Ghostfinders 03 -Ghost of a Dream

him, and he fell. And he died.”
    He couldn’t speak for a moment, holding back tears.
    “We hid the body,” Elizabeth said finally. “Rather than have a scandal that would interfere with the play’s production. And success. We did it all for success.”
    “It was my idea, not Elizabeth’s!” said Benjamin. “I couldn’t let her stand trial, and go to jail, just for being there. For something that was all my fault.”
    “It wasn’t your fault!” said Elizabeth. “It was an accident! A stupid accident. He fell.”
    “We buried him beneath the understage area,” said Benjamin. “He’s still there. No-one ever found him or found out what we’d done. To our oldest friend.”
    “Our dearest friend,” said Elizabeth.
    “We kept the secret, all these years.”
    “Of what we did, for success.”
    “Except, there wasn’t any,” said Benjamin. “Frankie Hazzard insisted on major changes in the play. Rewrite after rewrite, that messed up everything. He changed everything that mattered, took all the best lines, and gave them to himself…”
    “And every time we objected, he threatened to walk,” said Elizabeth. “And take the play’s funding with him. We had no doubt he’d do it if he couldn’t have his own way. And we were all in too deep, by then.”
    “We were desperate to get the play on,” said Benjamin. “After everything we’d done, everything we’d lost…if there was no play, then it had all been for nothing.”
    “And in the end, it was,” said Elizabeth. “The changes ruined our play. When we did finally get it on, it died in under two weeks.”
    “Frankie Hazzard didn’t give a damn,” said Benjamin. “He walked away. On to his next big movie project.”
    “We got the blame,” said Elizabeth. “Frankie Hazzard was a star. Everybody loved him. So how could it be his fault? No, said the critics, and the commentators, it had to be our play, our lousy words, that buried the production.”
    “We killed our oldest and dearest friend and covered it up, for fame and glory,” said Benjamin. “And we didn’t get the fame, and we didn’t get the glory. It was all for nothing. And nothing was ever the same after that.”
    “We left the Haybarn,” said Elizabeth. “We didn’t have to. The owners still believed in us, we’d made them a lot of money. Far as they were concerned, we were still a good draw. Locally. But we couldn’t stay. Not after what we’d done. Not knowing that Alistair was buried here.”
    “And anyway,” said Benjamin, “it was no fun any more, without him. We left. Our careers…never really happened. We kept busy, but…the spark was gone.”
    “I sometimes wonder,” said Elizabeth, “whether deep down, we felt we didn’t deserve to succeed.”
    “This is all very touching, I’m sure,” said Melody, loud enough to make everyone jump. “But why are we all standing around chatting, when I already told you the Phantom is on his way here to kill us all!”
    “Because he isn’t here yet,” said JC. “And this…is the job. The mission. We came to the Haybarn Theatre to discover the reason behind the haunting, so we could…resolve matters. Now we know, perhaps we can make peace between the various parties.”
    “Now we know what’s been powering all these visions and manifestations,” said Happy. “Twenty years of unfinished business. Lying there in his grave, dreaming and plotting, gathering his strength…Is there anything stronger than thwarted dreams and ambitions? The loss of the life Alistair Gravel should have had?”
    JC stepped forward, to face Elizabeth and Benjamin. She looked tired, beaten down. He looked even worse. But he still had enough left in him to hold Elizabeth protectively as he stared at JC.
    “What now?” he said.
    “Why did you decide to come back here, after all these years?” said JC. “To revive a play that had only ever brought you pain?”
    Benjamin and Elizabeth looked at each other.
    “I don’t know,” said Benjamin, frowning. “The idea…came to me, one night.”
    “Yes,” said Elizabeth. “The twentieth anniversary was coming up, and even though Benjamin and I never discussed it, we both knew it was much on our minds.”
    “And when we did finally discuss it, we couldn’t get the idea out of our heads,” said Benjamin. “I contacted the theatre’s owners, and they said…they’d been waiting to hear from us.”
    “It never occurred to me to question any of this before,” said