Page 14 of Into the Dark

The PolterPal let out its eerie giggle, then shrieked. “That tickles!”

Zeek recoiled. “Holy shit, that thing’s terrifying!”

“I know, right?” Chris said, then looked conflicted about agreeing with Zeek on something.

Honestly, what was wrong with people when it came to dolls? “It’s just a tool,” Nigel said. “No different from an EMF reader or anything else we use.”

The deep blue mass of colder air lingered for another second or so, then dissipated. The PolterPal stopped giggling.

“Looks like we have a good chance of encountering the child ghost, then,” Oscar said, rubbing his hands together. “I’m thinking we use the flashlight method there—kids love touching things.”

Nigel nodded. “Good idea. A shame we didn’t get anything from the other cameras, but this is only the first night.”

Zeek leaned his hip against the edge of Tina’s desk. “So, hey, did you have a cable for that memory card? No problem if you haven’t had a chance to look yet.”

Her smile came back when she looked up at him. “I did! I haven’t tried it yet. I thought you might want to see it first, since you found the camera.”

Tension coiled in Nigel’s belly as Tina hooked up the cable and slotted in the memory card. Had the camera been left by Dr. Lawson’s mysterious prior team? Or had some urban explorer snuck in years ago, then been scared off by security?

“It’s possible the data degraded,” Tina warned. “But the card was in good shape—there wasn’t any corrosion on the contacts…” She peered owlishly through her glasses at the monitor, then grinned. “Okay! It’s still readable!”

“Hell, yeah.” Zeek high-fived her again.

The first image came up, showing a group of four white men standing in front of the asylum. The trees were much smaller, the walls less overgrown. The group were all dressed in black, posed side-by-side, grinning happily for the camera. Judging by the angle of the shadows, the photo was taken just before sundown.

“Who were they?” Zeek wondered aloud.

Tina shook her head and clicked through to the next picture. It showed the dusty entry hall, the paint more intact than it was now. The third photo was of the ornate elevator between the two staircases.

Oscar leaned closer. “What is that?”

A patch of what looked like fog hovered to one side, its shape vaguely human. Nigel pushed up his glasses and peered at it. “It could be a digital artifact, either from the original shot or introduced as the media degraded. As for the shape, our brainsare programmed to look for human faces and forms, so without knowing more, I’d hesitate to call it evidence.”

Zeek looked confused. “What do you mean? This is viewing gold! Our fans are going to love dissecting this.”

Nigel pressed his lips together, and Chris glowered. This was what Chris had been warning them about—any association withZeeking the Unknowncould tarnish their reputation as serious investigators.

Oscar pursed his lips thoughtfully but didn’t say anything besides, “Next image.”

Tina obligingly clicked through. The next few only showed the men standing around in various places, holding what looked like EMF readers in their hands. The photographer had clearly been an enthusiastic amateur, rather than a professional of any kind.

“Only two left,” Tina said.

The penultimate image was a close-up of a man’s hand holding an EMF reader. It lit up the darkness around them, meter spiked all the way to the red. The background was cloaked in shadows; the photo could have been taken anywhere in the building.

The final shot was so blurry it could have been from an accidental button click. It showed three men running down a long hall with utilitarian doors—the fourth floor, then, where the camera had been found.

One man’s face was almost in focus. He looked back over his shoulder as he fled, eyes wide in an expression of absolute terror.

CHAPTER

SEVEN

“Fascinating,”said Patricia Montague.

Oscar jumped at the sound of her voice. He’d been so consumed by the images, especially the last one, that he hadn’t been aware of anyone else entering the tent.

She stood watching them, leaning on her cane, with Ethan at her side. Adrienne had come in with them, and now pushed forward. “Give me the cable so I can download the images to our laptop,” she said, shooting Tina an unfriendly glare. “You better not have copied those to your computer.”

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