Keeper of the Shadows - By Alexandra Sokoloff Page 0,46

Barrie felt a little flutter of anxiety. “Anyway, I’m not going to be alone with him. Much. And it’s my chance to get into the premiere.” She could see Rhiannon wasn’t convinced, so she told her, “You can meet him and decide for yourself. He’s picking me up. And it’s not like he’s going to...I don’t know, abduct me or anything. Not when both of you see us leaving together.”

Rhiannon finally relented. She even got into the spirit of things and ran across to Pandora’s Box for a coppery gold wrap and an evening bag to contribute to the overall effect.

Of course Merlin showed up for the unveiling, and Sailor coaxed him into the dressing room to see Barrie reflected in all the mirrors.

“Oh, my,” he said reverently. “You are a vision, my dear. Absolutely stunning.”

Barrie looked at herself in the mirrors, glimmering in copper. The dress brought out the shining highlights of her hair, her eyes.

Merlin cleared his throat. “I don’t want to interrupt your preparations, but I have been asking around the afterlife after your two young men.”

Barrie whirled to face him and didn’t bother to correct him that they weren’t her young men. “Merlin, you’re a doll. Is there anything you can tell me?”

“I have to say, it’s perplexing,” the elderly ghost admitted. “The one you call Robbie Anderson... I haven’t been able to find a trace of him. Are you sure he’s passed on?”

“I’m not sure of anything,” Barrie admitted.

“My own guess would be that he has not,” Merlin told her. “Johnny Love is a different story. But he is not fully present in the afterlife. There is no place I can reach him there.”

The cousins looked around at each other, mystified. “Not fully present in the afterlife? What does that mean, Merlin?” Rhiannon asked.

“When someone dies tragically, a suicide or some other traumatic death, the soul often retains an attachment to the earth that makes it difficult for the soul to fully pass into the afterlife. It’s different from visiting earth in the way that I do. Visiting earth is one thing. Clinging to it without fully accepting death is a half existence, very sad.”

“Does that mean Johnny committed suicide?” Barrie asked intently.

“Not necessarily,” the ghost explained. “It can happen with any traumatic death—suicide, murder, a fatal accident so sudden that the soul has no time to assimilate its situation. Even death that’s accompanied by an emotional shock like betrayal. I’m sorry I can’t be more specific.”

Barrie bit her lip, thinking. “No, no, you’ve been incredibly helpful. Thank you, Merlin.”

He excused himself so “you girls can get back to your primping,” and Barrie sat on the edge of a divan and tried to process what he’d just told them. “I’m not sure I know anything more than I did before,” she admitted. “I think we all knew Johnny didn’t die peacefully.”

“You don’t have to think about it now,” Sailor said, and turned to her, lifting her enormous makeup kit. “What you need to do is hold still.”

Barrie rarely wore any makeup besides lipstick and mascara, but actress Sailor had mad skills with the stuff. “Just a little,” Sailor coaxed. “Remember, you’ll be under spotlights.” And so Barrie held still as her cousin dusted and painted and powdered.

Somehow the whole afternoon had dissolved, and the cousins were interrupted from their oohing and aahing over Barrie when the security panel in the kitchen buzzed, indicating a car at the gate.

Barrie felt her heart drop. “He’s here.”

Rhiannon and Sailor looked at each other, and Sailor even rubbed her hands together. “Well, let’s look him over.”

It was senseless to plead with her cousins to be discreet. Barrie started to follow them downstairs, but Sailor turned around and stopped her. “No way. You’re going to make an entrance. Go powder your nose and wait till we call you.”

So, Barrie trailed back upstairs, so nervous she could barely make her feet move.

On the landing she crouched beside the stair railing and listened over the thudding of her heart as the door opened and her cousins’ voices mixed with another, a low male rumbling that sent waves of desire through her.

Mick’s voice.

I can’t do this, I’m going to faint, she thought wildly.

And then Sailor called, “Barrie!”

Barrie gulped a breath and pulled herself up to her feet. She focused every ounce of will she could muster on walking steadily down the stairs.

Her cousins and Mick were standing in the entry hall. Mick was in a tux, and Barrie’s breath was knocked out of