“You ready?” asked Gary.
“Jeez Gary,” said Mike. “You scared the shit out of me,” Mike said and then laughed nervously. “Those guys set?” He pointed to the news crew.
“Yup,” said Gary. “Just you and me at first and they’ll do the outside piece once we’re in.”
“Good,” said Mike. “I think that will play out really well. Did you tell Bill not to touch anything?”
“Don’t worry,” said Gary. “Katie will keep him in line.”
“Let’s do it,” said Mike. He unclipped the radio from his belt and clicked the send button twice. “You set, Katie?”
“Yes,” Katie’s voice came from the speaker.
“After you,” Mike waved Gary to the front door.
The first floor of Bill’s house appeared normal except for the bundle of cables tucked into the corner of the front door and running up the stairs. A reading light in the living room illuminated a pleasant, inviting space to curl up on the couch. To their left, the short hall showed a kitchen both well-equipped and clean. Mike mentally compared Bill’s cozy home to his own tiny house and envied the engineer despite his second-floor troubles.
Mike clicked his radio once more “Heading upstairs,” he said. He took the lead this time, and Gary followed close behind. They came to a stop several steps from the top when Mike heard child’s laughter once more.
“Did you get that?” he asked his radio.
“Nothing here,” said Katie through a wave of static.
Mike turned and raised his eyebrows at Gary who shrugged back.
“We’re getting a little static here Katie. Everything clear on your end?”
“As a bell,” said Katie.
Mike and Gary continued up the stairs and stopped at the top. Mike scanned the room, checking the camera locations. He glanced one more time at Gary and then made a statement for the record—“This is Mike and Gary, we’re doing our initial sweep of the second floor to check for abnormal activity and perform the final check on all the equipment before we introduce any stimulation.”
They moved methodically through the space, verifying the operation of each instrument. They had almost finished their initial sweep when Gary tapped Mike on the shoulder.
“Hey Mike, I’m getting a really odd sensation here,” said Gary.
“Odd, like what?” Mike asked, pointing a tape recorder.
“I’m not sure how to describe it,” said Gary. “I feel cold, but not like an external cold. More like it’s coming from the inside.”
“Okay,” said Mike. “And we’re in the back right, so this would be the northwest corner of the house." He snapped off the tape. “This is just the sweep, Gary. I don’t want to discourage you from letting me know when you have a strange feeling, but let’s get some hard-core action for the news guys before we talk about too much touchy-feely stuff.”
“Okay,” said Gary.
“Mike?” Katie asked over the radio.
“Yeah?” Mike replied.
“You’re right next to one of the open microphones,” said Katie.
“I know,” said Mike, but his face told a different story. He took a deep breath, wondering if he had just ruined his credibility with the news crew. It was important for them to believe that they were invisible, impartial observers at this investigation, and that Mike wasn’t trying to put on a show for them. Now the news people might have just heard evidence to the contrary. Mike exhaled and turned to Gary. “I think we’re done with the initial sweep. Let’s get back to the van and calibrate the instruments.”
On the stairs, Gary leaned close to Mike’s ear and spoke—“Hey, I really did feel something weird up there.”
“I know you did Gary. I believed you, but I want us to seem like completely cold, unaffected scientists until shit starts happening,” explained Mike, keeping his voice low as they reached the bottom of the stairs.
“Oh,” said Gary. “You should have told me that.”
“I didn’t expect that acting like a scientist would be a special order,” said Mike. He reached for the door and held it open for Gary. The newswoman, Leslie, waited with her producer by the van.
“Are you guys conducting an investigation here, or is this some kind of informercial to drum up business?” the producer accused Mike.
“Whoa, you’re way out of line, buddy,” said Mike.
“Am I? What was that all about then?”
“First of all,” explained Mike. “We don’t make a dime from this. Ask Bill. Second, I just want to make sure we don’t waste your time with our personal experiences. I know you’re here to see irrefutable evidence of paranormal activity, and Gary’s feelings are not measurable.”
“Just so we’re clear,” said the producer. “We’re not here to shill your future business, whether or not you happen to be charging for it right now.”
“This is not a scam, and it’s not a business. We’re conducting research. We just want to have an impartial, credible third-party here to help us document the event in case we have some success.”
“Good,” said Leslie. “That’s a good answer.”
“But,” said the producer, “we’re not going to give your name or any contact information as part of the story. We’ll identify you as a researcher and say you wanted to remain anonymous.”
“Yeah, okay,” said Mike. He figured he had pretty good odds that cases would find their way to him whether or not his name was announced.
“Let’s move forward then,” said Leslie. “We’re all on the same page.”
“Great,” said Mike. “We’re about to calibrate the instruments and then we’ll be ready to begin the tests.”
Leslie and her producer turned and walked off.
Mike watched them go before climbing into the van. Gary sat in front of the controls and mouthed a sincere “sorry” to Mike. “Thanks,” Mike whispered back.
“What are we looking at?” asked Mike.
“Cameras are five-by-five,” reported Gary, “and I already told you about the New Hampshire bias.”
“Right, I remember,” said Mike. “Any levels on the property?”
“Nope,” said Katie. “Everything is offsite. Just normal background noise.”
“Same as daylight readings?”
“Yup.”
“From everything Bill has said, that makes this an unusually quiet day,” said Mike. “Where is Bill, anyway?”
“I think he’s still going over those circuit diagrams you gave him,” said Gary.
“More power to him,” said Mike. “So what do you guys think? Are we ready?”
“Yes,” said Gary.
“Sure,” agreed Katie.
“Wonderful,” said Mike. “Remember, as soon as we start transmitting, I want everyone sharp for any kind of movement. We’re looking for any unexplained motion at all.”
“Bad idea,” said a voice from just outside the van. Mike looked and saw Bill listening in.
“What’s that?” asked Mike.
“You just told it what you want,” explained Bill. “That’s a great way to guarantee it’s not going to show you any motion. It’s kinda a contrarian. I thought I was pretty clear about that.”
“We’ll see,” said Mike. “Leslie?” he called as he got up and exited the van.
“What’s up?” Leslie asked, reappearing with her producer and cameraman in tow.
“We’re going to start the first sequence,” said Mike. “Are you guys ready?”
“Yes,” said Leslie. “You said that he’s going to announce the levels?” She pointed to Gary.
“That’s right,” said Mike.
She turned back to her crew and led them several feet away from the vans. “I think we should start here, and I’ll narrate while we hear that guy counting.”
“Excellent, Leslie. That sounds like a great idea,” said her producer. “Any time, guys,” he said, calling over his shoulder to Mike.