The Skeleton Haunts a House Read Online Free

touched her, I could tell she was real. That’s when we called Ms. Thackery.”
    â€œDo you know how long she’d been there?” Louis said.
    The zombies conferred, but it turned out that they weren’t sure. “That corner is really dark when the room is set, so we didn’t notice her until that other woman tripped over her.”
    â€œI did a walk-through before opening tonight,” Deborah put in, “and I’m sure she wasn’t here then.”
    â€œHow long have you been open?” Louis asked.
    â€œSince five. So two and a half hours.”
    â€œShe’s not one of your people, is she?”
    Deborah shook her head. “All of our people are accounted for.”
    â€œThen what about the group she came through the house with? Wouldn’t they have noticed her disappearing?”
    â€œNot necessarily,” said a girl zombie with a fake eye hanging down one cheek. “A lot of parties get split up in the haunt, especially in this scene. They get so scared that guys forget their girlfriends and parents abandon their kids. It happens all the time.”
    I wasn’t sure if I should be impressed or appalled by the effectiveness of their efforts.
    â€œHave you checked security footage?” Louis asked.
    â€œWe don’t have any cameras,” Deborah said, and I could tell she was gritting her teeth.
    He looked as if he was about to ask why when more responders started coming in: EMTs with a stretcher, additional uniformed officers, people in plainclothes with badges on their belts, and several campus security guards.
    Louis waved one of the officers over. “Officer Burcell is going to take you out of the way and stay with you, okay?”
    â€œWhat about the rest of the people in the haunt?” Deborah asked. “I’ve got cast and crew members, and I don’t know how many customers are still in the building.”
    â€œWe’ll get to them as soon as we can,” Louis said, “but it’s going to take some time. Just hang tight.”
    Deborah got on her walkie-talkie and told her people that the police were on the scene, and that they should all stay exactly where they were until the police told them differently. There was some back and forth with the security crew outside the exit because apparently some people had escaped despite their best efforts to keep them contained, and some of the ones left were making noises about leaving. Louis sent a couple of officers out to deal with the situation. Then Officer Burcell herded Deborah, the zombies, and me to the end of the room as far as possible from the dead girl. Being at a distance was fine with me—farther away would have been better.
    Deborah was glaring at Louis as he went to work, but I knew she wasn’t really mad at him. She just gets argumentative when she’s worried, and she was currently pretty worried. She was in charge of McHades, after all. Had she and I had a different kind of relationship, I’d have mirrored the scare actors we were standing with and offered her a hug or a hand to hold. But it was us, so I said, “You okay?”
    She grunted in an affirmative way.
    The niceties attended to, I said, “I guess Officer Raymond was off duty when the call came in since he’s not wearing a uniform.”
    â€œHe rotated to Investigations, so he gets to wear plainclothes. Promoted to sergeant, too. Or so I hear.”
    I raised my eyebrows.
    â€œWhat? We do still bowl on the same team. I have to talk to him sometimes.”
    In a better situation, I’d have probed more about just how much she had to talk to him, but it wasn’t the time or place for sibling teasing. I think my unconscious was trying desperately to give me something to think about other than the dead body just a few feet away. At least the gathering responders meant I couldn’t actually see her anymore. When I tried to think of something else, I started worrying