Page 56 of Star Witch
Barry’s cheeks flushed. That was interesting. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ He checked his watch. ‘We’re starting in less than thirty minutes. The other two teams will be here shortly. You should prepare. Warm up or … something.’
Or something, indeed. He turned and walked away, pretending to look occupied.
Nibbling my lip, I wove my way through the crew towards Winter. He looked up, watching as I approached.
‘Hey.’
His eyes softened. ‘Hey.’
We smiled at each other for an all-too-brief moment. Then I shook myself and drew him aside, quickly filling him in on all I’d learnt about Belinda and her mysterious vial.
Winter’s expression darkened. ‘We need to find out what it is. It might be time to bring her in for questioning.’
‘Won’t that tip our hand?’
He rubbed his cheek. ‘There’s been no sight or sound of anything untoward since the blood in Bellows’ trailer. Either our necromancer has gone to ground or something else is being prepared. Something bigger and nastier than we’ve already seen. We need to prevent any more deaths from occurring.’
We both turned in Belinda’s direction. She was sitting in a chair with a make-up artist dabbing at her face with some kind of powder. ‘She’s hard as nails,’ I said. ‘And all the evidence so far points in her direction. But there’s no motive and I find it hard to believe she could be capable of such a thing.’
‘Because you’re a fan?’
I shrugged. ‘Yeah, maybe.’ I sighed. ‘You should never meet your heroes. They only ever disappoint.’
‘And here was me thinking I was your hero.’ Winter’s tone was light.
I turned and met his eyes. ‘You are.’
‘Do I disappoint you?’
I didn’t smile this time. ‘Never.’
He edged a bit closer and I caught a whiff of spicy aftershave. Winter didn’t often bother wearing it – was he trying to impress me? It was certainly working.
‘You look like you’re feeling better,’ he murmured.
‘I am. Whatever caused that hallucination yesterday must have been mild.’
‘You still need to be careful, Ivy,’ he cautioned. ‘You might be being targeted.’
‘I might be. But it might not be anything to do with our necromancer. Bellows, for example, can’t wait for me to get booted off.’
A gleam lit Winter’s eyes. ‘He knows you’re better than him.’
I grinned. ‘Yeah.’ I thought about what Harriet had said. ‘There’s more going on with Trevor Bellows than we know. He’s been up to something else besides all the show stuff.’
Winter agreed. ‘When you lot are off filming this challenge, I plan to take advantage of the chance to investigate both him and Belinda. I only came to see if you were alright. As soon as I get the chance, I’m heading back to the main set to sneak into their trailers.’
‘Raphael Winter!’ I said, with a mock gasp. ‘Are you really going to enter someone’s domain without a warrant? How shocking!’
‘Someone’s dead,’ he reminded me. A muscle throbbed in his jaw. ‘And someone tried to hurt you yesterday.’
Barry started waving at me. ‘Ivy! Get over here! We’re starting!’
I sighed. This contestant malarkey was becoming irritating. ‘Time to go. I’ll try to get hold of Belinda’s vial so we can find out for sure whether she’s involved. It’ll be better if she doesn’t know what we’re up to just yet. If she is our necromancer then she has a hell of a lot of power. We don’t want it unleashed unless we’re sure we can contain it.’
Winter smiled. ‘I’m glad to see you’re being sensible for once.’
‘I’m sure it won’t last. Not unless there are more necromancers around. Anything to do with dead bodies scares the bejesus out of me.’ I shivered.
