don’t know. He just said he was haunted and that things were not so good.”
“Whoa, okay, this is really heavy,” Amelia said, taking a moment to examine each of our faces to make sure we all shared her sentiment. “Maybe he summoned something and he can’t make it go away. Maybe we should take this party to him and see if we can be of help.”
There was a chorus of protests although Kane and Scott both remained silent.
“I know Enrico better than the rest of you,” Venus said, her eyes still on me. “If he wanted us in his home he would have told us to come.”
“But maybe he didn’t think we’d accept the invitation,” Kane offered. “After all, he must know that some of us blame him for Maria’s departure from the group.”
“I didn’t say he would have invited us,” Venus said evenly. “I said he would have told us to come. There is a very big difference. Enrico may or may not have been aware of your feelings, Kane, and they are your feelings, but whether he was aware of them or not he would have still expected us to yield to his celebrity.”
“He’s a chef!” Amelia said with a laugh. “Not a movie star.”
“I think people in San Francisco like chefs more than movie stars. They’re more real,” Zach said. It was the first thing I’d heard him say and his voice sounded too young and innocent for his somber attire. I tried to get a sense of his age. It was hard to gauge considering all the white powder covering his face, but my guess was that he was around fifteen.
“Maybe we should just give him some space,” Lorna said softly. “Of course, there’s still the problem of our number. Someone will have to leave.”
Lorna leaned over and put a hand on Al’s knee. “I know you don’t really want to be here, darling. Why don’t you go get a beer at that pub you used to go to? The one around the corner. What’s its name again?”
“Jax, but I’m not going anywhere,” Al said shortly.
“But I just thought…”
“I know what you thought, but you were wrong,” he snapped. “Now is someone else going to leave or are we going to call this damn thing off?”
Lorna seemed to shrink into herself and Zach scowled at his father.
“I guess I could—” Amelia began, but she was interrupted by the doorbell. “Maybe it’s Enrico!” she exclaimed and rushed to see.
When she opened the door she revealed a woman dressed head to toe in Calvin Klein with her hair cut in a severe, short style. She peeled off her overcoat and threw it into Amelia’s unexpecting arms. “Tell Enrico I’m here.”
“Maria,” Kane said in a soft voice.
She blinked at the sound of her name and grabbed onto the door frame as if she expected someone to try to push her out. “Whatever you’re going to say about numerology or whatnot just…just save it,” she said. “I’m giving him our condo, our house in Tuscany, I’m even giving him the damned parrot, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to give him my friends.” She glared at the occupants of the room. “You’re supposed to be my friends! I’m the true believer, not that fat, self-important, fettuccini-eating snob! How could you not invite me to this?”
“Some of us wanted to,” Kane whispered, then sent a scathing look at Venus who stared blankly back.
“Enrico’s a no-show, Maria,” Amelia said, struggling to give her a welcoming hug while holding her coat. “He’s being haunted.”
“Is that what he told you?” Maria said with a bitter laugh. “The only thing haunting that man is the last review he got from Michael Bauer. Did you read it? Three and a half stars. Not four, three and a half. That’s why he’s not here. The bastard is sulking, probably teaching that bird how to destroy a newspaper clipping.”
“That shouldn’t take a lot of training,” Scott said, somewhat bemused.
“I see that the table is all set up,” Maria noted. “Can we start this then? Or are you afraid I’ll taint the proceedings with my bitterness?”
“Nothing wrong with bitterness,” Scott said. “Just look what it does for chocolate, right, Soapy?” As soon as he said it you could see the regret spread across his features. It was as blatant as Venus’s scowl.
“Soapy,” she said slowly. “How adorable. Don’t you think it’s adorable, Kane?”
“We’d love it if you’d join us,” Kane said, directing his comments to Maria and ignoring Venus. “All that matters is belief.”
“And numbers,” Jason added, perhaps a bit sarcastically. “And candles and colors and fucking feng shui.”
“Feng shui has nothing to do with any of this!” Kane snapped.
“Hey, guys, remember Sophie got white candles so if this is going to work we’re all going to have to get in a peaceful state of mind!” Amelia chimed in. “At this rate we’re going to have to go out and buy some pink candles just so we can manage that, right, Sophie?”
“The pink candles are lame,” Zach sighed. “They never work.”
I raised my fingers to my temples. I had no idea what any of these people were talking about. Maria was Enrico’s ex, that much I understood. I also understood that Enrico had a parrot and Venus didn’t like me, but I was beginning to suspect that Venus disliked pretty much everybody. Other than that, I had no idea what was going on.
“I suggest we skip the meal and get right to the séance,” Venus said, staring at Scott. “Unless you would like some more time to chitchat with your Soapy.”
“I’m cool with skipping the meal,” he replied meekly. “It’s hard for me to think about food when I’m with you anyway, sweetie. All I can focus on is how flat-out gorgeous you are.”
Jason started to laugh, but managed to silence himself before Venus had a chance to whack him over the head with one of my candlesticks.
“Sophie,” Kane said, “you are the official host of this event and it sounds as if you bought the food yourself. Are you all right with our skipping the meal?”
“Absolutely, no problem at all.” I would have paid double the amount of the meal’s cost if it meant that I could have these people out of my house any more quickly.
“Well, I’m for it,” Zach said. “I think we’d all be better off talking to the dead than to each other.”
“Wise man,” Jason muttered, taking a seat next to the boy.
“I’m taking Enrico’s chair,” Maria declared.
We all took a seat and Venus announced that she was the medium. She looked at me, daring me to argue, but I didn’t. Let Venus call up her demons, I just wanted to get the whole thing over with.
Venus picked up one of the candles and held it up for everyone’s inspection. “As noted, all of the candles are white,” she said. “White symbolizes peace. Before I light them I will pass
