Memento Mori: Haunted New Orleans Series

by Rayvn Salvador

  “Is that an oxymoron? Paranormal reality . . .” I laughed. “But I have to say, I’ve been impressed. There’s actually a bit of science to it all, and the technology is fascinating.”

  He turned to me, his grin warming his eyes. “Where is my recorder when I need it? Hanlen Arbor just admitted that she’s impressed by a ghost-hunting show. That may be more ground-breaking evidence than any phenomena my EVP recorder could capture.” He winked.

  I threw my balled-up napkin at him, and he ducked, chuckling as he went back to the food. “Shrink that head, Mr. Glapion. I still don’t believe. And until I have proof, a skeptic I shall remain.”

  “Just remember, the spirits always see you. So be on your best behavior.” He pointed the spatula at me. “It’s when you start seeing them that things get really interesting.”

  I felt a pang in my heart, my chest tightening painfully. Despite my stance on everything Dev did, I would give anything to see Reagan again. To tell her that I missed her and that I’d always love her. Thoughts of her brought thoughts of August. I wondered how Bea was holding up. I’d have to go and check on her when we got to Arborwood.

  I watched Dev for a bit as we ate, noticing that he seemed almost distracted towards the end of the meal. Myst was fast asleep in her bed, so I knew it didn’t have to do with her. When he suddenly rose and put his plate in the sink, my insecurities grabbed hold.

  “Did I say something wrong earlier?”

  “What?” he asked, looking genuinely confused. “Oh. No, not at all. I’m sorry. I, ah, I need to make a quick phone call. Something just came to me, and I need to check it out.” Without another word, he walked into the bedroom and shut the door. That was odd, because in the time I’d known him, Dev had never shut himself away while making a call.

  A minute later, I heard his voice, and my curiosity got the best of me. I stood. Myst eyed me suspiciously, and I shot her a look. “Don’t look at me like that,” I whispered. “I’ll behave. Mostly.” She almost seemed to roll her light blue eyes at me and then settled back in for her nap with a grumble.

  I got as close to the bedroom as I could and leaned in, catching bits of conversation that didn’t make any sense out of context.

  “Where? When?” Dev asked, his voice hushed. “Why isn’t she coming to me? You’re the second person she’s gone to. No, I know it’s not your fault, I’m just . . . frustrated.” I heard him sigh.

  “No, I haven’t. Not since I spoke with them about their parts for the show. I’ll have to reach out later and see if they know anything. Anything else? . . . No, I haven’t heard from him either . . . No, don’t worry. We’ll figure it out. He’s probably just busy. Thanks for letting me know.” Sounds of shuffling came through the door, and I imagined Dev pacing.

  “I know.” I heard a smile in his voice now and wondered how the conversation had changed. “She’s pretty great,” he continued. “I just wish that things were easy. However, in this life, nothing ever is.” He laughed. “Unfortunately, I don’t think she’s ready for that yet. Besides, I’m not even sure how we’d accomplish it. She’s certainly not ready for an eye-opening experience of that magnitude . . . Yeah, okay, sounds good. Thanks again. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  The conversation ended, and I hustled back to the table as if I’d never moved, taking my last bite of eggs just as Dev reappeared.

  “Everything okay?” I asked.

  He had a little scowl on his face. “Yeah. At least, I think so. Just some work staff stuff. Nothing for you to worry about.” He kissed me on the head as he leaned down and grabbed my now-empty plate, taking it to the sink to add to his.

  An hour later, we ventured downstairs to the show’s HQ and Dev initiated a Zoom meeting with some of the cast and crew. I got to meet James and Aaron, the camera operators, and a woman named Dakota that I was told was some kind of occult expert and psychic.

  “Lark, I need you to establish contact with who you can today and relay our intent, and then set a circle around the property. Go as far back as the carriage house but be sure to steer clear of Bea’s lot, and then come as far up front as the mailboxes. Don’t worry about the shed or the cemetery,” Dev said.

  Larken nodded and took some notes. “Done. Where do you want the doorway so you can open the way?”

  Dev looked thoughtful for a second. “I’m not sure it matters. I’ll have you let us in down on the driveway and I’ll sketch at the entryway of the courtyard when we begin.”

  I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, but I imagined I would find out later. I wasn’t ready to admit it aloud, and my stance on all things woo-woo hadn’t really changed, but with each layer of the process they unveiled, the more my interests were piqued.

  “Hey,” Harper said. “Has anyone heard from Burke? I need him to dig into some additional things regarding the woman in the headscarves. I think I figured out who it could be, but I need someone who has more historical access.”

  “No,” Dev said. “I checked in with him, too, and didn’t get any replies. I’m sure he’s just busy and will reach out later. If he’s at the historical society or the library, I imagine he shut off his phone.”

  Paxton nodded but then cocked his head. “Where are R2 and Van?”

  Dev took a drink of his water. “Remy left me a voicemail early this morning. Said he wasn’t feeling well. He pretty much did everything I needed him to do already. We’ll be fine without him for today and tonight, I think. Hopefully, he’ll be back tomorrow. And I’m pretty sure Van was headed to Baton Rouge to pick up that new piece of equipment I am dying to try, though I’m not one-hundred-percent sure.”

  “Any, uh . . .” Larken started and then seemed to glance at me through the screen, “word from our other crewmembers?”

  “Nothing new,” Dev said. “Not really, anyway. Desmond was doing some digging into The Colonel for us, and our favorite love birds,”—he smiled—“were asking around about the woman in white. I talked to them this morning, actually.”

  That must have been the call he’d made earlier. I thought back to the bits of conversation I’d overheard and wondered who else they’d been talking about—besides me. I decided it didn’t matter. It was likely something I wouldn’t understand anyway.

  “Do you still want me to interview Mr. and Mrs. Whitaker today?” Harper asked.

  “Yeah, that would be great. They had some experiences out in the side woods that I’d like to know more about. We don’t have many accounts from the property, just the buildings, and it’d be good to know more so we can see if we need to look into it as possible correlating activities.”

  “I’m on it,” she replied. “Actually, I’d better get to it. They’re an hour ahead of us in Indiana. Do you need anything else right now?”

  “Nope,” Dev said. “Call me later or text if you need anything.”

  “Will do,” Harper said, waved, and then disconnected.

  “Okay,” Dev said. “Hopefully, Burke’s looking into our bohemian ghost, Harper’s interviewing the Whitakers, and Lark’s getting Arborwood ready. Sky, Padre, I won’t need you guys today I don’t think, so why don’t you two go and do a preliminary check on our next property since we’ll need to jump into that the minute this one’s a wrap?”

  “Yeah, we can do that,” Schuyler answered, and Paxton nodded.

  “James, Aaron, I need you guys to do a bunch of glamour shots and things first thing today. Get some low footage of the house through the woods. Some traveling reels coming up the driveway. If you have time, can you send up the drone and get some overhead property shots and atmospheric, three-hundred-and-sixty-degree-view footage?” Dev made a circling motion with his finger. “Oh, and some panning, close-up clips. Like of the stair railings and the ornate windows, etcetera.”

  “Yeah, bro. We got you,” Aaron said and chugged back what looked to be half of his energy drink. I felt jittery just watching him.

  “We should probably do some dummy footage today, too, so we don’t ha
ve to worry about it later.”

  I looked at Dev. “What’s all that?”

  He glanced over and smiled. “I forget you don’t know this stuff. We can’t get everything we need to edit a proper show from just the three days we are actively investigating. In order for the show to flow like it should to a viewer, there needs to be shots of the house and the grounds and us walking through the place and having discussions about the equipment we’re using, etcetera. If we did all of that while actively investigating, we would bog it all down and likely never get any results, and if we didn’t do any of that in-between stuff, it would be super stilted to someone viewing it second-hand. So, we shoot that stuff ahead of time and then have our people use it where needed in the editing process, so it all flows smoothly.”

  “That actually makes a lot of sense,” I said, and he smiled and grabbed my hand, rubbing his thumb over my knuckles. When I looked back at the screen, I saw that everybody on there had the same look on their faces. Seemed the cat was out of the bag.

  “Well, well, well,” Paxton said.

  “Good on you,” Schuyler added.

  Larken nodded with a huge smile on her face and raised her hands, both her thumbs up.

  “Okay, guys, get it out of your systems. Yes, Hanlen and I are seeing each other. Sort of. It’s new. Don’t make a big deal about it,” Dev said, shaking his head. I felt the blush rise on my neck to my cheeks and had to look away.

  “I think I can safely speak for all of us when I say that we’re thrilled,” Larken said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you truly happy, Dev.”

  “Thanks, Lark,” Dev said and then surprised me by leaning over and kissing my cheek. It stunned me enough that I looked up. The huge grins on everybody’s faces lightened the weight of embarrassment in my chest but I still needed to refocus the attention.

  “What do you need me to do?” I asked Dev and looked into his gorgeous aqua eyes.

  He gave me that amazing grin of his. “Just be with me today. If you’re okay with it, I might use you for some of the footage. You are the owner, after all. We don’t always include the property owners outside of the initial filmed and staged interview, but sometimes it’s necessary. In this case, since you guys didn’t come to us for help, it wouldn’t be absolutely necessary, but I think it’d be good. Thoughts?”

  I mulled that over for a minute. “Yeah, I guess I could do that. But do you really want my disbelief on camera?”

  He threw an arm around my shoulders and pulled me in for a squeeze. “We love a good skeptic.”

  When I looked up again, I saw that Schuyler was raising and waving her hand on screen while nodding. It made me laugh.

  “Okay, I think we know what we have to do. Let me know if you need anything. Hanlen and I will meet those of you who are headed out there later. We’re going to stop in and see Bea quick,”—he looked at me, and I nodded—“and then we’ll come and find James for those filler reels.”

  Everybody murmured their agreements and disconnected. Once we were alone, I noticed Dev acting strangely again. Similar to how he’d been the night after we found Dustin, and this morning when he had to make his phone call.

  “Hey,” I said, grabbing his arm as he walked past me. “What’s going on?”

  He sighed and rubbed a hand through his silky curls. “You’re very tuned in to me. It’s great, but . . . maybe we should have a chat.”

  “Those words with that look on your face don’t inspire much confidence. You may not have said, ‘We need to talk,’ but that’s the gist.”

  He shook his head and tipped my chin up with a knuckle. “We do need to talk, but it’s not anything bad.”

  “I’m not sure I believe you.” He leaned in and placed a gentle kiss to my lips, lingering for a minute and letting our breaths mingle. I felt the electric charge I always did with Dev, and it made my breath catch.

  “Come on,” he said and grabbed my hand. “Let’s delay our drive for a minute and head back upstairs where it’s more comfortable.”

  “Okay,” I answered and let him lead me back to his apartment. When we were seated comfortably on the couch with cups of coffee, Dev seemed to try to collect himself.

  “So, I know you don’t believe in any of this. But I really need you to try to have an open mind when I explain a few things to you. Can you do that?”

  I honestly wasn’t sure. While hanging out with Dev and the cast and crew in the time I’d been here had made me question a few things and open my beliefs to a couple of others, I still wasn’t a true believer. However, I was willing to try for Dev. “Yeah, I can do that.”

  I saw the relief pass through him. He physically relaxed and settled into the couch more, facing me. “As I mentioned before, all of us have different specialties and backgrounds. Larken is a natural-born witch. While I don’t know her whole history, seeing as she’s pretty tight-lipped about it, and I know it makes her uncomfortable when I pry, you’ve seen some of the things that she can do when we were setting up. Even to you, they had to be pretty impressive.”

  “They absolutely were. And you, too. I haven’t seen you in action but there are definitely some unexplained things.”

  “Exactly,” he said. “Given my lineage, it will probably come as no surprise to you that I am a Vodou priest. A Houngan. None of that is super important for what I wanted to talk to you about, but it will make some of the things you’ll see during this investigation make more sense. Like the discussion I had with Lark earlier about casting a circle and me opening a way. Anyway, not important right now. If you have questions later, I’d love to talk to you about it.”

  I smiled but knew not to say anything. He seemed to need to get this out.

  “Lark and I have different abilities when it comes to the departed. She’s a psychic medium and can sense and hear them and get impressions of people, places, and things, but she can’t see spirits beyond mists and shadow figures. I am sensitive to some of the things that she is, but I can summon ghosts and spirits and see and talk to them like I can see and chat with you sitting here.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say. This was all beyond my comprehension and experiences. Yet a small part of me wanted to grab him and demand that he reach Reagan. That he get her to tell him what happened to her. For now, all I did was nod.

  “But there’s a catch,” he continued.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “They have to want to be seen. However, when they do, it’s almost like having a child with no boundaries. They refuse to be ignored. You asked me what was wrong a few times now. Nothing’s wrong. It’s just that I’ve had some visitors and wasn’t sure how to handle it with you around without scaring you off.”

  “Oh,” I said. That actually made sense, and it made me feel a little warm inside. He respected my beliefs enough to not want to scare me away.

  “The lovebirds I talked about earlier?”

  “Yeah,” I answered.

  “It’s my sister, Wren, and her guy, Findley.”

  I gasped. I couldn’t help it. “You see your sister?”

  “All the time,” he said. “They’re actually an integral part of the show. But they’ve also been trying to find Wren’s killer. And you were right before when you said that you sensed that I’d lost someone else. We lost our cousin, Gunnie, some time ago. There were differences in the way that she was killed, but both Wren and I believe it may have been the same person. Maybe even one of their first kills.”

  I felt my heart drop. God, poor Dev. “I’m so sorry,” I said, reaching out to touch his knee. He pulled me in, and I snuggled against him, lending him some strength. I knew if it were me, I would have an easier time talking if I didn’t have to look someone in the eye anyway.

  “Yeah. I know you can relate to that pain. The agony of not knowing. Of never getting anywhere. Not a day goes by where I don’t think of them. That something doesn’t remind me of the good times. All the times they made me smile. The stupid things we did together.�
� He smiled, the expression a bit sad yet wistful.

  “Anyway, the reason I’ve been so weird is that Wren and Findley have been coming to me pretty regularly lately with updates on the things that I sent them out to find but also because my cousin has been reaching out to people that aren’t me, and I don’t understand why. She’s always been a little shy, even in life, more so in death—something I always loved about her, the contradiction of her endless collection of corsets and her much more demure personality. But Lark said she contacted her, and then Wren told me this morning that she came to them, too. I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t want to pretend with you anymore or act strangely when around you because I’m trying to hide something that is as natural as breathing to me. Anyway, Wren asked me this morning if I thought you’d be open to something.”

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “I can do a spell that will allow you to see them temporarily. They’d really like to meet you.”

  I pulled away and wrung my hands. “I don’t know, Dev. You’ve opened my eyes to a lot, and I have to say that some things have definitely changed, but I’m not sure I’m ready for that. It’s all still a bit fantastical to me, though I do know that there are unexplained things beyond my comprehension for sure.”

  He smiled. “That’s exactly what I told her. We don’t have to, but I wanted you to know, and I wanted you to have the choice.”

  “I appreciate that,” I said and then leaned in to give him a kiss. “Was that all?”

  “Yeah, that’s all. For now.” He kissed me again. “What do you say we hit the road?”

  “Absolutely. Let’s go see Bea.”

  Chapter 17

  Dev

  I watched myself on screen over Lennie’s head. “Here, about thirty minutes outside of N’awlins, we will set up shop for seventy-two hours to get to the bottom of the mysteries of Arborwood. A two-hundred-and-fifty-year-old ancestral plantation home rife with history and teeming with spirits. A place I’ve wanted to explore since the show first aired. It is our duty to give the dead a voice, to bring light to the departed oppressed, and to bring answers to the living. It is our calling. Our passion. This . . . is Haunted New Orleans.”