Page 12 of Girl, Haunted

‘Says that Gregory was the owner of a place called the Screamatorium. Both victims were found in haunted houses?’ asked Luca.

‘Yes. Scare attractions. I’m not familiar with them.’

‘Me either,’ Luca said. They both shot a look at Ella.

‘Me and Ripley visited one for a case last year. Other than that, no idea.’

‘Well, go and get acquainted with them, ideally before this afternoon. It’s a four-hour flight to Oregon.’

Ella’s spine twitched just thinking about another minute in an airplane seat, let alone four hours. She did another quick skim of the police report and snagged on a few choice lines; ‘no signs of forced entry’ and ‘victim was the owner of the establishment.’

A killer offing people in haunted houses. The pieces were there, but the puzzle was still a Picasso.

‘Says here Natasha was a special effects artist,’ Luca said, tapping his own file. ‘Worked on a bunch of these spook shows. Including the one where she ended up on the wrong side of the mirror.’

Ella's brain buzzed. An effects whiz, killed in her own house of horrors? Certainly not a coincidence.

Edis said, ‘This is our first serial case in months, and we’ve got momentum on our side here. Close this case and there’ll be plenty more whiskey bottles in our future.’

Ella stood and slid the casefile under arm. ‘We’re on it, sir. Anything else we need to know?’

‘This Yamhill place. I don’t know it, but the sheriff out there tells me it’s not exactly Portland. Mountain folk. You know the type.’

'Yes, we do,' Ella said.

'Keep me updated, and I don't need to tell you to keep this under wraps. The last thing we need is a media circus.'

Luca scrambled to his feet and followed Ella to the door. They saluted their goodbyes and then escaped out into the corridor. The hallway air hit Ella like a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart. A new serial case, the first in months, and she had to admit that she’d been waiting for this call.

‘Oregon awaits,’ Luca said.

‘Oh yes.’ Ella was ready for it. Two bodies, one town, mirror shards and teddy bears. She suddenly felt lighter, all that courtroom drama and endless paperwork vanishing into the air. This was where she belonged, on the trail of a killer, with nothing but her wits and her partner to back her up.

‘Straight to the airport?’

‘Just need to check my desk. See if I’ve left my phone there.’

Luca pointed at one of the tangles on her scalp. ‘Hairbrush, too. I don’t want to be seen next to you with hair like that.’

‘Fair. Come on. My desk’s this way.’

***

Ella's desk was still tucked away in the Intelligence section of the Bureau. The suits had never bothered to relocate her after her move into the field, probably because they figured she’dspend more time on the road than warming a chair anyway. For the most part, they’d been right.

The place hadn’t changed much since she’d traded in her desk jockey credentials for a field agent’s badge. Same painfully-bright lights, same layout that was alarmingly reminiscent of a call center. Luca was oddly silent at her heels.

Ella spun back to him. ‘You okay there, chief?’

‘Just taking in the sights. Never been down here before.’

‘Never seen Intelligence, nor the basement. Whathaveyou seen?’

She navigated past a line of her old colleagues and gave them the nod. Now wasn’t the time to get lost in water-cooler chatter, because three years in place had taught her that this team could gossip like their lives depended on it. That was the thing about the Bureau – for an organization dedicated to unearthing secrets, it was a hotbed of them.

Her little corner of the world came into view, and Ella bee-lined for her desk. It was just as she'd left it – organized chaos, with towers of files threatening to topple at any second.

‘Home sweet home,’ she said. ‘How have you never seen my desk before?’

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