Free Larue Donavon 3 - The Ghoul Next Door by Rose Pressey Page A

conference room.
Why we had to meet the production crew at six a.m., I had no idea.
Were they trying to punish me? My mouth didn’t even work beyond a
few grunts until after eight a.m. and caffeine. Not to mention I
really needed to cut down on the margarita fests. It felt as if I
had tiny hammers pounding away in my head.
    After the preliminary meeting this
morning, the show would pick me up at my house tomorrow morning and
take us to the undisclosed haunted location. We didn’t know exactly
where it was yet, but we’d been told that it wasn’t far from
Magnolia. That wasn’t a lot of information to go by. With any luck,
I’d convince them that I needed an assistant so that Mindy could
come along. Okay, they would probably think I was a diva, but it
was the only way I could think to get Mindy on the show
too.
    As soon as Mindy had found out about
Chasing Demons, visions of traveling across the globe sprang into
her head. She talked about glamorous places like New York City and
Los Angeles, but I was content with staying in Magnolia.
    Mindy had been talking non-stop since
we’d arrived. Not to mention my ghost friends had tagged along.
Strangely, they sat at a different table across the room, as if
they didn’t want me to know what they were saying.
    “ All I’m saying is why can’t
they send you somewhere else? The whole point of doing a show like
this is so you can get a vacation. But, no, we’re stuck right in
the heart of good ol’ Magnolia.” Mindy shook her head.
    I rolled my eyes. “The
producer promised different locations if I’m asked to do future
episodes.” He had emphasized the if part of the sentence.
    Actually, I wasn’t surprised that we
were staying in Kentucky for the show. The area had been a hotbed
of paranormal activity as of late. I’d never seen so many ghosts
and shadowy beings, not to mention all the black magic flying
around. But the townsfolk had an inherent ability to ignore the
fact that there were things that really did go bump in the night.
They were oblivious.
    Wicked people had been visiting our
little town lately. Plus there were the spirits who had a way of
slipping from the shadows right to my front door. Had another bad
one had crept through? I wondered why I hadn’t heard about the
haunting we’d investigate for the show before now.
    Anyway, here we sat, waiting around a
small table covered with a white tablecloth in the middle of a
white room, a sea of tables around us. It looked like heaven’s
orientation room with all the white. A female hotel employee set up
water and glasses in the corner. The clinking of glass echoed
across the large empty room. Mindy tapped her fingers against the
table and I began to doze off.
    After a couple seconds, Mindy tapped
me on the arm and I jumped. “What? Where are we?”
    “ You’re drooling. Wake up
before the show-business people walk in and think you’re a complete
and utter nut.”
    “ I’m pretty sure they
already think that. The psychic is always the nut, right?” I
snorted.
    Psychic Medium. As long as I’d been
dealing with my gift, the title still seemed strange sometimes. I
tried to keep my ability a secret as much as possible. Magnolia’s
residents would now call me ‘special.’ That was their label for
anyone who was unique. They already thought I was a little odd, I
sensed it. Maybe they knew more about the paranormal than I
thought.
    My ‘special’ wouldn’t be considered
the good special in their eyes. Yeah, now I’d be looked at with a
suspicious eye. Whispered about and watched everywhere I went. Was
being on TV worth all that? I wasn’t sure I was ready for the kind
of attention this show might bring. But even if they did talk and
give me odd looks, I would never leave Magnolia.
    My grandfather had always encouraged
me to embrace my talent. I spent many hours with him on that old
fishing pond across town, and we’d talked the whole time. He liked
to use colorful phrases. His favorite being: let