Page 86 of Girl, Haunted

And Luca. The smartest detective she knew, tied to a chair like some hapless victim.

But alive. Sweet Jesus, he was alive. By seconds, judging from the pools of gasoline surrounding him.

‘Well, this is interesting,’ the perp said.

‘Drop it, Marrow. Your game’s over.’

Ella's trigger finger begged for release, but she resisted. The scent in here was overwhelming, and Ella was no expert in petrochemical fumes. Would a bullet send this place sky-high? She had no idea, but the risk wasn't worth taking.One bullet, and they might all be trading ghost stories in the great beyond.

‘Game? This isn’t a game, detective.’

Ella's mind whirred, calculating angles, odds. Marrow had the look of a man with nothing to lose. The kind who'd happily take them all with him if it meant leaving his mark. The odds of them getting out of this room without Marrow firing at least one bullet was less than zero.

So what the hell could she do?

‘No? Then what is this?’

Ella caught Luca's eye. Marrow had clearly done a number on him, given the bruises and cuts to the side of his face, but something burned behind them.

Luca flexed his right hand – the one closest to Marrow. His fingers twitched once, twice. A muscle jumped in his jaw.

He's got a hand free,Ella realized. But what good was that with a gun in play?

‘This is my magnum opus,’ Marrow said with a grin. ‘And you’ve just made it all the sweeter.’

‘Oh yeah? How’s that?’

Keep him talking until you figure a way out of this mess.

Luca's gaze darted upward, then back to her. He subtly pointed skyward. Ella glanced up there and saw nothing but rafters and a few dangling horror props.

Then it hit her.

One gesture, a hundred words.

Marrow was firing that gun whatever happened. If Marrow firedup,there was a chance – slim, but a chance – that the bullet might not ignite the gasoline.

‘Four bodies in one blazing fire. Four bodies to join the ghosts, in a place no one believed was haunted. It’s poetry.’

Ella coughed. ‘Well, how about this, Marrow? I’ll count to three, we’ll put our weapons down, then we’ll have a nice long chat about ghosts. Sound good?’

'Oh, please. Don't try and fool me. No one is getting out of here alive. You should have figured that out by now.'

She had to think. Give him a reason to believe. Something that might throw him off-kilter enough for her to intervene without sending this place to hell.

To believe.

‘Cassius, Vincent – whatever your name is. Do you know how we found this place?’

A slight twitch in his posture. ‘The voices told you. Those bastards have hounded me for years.’

‘That’s right. The ghosts told me.’

His gun lowered a fraction, then shot back up. ‘I know. There’s no other way. I was so careful.’

Ella let the moment stretch, let Marrow marinate in his uncertainty. ‘Not those ghosts. Not specters or spirits or that crap. The ghosts that live inside you. Inside everyone.’

Vincent waved the pistol between Ella, Redmond and the pools of gasoline. Ella tried to calm her breathing and focus on the slightest ticks, the briefest windows of opportunity.

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