“Who is it?”
“Said her name is Debbie and that she really needs to talk to you. She sounds desperate.” Purbeck shrugged. “There was a lot of music in the background and whooping and hollering. I told her I’m the lieutenant leading the case, but she wants to speak with you.”
“Thanks.”
“You know who she is?”
“Yes. She’s a stripper at Mystic Magic.”
“Ah,” Purbeck said. “Come on, you can take it in my office. I hope she’s still on the line.”
Aidan followed Purbeck to his office. Purbeck watched as he picked up the phone.
“Aidan Mahoney,” he said. “Debbie?”
“Agent Mahoney, it’s really you, right?”
“Yes, it’s really me.”
“Can you get here? Fast?”
“Yes, of course. What’s wrong?”
“No one else has seen it yet...not here, I don’t think.” She paused. “But I’m sure they will soon.”
“Seen what?”
“The picture, the picture on the news. It’s up on the web, too.”
“The picture—”
“Of the missing woman. Agent Mahoney, I do know her. She works here. She worked here, I mean. She wasn’t due in yesterday and today is her day off—but it’s her! It’s Wendy Appleby. She was— I’m not sure how I didn’t see it before, but... Oh, Agent Mahoney! She’s a friend of mine. She was a friend of mine. And she’s dead—and I’m scared! Please get out here!”
“I’m on my way, Debbie. Is there any reason you fear for your safety right now?”
The line went dead.
7
Mo sat patiently in the makeup chair while piles of white foundation were applied to her face, neck, hands and arms. Ron Cary was good at what he did; when he wasn’t working at the Haunted Mausoleum—his favorite place in the world, he’d told her—he worked for a special effects company in Hollywood.
“You’re a great subject!” Ron stepped back. “Beautiful!”
“And done?”
“And done.” He grimaced comically. “I’m onto Vlad the Impaler.”
The dressing room for the twenty characters at the mansion was in the old carriage house. Originally, they’d used the embalming room in the basement—but that had been such a marvelously atmospheric spot that it had been turned into a Mad Doctor’s Experimental Lab and fitted with all kinds of plastic “bloodied” body parts. Guests would travel among them and, of course, scream as the mad doctor and his deranged nurse popped out and one “victim” came to life.
“Coffee and cookies are on the table,” Ron said. “Help yourself.”
Mo walked over to pour a cup of coffee. The mad doctor himself and Jack the Ripper were there, munching away as they discussed the football season. “Hey, Mo,” Jack the Ripper greeted her. She peered at him more closely and greeted him in return. It was Phil Ainsley, one of Mo’s old friends.
“Hello, Phil.”
“So, you got dragged in.”
“I did.”
“It’ll be fun.”
Mo nodded. “Yeah, I know.”
Grace—painted in bronze—came up and said hello to everyone.
“I was just telling her she’d have fun,” Phil said.
“Hey, I’ve done this before. You guys are all so good, I’ll probably wind up scaring myself to death,” Mo said.
“It is a little creepy tonight,” Phil agreed. “I mean, we’re opening after real body parts were discovered. But we’re all about entertainment, and the only body parts here are plastic.”
“Except that we’re working in a real graveyard,” Grace noted.
“No one’s been interred here since the Civil War,” Phil said. “The mortuary kept working, but the cemetery closed after the war.” He shuddered dramatically. “It got crowded fast!”
“Who keeps up the graveyard?” Mo asked Grace. “Your company, right?”
“Of course.” Grace said. “They’ll do another clean-up after Halloween when we’re all out of here. Oh, there’s Jerry Martin, our stage manager. He’s sent the plainclothes guides on in. We’re about to open. Come on, I’ll show you the Woman in White’s walk. You’ll probably remember. It’s so easy. You just glide around one of the little family mausoleums. There’s a nook in back where you hide before you step out to scare people.”
“I guess I’m on. Great to see you, Phil.”
“You, too. Hey, some of us meet up at the all-night café up on the highway for a bite afterward. It’s the only place other than Tommy’s that’s still open by the time we’re out of here,” Phil said. “Join us, huh?”
“If I’m still half-awake,” Mo promised.