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“We should probably do some dummy footage today, too, so we don’t have to worry about it later.”
I looked at Dev. “What’s all that?”
He glanced over and smiled. “I forget you don’t know this stuff. We can’t get everything we need to edit a proper show from just the three days we are actively investigating. In order for the show to flow like it should to a viewer, there needs to be shots of the house and the grounds and us walking through the place and having discussions about the equipment we’re using, etcetera. If we did all of that while actively investigating, we would bog it all down and likely never get any results, and if we didn’t do any of that in-between stuff, it would be super stilted to someone viewing it second-hand. So, we shoot that stuff ahead of time and then have our people use it where needed in the editing process, so it all flows smoothly.”
“That actually makes a lot of sense,” I said, and he smiled and grabbed my hand, rubbing his thumb over my knuckles. When I looked back at the screen, I saw that everybody on there had the same look on their faces. Seemed the cat was out of the bag.
“Well, well, well,” Paxton said.
“Good on you,” Schuyler added.
Larken nodded with a huge smile on her face and raised her hands, both her thumbs up.
“Okay, guys, get it out of your systems. Yes, Hanlen and I are seeing each other. Sort of. It’s new. Don’t make a big deal about it,” Dev said, shaking his head. I felt the blush rise on my neck to my cheeks and had to look away.
“I think I can safely speak for all of us when I say that we’re thrilled,” Larken said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you truly happy, Dev.”
“Thanks, Lark,” Dev said and then surprised me by leaning over and kissing my cheek. It stunned me enough that I looked up. The huge grins on everybody’s faces lightened the weight of embarrassment in my chest but I still needed to refocus the attention.
“What do you need me to do?” I asked Dev and looked into his gorgeous aqua eyes.
He gave me that amazing grin of his. “Just be with me today. If you’re okay with it, I might use you for some of the footage. You are the owner, after all. We don’t always include the property owners outside of the initial filmed and staged interview, but sometimes it’s necessary. In this case, since you guys didn’t come to us for help, it wouldn’t be absolutely necessary, but I think it’d be good. Thoughts?”
I mulled that over for a minute. “Yeah, I guess I could do that. But do you really want my disbelief on camera?”
He threw an arm around my shoulders and pulled me in for a squeeze. “We love a good skeptic.”
When I looked up again, I saw that Schuyler was raising and waving her hand on screen while nodding. It made me laugh.
“Okay, I think we know what we have to do. Let me know if you need anything. Hanlen and I will meet those of you who are headed out there later. We’re going to stop in and see Bea quick,”—he looked at me, and I nodded—“and then we’ll come and find James for those filler reels.”
Everybody murmured their agreements and disconnected. Once we were alone, I noticed Dev acting strangely again. Similar to how he’d been the night after we found Dustin, and this morning when he had to make his phone call.
“Hey,” I said, grabbing his arm as he walked past me. “What’s going on?”
He sighed and rubbed a hand through his silky curls. “You’re very tuned in to me. It’s great, but . . . maybe we should have a chat.”
“Those words with that look on your face don’t inspire much confidence. You may not have said, ‘We need to talk,’ but that’s the gist.”
He shook his head and tipped my chin up with a knuckle. “Wedoneed to talk, but it’s not anything bad.”
“I’m not sure I believe you.” He leaned in and placed a gentle kiss to my lips, lingering for a minute and letting our breaths mingle. I felt the electric charge I always did with Dev, and it made my breath catch.
“Come on,” he said and grabbed my hand. “Let’s delay our drive for a minute and head back upstairs where it’s more comfortable.”
“Okay,” I answered and let him lead me back to his apartment. When we were seated comfortably on the couch with cups of coffee, Dev seemed to try to collect himself.
“So, I know you don’t believe in any of this. But I really need you to try to have an open mind when I explain a few things to you. Can you do that?”
I honestly wasn’t sure. While hanging out with Dev and the cast and crew in the time I’d been here had made me question a few things and open my beliefs to a couple of others, I still wasn’t a true believer. However, I was willing to try for Dev. “Yeah, I can do that.”
I saw the relief pass through him. He physically relaxed and settled into the couch more, facing me. “As I mentioned before, all of us have different specialties and backgrounds. Larken is a natural-born witch. While I don’t know her whole history, seeing as she’s pretty tight-lipped about it, and I know it makes her uncomfortable when I pry, you’ve seen some of the things that she can do when we were setting up. Even to you, they had to be pretty impressive.”
“They absolutely were. And you, too. I haven’t seen you in action but there are definitely some unexplained things.”
“Exactly,” he said. “Given my lineage, it will probably come as no surprise to you that I am a Vodou priest. A Houngan. None of that is super important for what I wanted to talk to you about, but it will make some of the things you’ll see during this investigation make more sense. Like the discussion I had with Lark earlier about casting a circle and me opening a way. Anyway, not important right now. If you have questions later, I’d love to talk to you about it.”
I smiled but knew not to say anything. He seemed to need to get this out.
