Pumpkin Pie Waffle: Book 5 in The Diner of the Dead Series Read online

  Sheriff Thompson would still be there when she was done.

  Sonja couldn’t help but smile. She and Frank had an interesting history, one seasoned with murder, investigation, and delicious food. After solving multiple murder cases together—Sonja always unwittingly finding a dead body—and after months of struggling against the assumptions and rumors among the town, Sonja finally realized she had feelings for the sheriff.

  The two had officially been together for a few weeks now. Added to the time they were together unofficially—at least in her estimation—they had been a couple for just over two and a half months.

  And despite the time that had passed, she still felt a small surge of excitement each time she got the chance to see the sheriff.

  It had been some of the best months of her life, especially because things had been quiet around town—no more strange murders and no more ghostly appearances. It was almost as if the sheriff was some kind of good luck charm.

  Pulling the three trays out of the oven, she went to work scooping the now soft and malleable pumpkin flesh into a large mixing bowl. Adding a dash of cream, she proceeded to blend everything together into a creamy and usable pulp for the recipe.

  The first thing to do was to make the waffle crusts for the dish. Since these pies would be used to feed a large group of middle schoolers, she would need to make small individual sized servings in order to accommodate the class of hungry students.

  Opening the cabinet which housed all her waffle makers, Sonja browsed for her mini maker and, upon spotting it, pulled it down and plugged it in to warm up. This waffle iron cooked three mini waffles at a time, the perfect size to fit in the bottom of the little self-serve pie tins.

  As easily as breathing, Sonja whipped up her normal batch of waffle mix—a smooth and fluffy mixture of just the right ingredients and spices. Now, she added the splash of seasonal fun to the mix. Blending in the seasoned pumpkin paste she had created, she already felt her mouth watering.

  The scent of the waffle batter with the pumpkin and the spices spoke of everything Sonja loved about the season. It sent a sense of comfort over her, her own form of meditation.

  Placing just the right amount of batter into each slot of the waffle iron, she started on the next step of the process while she waited for the first batch to cook. The rest of the pumpkin paste was deposited directly into her industrial mixer. Adding another dash of cream, a little milk, and a few eggs, she turned the mixer on.

  Quick as lightning, the pumpkin took on a beautiful hue of deep autumn orange—a good sign that the pie filling was ready for cooking.

  The waffles dinged and Sonja bustled over and quickly removed them from the iron, inhaling their freshly cooked scent of pumpkin and cinnamon.

  Pulling three mini pie tins from her large stack and placing them out in front of her, she gently placed the perfectly crisped waffles into the bottom of each. Once she had enough of the ‘crusts’ ready, she would put a helping of pie filling on top and then bake them all to perfection.

  She had a lot more crusts to make and a heavy load of work ahead of her, so she put in one more batch of waffles and then hurried out to say hello to Frank.

  CHAPTER 4

  Stepping into the dining area of the restaurant, Sonja took a moment to glance over at Belinda’s table. Belinda caught her friend’s eye and waved, giving a big thumbs up. She was pleasantly surprised to see Beatrice’s face had gone from stone cold hard to seemingly indifferent. She took this as a good sign considering the woman’s earlier interaction.

  For a moment, she even thought she spotted a smile on the woman’s face.

  It looked like one of her recipes had done the trick, yet again, and she thanked her lucky stars for Vic and his expertise in the kitchen.

  Stepping past the soda machine, she turned the corner and found Sheriff Thompson in his usual seat.

  He looked down at his menu, perusing the items available there—despite the fact that he had most of the diner’s offerings memorized. Sitting there in his tan uniform shirt and black pants, he looked official, professional, and handsome all at the same time. His blonde hair was evenly kept, combed to one side.

  Looking up, he smiled at his new girlfriend. “Hi, Sonja.”

  Sliding into the booth across from him, she smiled back and brushed his hands. “Sheriff, it’s good to see you today.”

  “Hey,” the uniformed man scolded, partly teasing. “What did I tell you about calling me Sheriff?”

  Cocking her head to one side, Sonja answered. “Only call you Sheriff if it’s official business.”

  “Good,” he nodded. “Just keep it in mind,” he said with a wink.

  Sonja was still getting used to the idea of dating the town’s sheriff and was having some difficulty balancing professional and casual social norms with Frank.

  She might have sat next to him on the same side of the booth, but personally thought it unprofessional, particularly in her own establishment. After all, they were still a fairly new couple and she wanted to take things slow. She just hoped that Frank didn’t think she was off-putting with all the little boundaries she was creating for the relationship.

  Heck, they hadn’t even kissed yet, and she hoped to keep it that way at least for a little while.

  “I don’t have a whole lot of time to chat,” she admitted. “Vic just told me he saw you come in, so I decided to take a quick break to come over and say hi.”

  “I understand,” he replied. “I’m sure you’ve got multiple irons in the fire.”

  “Right, especially today. I’m catering the Halloween party at the middle school.”

  The sheriff leaned in, his face suddenly growing dark. “Sonja,” he whispered seriously, “there is one thing I wanted to talk to you about.”

  Raising an eyebrow, she suddenly felt a small wave of worry as she looked into Frank’s green eyes. “What is it?”

  “Speaking officially, it’s a matter of caution—specifically for the kids in town—but nothing serious yet.”

  Her jaw dropped slightly in surprise. “What about the kids?”

  “Well, I’ve asked Tom to make an official announcement later today during his weather report.” Tom, better known as Tommy the Tornado, was the town’s resident radio DJ and sometimes weatherman. Whenever there were important announcements, he was the one to make them during the morning news.

  Frank sighed, grabbing a pink packet of sugar from the table’s caddy and playing with it.

  “Announce what?” she pressed, impatiently.

  “Keep this to yourself, Sonj’, but I got word this morning that the Halloween Kidnapper escaped from prison yesterday.”

  Suddenly feeling her heart drop into her stomach, Sonja felt her mouth go dry. She had heard about this guy from last year. He dressed up in costume and wandered around the downtown streets of Denver, had kidnapped multiple children—most of them in the middle school age range.

  Luckily, the police had apprehended him and found the children before the night was through; it was disturbing to even think about what could have happened.

  “He,” she gulped back a lump in her throat, “escaped from jail?”

  “Yes, late yesterday,” he confirmed. “The authorities in Denver are sending out APBs to all the surrounding cities, advising local authorities to warn parents.”

  Again, Sonja felt a slight jolt to her system, even to the point where she was feeling almost light headed. Ghosts were one thing, but escaped kidnappers were another completely.

  “We can’t just have a normal holiday, can we?” she moaned.

  “Anyway, since you’ll be out catering the Halloween party at the middle school I want you to keep an eye out for anyone suspicious.” By this point, he had ripped open the sugar packet and was playing with its contents. Sonja tried not to be bothered by the sugar quickly scattering across the table. “You have a keen eye for detail, an amazing intuition, and I trust you to call me if anything comes up.”

  She half nodded.
“Got it.”

  “Good,” he said. “Now, I don’t want you to worry too much about this. I’m just asking for you to use your eyes.”

  “Do you really think he’d come this way?”

  Frank shrugged. “We don’t know. There are countless directions he could have gone and many towns in this area of the mountains alone. As far as we know, he could be a hundred miles from here, but I’m not taking any chances. Tom will announce a special curfew for tonight, as well as some specific Halloween rules.”

  “What kind of rules?”

  “As a precaution, any person under the age of eighteen must be accompanied by an adult if they intend on being out on the streets tonight. My deputies and I will patrol for any stragglers. I don’t want a single kid wandering or trick-or-treating on their own tonight.”

  Nodding, Sonja agreed. “That makes complete sense.”

  “And don’t take any chances,” the sheriff reiterated. “Even if you think you see him, you call me. Don’t go in investigating on your own. This guy is dangerous.”

  Pausing, Sonja mulled over the facts in her mind, thinking of everything she remembered from last year and what she had just been told. “Do you have a picture of him?” she asked, hoping that if she saw the convict she could identify him quickly.

  “Sure,” Frank replied, pulling out his phone and bringing up the mug shots—never setting down the sugar packet the entire time. More little white grains filtered out onto the table. Holding up his phone, he let his girlfriend get a good look.

  “Oh,” Sonja mumbled, examining the guy in the photos. A scruffy chin and small dark eyes accompanied a mostly bald head.

  The diner owner couldn’t help but feel a chill staring at the kidnapper’s cold empty face, and she prayed he didn’t head their way that night.

  CHAPTER 5

  Sonja said goodbye to her uniformed boyfriend and then attempted to get back to her normal routine for the day.

  Despite the harrowing news about the kidnapper who might possibly be hiding out somewhere in the forest surrounding their town, there was still work to be done and celebrations to be had.

  Beatrice left the diner with what looked like half a smile on her face. She even had turned to Sonja on her way out and said, “The complementary meal was satisfactory. Thank you.” At this, Belinda had about jumped up and down but had obviously forced her composure as not to upset her aunt.

  The real indicator that Beatrice had enjoyed the meal was the hearty hundred-dollar tip—well over the cost of the meal itself—left on the table. The waitress serving the table had about fallen over when she saw the money.

  Afterward, Belinda lingered behind to thank her friend again. “I haven’t seen Aunt Bella this happy before,” she exclaimed. “I wish we could repay you.”

  Sonja had assured her that the tip was sufficient.

  She then mentioned how she needed to get a move on to get to the middle school on time. Upon hearing this, Belinda insisted on coming along later to help out in any way she could. Grateful for the extra help, Sonja accepted the offer—even though she felt a little guilty for having an unpaid volunteer helping on a catering job.

  Pulling into the school parking lot just a little before noon, Sonja parked and quickly got out, ready to get to work hauling all the trays of delicious, Halloween themed desserts into the school.

  Opening the back door of the van, Sonja grabbed the first tray of pumpkin pie waffles and headed inside. Belinda had said she would drop her aunt off back at home and meet her a little later at the school. The caterer kind of wished Belinda was there now, to help carry everything in.

  “Miss Sonja,” a voice cried across the parking lot.

  Turning, she spotted a young male student dressed in a uniform from a popular science fiction television show. She instantly recognized him as he approached from across the parking lot.

  “Hello, Sam,” she called back. Samuel Sander had helped to clean up the old diner when Sonja took over and reopened it. He was also a regular at the diner’s Friday night gaming, where kids and adults from around the area showed up to play board and card games.

  At one point, Sam had tried to convince Sonja to convert part of the diner into a gaming shop—but she had respectfully declined the suggestion.

  The diner owner had gotten to know multiple kids from the town during the weekly game nights, and it sent a shiver up her spine to think about any of them being taken by the Halloween Kidnapper—especially Sam and his two buddies Brian and Dillon.

  However, she tried to console herself by thinking of Frank’s assertion that they didn’t know he was in Haunted Falls and he could very well be miles away from the town or even on the other side of the state.

  Shaking off the morbid thoughts, Sonja turned her attention back to the young man in front of her.

  Sam loved everything science fiction, and his love of the genre showed through in his red and black Halloween costume with a triangular badge tacked on the front.

  “Should I call you ‘Captain?’” she inquired, standing up straight, giving him a mock salute.

  Sam half smiled, awkwardly enjoying the attention. “Ah, Miss Sonja. You don’t need to do that. You’d just embarrass me.”

  “All right then, Sam,” she replied. “Shouldn’t you be inside the school, not in the parking lot?”

  “I had a dentist appointment this morning. My mom just dropped me off.”

  “And I assume you’re prepared to undo anything the dentist just did?”

  “It’s Halloween,” Sam protested. “I have to eat candy. It’s like a law.”

  Sonja couldn’t help but smile, “I suppose you’re right. Just try not to overdo it.”

  Sam rolled his eyes. “That’s what my mom said, too.”

  “You’d better get inside,” she nodded toward the school. “You wouldn’t want to be late for the Halloween party.”

  “Do you need some help?” he inquired, getting close and eagerly eyeing the pumpkin pie waffles and other assorted treats.

  “Sure thing,” she said with a smile, “but no eating until the party starts.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he responded.

  “Now, go ahead and grab one of those trays and follow me into the gym, please,” Sonja instructed, leading the way toward the school.

  CHAPTER 6

  By twelve thirty, the Halloween party was in full swing. Students mingled and danced on the gym floor which had been converted into a spooky holiday paradise. Wooden booths with cardboard signs had been set up all around the perimeter of the gym—some housing games and others handing out food or candy.

  Kids in an assortment of costumes lined up to play games such as pin the fangs on the vampire, with a cutesy paper vampire cutout glued against a background of bats. Another booth had bobbing for apples on a string, where the kids tried to grab the apple with their mouth while it was attached to a hanging string (Sonja didn’t envy the teachers running that booth—which was pretty messy and needed to be swept between each new group. Another interesting booth housed musical pumpkins (instead of musical chairs) where kids danced around a circle of pumpkins on the floor to “Monster Mash.” When the music stopped, everyone tried to grab a pumpkin and the person without was eliminated.

  In many ways, it made Sonja wish she was a kid herself and could go about enjoying the festivities and games.

  The event with the longest line of kids, and definitely the most impressive, was an amateur haunted house set up in one of the hallway’s leading off of the gym. The doorway into the attraction was covered over with a thick black curtain and had a large sign hung above the door painted to look like rotting wood that said “House of Horrors” in bright red letters. Sonja considered taking a break whenever Belinda showed up and going through the haunted house herself if she were allowed.

  The pumpkin pie waffles had diminished significantly in the half hour since the party had begun. The seasoned and roasted pumpkin seeds, servings individually wrapped in little baggies with
ghosts on them, were less popular—but a few of the kids seemed to really like them.

  Sonja had also, of course, brought bowls of generic Halloween candy along as well, but even that wasn’t as popular as her waffles.

  “Pretty cool party, huh?” Sam said, leaning on the orange tablecloth draped over the table where Sonja had displayed her treats.

  “Not bad,” she confided.

  “Have you gone in the haunted house yet?” he pressed. “It’s awesome.”

  “You know, Sam, I’m pretty sure this party is for the students—not the town residents.”

  “Ah, they’d let you in,” he waved a hand.

  “Where are Dillon and Brian?” Sonja inquired, noticing for the first time that Sam’s two buddies, who were usually inseparable, were nowhere to be seen.

  Sam’s face paled slightly but soon passed. “I’m sure they’re around here somewhere,” he insisted, brushing off the instance of discomfort without another thought.

  Sonja could only assume the group of friends had had some sort of tiff or disagreement.

  “Well, I’m heading to the haunted house. You want to come?”

  Sonja couldn’t help but smile. “Maybe if my assistant shows up I’ll check it out, but don’t wait for me.”

  “Allllright,” he moaned childishly. “Maybe I’ll see you in there,” he offered, grabbing a mini peanut butter cup and walking off to get in line.

  Rearranging the treats that were left on the table, Sonja couldn’t help overhearing the conversation from a group of pre-teen girls—who she guessed were dressed as the brides of Dracula—all walking in a clump. All three girls wore long elegant dresses, made from a shroud like material, and each had a smattering of fake blood on their chins.

  “You’re going tonight, aren’t you?” a girl with dark hair and almond eyes asked. “It’s tradition, Adonia.”

  “Of course, I am,” the young girl responded, folding her arms defensively. “I’m not a chicken, after all.”