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

Me? A member of the Sunshine Ghost Society? The idea is ridiculous, but I don’t want to insult Gloria, especially not when she’s been so helpful.

“Darn. I just joined a book club. Between that and The Bistro, I won’t have enough time for anything else.”

“What book club is that?” asks a voice from the dark.

I whip around to find Victor and Phoebe. “Oh, hey, Victor. Betty Jean Collins told me about it. Not sure if they have a name or anything.” I really hope they don’t have one of those cutesy book club names likes Babes and Books or something equally goofy.

“I’m in that book club,” says Victor. “Betty Jean said she asked someone new to join, but I didn’t know it was you, Lucy! Have you started reading the J. W. Quicksilver thriller? I think it’s his best one yet.”

“Yeah, um, I haven’t started, but I’m really looking forward to it.”

Oh boy. I guess now I’ll have to go to the book club meeting next Thursday. I’ll go to one meeting then drop out gracefully, citing a work conflict or something.

“Will you be bringing muffins?” Victor asks hopefully.

“I pretty much think that’s a requirement.”

“Can we get this séance over with?” Phoebe asks gloomily. She brushes past me to go inside the building.

Victor makes a face like he doesn’t know what’s wrong with Phoebe and follows her through the door.

Aurelia and Anthony show up next.

“How is dear sweet little Cornelius?” Aurelia asks.

“The vet says I can take him home in the morning.”

“Thanks again for inviting us,” Anthony says. “This might be our last chance to be around like-minded people for a while.”

Aurelia nods. “We’ll be leaving in a few days for our cruise. Who knows when our next séance might be?”

A large bulky figure emerges from the shadows. “Okay, so I’m here,” Derrick says. “Now what?”

“Mr. Delgado,” Gloria says pleasantly, “I’m so glad you were able to join us.”

Derrick takes one look at me and freezes. “You didn’t say she was coming.”

“Lucy is the one who put the séance together. Without her presence, I’m not sure we’ll be able to speak to Abby.”

“I thought you said I was the one Abby wanted to speak to.”

“It’s a community effort.” She links her arm through his. “Now that we’re all here, why don’t we join the others inside?”

Chapter Twenty-Two

The room is smaller than I remembered. Gloria instructs us all to sit in a circle. Since this is a Pilates classroom, there aren’t any chairs, so we pull some mats from a closet and arrange them on the floor.

Gloria lights several candles and sets them in the middle of the circle, then takes her place across from me. I’m sitting cross-legged between Victor and Brittany. It’s dark and eerily quiet.

“Let’s all hold hands, shall we?” Gloria’s voice echoes off the walls, adding to the spooky ambience, but all I can think is, thank God I’m not sitting next to Derrick because I would really hate to have to hold his nasty old hand. Plus, I have no idea if he even washes regularly. Who knows what kind of germs he could be spreading?

I gaze around the room. Phoebe avoids my eyes. Derrick glares at me, but that’s okay. I expect by the end of the night he won’t be looking quite so smug.

In Gloria’s infamous words, all will be revealed.

I certainly hope so.

A few minutes go by. No one says anything.