"So tell it to us again, Hannibal," Face said the next morning in the van as they were driving along to meet their latest client, "Exactly how did we get this case? I don't remember meeting with anybody."
"Me either," B.A. added, already looking very suspicious about the whole thing.
"I remember meeting somebody," Murdock said from his spot in the back, "But I don't remember who, and I don't remember where."
"You can't remember nothing," B.A. told him.
"Not true," Murdock replied.
Hannibal cut them off, "I met with this client and agreed on everybody's behalf to take the case because it's of personal interest to me."
"I already have a feeling I'm going to regret this," Face whined to Murdock.
"You always say that, Face," B.A. reminded him.
"Because I always do," Face replied.
"So what's this 'personal interest' of yours, Hannibal?" B.A. asked.
Hannibal just smirked and said to his Sergeant, "Don't you believe in ghosts, B.A.?"
"No I don't," he replied.
"I do!" Murdock spoke up from the backseat, "I know I do!"
"Incase you forgot, Hannibal," Face spoke up also, "We're not the Ghostbusters, so what're we gonna do?"
"You'll see," Hannibal responded, "Don't forget, Face, it is Halloween, this is their time of the year."
"Ain't that the truth?" Murdock asked.
"Oh brother," B.A. grumbled and rolled his eyes.
"What's the matter, B.A.?" Face asked.
"I remember history class in school," B.A. said, "I know the background of this crazy day, and I smell another Irish bit," he glared at their Colonel through the corner of his eyes, "Just like all those proverbs about your 'dear departed father'."
"What's the matter, B.A.?" Hannibal asked, "Don't you have any Halloween spirit?"
"No," B.A. growled, "Especially since some sucker snatched all the pumpkins the kids from the center made this morning."
"Aw man, that's low," Face said.
"It's strange too, it's early, but then again it is the 30th," Murdock said as though that explained it.
"What's that got to do with anything, ya crazy fool?" B.A. wanted to know.
"B.A. if you knew your Halloween history you would know that back when Halloween was divided into separate holidays back to back, the night of October 30th was originally Mischief Night when pranks and vandalism run rampant, something still practiced today in choice places."
"I don't care," B.A. told him, "I find the sucker that stole the pumpkins, I'm gonna make a jack-o-lantern out of him."
"Well isn't that pleasant?" Face sarcastically remarked.
A thought occurred to Murdock, "How do you suppose they got the idea to carve pumpkins instead of turnips?"
Face looked to Hannibal questioningly, wordlessly asking if this was typical Murdock craziness or not.
"You ever wonder where the term jack-o-lantern came from, Face?" Hannibal asked, "It was a legend about a man who died, he was so bad God wouldn't take him, he tricked the devil so he couldn't take his soul either, so he was cursed to wander the earth for eternity with just a lantern to guide his way, so they called him Jack of the Lantern. In Ireland, people originally carved turnips to make lanterns out of for Halloween."
"Turnips?" Face repeated, and asked, "How do you get a candle down in one of those?"
"Lot of carving," Murdock replied, "Now I saw some bell peppers at the supermarket the other day that would be perfect for carving faces into."
"Oh brother." B.A. would've right now rather be anywhere except listening to these people jibber-jabber like a bunch of crazy fools, he bent his head over and hit it against the horn in the steering wheel in aggravation.
"Even when he's awake he still lands on the horn," Face quietly noted to Hannibal.
"Uh huh," Hannibal responded nonchalantly.
"That don't look like no haunted house to me, Hannibal," Murdock said as they pulled up to the curb and saw the house in question in the middle of the block.
"Me either," B.A. found himself oddly enough agreeing with Murdock as he leaned back in the driver's seat and folded his arms against his chest.
Indeed it didn't look like any place that people would intentionally cross the street to avoid walking by. A decent looking, nice sized, two story brick house with a black tiled roof. The full green lawn was well tended to and looked like it received professional care. Face was already working in his mind what a house like this could go for on the market. It was a nice place on a nice piece of land in what seemed to be a nice neighborhood…
"Well," he thought and said to Murdock, "Then again, what's a haunted house look like?"
"Let's go," Hannibal said as he opened the door on his side.
The Captain and the Lieutenant looked to each other and shrugged mutually.
"Let's get this over with and find out what's going on," Face said. He commented to Murdock, "If this is a day of tasteless pranks, I sure hope this isn't one of them."
Altogether they piled out of the van and the others followed Hannibal up to the front porch where he rang the bell, but there was no answer.
"You're sure they knew we were coming?" Face asked.
"Positive," Hannibal said, and tried rapping on the door.
Murdock put his ear to the wall and tried to listen to the inside of the house for oncoming footsteps and vibrating floorboards. Nothing. "I don't think there's anybody here, Colonel."
"Somebody gave us the runaround," Face was inclined to agree.
But Hannibal shook his head and was adamant, "It couldn't be."
"Who's down there?" a voice called from above.
All four men backed off of the porch out to the sidewalk and looked up, and saw a woman looking down from an open window on the second floor upstairs.
Hannibal gave a small wave and offered the best smile he could manage on the spot, "Hello ma'am, remember me?"
The woman upstairs leaned further out of the window to look down, and seemed to make the connection. "Oh yes, just a minute and I'll be right down."
"This isn't a haunted house," Face murmured to Murdock, "It's a nuthouse!"
Murdock's eyes lit up, "I think I'm gonna like it here."