Ghostfinders 03 -Ghost of a Dream

in the attention she was still young enough to take for granted. It was clear she’d been taught to stand that way in public if there waseven a chance of a photographer…drilled into her until it was second nature; but she still managed it unconsciously and unselfconsciously. She threw in the charm at no extra cost, without even realising she was doing it.
    “Sorry,” said JC, and actually sounded like he meant it, “but who are you, exactly? Are you another name we’re supposed to recognise?”
    Lissa’s smile slipped for a moment. “You really don’t know me? Damn. I am clearly not getting my money’s worth out of that new publicist. Look, I was in that controversial indie film,
Jesus and Satan Go Jogging in the Desert
. And that big disaster movie,
Werewolf on the Titanic
.”
    “Oh, I remember that one!” said Happy. “Not even a little bit accurate.”
    “We weren’t expecting you until next week, darling,” said Elizabeth, with a hint of chill in her voice. “The theatre isn’t nearly ready yet.”
    “You know her?” said JC.
    “Of course we know her; we hired her!” said Benjamin. “She’s going to star in our play! As our female lead. But, as Elizabeth was saying…”
    Lissa shrugged prettily. “Don’t blame me, sweeties; I got a phone call from my agent, saying drop everything and get straight round to the Haybarn, they need you. So here I am! You are glad to see me, aren’t you?”
    “Of course we are, Lissa,” said Benjamin, shooting Elizabeth a quick warning glance. “It’s simply that the renovators have encountered some…unexpected difficulties.”
    “Oh, I know all about that, sweetie,” said Lissa. “My agent couldn’t wait to tell me!”
    “How very helpful of him,” said Elizabeth. “It would seem word has got out…”
    “Ghosts and ghoulies and things that go Booyah! in the night! How terribly thrilling!” Lissa looked at JC and his team with new interest. “Are you the experts?”
    “I do wish people would stop using that word, in that particular tone of voice,” said Happy. “Yes, we are quite definitely experts; we are the Ghost Finders! Hauntings a speciality, no spook left unturned. We are very expert! Very!”
    “Gosh,” said Lissa, completely unmoved by Happy’s histrionics. “What larks, eh?” She looked around the lobby, and some of her natural exuberance fell away. “Bit of a dump, isn’t it, sweeties?”
    “It wasn’t always like this,” said Elizabeth, frostily. “Back in its heyday, the Haybarn was one of the finest theatres in the Midlands. Very smart, very elegant, very fashionable; the most prestigious vehicle for any up-and-coming young actors looking to make their mark. We had critics from all the broadsheets turning up on opening nights.”
    “But that was…sometime ago,” said Benjamin. “The Haybarn has been shut down and abandoned for twenty years. It’s going to take a lot of hard work to smarten the old girl up again. And we can’t do that until we can persuade the renovators to return.”
    “Why has it been left empty for so long?” said Lissa.
    Benjamin and Elizabeth looked at each other, then atthe Ghost Finders. “It was to have been our greatest triumph,” said Benjamin. “The play that would change all our lives.”
    “Change everything,” said Elizabeth. “But it all went wrong, so horribly quickly…”
    “We were the established leads, back then,” said Benjamin. “Starred in everything the Haybarn put on, took everything in our stride, from classics to modern. The public loved us, the critics thought we could do no wrong. We had the world at our feet, and we thought it would last forever. We wrote a play together, Elizabeth and I:
A Working-class Messiah Is Something to Be
. Something…very different, very special. We would direct and cover the two supporting leads, and we had one of the major stars of the day committed to the lead. Frankie Hazzard.”
    Everyone nodded quickly. They all knew that name.
    “Tall, dark, and handsome,” said Melody. “Didn’t half fancy himself. He played that spy, what’s-his-name, in that film;
Index Finger, Left Hand
.”
    “I saw him on a chat show once,” said Happy. “So far up himself he was hanging out his own nostrils.”
    “Pushing that unfortunate mental image firmly to one side,” said JC, “perhaps we could concentrate on the matter at hand. What happened? What went wrong?”
    “The play crashed and burned,” Elizabeth said flatly.