I’m not good at estimating numbers and the tally probably wouldn’t sound that impressive if I was. After all, the entire length of the parade route is a few short blocks. But if you cram, say, several thousand people into that space, it’s a lot. And I’m guessing there were at least three thousand spectators lined five- or six-deep along the route on both sides of the streets, some in costume, many in ordinary clothes. Police tape cordoned off the street, Ken Levitt and Bart Mallick were stationed next to their squad cars at either end of the route, Chief Bryant was observing on foot, and there were a dozen volunteers in SECURITY T-shirts doing their best to keep visitors in line, but it was still a recipe for mayhem. A lot of spectators were already drunk and raucous, getting amped up further by the Halloween spooktacular sound track blasting from the speakers that the owners of one of the boutiques had set up across the street.

A block and a half from our post, the parade participants were amassing in front of Boo Radley’s house. Stacey Brooks was flitting around filming or taking photos. She wasn’t exactly in costume, but it looked as though she had on a headband with a set of plush cat ears. Gah, it figures.

At a quarter after ten, the parade still hadn’t started and I was getting jittery. In less than two hours, Pemkowet gained permanently haunted status, and I officially failed utterly and completely in my duties as an agent of Hel. “C’mon, Grandpa Morgan,” I muttered. “Where are you? You’re never going to have a bigger audience than this one.”

Sinclair, holding the empty pickle jar, shot me a miserable look. Cody laid a hand on my shoulder and gave it a surreptitious squeeze. “Hang in there, Pixy Stix.”

“You should take up knitting, dear,” Mrs. Meyers said calmly, needles clicking away. “It calms the nerves.”

“I’m considering it myself,” Sandra Sweddon murmured, fingering a set of crystal worry beads.

“Dahling, I think we should all take up knitting when this is over,” Casimir said, his voice strained.

“I just wish I knew where my goddamn brother was,” Jen said. “Or my goddamn sister, for that matter.”

“You don’t have to stay,” I said to her. “We’ve got enough backup.”

She gritted her teeth. “Oh, I’m staying.”

“Well, I think it’s quite exciting,” Lurine said idly. “But I do wish they’d get the damned thing under way.”

At approximately ten thirty, half an hour late, the parade finally began.