made my way toward the back of the house. Most of the rooms were bedrooms, covered in dust and cobwebs. There was a small bathroom with something that looked a lot like blood smeared across the front of the sink and onto the floor.
    “It looks like there’s blood in the bathroom,” I breathed as my heart pounded in my chest.
    “What? ” Ellie gasped. “Get out of there. Call the sheriff to let the dog out. At least he has a gun.”
    “Guns don’t work on ghosts,” I reminded her.
    “Maybe not, but they work on maniacal serial killers. I really think you should leave.”
    “Yeah, maybe you’re right.”
    As I