Beach Blanket Homicide (Lucy McGuffin, Psychic Amateur Detective 1)

I’m not sure what’s motivating him. The opportunity to see what I predict will be the world’s best acting job by yours truly or spending more time with Brittany. I have a strong feeling that it’s the latter.

At exactly eleven-thirty p.m. Will’s car pulls into the parking lot. I grab my sweater and tote and head out to meet him.

Ugh.

Brittany is with him. She’s dressed in black yoga pants, a sleek black turtleneck sweater, and black sneakers. It’s like she just stepped off the set of Mission Impossible.

“I wasn’t sure what to wear to a séance, but this seemed the most appropriate,” she says, eyeing my outfit of jeans and a baggy maroon and gold Florida State T-shirt.

Since Brittany is in the front with Will, I get into the backseat of the car. “Thanks again, Brittany. For helping us out here.”

“This is pretty exciting, isn’t it? Sneaking into a building in the middle of the night. It’s like we’re all…friends and we’re on some kind of big adventure.”

Something about her tone makes me uneasy. It’s just occurred to me that I never see Brittany with anyone her own age. She’s always either by herself or with her mother.

I catch Will’s gaze in the rearview mirror. He raises a brow at me as if to say, see what I mean?

Maybe Will and Sebastian are right. Maybe Brittany isn’t so bad after all. The two of us will never be real friends, but it wouldn’t hurt for me to be more open-minded about her.

Will parks his car a few blocks from the rec center. He hands us flashlights, and we begin the short trek.

“Isn’t this fun?” Brittany whispers.

“Let’s just hope no one gets in trouble here,” Will mutters.

“Don’t worry,” I say. “I have a master plan.”

We approach the building from the same side that I entered the day of the rec center celebration. “Hold on. We need to make sure the cameras don’t catch us.” I take out a towel from my tote and hand it to Will. “Toss this over the security camera in the corner over there.”

“Why me?”

“Because you’re the tallest. You’re always bragging about how you’re the best three-point shot maker on your basketball league. Here’s a chance to prove it.”

He grudgingly takes the towel, rolls it into a tight ball then tosses it high in the air. The towel falls perfectly over the camera, draping it completely.

“Yes!” Brittany looks up at Will adoringly. “That was awesome!”

“Not bad,” I say, glancing at my watch. “It’s T minus fifteen minutes. The rest of the gang should be here soon.”

Brittany pulls out her key. “I’ll go ahead and open up the room.” She unlocks the door and steps inside.

“Remember, no lights,” I warn.

I told everyone coming tonight to park anywhere but the rec center parking lot and to bring their own flashlights. The last thing we need is for some Good Samaritan to see the building lit up from the road and to report it to the police. Gloria said she would pass the info along to Derrick. I really hope she was able to convince him to come. Otherwise, this might all be for nothing.

Brittany and Will head into the building and I hang out by the door. Gloria is the first to arrive. She’s dressed simply and has a small bag with her.

“Were you able to get ahold of Derrick?” I ask.

“Yes, and he said he’d be here.”

“What did you say to get him to come?” Not that it matters, but I’m curious.

“I told him that tonight we’d be speaking to Abby’s spirit and that if there was anything he needed to say to her, then this was his chance.” She shrugs. “I might have also mentioned something about how we were going to ask Abby if she wanted to leave the Sunshine Ghost Society anything in her will. Even if Abby does tell us that she wants to leave the society some money, the authorities won't honor that. But Derrick seemed very motivated to make sure nothing slowed down getting his inheritance.”

“That’s brilliant.”

She smiles. “You know, Lucy, you and I could be good friends. You should think of coming to one of our meetings.”