Page 24 of Into the Dark

His face grew hot, even as warmth suffused his chest. Oscar’s instinctive thought had been to protect him. He didn’t think he needed protecting, but it was sweet anyway.

Chris’s camera swung wildly, catching a brief shot of a gray mist rushing at, then past, them.

“That’s what you saw?” Oscar asked. “A mist?”

“And the representation on the SLS.” Nigel nodded. “I take it you saw something more?”

“She was wearing a nurse’s uniform, and she didn’t look happy to see us.” Oscar’s lips pursed thoughtfully. “She showed up once the spirit in the seclusion room made contact with us.”

“Maybe we can find out who she was,” Nigel said. “It might help us move her along to the other side.”

“I don’t know if she’s going to want to go.” Oscar paused, uncertain. “Hear me out. She appeared to us after we made contact on the fourth floor. But something interrupted our attempts to talk to the ghosts on the first and third floors. Bangs, the wheelchair crashing into the wall…”

Nigel took a sharp breath. “You think it was her. Is she trying to keep us from making contact with the other ghosts?”

“The child spirit or spirits didn’t try to make contact, and nothing happened.” Oscar shrugged. “She felt angry. Maybe she sees us as intruders in her domain?”

It was an interesting theory. “Could you tell what era she was from?”

Oscar’s face screwed up in concentration. “Not Victorian, I don’t think? But not modern. She wore the traditional nurseuniform—white cap, white apron, sleeves with big white cuffs. Sorry, I know that doesn’t help much.”

Dr. Lawson leaned forward, gaze fixed on Oscar. “Did you sense anything from her? Get any impressions?”

“Like I said, she was angry. That was all I got from her.”

“What are you thinking?” Nigel asked his old advisor.

“A lot of bad things happened here,” she said slowly. “Occasionally, the newspapers would do an exposé concerning the squalid conditions and chronic neglect.”

“So you think she might have been alive here during one of those times?” he asked. “She sees us as someone who might report her for mistreatment? Or doesn’t want us to interview the patients and find out what conditions were really like?”

“It’s possible.”

The grit on the drive outside crunched under footsteps, and a minute later Zeek and Adrienne popped inside. Their faces were flushed from excitement or exertion, or both.

As soon as he saw them, Zeek pumped his fist. “You guys won’t believe what happened! A voice?—”

“Zeek,” Adrienne started in exasperation, but the sober mood of the rest of them seemed to catch her attention. “What happened? Are you all right?” she asked instead, her worried eyes going to Chris.

“We’re fine,” Chris said stiffly.

“They had an encounter with the spirit of an angry nurse,” Dr. Lawson put in.

Nigel shifted uneasily. “I don’t know if Ms. Montague wants us sharing information…”

“I don’t give a fig what Patricia wants.” Lawson crossed her legs and sat back. “Knowledge is safety in this business, and I’m not going to let her get you all killed.”

Adrienne seemed uncomfortable—no doubt she was also worried about Ms. Montague throwing them off site. But Zeek nodded.

“That’s smart,” he said. “Maybe we could do, like, crossover episodes? Post on our channels at the same time, send each other’s audience over to get the whole picture?”

“That would be quite the one-sided exchange,” Adrienne said with a frown.

Chris glared at her. “This attitude is exactly why we broke up.”

Her nostrils widened in affront. “Maybe you’re happy with your dinky little channel?—”

“How about a compromise,” Oscar said, holding up his hands. “We’ll show you our footage of the nurse, and maybe we can listen to your audio file?”

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