Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

"Ma—Madame Letisha?"

Letisha cocked up a sharply sculpted brow high and looked her number one fan, Megan, up and down as she approached tentatively. "Yes?"

"Can I—I mean do you, would you, like something to drink? Or eat? I can get it for you," the woman rushed to finish.

"I don't eat or drink while I'm communing with the dead," Madame Letisha proclaimed as if it were a universal truth and she the wise oracle dispensing it to the commoners.

Megan's eyes widened. "Are—are there dead here now?" She'd whispered the question as if the dead wouldn't hear it if she were quiet enough.

"The dead are everywhere, my dear," Letisha extolled.

Natalie let out a snort. What a crock of bull. It was a perfect non-answer from a practiced charlatan. And worse of all, it worked. The rest of the cast drew closer to Letisha.

"Madame Letisha. Could you do a reading of the room? Tell us who's here with us?" Sam asked, always producing and no doubt well aware Letisha's act would make good television.

"I usually like to meditate, center my mind and soul before communing, but since you asked." She touched two fingers to her forehead dramatically.

Jake the cameraman moved in closer to catch Letisha's act in all its overacted glory.

"I immediately felt an energy when I walked in. Buildings have their own personalities," she said mystically.

Natalie didn't know about the building having a personality. But there were certainly a lot of personalities inside it in the form of a century's worth of ghosts that pressed closer now. They surrounded the group, literally coming out of the gilded woodwork.

"I sense an older man. He worked here. He says his name is… Art. Oh, wait. I also hear someone whistling."

"That's all documented online," Natalie said, unable to keep her mouth closed any longer.

The doctor skeptic raised one hand and exclaimed, "Exactly!"

"You found that online?" Harper asked softly.

"GhostHub investigation video," Natalie answered low.

"Ha! Good job, Nat," Alice piped in, with her usual vigor and non-modulated volume.

The outbursts questioning her idol's authority elicited a gasp from Megan the super fan.

It also spurred a sharply lifted brow from Letisha. "It's okay. I've faced a lifetime of doubters, yet I'm still here, doing the hard work needed to help those on both sides of the veil."

"Oh, jeezus." Natalie rolled her eyes, then noticed the camera was now on her. Uh, oh. She was going to have to learn to keep her mouth shut.

"Madame Letisha, can you give us any specific details about any of the spirits you're communicating with?" Sam asked.

"Of course. I feel…" She closed her eyes and pressed those apparently magic medium fingers to her head one more time. "A man…"

"That's real specific." The doctor snorted.

"Fifty-fifty chance she's right, dude," the YouTuber commented with a laugh.

"Older, but handsome. Well dressed…"

"She's talking about me!" Bobby LaRue, costume designer, was suddenly next to Madame Letisha pressed close to the medium. "Yes, girl. Tell them about the fabulousness that is me."

"He's silent." Letisha, dropped the hand that had been pressed to her forehead, finally reopened her eyes and shook her head. "No. He doesn't want his story told. He won't communicate with me."

"Well, that's not me. She's not a bad actor actually, but she's a pretty crappy psychic."

"She's not a psychic. She's a fraud," Natalie grumbled low.

Bobby LaRue whipped his head around, his stare pinned to Natalie.

"She can hear us." He swooped closer. "This one. Right here. In the hideous boots. You, girl! You can hear me. Can you see me too?"

She tried not to move but with Bobby pressing his face right up in front of hers she couldn't help it. Natalie pulled back.

The half dozen or so ghosts in the room reacted. Their discussion rose from a whisper to a din.

It was so loud to her ears Natalie barely heard when Sam asked, "Natalie? You all right?"

Heart pounding, Natalie nodded. "Yeah. Sorry. Thought I saw a bug."

"Or was it an orb?" Megan asked, before looking to Letisha for approval.

"Answer me! If you can hear me, say something," Bobby insisted, startling her again.

He pressed his face close enough she could see the pores in his skin beneath the make-up he wore. Or had worn at the time of his death, she supposed, since they seemed to remain in what they had on at the time of their passing.

She couldn't think too much about the logistics with him so close, demanding attention.

"Not now," Natalie bit out between clenched teeth.

"Not now?" Bobby drew back with a laugh and glanced around at the other ghosts. "She said not now ."

A woman, whose hair and clothing looked like she'd stepped right out of old Hollywood, sauntered closer. "Why not now? You have something better to do?"

Even her speech was quintessentially that nondescript Mid-Atlantic accent Hollywood favored during the early period of movie making following the silent era.

"Later," Natalie whispered as softly as she could.

"Hoo, hoo! Later, she says." The starlet turned dramatically to the others with a tinkling laugh then back to Bobby. "So, let me get this straight. This one can both hear and see us but is pretending she can't. And that one over there can't see or hear us at all, but is pretending she can?"

"That about covers it." Bobby nodded.

"These livings make me glad I'm dead," the starlet said with a flourish.

"Lying is wrong." The little girl was back again, this time glaring directly at Natalie rather than her boots.

Why were little kid ghosts so much creepier than adult ones? She didn't know why but they sure as hell were. A shiver ran down Natalie's spine as the child scowled at her.

"You're right. Lying is wrong, sweetie. Unless you have a very good reason to. Do you have a good reason?" Bobby pivoted to ask Natalie.

"Later," she repeated softly.

He cocked up one heavily plucked brow. "When?"

Natalie lifted a shoulder in a small shrug.

Luckily the livings' conversation had carried on around her. It sounded as if Madame Letisha was explaining orbs to the cast.

Even Harper and Alice were listening, although it looked like that was mostly so they could make snarky comments to each other behind Letisha's back. But the good news was, the private, mainly one-sided conversation she was having with the ghosts went unnoticed.

"Okay, how about I decide?" Bobby suggested. "After the others go to bed tonight, you meet us by the stage. Yes?"

She nodded, mainly to get them to leave her alone. Definitely not because she was anxious for this meeting.

It was only day one and Natalie had already been exposed, at least by the spirits, and now she had a ghost appointment. It wasn't a very promising beginning.