Page 25 of Into the Dark

“Great idea!” said Zeek, who seemed relieved someone had intervened. “Let me hook my camera up—you can hear it pretty easily even without messing around with the settings.”

While he connected his head cam with their laptop, Tina replayed the fourth floor footage. Oscar explained what he’d seen with his medium’s senses while the misty blur dashed across the screen.

Zeek let out a low whistle. “That’s some talent you got, dude,” he said admiringly.

Oscar blushed. “Thanks. So, what did you get?”

While Zeek positioned the laptop so they could see, Nigel rested his hands on Oscar’s blanketed shoulders, squeezing gently. It seemed silly, but he couldn’t help but feel proud someone else had noticed how talented his boyfriend was.

Of course, lots of people had noticed Oscar’s talent at football back when he’d played for Clemson in college. Even though Nigel had subjected himself to watching games on the couch with Oscar during football season, he couldn’t honestly say hehad any real idea what was happening on the field at any given moment.

Well, that didn’t matter; he was proud of Oscar for that too. Even if he didn’t understand the draw himself.

“Ready?” Zeek asked. When they nodded, he clicked play.

Zeek’s head cam showed Adrienne standing in the middle of a hallway, its utilitarian look indicating the fourth floor. Their lights cut through the darkness, illuminating the doors to the seclusion rooms in flashes.

“…no sign of our shadow figure yet,” she said, sounding frustrated.

“Don’t worry,” Zeek’s voice said. “We’re getting some great footage.”

“I know, but?—”

A loud bang sounded from behind them. Both jumped and turned, lights illuminating an empty corridor.

“Oh shit!” Zeek yelled, turning to catch Adrienne’s reaction. “Did you hear that?”

“I heard it.” She took a few steps forward, concentrating on the direction of the bang. “Hello? Who’s there?”

Silence.

“Can you do that again and let us know you’re here?” Adrienne asked.

From seemingly nowhere, the flat, unnerving voice of a ghost spoke directly into the mic.“Get out.”

“What the fu—” Zeek yelled on tape. The real Zeek hit pause and turned to them expectantly.

“Pretty awesome, right?” he asked. “What do you think?”

Nigel exchanged a look with Dr. Lawson. “I think Oscar is right. This nurse doesnotwant us here.”

“Then too bad for her,” Adrienne said, folding her arms. “She’s going to have to do a lot worse than that to get us to leave.”

Dr. Lawson looked grim. “Given someone from the original investigating team died, she may take you up on that challenge.”

CHAPTER

TEN

They bedded down shortly thereafter,sleeping through what little remained of the night and into the day. Nigel woke around ten in the morning to the smell of toast and reconstituted eggs.

Everyone helped themselves bleary-eyed to breakfast. Ethan had prepared an urn of coffee as well as their food. When he whisked away to Ms. Montague’s private tent, Dr. Lawson said, “Of course Patricia’s too good to eat with the rest of us.”

Nigel wished the two older women could bury the hatchet, or at least not put everyone else in an awkward position between them. He made a noncommittal noise and wolfed down his breakfast and coffee as quickly as possible. “I’m going to go into the front offices of the asylum and see if I can find any clues as to the nurse’s identity,” he said when he was finished.

“Do you need any help?” Oscar asked.

“I wouldn’t mind the company, provided you don’t have anything else you need to do.”

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