Kendra chuckled. High-larious, kid.
She drew a stick figure, giving it a long rodent’s tail. She wanted to get the job finished. Bruce stood there, not blinking, silent, holding his breath. And, worse, now she could smell the mice, like that high school science lab where the hampster cages never shook that odor of death.
“Rochester the Rat Boy,” she said with cheerful bravado. She realized she was afraid to look up, lest Rochester was sitting there with his red, beady eyes and sharp, yellow incisors. The gaunt rendering horrified her.
She gave him oversize Mickey Mouse ears and ripped the sheet out of the pad. In her haste, the rip was uneven, dissecting a chunk of Dorrie’s head. “Here you go, Brucie. No charge.”
Bruce was gone.
She forced herself to look at the couch, and it was empty. Bruce couldn’t have squeezed past her to the door without nudging her chair. Maybe there were other entrances, ones she couldn’t see. Even if the walls held secret passages, it was hard to imagine someone sneaking away without a revealing creak of wood. But if Bruce had been stuck here playing for years by himself, he’d probably figured out the best hiding places.
“Dorrie Dough-Face and Rochester the Rat Boy,” she said aloud.
The company of fictional characters provided no comfort. Her fantasy life, the cherished escape from a world where her mother had abandoned her and her father regretted the inconvenience, had turned on her, and she didn’t like it. Because if that went bad, then what else did she have left?
The pictures added up to nothing.
Painted into a corner.
On the bottom of the sketch, she scribbled “To Bruce, for the forever inn,” before adding the flourish of her initials. One day she’d be as famous as Jack Kirby, Moebius, and Todd McFarlane rolled into one, and her initials would be gold. In the meantime, a girl could always dream.
Always and forever.
She left the drawing on the table and headed for her room, clicking on her walkie talkie. Maybe Digger had actually noticed his daughter was gone and was fuming because he needed some help. He would be huffing and puffing like the Big Bad Wolf in a cancer ward, muttering curses under his breath, his blood pressure rising. His impatience and frustration would only be rivaled by his helplessness.
She wouldn’t miss it for the world.
Chapter 19
The group was really getting on Burton’s nerves.
Ninety percent of paranormal tourism was about keeping the travelers safe while delivering the illusion of danger. That’s why the liability waiver was so loaded with phrases like “inherent risk” and language that implied the hunter might end up being the hunted.
So Burton wasn’t above the occasional “Look, did that shadow move?”
The tactic never failed to draw a few gasps, and once in a while a newbie would get so shaken the hunt would be disrupted. Then a twenty-minute debate would ensue as people recounted their versions of what they did or didn’t see, and those with cameras would flip through the thumbnails. Burton would review the evidence and reluctantly validate whatever happened to appear in the images, whether it was an orb, a flash of light, or the Second Coming of Harry Houdini. All in a day’s work, all part of the show.
But sometimes a group collected at random would yield such an obnoxious array of personalities that Burton felt like he was punching a time clock in a Portajohn business instead of serving as a shamanistic guide to the land of mystery and spirit. When you got right down to it, shit was shit, and you didn’t want to step in it, either here on Planet Earth or in the otherworld.
And the dude in the Henry Fonda fishing cap was a two-hundred-pound bag of shit that was bursting at the seams.
“Where’s the Percival Ghost?” whined Cappie. “You promised us the Percival Ghost.”
“There are no guarantees in ghost-hunting,” Burton said.
“She may not even be dead,” said an unfortunate woman whose make-up was thick enough to make an undertaker proud. She was way too old to put Kool-Aid-blue highlights in her hair. Her T-shirt read “Ghosts believe in me,” and Burton figured she was a paranormal slut who’d get in bed with any group or ideology that whispered “boo.”
“She’d be dead by now, one way or another,” said a woman who looked over the top of her glasses like a librarian. “Even if she didn’t die in 1948, she’d be well over a century old.”
“Maybe that’s why her ghost isn’t here,” Cappie said.
“One theory is she was killed at the inn and her body was taken off site,” Burton said. “That could explain the lack of any evidence. She could be an intelligent spirit and moving between the place she died and the place where her body is buried.”
“True,” said the Kool-Aid woman, as if such things were established fact. “If she were a residual, we probably would have seen her by now.”
“With all this foot traffic, we’ve probably stirred up enough dust to hide an elephant,” Cappie said.
“All this talking doesn’t help,” Burton said. The walkie talkie on his hip squeaked and Wayne announced, “Okay, all groups head for their next scheduled stop.”
Burton ushered the group to Room 318, counting to make sure no one had dropped out, though he wouldn’t mind losing a couple of them.
“Hey, the light doesn’t work,” someone said.
Burton retrieved the flashlight from his belt and flicked it on, pointing it into the dark room. Good move, Wayne. Pulling the fuse will keep them guessing every time.
“Watch your step,” he said. “Let’s see what the FLIR picks up.”
He passed the instrument to the person closest to him. Even with the door open, the room appeared thick with darkness. The flashlight barely dented it. Burton whacked it on his thigh, though he routinely added fresh batteries before every hunt.
“I feel a cold spot,” said the Kool-Aid woman.
Burton was willing to bet she felt hot spots, too. And maybe even purple polka dots.
“Margaret, are you here?” Cappie bellowed.
“Easy, now,” Burton said. “No need to provoke yet.”
“Come out,” the Kool-Aid woman said. “You don’t have to be afraid.”
That’s a good one. Ghosts afraid of people.
“Did you hear that?” said someone on the far side of the room.
“Shhh.”
“What was it?”
“Tapping. Up above.”
Burton found himself squinting in the darkness overhead, though he kept his flashlight trained on the floor. Since Digger was staying in 318, he’d stowed his personal gear in the closet and locked it. That sealed off the attic access, so unless someone had ascended the closeted stairwell off the main hall, then the noise was likely caused by animals.
Still, opportunity knocked.
“Tap once if you’re Margaret Percival,” Burton said in a calm voice.
The room fell silent, and wood creaked in the distance as the inn settled.
“Tap once if you’re with us,” Burton said.
Nothing but Cappie’s labored breathing. Burton flicked off the flashlight and closed the door, figuring absolute darkness would inspire reaction.
The door swung open again.
Burton turned, knowing he’d been the last to enter. The hallway was empty. “Is that you, Margaret?”
Burton wished he’d thought of the trick. Fishing line, a hidden spring, even a subtle kick of the heel would have been enough. Was Wayne at work behind the scenes?
No, for all his boss’s enthusiasm, Wayne was not the type to rig an encounter. And Burton’s few solid paranormal experiences were enough to convince him that there was more to this world than met the eye. Ghosts happen.