The Halloween Mystery: Mystery Template

Section 1: Suspects

1. Ava
2. Rusty and Randy
3. Christian
4. Ricky, teenage girlfriend and daughter

Section 2: The Silence of the Silver Mask

"My coffee and sugar have disappeared again! I just bought those yesterday; this cannot be happening!" I said to myself. Checking further, I realized that other groceries and cleaning items were missing too. "So are all my new tea towels."

As I took a mental inventory, the doorbell rang.

"Halloween treats please!"

"You sure are a sweetie!" I said to the tiny girl wearing a pink, bunny costume with long ears, who was waiting outside my front door. I was furious, but not with her. She was just a child!

Suddenly, I felt very cold! I cringed, as I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

To her left, stood a tall, thin, young man wearing a black hoodie, brand new blue jeans, shiny black boots and an expressionless, cold-looking silver mask. I had no idea who he was at that moment. To her right, there stood another young man. I was relieved, as I recognized him immediately.

Ricky, my neighbor, smiled apologetically and said, "My mom does not like my girlfriend." He beckoned towards the young teenager standing on the sidewalk, partly hidden in the darkness. I could not see her face. Obviously, she was waiting for them.

I realized that she was the child's mother and decided that it was more than likely Christian, Ricky's brother, who remained silent behind that eerie silver mask. The two brothers seemed like total opposites. Christian, the younger of the two, always had a job of some kind; Ricky had never worked anywhere to my knowledge. Christian also had a car; Ricky never could afford to buy one. Christian was very quiet and shy, a non-smoker and non-drinker, even though he was into hard rock music. He seemed to be forever fixing his car. Ricky was a drinker and a smoker, and he knew that I did not approve.

"You might as well all have some treats," I said, smiling, as I nodded my head at Ricky.

Ricky knew that I understood.

I was aware that his mother had refused to accept the young child as her granddaughter, even though he had taken over the role of father, after her real father disappeared. "She's not my grandchild," Ricky's mother had explained to me and then simply walked away.

I had also found a note in my mailbox when I first moved in. It asked the question, "Should a fifteen year old girl have to raise a child alone?" No one ever offered an explanation of that letter to me. Suddenly, a light began to dawn.

"These are really quite good." I said, smiling at the little girl. She was quite cute in her Halloween costume. "You are a beautiful bunny," I said, as I put a couple of chocolate bars into her pillowcase, tossed a few to Christian, some to Ricky and then gave him a few extras for his girlfriend.

"Thank you, ever so much!" Ricky said. The others all remained silent, as they disappeared down the street. 

"See you, Mom," he called to me. Again, I understood.

"Who on earth is that?" I wondered the next morning, as I awakened to a loud ruckus, on the other side of my condominium. I could hear drawers being opened and closed, cupboard doors banging and what sounded like children running up and down the stairs. Suddenly, the outside door slammed shut.

I quickly ran outside and saw a set of thirteen-year old twins, named Randy and Rusty, running down the street. They were both carrying backpacks. I shook my head, as this was not the first time that I had heard them, or seen them in our area. In fact, at one time, I was almost certain that they were the ones who were stealing food from my cupboards, as well as from some of the other nearby homes.

As I went back into my condominium, I looked toward the back door and saw my elderly neighbor, Ava, heading across my back yard. I opened the door and hollered at her, but she did not hear me.

On my deck, I found a tomato plant that she had left for me. Ava always seemed to be a good friend, but it was almost as if she was too friendly sometimes. She was a very religious person and very generous with the produce from her garden and other gifts. I had started to wonder about her when I found a cross, carved into one wall in my home. Every time I looked at it, it appeared to be getting deeper and deeper.

Ava loved plants and was forever cutting them back, including my plants too, when she thought that I was not looking. Sure enough, one of my other plants had been cut, too. I always graciously gave her the benefit of the doubt and attributed it to the squirrels.

I decided to head out to the store, thinking maybe I should invite her over later. I knew that I had no choice but to buy some more coffee and sugar first, as she never drank her coffee without a lot of sugar in it.

When I returned, there seemed to be the vague smell of cigar smoke in the condominium.

"That is weird! Maybe I imagined that?" I asked myself and began tidying up the living room.

"I left a tomato plant for you," Ava said, as we chatted later on. "Did you find it?"

"Yes, I did, thank you." I did not tell her that I had found another plant that had been cut. I just gave her a hug. I knew that she was lonely and needed attention.

I had wondered if she was the one who was helping herself to food and other household items, as things seemed to disappear every time I went out. I knew that she did not really need to steal anything though, as she was relatively well off.

Later on, I watched another, elderly neighbor walk by carrying a grocery bag.

"That must be his doggie bag," I decided. Harley was a sweetheart and one could not help but love him, too. He had a couple of dogs that he walked all the time. Somehow, their leashes were always tangled and he would get very. He complained a lot about kids ringing his front door bell and then running away even though he knew that there was no way that I could stop them from doing that. As he walked down the street untangling his dogs’ leashes again, I continued my housecleaning.

"Finger prints?"

I was stunned to find a small child's fingerprints on my full-length mirror in the front hallway.

"I don't think I have had any children visiting here," I said to myself, as I wiped the mirror. "That child cannot be any more than three or four years old." I didn't think much more about it at the time, but later on I suddenly realized what was happening. "Halloween! Now I understand the silence of the silver mask." I said.

Section 3:

Clues:
1. The note asking "Why should a teenager have to raise a child alone?"
2. An ongoing pattern of missing food and other items.
3. The cigar smell in the condominium.
4. The child's fingerprints on my full length mirror.