What a Ghoul Wants (20 page)

But could I do that without getting myself, or one of the crew members, killed? That
was the central dilemma tugging away at me, and one I couldn’t answer with confidence.
So were the financial gain for me and the rest of the crew and the freeing of several
imprisoned souls worth taking such a big risk?

I reminded myself that there were other things that had to be considered as well,
namely, the dismantled drawbridge, the blow to the back of Mr. Lefebvre’s head, and
the rope burns on Merrick Brown’s hands. Along with a dreadfully deadly poltergeist,
was there also a living murderer loose among us?

“In light of the two deaths here in the past two days I’m kind of surprised the castle
is still open to guests,” I said, stalling for time while I tried to make up my mind.

“The police told us not to go anywhere,” Gilley grumbled. “Even that cranky Mr. Hollingsworth
has to stay put until they’re done with the investigation. They’re interviewing everybody
who was here at the castle last night, which, it turns out, wasn’t very many people.”

I had no idea how many guests were currently staying at Kidwellah, but by the size
of the castle and the dining hall we were sitting in, I felt it could easily be anywhere
between fifty and a hundred people. “How many people were here inside the castle last
night?” I asked, simply out of curiosity.

Gil said, “You, me, Michel, Mr. Crunn, his sister Mary, Mrs. Lefebvre, the Hollingsworths,
and that’s about it.”

“For real?”

“André Lefebvre and the models weren’t here, and neither was Gopher and his troupe,”
Gil reminded me.

“No,” I said, “I meant, this is a pretty big castle. I just thought there’d be more
guests staying here.”

Gil shrugged. “It’s the off-season. And from what I understand, business has been
way down since oh-seven. Mr. Crunn as much as admitted to me that he was really relieved
that our crew and the fashion-shoot people booked this week.”

Michel grimaced. “If I hadn’t insisted to André that we use Kidwellah for its dramatic
setting, then he might still be alive.”

“Not if he was murdered by someone he knew,” I said, and Gilley laid a hand on Michel’s
arm in sympathy.

Michel nodded reluctantly, but his expression was still clearly guilt-ridden.

“But who could have killed him?” Gil asked, turning back to me. “I mean, come on!
His wife was upstairs sleeping, the Hollingsworths were in their room, and Crunn said
that Mary turned in right after cleaning up from dinner. The models all went into
town and have each other as witnesses. Michel, me, John, and Mr. Crunn were together
until you got back from the hospital. Gopher and his crew were somewhere out on the
downs, and they all have each other for witnesses. Everybody’s accounted for, so who
could it have been?”

“Not everyone’s accounted for,” Meg said, her eyes darting sideways to Kim and then
Gopher.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, Franco left our little party just after we set out for the downs. He said he
was cold and had changed his mind about going on the ghost hunt with us.”

Gil and I exchanged a surprised look. “Where is he?” Gil asked immediately. “That
guy still has my phone.”

Michel also looked surprised. “I haven’t seen him since he left with you three,” he
said, pointing to Gopher, Meg, and Kim. “Did he make it back to the castle?”

Meg shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“M. J.,” Gil said, waving impatiently at me, “call my cell and see if he picks up.”

I pulled out my phone and called Gil’s phone. “Hello?” a male voice answered.

“Franco?” I asked.

“Yes?”

“Where are you?”

“Who is this?”

Gilley reached out and grabbed my phone. “Hey, sugar,” he said in his most sweet voice.
“This is Gilley. Any chance I can get my phone back?” There was a pause and then Gil’s
brow furrowed. “Gilley Gillespie,” he said. Then, “You borrowed my phone from me last
night before you went on the ghost hunt. Remember?”

There was another longer pause, during which Gil’s brow lowered to the danger zone.
“What do you mean, you lost it?” he demanded. Another pause, then, “Franco, you stupid
queen! I’m currently calling
my phone
!
And, as you’ve answered it, it appears that you have
my phone
!”

There was another pause and then Gil said, “Hello? Hello? Ohmigod! He actually hung
up on me!”

Michel made a motion for Gil to give him the phone and he redialed the number. “Hello,
beautiful, it’s Mickey. I need a head shot of you in the main hall. Meet me there
in an hour, okay?
Ciao, bello.
” He then handed me my phone back and said, “I’ll get the phone, Gilley, don’t worry.
Franco is a pretty boy but bloody stupid.”

Gil settled back into his chair and for a moment he truly didn’t look like he knew
whether to be grateful or still irritated with Franco.

“Well,” I said, “at least we know Franco is accounted for.”

“Can we get back to the vote about the movie, please?” Gopher asked with impatience.

Gilley and Heath both said, “No. We vote no.”

Meg pointed to herself, then to Kim and said, “We vote yes.”

“You know I’m a yes,” Gopher said.

All eyes swiveled to John. He sighed like he didn’t really know what to say and just
shook his head.

“I vote yes,” I said, taking all the pressure off him.

“I knew it,” Gilley grumbled. Looking at Heath, he added, “I told you she was a nut.”

“Em,” Heath began, but I laid a hand on his shoulder.

“Honey, my mind is made up. We’re stuck here anyway, right?”

“
How
can that be a good enough reason to put your life on the line?” Heath asked me.

“It’s not. But there are a few reasons why I’m saying yes.”

“And they are?”

“Well, for openers, I keep thinking about Merrick. You saw him, Heath. His ghost was
so scared and so confused. The Widow had him chained to her, and I think she might
be collecting the souls of the people she’s murdered. I saw Lefebvre’s ghost chained
to her as well, and I don’t know that I can walk away from here knowing those two
and who knows how many others will spend the next several centuries tied to that murderous
witch if we don’t intervene. She’s torturing them, Heath,” I said pleadingly, and
although he was staring hard at me like I had to be crazy, I could see that I’d moved
him with my reasoning.

“Also,” I said, knowing I might have some momentum, “I hate to sound materialistic,
but if we go through with this full-length feature idea, the money is seriously hard
to turn down. The crew benefits too, honey. I mean, if we quit now, what’re they going
to do?”

Heath’s eyes swung across the table to Meg and Kim, who were both wearing anxious
hopeful expressions. “With a million or so bucks in the bank, I could retire,” I went
on. “
We
could retire, sweetie, and we could live anywhere. We could afford to spend half
the year in Boston and half the year in Santa Fe. Think about it.”

But Heath was still resisting the idea. “I have thought about it. In fact, I had a
lot of time to think about it while I was in the hospital. Em, you don’t know how
strong she is! She pulled me over that half wall and underwater like I was a rag doll.
I’m a damn good swimmer and she still overpowered me like it was nothing!”

“So we’ll stay away from the half wall,” I told him. “And the moat.”

“But what about that thing in the south wing?” John asked me.

I knew he was talking about the shadow demon that’d chased us down the hallway. I
was a little worried about that too, but then again, I hadn’t seen any signs of it
the night before. “I’m not saying we won’t have to be careful. We’ll have to be damn
careful, and we’ll definitely need more of Gilley’s sweatshirts. One for every member
of the crew.”

“John hasn’t voted yet,” Gil said, eyeing the sound tech with an intense look. “He’s
the tiebreaker.”

I held back from telling Gilley that it didn’t much matter how John voted—if I was
in, Gopher would have his medium and he could hire a new technical person and a sound
guy anywhere. Instead, I turned to John and said, “Gil’s right. Now that I’m in, what
do you want to do?”

John spent a few seconds looking everyone at the table in the eye. “I vote yes,” he
said at last.

Gilley pounded the table and Heath swore under his breath. “You guys don’t have to
participate,” I said.

“If they don’t, they’re fired,” Gopher snapped angrily.

I turned to him and glared hard. “If they’re fired, then I’m changing my vote, Gopher.”

“Aw, come on, M. J.! If they’re out, then they shouldn’t get paid!”

“Heath has
more
than earned his fair share on this bust,” I said icily. “And for that matter, so
has Gilley. Who do you think set up the camera to stream to the computer and capture
that footage of the Widow in the first place? And for that matter, who do you think
sent Chris the footage? No, they’re getting paid either way.” Gopher opened his mouth
to protest and I leaned way in over the table and growled, “Do
not
test me on this, Peter.”

I felt Heath’s hand on my back. “That’s okay, Em. If you’re really going to do this,
then I’m in too.”

That shocked me. “You mean it?”

“I can’t let you face her alone, can I?” he said with a sheepish grin.

“You’re all crazy!” Gilley yelled.

“We can find another tech,” I told him.

“Good luck finding someone as good as me,” Gil scoffed.

“They don’t have to be as smart as you, honey. They just have to set up the monitors,
computer, and cameras and make sure it’s all running smoothly.”

Gil made a face and slouched in his seat. “No one’s touching my equipment but me.”

“What does that mean?” I asked him. I knew that if we went ahead and agreed to do
the movie, Chris wouldn’t have any problem widening the budget for more monitoring
equipment and a new tech to run it, but that would take time to arrange.

Gilley’s answer surprised me. “If you fools are all in, then I guess so am I. But
I’m going to monitor the screens from a safety zone.”

“If you’re too far away, the feed won’t connect,” I reminded him.

“I won’t be that far away, M. J. I’ve been playing with the electrostatic meters all
afternoon. There’s a safety zone right in the center of the main hall. Not a peep
on the meters registers when I stand there.”

“Suit yourself,” I said. “I’m just happy you’re in.”

Michel raised his hand and I motioned for him to speak. “Would you by any chance need
an extra set of hands for your shoot? I’m as good with a video camera as I am with
a still camera, Mr. Gophner. And I don’t scare easily.”

“You need some extra cash now that your boss is dead and your photo shoot went to
hell?” asked our ever-tactful producer.

“A bit like that, yes,” Michel replied.

I couldn’t help but notice Gilley’s scowl completely disappear and in its place was
the most hopeful face I’d ever seen him wear.

Gopher must have noticed Gil’s change in demeanor, because he squashed a grin and
nodded seriously. “Sure, Michel. I guess we could use you. Consider yourself hired.”
Turning to Kim, who began to pull out several stapled sheets of paper, he added, “Get
his paperwork prepared right after the others sign.”

I squinted at the sheets of paper. They looked like contracts, and sure enough, Kim
began passing them out around the table according to name. “You came ready to do this,
didn’t you?” Heath asked, with a hint of irritation.

Gopher ignored him. Instead he focused on all of us and said, “Read these over, initial
at the bottom of each page, and pass them back to Kim when you’re through.”

I sighed as I skimmed my own contract, which was basically one paragraph detailing
how we would be paid, plus twelve pages of all the many, many ways Chris and the network
could sue us if we backed out or quit before the shoot was finished. Heath looked
at me sideways as if to ask if I really intended to go through with it, and as I read
the contract, I came very close to backing away from the table to go pack my things,
but Merrick Brown’s terrified face kept flashing through my mind, and with a heavy
sigh I initialed where indicated, signed the last page with a scribble, and shot the
contract over to Kim, who accepted it with a grateful smile.

Once everyone else had signed, Gopher took up the contracts, nodded to us, and stood
to leave, already dialing his phone—probably to call Chris and let him know we were
a go.

Once he’d left, I turned to the remaining crew members and said, “All right, gang,
what we need most before we set out to gather more footage is a plan.”

“Let’s pick one that doesn’t get us all killed,” Gilley said smartly.

“Gil?”

“Yes, M. J.?”

“Shut it.”

Chapter 8

We spent a long time at that table working to come up with a plan, so long that Gopher
returned and took up a seat to join in the discussion. The problem was that several
of us were working at cross-purposes, which made it difficult for all of us to agree
on how to proceed. I just wanted to find some way to help Merrick and the other prisoners
of the Widow, but Gopher just wanted footage, footage, footage.

Gil and Heath just wanted to stay alive, alive, alive, and Meg, Kim, and John pretty
much just wanted to get paid, paid, paid. Only Michel stayed out of the argument,
but I had a feeling he was on my side, because every time I brought the discussion
back to helping the imprisoned ghosts, he would nod as if he agreed wholeheartedly.

I kept pushing for time to do our homework, but Gopher now had the fear of Chris in
him, and he wanted us to get some footage of anything spooky within the next twenty-four
hours and he wasn’t backing down. Finally I had an idea and offered the following
suggestion: “Last night I think I saw the Desperate Duke.”

“Yeah!” Gil said, pointing to me. “That ghost out on the moors that just disappeared
when you aimed the camera through the window.”

I started to nod, but then shook my head. “Maybe,” I said.

“I’m confused,” Gil said.

“What I mean is that the ghost out on the moors that you guys saw through the camera
may have been the same guy I saw up close, but I’m not sure.”

“You saw the duke up close?” Heath asked, concern evident in his eyes.

“Yep. It was after I jumped out of the door to get away from the Widow. He was standing
about ten or fifteen feet away from me, and if not for him, I think the Widow would
have come out that door after me. She took one look at him, though, and slammed the
door. Then he disappeared. It was all pretty weird.”

Gilley’s hand was covering his mouth in shock. “M. J.,” he said in a breathy whisper,
“before you came down, we were talking about the local legend that says that seeing
the duke up close means you’re going to die!”

I rolled my eyes and forced myself to laugh. “A bit dramatic, don’t you think?” When
no one laughed with me, I added, “Oh, come on, guys! I’m still alive, and the duke
certainly didn’t attack me. If anything, he protected me last night, although why
he’d do that I can’t really figure out.”

“It might be that those people who get close enough to see the duke in person end
up at the south end of the castle, and if you’re on the south end of the castle, then
you’re more likely to become a victim of the Widow,” Heath said wisely.

I gestured to him. “Exactly!” But I couldn’t help taking note of the doubtful expressions
of my crew around the table. “
Any
way, I think we should investigate the duke’s ghost out on the moors for our first
shoot, and in the meantime we can come up with a game plan for the Widow.”

“We already wasted a whole night hunting for him, M. J.,” Gopher said in a way that
suggested he was about to nix my idea.

Michel jumped up. “That reminds me,” he said. “I’m supposed to meet Franco and get
your phone back, Gilley. Back soon!” he said, and hurried off.

Gil began to get up too, but I laid a hand on his shoulder to keep him at the table.
“You stay here,” I told him firmly. I needed him to help me convince Gopher to investigate
the moors until we had a solid plan for tackling the Widow.

“I say we stick to the Widow and forget about the duke,” Gopher said.

“I say we don’t,” Heath countered, his jaw set firmly. “Last night you guys didn’t
have a medium with you to guide you to the duke’s ghost. If you want to find a spook,
Gopher, you need either M. J. or me to feel out the area and tell you where to aim
the camera.”

“That’s a good point,” John said, and Meg and Kim began to nod too.

“It makes sense to add the duke to the story,” Gil added. “It’ll help round out the
bigger story of why the Widow is so crazy.”

Gopher sighed and grumbled a little, but at least he didn’t protest much about the
plan. What he did protest a lot about was the timeline. I wanted to take at least
the next couple of days to gather some intel and work through a plan so that no one
else got hurt. We’d also have to be careful to avoid stepping on the toes of Inspector
Lumley as he investigated the murders of the two men who’d died there in as many days.

“And let’s not forget that there’s a possible living killer on the loose, people,”
I told the crew. “A killer who hasn’t been caught yet. We don’t know if it could be
someone here at the castle, or if he or she is long gone by now. So even when we’re
not filming, we’ll need to be careful. I think we should buddy up at all times and
not let your partner out of your sight during off-hours.”

Around the table the crew silently began to pair up. Heath took my hand and squeezed
it, Meg and Kim looped arms, and Gopher and John nodded at each other. . . which left
Gil.

“Oh, come on!” he yelled. “Why am
I
always the odd man out?”

“Maybe because you’re such a delight to be around,” I mumbled.

“I heard that, M. J.!”

I sighed and that’s when Michel appeared at the table with Gil’s cell phone in hand.
“Here’s your mobile, mate.”

Gilley giggled like a schoolgirl and patted Michel’s seat. “We’re buddying up, Michel,”
he informed the photographer. “Just to be safe and all, because there’s a killer on
the loose. Even in the off-hours we should be together. Like share a room. . . you
know, for safety.”

Michel took his seat. “Works for me,” he said with a sweet grin and a wink.

Gilley blushed and smiled so hugely I thought he might dislocate his jaw.

I ducked my chin to hide a smile, and Gopher rolled his eyes. “Fine. Everybody’s got
a buddy. What else?”

I turned to Gil. “I need you to do some research.”

“Maybe I can just tell you what you need to know,” Gil said smartly while he played
with his phone, probably to make sure Franco hadn’t broken it.

“Oh, you know all, do you?” I asked him, crossing my arms over my chest.

“More than you give me credit for,” he replied. “I read a lot, you know.”

I raised a skeptical eyebrow. I’d never seen a book that could hold Gil’s attention
for more than a few pages. “You read,” I mocked.

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Like what, Gil? Name one periodical, book, news article, or other source material
that you’ve read recently that has made you so knowledgeable.”

Gilley’s face flushed, and he paused, tapping at his phone to look up and see that
everyone at the table was staring at him. Like Sarah Palin squaring off against Katie
Couric, Gil had been caught off guard. But then his face lit with an idea. “The Internet.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’ve read the Internet.”

Several of our crew giggled, and I glared at them. “Don’t encourage him.” I then refocused
on Gilley. “As knowledgeable as reading the
entire
Internet would make you, I’d appreciate it if you’d indulge me by scouting around
for anyone who may have firsthand knowledge or experience with a spook that is powerful
enough to hold other ghosts prisoners. The Widow has some kind of hold over Merrick
and Mr. Lefebvre. I want to know what that is, and how to break it.”

Gil jotted a note to himself, then went back to playing with his iPhone, but then
he said, “Huh. That’s weird.”

“What’s weird?” I asked.

Gil showed the display of his recent calls list, and there were at least half a dozen
calls made to another phone number I didn’t recognize, and then Michel, leaning in
to look at the display, said with mild surprise, “That’s André’s number.”

I put my hand on Gil’s wrist to bring the phone closer. “They were made last night,”
I said. My eyes met Michel’s and I knew instantly that he knew about Franco’s affair
with Lefebvre.

I turned my attention to Kim. “What time did Franco leave your group?”

Kim and Meg looked at each other as if silently debating the time. “Some time around
midnight,” Kim said, and Meg nodded.

“None of us looked at our watches, but it wasn’t long after we set off on the moors.”

I’d gotten back to the castle right around midnight and argued with Gil over the sweatshirt
for at least fifteen to twenty minutes, which meant that the drawbridge had been tampered
with some time between twelve and twelve twenty and Lefebvre could have been murdered
anytime after that. Franco should definitely be looked at as a suspect.

“You need to show this to the inspector,” I told Gilley, which caused Michel to grimace.

“Why?” he asked, and I could see he didn’t really want to get involved.

Given the fact that Michel seemed to like Franco, I was careful with my answer. “Because
all these calls were made after midnight, Gil. If Franco talked to Lefebvre, it might
help narrow down a time frame for the murder.”

“It also may point the finger at Franco,” Gilley said, and Michel grimaced again.

I nodded reluctantly. “I still think it’s important for you to bring that to the inspector’s
attention.”

Gil didn’t say anything—he just glanced at Michel, then pocketed his phone, and I
could tell he and Michel would probably talk about it later and decide what to do.
My mind was already made up that if Gil didn’t show it to Lumley, then I’d make sure
to mention it to the inspector. If Franco was guilty of murder, I certainly didn’t
want him anywhere near me.

We talked for a while longer about logistics and the layout of the castle. Gil was
also assigned to get some background on the history of Kidwellah, and after he did
a little more bellyaching about being the only one tasked with so much, Michel offered
to do much of that for him.

Like Gilley, I was kinda digging the photographer more and more. Around seven I suggested
we break for dinner. Interestingly, all the paired groups immediately headed off in
different directions, which left Heath and me at the table. “I’m sorry,” I said once
we were alone.

“For what?”

“For saying yes to this gig.”

Heath reached out and took my hand. Kissing the top of it, he said, “You’re right,
you know.”

“About what?”

“About why your motivations are justified. If we left here knowing that Merrick and
Lefebvre were chained to the Widow, it’d bother us until we worked our way back here
to see if we could help.”

I smiled knowingly. “And the extra cash helped convince me too.”

“I know, but I wanted to give you some altruistic credit first.”

“Good of you.”

Heath leaned in and kissed me sweetly. “If we do end up surviving this thing, the
money would solve a lot of problems. I mean, I could set my mom up in a nice house
of her own instead of that cramped little condo, and I could get her some better medical
care. You and I could hang out together without ever having to do another ghostbust
again. We could do a few readings here and there just so we wouldn’t get rusty, and
have a real life together, Em.”

My mind drifted to that wonderful prospect, but was quickly overshadowed by doubt.
“Truthfully, though, sweetie, is this too dangerous?”

Heath sighed. “I don’t know. The Widow caught us both by surprise the first time,
but the second time you got away from her, so she’s not infallible. We just have to
be smarter than she is and make sure that we know as much as we can about where she
can go and what she’s capable of.”

I shuddered. “She’s the most powerful spook I’ve ever seen.”

“But she’s not a demon,” Heath countered.

“True, but she
is
keeping one for a pet,” I said, referring to that incredibly creepy black shadow
that had terrorized John and me.

“Yeah, but I think that, given John’s description, her pet demon is under her control.
We shut her down, more than likely we shut it down.”

I shook my head and stared at the tablecloth. “How the hell do you shut something
like
her
down?”

“Hey,” Heath said, getting my attention so that I would look him in the eyes. “Don’t
go to that space that makes her more than she is, babe. Once upon a time she was a
living, breathing person, which means, as a ghost, she’s vulnerable.”

“Her portal,” I said, knowing where he was going with that.

“Yep. We find her portal, we might be able to shut her in on the other side.”

I shook my head again and added a sigh.

“What?”

“We can’t lock down her portal without making sure we free Merrick and the other spirits
tied to her, or they’ll be trapped too.”

Heath rubbed his chin. “That does complicate things, doesn’t it?”

“And let’s not forget we’ve got a murderer on the loose,” I added.

“See, that’s another thing I don’t understand: If Merrick and Lefebvre were both murdered,
how did the Widow end up taking their spirits prisoner?”

“I have no idea. But then, we don’t know if Merrick was truly murdered by someone
other than the Widow. We only know that his hands may have been bound before he drowned.”

Heath rubbed the back of his neck and rolled his head back and forth. I figured he
was still sore from his bout with the Widow. “The one question we also need to find
an answer to is why Merrick set us up in the south wing of the castle in the first
place. I mean, he separated us from our crew and sent us to a seriously dangerous
place. It’s like he wanted us to have an encounter there. Why’d he do that?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. I hadn’t the foggiest clue, and it really bothered me
that someone so seemingly pleasant as Merrick Brown would put Heath and me in danger.

Heath eyed me ruefully. “And yet you still want to help his ghost.”

I shrugged. “We don’t know for certain he had any kind of unscrupulous intentions
by sending us to the south wing.”

“What other intentions could he have had?”

“I’m not sure. And until I know for certain, I’m gonna give him the benefit of the
doubt.”