Death for Dinner and Screams for Dessert

**Warning: Contains a house with a violent past, Hollywood passion, loose morals, and death**

Arthur Macon wanted an authentic haunted house for his next movie. A place with a history of suicides, murders, and ghostly sightings.

The house he chose was built in 1894 on the outskirts of Milwaukee, a ten-bedroom Victorian with deep porches and myriads of gables and chimneys. Three people died during its construction. Johann Buxley, the original owner, hung himself in an attic room in 1910. His oldest daughter, only sixteen at the time of his death, was murdered ten years later, strangled in the kitchen by her husband, who believed she had been unfaithful. Some time after that, the child of a houseguest died after an accidental fall from a balcony.

By 1935, the house was abandoned, and the usual haunted house stories began to circulate. Mysterious lights. Strange noises. Sightings in mirrors. By the time Macon Studios purchased the property, the windows were broken, and the mirrors had all been stolen.

~*~

"Splendid!" Arthur exclaimed during his first tour through the dwelling. "Magnificent! It's my vision exactly. To a T! Are you getting this, Cornwell? What do you think, Abernathy?"

Lou Cornwell was taking videos. Saul Abernathy was going to write the screenplay, and Arthur would direct.

"The place gives me the willies. I feel someone is watching us. Studying us. I suppose it's perfect," Saul answered. "Are we going to clean her up? Restore her to her original glory? Or leave the cobwebs and dust as is? You're having a dinner with guests spending the night, am I correct?"

"Yes, yes. A grisly death for dinner and screams for dessert. We're going to clean her up first. Maddie, hire a crew for that. Get someone local."

Maddie was Arthur's personal assistant. She wrote his directives neatly in a leather-bound book.

"We'll bring in Harriet and Palmer to decorate," Arthur continued. "Give them a call, Maddie. Tell them I want ornate Victorian mirrors in every room. Two in the dining room. Did you hear that mirror story? I want that written in, Saul. True or not. You know how everyone was afraid to go into the water after "Jaws?" I want everyone to be afraid to look in the mirror. This." Arthur paused to throw his hands wide and do a slow turn. "This will be my signature film."

~*~

It took a year to begin shooting. The first cleaning crew quit after only a week because one of their workers died of a heart attack on the fifth day. The house was hot and stuffy, and the man expired while cleaning the attic. The second company lasted only three days because someone heard a scream. They left most of their equipment behind. The third cleaning service charged double the money but sent teams of different people each day. Someone may have disappeared, but no one knew for sure. Jose was there, and then he wasn't. He probably ran away.

Harriet and Palmer had similar problems with the restoration. They went through a series of painters and wallpaper installers, and every room needed new flooring as well. A roofer fell to his death.

When the furniture arrived, Harriet called the local college. A line of students who wanted to earn a hundred dollars for a day's work had everything in place by nightfall, including twenty-seven beveled glass mirrors in ornate frames. The glass of the mirrors was covered with protective paper, which Harriet left in place.

She texted Arthur to let him know the house was ready, then flew back to Hollywood with Palmer. Harriet drank two martinis on the plane, thankful to be away from the movie set. The place held a dangerous vibe.

~*~

"What great movie doesn't begin over budget," Arthur exclaimed to his producers. "The screenplay is finished. The cast and crew are lodged in luxury trailers we've set up on the grounds, and filming begins tomorrow. It's going to be great!"

~*~

Elizabella Garnier, Arthur's much younger wife, was cast in the leading role of Kate, a woman terrified of her husband and desperate for affection. Elizabella had thick blond hair, azure eyes, a lustful figure, and wore a diamond as big as a marble. Arthur and Elizabella had been married for three years.

In the storyline, Kate finds comfort in the arms of a kind minister, to be played by Cameron Kennedy, a handsome blond-haired heartthrob with rare grey eyes. The role of Kate's volatile husband, Tory, was to be filled by Montgomery Bronte. Montgomery was tall and dark, in stark contrast to Cameron.

Arthur gave her the part when she asked.

"You're a natural," he'd said as he kissed her.

What did he mean by that? Did he know she'd had a few flings? He couldn't. She'd been too careful, though she'd asked for the part because she'd felt an attraction to both actors. There were intimate love scenes in the script.

The public expected love affairs between leading roles. It was part of Hollywood's glamour, and she liked keeping her name in the spotlight. Arthur was her third husband. Her first marriage lasted a year. Her second lasted three months. Luscious trysts of desire happened along the way and in between. It was all a game—a game she loved. Without the game, she’d be nothing. She might as well be dead.

As the make-up girl placed the cucumbers over her eyes, Elizabella daydreamed about Montgomery and Cameron and the scenes that would bring them close. She couldn't wait to lay eyes on all those mirrors.

~*~

"Action!" shouted Arthur.

Kate wore a tight Victorian dress; her hair was pinned up and intricately braided as she reasoned to no avail with Tory.

"Where have you been? Were you with Geb?"

"Of course not," Kate answered. "I've been on a walk, is all, then I stopped at the grocers. I have proof."

Tory slapped her face. "I don't believe you."

He ripped the front of her dress.

"Cut!" shouted Arthur.

Before the front of the dress was reattached, and they replayed the scene, Elizabella gave Montgomery such a look of desire that he couldn't mistake the meaning. His returning look told her he understood.

~*~

Earlier, Arthur had given her a tour of the house. She'd already read the screenplay and heard about the mirrors. Saul had combined the house's true history with the haunted house stories to create an amazing script. Elizabella had embarrassed him with her kiss of praise. Saul turned as red as a tomato. She didn't care for blushing men.

During the tour, Arthur pointed out the rooms where the past events took place and where each movie scene would transpire.

"This is where the mirror stories will take place," he said of the dining room. It held a table that would seat fourteen. The mirrors were placed on opposite walls.

"This bedroom is where Kate will fight for her life, but the kitchen is where he strangles her. She nearly won that battle. Tory sustained serious injuries according to the accounts of the household staff. There were three servants sent away on different errands during the killing. She had no one to protect her. Tory had plotted his wife’s murder with care."

Elizabella tried to imagine the real Kate living in these rooms as she toured them with Arthur. She imagined Kate’s fight with her violent husband. A life of fear. Poor Kate.

As they went from room to room Elizabella looked into all the mirrors, and suddenly, it seemed the mirrors were looking back. She smiled at the feeling.

The house loved her.

"This is the room where Johann hung himself. The rafter still survives."

While Arthur stared at the rafter, Elizabella recalled the intense look Cameron had given her as they were introduced that morning. Something magical was taking hold. Maybe it was the house.

When Arthur wasn't looking, she blew a kiss into the attic mirror. A charged energy answered in return. Elizabella smiled in triumph. She was going to win an award for her portrayal of Kate.

"This," she thought as she looked over the balcony where a nameless child had once fallen in real life, "is going to be my signature role."

~*~

It took twenty-one days to finish filming Death for Dinner.

The script began with a child falling over the balcony. The film portrays him as Johann’s son, though truly, Johann had never met the child. A sorrowful funeral follows.

The next scene to unfold is Johann Buxley hanging himself in the attic. Kate watches sadly, along with her mother, as others cut him down. She was only sixteen at the time. The scenes from the past are played by unknown actors.

~*~

Elizabella's script begins in the dining room years later. Thirteen people are seated around a table laden with food. An empty chair sits at the foot. Everyone asks Tory where Kate is.

"She'll be here shortly."

When Kate takes her place in the empty chair, the camera centers on Kate's bruised face and cut lip, which everyone tries not to notice.

"Wonderful meal, Kate," a guest says.

Kate smiles.

The camera takes a close-up of the look of concern that passes from Geb, the minister, to Kate.

The script reads, “The room fades to black, showcasing the two large mirrors on the wall reflecting the guests as they continue their meal. In one mirror, the transparent ghost of Johann Buxley stops beside the table before moving on, unnoticed by the guests. In the other, a child runs past the table, laughing. The child emits a ghostly laugh. The laugh to be added later. The light returns to normal.”

Lou Cornwell said he was certain he could pull off the special camera techniques required for the ghostly effects.

Kate’s killing was a tough two-day shoot but through Arthur's direction promised to be Elizabella's finest performance. The scene would showcase her talent as an actress and force the academy to take notice.

The final scene took a day and a half. The lighting had to be just right. It was another dinner scene. Thirteen guests ate in near silence at the dining table. Everyone asks about Kate when they first arrive, but Tory tells everyone she left him. He produces a note he wrote himself though he claims it was from her. The script fades the room to black except for the mirrors once again. This time, guests watch in horror as a transparent Kate arrives to take her place at the foot of the table.

The story ends.

~*~

The filming was over. Arthur watched Elizabella enter Montgomery's trailer from the attic window. He would attend the film's premiere with her and then wait a few months before filing for divorce. It was time to move on. He'd grown a little sweet on his assistant Maddie, thinking it might be nice to have a wife who wasn't an actress for a change. He'd noticed the way she looked at him, and he thought of her as quiet, adorable, and capable of performing miracles.  

There was a dinner planned for the cast and crew tonight at the local hotel before everyone broke up to go their own way. Elizabella said she'd meet him there later. She wanted a nap and a massage and did not want to be disturbed. While shooting the film, they'd kept separate trailers. Arthur sighed. It was just as well. He caught his reflection in the mirror as he turned to go. His tie was crooked. He tried to adjust it to no avail. He ended up taking it off and putting it back on again. Then, he couldn't get it tight enough. Tighter. Tighter. There. He stepped away.

~*~

Elizabella sneaked back into her own trailer after leaving Montgomery, where she changed and packed and drove herself to the hotel dinner.

Arthur wasn't there.

She couldn’t find Maddie either, but questioned others until, finally, a group set out to check his trailer. Elizabella drank champagne and nibbled on appetizers dabbed with caviar as she waited for Arthur to call to tell her he was on his way.

The call never came.

Instead, the police arrived. Arthur had hung himself from the rafter in the attic. 

~*~

 Cameron Kennedy attended the premiere of Death for Dinner with Elizabella Garnier. They posed for the red carpet, as the cameras flashed, with Elizabella smiling a sad smile. For the time being, she was the queen of Hollywood. Her name was everywhere. Even the academy was whispering Elizabella Garnier. She played out the grieving widow's role perfectly, evoking sympathy and attention. Arthur had left her a fair amount in his will. It was assumed Maddie had run off at Arthur’s death. There were those who knew she had secretly loved him.

When Arthur’s film played for the first time on the big screen, the result was perfection.

"Kate! Where are you!" Tory shouted, his expression monstrous. He carried a whip in his hand. From room to room, he searched shouting, kicking bedroom doors, and throwing closets wide open. "You better have a damn good hiding place, because if I find you...."

In the meantime, Kate and Geb were making love as they hid in a servant's closet. Elizabella and Cameron held hands as they watched the scene play out on the screen. The audience gasped and screamed in just the right places. Arthur would have been so pleased.

The next morning's reviews cited that the film was a tribute to the talent of Arthur Macon. 

Death for Dinner will prove to become his signature film, one critic commented.

~*~

Elizabella had gone back to tour the house once more before leaving Wisconsin. She couldn't imagine why Arthur would do such a thing, except maybe the house had fallen in love with him. Looking back, she could see it. He’d understood her so well. It was Arthur who brought so much life to a dead place. Elizabella herself had been a little dead when Arthur first found her. Perhaps it hadn't wanted him to leave. Elizabella used a flashlight to peer into the mirrors. The mirror in the dining room found him. Arthur smiled when he saw her and raised his glass to a silent toast. Three happy years. In Hollywood, three years was a lifetime. She blew him a kiss goodbye, and another for Maddie waiting quietly for him in the background.