The Cameraman's Tale

By Chris Quinton

Mark Renfrew is a researcher for a paranormal reality TV show, but no one involved with the show knows he is the real deal—a genuine psychic. When a cameraman encounters a ghost and needs his help, he has to come out of that particular closet. Along with his archaeologist lover, Jack Faulkner, Mark must find a way to break the ghostly cycle of injury and death on a haunted road, but things don't go according to plan. Mark discovers a new aspect to his psychic talent, and with another ghost to contend with, he is entering dangerous and uncharted waters.

Featuring Mark and Jack, first introduced in: The Psychic's Tale.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chris Quinton
• Release date: Sep 6, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301576562

Chris Quinton

Chris Quinton  Chris started creating stories not long after she mastered joined-up writing, somewhat to the bemusement of her parents and her English teachers. But she received plenty of encouragement. Her dad gave her an already old Everest typewriter when she was ten, and it was probably the best gift she'd ever received – until the inventions of the home-computer and the worldwide web. Chris's reading and writing interests range from historical, mystery, and paranormal, to science-fiction and fantasy, writing mostly in the male/male genre. She also writes the occasional male/female novel in the name of Chris Power. She refuses to be pigeon-holed and intends to uphold the long and honourable tradition of the Eccentric Brit to the best of her ability. In her spare time [hah!] she reads, or listens to audio books while quilting or knitting. Over the years she has been a stable lad [briefly] in a local racing stable and stud, a part-time and unpaid amateur archaeologist, a civilian clerk at her local police station and a 15th century re-enactor. She lives in a small and ancient city not far from Stonehenge in the south-west of the United Kingdom, and shares her usually chaotic home with an extended family, three dogs, a Frilled Dragon [lizard], sundry goldfish and tropicals

Book preview

The Cameraman’s Tale

by

Chris Quinton

The Renfrew Files #2

Copyright - Chris Quinton 2012 - 2021

Cover Image - © Creativehearts Dreamstime

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With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the Author, Chris Quinton.

Piracy is Theft

The royalties from the sale of my books helps to support my family and pay essential bills. If you like this story, please spread the word and tell others about it, but please don’t share it.

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This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

Contents

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Epilogue

About The Fitzwarren Inheritance

About the Author

Bibliography

Dedication

To the Usual Suspects – as always, thank you for your support, nags, kicks in the arse,

copious amounts of tea, beer, wine, and encouragement.

You make writing even more of a pleasure.

Chapter One

I want the girl in the road, Dominic Waldron insisted, slapping the relevant file in the centre of the table. Fuck it, who’s running this bloody show anyway?

Mark pushed up his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. He wanted to say Goldstream Media, but since Dominic owned at least half of the production company and was the executive producer for his own show, it wouldn’t carry much weight. Besides, Mark preferred to keep a low profile around the man. Next to him, his fellow researcher, Heather, swore under her breath.

The headless woman has more impact, Jerry Kent said persuasively. Head of Research, and Mark’s immediate boss, he also had a good eye for visuals and what the TV-viewing public liked. At least, the preferences of those who avidly watched The Dominic Waldron Experience. It’d be perfect for the opening show—mysterious inn, hidden cellar, reconstructions with Royalists and Roundheads, the woman in a tight bodice…

Across the table, Trevor Johnson, the special effects expert, nodded with enthusiasm. We could have cannons, muskets, and pikes, plus the torture chamber in the cellar. The road girl would only have screams and mists and a crashed car.

There’s more in-depth material on the headless woman, Jerry added quickly. Dominic’s scowl darkened and Jerry indicated a thick file pushed to one side. We’ve put together that much from online research alone. Once Heather gets going on the libraries and Mark chats with locals, there’ll be a lot more to play with. And there’s a five-star hotel only six miles away. The road girl is out in the back of beyond.

Mark doodled on his notepad, wrote his name, then Jack’s, and framed the Mark Renfrew and Jack Faulkner in a circle of vine leaves—until he realised the circle looked more like a heart. He scribbled over it, flushing, and tuned back in on the arguments. Being openly gay was one thing, being a soppy romantic was another thing entirely.

The planning conference for the TV show’s new season was not going well. As usual. Every year the same things happened, only the details changed. The sole reason Dominic wanted to build a show around the road girl was it would require the poor bitch to run, half-naked in a flimsy nightgown, from the trees by the side of the road and into the path of an oncoming car, her clothing torn by branches and hanging off her heaving breasts. And knowing Dominic, he’d demand take after take until cast and crew were ready to drop from exhaustion, while he sat in his director’s chair with a hard-on.

It was a mystery to Mark why no one had punched the man. Or sued him.

Road girl. Dominic folded his arms over his broad chest and glared around the pre-production crew.

The pose was impressive. Mark had to give him that. Dominic, his chiselled jaw set in determination, brilliant blue eyes glittering with the fire of his resolve, and artfully styled leonine mane of white hair carefully tousled for maximum effect, was the ultimate Silver Fox with a more than slight resemblance to one George Clooney.

His string of conquests was legendary, and few men could turn on the charm with such success. Unfortunately, the Waldron Dazzle Effect soon wore away, as his five failed marriages and rapidly replaced mistresses testified. Mark knew the man was in his early sixties. Thanks to good genes and judicious use of Botox, he looked nearer forty despite the colour of his hair.

Okay, Jason Armitage said. Here’s what I’ve decided. As producer, he usually endorsed Dominic’s choices and this was no exception. "Our six shows for this season will be the road girl, the gibbet at the crossroads, the hand in the wall, the black dog, the haunted bridge, and we’ll close on a dramatic high with the headless woman.

"We’ll hold over the phantom bells until next season, along with the shipwreck. I’d like at least two more water-themed shows then. Jerry, get your team working. I want the first breakdown on the road girl two weeks from now so Paula and her writers can start on it, and the rest in the usual stages after that.

"Joanna, start looking to cast our girl, the villain of the piece, and at least two car drivers, maybe passengers. Harry, we’ll also need a couple of cars we can crash, and a coach and horses. But keep an eye on the budget. The headless woman is