“Yes, you’re fine now,” Cara said. “Be sure to tell them how wonderful I was, how much you loved me. I do bask in all this!”
The blogger came forward and brashly shook hands with them both. He apologized for disturbing them then; he was afraid he wouldn’t get near them once they had reached Rodeo, the trendy new restaurant where they’d be having the reception.
Marnie told him how much she had loved Cara; she told him what a wonderful actress she had been in a scene, in an ensemble. She vowed they would hound the police until the killer was found. They would never stop.
“Wonderful,” Cara said.
“Excuse me,” Marnie said, escaping from Grayson’s hold and turning to head back to the grave site. The funeral workers—who had been about to lower the finely carved coffin into the ground—stepped back, obviously surprised and a little annoyed that their time was being taken. They did, however, respectfully move away, allowing her personal and intimate time with her dearly departed loved one.
Marnie stood there for a moment, breathing. And then she spoke softly and firmly. “You are dead, Cara. I cannot see you, I cannot hear you. God help me, I am so, so sorry. I will miss you. Honestly. But you are dead!”
“That isn’t going to help.”
Marnie was so startled by the sound of the deep, masculine voice—so near to her—that she nearly fell over the coffin.
Luckily, she caught herself and looked over it instead.
He was tall—taller even than Grayson Adair. And, if possible, his hair was darker. His eyes, however, weren’t dark, they were green or gold or a startling combination of both, and they sat in a ruggedly masculine face that could well have been the next to grace every pop culture magazine out there. He was well built—he was quite simply both rugged and Hollywood drop-dead gorgeous.
And she was just staring at him.
“Wow,” the specter of Cara murmured, standing close behind Marnie once again. “Did he grow up fine. That’s one of the McFadden boys. Of course, you must understand, the parents were to die for—what an expression. Terrible.”
“You’re not there,” Marnie whispered desperately.
“It’s not going to help,” the man said gently.
Stunned, Marnie realized the truth. Whoever he was—McFadden boy, whatever—he was aware of what was going on.
“You—you—you see her. You hear her, too?” Marnie said.
He nodded. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. My name is Bryan McFadden. I’m...I’m here to help you.”
McFadden.
“No.” Marnie shook her head vehemently. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m having hallucinations and you’re...having the same hallucinations. And you know it... Oh! It’s a sham. You’re from a paper. You’re trying to make me look crazy... I have to go.”
Marnie turned, ready to hurry back to Grayson Adair and the rest of her old cast and crew.
“Miss Davante,” he said.
She bit her lower lip and paused, not turning back but listening. On the one hand, she wanted to run.
Then again...
It was too...too...
Real.
And if he could help her?
She stayed there, wanting to run, afraid that if she did so she’d lose any chance of fighting off whatever was happening.
He didn’t speak again right away. They were too close to the cemetery workers.
He came up behind her. Not too close. He didn’t touch her. But close enough. She was aware of him in a way that she seldom felt, as if he were almost inside her skin, as if his fingers did touch her just as the warmth of his words reached her. He whispered softly, his tone still deep and rich and strangely ringing with truth, “She’s here, Marnie. You are not going crazy. She is right next to you. Trust me, I’ve been through this—too many times now. And here is the thing—she won’t go away. Not until we discover exactly why she’s still with us. Maybe it’s to see that her murder is solved. And maybe it’s to prevent something terrible.”
“She’s already dead. So, prevent something such as?” Marnie demanded harshly, giving herself a fierce mental shake. She stared at him. He might be incredibly gorgeous, but he had to be stone-cold crazy, as well. “Such as?”
“Such as another murder,” he said bluntly. “As in—possibly—yours!”
Maybe it wasn’t fair for Bryan to judge the funeral as a carnival with all kinds of acts being performed beneath a big tent. His mother had always assured him that there were many people living in Los Angeles—even those who were deeply enmeshed in the film industry, and despite its reputation for shallowness and ruthless ambition—who were decent and wonderful people. It was true. To be honest, he knew many people who were “Hollywood” all the way and who were fine, decent, caring and more.
Still, the worst of the business seemed to come out when news cameras were rolling.
And everyone, to paraphrase the artist Andy Warhol, wanted their fifteen minutes of fame.
There was no way out of it; in this city, most bartenders, servers and so on were also actors and actresses. Bankers and lawyers handled accounts for directors, producers, screenwriters, actors and costumers, puppeteers—and more.
It seemed as though everyone wound up being involved. But Greater Los Angeles was huge; its population had soared to over ten million people. Many were teachers, electricians, nurses, all the usual—you name it. And yet it all boiled down to the movies in the end. Teachers had actors’ children in their classes. Doctors patched up production assistants and prop managers and all manner of crew amid their other patients.
And while Hollywood might offer up a world of make-believe, it could also be—as his mom had always claimed—a nice place where many people wanted what everyone wanted: a family filled with love and happiness.
Before returning to the theater, Maeve and Hamish McFadden had been part of the Hollywood crowd.
In retrospect, since they had died together onstage, coming back to the theater in the DC area had perhaps not been a good decision. And yet, in those years before the accident, life for the McFadden family had been great.
Bryan had learned that death shouldn’t put a person on a pedestal. Still, when he looked back, they had been really good parents. They had put the needs of their sons above their own. They had left Hollywood.
But they had been a big part of it at one time, which made it possible for Bryan to be where he was now—rubbing shoulders with A-listers at a funeral reception that had become the hottest ticket in town.
It was obvious
