Page 35 of Fresh Old Bounties

Turning around, I saw a man advancing toward me with fast, angry strides. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes glittered with unholy rage.

“Do I know you?” I asked once he was within non-yelling distance.

People began giving us a wide circle. A couple stopped under an awning and brought out their phones, ready to become viral.

“Cut the crap, Avery,” the man said.

Apparently, he knew me. “Uhm…?”

“What’s this I’m hearing about you trying to undercut my haunted house business?”

Ooh. This must be Jim, the human who ran the haunted houses during Halloween. Vicky had complained about him for hours for not giving her the juiciest bits to play last year. If you ask me, the man should be thanking me for giving Vicky a bigger target than him to focus her dark magic on, instead of yelling at me in the middle of the street.

“I’m not trying to undercut your haunted houses.”

“Oh, yeah? Then why are people telling me Cavalier is organizing his own haunted attraction and is going to steal my workers?”

Oh, boy, Ian was going to love that one.

On the other hand, if the city was convinced the haunted tours were as good as done, wouldn’t that help my chances of convincing him to do them? A little one hundred percent organic, victimless guaranteed, carefully applied peer pressure never hurt anyone.

“He’s not going to organize a full-on haunted house,” I said. “But we’re hoping he might open the cemetery for special tours.”

“And who’s going to work those tours, huh? Who is going to perform as the ghosts walking around? Who’s going to be in charge that drunken idiots don’t veer off course? Who will take care of the tickets? Who will do the research and planning and write the script? Who’s going to be in charge of controlling the lights and the fake smoke?”

That…was a lot of things I hadn’t thought about. Would he mind repeating himself so I could make a list, I wondered. “He won’t poach your people, I promise.”

“You’re not Cavalier!”

“But you came to me, right? He’ll only use any of your workers if you have to turn people away. Think about it—you won’t have anyone complaining that they didn’t get a job this year if you can send them to Cavalier.”

His eyes narrowed. “What’s stopping him from offering better pay and my guys going to him first for a job, then coming to me if they don’t get it?”

“Yearly taxes on a city block of property?”

Jim appeared slightly mollified, so I pressed my advantage. “Think about it. It’ll be an opportunity for cross-promotion.”

“How?”

“It wouldn’t be that long of a tour. He can send everyone to your houses once they’re done with the tour and are thirsty for more jump scares, and you can send your overflow to the cemetery so people don’t get bored and leave bad reviews.”

“The lines are a headache,” Jim admitted.

“See? Perfect!”

“And you’re sure he won’t try to steal anyone?”

“I’m sure.” What had he said? People to play ghosts, tickets, to keep guests in line, and what else? Ah, yes, smoke machine and lights. We probably didn’t need the machine or the ghosts, especially if Shane and Alex played Garreth the Hound. Would Dru be willing to help with some of the tasks? I didn’t see her giving a tour or waiting patiently to yell at drunk tourists to get back into the marked path, though.

“Are you listening?” Jim demanded.

No, not really, I realized. “Sorry, what?”

“I said,” he enunciated as if I’d just learned English yesterday, “that if I find out Cavalier is messing with me, I’ll make sure of paying you a visit.”

“Why me?” Now that I thought of it, why was he approaching me instead of Ian?

“You heard me,” Jim said with grim finality, then spun around and stalked away.

---