Page 75 of Girl, Haunted

A voice, muffled but unmistakable. Not in his head this time, oh no. This was a distinctly earthly intrusion.

Cassius moved to the window and peered down at the street. A man stood before the bookshop door, fumbling with the lock. Even from this distance, Cassius could make out the telltale bulge of a shoulder holster beneath his jacket.

Well now. This was an interesting development.

For a moment, Cassius thought to let him pass, to grant this small mercy as some final act of grace before the end. But then a notion seized him – a final frisson of the old madness.

What if this wasn't chance, but providence? The universe serving him up one last canvas, readymade and ripe. A parting gift from the muses. He'd planned for the bookshop to be his final bow, but wasn't an ellipsis so much more intriguing?

Cassius edged to the closet beside his bathroom. Inside were the tools he’d always kept for emergencies like this. They’d been here for years, unused, merely insurance should a robbery take place. His car was in the lot just beyond the back door, and Cassius doubted anyone would see him dragging a body into it.

He could hear movement downstairs now. The scrape of a lock giving way, the creak of hinges in need of oil. His uninvited guest had made his way inside.

Yes, fate was watching down upon him tonight, and it seemed it had a change of plan in mind.

CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN

Ella had spent the past hour staring at Carter’s YouTube page. Or more accurately, a wasteland of goofy thumbnails and clickbait titles, each more inane than the last. With a killer on the loose and a countdown to another body in her lap, she felt like she was committing some cardinal sin by wasting time on these dumb videos.

But with Luca out on the road and all the officers deployed to their respective posts, Ella felt like she should tie up any loose ends while she could.

The video titles alone gave her a migraine:

EXPLORING THE MURDER TUNNELS BENEATH YAMHILL HIGH SCHOOL (GONE WRONG).

24 HOUR OVERNIGHT CHALLENGE IN ABANDONED ASYLUM (REAL GHOSTS CAUGHT ON CAMERA!!).

EMPTY HOSPITAL – GHOSTS IN THE BATHTUB??!

MARROW FARM - ABANDONED HAUNTED HOUSE, CLOSED DOWN FOR BEING TOO SCARY??

Sheesh, caps lock and exclamation points. The barrel-scraping tools of anyone desperate for attention. She doubted this guy would know real terror if it crawled up his viewfinder and made a home in his frontal lobe.

But the next video on the list was: ‘BREAKING INTO GHOSTLIGHT BOOKS - SHHHH!’

Ella clicked on the video, and the screen filled with Carter's overeager face. His voice grated on her nerves as he launched into his intro spiel.

‘What's up, ghost gang! It's ya boy, coming at you live from outside the spookiest bookstore in all of Yamhill!’

Carter giggling like he'd struck comedy gold as he fumbled with the lock. Discount balaclava hanging off his ears. Ella wasabout to chalk it up as another waste of time but she’d come this far, might as well see if there were any nuggets waiting at the bottom, like that hit of caffeine at the end of every coffee.

‘Got a real treat for y'all tonight. Gonna see what secrets this creepy-ass bookstore is hiding. This place ain’t abandoned, so we’re going to go ill-eagle.’

Ella's finger hovered over the fast-forward button. She didn't have time for this kid's theatrics. But something held her back. A gut feeling, honed by years on the job, told her to watch closely. To catch every detail.

Carter's whispered commentary provided a running narrative as he searched for a way in. He went round the back of the shop, found a back door and pried it open. Then Carter was in, alarmingly easily.

Frame by frame, Ella watched as Carter snuck through what was nothing more than empty bookstore. The night-vision on his camera illuminated everything in a headache-inducing green, but at least it made anything white stand out. All she saw were rows of shelves, book spines, an old countertop with an ancient till.

Five minutes in, Ella's vision blurred. Her head throbbed. She blinked hard, trying to refocus.

And then she saw it.

A flash of white in the corner of the frame. So quick she almost missed it.

Ella's hand shot out; jabbed the pause button. Rewound. Frame by frame, she inched backward through the footage.

Her stomach dropped like she'd swallowed a stone.

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