delighted.”
The door closed behind him on its own, and he followed her out into the great room where Sailor and Rhiannon were already waiting. There were air kisses all around; not that any of the Gryffalds were into air kisses as opposed to the real thing, but with a ghost, air kisses were what you got.
When all the women were seated, and not a second before, Merlin took a seat on the sofa and put his delicate hands on his knees expectantly.
“Now, what can I do for you girls?”
“I’m looking for a ghost,” Barrie told him. “That is, the case I’m investigating revolves around a dead actor, and possibly two. One of them—I don’t know if he’s really dead, and if he’s not, it would be really useful to know, so that I can start looking for him. The other one is definitely dead....” She stopped, wondering if she could even assume that much. “Probably definitely. But, since we have this most excellent connection to the spirit world, I thought...if there was any way of getting in touch with him—or them...”
“Who are these fine ex-personages?” Merlin asked her.
“Johnny Love and Robbie Anderson.”
“Ah, yes,” Merlin said. “I remember what a stir that caused, those two young men. So much talent, snuffed out so quickly.”
Barrie quickly did the math in her head and realized that Merlin had still been alive when Johnny died.
Merlin nodded as if he knew what she was thinking. “Of course, I was still on this earth plane when Johnny Love made his transition, so I have no idea what kind of stir there may have been in the afterlife. I’ve never run into him over there, but you know, there are so many levels—continents, really—and it’s not as if I’ve been looking. I’ll certainly nose around and see what I can find out.”
“Thanks, Merlin,” Barrie said in real gratitude, and Sailor and Rhiannon echoed her. “And if you could see what you can find out about Robbie Anderson, too... The thing is, I just don’t know. He disappeared at about the same time, and there’s definitely something wrong with the whole situation, and it seems to be the key to a couple of recent deaths as well, a shifter and a mortal.”
“My, my,” Merlin tutted. “Very complicated. I assure you, I shall do my best.”
It was really useful, sometimes, having a house ghost.
Chapter 9
She was in a huge round domed room with three ornate thrones set in a triangle in the center of a parquet floor, and candles blazing in wrought-iron candelabra. The three young actors slouched in the chairs like indolent crowned princes: Johnny Love, as blond as the sun; DJ, black-haired and black-eyed; and Robbie Anderson, hair the color of an antique gold piece and flecks of gold in his eyes. They were drunk, passing a flagon of wine and drinking from silver goblets.
And none of them could see the flames all around them, creeping higher and higher, across the floor toward the thrones....
* * *
Barrie woke with her heart pounding and a strangled scream in her throat. Sophie meowed her concern from the pillow beside her, and Barrie picked up the little cat and held her to her chest to calm down.
Of course you were dreaming the movie, she chided herself. Being over there on Catalina was like walking into the film. This is all getting under your skin. Just follow the clues, do your interviews—and try not to lose it.
She sleepwalked to the kitchen for coffee, and while she fed the cat and the caffeine started to spike through her veins, she discovered she had a text from Sailor confirming a two-thirty appointment with Darius Simonides. Barrie was impressed; she hadn’t at all expected to be able to get in to see the agent so soon. Thx, S. IOU, she texted back.
It was already well past noon, so she showered quickly and found something expensive and marginally conservative in her closet, a tight-fitted, tailored skirt and suit coat that looked like something Rosalind Russell would have worn, with forties heels to match. Then she ran out to her car and got herself down to Beverly Hills.
The Global Artists Agency offices were built to intimidate, and they did. The three-story building was an imposing pink rectangle, grim as a prison. Barrie gave her name to the guard on the first floor, who asked her to wait in the atrium. Instead of seating herself, she drifted. Inside, the building was gorgeous, airy, clearly designed with impeccable