Page 28 of Girl, Haunted

‘Got it.’

‘And neither the Screamatorium – nor Shadowland – used Distortions for their props. When we went through those mazes, did you see any teddy bears? Anywhere this killer could have swiped a bear from?’

Ella ran through her mental checklist of horror rooms. Witches, zombies, pumpkins, Victorian dolls, clowns. ‘No. No teddy bears.’

‘Exactly,’ Luca said as he slapped another sheet of paper onto the growing pile. ‘Now feast your eyes on this beauty.’

Ella squinted at the glossy promotional image. It showed a room that looked like it had been decorated by a serial killer with a teddy bear fetish. Dozens of plush bears in various states of dismemberment lined the walls. In the center, a massive, blood-stained teddy loomed over everything like some nightmarish plushy god.

‘Holy…’ Ella breathed. The wheels began spinning. A teddy bear, potentially from a haunted house, transposed to a dead body inside another. ‘Could be someone getting revenge on a rival owner?’

‘You read my mind.’ Luca produced yet another document with a flourish that would've made a magician jealous. Ella took it, her eyes scanning the legalese-laden text.

‘More legal jargon?’

‘It's a legal filing,’ Luca explained. ‘From one Isabella Thorne, owner of Gallows End, against our very own Gregory Van Allen of the Screamatorium.’

Ella's eyebrows shot up. ‘No kidding? What for?’

‘Isabella here was trying to sue Van Allen for copyright infringement. Apparently, she claimed he'd stolen some of herproprietary scare techniquesand was using them in his haunt without permission.’

‘Proprietary scare techniques? This woman thinks she can trademark scaring people?’

‘I'm just the messenger. But the point is, we've got ourselves a rival haunted house owner with a grudge against one of our vics.’

All weariness had disappeared. Luca had done it again, damn him. ‘Isabella Thorne. What’s her deal? You find much about her?’

‘Typical boss bitch,’ Luca said. ‘You know the kind – swears up and down they're self-made but conveniently forgets to mention daddy's diamond mine.’

‘Ugh. Motive much? What are the odds Miss Diamond Shoes here wanted to send a message?'

'Likely. And she's a tall drink of water, too, probably got the strength to manhandle a few people. I'm just wondering if she's stupid enough to leave one of her props at the crime scene.'

Ella was already up and shuffling into her clothes. ‘Time to find out just how stupid she is. What time’s this Gallows End place open?’

‘It runs haunts a few times a day, but their business hours officially begin at nine.’

She caught the time. ‘That gives us an hour to get there. Excellent work, honey pie. Don’t ever let me take you for granted.’

‘Wouldn’t dream of it.’ Luca held up the plastic-wrapped teddy bear. ‘Should we take Mr. Fuzzleworth with us?’

‘God yes. Anything to make her squirm.’ Ella quickly ran a mental checklist. ‘So, we’ve got a link between our murder prop and Thorne's haunt. We've got a mile of bad blood between her and Van Allen.’

‘Yup. And let's not forget the biggest red flag of all.’

‘What’s that?’

‘Thorne is a stone cold bitch.'

‘Luca Hawkins. Never one to overthink things.’

‘Occam’s Razor. Sometimes the simplest explanations are the right ones.’

Ella said, ‘Give me five minutes to get myself together, then if we hurry, we can catch this woman before her morning blood bath.’

This was the perfect way to start the day. Chasing down leads, ruffling suspect feathers, partner riding shotgun. Ripley might be gone, but the game remained the same.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

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