Page 102 of Unalive On Air

5. Josh Little.

7. Camille Ciel.

Where’s six? Where’s the sixth name?

“Okay, everyone needs to bugger off so I can do some thinking,” I say, largely aiming my shoo gestures towards Stove, Peter, and Trystan.

“This is my room!” Jeanie says.

“Everyone except Jeanie and Josh.”

Josh stops in his tracks, his shoulders slumping. “What did I do?”

The other ghosts turn to leave, but I grab Trystan’s arm. I don’t say anything to him. I only give him that look. The look that speaks a million things and yet says nothing.

“I apologise for excluding you.”

“But it’s for both of us.”

“Maybe later we could pick up where we left off.”

“I already miss you.”

“I’ll wait on the beach for you,” he whispers, so quietly I wouldn’t have heard him if I hadn’t been staring at those lips.

That’s the second time he’s said those words to me. I want to get them tattooed on my heart.

“It’s meant to rain later,” I say.

Instead of answering, he smiles, winks, and floats away through the window.

I don’t trust that everyone has fully left the space, so I grab Jeanie with one hand and Josh with the other and float down through the ceiling. We end up in a part of the spa. It’s nice. The air is warm and moist and smells of lavender and eucalyptus. I remember this is Camille’s haunt, but in all honesty, I’m not worried if they overhear.

“Jeanie, tell me about the interview you gave before you went missing,” I say. “Helga said you did a piece for daytime TV or something, and that was the last time anyone ever saw you alive.”

“Okay, but what has this got to do with me?” Josh whines before Jeanie gets a word in edgeways.

“Honestly, mate, you’re just here because I need your phone. If you want, you can leave it with me and go into the steam room for a bit?”

He thinks about my proposal for a second. “No, I wanna hear this too.”

“Then . . .” I press my finger against my lips, shush him, and turn to Jeanie.

“Well, it was such a long time ago. I’m not sure I remember much,” she says.

I refrain from rolling my eyes. “Do you recall what organisation it was for?”

She hums to herself. “A daytime telly thing. My producers had given them the exclusive reveal. Oh, Bright Mornings TV, I think. Tilda Mason was the presenter.”

“Excellent, excellent. And what was it about?”

“A new programme I was due to start filming in September. Nothing special or groundbreaking. Basically, a Peggy in the Middle spin off called Peggy on the Left, but with a few new characters. My friend Lucy, who played Drusilla, wanted to step back from show business for a while and concentrate on her family. The producers thought it might be refreshing if, for the new series, they brought a male love interest in for Peggy.”

It all sounds innocuous enough. “Did anyone ever see the interview?”

“No, they never broadcast it. It was meant to air on the Monday morning, but out of respect for all the police activity happening, they suspended it.”

“Who did they cast to play the male lead?” I ask.