“I feel something,” she said in a stage whisper.
Vivien looked around, waiting for craziness, ready to leap into action to protect her unanticipated charges…but it was only a breeze. A definitely cold, definitely sharp, definitelynot normalmovement of the air, but that was it. No rattling, shaking, horrible-smelling, light-flashing events.
“I feel it,” whispered Iva, holding her hands in front of her. “Her. It’s afemale… All right…I’m coming…”
She began to walk off stage right, her arms held out in front of her, almost as if she were in a trance. Vivien would have been terrified if Iva hadn’t tossed a look over her shoulder at her and mouthed, “Come on!”
Vivien took two steps when she realized that it was dead quiet—Bruce Banner had stopped barking and Maxine and Juanita had stopped arguing. She looked over and saw the little dog on one of the steps of the stage. He was vibrating with tension, highly alert with his ears perked up, eyes wide, and a bit of a silent, snaggle-toothed snarl showing.
Juanita and Maxine—shockingly silent—stood there, looking around as if they, too, felt the change in the air.
Vivien waffled for a moment, then went after Iva.
She followed the older woman, who was still walking as if in a trance, backstage. But when Iva reached the stairs leading to the pit, Vivien rushed forward to take her by the arm.
“No, let’s not go by the stairs,” she said, her heart pounding. Iva could have tumbled down them without even realizing it.
“She wants me to go down there,” Iva said, a little too dreamily for Vivien’s comfort.
“No,” Vivien said. “I think it’s better if you stay up here.”And leave. Get out of here before something horrible happens.“Uh, it’s very dark and there are a lot of things down there you could trip on or cut yourself on…”
Iva blinked and jolted as the breeze became a virtual gust, cold and rough and sharp, bringing stinging air and the not-so-subtle putridness of death.
“It’s time to leave,” Vivien said firmly, her skin prickling and her hair standing on end. She needed to get them out of here.
“But—” Iva began.
“I’ve got a meeting I’ve got to be back for. I forgot,” Vivien said. Keeping hold of Iva’s arm, she pulled the elderly lady none-too-gently away from the danger of stairs down into darkness, even as the wind tossed and buffeted at them from behind.
“Maxine, Juanita,” she called as she rushed Iva out onto the stage. “We’ve got to go— I forgot I…”
Bruce Banner was standing there onstage, legs far apart, ears back, tail tucked. His ruff was straight up and his eyes were wide, practically bugging out of his little skull as he looked behind Vivien and Iva.
Vivien turned just in time to see the scaffolding move, barreling toward them as if some ghostly hand had shoved it with all its might. The lights and catwalk above began to shake and rattle violently as bulbs flashed on and off like in a disco.
“Run!” she cried.
Chapter Eighteen
“It was the most amazing,frightening, exciting thing I’ve ever seen!” exclaimed the short, grandmotherly woman with pink cheeks and bright blue eyes. “Hollis, you would have been gobsmacked!”
Jake was pretty sure the older lady’s name was Iva Bergstrom, but he wouldn’t put money on it. He was still gobsmacked himself by the sudden, overwhelming arrival of three loud and excited women, each carrying various bundles of food, and one small, yippy dog at his father’s house—which had already been invaded by Doug Horner and Hollis Nath, the veterinarian’s golfing buddy and apparently Iva Bergstrom’s significant other.
“The whole place was shaking and lights were flashing, and thewind—it was like being in the middle of a tornadoinside a building!” Iva went on as she took a seat next to Nath in one of the chairs on Pop’s back deck.
From what Jake could gather, she was telling his father and their friends about something that had happened earlier today, but he hadn’t caught the details. Jake was too busy waiting on all of the unexpected guests who must have learned his pop’s ETA at home after being released from the hospital.
He’d never believe his dad again when he claimed he didn’t use his phone to text, because Pop sure as hell hadn’t called anyone.
It wasn’t until Jake heard “Vivien” and “theater” that he realized the context of the events, and he bobbled the stack of glasses and almost dropped them along with the pitcher of iced tea he was carrying to the shaded deck. The glasses and pitcher were all plastic (a prudent choice when dealing with excitable retirees and outdoor venues), but he still didn’t want to have to wash everything again.
“Uh…what were you saying, Mrs.…Bergstrom, is it?”
“Oh, honey, just call me Iva. I might be nearly seventy, but I feel like I’m barely your age,” she said with a twinkle in her eyes. “And yes, I’d just love some iced tea. How nice of you! Ricky, your boy is simply thesweetestyoung man. I don’t understand why some young woman hasn’t snatched him up yet.”
Pop grunted in begrudging assent—probably because he’d wanted a beer and Jake had nixed that because of the medication he was still taking.
“I’ll take iced tea,” Maxine Took informed Jake before he could press Iva for more details. “And some of your homemade bread—I know you got some inside; your daddy told us. Don’t you be opening up the things we brought—those’re for your daddy, you know. Bread with butter would be just about right. Been a long damned time and lots of excitement since breakfast at the tea shop. Makes a girl hangry, you know. And don’t you be playing shy around us, Elwood. We’re just normal folk like the rest of you—even though we just saw a ghost throw a tantrum.”
