Page 15 of Bright Dark Curses

Shane planted a hand on his shoulder and leaned in to whisper something in his ear.

Brett’s expression cleared, and he gave me a measuring look. “Oh, I see.”

I narrowed my eyes at Shane, who sent me a wolfish grin. “Suspects, right?”

Hmph. “Right. Who would you say is more likely to want to sabotage the movie?”

“Using magic?” Key asked.

“Either way. We don’t know who might be paranormal and hiding it so they aren’t suspected.”

They all thought for a few moments, except Dru, who was staring longingly toward the alleyway’s exit and the bright lights of the fast-food restaurant.

Brett suddenly brightened. “Lydia Lee.”

The name rang a bell. I searched my memory of the reports on the movie I’d found online. “She’s playing the aunt of Lily Hale, right?”

“Yeah,” Brett said. “She auditioned for the main role but got offered the aunt one. She was not happy about that,” he added in a low tone.

“Bet she wasn’t,” Dru muttered.

I took out my phone and added her name. Everyone is a suspect might no longer be my motto, but the to-do list still worked just as well. “Who else?”

“Gary Sanders, the cinematographer?” Key asked tentatively. “I saw him arguing with Parker—that’s the director—while we were setting up the food. It sounded like they’d argued before.”

Brett nodded. “Yep. They don’t like each other very much, but there was nobody else who could come in and they’ve done other projects together before. We should also add Nate Curtis to the list.”

“Who’s that?” I asked.

“One of the producers. He keeps trying to cut corners with the production budget. We all think he wishes the movie would get canceled so he’d be off the hook for it.”

“Excellent suspect,” I agreed, adding the name to the list. Three was a good spot to start.

“What about the writer?” Shane asked.

I gasped. “Emilia Hart is here?” Did I have time to run to the bookstore and buy the paperbacks for her to sign? Ah, the curse of owning only ebooks!

Shane blinked. “Is that the writer of the movie?”

“No, that’s Lisa Woodward,” Key said.

“Not Emilia Hart?” I asked, hanging on to hope.

All three shook their heads.

My shoulders slumped with disappointment, and Fluffy gave me a commiserating lick. Ah, well. Maybe she’d do some sort of visit during production. Didn’t the original creators sometimes do that? The thought cheered me back up. “What’s the story with Woodward?”

“She’s paranormal,” Shane explained, “and she used to have a show about witches years ago—Witchcraft and something else, I think—but it got canceled fast. Like after two or three episodes.”

“I remember that,” Dru murmured. When she caught my look of surprise, she arched an eyebrow. “What? I like paranormal shows as much as anyone else.”

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

I was definitely searching for that show later.

“What does her old series have to do with this?” Brett asked.

“Maybe she’s worried this movie won’t do well either, so she wants to create a fake curse to make it hit the headlines?” Shane asked.

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