Rollie Tyler crept around in the near dawn light as he pulled his clothes off and slipped into bed beside his wife and son. The eye was completely swollen shut now and he knew Angie would wake him once she saw it. "What I get for my troubles…" he said in a whisper as he watched Angie sleeping. He leaned over and kissed her gently as she stirred slightly, Aidan between them.

"Hey, you back? Find him?" she murmured, her eyes still shut.

"Yep, he came back on his own, go back to sleep…" he told her softly as she smiled and rolled over. This prompted Aidan to turn and his warm body curved into Rollie’s, his arms curled up against his chest as well as his small legs drawn up to his abdomen. Rollie leaned over and kissed the top of his head, taking in the scent of his hair, the softness of his curls.

"No worries….sweetie, sleep away…" he said and then shut his one good eye, the extremes of the past twenty-four hours finally caught up to him.

Four people were busy that morning investigating the intricate pieces of the puzzles surrounding Will-O-The-Wisp. Marvin Vanduran was already reordering his information on Sanderlin and Westburn. Rollie Tyler was back on the set location, asking questions of crewmembers about someone who looked like Mrs. Gallagher. Once Vanduran finished talking with his contacts, he and Rollie planned to go over the findings and go from there. When actual confrontation with Sanderlin and Tolsen would happen, was still up in the air. How Stu Westburn fit into the mix was also still to be decided.

At the same time, Stu Westburn was walking through Eventyn, with Charles, the butler leading the way through what was left of the third floor. Two rooms remained and a central chimney that ran the entire three stories of Eventyn. The butler was showing him whatever he wanted to see.

In Richmond, some twenty miles away, Angie Tyler was in effect, on her own scavenger hunt. After seeing Rollie’s face that morning, she was seemingly aghast until explanation. After a wry look, she told Rollie, rather bemusedly, that she would not be sitting in a hotel room idly while everyone else had an assignment. She reminded Rollie of a similar situation with Ms. Lucinda Scott and how embarrassed he had been in that situation and that obviously, he hadn’t learned his lesson yet.

With Aidan in tow, she managed to find out from the concierge at the Jefferson Hotel where the Richmond Historical Archives were housed and the directions to the building. Once there, she asked to access the census books and catalog files for starters. She hoped against a mass of paperwork, that there were be something in the records that would help her find out what happened to Siobhan.

Lucinda Scott had two very tough scenes that day. A love scene between her character and the character that John Grant played was scheduled for that morning. The secret wedding scene of Siobhan O’Bralley and Hunter Eventyn was scheduled for around five-thirty that evening, at twilight hopefully. They would be filming it at a small church about two miles down from Eventyn. It was the original Oak Grove Church where the local plantation farmers had been members, including the original Eventyns. The old cemetery was still there, filled with aged and weatherworn headstones and altar tombs, some crumbling in long neglect. A few very notable plantation owners as well as two early governors rested in the clover filled yard surrounding the simple eighteenth century church.

Emotionally, Lucinda was in a tailspin. With these out of sequence shooting scenes, she had already acted out rape and war, her screen husband wounded in battle, and attacks from the scripted grotesque monster of which the title was derived. It was hard to rein it all back in and go to an earlier and gentler period of scenes, to portray the love between her character of Siobhan and Hunter Eventyn and then the emotions of a secret forbidden marriage. Of course, she was to check her own emotions at the door.

"And, in all of this chaos, add Marvin Vanduran and Rollie Tyler trying to arrest my director and a co-star for trying to drug us all for the benefit of producing this movie to heightened commercial success! I mean, why aren’t I just jumping for joy and contemplating my Oscar acceptance speech….Oh yeah, right, I know why! Because…Marvin will arrest them and uh, production will cease and uh, I’ll be FIRED!" Lucinda said out loud in her trailer, pacing back and forth. She stopped and looked out the window, fuming. Little did Marvin know what he was actually ruining!

As Rob Nesbitt knocked on her door, then entered, she stood there, contemplating what to do. Both Rollie and Marvin had told her to act normal, go about the day and just be cool. Right!

"Ms. Scott, you’re wanted on the set in five…." he said, noting her draw her robe together and flush.

"Okay, Rob…hey! What about that change in this afternoon’s shoot? Did you get the okay from Gary?" Lucinda asked, her face suddenly becoming hardened, defiant.

"That’s affirmative, Ms. Scott. Mr. Sanderlin has agreed for uh, that change after the cut and print. He states that any extra film time will cost you the going rate."

"FINE!" she replied, in a huff. The pinched face man smiled and then left her trailer.

Sanderlin! she thought with pent up anxiety and then gritted her teeth. In the end, maybe it wasn’t so bad that Marvin and Rollie were trying to take him down!

In the meantime, Marvin Vanduran and Rollie Tyler had seen each other again across the set location. As Eventyn Plantation was still not available since the fire, they had decided to film the love scene at a nearby plantation called Sherwood. The location scout, called in from California had been busy ever since the fire at Eventyn.

Rollie sat on the steps of the F/X van, a full two hours of questions to crewmembers revealing nothing. No one had seen a woman of Mrs. Gallagher’s description on the set yesterday. Marvin Vanduran approached, this time, carrying his information on a zip disk.

He winced slightly, seeing Rollie’s eye and nose as he stopped looking at the F/X man with some empathy.

"Oh man, it really DOES look pretty bad!" he commented as Rollie grunted and stood up, going back up into the van. Vanduran followed silently then, in caution.

"So, no one says they saw Mrs. Gallagher on set yesterday, Captain," Rollie said, swinging around finally to face him.

"But you said, Angie had a good look at her and even chased after her, right?…" Marvin replied, clasping the disk in his hand and then raised it to Rollie’s good eye as he returned an exasperated look; "Well, maybe something on this will help…" Both men avoided discussing further, the early morning mishap that had occurred.

"Yeah…" Rollie replied, almost complacent.

He took the disk from the Captain and loaded it into Angie’s zip drive at the workbench. Pulling up her image reader, he found ten documents that had been scanned into the disk by a document technician at the precinct.

"Which juicy tidbit first?" he asked, cupping his hands together.

"Go with Sanderlin’s files, that one…" Vanduran directed, pointed to the computer screen.

"Okay, let’s see what old Gary’s been up to, shall we?" Rollie asked, intent on answers.

The document scanned was the Logitech Production company contract between Gary Sanderlin and its newly organized film company, Quantum Productions. Rollie was quick to see that for Gary Sanderlin to keep his contract binding, he would need to produce a film grossing more than 25 million dollars in two weeks of opening a first time release.

"That’s some pressure there!" Rollie whistled as Vanduran pulled up a chair beside Rollie and squinted at the screen.

"Hmmm, what’s next?…Vanduran said, scanning the rest of the files, "try that one!"

Rollie clicked on the filename ‘Eventyn’. It took over a minute to load up on the imager and both men moved closer to the screen, Rollie taking out his glasses and putting them gingerly over his nose.

"Looks like the original script here….and what’s this? Looks like Hunter Eventyn’s the one that requested Tyler F/X here in his query letter," Rollie added as he pointed to the specific part of the letter on screen, "bloody marvelous tech you have there at the precinct, Cap…how’d he get this stuff from Quantum?"

"Don’t ask! We don’t do illegal stuff, okay?" Vanduran told him gruffly and then, changing the subject, pointed to the screen, "Looks like Sanderlin recommended someone else…let’s see, ‘Dear Mr. Eventyn, I am not in the habit of having scriptwriters dictate my choice of production companies or crews….yada yada…blah blah, but since your willingness to allow production to be on the actual historical site, this request will be honored…’ "Interesting! Mr. Eventyn did say he had requested us on purpose, that his haunting Irish ancestor requested it be us…" Rollie told him, grinning.

"What else?" Vanduran asked, getting less than thrilled about the information so far. It was nothing to help him get Sanderlin.

"Your researcher pulled up this bit of interesting tidbit!" Rollie continued, clicking on the next image. It was a memorandum from production vice president Bill Tautenbaum at Logitech to Sanderlin addressing the production of the Jasper chip for movie special effects products.

"Yeah, this was the part that had your guy, Stu Westburn mentioned in it…uh, there…" Vanduran commented, pointing the area of the document where Stu’s name was mentioned.

‘and with the personal assistance of our premier designer of the chip, Mr. Stewart Westburn, we should insure that Tyler F/X be presented the product in such a way as to guarantee promotion as well as a stamped invitation to world wide distribution. Although Tyler F/X was not your first choice, Mr. Westburn is confident with prior contact with this company, that the chip’s "baptism by fire" will go the distance and successfully garner the projected sales as previously discussed. It is understood that the scriptwriter, Mr. Eventyn had requested this special effects company as well and I see no problem, financially or with any conflict of interest that you might have earlier envisioned. Your goal of successful promotion of this film is the vital necessity for all concerned and if Tyler F/X and even Mr. Eventyn are in any way less than committed to that projection, your immediate attention is required and swift action is then decidedly in your own hands…’ Rollie read and then stopped, looking up at Vanduran over the rim of his glasses.

"Does that say what I think it says?" Rollie asked, his eyes widening as he whistled softly.

"I’d say so…like a carte blanche for handling unruly scriptwriters as well as F/X companies! I love the elegance of the business world, don’t you? Reading between corporate memo lines, it looks like drugging you and your wife, the film crew and well, arranging for the untimely demise of the scriptwriter are what is known as ‘immediate attention’ and ‘in your own hands’…" Vanduran said, grunting slightly as he sighed. He shook his head; "Rollie, this stuff is going to be hard to prove, that is unless you get that woman, Mrs. Gallagher and of course, get Judd Tolsen to admit he was working with Gary Sanderlin to get you guys and the entire crew to ‘see’ ghosts and get hyped on the spooky location stuff!"

"We’ve got Stu, Cap! He’s on our side, right?" Rollie asked, flipping through the rest of the documents copied.

"Uh, well…there is something about that guy that I saw besides the arrest records for protests, Rollie…" Vanduran warned as he scratched his head and made a face.

"I don’t like that look….what is it?" Rollie asked, dropping his hands from the keyboard. There seemed to always be another shoe dropping to spoil his trust in people lately.

"He’s got no history before 1996…" Vanduran said quickly, lowering his head and waiting for the reaction from Tyler that he knew would occur.

"What? Oh bloody great! He’s not really Stu Westburn, right? He’s some sort of criminal or maybe, hey- witness protection, or I know! He was a woman who had a sex change operation and…"

"God! Where do you come up with that stuff, Tyler? You need a life!" Vanduran said, gawking at him with intense scrutiny.

"No where, Cap…just my life as of late…forget it!"

"Okay…now…as for Tolsen, I got squat! Just what would be normal for a fledgling actor…SAG registration, a speeding ticket in northern Virginia and a couple of pings in Tennessee for youthful, college stuff…" Vanduran replied, yawning slightly.

Rollie continued scanning records, mumbling to himself, trying not to yawn as a reflex to Vanduran’s state of being at the moment. He stopped suddenly, clicking on a view to one hundred percent, bringing up a birth certificate.

"I thought you said, you had nothing on Megan Gallagher?" he asked, rubbing his good eye and putting his face inches from the screen.

"That’s right…nothing!" Vanduran snapped, leaning in as Rollie’s finger pointed to a line item on the document.

"What’s this then?" Rollie asked, puzzled and then smiled, looking back to Vanduran like a cat that had just knocked over a fish bowl.

Marvin Vanduran’s mouth opened slightly as he cursed himself for not picking up on the line item; "Well, I’ll be damned!" he exclaimed.

"That’s why Aidan was bouncing around, quoting Judd to Angie and me!"

They both looked back at the screen, marveling over the vital statistics of Judd Tolsen’s birth certificate…not that his father was listed as ‘unknown’ or that he was born in someplace called Kiley, Tennessee- but that his mother was listed as then, seventeen year old Megan Gallagher!

Angie was on her fourth late 1800's census book. She had been through several computerized lists as well with no mention of Eventyns in Charles City County where the plantation was located. She had also gone through records of marriage and deeds as well as wills. There was not a single Eventyn on record. It made no sense to her. She frowned in frustration, eyeing Aidan out of the corner of her eye. He had been extremely good while she had worked. At first, she wasn’t sure as the rather brisk senior woman that had arranged for the table and books, huffed at the first sight of Aidan. Angie picked up her son, tired from scanning all the old ledgers and documents. He patted her face softly.

"Well, looks like Mommy isn’t the super sleuth any more, Aidan. Just a lot of dust and a sea of people that don’t exist any more…" she told him, sadly as she cleared her throat.

"Didn’t find what you were looking for?" asked the voice behind her.

Angie turned and realized that the woman that had set her up was standing there, surveying all the opened books piled one on top of the other. Her aging face had once been beautiful, Angie realized and her demeanor was one of refinement.

"Oh, no…I just thought it would be an easy thing! I mean, since the Plantation is so well known and all, with the historical society and all. I guess not all wealthy families kept records," she surmised as the woman frowned and looked at Aidan sitting in her arms peacefully.

"What plantation? You said, you were making a movie in Seven Pines, is that right?" the woman snapped out.

"Um, Eventyn…" Angie replied, almost threatened.

The woman’s face suddenly lightened, the lines of age seemed to lift and her voice changed to softness, little above a whisper.

"Hunter’s Eventyn…"

"Yes…Hunter Eventyn, his family…and I did meet him, but I barely had time to find out much, with him dying…" Angie replied, her tone relaxing as well.

Angie thought she saw tears welling in the woman’s eyes. She sat down for a second, taking in a breath as she put her hands into her lap.

"Such a wonderful man…I remember his wonderful balls…he gave them every year in June…amazing ones! Beautiful!" the woman continued, her eyes suddenly misting over in a recalled memory from the distant past.

"Yes, he was a very nice gentleman and well, he was somewhat of a puzzle as well," Angie commented, one eyebrow going up as she looked pensively at the woman.

The woman grinned, warmly and with genuine charm now as she touched Angie’s hand slightly; "he was all that and more…a former beau, you know…"

"No!" Angie said, smiling back.

"Yes…but it was always that woman that took him away from me, you know. She came between everyone he met…"

"What woman was that?" Angie asked, frowning slightly.

"That Siobhan, of course…don’t recall her last name. She was always interfering…I never saw her, but I heard plenty about her!" the woman replied, tightening her lips and her eyes growing small and cold.

"Oh…" was all that Angie said, inwardly chuckling to herself as she stood up then, heaving Aidan onto one hip, "well, thanks anyway for your time and information…"

"Wait!" the woman said, alarmed, standing herself then and taking her aside, whispering slightly; "I’m not supposed to let you know this but…Hunter, he did have records stored on the family. He told me once that everything was kept in the rector’s vault at some little church down the road… that it would only be safe there!"

Angie’s eyes brightened and she smiled enthusiastically; "thanks, Ms. ….?"

"Oh, that’s Morris, Miss Ann Morris…I never did marry…" she replied, smiling, and blushing slightly.

"Oh, can you tell me something?" Angie asked, almost forgetting.

Miss Morris nodded, looking around for any ears that might be listening.

"Why are the Eventyns not on any census of record in Virginia in the mid to late 1800’s?" Angie asked, for that did stand out as unusual.

"I believe that many families east of Richmond, and those that lost all in the fire of Richmond when Grant came through, steadfastly refused to participate in Federal record keeping, Mrs. Tyler. They considered the Federal census takers as enemies as well. The sentiment was very strong down here, you know…"

Angie nodded, noticing that many things in this city and the surrounding countryside still held to that notion even to this day. It was as if time stood still for many here.

"Well, thanks again, Miss Morris…" she replied, smiling genuinely and walked out through the numerous hollowed halls of history.

Her next stop would take her and Aidan to Oak Grove Church. She had to think of a way to get the rector to show her those family documents. She had a good hour’s travel to think up something. She wanted to get there before the set location crew got there. "Now’s the time, Siobhan, to help me out…anything you want to go ahead and do for me would be greatly appreciated!" she said out loud as she drove the rental car down I-64 toward Seven Pines.

"So, what shall we do? Do we go to Judd and Sanderlin now?" Rollie asked, standing up, his adrenaline starting to run.

"Might want to wait on that!" came a voice from the front of the van. Both Vanduran and Rollie looked up, startled.