Wings to the Kingdom (Eden Moore 2)

“Thank you,” Dana murmured. The look on her face said she was shaking his hand only because she could not politely refuse to do so. She was a small, blond woman, at least six or seven inches shorter than me and as thin and tight as a strand of licorice. Her hair was cropped close in a frosted do that should have given her a pixielike air, but instead only made her look a little mean. Twenty more pounds and a few curls would have made her appearance infinitely more personable.

“I’m Ben Scott,” he introduced himself. “And I don’t mean to sound stupid, and I don’t want to bother you, but I’m a huge fan. ”

“Oh, it’s never a bother to meet a fan. Guys like you keep us in this crazy business. ” Tripp stepped out from behind his wife and likewise extended a handshake.

He was only marginally taller than Dana—about Benny’s height—and if I surmised correctly, he was a handful of years older. The first streaks of gray were working their way through the hair at his temples; and although he wasn’t heavy, he was soft.

“It’s a real pleasure,” Benny gushed on.

I kept my mouth shut and signed the receipt that would give us the film and let us leave, but Tripp seemed as happy to keep on talking as my friend was.

“This must be the only place in town that carries this film, huh? We called around all over before we hit pay dirt. It’s a good price too. Much cheaper than it was up north. A few rolls of this stuff in Chicago cost nearly twice as much. Of course, it’s a tax write-off for us, but still. You’ve gotta buy it before you can cash it out through Uncle Sam. ”

“What were you doing in Chicago? Are you guys doing another special, or another book?”

“Something like that,” Dana said vaguely, as if she wanted to hurry up and leave as much as I did. She was definitely not the PR end of the operation, but for the moment I appreciated it.

“Oh, yes. We wrapped up a show that’s going to be a two-hour jobbie on TLC in a few months. We had a wonderful time making it. Are you familiar with the wreck of the Eastland?”

Benny seemed thrilled for the opportunity to show his fan colors. “That day cruise boat that sank in the river, and killed all those people back in the nineteen-teens? I read something about it a long time ago. I’ve heard that to this day the police get frequent phone calls from people who hear voices crying for help from the water by the dock. ”

“It’s true!” Tripp beamed. “We even got two of them to go on tape. I couldn’t believe it; usually guys like that don’t want their names associated with projects like ours, but every once in a while you find a few who aren’t afraid to stand up and call it like they saw it. ”

“That’s incredible. Really incredible. ”

By that time I was holding a brown paper bag filled with film, shaking it, and making obvious “come on, let’s go” head motions. Dana caught on before Benny did, though, and she reached for her husband’s elbow.

“Well, it was nice to meet you, but we really need to get going now. ”

“It was great to meet you. ” Benny smiled from ear to ear.

“And I can’t wait to see what you come up with out at the battlefield. We’re all really excited to have you here. I hope you can get to the bottom of things. ”

Dana paused to frown at him. “Mmm. Yes. Well. We’re doing our best. Things would probably go more smoothly for us if we had the battlefield all to ourselves, though. ”

I stepped forward a little too fast with the righteous indignation. “I beg your pardon?”

“The shooting,” Benny said quickly. “Yeah, we heard about that. You’ve got to keep an eye out over there. Out here, everybody and their brother knows about the battlefield, and people are getting curious and paranoid. I hope your cameraman is okay. ”

Trip nodded gravely. “The doctors say he’ll be fine, and they’re going to release him from the hospital tomorrow morning if things go well. But I have to tell you, the whole thing has been quite a shock. The rangers did warn us that there was a big problem with trespassing out there, and that we had more to fear from curiosity seekers than from any ghosts—but that’s always the case. There’s never anything to fear from the dead. ”

I was tempted to argue with him, but I bit it back. I wasn’t sure how to contradict him anyway. For all I knew, he was right. He and his wife were the professionals here, after all. What did I know?

“But there’s plenty to learn from them,” his wife concluded, and I had every reason to believe that our conversation had drawn to a close. She guided his arm towards the door, and I laid a hand on Benny’s shoulder to encourage him to head the same way. After some mutual “bye”s and another round of “nice to meet you”s, the Marshalls and their associate went their way and we went ours.

Benny glowed all the way back to the car. “That was awesome. They were really nice, weren’t they? Really? I mean really. That was amazing. Aw, man—I should’ve asked them to sign something. ”

“Like what?”

“Like—oh shit. We should’ve had them sign some of the film! We could’ve had ghost-hunting paraphernalia signed by Tripp and Dana Marshall! Okay, now I’m just kicking myself. I really should’ve thought of that. At least the receipt. We should’ve had them sign the receipt. ”

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “Yeah, because right now it’s only highly probable that they’re going to have the cops keeping a lookout for us at the battlefield—but if we’d played our cards right, we could’ve had them calling the Feds to arrest us on the spot. Well, now I’m just sick with disappointment. Maybe, if we run, we can catch up to them and briefly explain our plans. ”

“There’s no need to be like that. They seemed cool. And who’s to say that we were going ghost-hunting with this film? For all they know we could be bird-watching. ”

“Bird-watching? At night? For what—owls?”

“Yes. That’ll be our story. Owls. Owls, and bats. We’re bat-watchers. ”