Page 41 of Into the Dark

Dr. Wilkes was well known in the psychiatric community for pioneering new approaches to what is known as biological psychiatry. As his wife and children preceded him in death, his body has been returned to his native New Jersey, where it will be interred beside his family.

Nigel handed it to Oscar, who studied it and then passed it on. “So we know the nurse and the doctor both died on the same day at the same time.”

“Here on the grounds, which would explain why they’re both hanging around.” Oscar went to the ramen pot and helped himself to seconds. “Especially since their deaths sound fairly traumatic.”

“You notice they don’t say anything about services for the nurse,” Tina said, the corner of her mouth twisting down.

“Of course not.” Adrienne’s spoon clinked against her bowl. “It’s all about the old white man.”

Zeek sat back, frowning slightly as though having a difficult thought. “The article says there’s a basement. I haven’t seen an entrance, unless the elevator goes down there.”

Why hadn’t Nigel wondered about a basement before? “There must be some other entrance—the elevator came long after the rest of the building. And of course, they would have needed a boiler room, steam tunnels…there must be a coal chute going to the outside, at the very least. I should have realized we were missing a level earlier.”

“Don’t go hard on yourself, babe.” Oscar reached out with his free hand and wrapped his fingers around Nigel’s. “How many old buildings has OutFoxing been in? If anyone should have thought of it, it should have been us.”

Nigel turned to Ethan, who had finished eating and was now silently studying the copy. “Well? Do you know how to get in the basement?”

Ethan’s gaze flicked up to Nigel, then back to the newspaper article. “I’ve passed on all the information I possess.”

“Or that Patricia told you to,” Dr. Lawson said.

“Ms. Montague is a…reticent woman.” Ethan returned the article to Nigel. “Even I am not fully in her confidence.”

Adrienne scowled at him, then glanced at Nigel. “Thanks for sharing this.”

If she’d meant to get a rise out of Ethan, it failed. He didn’t so much as blink.

“So maybe Wilkeswastrying to warn us in the mirror,” Zeek said slowly. “With the writing on the wall.” His eyes widened. “Oh my god, do you think the nurse killed him? Maybe she wasmurdering patients, and he found out about it, and she tried to kill him but things got out of hand and they both died?”

“That’s wild conjecture,” Nigel said firmly. “We have no evidence Della Young did anything wrong in life.”

“Don’t we?” Oscar asked unexpectedly. When Nigel looked at him, he shrugged. “Remember how many deaths were recorded in the twenties and thirties? Enough that their binders were visually thicker than the others around them. Maybe the increase in mortality was due to disease, or random chance. Or maybe Della Young was an angel of death.” When Zeek looked confused, he added, “That’s what they call nurses who become serial killers.”

Dr. Lawson shook her head. “As Taylor said, we have no evidence of that. Yes, she has been an aggressive ghost, and yes, she certainly contributed to the death of the investigator on the stairs. But calling her a serial killer is making a leap the size of the Grand Canyon.”

Adrienne pushed back her chair and stood up. “Either way, it’s clear our best course of action is to trap her ghost so we can investigate in safety. Once she’s gone, hopefully the other ghosts will be more willing to interact with us.”

“And we can help them move on,” Oscar added.

Nigel squeezed his fingers. Oscar had mentioned being worried about carrying on his grandmother’s legacy, afraid he was too inexperienced. Getting the nurse’s disruptive ghost out of the way would make everything much easier, and would hopefully give his boyfriend the boost of confidence he needed.

“Agreed,” he said. “After tonight, Della Young won’t walk these halls again.”

Oscar shivered as they walked over the drive toward the colossal building. It was still early enough in the spring to have cold nights here in the mountains, and the temperature dropped rapidly once the sun was down.

“Where do you think we should set up?” Zeek asked Adrienne. She carried a small square case retrieved from the trunk of their car, which presumably contained whatever they intended to use as a ghost trap.

“Not in the hall with the creeper,” she replied with a shudder. Glancing over her shoulder, she asked, “What do you think, Oscar? You’re the medium—is there an ideal place to set up our trap and lure her in?”

“I haven’t had any strong feelings about location, in regards to her,” he said, pondering. “She seems free to move around the asylum, rather than being tied in one spot. If we could get into the basement, I’d suggest the room where she died. Since we don’t know how to do that, maybe we can check out the old staff quarters? Somewhere away from the other ghosts we’ve encountered, so we don’t accidentally catch them instead.”

“Great idea.” She smiled at him.

Given their limited time at the asylum, it would probably be more efficient to split up and keep investigating while Adrienne and Zeek went about deploying their ghost trap. But Nigel wanted to see it firsthand, and Adrienne had requested use of their SLS, which meant one of them had to act as camera person. Chris had volunteered to do that, so it only made sense for Oscar to join them.

The interior of the building felt far colder than it should have, given how warm the day had been. There should have been someresidual heat trapped inside, or at least, he would have thought so. Nigel sniffled, then bent over in a fit of coughing. Oscar thumped him on the back.

“Are you all right?” he asked. “Is it healthy for you to be in here? Maybe you should go back and keep Tina company, watch everything over our cams.”

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