Free Punked by the Pumpkin: A Cozy Mystery (Sweet Home Mystery Series Book 4) by Constance Barker Page A

pointed toward the distant trees, just this side of the cemetery.
    “What, Jules?”
    She looked at me with wide eyes. “It’s real. I just saw the green monster running from over there by the retirement village into the trees.”
    “You saw it! Of course it’s real. I told you Eli and I saw it.”
    “I know but some things aren’t really real until you see them with your own eyes – like flying saucers…and glowing green monsters. That was weird. I’m ready to head back inside now.” Jules covered her arms with her hands and shivered.
    “Maybe we should do as much snooping inside as we can while we have the chance, Jules.”
    “Yeah, let’s go…I’m getting cold. Well, it looks like my special edition may have been the right thing to do after all.”
    “Of course it was.”
    Jules and I walked around the entire church basement, poking our heads through every door and into every room. The kitchen crew thought we were coming to help wash dishes, so we had to get out of there in a hurry. We didn’t find anything unusual, but then again, we didn’t know what we were looking for.
    Eli and Mike were already back at the table.
    “How’s Trevor doing?”
    He thinks he caught a glimpse of the…the…animal a block or so away.”
    “So did Jules.”
    “Yeah. It was running towards the trees by the cemetery.”
    Suddenly Pastor Cassidy entered the stage.
    “Will the chosen six please come up to the stage,” Pastor Cassidy requested, and Harvey and the other five made their way towards her.
    “Good luck, Harvey!” Hildie, Toe, and Essie all took their turn in wishing him the best.
    Eli took my hand, which was kind of unusual and very nice. “Well, it seems that the chickens were brought here for the banquet and not for a sacrificial offering, so maybe they won’t be sacrificing the chosen ones tonight either.” He tried to look serious, but I could see through mocking smirk. Smarty pants.
    Harvey was the closest to the stage, and he waited for the others to arrive at the base of the stairs. A portable staircase had been rolled up in front of the small stage, just left of center. There was a great cardboard image of a mountain on the side of the portable staircase facing the dining hall. It looked as though Harvey was leading them up the mountain, past the two stone tablets that were painted near the top of it.
    There was a table with the round wire basket of Bingo balls on the left side of the stage, and the statue of God in the middle. The six seniors in their white tunics, led by Harvey, lined up in front of the great statue, where the Pastor awaited them.
    “Ladies and gentlemen, Lambs of God…” She did have a rather compelling voice and quite a mystique about her, and she had everybody’s attention. “…these are the ones whom the Lord and I have chosen above all the others to bring joy to the hearts of His Tuesday night congregation.”
    Tuesday night congregation? What in the world does that mean? The Bingo crowd?
    “These anointed few, with golden tones gifted to them by God, have preserved their voices and practiced their projection better than all of the others. On Tuesday last, we heard each of them call the numbers that were guided by divine providence from the golden basket to your left. Members of the Tuesday night congregation, you have given me your feedback, your comments, and your preferences. I have prayed and asked for guidance from the Lord, and He has answered me.”
    Oh, come on. All this silence and whispering and tea with honey was because of a competition to be Bingo caller? So, just get on with it. Tell us who it is, already.
    She took hold of some glistening loops that looked like they were made of tinsel garland that you would wrap around a Christmas tree.
    “I hold in my hand six halos. Five are halos of silver and one is a halo of gold. Those who receive the silver halos will fill in for the chosen one with the gold halo if he or she is unable to perform their duties