Mrs. Ellis tossed her head back with a wild, honking laugh. “Oh, dear me. I bet Dorothy was spitting tacks when she found that out. Listen, Mina, we wanted to visit you because we wondered…”
“Yes?”Here it comes. I knew this wasn’t just a social call.
“I know you’ve already got a stall at the Halloween fair tomorrow, and the darling Allan has his exhibition, but I wondered if you might consider commissioning the Spirit Seekers to do a little paranormal investigation of the shop as part of the festival.”
“Oh, gosh, well…”
“Pretty please with a sexy vicar on top?” Ms. Ellis clasped her hands together. “With all the vampiric murders around these parts, we’re absolutely swamped with business from local families. But we’re ready to expand. Go bigger! We want to audition forStrictly Come Ghosting.”
“What?”
“Strictly Come Ghosting. It’s the hottest new reality TV show, dear.” Cynthia said. “We’d compete in various paranormal challenges with different ghost hunting teams from across the country. We truly believe the Spirit Seekers could take out the grand prize and put Argleton on the map.”
“But we need a location to shoot our audition video,” Deirdre cut in. “We need to demonstrate our abilities during a real, live paranormal investigation. All you’d need to do is let stay in the shop overnight, and we’ll set up our equipment and do our thing. You’d barely even notice we were here.”
Wait, what?“Oh…um…” An orange light squiggled in front of my vision. I could feel a migraine coming on, but I didn’t think it had anything to do with my eyes. “What about Lachlan Hall? That place is ancient. There’s bound to be a few ghosts wandering about up there.”
“Puh-lease. Every other team will be doing some old, crusty hall.” Mrs. Ellis waved her hands around. “We want to be different. We want tostand out. And just look at this place – it’s a balefire for supernatural beings, mark my words. I’ve been doing some research, and I discovered there has been a bookstore on this site since the Doomsday book! And with all the grisly murders that have happened here, there must be some juicy paranormal activity to uncover. And we intend to uncover it.”
I shifted my weight from foot to foot. “I’m not sure about this. We’re having some plumbing issues at the moment, and until they’re fixed it could be dangerous allowing you free rein in the store after hours. Health and safety, you know.”
And there’s the little matter of the shop bringing literary characters to life, and the time-traveling room upstairs. Oh, and the bloodthirsty vampire living across the street trying to get his hands on Nevermore’s magic. All important health and safety considerations.
As if on cue, there was a bang from the cellar, followed by a low-pitched moan. Mrs. Ellis grinned at me as if to say,I told you so.
“Not to worry, we’re set up for all that.” Mrs. Ellis drew from her carpetbag a sheaf of papers. “We have all the paperwork – waivers, site safety, indemnity insurance. All council-approved.”
“We took a course,” Deirdre added. “Frightfully dull, but the tutor was a dish.”
“And we use only the latest in scientific ghost-tracking methods,” added Cynthia. “We have all the ghost tech we need – EMF meters, infrared thermometers, Geiger counters, ultrasonic motion sensors. We take our work very seriously. In fact, we’ve already banished a banshee from the Argleton Arms Hotel and put paid to a pesky poltergeist in the retirement village puzzle room. And now your mother and Sylvia have joined the team, we’ll have even more spiritual power behind our investigations.”
I should have known my mother couldn’t resist the pull of the Spirit Seekers Society.This was the last thing we needed, but I couldn’t think of an excuse that would get them out of my hair. And besides, I needed Cynthia on our side.
I sighed. “Sure thing, you can do a paranormal investigation in the bookshop.”
Heathcliff threw up his hands and stomped upstairs.
“Thank you, Mina,” Mrs. Ellis threw her arms around me. “I knew we could count on you.”
I turned to Cynthia. “You’ll have to check with your husband to make sure he’s not working. The noise can be terrible, even at night. I wouldn’t want it to mess with your scientific equipment during the big audition.”
She screwed up her face. “I will. I’m so sorry, dear. My husband is a perfectionist – he won’t rest until that poxy block of flats is ready for sale, and damn all those who get in his way. His health is suffering – you must’ve seen him around, Mina. He’s not well. He doesn’t even come home at night anymore, just stays at that dirty construction site.”
Or in a coffin next to his master,I thought but didn’t say.
I smiled at her. “I think you should drag Grey out to the concert. He needs a break.”
“Yes, Cynthia, that’s a wonderful idea.” Mrs. Ellis squeezed her friend’s hand. “Grey should be able to step away for an hour to see the concert with you. He’s been ignoring you long enough.”
“But Grey wouldn’t be interested in—”
“It’s not about the music.” I gave her a nudge toward the door. “Let him see it as an opportunity to perv at you in that gorgeous dress. Or maybe you should flirt with Mr. Handsome Reverend a bit, make him jealous. Go on, don’t let Grey take no for an answer.”
“You’re exactly right. Thank you, Mina.” Cynthia waved goodbye to Mrs. Ellis and Deirdre and scampered across the street to surprise her husband.
As soon as the rest of the Spirit Seekers had tootled on over to the church, Morrie and I pressed our noses up to the window. A moment later, Cynthia emerged from the construction site, dragging a protesting Grey behind her, an enormous, wide-brimmed straw hat pulled low over his face, no doubt to protect his sensitive, vampire-ish skin from the flaccid British sunshine.
“Heathcliff, darling,” Morrie yelled upstairs. “It’s time.”
