Page 7 of Into the Dark

CHAPTER

FOUR

Nigel waited impatientlyfor Oscar and Chris to come back from filming. As soon as they did, he grabbed Oscar’s arm, guided him away from the others, and told him about the call with Lawson in a low voice.

Oscar frowned. “Someone investigated here before? When?”

“I don’t know.”

“It didn’t show up in your research?”

“Obviously not, or I would have mentioned it.” Nigel winced at his own sharpness. “Sorry. I’m just concerned. If Dr. Lawson has her facts right, I should have come across some record.”

“Maybe, maybe not.” Oscar shrugged. “Not everyone documents their investigations, or at least does so in a way that leaves a public record. Dr. Lawson might have heard about it from a friend of a friend.”

He had a point. The field of parapsychology overlapped with that of ghost hunting, but they weren’t the same. Even though Nigel’s focus of study was the survival of personality after death, he was expected to report his findings and apply a scientific lens to them. Paranormal investigators sometimes did the former, and occasionally the latter, but there was no standard they had to follow.

“True,” he allowed.

“We could ask Ms. Montague,” Oscar suggested.

“No.” Of that, Nigel was certain. “I don’t know the details about her relationship with Dr. Lawson back in the day, but it’s clear they parted on bad terms after the medium they worked with died.”

“Robin.”

“Yes. Not to mention, we’ve never been sure what Montague’s motives truly are. She showers us with money, but in return she wants all of our raw footage. What is she looking for?” He glanced at Zeek and Adrienne, strolling back from the front of the asylum. “Who else is she working with?”

Oscar rubbed his chin with the back of his hand. “Good point, babe. Maybe tomorrow we can take the van somewhere closer to civilization and you can try calling Dr. Lawson again. For now, we just keep going as usual.”

“Okay.” Nigel stood on tiptoe to kiss him.

Zeek whistled loudly. “Hell yeah, love is love!” he yelled and pumped his fist into the air. Adrienne shot Zeek a withering look.

Nigel’s cheeks heated, but Oscar grinned. “I’m a lucky man,” he proclaimed, slinging his arm over Nigel’s shoulders, which made him blush even harder.

“We only have a few hours of daylight left,” Adrienne announced, folding her arms. “Zeek, let’s grab our gear and head inside while we can still see.”

Oscar let his arm fall. “We should do the same.”

Nigel didn’t have much to do for the preliminary sweep, except carry the bags of equipment Chris passed him. The head cams and other gear would come later; this was just a foray inside to find places to set up their various static cams, both of the night vision and thermal varieties. They’d also use it to plan the areas they wanted to investigate first.

Oscar and Chris were the ones in charge of the sweep; he was just there as a pack mule. Not that he couldn’t offer suggestions, but they were the experts when it came to this part: Oscar because he could sense spirit energy, and Chris because he knew how to capture the best angles.

The two teams, minus Tina back in front of the monitors, ended up walking up to the front door at the same time. As they did so, Zeek turned around to walk backward, facing Oscar. “Hey bro, I heard a little bit of the intro you were filming. If you’d like some pointers, I’m happy to help.”

Nigel bristled, but before he could say anything, Chris cut in. “Thanksbro,but I think we’re fine.”

“No offense,” Zeek said, holding up his hands. “It’s all about the views, you know?”

“I know,” Oscar said, a thread of unhappiness in his voice. “Thanks for the offer.”

“Sure thing.” Zeek shot finger-guns at him, then turned around to walk normally.

Nigel seethed quietly as they climbed up the wide stone steps. How dare Zeek criticize Oscar’s performance. Worse, it seemed like his words had actually gotten to Oscar.

If he’d had a free hand, he would have taken Oscar’s. Instead, he made a mental note to reassure him later, once they had a moment alone.

Adrienne paused at the door, her hand resting on the knob. “We need to set some ground rules. Number one: no interfering with each other’s equipment in any way.”

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