information on the Internet. “You mentioned at some
point that he lives here. He’s William Euclid Carp,
isn’t he?” Silently, she cursed herself. She’d never
thought of looking up
Meg nodded. “He moved out this way a couple of
years ago. He couldn’t stand trying to make a living
selling farm equipment anymore. The market had
fallen out of that, too. I figured that this trip would be
my last chance to see him. Will was real pleased. But
sad. I’d asked him to scout out this place so we could
find it without running around all over a strange city.
By then, we’d been displaced, and knew from you that
Bruno was coming here for his big shindig.”
“Ah!” Judith exclaimed softly. She couldn’t believe
she’d been such a dunce. The tall, old-fashioned figure
she’d seen alongside the house wasn’t Ben Carmody;
it was William Euclid Carp. “But you were the pioneer
woman at the party,” she said. It was a statement, not a
question.
time she’d met the Izards. Gothic, as in grotesque. Out
of the corner of her eye, she could see the calendar
with the Grant Wood painting.
“What else could I be?” Meg replied. “That was
Great-Grandma Carp’s dress and bonnet I found a long
time ago in the attic. I brought it with me. I couldn’t afford a fancy-dress costume. I’d heard about the ball on
TV, and I figured I’d confront Bruno afterward at your
B&B.”
“Did Walt dress up?” Judith inquired. “I don’t recall
seeing him at the party.”
“He never came inside,” Meg said. “He and Will put
together some makeshift costumes. Walt was a scarecrow. Will was a cowboy. Those were easy to do, after
all the scarecrows we’ve had on the farm. Will had
herded cattle for many years. He still had his boots and
his vest and his cowboy hat. They didn’t blame me for
what I’d done, but they fussed. They were afraid I’d be
found out. Will was especially worried, so he and Walt
tried to keep tabs on what was going on here after
Bruno died.”
So the witch wasn’t a witch, but a scarecrow,
thought Judith. Another mistake she’d made, though
understandable. In the fog, the pointed hat, the turnedup shoes, the ragged garments, the strawlike hair, and
the fact that it was Halloween had made the illusion
credible.
“Who found the missing key to Hillside Manor?”
