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

into the house without anybody noticing her.
    Once we were indoors, I carried her suitcase up to her old room and sat down to talk to her.
    “I’m sure you noticed all the hubbub outside,” I began.
    “It’s the people from The Realm of the Shadows . I know. It’s all over town.” She picked up a few pullovers and began to hang them. “Is the leading man – Teddy Force – is he here too?”
    She said it very nonchalantly, and I groaned. “Don’t tell me you watch that show, Myrtle.”
    “And why not?” she said. “It’s an excellent show. The hauntings they’ve investigated are very interesting.”
    “Myrtle, I want you to stay away from those people. And don’t, for goodness sake, tell them anything about the Cadburys.”
    “The Family? I’d never!”
    I relaxed. “I know you wouldn’t. Sorry. I’m sure you know about the trouble we’ve been having with the work crew? It’s all over town. They don’t want to go into the barn. You know, because of the loft. I suppose there’s been trouble with that for many years now.”
    Myrtle gave me a knowing look, and I could see that I’d blown it already. “I knew that was why you were bringing me back here. Well, I hope my job here doesn’t depend on you getting information out of me, because I don’t have any.”
    “About the lady in the barn?”
    “There is no lady in the barn. And shame on you for letting that silly man spend the night in the cemetery! I never heard of such a thing. But as for The Family, they were not in the habit of airing their dirty laundry in front of the staff, and I, for one, would never have presumed to ask.”
    “Of course you wouldn’t,” I said, but I didn’t believe her for a second. Myrtle and Vesta had been close; toward the end, she had been closer to Vesta than she’d ever been to her own sister, Florence.
    So much for Round One. Oh, well, it had been worth a quick try.
    I got up. “I’ve got things to do. See you later.”
     
    I went outside looking for Charlie. My plan for the cat house (actual cats, not the other thing) didn’t involve the barn or the seawall or any of the other hot zones we had developed, and I figured now we could get on with that part of the project.
    I had reckoned without Pluto.
    The show’s wrap-up, where he displayed his tech toys and replayed moans and creaks for the rest of the cast, was his time in the spotlight. Nobody hijacks the spotlight of a ‘personality,’ no matter how minor.
    These wrap-ups were done with him enthroned in his equipment van, pushing buttons and displaying green screens full of pulsing horizontal lines. He’d replay an audio recording three or four times, and suddenly they would all hear, “Mother, please!” or whatever. And as I was beginning to realize, it took hours to come up with a mere ten minutes of show time.
    I was out in the yard with Charlie, who had shown up with his crew as usual, and we were going over the blueprints for the old kitchen and servants’ quarters. The elusive blueprints had finally decided to stop flying away by themselves and then popping up again in the wrong place. Charlie was probably sleeping on them now.
    “I want to combine these two cabins at the end for the ferals to use,” I was telling him.
    About that time Wizard came wandering over the lawn toward us, wearing bib overalls and a plain, rust-colored tee shirt. He looked like he’d been born in them, and I realized he was the only member of the on-camera cast who didn’t gear up like a commando and go into the danger zone on the show. He had a strangely calming presence, which was probably why. “Don’t worry, children,” I could just hear him say. “Fester is a friendl y ghost.” Not what Teddy would want. But Wizard’s Dr. Zarkov persona added a dash of scientific grounding to the show, and he definitely added variety.
    “Mornin’ folks,” he said. “What’re we doing today?”
    We looked up from the blueprints. “Trying to get some work done.