Smoke and Ashes Read Free

journalist.
    Fortunately, after the house incident, Mason had hogged the spotlight, and for Mason it was all about Mason. Unfortunately, Kevin Groves had apparently heard the bits of truth nearly buried under ego.
    To his great disappointment, after official statements were taken—and with three dead under mysterious circumstances official statements were taken—no one really wanted to talk much about what had happened. They seemed almost embarrassed about having been a part of a paranormal experience, given the kind of people to whom those sorts of things generally happened. In the public perception, haunted houses came just under alien anal probes and slightly above thousand-year-old lizard babies. Group gestalt insisted on a rational explanation for everything that could possibly be given one and refused to admit to the rest, leaving Kevin Groves lurking unfulfilled around the soundstage and being regularly escorted off location shoots.
    However, it was clear that an unwillingness to talk didn’t mean that anyone had actually forgotten the experience. No one ever seemed to be under a certain place on the soundstage between 11:00 and 11:15 AM or PM and Tony’s abilities were used whenever they’d save a few moments or dollars. Television people dealt with the surreal on a daily basis and had managed to work a couple more bits in with little difficulty.
    It helped that Tony had been a PA back in August, bottom man on the television totem pole, so anything too bizarre coming from his position wasn’t exactly hard for them to ignore.
    â€œI wouldn’t be so fast to dismiss Mr. Groves, if I were you,” Jack observed around a final mouthful of oatmeal raisin. “It mostly got lost in all of Mason Reed’s posturing, but don’t forget that there were interesting things said about your actions that night.”
    Tony sighed. “Yes, I have vast and incredible powers.”
    â€œYou talk to dead people.”
    â€œSo? I also talk to my car and the bank machine.”
    â€œDead people talk to you.”
    â€œWhat, you never caught an episode of Crossing Over back when it was on six or seven times a day? Apparently, dead people talk to everyone.”
    â€œYou…” He waved a hand.
    Tony raised an eyebrow, the movement attaching a certain smuttiness to the unspoken part of the constable’s observation.
    Jack snorted, refusing to be baited. “The word wizard was mentioned.”
    â€œYeah, so were the words mass hallucination and gas leak. If I’m such a mighty wizard, don’t you think I’d have better things to do than stand around on the edge of a construction zone at one o’clock in the morning?”
    â€œWhat, and give up show business?” Brushing cookie crumbs off his jacket, Jack grinned, golden stubble glinting in the spill of light from the streetlamp.
    The grin made Tony nervous.
    It was supposed to. And knowing that didn’t help.
    â€œI’ll go have a word with Mr. Groves.”
    â€œI can’t stop you.”
    â€œYou know, you’re not as dumb as you look.”
    Since “ neither are you ” would be an enormously stupid thing to say, Tony bit his tongue as the RCMP officer walked toward the reporter.
    â€œCut! Good, that’s got it!”
    â€œTony.” Adam’s voice in his ear. “Go get Padma.”
    The conversation with Jack had moved him nearly back beside the trailer shared by makeup and wardrobe. He leaned in through the open door and saw it was empty but for Padma Sathaye, the victim of the week. Ready for her scene, she was sitting in the makeup chair, absently rocking it back and forth with the pointed toe of one shoe, and reading an Elizabeth Fitzroy romance novel. Sweet Savage Seas , Tony noted; one of the older ones.
    â€œPadma? They’re ready for you.”
    She murmured a distracted reply, read for a second longer, and then closed the book around a folded piece of