in the house might be supernatural. And has anyone else ever seen Wade asides from you?”
“Yes, Lucy.” I held back a laugh. “He and I were in here just a couple of weeks ago. Beryl and everyone else that was in here saw him. Are you sure they saw him? Did they talk to him or just to you?”
“Oh my God, why did my best friend have to be a filmmaker?” I shook my head. “This isn’t some Gothic horror movie. And if it is, I want out.”
“How cool would that be though?”
“I don’t really think I want to have lost my virginity to a ghost, so not cool at all.”
“Oh yeah, I almost forgot you guys had sex.” She laughed. “But maybe the house is haunted. Wow, that would be cool. What happened to the last assistant again? Maybe she’s haunting the place to get revenge on Wade for killing her.”
“Uhm…” I stared at her. “That’s even worse. Now Wade has gone from a ghost to a murderer?”
“Well, I’m not saying he’s a murderer, but let’s be real, he’s not worried you’re going to find out he’s secretly donating millions to feed the poor or something. Whatever he’s hiding is dark. Really dark.”
“Hmm, Lucy, you’re not helping.”
“Sorry.” She offered me a wry grin. “I’m just getting so many ideas for movies. I wish I brought my camera with me.”
“You didn’t bring it?”
“Well, I did.” She laughed. “I just wasn’t sure how you’d feel if I started taking some footage.”
“Girl, do what you want. If you feel inspired go for it.”
“The woods are cool. Maybe we can go for a walk again this evening and I can take some shots. That would be pretty awesome.”
“Yeah, sure, I don’t mind.” I shrugged. Frankly that was the least of my concerns. She could take as many videos as she wanted. All I cared about was finding out what Wade was hiding. I also, which made me feel stupid, missed Wade. I wanted to see his face. I wanted to hear his voice. I wanted to touch him. I even missed his teasing.
“So ladies, what can I get you?” Beryl stopped in front of us. “Black coffees or you want milk?”
“Both with milk.” Lucy shot back. “And we want some answers. No games, please. I think you know something and you can help us. You’re a good lady, Beryl. I know you care about my friend. And I care about her. So let’s do our best to ensure she gets the answers she needs before something bad happens to her. I know you don’t want that to be on your head, do you, Beryl?”
Beryl was silent for a few moments as she stared at Lucy and then at me. “You have a good friend there.”
“I know.”
“Hold on…I’ll put in your order for the eggs benedict and I’ll be back.”
“I said doughnuts or pancakes…” Lucy started but I just shook my head at her and smiled.
“We’ll have whatever you recommend, Beryl, thank you.” I gave the older lady a small smile and sat back as she walked away. “That was awesome, Lucy, I think she’s really going to give us some good information now.”
“She’ll give us something.” Lucy shrugged. “Though I can tell you from now that it won’t even be a tenth of what she knows.” She looked thoughtful. “Old ladies like that, that work in cafes like this, see and hear everything.” She nodded to herself. “Beryl knows a lot, she won’t tell us all, but she’ll give us a tidbit and that will be enough.”
“How will that be enough?” I frowned. “Can’t we try and get her to tell us everything?”
“We’d be here all day and night for a year if we tried that.” She shook her head. “All we need are some crumbs. We can go from there.”
“Where though?”
“Gordon!” She raised an eyebrow and maybe we can go to the local library, see if we can find out any information there.”
“I guess so.”
“Also, you know who we didn’t look up online yesterday.”
“Who?”
“We didn’t look up his mom.” Lucy tapped her fingernails against the countertop. “I feel like she has to know something as well.”
“There’s no way she would tell me, she doesn’t think I’m good enough for her son.”
“Maybe that’s precisely the reason that she would tell you.” Lucy seemed to be full on detective mode as her voice raised in excitement. “If she feels the only way you would leave is to hear the bad stuff, maybe she’d be