Deadly Night (25 page)

“
Not yet,” said Tom. “The mists are quite similar, and both times they’re following you. And, I bet this has happened before. You’ll have a tough time getting me to believe otherwise.”

“
That’s not necessarily true,” I countered, feeling my nose try to extend further from my face.

“
Bullshit, Jimmy!”
Fiona blurted out, drawing everyone’s attention. She looked worried. “These are your friends, so they have a right to know about the thing you told me about…what happened to you last week.”

There’s nowhere to hide now…just frigging great!

Nearly impossible to ignore the curious stares…an enormous weight getting worse by the minute. With little choice but to cooperate, I held out hope I’d sneak through with an abbreviated version.

“
Don’t even think about it, hon,” my wife admonished. “You need to share everything about that night…. I do mean
everything!”

I spent most of Tuesday morning and afternoon continually looking over my shoulder. Really, since getting up this morning, it’s been like frigging Pig Pen from the old Charlie Brown comics, picturing in my head some unseen menace tracking my every move. A dirty murky dust cloud? In my case it’s more like the ‘curse of the ominous mist’ syndrome.

Yeah, I know, there’s probably nothing to it.... That’s what I keep telling myself, anyway.

We damn near missed our curfew last night talking about this shit...me reliving what happened a week ago in our house. At least Fiona got a small taste of her own medicine when Justin grilled her on why Charlain Thompson went from high-society pompous bitch to Sybil, jumping over the banister to her death like some glory-deluded Kamikaze at Pearl Harbor.

My wife proposed spirit possession as a possible answer, which led to even more questions and a discussion that could’ve lasted well into the wee hours of the morning. At least I enjoyed a humorous moment when Jackie brought a stern elbow to Angie’s ribs after our resident skeptic’s initial response to Fiona’s theory was a burst of cynical laugher. Muscle Mutt’s yelped response had to be faked, though. The girl’s body fat is somewhere around three percent. It’s like punching a cement wall.

Lizzy Robertson’s spirit taking over poor Charlain’s body for the day is sort of like renting a car, fully intending to smash the sucker up and return it as a trashed heap. The premise wouldn’t fit well with what we knew about Lizzy, but another wicked spirit might find that sort of thing quite entertaining. So, it might not have been Lizzy’s ghost involved here after all….Regardless, I sure as hell didn’t want to speculate about it until dawn.

But the worst thing about last night is what
didn’t
happen. Fiona never shared her card reading from Sunday night. She didn’t get a chance once the other stuff came up. Had she done so, we definitely would’ve been late getting back to Stella’s, and the group’s psychological state might’ve been much worse after hearing that information.

“
Jimmy, don’t drive so fast—Jackie and Tony are having trouble keeping up!”

I don’t believe I’ve mentioned how much Fiona hates it when I’m behind the wheel. Usually it’s more about my bad habit of hugging the lane’s left edge too close…makes her nervous as hell. But she’s right…I need to slow down, since I can barely see the pair of SUVs a half-mile behind us.

Tuesday night. We’re on our way to Twin Forks, after the group met up at Jim and Nick’s Barbeque in Murfreesboro. Heard it was fantastic, and no disappointment there. Great brisket, man. That’s all that mattered to me, anyway, and everyone else seemed pleased with their orders as well. Afterward, we shared a few beers while waiting for the TV station’s camera crew and the Murfreesboro cop assigned to escort us. Once they arrived, the two male camera techs elected to ride with Jackie and Angie, while the lone camera girl graciously agreed to join Tom, Tony, and Justin.

My reason for driving fast is to keep up with the cop, who seems to have no inkling of how far behind the others are. And, it’s not like I can call him on my cell phone.

“
Flash your lights at him!” Fiona urged me.

“
You don’t think it’ll piss him off?”

“
Who cares?! He needs to quit being a dick and slow down…if it were you or me in front of him right now, he’d sure as hell be pulling our asses over and handing us a speeding ticket!”

She’s probably right.

To the guy’s credit, he did slow down, and it only took me flashing the lights a couple of times. After that, the patrol car’s pace remained steady—just five miles above the speed limit, which allowed the others opportunity to catch up.

Before long we reached the back roads that would take us to the bed and breakfast inn. When we arrived at Twin Forks, Maxine and Lovell were already waiting for us, standing in front of their massive Victorian estate.

The building’s quite impressive, with matching turrets and a full wraparound porch that stretches for several hundred feet. Hell, if I was a ghost I’d be a happy camper in a place like this.

“
Sorry about the race over here,” I told Jackie and Tony, after we all parked and began unloading our gear.

“
Geez, I thought maybe we’d stepped onto the set of ‘The Dukes of Hazard’,” teased Tony, who paused to look over at tonight’s police protection.

Officer Ted Compton stood by his patrol car, reflective shades still covering his eyes despite the fact twilight had already arrived. The anti-Jerry Sloan. An average looking, no-personality kind of guy. Just as long as he kept out of our way, we’d be done with him in a couple of hours.

“
Hey, Maxine! It’s so
good
to see you!”

Fiona led the way up to the porch, where the Colliards had retreated once they saw us coming with all of our gear, followed by our three camera techs. She and Maxine embraced as soon as she climbed the steps to the porch.

“
It’s good to see you too, Fiona!” said Maxine. “And you, Jimmy!”

I’m not one for a bunch of hugs with relative strangers, but we’ve grown to really like the Colliards, even though we’ve only been here a few times over the years. Kind of strange we’d be on such casual terms, I guess. But it’s sort of cool too.

I shook hands with Lovell after Maxine moved on to Jackie who introduced her to Angie. I took this cue to introduce Lovell to the guys in our group and our camera crew. Since Officer Ted hadn’t ventured from the side of his squad car, I didn’t feel the need for introductions in his case. Fiona’s knowing look told me she wasn’t inclined to do it either.

“
We’re going out to visit Lovell’s uncle for awhile, and should be back in a couple of hours,” Maxine advised. “You’ll have the full run of the house, except our quarters upstairs.”

“
That’ll work great,” said Fiona, glancing back at all of us and our near-unanimous head nods. “I’ve already briefed the gang on the rules, so none of the furniture or glassware will be touched.”

“
Good. I’m sure it’ll be fine,” she said, but I could tell from the relieved look on her face it’d been a worry for her. She and Lovell had spent more than a hundred grand finding enough period pieces to make the parlors, reception areas, and guest rooms look much like they did back in the 1880s. “Here’s my mobile number if anything comes up before then. You said something about finishing up by ten o’clock.”

“
Yes, I did. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to visit after we finish the investigation tonight,” my wife advised. “Once we get our findings put together in the next few days, Jimmy and I’ll be back out here. Tom and Jackie will come with us, so we can give you the complete analysis of what we discover tonight.”

Fiona added a hopeful smile, and Maxine told her quietly that arrangement was fine with her, clasping my wife’s left hand while giving her the note with the Colliards’ cell phone numbers. Lovell led his wife to where their Navigator sat, next to the squad car. He nodded to Officer Compton after they got in, and Maxine rolled down her window.

“
We should be back around nine-thirty. See you then!”

“
All right, we’ll see you in a little bit!”

Fiona waved, and the rest of us joined in. Even the camera crew…it’s sort of interesting to watch the persuasive power of the alpha in the group over everyone else.

“
Okay, everybody, let’s set up the audio and video recorders upstairs and downstairs, so we can get this show on the road,” she instructed. “Jimmy and Justin will work with Tony downstairs, and Jackie, Angie, and I will join Tom upstairs. At eight-thirty, we’ll switch and trade levels. Our camera crew has their own agenda, from what Jackie told me earlier, so try to stay out of their way while they film us doing our thing.”

“
Tom, would you mind if I use your infrared camera tonight?”

Angie’s sudden request caught us all off guard. Asking to handle Tom’s baby is akin to requesting a peek inside his underpants. It ain’t happening. Angie’s charms notwithstanding, the only way she’ll wrest the infrared from him is through physical force. More like a sneak attack with a bat to knock him unconscious. I envision the dude sleeps with the damned thing at night and probably takes it with him wherever he goes. I couldn’t help snicker as he pulled his beloved camera closer to his chest while he glared at her.

“
What if she just tags along while you use it, so she can see what you see, Tom?” Jackie suggested.

Great idea. You could immediately feel the tension ease, at least with him. Not so much with our other child.

“
How am I ever going to become a complete believer in what you guys do, if I can’t try out the equipment myself—unencumbered by anyone else?”

For crying out loud, Angie…why don’t you go buy your own damned camera if you doubt what goes on among us?

“
Ladies and gents, we don’t have time to bicker about this shit, so if Tom doesn’t feel comfortable sharing his toys, you’ll have to try some other sandbox, Muscle Mutt,” I said, my own abrasive side shining through. Already ten minutes to eight, this crap’s cutting into our game time. Like Fiona said, we need to get this show on the road... now!

Angie glared at me in response, her bright emerald eyes on fire. At least Tom seemed appreciative. Relieved, he led Jackie upstairs, where they carried the crate containing the remotes and other equipment.

“
You can use either one of our cameras, Angie,” offered Fiona. “Jimmy and I’ve captured quite a few anomalies using both the Nikon and the Canon. And, we’ve got killer zoom lenses for both.”

“
Nah, it’s all right,” she said, smirking again as if it’d all been just a joke to her in the first place. Odd girl, I say. “I appreciate the offer, Fi. But I’ll pass for now…maybe I’ll sneak a peek at what you’re looking at once we get going.”

“
Sounds great!”

Fiona’s smile completely genuine and sincere, I just hope Angie realizes what a good friend she’s got here. She and Fiona walked upstairs together, after Fiona gave me a light kiss on the mouth.

“
See you later, Cracker Jack!”

Plenty of ice on that, delivered like a spitball to an unwary batter.

“
Man, she’s showing you the same love I’ll bet she reserves for the hemorrhoids on that gorgeous ass of hers!”

Tony snickered at Justin’s joke, and before I turned around with my own wise-ass comeback, a pair of bright camera lights blinded me. Yep, the camera guys were right on top of that one…I should’ve known they’d be keeping a close eye on Justin and me. Sam Moore and Brandon Jones are their names, one black and the other white. Good natured dudes, twenty to twenty-five years old. The girl, Sally Preston, joined the others upstairs. Blond and petite, I figure she’ll get a thorough look-over by Jackie before the night ends.

This arrangement will take some getting used to…especially the network’s cameras sneaking up on us. It brings visions of the incriminating ‘asides’ Reality TV is famous for. That’s the last thing I’d want, to be saying shit you’d for sure regret later, like the divas on
“Real Housewives of Atlanta”
and other crazy shows like it.

“
Well, okay….Tony, let’s set up the remotes in both parlors and the main reception area,” I advised, shielding my eyes from Sam and Brandon’s lamps while motioning for him to follow me. “We probably should put one in the kitchen and maybe another in the dining room too. You know?”

“
Yeah, that sounds good to me,” he replied, huffing a little from the burden of his duffle bag. “I’ll be right there.”

“
Hey, let me help you with that,” offered Justin, who encountered little resistance as he claimed the bag from Tony.

“
Thanks, man.”

Tony smiled shyly at the camera closest to him, and I knew for sure the dynamic of working together would change for us. I would’ve stepped in and taken the damned duffle if not so distracted by the brief spat with Angie, and the added pressure of making sure we didn’t just wander around aimlessly in our inaugural investigation for the TV pilot. I imagine it wouldn’t take much to get the project nixed.

But I hadn’t considered the affect on everyone else.

I wondered if Tom would react like Tony just did, and God only knew what camera-shy Angie would do. In fact, she might become the star of this project, since everyone loves the bitches in Reality TV, whether that’s admiration or loathing. They get fanfare either way.