5 The Ghosts in the Audience

by SUE FINEMAN

  “You’re welcome.” Steffen smiled. “Still think I’m the devil?”

  “No.”

  The rumble of soft laughter filled the room. He had them back now.

  He sensed the reporters before they came into the room. Cameras scanned the people in the audience. Steffen crossed his arms. “These good people didn’t come here to have their pictures on the evening news. If you want an interview, I’ll make myself available after the show, and you can ask these people if they want to make a statement. It’s not polite to take someone’s picture without their permission.”

  The camera lights went off and the reporters stepped out of the room. But they didn’t leave. They hung around outside the door, like vultures waiting to pick someone’s bones.

  Steffen hated this kind of publicity, but Carson had no doubt already given them a dramatic version of what had taken place with the man and the gun.

  Carson loved publicity.

  <>

  Ginny was on her way home from work when she heard about the incident at the Cartoon Club, where Steffen was performing. Without a second thought, she pulled a U-turn and headed for the club, listening to the police radio for updates. The station would be buzzing with this for a few days. One of the cops who responded was a rookie, a young woman who would undoubtedly get chewed out by her captain for not getting the suspect under control quickly enough.

  Ginny parked and walked to the door. Carson stood outside the club, talking and laughing with reporters. She presented her badge and was admitted to the show. Sitting in the back, she watched Steffen work the room.

  A mother talked about her little girl playing with a ghost she called Norbert. “Is he real?”

  “He’s a real ghost,” said Steffen. “I played with ghosts when I was a little boy. My mother, who isn’t psychic, was frightened by it, but my grandmother, who was psychic, said the ghost wouldn’t harm me. And he didn’t. Since I was an only child – and a strange one at that – I was glad to have a playmate.”

  Soft laughter filled the room.

  A young woman asked, “Will I marry the man I’m with now?”

  “He’s not ready for marriage,” said Steffen. “If you push him into it, you’ll both be miserable. Someone else will come into your life, someone who’s more compatible.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “Sam. He may not look like your dream man, but he’ll treat you well and love you forever.”

  The young woman smiled. “Do I know him now?”

  “No. You’ll meet in May.”

  Ginny wondered if she’d ever meet the right man. Steffen gazed into her eyes, and she felt her heart beat faster.

  Had she already met him?

  “No,” she whispered to herself. No matter how appealing he was, Steffen Marchand moved from show to show, from woman to woman.

  He wasn’t the kind of man who stayed.

  Chapter Four

  Roland was surprised when the phone rang in their motel room. The desk clerk said, “Mr. Bickley, you and your companion have a visitor. He’s waiting in the lobby.”

  “We’ll be right there.” Roland hung up and turned to Jane. Had the police come to arrest him for kidnapping Phoebe Goldberg? What would happen to her if the police took him to jail? She was too fragile to be left on her own, especially this far from home.

  They walked down to the lobby together, holding hands. Roland held out his hand and Donovan took it. “Roland Bickley, Mr. Mayor.”

  “Please, call me Donovan. I’m no longer mayor.”

  Phoebe shook Donovan’s hand, too. “I’m Jane Smith. Or maybe I’m Phoebe Goldberg. I don’t really know.”

  “Are you here to arrest me?” Roland asked.

  “No, my daughter sent me. She would have come herself, but something came up at work and she couldn’t get away.” Donovan gazed into Jane’s eyes. “My daughter is Ginny Kane. You’ve been best friends since high school. She’s concerned about you.”

  “I wish I could remember.”

  Donovan motioned to the chairs in the lobby, and they sat down. “I know you don’t remember who you are. Just know there are people in River Valley who love you and worry about you. We’d like you to return to River Valley and see a doctor, a specialist who may be able to help restore your memory.”

  “What if she doesn’t want to go back?” Roland asked.

  “She doesn’t have to do anything she doesn’t want to do.”

  Jane let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good, because I don’t want to go back to a life I don’t remember.”

  Donovan turned to Roland. “Mr. Bickley, your boss turned in a missing persons report with the police department.”

  Roland had been so busy with Jane, he’d forgotten to call his boss. “I’ll call her first thing in the morning.”

  “Phoebe, I hope you’ll decide to return to River Valley right away, but if you don’t, would you please keep in touch and let us know you’re all right?” Donovan looked worried. Everyone who knew Phoebe Goldberg must be worried about her.

  Jane shook her head. “I can’t call that woman, I mean my mother, because I don’t remember her.”

  “Then call me or Ginny. You two used to talk on the phone for hours. She loves you like a sister.” He handed her a card with his home phone number and Ginny’s cell phone number. “I realize this is an upsetting situation. You’ve been under an enormous amount of pressure the past few months.”

  Donovan turned to Roland. “Mr. Bickley, thank you for taking such good care of her. If you need anything, please call me or Ginny.” Donovan handed Roland a card like the one he’d given Phoebe.

  Roland stood with Jane. “Thank you, Mr. Kane. We’ll call every day or two to let you know where we are.” It was the least he could do, since Donovan Kane had come all this way to check on them.

  Roland walked back to the room with Jane. “Well, that wasn’t so bad, was it?”

  “He didn’t make me go back.”

  “And he didn’t arrest me.”

  “Why would he arrest you, Roland? You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  Yes, he did. He selfishly took a confused and frightened young woman away from the city where she could get help. “I feel so guilty.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I wanted so much to keep you with me, and that wasn’t what was best for you.”

  “What’s best for me, Roland?”

  He unlocked their motel room door and stood aside so she could enter first. “What’s best is for you to see a doctor in River Valley.”

  “But I can’t go home.”

  An idea took root in his mind. “What if you stayed in my home? You’d have your own bedroom and bathroom there.”

  She hung her head. “Aren’t you getting tired of me?”

  He took her hand and kissed it. “I’ll never get tired of you, Jane.”

  She drifted into his arms, and he held her gently, afraid of getting too familiar too quickly. He kissed her soft cheek and she sighed and snuggled in closer. She needed comfort and he was happy to provide it.

  Finally, she pulled back a little. “All right. I’ll go back to River Valley with you and see a doctor, but I don’t want to see that woman.”

  “Your mother?”

  “I don’t remember her as my mother. To me, she’s just another strange woman.”

  <>

  Ginny’s cell phone rang, and while Steffen ended the show, she stepped outside the club to answer the call from her mother.

  “Ginny, your father met with Phoebe and Roland Bickley.”

  “So it’s really her?”

  “Yes, but she doesn’t remember anything.”

  “I know, Mom. Are they coming back to River Valley?”

  “Let’s just say they know the option is open to them. Roland is respectful and kind. Dad said it was easy to see why she felt safe with him.”

  “Did you call Jill?”

  “No, it’s late. I’ll call her in the morning.”

>   She could always count on her parents, like Phoebe had counted on hers until the car accident that killed her father. Soon she’d lose her mother, too. Ginny had three big brothers and their families. Phoebe didn’t have any other close family except her mother.

  Ginny wandered back inside and past the stage area to Steffen’s dressing room. The door was open, and Steffen stood at the dressing table, brushing his hair. “Is Mr. Sensational’s hair less than perfect tonight?”

  “I had to mess it up to show people I don’t have horns.”

  “Why would they think that?”

  “That crazy idiot said I was the devil. How did he get a shot off? I thought the police had the situation under control.”

  “Rookie cop. I doubt she’ll be around long. Women law enforcement officers have a tough time proving themselves, and she blew it big time.”

  “He could have killed someone.”

  She spoke softly, hoping to diffuse his anger. “He could have, but he didn’t.”

  He threw down the hairbrush. “I should file a formal complaint about the way the police handled this.”

  Ginny propped her hands on her hips. “What good will that do? Steffen, Internal Affairs will investigate and probably suspend the officer responsible. Isn’t that enough?”

  “The man is sick. He needs to be locked up where he can’t hurt anyone, and that woman has no business pretending to be a cop.”

  Ginny held up both hands. “Okay, that’s enough. The police screwed up, but we’ll handle it. I know the man is sick, but we can’t put every sicko on the street in jail.”

  Steffen paced from one end of the small room to the other. “My father was mentally ill, but I didn’t let him bother other people. When he got so sick I couldn’t handle him at home, I put him in a sanitarium.”

  “Unless they agree to go or a judge orders it, we can’t put someone in a mental hospital. Did your father go willingly?”

  “He didn’t want to go, but he was too paranoid to stay home alone. I was still in high school, and I couldn’t be there with him all the time. Carson wanted to put him in the state hospital, but it’s a scary place for someone with a gentle spirit who’s afraid all the time. His doctor found a sanitarium, and they took good care of him there.”

  Carson appeared in the doorway. “Most of the reporters will be staying for the next show, and they’ll expect a statement from you after the show.”

  Steffen sighed. “Go away, Carson.”

  Carson glared at Ginny and left the room.

  Someone tapped on the door and called, “Five minutes.”

  She walked to the door and turned back. “Thanks for the flowers. I needed a boost today.”

  He reached for her hand and tugged her toward him, then gave her a gentle kiss. “You’re welcome.”

  A flash went off and Ginny saw the photographer standing in the open doorway. Steffen started after him and she pulled him back. “Let it go.” As the mayor’s daughter, she’d had people snapping pictures of her often over the years. As much as she disliked the lack of privacy, she knew better than to try to reason with them.

  “Steffen, I want to thank you again for helping me find Phoebe. She and Roland are in Washington state. My father flew out to see them, and although she doesn’t remember the past, she’s all right.”

  He nodded.

  After speaking with the club manager, Ginny threaded her way through the small herd of reporters hovering around the club and out to her car. The vase of roses sat in a box on the floor, and the car smelled wonderful. She would have left them at work, but she was afraid the captain would put them in the dumpster behind the building.

  At home, Ginny carried her flowers inside and put them on the kitchen counter. She added water to the vase and walked into the living room to call Boomer. The cat always came when Ginny played the piano, so she ran her fingers over the keys and settled in a lullaby, one of Boomer’s favorites. Minutes later, she heard the swish of the cat door in the laundry room, then the kitty rubbed against her leg, purring his little heart out.

  After she fed the cat, she carried her roses upstairs, then took a long, hot shower and prepared for bed. It had been a long day, and tomorrow would be another long day. They had a new murder case, the third gang-related shooting in the past month. The last shooting victim was an innocent bystander, a kid who’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was a good kid who wasn’t affiliated with any gangs.

  She’d just crawled into bed when her cell phone rang. She sat up and answered, “Kane.”

  “Detective Kane, are you in bed?” came a familiar deep voice.

  She leaned back into the pillow and smiled. “Yes, I am. Is this an obscene phone call?”

  He laughed softly, his deep voice making her body tingle. “Thanks for coming by the club tonight.”

  “Are you still angry with the police?”

  “I’m not angry with you.”

  “I love the flowers. I have them sitting beside the bed.”

  “I was hoping you’d take me home with the flowers and pay me the one you owe me.” She heard the smile in his voice, and her heart kicked into overdrive at the naughty suggestion.

  “I don’t know you well enough to bring you home with me.” If she did, she would have waited for him at the club.

  “Too bad.” He sounded disappointed. “We can still have that obscene phone call.”

  “Steffen, that’s not a good idea.”

  “A kiss?”

  “How can we kiss over the phone?”

  “Pull out one of the flowers.”

  She did as he asked.

  “Now brush it lightly over your lips and pretend it’s me kissing you. Doesn’t that feel nice?”

  More than nice, and her vibrator had a dead battery.

  “Now brush the rose petals down your neck and around to your ear. Feel my hot breath on your neck and ear?”

  Maybe she wouldn’t need the vibrator.

  “Now I’m going to kiss you there.”

  She closed her eyes and felt his gentle kisses on her neck and ears and knew he’d planted a suggestion in her mind. How could he do that over the phone?

  The tingling became more intense. She didn’t want someone messing around in her head, but it felt so good, so sexy. So naughty.

  Ginny’s eyes closed while the sound of Steffen’s deep, rich voice made her body ache with sexual need. She longed to have him in her bed, where she could pay him the one he said she owed him, but she didn’t know the man well enough to sleep with him.

  Boomer rubbed against her shoulder, purring, pulling her out of the spell.

  Finally, when her heart stopped beating so hard, Ginny asked, “Does this satisfy my debt to you?”

  “Honey, this is just the warm-up. Foreplay. When we make love, you’ll scream and cry and beg for more.”

  Steffen left Ginny with a taste of what was to come when he could be with her in person. In private. There were woman who offered themselves along the way, but he didn’t sleep with just anyone. He wanted an intelligent woman, one with a sense of humor, someone who challenged him.

  He wanted this woman. Ginny Kane.

  He had a lover in Chicago, a woman he’d been seeing off and on for years, but he didn’t love Sheryl. He could marry her and be fairly content for a time, but he knew it wouldn’t last for the long term. She liked showing him off to her friends at parties. Sheryl was a beautiful blue-eyed blonde, but without love, what was the point? He could always find a woman for sex. He needed a woman who would love him for who he was, not because he could do tricks at a party, like a trained monkey.

  Sometimes he wondered if that was all he’d ever be good at – party tricks.

  Carson barged into the dressing room. “Are you ready to go?”

  “Almost. Are we still on for tomorrow?” The last show tonight was so sparsely attended, he spent time with each member of the audience, answering questions about their loved ones who’d passed away, talking about the
ir past lives, and what the future held for them in this life. Two reporters had stayed to ask personal questions, which he gladly answered.

  Steffen preferred a smaller audience, but Carson was disappointed. They not only didn’t make much on the show, they didn’t sell much merchandise.

  “There’s been so much publicity about the crazy man with the gun, I don’t know if anyone will show up tomorrow night,” Carson said. “Nobody wants to risk getting shot.”

  “He didn’t want to shoot anyone but me.”

  “Maybe. And maybe he would have taken out half the audience with you.”

  “Then cancel the rest of the shows.”

  “We can’t. We have a contract, and I don’t want to get sued.”

  Steffen’s mind wasn’t on the show or on the contract. He couldn’t get his mind off Ginny, the beautiful detective with the stunning blue eyes. He hoped the picture the photographer took of them kissing didn’t get her into trouble at work, but he had a feeling it would.

  <>

  At the station the next morning, the captain threw the newspaper on Ginny’s desk. “You want to explain this?”

  She glanced at the picture of her and Steffen kissing. Seeing the picture, she knew the captain would only see a police detective kissing a crime victim, but, as usual, the captain was wrong. Lifting her chin, she said, “What about it?”

  “The article says you were there representing the police department.”

  “I didn’t tell anyone I was there in an official capacity.”

  The captain held up his hand, his thumb and forefinger a fraction of an inch apart. “I am this close to firing you, Detective Kane.”

  “Because I kissed a friend?”

  “Because you misrepresented yourself to the psychic and his manager.”

  His manager? Did Carson lie to reporters? “I didn’t speak with Steffen’s manager or reporters. Steffen was angry with the police department, for the way they handled the crazy man with the gun. I tried to calm him down so he wouldn’t sue.”

  “By kissing him?” said Mark. “Get real!”

  “Jealous, Montgomery?” As soon as the words left her lips, she regretted them.

  Captain Pierson pointed at her face. “I don’t want to see anything like this in the newspaper again. Understand?”