“I said, step away from the folly,” the voice shouted again. “Right now, you bampots!”
Lake shook his head, seeming almost resigned.
“Oh no,” the cop groaned at the same time.
“What?” Josh demanded.
Lake cocked his head towards the crowd. “I know that voice. It isn’t a guy. It’s Betty.”
Josh pointed at the folly. “You said Danny was in there with Caroline, not Betty. What’s going on?”
Lake pointed at the parting crowd. “I think it’s a rescue attempt. Look.”
Mitch grunted with disgust. “No amount of PR will fix this.”
“Back off, you bunch of bloodsucking vampires,” Betty’s voice boomed out over the noise of the crowd.
Cameras flashed. People called out, hoping it would make Betty turn towards them as she parted the sea of reporters in front of her.
“Touch anyone and I’ll break you in two,” she threatened.
Behind her were two figures hidden under white bed sheets. They were flanked by the domino boys, who were armed with golf clubs. Josh could make out Caroline’s sensible cream-coloured pumps under the sheet the first person wore.
“Oh hell no, do you hear that?” Mitch said.
And sure enough, under the noise of the crowd they could hear singing. Danny was belting out “My Way” from under his sheet. Beside Josh, Lake struggled to hide his grin.
“This isn’t funny,” Josh told him.
Josh watched as the group of armed geriatrics, and two ghost people, made their way slowly through the graveyard.
“Take a good look.” Mitch pointed to the sheet-cloaked figures. “It’s the ghost of Christmas future. And it’s heralding the death of your career.”
“Do you think they plan to walk like that all the way home?” Donaldson took his hat off and ran his hand through his hair, making it stand on end. “I don’t see any cars waiting.”
“Maybe they plan to use their old folks’ discount and take the bus?” Lake started laughing again.
“Keep your filthy hands to yourself,” Betty shouted.
“Okay, enough of this.” Donaldson sounded resigned to his fate. “Time to intervene.” He spoke to Lake: “You round up the rescue squad and I’ll get Casper and her little friend.”
Josh moved to follow the cop. Donaldson stopped him in his tracks. “Back in the car, Josh. This is enough of a mess without you making it worse.”
He gritted his teeth, but did as he was told.
“So now you listen,” Mitch moaned before going to help Lake with the old folk.
Josh climbed into the SUV and watched through the heavily tinted windows as Donaldson grabbed hold of Caroline and Danny. He marched their sheet-covered bodies towards the waiting cars. Lake and two of his men herded the crowd of reporters to stop them following. Betty helped by shouting at everyone through her bullhorn. Mitch worked his way up the line of domino boys, disarming them. Once Caroline was in the police car, Mitch jogged over to the SUV and climbed into the driver’s seat.
“Half of those guys think it was you under the sheet. How are we supposed to fix this?”
“We don’t. We tell them it was a stunt put on by the crazy locals to draw attention from the castle and from us.”
Mitch pursed his lips. “How much more of this are we going to have to fend off?”
“The wedding is Saturday. Then this will all be over.” Josh resisted the urge to cross his fingers.
“Yeah, right,” Mitch scoffed.