Page 13 of The King of Halloween
“To the committee meeting,” Logan said.
Raj shook his head. “I don’t have time.” He tried to walk toward the other bedrooms and give the bad news, but Logan steered him around to face the staircase.
“Of course you do. We’ve got a few days, and things are more or less ready to go. A few details here and there, but…” Logan slapped his hands together in a prayer that did nothing to calm Raj’s nerves. “Look, if we want to make it, you’ve got to cozy up with the committee. Get them to include us in their Anoka haunt itinerary. If you don’t, well…”
“Well, what?” Raj gulped. His body started down the stairs while his brain whirled through a dozen disaster scenarios. One of them ended with him burning at the stake.
Logan crinkled his nose, then he laughed. “Just give it your best. I’m sure they’ll love you.”
“Or what, Logan?” Raj asked at the bottom of the stairs. “Is this about the permits? Did you get them?”
“It’s fine. It’s all fine. Go and win them over with your charm.” Logan kept shooing Raj on toward the front door. All of his excuses bounced off that golden retriever wall. He had no choice but to reach for the handle. Raising a hand to his mouth, Logan called out, “I’ll be here holding down the fort.”
“Look out!”
The expensive, antique chandelier plunged toward the floor. At the last second, it caught and jerked up. A handful of crystals and candles fell off, shattering on the marble below. As workmen streamed from every doorway to fix it, Logan gave a jolly wave. “Have fun at the meeting.”
?
“Yes, I’ve already handled the food trucks. Fall-afels will be there, in spite of its terrible name.”
Adam perched on his chair like a grand vizier about to pour arsenic into the sultan’s tea. He’d had a good night’s sleep with only the occasional nightmare involving a sheep with a chainsaw. The store was well stocked, his mask reveal went off without a hitch, and—best of all—the challenger to his crown was a no-show. Maybe Mr. Choudhary wasn’t as invested in this as he’d pretended to be.
“I just love their crunch patties,” the mayor said.
“Too spicy for me,” declared Mrs. Melnar. She insisted on the Mrs. despite her husband vanishing to the winds three years into marriage. It’d have been a scandal to rock the town if most people didn’t assume he hopped onto a ferry and rode the Mississippi to freedom. She pulled up her bag, and the most demonic creature to ever haunt the earth unleashed a bone-quaking growl. “Oh, is my precious hungry?”
“If that’s enough old business?” Adam asked, glancing at the mayor, who wasn’t even pretending to not be on his phone. “I have a proposal for movie night. I was recently renovating my shop’s basement and thought, if the weather turns foul, it’d be the perfect place to host it. Hang a bedsheet on the wall for the projector. Maybe put up a few decorations. What do you think?”
“That’s—”
The door swung open, alerting everyone on the committee. Carl was already here and fast asleep in the audience. Who else would bother to sit in?
Adam spotted that swoosh of black hair and his good day shattered.
“Sorry. Am I late? I’m late.” Raj dashed up the center aisle where someone had left a microphone. He swung around his bag and pulled out random scraps of paper for some reason. “I got lost and wound up in Saint Paul, I think. Anyway. Um…hi?”
“Mr. Chowdery!” Mayor Gunderson leaped to his feet in a far too excited greeting.
“Choudhery.”
“Thank heavens you’re here. We were just discussing our annual scary movie night. Come up here and join us. There’s a chair by Adam.”
Of course.Adam put on his ten-percent-discount-to-get-a-customer-out-the-door smile and pivoted. The man stumbled, his bag managing to swing into the shoulders and heads of every single committee member as he scrambled past.
“Ooh!” Mrs. Melnar exclaimed.
Raj spun back to apologize, hitting her again. A single quick laugh slipped past Adam’s guard. Instead of the ice landing on the man who hit her, he bore the brunt of the retired woman with nothing better to do. Great.
“Sorry, sorry.” Raj slipped into the chair that was too close to the table. He looked like a kid’s first time in a big boy seat—eyes wide, and mouth open in awe-filled terror. Adam couldn’t help himself, and he helped to pull Raj back.
“There. A little breathing room, for you,” Adam said.
The man steadied himself on his chair, then he turned, and the biggest, sweetest eyes pleaded with Adam. “Thank you,” he whispered.
“You’re—” Adam shook it off and focused.
“What’s this about a movie?”
