Page 8 of Dead or Treat

“Tell us what happened,” Ronan said.

“I already told them cops.” Doom gestured toward Cisco.

“Yeah, well, now tell us.” Ronan looked as if he was in no mood to take any shit. “Start from the beginning. Who are you? What are you doing here?”

“Fine, my name is Jason Domani. My friends call me Doom.” He rolled his eyes, looking like a petulant teenager, which he most likely still was. “Bob Jones, the guy who owns the museum, hired me to work here for the next few weeks during the Halloween season. I figured working here, I’d be able to score with goth girls, if you know what I mean.” He caught Everly’s curious look and quickly apologized. “Sorry.”

Everly grimaced at Doom. “I don’t want to hear about goth girls. Hurry up and get to the part about Mr. Daniels and the board he brought.”

Doom looked as if he was about to roll his eyes again, but seemed to think better of it. “The museum’s usual hours are from 11:00 A.M. until 6:00 P.M., but with all the tourists in town, Bob decided he wanted to stay open until 2:00 A.M., which is last call at the local bars. Around half past eleven, this guy comes in carrying a covered box. He told me his name was Jeremy Daniels and that he had a special board to donate to the museum’s collection. He gave me some bullshit line about a devious witch being trapped inside the board and not to take it out of the box. He said this witch would kill me. Of course I didn’t believe him.”

“Keep going,” Ten urged, still not understanding what the hell was so important that Cisco had called them all out in the middle of the night.

“Daniels whipped the black fabric off the box and I could see the board, a planchette and an old diary inside. He told me again not to open the box and not to touch the board.”

“I don’t see the planchette and the diary.” Everly looked around the room.

“The first officers on scene had them bagged as evidence,” Cisco said. “Would you like me to put them back where we found them?” His dark eyes moved between Ten and Everly.

Everly shook her head. “Finish the story, Mr. Doom.”

“This Daniels guy leaves me his business card and walked out of the museum at the same time a friend of mine came in. I told him the bullshit story about the witch supposedly being trapped inside the board and Cujo wanted to let her out in case she was a total babe. He never boned a ghost witch before and wanted to show this bitch his hog.”

Everly’s mouth dropped open, in what looked like horror and disgust, but she stayed silent.

“We set up the board and Cujo asks if the witch could hear us. The planchette moved to yes. He asked what her name was and she spelled out-”

“Delilah Meehan,” Everly said.

Doom’s eyes widened. “Jesus, how the hell did you know that?”

“I’m a witch too,” Everly deadpanned. “You teased Delilah and somehow released her from the board, right?”

“Yeah, something like that. The door to the museum blew open and something flew at me. It was white and seemed to be moving in fast-forward. This high-pitched screaming filled my head, which felt like it was going to explode. I started to fall. I don’t remember anything after that.”

“The friend, Cujo, said Doom started to scream and flew backward, like someone had pushed him. His head bounced off the floor like a dodge ball and was out cold. He was the one who called 911 when Doom wouldn’t wake up,” Cisco said.

“The EMT says I have a concussion and won’t take me to the hospital until I talk to you. I don’t know what the hell the cops are doing hiring a first-grader to work for them, but whatever.” Doom tried to stand up and wobbled a bit before sitting down hard.

“I’m a third-grader, and you’re a pig.” Everly said. “He can go now, Chief Jackson, maybe tell the nurse at the hospital to give him a drug test.”

“You little-” Doom started.

“I’d watch the next word that comes out of your mouth, asshole, if you want to walk out of here with all your teeth.” Ronan practically growled. “Besides, we all smelled pot the minute we walked into the museum, dumbass.”

“Dixon, grab the medics. They can take him to Salem Mercy now. Also, grab Bob Jones. I want Ten and Everly to talk to him.”

“You got it boss.” Dixon held out his fist to Everly. “Good job.”

She bumped it in return. “Tell the paramedics to hit every bump in the road all the way to the hospital.”

Dixon snickered and grabbed Doom’s arm, escorting him out of the museum.

Cisco came back seconds later with a skinny, tall man with a quickly receding hairline. The man carried a brown police evidence bag. “This is Bob Jones.” He quickly introduced everyone.

“Everly,” he held out his hand. “I’ve heard so much about you from Madam Aurora. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. If anyone can help us with this situation it’s you.”

Everly beamed with the praise being heaped on her. “It’s nice to meet you too. I love the museum and want to come back when I can spend time here alone.”