In the House of Gingerbread
A house in the woods alerts its resident witch to the presence of a man on its porch. Tina Heim opens the door to Lieutenant Price, who asks after the woman’s children and invites himself inside.
Tina leads the officer to her kitchen, where she had been preparing gingerbread cookies. Price brusquely moves past his host and seats himself. Though startled by his manner, Tina resolves to be hospitable.
Price inquires about Tina’s late husband, Jerry, who died the year prior of lung cancer. Tina explains that Jerry neither smoked nor worked with dangerous chemicals, and Price remarks on the strangeness of his death at forty-one. The lieutenant raises the recent death of Tina’s son, Alan, and confirms that the two-year-old died from eating lead paint chips. Tina remarks on her two remaining children, Henry and Gail, who, unlike Alan, were the product of Jerry’s first marriage.
The lieutenant listens to footsteps overhead. Tina dismisses the sound, inviting him to look around the empty house.
Price cites concerns held by Tina’s life insurance company, which provided double indemnity in the event of death by accident or by cancer. Although outraged by Price’s insinuation, Tina agrees to allow the exhumation of Jerry to rule out foul play in his death.
Tina leads Price to Alan’s old nursery and shows him the repainted closet where the boy had consumed the lead flakes. A faint sound makes Tina suspect a child is trapped inside, and Price finds the door locked and painted shut. The officer, supposing a rodent to be concealed behind the door, picks the lock and cuts the jamb free. The closet proves empty, but Tina briefly spots a pair of eyes. Price notices scratch marks on the wall and flecks of paint on the floor.
Excusing himself, Price promises to contact Tina with the results of Jerry’s autopsy. Tina brings the officer downstairs and explains that she hopes to sell her house.
Price pats his pocket on the way to his car, and Tina suspects that he secreted some of the nursery’s paint for testing.
The house manifests itself in the form of a young girl’s spirit. Henry, sitting angrily on the sofa, does not notice the spectral presence. Gail hears the ghost and reflects on the legend of a vengeful witch. Emerging from a shower, Tina glimpses the apparition in the mirror and fantasizes about Jerry and Price.
