Page 49 of Specters & Spotlights

Kevin’s brow lifted. “A ghost on a street corner? Hit-and-run victim with a vendetta? An ex-lady of the night?”

Her hands slowed.

“It was him.”

Everything in Kevin stilled.

“Him?”

Elise nodded once. “He found me.”

Kevin’s reaction was instant—a rush of movement and words. “How did he find you? Did he touch you? Did he hurt you?”

“No,” she said. “Just stared. Like he’d been waiting. Then he disappeared.”

Kevin faltered. “Wait. You said ghost. You mean—he’s dead?”

Her silence was answer enough.

“And still managed to find you.” His voice dropped lower, more serious now. “That’s… that’s not supposed to happen. That’s not how this works. Spirits don’t usually roam like that—not unless they’re tethered. It’s been what…nearly three years?”

“I know,” she sighed. “I was hoping I imagined it.”

Kevin stopped. Watched her for a beat. “You caused a scene, didn’t you?”

“I might’ve screamed,” she muttered. “Nick helped me get out of there. Back to the hotel.”

Kevin nodded, subdued now. “Good man.”

“I’m fine now…” she began.

“You’re lying.”

She turned to face him fully, hands resting on the edge of the trunk. “It was two days ago. I’m coping.”

Kevin looked at her for a long beat. His voice, when it came again, was softer.

“Alright,” he said. “But I’m not letting you unpack this alone. Figuratively or literally.”

She was elbow-deep in the last layer of the trunk—wig caps, travel tins of pins, and the tiny sewing kit she always forgot was in there until she needed it—when Jen’s voice drifted in from the hallway.

“Hey,” Jen said, pausing right inside the dressing area, her expression cautious but kind. “Didn’t think I’d catch you already nesting.”

Elise looked up with a soft smile. “Almost. This one’s cozier than the last. We’ll all be very friendly by the end of the run.”

Jen chuckled but didn’t move closer just yet. “Hope you like company. That corner’s basically Grand Central once quick changes start.”

Elise didn’t mind the idea. Not really. Not today.

“I wanted to say… sorry,” Elise said. “For bailing at the cast party. I meant to get you the keys and card for the wig closet before I left, but… yeah.”

Jen waved it off. “Don’t worry. Nick got them to me the next morning. No harm done.” She hesitated, voice softening. “You okay, though?”

Elise hesitated, smoothing the edge of a wig net between her fingers. There was a version of this where she smiled, said she was fine, and moved on. She could do that. She’d done that before.

But this time—this company—she wanted to try something else.

“I saw someone,” she said slowly. “Out the window. Someone I used to know.”