Monday night Fenton had been slashed in the arm by a purse-snatcher he had chased down, after having dinner with Laura at a downtown restaurant. Luckily the cut hadn’t been deep and required only a few stitches to close.

On Tuesday, Laura had accidentally spilled a pot of boiling water, some of which had splashed onto her hand resulting in some minor burns.

The following day, Joe had been sitting in Frank’s office, trying to convince him for the umpteenth time that it was all due to the curse. Frank, who had been methodically reading and returning emails while trying to ignore Joe, had gotten distracted by his brother and somehow downloaded a virus onto his computer via an attachment that he never would have opened had he been paying attention to the task at hand. He had watched, stunned, as file after file was deleted from his hard drive.

After banning Joe from his office, he had spent the rest of the day trying to repair the damage, frequently calling Vanessa and Phil for help. He had left for home that night with a splitting headache, muttering about the curse of little brothers.

Juggling the bags, Frank opened the front door and walked into the large foyer. He stopped and looked around admiringly. The house had been transformed into a place any ghost would be proud to haunt.

"You like it?" He heard Callie’s voice beside him.

"Wow! You guys did a great job!" He replied approvingly, leaning down to kiss her.

"Come on into the ballroom. That’s where we have all the tables set up." She said, leading him towards an entryway off to the right.

Following his wife, they descended three steps into a large room with tables against the far wall. He saw Karen, Liz, and Chet setting out a massive array of food and drinks.

"Hey, be sure to leave some for the rest of us." Frank called out, as Chet tried to sneak a few chips into his mouth without being caught.

Approaching the table, he set the bags down and eyed the assortment of goodies they’d be feasting on that evening. Sneaking a small cheese puff, Frank popped it into his mouth, attempting a look of innocence when he saw he’d been caught by Callie.

Shooed away from the food table by his wife, Frank walked to the opposite side of the room where Joe and Biff were on ladders hanging the last of the decorations under Vanessa’s watchful eye. He came to a stop next to his brother’s girlfriend and leaned in close to her.

"Has he said anything about the you-know-what today?" He said in a low voice, glancing up at his brother.

"No." Vanessa replied with a laugh. "But then again, nothing has really gone wrong yet."

"Oh, great. There’s still hope." Frank muttered.

Vanessa patted him on the back reassuringly. "I told him to be on his best behavior and not mention the "C" word in front of you."

"Thanks. Do you think he’ll listen?"

Vanessa arched an eyebrow in reply, before changing the subject. "Did you get everything restored on your hard drive?"

"I’m still missing a few files." He sighed. "I’m hoping Dad or Joe has the ones I need on their computers."

"Hey, it’s about time you got here." Joe said, climbing down off the ladder and walking over to Frank and Vanessa. "Whaddya think?" He asked, slipping an arm around Vanessa’s waist and gesturing towards the direction of the decorations he’d just finished hanging.

"Maybe you could start another career as an interior decorator." Frank commented.

"I think they’re perfect." Vanessa replied, rewarding Joe with a somewhat overzealous kiss.

Rolling his eyes at an oblivious Joe and Vanessa, Frank knew they would be completely wrapped up in each other for the next several minutes. Returning to Callie, Frank received further instructions on what still needed to be done before the rest of their friends arrived.

*****

Several hours later, the Halloween party was in full swing, as the ballroom was filled with music, laughter and the occasional scream from the unsuspecting victim of a holiday prank. As Frank sat talking with Phil and Chet, Callie approached them and sat down beside Frank, smiling apologetically.

"Uh-oh. What do you want me to do now?" Frank asked, having seen that smile before.

"It seems Liz has gotten a little spooked by something and wanted to know if you and Joe might investigate?" Callie replied. "She insists every time she goes in the kitchen she can hear a noise from upstairs, like someone is walking around up there."

"The only thing up there is the attic. And no one is allowed up there – it’s off limits. I made sure everyone knew that." Chet said emphatically.

"I know, but she’s adamant."

"Have you heard anything?" Frank asked.

"Well, yeah I did, but it could just be that this is a creaky old house." Callie shrugged.

Just then, Liz came rushing up to them, obviously startled. "That’s it. I heard it again! This place is haunted!"

Chet took his girlfriend’s hand and squeezed it. "Come on, hon. You know those are just ghost stories."

"Well something is up there and it’s making me very nervous." Liz replied. "I’ve been hearing it all night."

Chet turned back to Frank. "Would you mind…"

"Checking it out? No, not at all. But you’re the one who has to pull Joe off the dance floor." He said to Liz, jerking his head at the mass of dancing bodies with Joe and Vanessa right in the middle of them.

"Good luck!" Phil laughed.

As Liz was debating how to get Joe’s attention, the song ended and she saw Joe and Vanessa heading right for them.

"Boy, did you luck out." Chet grinned.

"What’s so funny?" Joe asked, as he and Vanessa joined them.

"I’ll explain on the way." Frank said, standing up and steering Joe out of the room.

"On the way to where?" Joe asked puzzled. "And why are we leaving the party?"

"We’re not. We’re just checking out something upstairs."

"I thought upstairs was off limits." Joe commented, following his brother.

"It is. When has that ever stopped us before."

"Good point."

"Liz insists she keeps hearing noises coming from the attic." Frank explained as he turned and started up another set of stairs. "Like someone was walking around up there. She’s spooked and wanted to know if we’d check it out."

"And of course you said yes." Joe grumbled. "I was having a good time at the party."

"And as soon as we check it out and tell her there’s nothing up here, you can enjoy it some more." Frank replied, coming to the top of the last flight of stairs and stopping in front the attic door. Looking down he saw it had been secured with a heavy pad lock.

"It’s all yours." He stepped aside, smiling at Joe. "You are more proficient at it than I am."

Joe looked at the pad lock then at Frank. "Gee, I forgot to bring my-"

"I didn’t." Frank cut him off, pulling a slim case from his pocket and handing it to Joe.

"Why does that not surprise me." Joe muttered, taking the lock picking tools from his brother.

In less than a minute, Joe had removed the lock and opened the door.

"After you." He said with a flourish of his hand.

Shaking his head, Frank stepped past Joe into the attic. The full moon shining through the window bathed the room in an eerie glow.

As Frank groped on the wall for a light switch, Joe took a few tentative steps forward. A single overhead bulb suddenly came to life, indicating Frank had found what he was looking for. Almost immediately, Joe began to chuckle.

"Looks like we found our ghost." He pointed to the far corner of the room where a rocking chair sat in front of an open window. A light breeze pushed it’s way in causing the rocker to move back and forth over the creaking wooden floorboards.

As Frank watched Joe walk towards the open window, he suddenly got a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Joe…" he began, but never got to finish his thought. Frank watched in horror as his brother disappeared through a gaping hole that had suddenly opened up in the middle of the floor!