Murder on Palm st

The breeze ruffled the edge of the wanted poster that was coming off the tree as a result of the years it had been there. It was old news to the residents of  Palm St that there was a wanted man on the loose. But nothing had happened for 5 years. After all, what would an international killer want with a few citizens living their quiet lives quietly?

The residents of Palm St were not particularly unusual. The young Fig couple, with a baby on the way, old widowed Mrs Willow, the Oak family with 9 kids and a lot of empty houses.

Mrs Willow's son was off fighting in Syria and hadn't been home for 5 years, however he was back at Palm St for Christmas. All was well.

Mangrove Willow walled up to 8 Palm St at exactly 2:04 the next day. He rapped the knocker and waited "Manny! Oh my Manny! You're back at last. How good it is to see you."
"Come on Mum, let's have a cup of tea, we have a lot to catch up on." Mrs Willow never came out again. The serial killer was on the loose.

The next 15 years passed without incident. Old families moved out and new ones moved in. The Figs and Oaks were replaced with the Evergreens and the Cedars. But no one quite knew who the man who lived in number 8 was. All was well.

As the Evergreen and Cedar kids grew up, they formed their own gangs with membership tests and initiations. Eucalyptus Evergreen was a young girl vying for a young gang's attention. As an initiation she was forced to go into 8 Palm St, have a cup of tea with the strange man and come out alive. Sounded easy enough.

As she sipped her tea, she noticed a strange rattling in a supposedly empty cupboard. Mrs Willow was back.

"Excuse me sir, what is in that cupboard?"
"Why, nothing , just some old china ware, no ghosts of people I've murdered or anything, especially not my mum."
"Excuse me sir, I best be off."

Eucalyptus bolted down the street hardly believing what she had heard. Old hermit Mr Willow was a serial killer that murdered his own mum and then she became a ghost? Impossible! But definitely true.

"Impossible" "Yeah right." "Sure mate" "She's crazy." "No such thing as ghosts" "Probably your imagination."
No one believed that he old man was a serial killer with ghosts in his house. They had a point. But she had to get the word out there. She was killed the next day.

Another unusual happening the next day was the arrival of a small China cup on the Evergreen's house. Mrs Evergreen opened the door to collect the newspaper when she saw it. She picked it up and took it inside. When the Evergreen family went to sleep that night none of them ever awoke.