Chapter 1

1

“A haunted house in the middle of winter? Are you kidding?” Joseph, who managed Lyle’s costume shop, shook his head in disbelief. “Isn’t that a Halloween thing?”

“Nope, not kidding,” Lyle replied. “That’s what Ms. Martell told me when she called. Her boss came up with the idea as a way to entertain some important people who are coming to town for a business meeting.”

“Who’s her boss?” Elaine wanted to know. She was the other employee at Atwood’s Costume Emporium. She and Joseph took care of the day-to-day business while Lyle was responsible for the details of keeping the shop open. That meant he did the books, a necessary chore, paid the bills and salaries, and most importantly, created the majority of the costumes. It was his skill in doing that which had made the shop the most prodigious one in the city.

“Mr. Warner Radclyffe. All I know about him is what she told me,” Lyle added, with a shrug. “Which is that he can afford to go all out on this and barring any problems, he wants us to provide the costumes.”

Joseph shot him an incredulous look. “Do you everwatch the news?”

“Not if I can help it,” Lyle replied dryly.

“He is, to quote one reporter, the ‘mysterious’ head of a multi-national banking consortium. It seems he, or it, has their fingers in, hell, everything that can make a profit for them.”

“Impressive, I suppose. Anyway, I have an appointment to meet with him tomorrow at his home. He plans on using us for this…party or whatever he’s calling it, if we’re interested. As Ms. Martell put it, he wants me to take a look at ‘the venue’.” Lyle rolled his eyes before frowning when what Joseph had said sank in. “‘Mysterious’?”

“Yeah. He’s rarely seen in public and when he is, he’s surrounded by a phalanx of underlings and bodyguards.”

“Damn. And I’m going to meet him in person?” Lyle grinned. “Should I bow down and kiss his ring?”

“Maybe?” Joseph laughed. “Do dress up if nothing else.”

“I am notwearing a tux.”

“Lyle…” Joseph sighed dramatically. “Nice slacks and a dress shirt should do. Not your normal jeans and a turtleneck.”

“Yes, bossman.” He chuckled when Joseph raised his middle finger. “All right, let’s get back to work. Now that the holiday season’s over, we could use new window décor. Maybe, umm…”

“Groundhogs?” Elaine piped up. “That’s the next holiday, I think.”

“Nope, Ms. Not Romantic,” Joseph replied with a smirk. “Try Valentine’s Day.”

“Ugh. We just got over red and white for Christmas. Now we have to do it again? Who planned the holidays anyway?”

“Not you,” Lyle gave her an amused smile. “Be that as it may, both of you use your fertile imaginations to come up with something that’ll remind passer’s-by that love is all that matters on February fourteenth, so they should pay us a visit.”

“We will, and we’ll do at least two racks of costumes at the front of the showroom to give them ideas, as always,” Joseph replied.

With that settled, Lyle went upstairs to his office, which was next to the large sewing room that made up most of the second floor.

He took his computer out of sleep mode, opened a new document, and began making notes on what sorts of costumes would work for a haunted house. Tails and slinky black dresses for vampires. Check. Something ethereal, with pale makeup for ghosts. Check. Rags and tatters for zombies. He leaned back, picturing the assortment of masks they had for sale. I’ll need to order a couple of werewolves, with hands. What we had sold out over Halloween. Devils with horns and cloven feet, maybe. No, scratch the feet. Too hard to work in and they probably wouldn’t show up anyway. Witches and warlocks, of course. Insane clowns. Fright movie killers. Damn, the list is endless.

“With my luck, he lives in some upscale, ultramodern house that won’t lend itself easily for creating a haunted house,” he grumbled. “Oh, well, that’s his problem. We’re providing the costumes and that’s it…ifhe hires us.”

Lyle prayed Mr. Radclyffe would hire them because it could add a sizable bit to what he was putting aside to—sometime in the distant future—buy a larger building so the shop could expandHopefully, I won’t have the hassle of dealing with anyone other than him and probably Ms. Martell, from the way she talked.

Being a loner at heart, he didn’t particularly like waiting on customers at the shop. Out of necessity he would step in to help with rentals if things got very busy. Over Halloween he’d handle the front office while the two temps he hired worked the floor with Joseph and Elaine.