Once everyone was happy with the set-up, Pete and Leon piled into the rented black Peugeot and drove off. The two would find a decent vantage point along the road and wait to film the
Spirit Seekers
van as it passed by.
Ethan studied the map. Dex never used a satnav in case the electronic voice cut in with directions while they were talking to camera. Their route would take them close to the towns of Meaux, famous for producing Brie cheese, and Château-Thierry. Once they were out of the snarl of traffic around Charles de Gaulle airport and on clear roads, they should be at the château in less than two hours.
He settled into the back seat. As he snapped the seatbelt into position, Kim took her place beside him so the camera would pick up both her and Ethan looking out of the van’s windows as they traveled. Their luggage and all the technical equipment had been packed safely into the rear of the vehicle.
Dex smiled broadly. “Okay, are we ready to go?”
“Uh-huh,” Kim and Ethan replied in unison.
Dex backed the van out of the parking space, cursing under his breath as a hatchback car cut in front of him. Ethan fought the urge to close his eyes. They would only begin to discuss this latest case once they were out of the Parisian suburbs and the temptation to grab some sleep in the meantime was overwhelming. But that didn’t seem fair to Dex, who needed to remain alert. The French had a reputation for being careless behind the wheel. At least they drove on the same side of the road as back in the States. A trip to England had been mooted in the last production meeting, to check out a Cornish inn supposedly home to the ghosts of smugglers and a hotel in York that was reputed to be the most haunted building in the city. Dex would have fun driving on the left, Ethan was sure.
“You know,” Kim said, “I’ve always wanted to spend time in Paris. They say it’s the most romantic city on Earth.”
The van emerged from an underpass. Ethan glanced out of the window to see a flat, uninspiring landscape dotted with low industrial units. “If this is romance, the French have a funny way of showing it,” he quipped.
Soon they had left the outskirts of the city behind and were making steady progress along the
autoroute
. Dex flicked the switch on the dashboard camera. “So,” he said in his deep bass rumble, “what do you think we’re going to find in this Château LeBlanc, then?”
“Well,” Kim replied, “even the family who owns the place don’t really know who—or what—is haunting it. The château was built in the sixteenth century and has been owned by the LeBlanc family for all that time. They even managed to hold onto it during the French revolution, when many similar properties were seized and the aristocrats who owned them executed or forced into exile. The story goes that some wild beast, like a lion or a panther, supposedly roamed the grounds, and when the mob tried to storm the château, it attacked them and helped the LeBlancs to drive them away.”
“And do you believe that?” Ethan asked. He’d heard similar tales of creatures being spotted in places as far apart as Cornwall’s Bodmin Moor and Gippsland in the Australian state of Victoria. Mostly, these cats were thought to have escaped from private zoos, if they existed at all. As far as he was aware, no one had ever managed to track one down.
“What matters is that the locals believe it,” Kim replied. “But after that, everything appears to have gone quiet in terms of paranormal activity at the château, until recently. In the last year or so, members of the staff have complained about a presence in the scullery, and the cook claims to have seen a gray figure standing in one of the passageways. Strange noises have apparently been heard at night, like a big cat roaring.”
“And you think this means the beast that roams the grounds has returned?” Dex sounded as though he really wanted believe the idea. His role in the team, as well as being the tech guru, was to take the middle ground when it came to the plausibility of some phenomenon or other. Neither wildly skeptical like Ethan nor as open to suggestion as Kim, he gave the impression he was keen to find evidence of ghosts but quietly doubted that it would happen.
“Well, that’s what I hope our investigation will prove. According to my research, if the creature really is active, you’re more likely to hear it around the time of the full moon, so we’ve made sure our visit coincides with that. I’m looking forward to checking out the château’s grounds, seeing what we can find.”
“If we’re going to be attempting to record a sighting outdoors, that’s going to be a real test of your capabilities, Dex,” Ethan pointed out.
Dex turned in the driver’s seat. Glancing back over his shoulder, he fixed Ethan with a pointed look. “Are you saying I’m not up to the task?”
“Of course not. It’s just going to be an intensive job, that’s all. Kim, you’re going to have to do your best to narrow down the location where this…thing is supposed to prowl.”
“I’ll speak to the staff—see what I can find out. Maybe we could even go into Épernay and interview some of the townspeople to see if they have any stories they’re willing to share.”
“What about the guy who owns the place?”
“Jean-Luc LeBlanc? Now, he’s an interesting man.” Kim smiled. “Like I said, he can trace his lineage back five hundred years or more. And even though most of the hereditary titles in France were abolished during the Revolution, he’s still able to call himself a Count if he wishes. The Champagne he produces regularly wins awards and he runs his business in partnership with an Englishman called Marcus White, who’s married to LeBlanc’s sister, Thérèse. Hopefully, they’ll be as interested as we are in finding out what’s responsible for all the ghostly goings on at the château.”
Dex switched off the camera, obviously satisfied they had enough background information to use in the show. He stifled a yawn. “Man, I don’t know about you two, but I really need to get my head down.”
“How far away are we?” Kim asked.
Dex shrugged. “Maybe another half-hour.”
Kim dug in her bag, eventually pulling out a roll of butter rum Life Savers. She took one of the candies herself before passing them round.
Ethan popped a sweet in his mouth. He sucked on it thoughtfully. At the moment he was finding it hard to share Kim’s enthusiasm for their French adventure. Maybe once he’d grabbed some much-needed sleep and a shower he’d be more interested in searching out the secrets of the château. Something Kim had said when they’d first talked about coming over to the Champagne region popped into his mind.
“Hey, Kim, remember you told me this Jean-Luc guy had become a recluse. What’s all that about?”
“Oh, just something I picked up on when I was talking to Marcus White. Seems like LeBlanc’s taking less of an active part in running their business and spends all of his time shut away in his room. So I reckon we’re not going to get much out of him when it comes to the filming.” She grinned. “But as Marcus pretty much talks enough for two people, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”
They slipped into a companionable silence after that, both Ethan and Kim staring out of the van’s windows at the passing scenery. Gradually, the terrain had become more rugged, and Ethan spotted rows of cultivated vines on several of the hillsides. Their destination couldn’t be too far away now.
Dex took a turn, and Ethan got his first glimpse of the Château LeBlanc. With its pointed turrets and sandy-pink stone walls, it gave them impression of being something from a fairy tale. He almost expected to see Rapunzel letting down her long fall of blonde hair from one of the high windows.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” Kim breathed, pressing close to the window to get a better look. “I wonder what we’re going to find inside.”
For the first time since they’d set foot on French soil, Ethan found himself thinking the same.
Chapter Five
Tall, imposing gates guarded the entrance to the LeBlanc estate. In front of them a familiar-looking black saloon waited. When Dex brought the van to a halt, Pete hopped out of the car before walking over.
“So, you made it at last,” he said, leaning into the open driver’s window. “Isn’t this place amazing? We’d just like to get some footage of you driving through the gates, if that’s okay.”
They knew the routine. They’d done it so many times before. Establish the exterior of the site they were visiting. If they could do so in bad weather or late at night, in order to give an enhanced sense of dread, even better.
Dex walked over to press a button on the panel built into the right gatepost. Ethan couldn’t hear what was said but a moment later, the gates swung open. Having returned to his seat, Dex drove them up the long, graveled drive. On either side, conifers had been trimmed into neat, triangular shapes, their pointed tops echoing those of the château’s turrets.
A tall, thin woman in her mid-thirties stood waiting for them on the short flight of steps leading to the front door. She had on a neat black dress and wore her hair in a tightly coiled bun. She smiled in greeting as they climbed out of the van.
“
Bonjour
, my name is Agathe, and I am the housekeeper. On behalf of the LeBlanc family I would like to welcome you all to our château.” Her eyes widened a little as the Peugeot pulled up alongside the van. “Oh, there are more of you.”
“Yes, that’s our camera crew,” Ethan explained. “Kim, Dex and I”—he gestured to his companions, then himself—“are the ones who’ll actually be conducting the investigation.”
“Well, if you would like to come inside, I’ll make sure you have something to eat and drink. It must have been a long journey for you all,
non
?”
Once they had retrieved their luggage and equipment, Agathe led them into the house. If she was at all concerned by the number of sturdy metal boxes and flight cases being brought inside, she said nothing.
“Please,” she urged, “leave your luggage in the foyer and I will have it taken up to your rooms.”
“Oh, that’s not necessary with most of what we’ve got here,” Dex assured her. “We’ll need to find a room we can use as the center of our operation and once we do, we’ll be taking our equipment in there.”
“Very well.” Agathe sounded somewhat disconcerted. “In that case, make yourselves comfortable in the drawing room and
Monsieur
Marcus will be along to meet you all very shortly.”
Marcus. Not Jean-Luc. Well, that fits with what Kim said about the guy being some kind of recluse. Guess he has no interest in getting involved with us.
Ethan went into the drawing room, glancing round in awed admiration at the décor. Every piece of furniture had to be an antique. An ornate chandelier hung from the ceiling and fur rugs covered the polished floorboards. He couldn’t be sure, but he suspected the spindly-legged piano in one corner was actually a harpsichord. He hadn’t believed those things really existed outside of the costume dramas on PBS.
It seemed like all five of the team were almost too nervous to sit anywhere for fear of damaging the valuable, fragile-looking chairs. At last, he took a seat alongside Kim on a tapestry-covered couch.
Leon linked the fingers of both his hands together and flexed them till the knuckles cracked. “This place is like a museum,” he observed.
“Oh, I’m sure they just keep this room to impress visitors,” Dex replied. “I’m willing to bet the rest of the château’s got hot and cold running water, central heating maybe even a plasma-screen television so we can catch the Monday night football.”
Pete scratched at his facial scruff. He’d started growing a beard and the hair on his chin was coming in a couple of shades darker than the greying locks on his head. “The French don’t do football,” he said gloomily. “Well, not the proper kind. Just soccer.”
Dex snorted. “Call themselves a civilized nation?”
The drawing room door opened and Agathe reappeared, carrying a tray on which stood a big white teapot and five matching cups. She proceeded to pour each of them a drink. Ethan took the delicate china cup from her, his fingers trembling with weariness. At this rate, he didn’t know whether he’d be able to stay awake long enough to meet Marcus White.
“I will be back in just a moment with your sandwiches.” Agathe pronounced the word
sand-viches
.
There’s definitely something about that accent. Have the right guy speaking it and he could pretty much make me do anything he wanted.
Ethan wondered where the thought had come from. Since he and Boyd had split up so unexpectedly, he hadn’t given any consideration to the prospect of meeting anyone else, despite Kim’s assertion that the best way to get over an old squeeze was to get under a new one. Given that work would be taking him to Europe for the best part of six months, it didn’t feel like the right time to even be contemplating starting a relationship. Moreover, he still felt raw about the way he’d been thrown aside by Boyd without ceremony. When he went looking for a new love, he wanted to do so at his confident, take-no-shit best.
“Gentlemen, lady…”
The well-modulated tones of an English accent hit Ethan’s ear. He turned in his seat to see a striking figure, well over six feet in height, standing in the doorway. The man had hair so blond it was practically white and eyes of a curious shade somewhere between pale brown and gold. He wore a crisp white shirt, slim-fitting chocolate cord trousers and had a cravat around his neck. This, then, had to be Marcus White.
He almost bounded into the room, the energy he radiated equal to that of the five Americans combined.
“Nice to meet you all. I’m Marcus.”
In turn, the
Spirit Seekers
team introduced themselves. Marcus shook hands with each of them, his grip almost painfully firm when he grasped Ethan’s fingers. Then he found a spare seat, lounging back and crossing his legs at the ankle as he regarded his guests.
Whatever he was about to say next was interrupted by Agathe, returning with a platter of food. Sudden hunger rumbled in Ethan’s belly and he helped himself to a sandwich of smoked salmon and dill mayonnaise on thin-sliced sourdough bread.
“We’ll have time to talk at length later,” Marcus said, “but I suspect you all want to rest after your journey. Just let me assure you that my wife, Thér
è
se, and I will be happy to help you with your investigation in whatever way we can.”