Deadly Fate (Krewe of Hunters #19)(69)

He stood still again himself, his heart beating.

He was imagining things, he thought. Mandy Brandt was really gone; he’d never encountered her as a ghost. He’d only seen her in his dreams.

But she was there today. Caught in that single ray of sunlight.

Words tumbled from his lips; words he had said a hundred times.

“I’m sorry, Mandy. So sorry!” he said.

And he thought that she smiled. She came toward him and lifted her hand, setting it gently on his cheek. He felt the touch softly.

“It’s all right,” she said. “You are not to blame. You must keep going. You know the island. You can find the truth—you can stop him.”

The ray of sunlight was suddenly gone. He was standing by himself, talking to a large pine tree.

Mike reached him, unaware.

“Nothing. Damn it, nothing at all,” Mike said.

“The cliffs and caverns,” Thor said, turning to him. “I know the Coast Guard has been patrolling, but we can get into the cliffs. There’s a weapons stash here somewhere, and we’re going to find it.”

*

Not about to stay with Kimball, Emmy, Magda and Justin Crowley, Clara joined Jackson and the crew of Wickedly Weird Productions.

She’d wondered if Amelia would come to the Mansion.

But Amelia disappeared at some point after teasing both her and Jackson during breakfast, trying to make them appear to be talking to themselves. Clara had followed Jackson’s amused cue and ignored Amelia.

The Mansion had changed drastically from the morning when Clara had walked in looking to meet up with Natalie and Amelia and the Wickedly Weird crew and seen nothing but bodies, body parts, blood and guts.

The stage blood had been cleaned from the floors.

The body parts and props had been piled up in a tangle on the beautiful hardwood living room floor.

Forensic teams hadn’t actually cleaned up; they had made sure that all the blood was stage blood and they had garnered all the property that was meant to horrify, inspected it thoroughly and deposited it where the crews could look through it.

For their part, the Wickedly Weird people had brought the canvas totes and boxes that held the expensive prop pieces.

Nate Mahoney bemoaned the condition of what he considered some of his finest work. But then he looked up miserably.

“Wow. I’m sitting here thinking that my artistic talent was wasted—and Natalie and Amelia are dead. I feel like a horrible person.”

“You are a horrible person,” Becca said. “Oh, I just meant that as a tease, Nate. You’re not a horrible person.”

Clara hated seeing them so unhappy. “Hey, it’s just a bad situation.”

Jackson was behind her. “I’m sorry, but this entire prank was in really bad taste, as well,” he said.

Becca sank down on one of the living room’s sumptuous, plush sofas. “It was Natalie’s idea,” she said.

“And Amelia embraced it,” Tommy Marchant added. He sat down, too. He was holding a bloodied piece of leg, but didn’t seem to notice. “I was so excited when we first came here. I mean, here is the thing about Natalie. She really loved doing Vacation USA. She thought that our country was wonderful and that people didn’t realize how diverse. They didn’t need to have the money to run off to Europe or South America, they just needed to know what was right in their own backyard. I remember when I got to come up here on the site inspection for Black Bear Island. When old Justin Crowley brought me about on the snowmobiles, I was so ecstatic! Such a cool, unusual and beautiful place!”

“Then, of course, Natalie came out. And she was whining about production money—as usual,” Becca remembered.

“And,” Nate told Jackson, “saying she couldn’t understand how the money for Vacation USA came from Gotcha.”

“When she was out here herself,” Becca said, “that was when she came up with the idea of inviting the actors from the Fate over. She could get one of her well-sponsored Gotcha segments—and then showcase the beauty of Alaska!”

“What happens now with the company?” Clara asked.

Nate waved a hand in the air. “Well, Natalie was CEO, but there are stockholders. I guess we didn’t even worry about that yet.”

“They’ll make Tommy CEO, I’ll bet,” Becca said. “He’s older. He’s been around.”

“Thanks,” Tommy murmured drily.

Becca didn’t seem to notice. “We’re not that big a company, but we do have a board—mostly slightly rich guys who like to have a hand in television, play like they’re big producers, you know? But, Tommy is the only one who really knows how to pull shows together. Oh, there’s Misty, of course, but she’s kind of a follower, you know?”

“Maybe we ought to be looking for jobs instead of moping around,” Nate said. “Of course, I really think that I’ll be fine. I’m good at what I do.”

“I’ll vouch for that,” Clara murmured. “Well, do you want some help?”

“You want to help?” Nate asked her.

“I’m here—sure. What do I do?” Clara asked.

“Here,” Nate said, handing her a leg. “Peel this stuff off...it’s just garbage. We’ll preserve the leg.”

Clara took the leg and stared at it blankly for a moment.