Page 24 of Locked In

“Having difficulties?” Flynn couldn’t keep from chuckling.

“Who is that?” Fisher demanded. He hit the screen on his phone once more and started to hold it up when Flynn turned on his flashlight and shone it directly in Fisher’s face.

“What brings you to Maine?”

Fisher threw up his arms to block his face. “Get that fucking light out of my eyes,” he demanded. Flynn reluctantly lowered it. “O’Connor, is that you? What are you doing lurking here in the middle of the night?”

“I asked you first,” Flynn replied.

Fisher glared at him. “I’m here relaxing. Maine is wonderful for that type of thing.”

“Uh-huh. Sure.”

“I have more calls to make,” Fisher huffed “I guess I need to find a more private location.”

“Your room is private. Why not make the calls there?” He was curious why Fisher was downstairs in the first place.

“I would but there’s no signal. It worked perfectly fine last night,” he pointed out. “I have no idea why it’s not working now.”

“The house uses repeaters to boost the signal. With the power out, the repeaters are down.”

“Shameful. I will be complaining to Archer about this. A Society facility should be top-notch at all times. This is most decidedly not.”

“Archer can do a lot of things but he cannot control the weather, nor can he fix the power grid. But go ahead and complain. I’m sure he’ll note it down.”

Fisher glared, let out a snort, then scurried toward the stairs. There was a thump and then Fisher swore again. Flynn grinned in the darkness. Served him right. He let out a sigh and headed back to his room. Maybe now he could get some sleep.

Flynn made his way up the stairs. At least he knew how to work the flashlight on his phone. Other than the library and the kitchen just now, he hadn’t heard, or felt, anything that could remotely be considered ghostlike. Shah had said people heard thumps and voices. No one had seen anything weird though or at least no one Shah believed. Flynn theorized the voices were traveling through the vents like in the basement. The thumps he’d heard in the library could be anything.

Shah did share a story about some elderly member who was visiting and claimed to have seen his dead mother. Flynn gave a mental shrug. The last thing he wanted to see was his dead mother, or father for that matter. He rarely saw his siblings and that was the way he liked it. Too much family and togetherness got to him.

As Flynn climbed back in bed he decided on what to tell Archer. He would use logic to explain everything and add that people’s imaginations were getting carried away. It was close to Halloween. He could practically hear Archer and Sterling in his head.Did you check every angle? Are you sure there’s nothing to this? What are we going to tell members who ask? We need rock-solid answers…Fair enough. He’d have to stay a little longer and investigate the thumps.

He might have been able to figure it out earlier if he hadn’t been so distracted by the woman. She was an easy scapegoat. He hadn’t felt that level of… connection, electricity, whatever the hell it was in…forever. She had overloaded his senses to the point where he’d lost his focus. Stupid of him.

On the other hand, the kiss had been worth it. A few more days in Maine might not be a bad thing if he could track her down and get her in his bed, or anywhere else for that matter. Yes, further investigation was required…

* * *

The sound of a crash in the hallway outside of his room woke him. Who the fuck was out there banging around at this hour? He glanced at the clock. It was dark so he picked up his phone and glanced at the screen. Eight a.m. Jesus someone needed to get a life. He rolled out of bed and pulled on his jeans, then padded to the doorway thinking he’d tell off whoever was working but then he stopped. Carruthers probably put whoever was out there up to making a racket this early. He didn’t need gut instinct to know she was trying to drive him and certain other members out of town. She hated him and he wasn’t so stupid as to think he was the only one. No, she wanted everyone she didn’t like, that she didn’t think belonged, to leave town.

He glanced through the peephole at the young woman cleaning. He hadn’t seen her before but that didn’t mean much. He opened the door and leaned against the jamb.

“Excuse me,” he said. She didn’t hear him. “Excuse me,” he tried again. The woman turned around and a blush immediately filled her cheeks. She took Air pods out of her ears.

“Sorry. Did I wake you? I was told to clean this hallway now.” Her young face was filled with embarrassment and a touch of fear. She looked down and didn’t meet his eyes again. “I’ll be finished shortly.”

“Who told you to clean this area now? Is this the normal time you clean?”

She bit her lip, her dark eyes getting larger. “Um, no. It’s usually later in the day but Mrs. Carruthers insisted. I told her people would still be sleeping but she said we had other things to do since clean up after the party was delayed due to the power outage. She said people would just have to deal with it.”

Bingo.He knew it. Now he knew her game. Two could play and she wasn’t going to like it one bit. “Why don’t you stop now? Call it good enough. You don’t have to finish it. I am sure it will be fine until the next time.”

“You really think so?” she asked shyly.

“I do.” Flynn smiled at her and then closed his door again. He glanced at the bed. No point in trying to go back to sleep now. He’d have to tough out a cold shower and then go in search of food. The chicken was long gone from his stomach. And he needed about a gallon of coffee.

Shah was waiting at the bottom as he went down the stairs. “Any news on the generator?”

---