Beyond the Blue Moon (Forest Kingdom Novels) Read Free

main stairs at the end of the hall. Hawk and Fisher started slowly forward, their faces grim and focused on the situation at hand. They stopped at the bottom of the stairs, took one look at the garish vision bearing implacably down on them, and decided they’d gone quite far enough. A tall, heavy set woman wrapped in gaudy if somewhat threadbare robes crashed to a halt in front of them. She had a wild friz of dark curly hair above a face covered in so much makeup, it was almost impossible to discern her true features. Her mouth was a wide scarlet gash, and her eyes were bright and piercing. She had shoulders as wide as a docker’s, and hands to match. She looked large and solid and all too horribly real. She fixed Hawk with a terrible stare, held out a shaking scarlet-nailed hand, and spoke in deep sepulchral tones.
    “Be still, my friends. You have entered an unholy place, and we are not alone here. The spirits are restless tonight.”
    “Oh, bloody hell,” said Hawk. “It’s Madame Zara.”
    “You know this … person?” asked Fisher, not lowering her sword.
    “You know me, Captain?” asked Madame Zara, taken aback for a moment. She withdrew her hand and struck a dramatic pose. “I cannot say I recall the occasion. Though, of course, my fame has spread …”
    “It was a while back, during the Fenris case,” said Hawk grimly. “I chased that spy right through her parlor. Madame Zara is a spiritualist. A medium. Or whatever makes the most money this week. A second-rate con woman and a first-rate fake.”
    “Sir!” said Madame Zara, drawing herself up. This took a moment, as there was quite a lot of her to draw up. “I resent the implication!”
    “I notice you’re not denying it,” said Hawk. “Last time we met, you were using ventriloquism and funny voices to fake messages from the dear departed. Including, if memory serves, entirely unconvincing yowls from a departed pet cat.”
    Madame Zara thought about taking offense, considered that this was Captain Hawk, after all, and decided it wasn’t worth the trouble. She shrugged, crossed her large arms over her even larger bosom, and fixed Hawk and Fisher with her best intimidating scowl.
    “I have every right to be here, Captain. The Hartleys came to me, as one of Haven’s most prestigious mediums, wishing to establish contact with their dear departed uncle, Appleton Hartley. There were things they desperately needed to say to him, questions they needed to ask. Most definitely including, What happened to all the money he made? The will left Leonard and Mavis everything, but it seems that a few months before Appleton died, he liquidated his entire business, cleared out all his bank accounts, and took the lot in hard cash. According to the firm’s books, there should have been a great deal of money for the descendants to inherit, but there’s no trace of any of it anywhere. The family have been tearing this house apart, but the ghost won’t leave them alone long enough for them to get anywhere.”
    By now Hawk and Fisher were nodding in unison. The case was suddenly starting to make a great deal more sense.
    “So, the Hartleys came to me, the great Madame Zara. I was unable to contact the actual spirit of their dear departed uncle, due to … conturbations in the spirit world. They asked me to investigate and cleanse this house, and lay its uneasy spirit to rest.” Madame Zara gave Hawk and Fisher her best other-worldly look. It looked a lot more like indigestion. “I have made some headway. I am almost sure the revenant here is in fact that of a little girl. A child, lost and alone, reaching out to make contact.” She paused sharply, and jerked her head oddly. “Aah! She is here, now, with us! Don’t pull at my hair, dear …”
    Hawk looked at Fisher. “I don’t know whether to kick her arse or applaud. Any minute now she’ll be asking if there’s anyone here called John.”
    “I am a mistress of the mysteries! A conversant with powers and