The Cast Jumped Over the Moon

by Phaedra Weldon

  Uh huh. Cass and I looked at each other and laughed. “What you wanna bet she bullied her way in?” Cass said as we moved away from the door.

  “Oh, don’t you know it,” I said, but I was searching the crowd for David. And he was still there, talking to Hatchett and Harper.

  “So,” Cass said, and put her finger on my chin so she could guide my face back to her. “Where is he?”

  “He’s over there, talking to Harper Van Wesson and the mayor.”

  Cass glanced over and then shook her head. “No, not David. This Phil guy. The big producer dude with Ghost Watchers?”

  “You know about him?”

  “Only what Melody told me. Seems you and he had a thing going once?” Cass’s brows moved up and down.

  Melody, you are dead to me!

  “Phil Boscawen?” I smiled. “He’s not here. He and the group’s psychic are up at the Delaney House. They’ll be here soon.”

  Cass was watching my face. “Okay, spill it. I know what I got from Melody, but I’m also aware she’s not a fan of David.”

  “No kidding.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I don’t get it, Cass. David saved her familiar and, in essence, saved her. He’s a good guy, he’s smart and sweet and talented—”

  “And he’s a vampire shifter,” Cass said. “I understand her distrust of his dual nature.”

  “I don’t get that. It’s not that he’s unique—”

  “I’m afraid he is unique.” She took my arm and led me through everyone to the kitchen, where Max was curled up on a bed I’d set up for him in the corner. “How much do you know about his kind of vampire?”

  “Not a lot. Mostly what he told me. That he’s that way because of his sire. I know there’s been a plethora of vampires made who can be in the sun like him. I sort of assumed that was just nature stepping in to save the species. You know, global warming and all.”

  “You’re mostly right,” Cass said, and leaned against the counter. The smells of garlic and butter were intoxicating in the small room. “There seems to have been something that changed within the blood of vampires in the last century. It’s been a slow evolution. But the combination of vampire and shifter is rare. And from what I’ve gathered, it only happens to a few who are turned.”

  “But that tracks with what he told me. He had no idea he’d be a shifter because his sire wasn’t.” I shook my head. “Look, this is silly. David is fine. He’s a good man. He’s lived a long life. And he’s used his shifter abilities for good. So whatever Melody’s beef is, she can stick it up her—”

  “Ginger,” Cass interjected, “let’s talk about Phil. You and he did have a relationship?”

  I gave her a brief few sentences that summed up the relationship. “Honestly, I never thought about him again until this morning, when Melody sprang this dinner on us. Seems to me she’s been more interested in it than me.”

  “And what does David think?”

  I pursed my lips.

  “Ginger.” Cass looked shocked. “You haven’t told him?”

  “I haven’t exactly had time. Besides, he’s having a meaningful conversation with Harper Van Wesson and the mayor.”

  Cass walked to the door and looked out at the tiny crowd. “Now it’s just the two of them. No mayor.”

  I started for the door, but Cass blocked me. “Let it be. If there is one thing I do know about vampire shifters—they are monogamous. One mate at a time. And that scar on your neck”—her gaze lingered on David’s love bite—“tells me he’s already settled in with you.”

  I put my hand on the mark. He’d made it the first time we made love and he’d asked if he could date me. No one had ever asked permission of me before, and it was so new and old world. “Can vampire shifters change their mind?” I looked past her to where he and Harper were talking.

  Cass shrugged. “I’m sure they can. They have a dual nature. It’s a constant battle of man and animal, Ginger. Just be happy he’s a wolf. They mate for life.”

  Something about that statement unnerved me. It made me think about one of those crime shows I’d watched the other night, about a man who’d killed his wife of twenty years, and he’d told his lawyer, “I mated for life. Her life had to end so mine could go on.”

  I shivered as he turned, looked at me and winked.

  FIVE

  The dinner moved at an organic pace. Everyone split off into little groups to talk and mingle, some taking a tour of Mama D’s house, the Ghost Watchers wanting to see where a man was murdered in her shop a month ago. Cass kept close to me, having been involved in the investigation, as well as a person of interest. We stood in the doorway as they oohed and aahed at the wall of ivy—which had sprouted little white flowers.

  When did ivy have flowers? I had to admit, I wasn’t as educated in the subject of my magic.

  “This is beautiful,” Harper said as she held on to David’s arm. “Isn’t it beautiful? I must have this in my own house.” She looked up David. “I have a house in Tuscany, and this would look just delightful on the veranda.”

  “I’m not sure English ivy would grow as well in Italy,” David said, and then, with a glance back at me, excused himself from the Ghost Watcher and made his way to me. “Are you okay?”

  I smiled. “I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  He arched a brow. “Because I can feel your gaze stabbing me in the back.” He looked behind him, and I saw that Harper was watching him. To my delight, he leaned forward and gave me a very passionate, very nice kiss. When he pulled back, he winked at me. “I need to get dinner on the table. We can’t wait for the other two.”

  He didn’t say Phil’s name, and I had the impression no one had filled him in on mine and Phil’s previous relationship. That or he just didn’t care.

  “Man…that vamp makes me hot,” Cass said, and winked at me. “But I prefer to find my own man. One day.” She looked at the group. “So, tell me about this Brett Anderson.”

  “You think he’s cute?” I asked.

  “I do. Though it’s obvious he likes you.” Cass put up her hands when I glared at her. “Kidding. No, seriously. He’s gorgeous. And he’s smart. And he’s already into the supernatural, so he’s got that going for him.”

  “He’s into disproving it,” I countered, and crossed my arms over my chest as Beverly and Mama D stepped past us into the room.

  “You might want to go help David,” Mama D said as she grabbed my arm. “Just to keep that hussy away from him.”

  My jaw dropped, and I looked around to see if anyone else had heard her. No one gave any indication.

  “Come on.” Cass motioned for me to follow her. “Let’s help David. Brett’s gonna be here a few days, so I can make excuses to meet him. You will introduce us, right?”

  “You bet.” I grinned at her. I did a quick look around and sent a few feelers out to find Max. He and Burt were hiding in my room upstairs, which I felt was a good idea. It could be a bit hard to explain a talking bat. Where Max was a bit less free with letting others hear him speak, Burt didn’t care and let his voice be heard. I suspected Mama D had a talk with her familiar and banished him to my room. I hadn’t seen Max about since I spotted him curled in his little bed. But he wasn’t there now.

  David, myself and Cass set the table with the three pans of manicotti, three baskets of garlic bread, shredded parmesan cheese, two side bowls of sausage and tomatoes, six bottles of red, two bottles of white and a two-liter of Dr. Pepper.

  “Where did the soft drink come from?” I asked.

  “Miss Thumper doesn’t drink,” David said. “So when I found out she was coming, I picked her up her favorite beverage.”

  “You knew the Bible Thumper was gonna be here, and you didn’t tell me?” I arched my brow at him.

  “Mavis told me when I picked up the pies.” He shrugged. “We really haven’t had time together.” He finished setting the silverware and then pulled me close to him. “And though this isn’t how I wanted to spend time with you”�
�he pressed his lips to my neck, and I felt a rise in my temperature—“I find this jealousy a bit arousing.”

  Wait. What? I pushed back and looked at him. “I am not jealous.”

  He reached up and softly touched the scar on my neck. “My mark says otherwise.”

  I had readied a scathing response but stopped when I saw Mildred Thumper standing in the corner. She was watching us with a furrowed brow, and I stepped on David’s toe.

  He winced but got the signal and turned to see her as well. “Oh hello, Miss Thumper. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” she said stiffly, and left the dining room.

  I waited until she was out of the room. “How did you not sense her there? I thought you had that vampy-shifty-spidey sense.”

  He looked down at me with a face full of mirth. “Vampy-shifty-spidey sense? Oh, Ginger. You make me laugh.”

  “I’m serious. She was watching us. And she probably heard you call this scar your mark. You know how anti-supernatural or preternatural she is.”

  “I don’t think she believes I’m a vampire, or a wolf. And, well, my abilities aren’t all-encompassing—I’m not omnipotent, babe. There are some people I can’t read. Mildred’s one of them.”

  “You can’t read her?” This was news to me. “Are there others you can’t read?”

  “There are a few in town. If it’ll make you happy, I’ll point them out to you. But now, let’s get this dinner underway.”

  Mama D announced dinner, and I watched as Brett made a few phone calls. When he was done, he came straight to me and Mama D as we were finishing up in the kitchen. “Ginger, I can’t reach Phil or Nichelle.”

  “Is that normal?” Mama D said. She had a fourth basket of garlic bread in hand.

  “I don’t remember noticing whether or not there was cell phone service at the Delaney House. Maybe I should go check on them?”

  “Nonsense,” Mayor Hatchett said as he stepped into the kitchen and took the basket from Mama D. “I’m sure they’re on their way.” He smiled at my granny. “Care to take my arm so I can escort you in?”

  I wanted to throw up. I liked the mayor well enough, but to see him putting the moves on my granny? No.

  Dinner went pretty well, even with two empty place settings on the end. Part of me was relieved I hadn’t had to confront Phil and then talk to David, and another part of me was worried as to why they weren’t there.

  Unless Phil and Nichelle were maybe…involved?

  I also noticed that Brett seemed to be the only one worried at their absence. He kept looking at his watch and didn’t eat as much as everyone else. But then, no one ate as much as Mildred. She might be a bit worried she was in a witch’s house, but apparently she wasn’t worried about the food.

  The conversation moved from getting to know one another to the event at hand: the Ghost Watchers investigation of the Delaney House.

  “So,” Harper said as she took her wine in hand. She’d tried to sit next to David, but I’d made sure that didn’t happen. I wasn’t going to admit to jealousy—but I would admit to a healthy helping of hands off! “I know the basics of the house. Two brothers vying for the same woman. She couldn’t choose. So the brothers scheduled a duel, but the woman ran off. The house was finished for her by both brothers and now her ghost is said to haunt the mansion.”

  “That’s it in a nutshell,” Mayor Hatchett agreed, well into his third helping of manicotti.

  “But”—Harper held up a red-lacquered finger—“that’s not the whole truth, is it?”

  “Whole truth?” Cass said.

  Beverly cleared her throat. “I’m sure Miss Van Wesson is referring to the Kell murder.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “The Kell murder? I don’t think I know that one.”

  “Not many do.” Beverly shook her head. “Happened nineteen years ago, in the Delaney House—”

  “Oh, Beverly.” Mayor Hatchett put his fork down and took up his glass. “Let’s not reopen old wounds. Instead, let’s drink a toast to our guests.”

  “I would like to hear about this,” Mildred said. It was the first time she’d said a word during dinner, so everyone looked at her. She sat up straighter at the sudden attention. “I think we should all know more about the Delaney House and its evil presence. I want to know why I don’t know about the Kell murder.”

  “Because it was silenced,” Harper said as she swirled her wine. “In fact, I was surprised when Phil brought it to my attention.”

  “Phil found out about it?” I looked at Harper, making sure to bring her attention to me and not to David. “How?”

  “Doing his thing, I guess. Research. Not all records can be made to disappear.”

  “I don’t think that’s what happened,” Beverly said, retaking the conversation. “Nineteen years ago, a family showed interest in purchasing the Delaney House. Naturally, there was some pushback from the Historical Society. They didn’t want to destroy the history behind the house’s construction. The Kells, a very nice family from Georgia, insisted they wanted to preserve it as well. But they’d visited it on their honeymoon and fallen in love with it. After a vote, the society decided to hand over custody of the house to Mark and Brenda Kell.”

  “Wow? Really?” Melody said. I hadn’t heard her say much during dinner, but I had noticed her eyeing David now and then. “What happened to them?”

  “Six months into their custodianship of the house, Brenda was found murdered in the library of the house, in the room where visitors claim they’ve seen the ghost of Brigit Delaney. Her husband was never found, and local law enforcement believed that he’d killed her. Some believed she’d been carrying on an affair with someone in Castle Falls—which is why she insisted on getting the house—and that her husband had killed her in a jealous rage and fled. There was a small group of people who believed he’d been possessed by the ghost of Brigit, who was angry with Brenda having an affair in her home. So she killed Brenda through her husband.”

  I blinked at Beverly and then looked around the room. It was obvious the Ghost Watchers knew this. One look at the mayor told me he knew, and then a glance at Cass and I realized she knew about this as well.

  “Why was this never in the paper?” Mildred said. “This is obviously another reason why that house should be condemned, exorcised and burned.”

  “You’d have to ask the police about that,” Harper said. “Phil did call your local sheriff and have a nice chat with him? Seems there was a file on the case, but the folder’s empty.”

  “And the killer was never caught,” Brett said. “So when we found this out, it intrigued us more. That’s what Phil and Nichelle were supposed to be doing—getting a reading on the murder, since it seems a more plausible reason for the haunting and not that of a disappeared, unrequited love.”

  All this time there was a murder at the Delaney House that we—I—never knew about. The fact the folder was empty convinced me the whole case had been shushed. Now I wanted to talk to Danvers about this.

  David put his hand on mine, and when I looked at him, he was giving me the look one would give an errant child. It was a look that said, “Oh no you don’t.”

  A glance at Melody and I saw her frowning at the two of us. And I was feeling a bit…well, mischievous. “Miss Van Wesson—”

  “Please, call me Harper.” But she wasn’t looking at me. She was fixated on David.

  “Harper.” I made sure mine and David’s hands were visible above the table, clutching each other. “Did Melody tell you about the special effects scheduled to be installed soon?”

  That brought her out of her lust. She blinked and looked at me. “Special effects?” Then she looked at Melody. “We can’t have anything in that house that smacks of tampering before we do our show.”

  “Oh, well…” Melody shifted in her chair and shot me a dagger look. “We do it every year for the Haunted Delaney House exhibit. Don’t worry, we haven’t touched the house since last year.”

  “Last year?” Brett
said. “Is the equipment still in the house? What kind of equipment?”

  “Uh…” Melody seemed a bit at a loss for words.

  “The equipment isn’t working,” Mama D piped up. “Last year it nearly overloaded the house’s power grid. Our local electrician put in a request to upgrade the system. If we don’t, we can’t open it up as an attraction for Halloween.”

  “So it’s not working?” Harper said. “Can Brett meet this electrician and confirm this? I’m not about to do a show with stuff rigged in it and have something go off and we catch it on camera. Do you realized what kind of press that would get us if one of our detractors finds out we were at a house rigged for ghosts?”

  “Miss Van Wesson.” Mayor Hatchett held out his hand. “I can assure you, I will personally have Peewee meet your young man at the house tomorrow so you can verify this grid isn’t working. It hasn’t worked since last year.”

  David’s phone rang, and he scooted back to pull it out of his pants. He took one look at the screen and patted my hand. “I have to take this.” Then he left the room and went into the kitchen.

  “Peewee?” Harper had pushed her chair back. “I’m going to get advice from a guy named Peewee?”

  “Peewee is the best electrician in the southeast,” I said as I stood and started clearing plates. We still had pie in the fridge, and I for one wanted chocolate. Lots of it. In fact, I was pretty sure I could eat an entire pie all by myself.

  “Well, I’ll have to get with Phil on this.” Harper pulled out her phone. “I’m pretty sure he didn’t know any of this, or he would never have agreed to this show. We might have to rip it all out before we can do it, and the cost won’t be paid by us.” She punched a button and put her phone to her ear.

  “It might not be so bad,” Brett said as he stood and started helping me. “I mean, if there is an improved electrical grid in this house, it could help us with our equipment. Too many times these old houses can’t handle the juice my stuff takes so we have to run lines to outside sources. Does it have a generator?” He looked at me.