Soul Walk

by Melissa Bowersock

  “This is nice,” she said as they cuddled in bed. “Nothing like arguing kids and household chores to balance that rock star feeling.”

  “Rock star,” Sam snorted. “I don’t think so.”

  “Well, when you are a rock star, and your name is up in lights, just remember who you go home to.”

  He dipped his head down toward hers. “Oh, I’ll remember,” he said in a low voice. “Don’t worry about that.”

  ~~~

  FIVE

  Surprisingly, the contract arrived in her email inbox on Monday. Diana said they’d fast-tracked it because they had a short window on filming at the property. She asked them to review, sign and return the contract as soon as possible.

  Yeah, not so fast, Lacey thought. In her time on the LAPD, she’d come to know many lawyers, both defense attorneys and prosecutors, and she called around for referrals to others who handled film contracts. Of a handful of those, she was able to get an appointment for them two days later, a quick consultation squeezed into an otherwise busy schedule. Per the admin’s instructions, she emailed the contract so when they met, they could hit the ground running.

  She and Sam settled uneasily into padded chairs across the desk from the lawyer, Len Carter. “Len, please,” he’d said, shaking hands and giving them a ready smile. “I heard about you guys on the news. So you’re going big time, huh?”

  “I don’t know about that,” Lacey said with a wry smile. “This is all new territory for us, but we thought we’d at least explore it.”

  “Sure, sure,” Len said, already flipping through the pages of the contract. Lacey and Sam had both looked it over, but so much of it was legalese, it had been hard for them to tell if it was to their advantage or not. “This is mostly boiler plate stuff,” he said, not looking up. “Pretty standard. But I see here they’ve got a couple of review points in here, one after the film and edit of the walkthrough, one after the film and edit of the research piece.” Len looked up then. “They must want you pretty bad. I’ve never seen this done for a pilot program.”

  Lacey and Sam traded looks. “That’s good to know,” she said. “So if we don’t like the way they’re portraying either section, we can pull the plug?”

  “Well, they do claim the right to revise and review again. But basically you’ve got two votes per section. So yeah, it’s your call up to that point. Once you’ve approved the second review, it’s good to go and the ball’s in their court.”

  He went back to the contract and flipped to the last page. “And of course they’ve got the option.”

  “Option?” Lacey asked.

  “Yeah. If they decide to move forward with the series, and you two agree, they have the first option to continue or not. What this basically means is you couldn’t take the idea of the show to another company without first giving Unexplained Channel the right of refusal.” He sat back in his chair and tossed the contract on the desk. “That’s about it.”

  Lacey nodded. “No tricky wording, no surprise clauses, no gotchas?”

  Len shook his head. “No. Pretty straight-forward. I wouldn’t expect Unexplained Channel to try anything underhanded, and I don’t see any red flags here.” He tapped the papers. “I wouldn’t have any qualms about a contract like this.”

  Lacey let out a relieved breath. “Good.” She turned to her partner. “Sam?”

  He was thoughtful for a moment, then nodded once. “Okay. I guess we go for it.”

  “Here, take my card,” Len said, standing up. He handed a card to each of them. “And you might think about getting an agent. I could recommend a couple that are straight-shooters. They’d be the ones to field offers like this, go toe-to-toe with the studios when you want something specific. Then you two wouldn’t have to do this stuff yourselves.”

  “That’s a thought,” Lacey said, putting the card in her wallet. “Thanks. We’ll think about that.” She pulled her day pack up on her shoulder and put out a hand. “Thanks for your time. We appreciate you seeing us.”

  “Sure, sure,” he said, shaking both hands. “See my assistant on the way out. She’ll have an invoice for you.”

  “Sheesh,” Lacey said when they walked out of the building. “It’s a good thing the studio’s paying so well. A hundred and forty bucks for twenty minutes?”

  “And then an agent on top of it?” Sam said. “This could get expensive in a hurry.”

  “Well, I’m not convinced we need to do that just yet. I mean, I guess we won’t really know until this whole thing is done, but I think we’re doing okay on our own so far. Don’t you?”

  Sam grinned at her. “Yeah. I think so.” He took her hand and squeezed it. “How about we grab some lunch? I’ll buy.”

  “You’re on,” she said.

  ~~~

  SIX

  As soon as Diana had the signed contract in hand, she called to set up another meeting.

  “What we’ll do is go over the shooting schedule and just basically welcome you to the fold. The good news is that we’d already cleared all the hurdles with the property owners beforehand, so we’re ready to roll. The only disadvantage for you two is that you’re going to get thrown into the deep end of the pool right away. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “No, not at all,” Lacey said. “Actually, the sooner we can get into the place, the better. We’re not much for sitting on our thumbs.”

  “Great,” Diana said. “Okay, we’ll see you Friday at four.”

  “We’ll be there.”

  Driving back to the studio offices on Friday, Lacey chewed her lower lip.

  “Hey,” Sam said. “You nervous?”

  Leave it to him to pick up on her mood. “Not really,” she said. “Well, maybe a little. It feels weird to go through someone else to work a case. Having someone else call the shots.”

  “It does,” Sam agreed. “I think the best thing we can do is just keep our eye on the ball, remember our focus is helping the lost souls. Everything else is just window dressing as far as I’m concerned.”

  Lacey digested that. “You’re right, and that’s a great way to keep it all in perspective.” She smiled over at him. “You’re a pretty smart guy, you know? For a medium, I mean.”

  “Oh, really? For a medium?” He bumped her shoulder with his fist, rocking her playfully. “You’re not so bad yourself, for a non-medium.”

  “We make a good team that way,” she said.

  “Oh, you just now noticed that?” He arched an eyebrow at her, but his eyes sparkled.

  “Nah. I noticed that a long time ago.”

  ~~~

  The routine at the black glass office building was familiar: they checked in at the front desk and Diana came down to retrieve them, but this time escorted them to Barry’s office where the four of them huddled over a tentative schedule.

  “Our first full night of filming is Tuesday night after next,” Barry said. “Our crew will go out Monday night to start setting up and checking everything out in advance. If we need another night for re-shoots, we’ll have Wednesday and Thursday, but that’s all.” He tapped the schedule. “We’ll need you two there by seven p.m.”

  “So it’s all at night,” Lacey said. She remembered when watching The Restless Dead that all of Esmeralda’s walks were done at night, too.

  “Yeah. Atmosphere, you know?” Barry explained. “Here’s the address…”

  Lacey took the sheet of printed information. The Haunted B&B, owned by Vince and Bobbi Offendahl. A boutique B&B in the heart of Malibu, complete with ghosts.

  “So they’re trading on the haunted theme,” Lacey said. “Interesting.” Most property owners were not comfortable with their ghostly tenants, and just wanted them gone.

  “There’re quite a few places that use that in their marketing,” Barry said. “We’ve seen several hotels, a couple of restaurants, a book store. A lot of places have ghost tours.”

  Lacey nodded. She wondered if she should start her research now, before Sam walked. It was tempting…

>   “Now a few things about filming,” Diana said. “Please don’t wear white. Any other color is fine. We’ll provide all the lighting, of course. Our cameramen will either follow you or precede you, depending on the layout. The B&B is a small one, only six rooms. There are four upstairs and two downstairs, along with the lobby, dining area and kitchen. It shouldn’t take too long to cover it all.”

  She pointed her pen at Lacey. “We’d like you to film constantly unless we call a break for some reason. We’ll want to use a few bits of your video to intercut with ours. You saw how we do that on The Restless Dead?”

  Lacey nodded.

  “Okay, good. Sam, we know you’re quieter than Esmeralda, and that’s fine, but we would like you to tell us as much as possible what you’re feeling. Physical descriptions, emotions—whatever you can give us to describe the sensations.”

  “Sure,” he said.

  “Obviously,” Diana said, “don’t worry about facing our cameras or speaking directly to them. Just forget they’re there. Do your normal thing. Be as natural as possible.”

  She waited until she had both their agreements, then smiled broadly. “Okay, then. Unless you have any questions, that’s all there is to it.”

  “Sounds easy enough,” Lacey said. She hoped it was.

  “All right,” Barry said. He stood. “Let’s go introduce you to the crew.”

  He led them down the hall to the same large conference room. Lacey heard voices just before he pushed open the double doors, but the sight of twenty-odd people all turning as they walked in was a little daunting. She would have liked to grip Sam’s hand for encouragement, but instead just pasted a smile on her face and stood tall.

  “Everyone,” Barry called out. He held up his hands for quiet, unnecessarily since all conversation had stopped. “You’ve all heard the rumors about expanding our family. Well, they are true. We’re very pleased to add a new dimension to The Restless Dead. I want you all to meet, and help me welcome, Lacey Fitzpatrick and Sam Firecloud, the newest members of our family.”

  Enthusiastic applause, a few hoots and hollers.

  Lacey felt her face flaming.

  “We’ve got cake over here,” Barry waved toward the side counter. “And we’ve got a bit of bubbly—and Diana’s already pouring. Let’s get a glass in every hand and we’ll have a toast, then I’m going to leave it to you folks to come and introduce yourselves to Lacey and Sam.” He angled his head at the newcomers. “There will be a test on names when we’re done. No, just kidding. Come on over here, take a look at this cake.”

  He herded Lacey and Sam to the sideboard, waving proudly at the large sheet cake. On white cream cheese frosting, brilliant blue script read Welcome Lacey and Sam.

  “We need a picture of this.” He got out his phone and took several of them standing beside the cake. Lacey could only hope she didn’t look like a deer in the headlights.

  Plastic champagne glasses were shoved into their hands, and when everyone had one, Barry lifted his.

  “To Sam and Lacey, our new friends and colleagues. And to The Restless Dead.”

  More hoots and calls. Glasses raised, then drained. Lacey sipped hers. She wasn’t used to champagne and didn’t want to choke.

  “Okay, come get some cake and say hi to our new friends.”

  It had been many years since Lacey had been surrounded by such a gaggle of friendly, welcoming people, longer still since she’d had to contend with so many new names and faces.

  “Kevin Welborne, cameraman. I’ll be filming you.”

  “Milo Bennet, lighting.”

  “Karen Alstead, production assistant and all around go-fer.”

  “Skip Rogan, cameraman.”

  She shook hands, repeated the names, noted the jobs—and promptly forgot it all. Try as she might, the names evaporated almost as quickly as they were spoken, and the smiling faces melted into one composite image of teeth and lips. Her glass was taken from her, a small plate of cake given to replace it, and more names and faces streamed in and out like a relentless tide.

  “So, a sister of the shield, eh?”

  She turned at the joking voice, expecting to see another nameless face, and was surprised to see instead one she recognized.

  “Webb?” She remembered the thick auburn hair, the dark eyes. The megawatt smile was new—he rarely smiled on the show, but more often frowned in deep concentration.

  “Yes, ma’am. Welcome to the funny farm.” He pressed her hand warmly.

  “Thanks. This is, uh, a bit more than I was expecting.”

  “Don’t worry about it. No one expects you to remember a damn thing about today, and you’ll learn the crew little by little. They’re a great bunch. They’ll help you all they can.”

  “Good.” She exhaled in relief. “So you were SFPD?” she asked.

  “Yeah. Just over ten years. And you were LAPD?”

  “Eight years,” she confirmed. “Ten years is a lot to walk away from. They make you an offer you couldn’t refuse?”

  “Something like that.” When he smiled, dimples appeared, something else she hadn’t seen on TV.

  “Say, I know we’re probably not supposed to talk shop, but I was wondering if you do your own research. I do, and I really don’t want to get away from that.”

  Webb glanced around as if checking to make sure no one was close enough to hear. “I’d like to,” he said with a sigh, “but I just don’t have the time. We have a team of researchers that gets it done quicker than I could.” He shrugged. “It’s all about expediency.”

  “Yeah, I get that,” she said. “Still…”

  “Well, see how it works out. If you’ve got a filming deadline looming, you may want to take advantage of a little help. Just think of it as backup.”

  She nodded. “All right.”

  “Hey, come on over and meet Esmeralda.” Webb took her elbow and towed her through the crowd. For the first time she noticed the medium, deep in conversation with Sam. Esmeralda was shorter than Sam and fairly petite, more so than she’d appeared on TV. Her black hair and black eye makeup gave her a slightly gothic look.

  “Meralda,” Webb called as they neared. “Meet Lacey. And this is Sam, I presume.”

  They all shook hands. Lacey smiled to Esmeralda and wondered what they’d been talking about. Sam’s expression told her nothing.

  “So how long have you two been working together?” Webb asked.

  Lacey calculated quickly. “About a year and a half.”

  “And we’re starting our fourth year.” Webb saluted his partner with his fork. “Time flies when you’re hunting ghosts.”

  “How did you two team up?” Lacey asked. “I mean, were you working together before the show came along?”

  “Nah. I’d done a few bits for them on some other shows, called in to expound on some unusual crimes, some cold cases, and they thought I did pretty well. They heard about Meralda and someone got the bright idea to pair us up. The rest, as they say, is history.”

  “I see.” Lacey took a bite of cake and processed that information. So they were a made-for-TV team.

  “What’s your modality?” Esmeralda asked Sam. “Visual, aural, kinesthetic?”

  Lacey, along with Webb, waited for Sam’s answer. That was a question she’d never thought to ask.

  “Kinesthetic, primarily,” he said. “I get sensations, and although they don’t come through as images or sounds, I feel those things as well. It’s hard to explain.”

  Esmeralda nodded and put a hand on Sam’s arm. “I know what you mean. I’m that way, too. One time we had a case…”

  Lacey lost her appetite for cake. Esmeralda monopolized Sam, and Webb finally drifted away. Other people approached Lacey, Diane to check if she wanted more champagne, Barry to introduce a producer of another show about unsolved crimes, and Kevin the cameraman. She only remembered him because he was a big bear of a man with shaggy, chin-length hair and a full red beard.

  “Overwhelmed yet?” he asked her.
<
br />   She smiled wanly. “Sort of. There’s a lot more people behind the scenes than I thought.”

  “Well, we don’t get together like this very often,” he explained. “You know, normally we’re all doing our own things separately, and it all comes together in the editing. But I just wanted to talk with you a little bit about the filming. I’ll probably be behind you mostly, looking over your shoulder. Hope that won’t bother you.”

  “I doubt it,” she said. “I’ll be concentrating on Sam, so I may not even notice. But thanks for the warning.”

  “I may give you a little direction from time to time. Ask you to move one way or another, ask you to hold up your phone so I can see your screen. Stuff like that.”

  “Sounds easy enough,” she said. “You been with the show long?”

  “Since the beginning,” he said. “It’s a pretty good gig. Interesting work, and the travel can be fun. Although if we’re doing back to back episodes across country, my family gets a little torqued. Can’t blame them for that.”

  “No, I would think not.” She was thankful that Sam was her family, although if they did end up doing a lot of traveling, his kids would be the ones to suffer. She hadn’t thought about that. It suddenly dawned on her that she and Sam were combining two major life events—moving in together and starting a new job—either one of which could upset the balance of their lives. They’d need to be very mindful not only of how the changes affected them, but how they affected the kids, too.

  As the clock neared five p.m., people began to make excuses and drift away. Lacey gravitated toward Sam, and they both shook more well-meaning hands, thanked their hosts and new co-workers, and finally let Barry escort them out.

  “It’s a good group,” Barry said about the crew. “They work well together, very little infighting, not a lot of ego to tiptoe around.”

  “Seems like it,” Lacey said. “And Webb and Esmeralda don’t seem to mind having us encroaching.”