AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“The Derryville Demon strikes again?” This came from Hildy, who tried to peer around the bathroom doorway. Then she cocked her head sideways and frowned. “Strange.”
Mick spied one of the two young officers in the bathroom. “Good grief, you’ve got the Chipmunks in there? At least call Daniel. Unless youwantthe comic relief of fumbling cops on your show.”
That was probably exactly what Renauld wanted, which would explain why he hadn’t called for the chief of police to appear in the scene. From what she’d seen of Daniel Fletcher, he seemed sharp-edged, intuitive and very capable. Unlike his two young patrolmen.
Hildy was frowning, the expression accentuating the wrinkles in her face—both the real ones, and the ones she’d drawn on to accentuate her old granny costume. “Something’s not right here,” the woman said.
Lots wasn’t right here tonight. Starting with how she’d let herself get so distracted by her whirlwind trip to Chicago with Mick that she’d missed a key decision to add a shooting victim in an upstairs bathtub.
She couldn’t entirely blame Renauld. She’d been the one who’d gone away, leaving her cell phone behind. Not that she regretted the trip. But she didn’t like losing control over her production. Didn’t like it one bit.
“What’s wrong?” Mick asked Hildy. “Did the ghosts tell you something?”
She shook her head. “Nope. The smell did.”
Before Caro could ask the woman about her strange comment, she heard Renauld call, “Cut! The blood, it is drying too quickly. Too sticky and dark. Get makeup to add more.”
Caro stepped back into the bathroom as the contestants milled around. She met Jacey’s gaze as the young camerawoman continued to shoot. That was Jacey’s job, keeping the cameras going, even during the off moments.
Digg apparently noticed, too. Caro saw the two of them exchange a long look.
“Doesn’t she want to take a break or something?” Mona asked, looking at the woman in the tub.
“How’s she going to get back out of that tub? That’s what I’d like to know,” whispered Willie.
“Miss Hester?” one of the police officers said, giving the woman’s shoulder a little shake. “Ma’am, do you want to sit up? Want a glass of water or something?”
No response. Not a flicker of an eyelid or the twitch of a finger.She’s good.
“She’s in character like a good actress,” the other officer said. “That’s what actors do—they stay in character. Did you ever watch thatActor’s Studioshow with that guy who looks like Guy Smiley fromThe Muppets?”
The other officer frowned. “Guy Smiley didn’t have a beard.”
“He didn’t?”
Caro didn’t know why she was even listening to these two, who sounded like they were doing a scene from a Nickelodeon kids’ show.
The second one replied, “No, he didn’t. But I do know what show you mean. It’s on that boring channel. I watch it sometimes, though, because I like the part where he asks the actors to name their favorite swearword.”
“Last count, the f-word was in the lead for this season,” his partner said with a grin.
Caro just rolled her eyes as the two of them yucked it up, completely forgetting about seeing to the comfort of the dead extra in the bathtub. Who still hadn’t moved.
The props person came in, carrying a big bottle of fake blood. She bent close to Miss Hester. “Here you go, sweetie. Don’t you worry, we’ll have something else for you to wear as soon as we’re done.”
She liberally poured the blood on the large victim’s flowered dress, running a line of it down her arm, which dangled over the side of the claw foot tub. Caro thought the bit of blood dripping off the woman’s fingertips and pooling on the linoleum floor was especially effective. A quick glance toward Jacey told her the young woman had already noticed it, and was zooming in.
“Uhh…something’s wrong here.”
Hildy again. Caro didn’t turn around, having too much on her plate to deal with the old woman’s speculation.
“Were there notes on this victim’s identity?” Ginger asked. “I don’t remember reading about her in this morning’s briefing.”
“Is this a pop quiz kind of thing?” Mona asked, her eyes widening as her face went pale. “How can we figure out why the Demon killed her if we don’t even know who she is?”
“You should have done something about that,” Renauld whispered to Caro. She hadn’t even heard him come up behind her in the bathroom.
“About what?”
