by Lotta Smith
Checking the water pressure and availability of hot water had become my habit whenever visiting an old building. Perhaps that had something to do with reading so many horror stories about staying at the world’s old hotels whenever I had spare time. I knew there were tons of beautiful hotels and resorts out there, but somehow, I always ended up lured to the dark side of hotels and older architecture.
“How cool is that?” Rick joined me, holding me from behind. Then he pulled me out of the bathroom and waltzed us into the bedroom. “That means we won’t be in trouble even if we get a little sweaty.”
When I turned back, facing him, I noticed the green of his eyes growing into a darker, more intense shade.
“Um….” I cleared my throat. “Actually, that wasn’t what I had been planning on.”
“Come on. We won’t be getting out of here anytime soon. Let’s loosen up and have some fun.”
“Still, we’re at my friend’s place along with other guests, and I’m not keen on being remembered as that loud couple who kept everyone awake all night. Oh, don’t forget Fiona is my bridesmaid at our upcoming ceremony. I’d really hate to see the knowing look on her face, implying, ‘I could hear you guys doing it all night.’ That would be embarrassing, wouldn’t it?”
“Still, if we don’t have sex, what are we gonna do? Play poker?” Holding me tighter, he started raining light kisses along my neckline while unfastening the back zipper of my summer dress.
As his lips moved down and brushed across my left clavicle, I was beginning to come up with possible perks of having a really, really intimate night with him. After all, we both had extra clothes to change into, and we had a functioning bath and shower.
“All right, Rick. I get your point,” I said breathlessly. Not that I was trying to produce my sultriest voice, but I was simply breathless from my wandering thoughts. “But you have to let me take a shower. I’m sweaty.”
“Oh yeah?” He raised an eyebrow. “Actually, I don’t mind getting sweatier. We’re taking a shower together. The fog won’t be clearing anytime soon.” He pointed at the windows with the view completely obscured by the creamy fog. “You see that?”
“Okay, I see it.” I shrugged, pecking lightly on his jaw. “Speaking of the fog, I have a hunch that someone’s causing it.”
“To keep us here?” Rick cocked his head to the side. “Are you implying that Fiona’s granny is causing it?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “Indeed, she begged me to protect Fiona. And you saw that 8mm video, right?”
“Right.” He furrowed his eyebrows. “And before finding that film, Fiona purchased an identical dress as the victim in the film was wearing.”
“Right,” I said. “We have plenty things to think about tonight, don’t you agree? Perhaps we can check out if Leo has purchased any life insurance policies that bring him lots of money upon Fiona’s death. Of course, it’s possible that the danger is her stalker instead of her husband.”
“I get your point.” He cocked his head to the side. “Then again, if Beverly was talking about Leo being the threat to Fiona’s well-being, why didn’t she give you more specific details? It’s not like Leo could eavesdrop on the conversation between the two of you.”
“Right.” I nodded, and then I sucked in air. “Oh my God….”
“What?” Furrowing his eyebrows, Rick looked into my face.
“Speaking of eavesdropping, Brian had the skill to overhear my conversation with Beverly,” I said, lowering my voice. “What if he happens to be the danger to Fiona? Dead people seem to have a special skill to detect us living humans who can communicate with them.”
“Are you kidding?” Rick busted out laughing. “Brian Powers, the TV exorcist, kills off a married woman at her manor. Hmm, that will make a good headline. However, you obviously haven’t thought about the motive, have you?”
“Hey, you admitted that Fiona is Brian’s type,” I pointed out. “And I’ve heard about a gazillion cases where a potentially sweet romance turned into a massacre. Hey, what are you laughing about? Have you noticed what I’m telling you right now is not intended to be a punchline?” Arms crossed, I glared at him defiantly.
He was practically laughing his ass off. “Seriously, Mandy,” he said, choking with laughter. “Brian might be behaving in a rather suspicious manner, but then again, he usually tends to act like a total dork whenever he’s around his crush. Besides, can you imagine Brian, the guy who often covers your behind whenever things with the ghosts and evil psychics get out of control, killing off your BFF who also happens to serve as your bridesmaid? I don’t think so. Considering the guy has finally gotten his own TV shows and much-needed publicity, killing off Fiona isn’t a clever move, I’m afraid.”
“For your information, I’m serious!” I snapped. “Okay, so maybe my theory of Brian as Fiona’s possible killer might be a little off. Still….”
“No worries, your theory wasn’t a little off,” he assured me, patting my shoulder. “It was far off the right track.”
“Excuse me?”
“Come to think of it, suppose Beverly was warning Fiona, and later you as well, about Brian bringing danger to her dear granddaughter. But at the time of the first warning, Fiona had no personal connection with Brian Powers. That would mean Beverly’s warning to Fiona actually brought Brian in the picture. You see the contradiction here? In the most impossible possibility that Brian was Fiona’s future killer, it would mean that Beverly’s alert to Fiona had literally backfired, bringing the dreaded killer to her. Plus, if Beverly is the cause of the fog, that would mean she was keeping her granddaughter’s killer here with Fiona. How absurd does that sound?”
I groaned, mostly because he was making my head spin, but he also had a point. Finally, I managed to mutter, “Right… perhaps my theory had a few flaws.”
“Okay, let’s take a shower together before working on a strategy to protect Fiona from danger. You know I tend to think better when I’m fresh from the shower.” Smiling, he cupped my face in his hands.
“Hello? You just said you don’t mind getting sweaty, remember?” Suppressing a goofy grin, I readied myself for a hot kiss, but then…
“Hey, Mandy. You should really come with me!” By my side, Jackie popped up from out of nowhere, prompting me to jump back and pull myself from Rick.
“Yow!” I yelped.
“What?” Rick gasped, looking absolutely startled. It was so rare to see him that way, I wished I’d recorded everything.
“Jackie happened,” I explained. And I cleared my throat at the ghost of a drag queen. “Hi, Jackie. What’s going on?”
“Oh my God, did I miss anything?” Her heavily lined eyes widened.
“Excuse me?” I spat, shocked at the sudden intrusion. “What do you mean, did you miss something? There was nothing going on.”
Rick chuckled as he watched me complaining to the thin air. “For your information, Jackie, you missed nothing mostly because you came in before anything juicy happened.”
“Oh!” Jackie slapped her forehead with the base of her palm. “I wish I’d taken a quieter approach so I could’ve snuck in and enjoyed a little slice of intimacy.”
“Hey, I thought you’d promised never to spy on my love life. What happened to that?” I pointed out.
“Come on, girlfriend, it was just wishful thinking. Besides, I’m still keeping the promise that I’ll never interrupt or invade your privacy unless it’s an absolute emergency.” Jackie pouted.
“Okay, so what’s this emergency about?” I asked, giving her a side glance. Indeed, I was a little annoyed by her interruption. On top of it all, I so wanted to take a long shower.
“Oh, it’s complicated. I don’t know how to put it, but it’s an absolute emergency and you’ve got to follow me with Rick.” She gestured me to come. “It’s something to do with your friend Fiona.”
“All right. Let’s go.” I nodded, took a step, and stumbled over my dress, which had fallen to the floor.
“Watch it!” Rick grabbed me before I hit the ground. “Are you okay?”
“I guess so. Thanks,” I muttered, taking in the warmth and special feeling that came with being in his arms, which could only be described as heavenly.
“I think I’m the one responsible for the dress malfunction anyway.” Picking the dress off the floor, slipping it on me, and securing my back zipper, he said, “Okay. Let’s go.”
* * *
“You need to go out,” Jackie said as she led us to the entrance. “I can go through any locks, security, walls. I guess it’s one of the perks of being a ghost.”
“I see.” I nodded at her. Not that I fancied turning into a ghost anytime soon.
As I relayed her words, Rick tapped his phone screen, making it into a makeshift flashlight. “Hopefully it’s better than having no light at all.”
“Hopefully,” I said, squinting in the fog. It seemed to have grown denser. Even with the help of the flashlight app, I could barely see my footings.
Then Rick entwined his arm with mine. “Mandy, don’t try to walk on your own, okay? You’re really clumsy, and you don’t want to get hurt before the wedding.”
“Got it.” I nodded, clasping his hand. “By the way, you’re the one who wants to be extra careful, because you’re the one who actually got hurt when I was trapped in my own clumsiness the last time.”
Rick snorted, but he said, “Okay.”
“No worries. I’ll navigate you, Mandy. And you can relay my words to him,” Jackie told me. “Come this way.”
As we followed Jackie, the scent of grass became more intense, and I assumed we were in the garden.
Rick seemed to have reached the same conclusion.
“What’s going on in the garden, Jackie?” he asked.
“You said something about seeing for ourselves, but in this fog, we can’t see anything,” I pointed out.
“We’re in the garden, just a few yards from the garage. Shhh…,” Jackie shushed us. “Do you hear that?”
Holding my breath, I listened carefully.
“Come on, we’re good. Nice and dandy…,” I heard someone say. It was a woman’s voice.
“Still, we have a lot of guests tonight…,” a male voice replied, and I gasped.
“That’s Leo!” Rick and I said in unison, and Jackie shushed us again.
“Hello? Is anyone there?” Leo demanded. I got so panicky that my jaw dropped.
I looked at Rick, who covered my mouth with his large hand without saying anything more.
“Honey, you’re just imagining things.” The woman chuckled. “Seriously, no one is going to come out in this deep fog.”
Now I recognized her voice. It belonged to Susan White.
Still covering my mouth with one hand and grasping my hand with another, Rick approached where the voices came from.
“Good. We made it here in this fog,” Leo muttered.
“Wonderful. Let’s get inside.”
The sound of the garage door opening echoed, followed by the car door opening.
“Oh my God… I’ll be in hu-hu-huge trouble if I get caught here with you,” Leo said, stuttering a little.
“Oh yeah? I’m loving the thrill of it.”
Then came silence, followed by the sound of lips smacking and sucking.
“Ooh,” Leo moaned. “Easy, baby. You’re making me hard, Vina.” He chuckled.
“Didja hear that?” Jackie shrieked. “I said Susan White was an alias, and I was so right!”
Without uttering words, I nodded like a bobblehead toy.
The woman called Vina chuckled. “Your wife has no idea.”
“About what?”
“About you getting laid off.”
“Let’s get in the car and talk about it,” Leo said, just before the car door slammed shut.
We stood there frozen for a while until Rick’s hand left my mouth.
“That’s about it,” Jackie said. “By the way, don’t shoot the messenger, okay?” she added as she looked at me.
As time went by and the reality sank in, I became annoyed. “That shameless son of a—” I took a step toward the garage, but Rick pulled my hand, stopping me.
“Mandy, if you’re thinking about storming inside and calling him names, I wouldn’t recommend doing that.”
“Come on, Rick. Don’t stop me. Having an affair is one thing, but having it in Fiona’s home with her present takes the matter to a whole new low,” I insisted. “Of course, I’ll let you kick him really hard in the nuts.”
“Thanks for including me in your plan. Hell, kicking that asshole in the nuts sounds really tempting.” He chuckled. “Then again, busting them while making out in the garage does the situation no good. Do you think Fiona will be happy to learn about her husband’s betrayal in front of us and many guests?”
“Rick is right, Mandy,” Jackie said. “Getting jilted is one thing, but learning about it from her friend takes the humiliation to a whole new level.”
“No.” Taking a deep breath and nodding to Jackie, I bit my lip. “But… we can’t leave here as if nothing happened. We should at least make a point.”
“Ya think?” Rick said. His tone was deceptively lighthearted. “I have a hunch Fiona will be more pissed about you than her womanizing husband if you make a big fuss about his affair with Vina here. She might go so far as refusing to be your bridesmaid. In addition, I think the current situation is very good for Fiona.”
“Excuse me? How could it be good?” I demanded. “Leo has the audacity to have an affair at his wife’s home. How can you be so insensitive?”
Okay, so being considerate wasn’t the biggest reason why I fell in love with him; however, I couldn’t believe he said that.
“Ouch, that really hurts.” He pulled me closer to him. I contemplated resisting him, but as I felt his body warmth, I realized I was shivering.
He continued. “Actually, I think it’s great that Leo’s having an affair. Look at the facts. We saw Fiona getting killed in the movie, and her granny has begged you to keep her granddaughter out of harm’s way, right? Throw in this deep fog that prevented us from leaving here and add in how Fiona’s granny has been avoiding Leo. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to deduct he’s the one most likely to kill her.”
“Hmm… you have a point,” I said. “So it’s better if Leo’s sleeping with another woman?” I muttered, sounding more like a question than a statement.
“Exactly. As long as Vina is keeping Leo busy, he won’t have time to kill Fiona,” Rick said nonchalantly. “Now, let’s go back to the room, take a shower, relax, and get some rest.”
“But—”
“No worries. Fiona will be fine.” Still holding me in his arms, Rick turned on his heels. “Hey, Jackie, are you still with us?”
“Of course I’m here!” the ghost replied, bouncing, and I relayed her words to Rick.
“Good.” He nodded. “Jackie, you’re in charge of keeping an eye on Fiona tonight. Don’t hesitate to wake us up if you feel Fiona is in trouble, okay?”
“Okay.” Jackie nodded. “Nice to serve as a guardian angel for multiple people.”
CHAPTER 7
Mandy… Mandy….
When I heard someone calling my name, I didn’t dare make an immediate response.
First of all, I was sleepy and had every intention of sleeping until I woke up—or at least until I became seriously desperate to use the bathroom. If I recalled it right, it was very late when I went to bed, and I needed some beauty sleep. Secondly, I was having a really, really sexy dream featuring yours truly and Rick like there was no tomorrow. And I had to enjoy and savor every moment of it.
In my extra-vivid dream, I was eating fresh, sweet, and yummy strawberries out of Rick’s hand, and I was totally lovin’ it—until he suddenly changed his mind, taking the shining strawberry away from my face.
He said, “Get up, sleepyhead.”
“Mandy, you really want to wake up,” Jackie chimed in.
&
nbsp; “No,” I muttered. “I’m busy and I want this strawberry. I’m not going to move until you give me the… strawberry….”
“Come on, what are you talking about?” Rick replied. “Hey, Mandy?”
I sensed confusion in his voice, but I didn’t really care. My desire to have more sleep beat my appetite for the red, shiny fruit.
“Forget it. I don’t want strawberries anymore,” I mumbled. “Umm… I’m so sleepy….”
I saw Rick standing by my bedside, shaking me. But the sensation of the soft parts of my body rocking was more comfortable than disturbing, and I almost fell back to sleep.
Then I caught Fiona saying, “Sorry, it looks like I’m bothering you big-time. Perhaps I should forget about it and go back to my room?”
“No worries,” Rick said. “It’s a tad bit hard to wake her up. However, when she’s awake, she tends to stay alert.”
I opened my eyes, demanding, “What?”
“Finally, you’re awake.” Rick patted me, grinning from ear to ear. “Oh, don’t go back to sleep. Open both of your eyes and wake up.”
“Morning, Mandy!” Jackie cheered.
I groaned. “What time is it now?”
“It’s three o’clock in the morning,” he said nonchalantly. I squinted as my eyes weren’t adjusted to the lights in the room. I also noticed the door was open.
“Three o’clock? Are we going to have a midnight snack or something?” I asked. I was half serious.
Fiona started laughing, prompting me to focus on her. She was clothed in a loose-fitting T-shirt and yoga pants.
“Oh… hi, Fiona.” I waved at her. “Good morning? I mean, should I say good midnight? Oh, it should be midnight, because you’re carrying a flashlight.”
“I’m so sorry to wake you up at this grave hour.” Her eyebrows furrowed in distress. “I know I should have waited until morning, but I couldn’t help coming to you. I was going to wait till the morning if you didn’t answer my knock, but Rick did.”
“My pleasure.” Rick smiled gently. “I couldn’t sleep either because Mandy kept kicking me.”
