Carolyn Haines - Wishbones

When Federico yelled cut, I stepped back from the balcony and into my room. My heart was pounding. I’d gone so deeply into Matty that I’d lost myself. There was a rap on the door of my bedroom. When I opened it, Federico grasped me in a bear hug and kissed both cheeks.

“You are caliente ! I thought you were going to melt the camera lens. I think Graf is worried, Sarah Booth. You looked as if you meant to eat him!” He kissed my cheeks again. “The camera loves you!”

I tried to blink myself back into the real world, but it was hard, moving from a character into my body.

“Go up to the ballroom and let Dallas help you get ready for the next scene,” Federico said. “The clothes are all up there, and she’s waiting for you, along with the makeup artist. Just a little refresher.”

“Little refresher” my ass-I was sweating like a ditchdigger. The day was warm, but my thoughts had been so torrid that I’d worked up a sweat without moving.

“Thanks, Federico, I will.”

He gave me another hug and then went back to his job. I went into the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face and neck. This was more than I’d bargained for. Maybe it was a sign, though, that I was becoming a better actress-that I could give myself to the part so successfully.

“Maybe it’s a sign you’re turnin’ into a damn psychotic!”

I heard Jitty as clearly as if she were standing at my side. I looked up into the mirror, half expecting to see her. Instead, I saw a face filled with fury.

Long fingers dug into the flesh of my arm above the elbow.

“Mother doesn’t want you here. Get out!”

I whirled, grabbing for her, but I was too slow. Estelle fled the room. I didn’t bother to pursue her. She knew the house backward and forward. She’d elude me, as she’d done before. In the future, I would lock my door and I’d tell Federico that his security team was too lax. I was tired of Estelle popping in and out of my room like some demented jack-in-the-box.

Once I’d cooled off a little and gathered my wits, I headed up the stairs to the third-floor ballroom where Dallas Brown had set up the clothes for the shoots. She’d done a superb job of selecting for me. The designs were sexy in an understated, purely adult way, and it was a joy to gossip with her about her past work experiences. She was always insightful and never cruel.

Halfway up the stairs I caught sight of the swish of a red dress hem. It was a flicker of movement, the wisp of material at the corner of my eye. I thought of the red dress and the front door from the previous night-I’d seen it. I wasn’t dreaming.

Here it was again, just ahead of me, tantalizing with the possibility of resolving at least one of the mysteries that seemed to populate the movie set.

I doubled my stride and took the stairs two at a time. As I got to the top, I looked down the hallway to the left. A dark-haired figure, slender and indistinct, disappeared at the end of the hall.

The ballroom was to the right, but I turned left, to follow the figure. I meant to find who it was taunting me with these visits set up to make me afraid. What they didn’t realize was that I lived with a real-life ghost. Jitty had taught me a few things about the Great Beyond. If this apparition was a ghost, it couldn’t hurt me, unless I let it scare me to death.

I ran down the hallway and stopped at a closed door. I rattled the knob. Locked. I moved back toward the ballroom, checking every door along the way. All were locked. Which proved nothing except that the person pretending to be a ghost had sense enough to lock a door behind herself.

“Sarah Booth, are you okay?”

Dallas had come out of the costume room into the hallway. She looked at me with concern as I rattled another door.

“I saw someone down here. What’s in those rooms?”

She shook her head. “Federico said something about his wife’s possessions. Her clothes, things like that. I guess he couldn’t bear to part with them or kept them for Estelle. He said the doors were locked and he didn’t want anyone in there.”

“So only a family member would have a key to those rooms?” Damn Estelle. She was putting all of her time and energy into trying to run me off. Why me? Why not focus all of this on Jovan, Federico’s girlfriend? I was merely an actor trying to make some money.

She shrugged, drawing me into the ballroom where screens had been put up for privacy. “Try this dress on, Sarah Booth. The fabric is perfect to give a soft reflection of the night lights. Federico loves it. He says it’s you.”

I looked at the dress she held up, fitted at the waist with a full skirt and a plunging halter top that made it totally backless. The fabric was brown, like molten chocolate. “This is incredible.”

“Try it on.” She held it out to me and I slipped behind a screen and let it glide down my body. Perfection. Dallas could look at a skirt or blouse or slacks and instantly know how they’d fit me.

I came out to show her. She was all smiles until her face fell into a frown.

“What’s wrong?” I looked down at the dress. As far as I could tell it was perfect.

“What happened to your arm?” She looked across the room. “Sally, can you come over here. We’ll need some makeup to cover these marks.”

I looked into the mirror she indicated and saw the deep bluish-purple bruises just above my left elbow where Estelle had grabbed me. She wasn’t a ghost. She was flesh and bones and dangerous.

“Who did that?” Dallas asked.

I shook my head. I wasn’t about to say Federico’s daughter. He had his hands full with her already.

“This place gives me the creeps.” Dallas was suddenly unhappy. When Sally came up and began mumbling over the bruises, Dallas flopped onto a stool. “I’ve heard this house is haunted.”

I tried not to react. Sally was brushing a concealing powder onto my arm.

“Posh!” Sally said. “Don’t start that crap, Dallas.”

“I didn’t start it. Kyle, the cinematographer, told me this morning that someone had tampered with the cameras last night. He fixed them before shooting this morning. He said there was talk of seeing a ghost in the house.”

They both looked at me. “Whose ghost?” I asked, playing it innocent.

“Most likely Carlita’s ghost. There’s talk that she didn’t commit suicide.” Dallas leaned forward. “I’ve heard rumors that she was murdered. That’s why she haunts this place. She can’t rest until the person who killed her pays.”

Dusk had swallowed us in a warm mango glow by the time we finished filming for the day. While the end result of our labors might look glamorous, I was learning that shooting a movie was grueling work.

Anticipation of the arrival of Tinkie, Cece, and Millie had me to the point that I couldn’t rest, though my body warned that I needed some shut-eye.

“Sarah Booth, why don’t you try to relax?” Graf asked. “I’ll make you something cool and delicious and you can rest until your friends get here. I’ll even go to the airport and retrieve them.”

I wondered where Graf kept his suit with the cape and the big “S” on the chest. “Will you really fetch them for me?”

“My pleasure. I owe them a lot. They helped me when I was in Zinnia.”

If I had matured in the months that Graf and I were apart, he’d had a major growth spurt. This wasn’t the same man I’d shared my bed with in New York. This was a conscious man, one who could put my needs ahead of his own.

“I’ll make this up to you.”

He shook his head. “This is nothing, Sarah Booth. I don’t understand why I never got this until now. Maybe I’ve never truly loved anyone before. Now it’s all so clear and simple. I’ll do everything in my power to make you happy.”