by K. J. Emrick
Feature Presentation: Death
A Moonlight Bay Psychic Mystery Short Read 3
K. J. Emrick
Kathryn De Winter
First published in Australia by South Coast Publishing, June 2017. Copyright Kathryn De Winter and K.J. Emrick (2017)
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This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and locations portrayed in this book and the names herein are fictitious. Any similarity to or identification with the locations, names, characters or history of any person, product or entity is entirely coincidental and unintentional.
- From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations.
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Contents
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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
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Chapter 1
“Oh wow, you look amazing.”
Sapphire Moon Flower, Miranda’s closest friend in Moonlight Bay—who was still living, at least—rose to her feet, her hands flying up dramatically to either side of her face.
“Look,” Miranda said with a laugh, “I know I don’t dress up too often, but is such a great show of surprise really necessary, Sapphire?”
She was a tomboy at heart, more comfortable with jeans than she ever was in dresses. Her body looked smoking in either, if she did say so herself, but she had to admit the dress emphasized her trim waist and the curve of her hips and her… um… more feminine features. It was an off-the-shoulder slim black number, which highlighted the creamy skin of her neck, and the deep red of her flowing hair.
In contrast to Miranda, everything about Sapphire was long and flowing, and much of it flapped and swished as she walked. Sapphire’s brown hair was long and braided in tight lines all around. Her earrings were long and beaded. Even her dress was long and floaty, patterned in pastel colors that matched the scarf around her neck. Miranda often wondered about the practicalities of such attire, but quickly came to admit that they were simply very different people.
Apparently, her four-footed friend Butter was just as excited to see Miranda in a dress for the first time since he’d come into her life as well. He bounded through the bedroom door and was just about to launch himself at Miranda, wagging tail and slobbering tongue and all.
“No, no!” Sapphire said as she wrapped herself around the golden retriever’s neck, sliding onto her knees and bringing him to a halt just half a foot from Miranda’s hemline. “Oh, Gypsy, you bad boy you!”
“Just in the nick of time, Sapphire,” Miranda laughed. “But look, now you’re all covered in hairs. And, yes, my dog’s name is still Butter, not Gypsy.” She scolded playfully. “I’ll get a lint roller, Sapphire. It always gets the dog hairs out.”
Sapphire pouted. “Your dog needs a majestic name. A spiritual name. Gypsy suits him so much better than Butter, don’t you think? I mean, you eat butter. You want your dog to think you’re going to put him on toast?”
“Oh please!” Suddenly, Kyle appeared in front of Miranda, a habit that he had recently developed. “As if you would know a spirit if one came up and bit you!”
Kyle Hunter was Miranda’s best friend. He’d been that way in life, and he had remained that way in death. Neither of them understood why he hadn’t moved on to his afterlife yet but he was certainly making the most of being a ghost while he was stuck here with Miranda. He was experimenting with dramatic entrances and exits, despite the fact that most of the time Miranda was the only person who could see them.
“Is this woman for real?” Kyle asked, hooking a thumb in Sapphire’s direction. “Seriously, Miranda, you’re twice the psychic this fraud ever thought of being.”
“Kyle, don’t be mean,” Miranda said to him, in her best scolding voice.
“Who is being mean?” Sapphire asked, looking about the room. “Oh, is Kyle here? Kyle? Is that you, dear?”
“Yes, he’s here,” Miranda confirmed, giving her ghostly friend a glare. “He’s just dropped down between us, trying to give me a fright.”
Of course, she’d told Kyle not to be mean for a different reason but she didn’t think Sapphire needed to know Kyle’s opinion of her. She could hardly tell Sapphire that her resident ghost was picking on her.
Kyle was rail-thin, tall and wiry, with a sandy brown beard a shade or two lighter than the tousled hair on his head. His visage was blurred by a hazy blue light now that he was a specter, but the one thing that hadn’t changed was his taste in clothes. A loose-fitting button up shirt, khakis, and those same flip-flops that he’d always favored.
“Hi Kyle,” Sapphire said happily, waving all about the room, not once actually managing to wave in his actual direction.
“Hello Peace-Lily-Hummingbird-Flower,” Kyle said, mocking Moonlight Bay’s only New Age shop owner.
“It’s Sapphire Moon-Flower,” Miranda corrected him with a scowl. “And you know that very well.”
“Yes, it’s me, Kyle,” Sapphire went on, as exuberant as ever. “It’s Sapphire. How are you?”
Kyle rolled his eyes. “Does she expect me to answer her? Should I scuff a chair along the floor, or something?” He sighed, and regarded Sapphire with his head cocked to one side. “I suppose she’s all right, really.”
With that settled, Miranda went back to preparing for her night. “Sapphire, please tell me you have your ticket.” She eyed the heavily beaded and tasselled little purse that Sapphire had hung across her body.
“I do, I do,” Sapphire said, waving the purse about. “I’ve never been to a prescreening of a film before. I’m so excited.”
Miranda laughed, thinking how Sapphire could be excited about anything. Miranda herself had been to several prescreenings in the past, often as research for her novel or articles, and often just by invitation. Still, it had been a while since
she had done something like this. It was going to be nice to spend the night out with Sapphire, and with Jean-Paul Devereux.
Jean-Paul was Sapphire’s friend, and by default he had become Miranda’s friend also. He was kind of a suave and handsome second-generation French immigrant, and he owned the small movie theater in the little town of Moonlight Bay.
“I’m looking forward to seeing Jean-Paul,” Miranda said, primping one last time in the mirror. “It feels like ages since we’ve all seen each other, instead of just weeks.”
Sapphire looked amused. “So, you haven’t had a chance to meet Alma yet then?”
“Um, no. Who’s Alma?”
“Well, she’s the wonderful talent who put together this independent film that we’re going to see tonight. And I think Jean-Paul’s been seeing her for about two weeks. Can you believe it? I’m quite certain that she’s his girlfriend.”
“No way! Why am I just hearing about this now?”
“Don’t take it to heart. It’s not like he actually told me either.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Well, I was accidentally listening in when they were talking on the phone last week. Jean-Paul was over at my place and said he just had to make this phone call and the next thing you know I was hearing just his end of the conversation, you know, but people like you and me we can sense these things.”
“Accidentally listening to a telephone conversation?” Miranda said, her eyes sarcastically wide and the corners of her mouth turning up in a smile. “I mean, seriously, Sapphire. Are you telling me that you tripped, grabbed the telephone in the next room and then hit the floor with the receiver landing conveniently up to ear?”
“Well, it wasn’t exactly like that,” Sapphire said, waving her arm in a swoosh of fabric to dismiss her eavesdropping.
“Hmm,” Kyle said thoughtfully, floating about the room. “Kind of makes you wonder why he was hiding it from the both of you, doesn’t it? Maybe this Alma is a bit of a tyrant. Or she’s ugly. Or maybe she has some deeply entrenched but socially unacceptable political views. Ooh, maybe she’s a communist.”
“You have too much imagination, Kyle,” Miranda whispered, rolling her eyes. “Oh, Sapphire, look at the time. We really need to get going.”
“I’ll drive, Miranda. My car’s just outside.”
Outside, as they got into Sapphire’s Nissan LEAF, Miranda could not help but think that her friend’s little occult shop must be doing rather well. And of course, if anyone was going to have a fully electric vehicle, it would be Sapphire.
“I wonder if I ought to have arranged a seat in the cinema for Kyle,” Sapphire said happily as she drove from Ragged Rest into town. “He might like that.”
Ragged Rest was the manor house that belonged to Miranda’s uncle. He’d asked her to watch the place while he was gone. It was a lot of house for just her and Butter and her ghostly friend Kyle but Miranda liked it here, right along the coastline of one of Australia’s prettiest small towns.
“Where did you find this woman?” Kyle asked from the backseat. “She’s so doofy. I’m a ghost. What do I need a seat of my own for?”
Despite what Kyle said, Miranda turned to look at him and saw the smile on his face before he could hide it. No matter what Kyle said, Miranda knew that he was coming to like Sapphire Moon-Flower.
Chapter 2
“I wonder why Jean-Paul calls this place the Orbit Cinema?” Miranda said. She looked up at the front of the movie theater, with its white marquee and rows of lightbulbs that would light up and flash at night. It was one of the newer buildings in Moonlight Bay but still it must have been at least fifty years old. Jean-Paul had spent a lot of money on renovating the place. There was a lot of clean white stone and it had a distinctly sophisticated French feel to it.
“Oh look, there’s Jean-Paul,” Sapphire said.
Miranda looked up to see that it was him. He was opening the doors to the cinema, throwing them wide and smiling to see Sapphire and Miranda there waiting for him.
“Ah! It is the two beauties of the Bay, oui?” Jean-Paul ecstatically greeted them with his arms wide, taking Sapphire into a hug, and then Miranda. He was as stately as ever, dressed in a tuxedo with tails, a short top hat set at a jaunty angle on his head over slicked back, jet black hair. A thin mustache lining his upper lip was waxed to sharp points.
In a sleepy town like Moonlight Bay, Jean-Paul stood out like a flamingo among a flock of pigeons.
“I’m looking forward to the screening tonight, Jean-Paul,” Miranda said once Jean-Paul had released her from his embrace.
“Oh, yes, but there are actually two screenings, Miranda. This first one is just for the crew and investors. That is the one which you will see this evening. I have a second one tomorrow for the press.”
“Ooh,” Kyle cooed. “The paparazzi! I wonder if I’ll show up in the pictures?”
Miranda gave him a look that would have silenced a living man. Kyle just grinned back at her cheekily.
“Is it going to be really busy?” Sapphire asked, just as excited as Kyle.
“Ah, alas, it would have been a reasonable gathering for the first screening but a good deal of the crew have not been able to make it. There will just be ten of us as well as my cinema staff. Well. It is enough, yes?”
“That’s nice and cozy,” Miranda said. “Do I know the others?”
But before Jean-Paul could say another word, a sleek dark-haired woman appeared at his side with all the grace and stealth of a hunting panther. She was as tall as Jean-Paul and statuesque, her green eyes seemed to pierce through everyone around her. She grabbed hold of Jean-Paul’s hand, and with only a passing glance at everyone else, she began to lead him away into the cinema.
As he went, Jean-Paul looked back over his shoulder and gave Miranda and Sapphire a comically apologetic smile.
“That’s Alma O’Neal,” Sapphire muttered, although Miranda had already guessed as much. “She appears to have a short leash on our friend Jean-Paul.”
“Yup,” Kyle said. “I knew she wouldn’t be his type. At least we know who one of the other attendees will be.”
“I wonder who the others are,” Miranda said out loud.
With a shrug, Sapphire collected the folds of her flowing dress. “I’ve been around some of the people that Jean-Paul works with. I’m sure I’ll be able to point at least one or two of them out to you when we get into the cinema. Come along, Kyle. Join us inside.”
She waved her arm at a section of the sidewalk where Kyle definitely was not standing. He rolled his eyes and floated after Miranda. “Maybe I should get a bell to wear.”
As it turned out, Sapphire was actually able to identify each and every one of the other unknown guests, although beyond their names and the vaguest idea of what their job role was, she could not be more specific.
Miranda and Sapphire took a couple of seats in one of the middle rows as the lights dimmed for the performance. Kyle, not needing to sit, floated above them for a better view.
About an hour or so into the movie, Miranda admitted to herself that she was bored and wasn’t entirely enjoying the screening of Galactic Highway. For a start, sci-fi was not really her thing. It was more than that though. There was a very heavy-handed attempt to draw parallels between the visitors from outer space and current immigration issues. The actors did fine, and there were a few laughs, but it was definitely a political message.
“This,” Kyle said from the seat beside her, “is the worst mess I’ve ever seen. You know who’s going to love this? Yobbo’s, that’s who. They like movies with random explosions and convoluted messages.”
“Kyle,” Miranda whispered to him, “shush. You don’t have to stay, you know.”
“Hmm. I suppose you’re right. Maybe I’ll go explore the snack counter.”
“Why? You can’t eat anything.”
“True, but I can remember how everything tasted back when I was alive!”
Miranda chuckled as he got up and
floated away, then turned it into a cough when she realized the scene was supposed to be a sad one where one of the characters died. Kyle wasn’t wrong, though. The movie was having a hard time keeping her interest and soon enough, her attention was wandering again.
She found herself more interested in the people attending the screening than the actual screening itself. The movie theater was built with enough seating for half the town of Moonlight Bay all at once, and the few attendees were well spaced out.
Turning in the semi-darkness, trying to feign a yawn and a stretch to cover her movement, Miranda looked to the back of the cinema where Jean-Paul Devereux and Alma O’Neal were sitting. Neither one of them had their attention fixed upon Galactic Highway, and seemed to be in the middle of a heated little discussion. A lover’s whispered conversation, she assumed at first, until she saw that both of them seemed annoyed.
As Miranda looked on with interest, Jean-Paul rose, shrugged apologetically, and made his way out of the door at the back of the cinema. The light from outside brightened the inside of the cinema only briefly until the door closed again. Miranda could clearly see the angry look that passed over Alma’s face.
Turning away before Alma could notice her snooping, Miranda found herself looking at a young man who had also been watching the little scene play out between Jean-Paul and Alma. Sapphire had said earlier that his name was Liam Wood and, as became apparent, he was one of the actors in Galactic Highway. An up and coming star of the Australian screen, not too big for his britches to do independent films like this one… yet. He was the reason the press was coming to the screening tomorrow. Miranda had seen his talent carry several scenes already. He was pretty good.