Read Online The Realm of the Shadows (Tropical Breeze Cozy Mystery Book 2) by Mary Bowers - Free Book Online Page A

right here in this very house. So naturally we’ll want to do a recreation. Don’t worry; we won’t be filming in the house for long. In and out. A puff of smoke and we’re gone.” He dusted his hands theatrically. “We know how to do these things.”
    Before we could say a word, his hand-held device squawked and somebody told him to get his ass to the cemetery.
    He left us.
     
    “So what was the little gift?” Michael asked, drifting away into the great room.
    I picked up the DVD case, and there was a huge shot of Teddy’s face on the cover, surrounded by much smaller head shots of his co-stars, all looking grimly determined.
    “’ The Realm of the Shadows , Seasons I, II and III,’” I read. “For our edification, gratification and amuse-ification, no doubt. Hot damn, he autographed it.”
    “I think watching that could actually lower our IQ’s,” Michael commented.
    After arranging our things in the master suite, we tried to settle down in the great room, but we’d never been in the house after dark before, and it actually started to feel spooky. The gallery above the great room was in shadow by then, and in the gloom, I began to see strange shapes and a hint of movement. Finally we looked at one another, sighing at the same time, and I said, “Maybe we’d better get out there and see what they’re up to.”
    “I suppose so.”
    I took the precaution of locking up the house and pocketing the key. As we walked across the yard, I said, “It’s funny Teddy didn’t say anything about the barn. I don’t know if it’s haunted or not, but it’s what’s been happening lately. For a moment there I was beginning to suspect Teddy got called in by Ed, or that Ed got sent in by Teddy to stir things up before he got here. But Ed would’ve sent him to the barn, wouldn’t he?”
    “Not if they had this all worked out in advance. The story of the lady in the barn loft came from Charlie, not Ed.”
    “Still, you’d think they’d take advantage of a thing like that, if they knew about it.”
    As I walked across the lawn toward the cemetery, I stepped on something hard, stopped, reached down and picked up a broken pen with the Realm of the Shadows logo drifting across it in misty white letters. I shoved it into my cargo pocket, making a mental note to talk to Teddy about his messy crew when I got a chance.
    They were in the cemetery itself, and Teddy was standing next to Elizabeth’s flattened tombstone, saying something poignant to the camera about the neglected graves of forgotten ancestors. Kingsley’s grave had been filled in again, so it hadn’t drawn their attention, thank goodness.
    I have pretty good long vision, and as we came nearer I went up on my tip toes and looked at Elizabeth’s tombstone in the flood of TV lights.
    I got close to Michael and whispered, “I don’t know where he got that cock-and-bull story about Elizabeth drowning while saving Vesta, but when Elizabeth died, Vesta was in her sixties, not a toddler.”
    “And as I remember it, she didn’t drown, either,” Michael whispered back.
    We were shushed.
    A friendly voice from behind us whispered, “Why don’t you folks come back here and stand with me while they get this shot.”
    I turned to look into one of the most beautiful male faces I had ever seen. He noticed my look, gave me a warm smile and extended his hand, saying, “Seth Hardy. I’m in the cast.”
    Uh huh. They’d sent in the pretty boy to handle us. As Teddy began his bogus story about Betsy Cadbury, we allowed ourselves to be drawn back about ten yards, where we were joined by a pudgy young man and Jazz.
    The tramp assistant had ditched the pencil skirt and spike heels and was now wearing the same black jumpsuit as the men were. It had the show’s logo emblazoned across the back of the shoulders, a lot of useless hardware like zippers and shiny metal rings, and lots of pockets. Down the front, latching over the button band, were heavy lobster claw clasps,