Page 96 of The Night Island

She was aware that Luke was sitting quietly beside her. Too quietly. She didn’t have to be a mind reader to know that he was braced for the possibility that her friends would figure out what he could do with his talent and realize that he was the real Night Island project proof of concept.

She rushed to change the subject. “I have two bits of good news.The Lost Night Fileshas hired the perfect virtual assistant, Phoebe Hatch. She’s actually only semi-virtual. She will be renting a place right here in my apartment building. She knows her way around the dark net and she has already started working.”

“That’s great,” Pallas said, “but we can’t afford a virtual assistant.”

“Phoebe says she will start off as a volunteer,” Talia said. “Apparently her other online project is quite profitable, so she can forgo a salary for now.”

“What’s the other good news?” Amelia asked.

“Luke is joining us as our official historian,” Talia said. “He, too, is a volunteer.”

Beside her, Luke grimaced and drank some coffee. She slanted him a quick, searching look. She had stopped asking him if he was okay, because the repeated question obviously irritated him. As far as she could tell, hewasokay, but he seemed to have retreated back into that other zone, the one he had inhabited when she had first met him.

“Always happy to have more help,” Pallas said. “But what, exactly, will he be doing?”

“Turns out Luke has uncovered a lot of the history of the research into paranormal phenomena, including the top secret work done by various government agencies in the last century. He was the one who knew who to contact when we realized Night Island was a problem that the local authorities would not be able to handle.”

Ambrose nodded. “That outfit called the Foundation. Good work.”

“Right,” Talia continued. “Also, believe it or not, he collects a lot of interesting bits and pieces of information from his blog.”

Pallas looked interested. “What blog is that?”

For the first time Luke spoke up. “The Anomalies Report. Maybe you’ve heard of it?”

There was a short silence.

Amelia mumbled something about having read it a couple of times.

“Yes,” Pallas said, her voice painstakingly neutral. “I believe we are all familiar with it.”

Ambrose chuckled.

Luke smiled the serenely confident smile of a cruising shark. “Think of it as the online equivalent of theLost Night Filespodcast. You know, a site that collects and analyzes rumors and chatter about the paranormal.”

“Okay,” Amelia said slowly.

Pallas and Ambrose got thoughtful expressions.

“I got the tip that led me to the Foundation off the blog,” Luke concluded.

“We need all the leads we can get,” Talia said, rushing to fill another moment of silence.

“Very true,” Pallas said. She was starting to look intrigued. “Your knowledge of the history of paranormal research certainly came in handy during this case.”

“It’s hard to believe that a secret government lab has been sitting there on a private island in the San Juans all these decades,” Amelia said. “I wonder how Nathan Gill found it.”

“Good question,” Luke said. “It’s obvious that Gill and the people he’s working with have also been doing a deep dive into the history of paranormal research. What’s more, it’s safe to say they’re well-financed.”

“There’s never been a shortage of eccentric billionaires willing to throw cash at bizarre projects,” Ambrose pointed out.

“Too bad one of them doesn’t offer to toss some money our way,” Talia said. “We could use the funding.”

“Be careful what you wish for,” Luke said. “That kind of easy money always comes with strings attached.”

“He’s right,” Ambrose said.

“Well, that does it for my good news,” Talia said. She jumped up off the dining stool and went around the counter to pick up the coffeepot. “Now Luke has some for you.”

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