Энн Стюарт "Дом теней"

Prologue

From: Hollywood Haunts, Hartsfield Books, 1974 One of the most interesting houses in Hollywood is the famous La Casa de Sombras—House of Shadows. Built by the Greene brothers in 1928, La Casa is a perfect example of Spanish Colonial revival mixed with Mediterranean and Muslim influences. The once lavishly landscaped grounds are extensive, though recently the estate has fallen into disrepair and most likely will be razed.

La Casa de Sombras was the site of an infamous murder-suicide pact in the early 1950s. Fading film star Brenda de Lorillard shot her married lover, director Ted Hughes, before turning the gun on herself Though a trail of blood led through the ornate house, both bodies were found in the lavish master bedroom. In the ensuing decades their ghosts have been spotted, at times arguing, at other times dancing on the terrace by moonlight, and occasionally, to the embarrassment of certain well-known Hollywood Realtors, in flagrante delicto on the large banquet table. Mystery still shrouds the reason for the murder-suicide.

The house was purchased by Meyer Enterprises and remained empty until the mid 1960s, when its grand elegance was tarnished after it was turned into a hippie crash pad for some of Hollywood's notorious young actors and musicians. In recent years efforts had been made to restore the Grand Old Lady by the present owners, but like much of Hollywood's architectural history, its days are most likely numbered. One can only wonder where the ghosts will go, once the baroque mansion is demolished.



Brenda de Lorillard, star of stage, screen, tabloids and nightmares, stretched her lithe body with a little catlike gesture, then made a moue at her beloved. "It's been more than fifteen years since they published that dreadful book, darling. I think they've forgotten all about us."

Ted lowered his newspaper and glanced at her through his wire-rimmed glasses. When he first started wearing them she'd teased him unmercifully. After all, why in heaven's name should a ghost need reading glasses? They were dead, for heaven's sake. How could his eyesight possibly deteriorate? And where the hell had he found those glasses, anyway?

But he'd simply given her his usual, indulgent smile, and as always Brenda was lost, as she had been when she first saw him across the bright lights of a movie set, when he was a lowly director of photography and she was a grand star. She'd loved him ever since, no matter how illogical. She'd spent almost her entire life, thirty-three… er… twenty-eight years focused on her career, and she'd put it all at risk for a mad infatuation that never faded, through career disaster, through time, through death itself.

"I wouldn't worry about it, honeybunch," he said, taking a sip of his coffee. "The place is still standing, though just barely, and the house tours still stop by the gates occasionally."

"It's the scandal tour," Brenda said. "The same people who go visit Valentino's grave and the place where the Black Dahlia was found. Hardly befitting a gorgeous villa like La Casa de Sombras!" she said with a sniff. "And not very flattering to the two of us. I hate thinking our only legacy was our death."

Ted set his glasses down beside the newspaper, turning to look at her out of those wonderful gray eyes of his. The newspaper was the Los Angeles Times, dated October 27, 1951, the day before they died. It never changed, and Ted read it every morning with the air of a man who was seeing it for the first time. As Brenda suspected he was.

"Honeybunch, anyone who sees your movies will remember you in all your glory. Especially the ones I directed," he added with a mischievous grin. "Scandals fade, art remains. Ars longa, vita brevis, you know."

"Stop quoting movie slogans at me," she snapped. "I never worked for MGM and I'm glad of it."

"It's a little older than that…"

"Don't condescend to me, either, with your Ivy League education," she interrupted him, glaring at her nails. She filed them every day, searching out little imperfections, and each day she found new ones. There was one major glory in that, though. She never aged. She missed seeing her reflection in the mirrors that filled every room of La Casa, but she knew from the look in Ted's eyes that she was still just as beautiful as she'd ever been. It was all she needed.

"They're not going to tear it down," he said patiently. "It survived the sixties and those repulsive creatures who camped out here. It's survived years of neglect, and at least now we have someone who loves it as much as we do. She'll take care of the place. And of us."

"But what if she doesn't?" Brenda cried. "What if they tear it down to make office buildings? We'll be left wandering the earth, lost…"

"Honeybunch," he said, his voice warm and comforting, and she slid into his arms so naturally, finding the peace that was always there. "We'll make it through. Don't we always, you and me together?"

She looked at him, so dear, so sweet, so maddening, so eternal. "Always," she said in a tremulous voice. She leaned down to press her carmine lips against his firm mouth, and slowly they began their inevitable fade-out.