The Stuffing of Nightmares (The Mysteries of Bell & Whitehouse Book 7)

“
T
hat’s
your problem right there, see?”

Jonathan Kid pointed to the fuse box and was conscious of a marked chill in the air. He didn’t mind. The pretty young blonde who’d welcomed him into the manor was just about the most gorgeous female he’d ever met, and she’d been flirting with him from the moment she’d invited him in.

Problems with the wiring, had been his verdict after being taken to the basement. The old fuse box had been replaced when the Ciesloks moved in, but the system hadn’t been set up correctly in his expert opinion.

He blew a strand of dark hair from his brow and gave the girl a grin. “This whole system needs to be checked out again, top to bottom.”

“And you can do that?” the sultry blonde asked in that sexy voice of hers.

“Sure I can. I’m only the best electrician on Long Island.”

Her eyes shone at this, and she repeated reverently, “The best electrician on Long Island.”

“It’ll cost you, though.”

“A lot?” she pouted.

“Depends what you call a lot.” He gave her a long, lingering look. “For you, I’d be willing to knock something off the price.”

“That’s so sweet of you,” she purred. “Daddy doesn’t believe in spending money on unnecessary things. But I think for you he’ll make an exception.”

“I can understand where he’s coming from. Lots of folks going through hard times right now. Listen, I’ll give you a ballpark number, and you tell your old man to think about it. And if he agrees he can just give me a holler.”

“I can give you a holler right now if you want,” the girl said seductively, placing a hand on his chest.

She pressed him up against the fuse box, and his eyes widened. He hadn’t thought she’d be into him. He was, after all, just an electrician, and judging from what he’d seen of the place, these Ciesloks were pretty well off. Which was why he didn’t understand why her father would haggle over the price. She was probably playing games with him. So he decided to play along.

“You know you’re just about the hottest girl I’ve ever met?” he asked.

“Is that a fact?” she asked, her lips parting.

“You’ve got an incredible smile,” he said. “And those lips… Christ!”

He decided to strike the iron while it was hot. Daddy might not want to fork over the dough for some necessary repairs, but his daughter sure as heck was willing to take what he had to offer. He moved in for the kiss and was just reveling in the softness and warmth of her lips when he simultaneously felt a sharp prick against his belly, and a twinge of pain in his lower lip.

“Ouch!” he cried, and jerked away.

She giggled. “What’s wrong, lover boy? Am I too much for you?”

He stared at her. Her lips were red with his blood. She had bitten him! Then he stared down at his blue coveralls and saw that something was sticking out of his belly. He plucked it away and studied it stupidly. It was a dart of some kind, with a very sharp, short needle sticking out.

“What is this? What did you do?” he asked, and already his voice was slurring and his vision blurring.

She gave him a pinky wave. “Bye-bye. See you on the other side.”

And then he fell to the floor. He stared up at her tanned legs. She was still smiling, studying him with interest as he felt life leaving his limbs.

“Why?” he muttered.

“Because we need you, Jon,” she said. “We need you for our collection.”

He didn’t understand. And as the world turned to darkness, he watched her reverently pick up his toolbox.

“Don’t worry, Jonathan,” she whispered. “You’re part of history now…”

F
elicity was working
up a sweat on the home trainer, her red curls tied back from her round face with a pink sweatband. Alice, lounging on the couch, eyed her with pity. She was naturally slender and didn’t need to work out as hard as her friend to keep her weight down. Contrary to Fee, she could eat just about as many pieces of pie as she liked and never really get fat.

She returned her attention to the newspaper she was reading on her iPad. The article was about an electrician who’d gone missing the week before. Jonathan Kid was only the latest case in a series of strange disappearances that had been plaguing Long Island for months now.

Alice shook her blond bob, her green eyes flashing with bewilderment. How could it be that the police were still clueless after all this time? None of the missing persons had been located, and more kept going missing all the time. It was so weird. It reminded her of that TV show about people being abducted by aliens. Could Long Island have been selected by a group of creepy ETs to do human experiments? Or had all these good folks decided to join a doomsday cult and were now preparing in some underground bunker for the coming apocalypse? Nobody had a clue, least of all the police.

“Hot potato! What the heck?!”

She looked up from her tablet and shared a grin with Fee. Apparently, her fiancé Reece was experiencing some trouble downstairs.

* * *

R
eece fingered his angular jawline
, his dark eyes studying the package that’d just arrived, his handsome face creased into a frown. It was probably the biggest delivery he’d ever signed off on. And since he was a Hollywood movie star, that was saying something. The box was in fact so big that it had taken two UPS guys to haul it inside, and now he stood staring at it as it took up space in the downstairs hallway of the house he shared with his friends.

What could the box possibly hold? Judging from its size, it was big enough to fit a small horse. He looked up when Alice came ambling down the stairs.

“Got mail, honey?” she asked cheerily. She laughed when she saw his look of bewilderment.

“Probably some crazy fan who thinks this is her idea of a joke.”

He studied the label. The sender was someone called Ines Slogan. The name rang a bell—he vaguely remembered it had once held meaning to him.

“Let’s just see what’s inside, shall we?” Alice suggested.

“Why not?”

Together they started tearing into the wrapping paper.

“I think it’s a cleaning robot,” she said, “ordered by Fee to help you clean up the mess you leave around the house.”

He eyed her curiously. “You think so?”

She laughed. “Of course not. Just kidding.”

“Oh. Right.”

His housemates were always on his case about the fact that he didn’t do his share of the household chores, though he’d lately done his best to pick up the slack. He even picked up his dirty socks nowadays and even did the dishes.

“Here, let me help you with that,” he muttered when Alice got stuck on a particularly inflexible bit of carton. He just hoped it wasn’t something indecent. As Hollywood’s leading hunk his female fans had a habit of sending him risqué gifts from time to time. Like sexy lingerie or other personal items.

Finally, the box yielded to their joined efforts, and when they tore away the final piece, they both gasped in shock.

Revealed before them stood… a pony.

Well, not a live pony, of course, but still a very lifelike imitation of one.

“What the heck…” Alice cried. She touched the animal gingerly. “Who in their right mind would stuff a pony?!” She was a very sensitive young woman, and already tears were forming in her eyes.

“Are you sure he was stuffed?” Reece asked, gingerly placing a hand on the animal’s trunk.

“Just look at his eyes.”

He did look at the eyes, and saw nothing FAO Schwartz couldn’t fabricate.

“You know what this is?” Alice asked, her face registering dismay.

“A pony?” he ventured.

“This is like that movie. The Godfather. When they send this guy a message by putting the head of a horse in his bed.”

“Wasn’t that the tail of a horse?”

Even though he was a product of Hollywood, he had a hard time remembering details from movies. Especially the ones where stuff wasn’t blown up every five minutes.

“I’m pretty sure it was the head. Poor horse—and poor pony!”

She stooped down to pick up an envelope that had been placed between the animal’s hooves. Before he could stop her, she’d torn open the envelope, and started reading aloud. “Dearest Reece—as a token of my appreciation for all that you’ve done for me I’d like to offer you this small gift. As you will remember it is my dear pony Tony, who we had to put down last month after a short illness. I’m sure you still cherish the fond memories of your shared time together. Forever yours—Ines Slogan.” She looked up sharply, her eyes burning with indignation and suspicion. “Who is Ines Slogan? And why is she sending you her stuffed pony?”

Reece eyed her sheepishly. He’d suddenly remembered Ines. “She’s a good friend of mine. She helped me out with one of my first movie roles.”

He stared into the pony’s eyes. Tony the Pony. Of course. How could he have forgotten? His first starring role had been as a cowboy. In it, he’d been obliged to ride a horse, and since he’d never ridden one before, the producers had hooked him up with Ines, who owned a horse farm in Laredo, Texas. He’d gone there to spend a week learning how to ride a horse. Unfortunately, riding hadn’t come naturally to him, and it had eventually taken him three weeks, and instead of a horse, Ines had given him Tony to ride.

He and the pony had eventually developed a special bond, and when finally he’d graduated to riding a horse, it had been with a great deal of reluctance, as he’d grown extremely fond of the pony.

He emerged from these memories when Alice sharply cried, “Reece! What’s with this Ines person?”

In a few words, he painted a word picture of his acquaintanceship with both pony and owner, and they both stared at the animal taking up space.

“What are we going to do with him?” Alice asked. “He’s too big to keep in the house.”

“And too wonderful a gift to get rid of,” Reece said. “This is so weird. Why would Ines gift me her pony? Why not keep him herself?”

“I guess she thought you two shared a very special bond. Every cowboy needs his horse, Reece. And you need your pony.”

He looked over and saw that her eyes were sparkling with humor. She was prone to sudden mood swings. He gave her a wry smile. “Thanks, babe.”

They shoved the pony deeper into the corridor, where it was out of the way. They could decide later on what to do with him. Perhaps they could gift him to the mayor? He loved animals, after all, and had plenty of space at Town Hall to put Tony on display for all the visitors to see. It could even be the start of a memorabilia room devoted to Reece, arguably Happy Bays’s biggest star. It was, after all, the pony that had helped launch his career.

Alice was right. Every cowboy needed his horse. Like the Lone Ranger’s Silver, or Zorro’s Tornado, Reece Hudson had Tony the pony.