Page 64 of The Legend of Lovers Hollow

“Ah, yes, Tristan. Excellent idea, Edwina.” I nod. “I do believe he’s friends with our Ellis. I’ll have a word, get him to ring and send up an SOS.”

“Oh my god.” Stanley closes his eyes. “I am going to be in so much trouble.”

I grin. “Welcome to the club, dear chap. Trouble is something we excel at!”

16

“Hi, Tristan! It’s Ellis!” I greet brightly as I twine the old-fashioned curly phone wire around my fingers and casually spin on the office chair. I don’t usually use the office landline, but I put my phone down this morning and I can’t remember where. “So, um, hypothetically speaking, if you just so happened to accidentally wake up three ghosts trapped in a vicious love triangle that ended in gruesome murder when two one of them turned out to be psychotic killers… what would you do?”

The other side of the connection is silent for a long moment.

“Ellis,” Tristan replies slowly. “Did you accidentally wake up three ghosts trapped in a vicious love triangle that ended in gruesome murder because two of them were psychotic killers?”

“Weeeeell...” I draw out the word. “It wasn’t me, exactly—per se—but I can’t say I’m entirely blameless in this situation. I mean, we’re not entirely a hundred percent certain what woke them up. Apparently, it could have been the séance–”

“Séance?” he repeats.

“Or the ghost-hunting equipment,” I continue.

“Ghost hunting?”

“Or it could have been some… or a lot… of residual psychic energy. You know, fromourghosts. They’ve been a bit, um, active lately.”

“Oh my god.” Tristan sighs. “Ellis, tell me the truth, how dire is the situation?”

“Um, moderately dire.”

“Moderately dire?” he parrots.

“Hmm.” I nod even though he can’t see me. “Four out of ten, could be worse.”

He goes quiet again and I wonder if I’ve lost the connection.

“What can I do for you, Ellis?”

“Well, Bertie was hoping we could borrow your spirit guide for a bit. The blonde drag queen? She was epic. Plus, she’s able to keep spirits in line—you saw how she pulled Skid up on his behaviour. We were hoping that she could track down the potentially murdery ghosts and have a word with them before, you know… they decide to murder anyone.”

“I don’t even know where to start unpacking that sentence,” Tristan says. “Okay, here’s the thing. I’m not sure I can spare Dusty at the moment. We’re kind of in the middle of our own supernatural crisis at the moment.”

“Your friend who was murdered?” I ask.

“Vivienne,” Tristan says quietly. “Yeah, it’s proving to be a lot more complicated than we thought, and on top of that, my dad…” He trails off, and when he finally speaks again, his voice is so sad it makes my chest ache. “My dad’s not well. We don’t think he has long left.”

“I’m so sorry, Tristan,” I say softly. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

“You’re sweet, Ellis, but there’s nothing anyone can do.” He blows out a breath. “Besides, I think you’ve got your hands full.”

“Do you have any idea what we should do?” I ask.

“Let me think on it for a bit.” He pulls away from the phone, and I can hear muffled words but not enough to make them out. “Sorry, my friend Sam wants a word with me. I’ll be in touch soon.”

“Okay. Thanks, Tristan. If there’s anything I can do, you know, with your dad and all, just call me.”

“I will,” he murmurs. “Speak soon.”

The line at the other end clicks and I hang up.

There’s a knock on the door, and when it opens a crack, Rosie pops her head around the corner. “Hey, Sparky, the troops are amassed in the lobby. You ready for the tour?”