“Careful, Cadence,” Snow said. “I’m not sure if it will work or not, but it sounds as if she has done enough research to make it plausible. Where the devil is Roy?”
“He seems to not be here, more than he is. Not that I miss him,” Cade said. The guy gave her the creeps, and she wanted nothing more than to punch him in his smug, self-satisfied face.
“It does seem to be something of an issue, doesn’t it?” Snow said in a murmuring tone of voice.
“Something of an issue? He hasn’t even checked in with us yet, Snow. I thought they were supposed to do that as soon as we got here,” Cadence said as the two of them watched the ghost hunters set up their equipment.
“They are,” Snow said and his voice was terse, painting a clear picture of his displeasure as he frowned.
Cadence stepped away from the box and limped back over to Snow. “Something is up, and with the way our cases tend to go, I don’t like it.”
“Under normal circumstances, I would say that you are paranoid. However, given what we’ve been through in less than a year, I have to admit I think you’re right. I’m uneasy about this as well. How are you feeling?” He asked the last because her limping had not gone unnoticed.
Cadence shrugged off his words and concern. “I’m fine. Well, not fine,” she corrected, knowing he would nitpick at her. “I’m still tender, especially on my feet, but it isn’t awful. Thanks for checking,” she said as she offered him a smile. She was working on not reacting to other’s concern with anger.
He smiled back to her, and they watched the three living people set up their cameras and other equipment. Pulling out his phone, he hit a button to dial Mr. Pruitt and listened as it rang. He frowned when there was no answer and pocketed the phone after hanging up once more. In the meantime, Liam had gotten his personal camera strapped to his body and was helping Aiden with his as Teeny got hers secured as well.
“You have pockets or some way to carry equipment, right?” Teeny asked Aiden as she walked over to him.
“Of course,” Aiden said with a nod.
“Good. EMF detector and audio recorder right here,” she said, handing the equipment to him. “And then here’s the night vision camera you’ll be using.”
“What about the camera you guys just strapped on me?” Aiden poked at the GoPro camera on his chest.
“That will catch whatever you are facing. The night vision camera you can move around and catch other things around you hopefully. That way if you are filming to your right, but something happens in front of you, we can catch it.”
Aiden hoped they didn’t catch anything. For once, he wished with all his might that there would be no shenanigans from any spirits. He knew Cade and Snow had to be here, but he had no idea how he would convince Liam and Teeny to hide any overt evidence if they got any. And he wasn’t in a place to be able to really talk to Cade or Snow for advice either. He fidgeted a bit with the straps of the camera they had put on him to try to do something with his nervous energy.
Chapter 13
Lauren’s blue Prius made its way down the smooth streets of the neighborhood the Owens lived in. It was late afternoon, but the sun was already beginning to set as Lauren and Derrick passed new house, after new house. The well-manicured lawns still had some patches of snow on them which almost seemed to glow in the late afternoon light. Sam’s presence in the back seat was unnoticed by Derrick, but Lauren was aware of him.
“Still hard to believe ghosts would be in a place like this. It’s all so…clean and new,” Derrick said.
“I know,” Lauren said, nodding her head in agreement. “But the land is old, and not all spirits are attached to buildings.”
“True. Um, how do you want to do things tonight?” Derrick’s voice betrayed a hint of nerves. “I mean, without Aiden here to do command.”
“We’ll be fine,” Lauren said with a smile of reassurance. She knew Sam would do his damnedest to protect them. “We can do this without a command center. We have all of our equipment. The command center is really just a safety net for us, to call us on the radio if he sees something we don’t, or in the more run down places we investigate in case someone gets hurt.”
“So Aiden could come out and investigate with us instead of sitting behind a computer bank all night,” Derrick said.
“He could, though in some places having that safety net is nice.” Lauren pulled into the Owens driveway. The porch and garage lights were on, and the front windows were already aglow with lighting from the inside. The paranormal investigators got out of the car and moved to the back to grab the first few cases to be brought in. As they stepped up onto the porch, the porch lights went out.
“Well someone doesn’t want us here,” Lauren said in a murmur, giving Derrick a look.
Derrick made a face. “Joy.”
Lauren rang the doorbell. It took only a moment for the door to be opened by a tall man with close-cropped brown hair and a goatee. He had the same dark circles under his eyes that Robin Owens had. Lauren extended her hand to the man.
“You must be Mr. Owens. I’m Lauren Kurtz, and this is Derrick Getty.”
“Nice to meet you,” the man said. “I’m Doug Owens. My wife has filled me in on what you all do. Come on in.” Sam followed Lauren and Derrick in as Doug closed the door behind them.
In the hall, it was easy to look up and see the small form of a little girl kneeling on the floor on the second story, her delicate hands wrapped around two of the balustrades of the railing that went around the stair and upper balcony area. Light brown, wavy hair framed the innocent face peering down at them. Lauren smiled at the girl and waved to her. The girl waved back then rose and scampered back to her room.
“You have a beautiful daughter,” Lauren said.
Doug glanced up to the balcony then chuckled. “Yes, she is, and curious, and all those other things five-year-olds can be. Let’s go to the family room.” He led them down the front hallway into the kitchen and then turned right. He led them through an archway into the family room where Robin was seated on a couch.
Robin offered them a weak smile. “Thank you for coming. I’m sorry to call you in ahead of what we had talked about before.”
“It’s alright,” Lauren said. She and Derrick set their cases down. “Would you mind going to get the last few things out of the car?” she asked Derrick. Derrick nodded and headed back out to the car.
“You sounded terrified on the phone,” Lauren said as she moved towards Robin, making sure her voice was warm, smooth, and comforting. Doug moved to sit by his wife and put an arm around her.
“This afternoon I was doing homework with Ava at the kitchen table. She was being stubborn and didn’t want to finish it. Of course, I told her she had to.” Robin took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Sam kept an ear on the conversation as he kept his eyes on the room while Robin continued.
“Ava argued that she had to go play, that Emma said it was time to go play. I told her that Emma was not her mother, I was, and that Emma did not get to have any say in if it is homework time, play time, bath time, or bedtime. I guess Emma was there and didn’t like that.”
“What happened?” Lauren prompted as Robin seemed to stall on saying more.
“All of a sudden I was on the floor,” Robin said with a shake of her head. “The chair had toppled over, and it felt like my arms had been stuck in beehives.” She pushed up the sleeves of her sweater, and there were vivid red scratches up and down her arms. Some had even drawn blood but weren’t deep enough to be dangerous.
“Ava screamed and ran up to her room,” Robin continued. “She came back down about half an hour later, and she was still crying. She was apologizing, sorry that she had been arguing but that she was scared of what Emma would do, if she didn’t do what Emma wanted.”
Derrick came back in with the last couple of cases and set them down by the others he and Lauren had brought in. He saw Robin’s arms and his eyes widened, but he said nothing as he made his way over to t
hem.
“I told her to call you after that,” Doug said. “When she called me and told me what happened, sent me the photos of her arms…I can’t let my wife and daughter be terrorized like this.” Despite being in a position that was offering comfort to his wife, his body sang with tension and anger. “I hate that I can’t protect them from this.”
“You were right to call us in, it seems like things have escalated since we saw you a couple of days ago. And that’s understating the matter,” Lauren said. “Would you be comfortable if we set up a video camera so that we can get proof of Robin’s arms and record a statement of what happened? And may we interview Ava too?”
Robin and Doug shared a look between them, and Doug eventually nodded. “Why don’t you guys record Robin’s story,” Doug suggested. “I’ll go up and talk to Ava and then bring her down when she’s ready.”
Derrick was already beginning to set up the video camera on the tripod when Lauren interrupted him. “I’ve got this, why don’t you go with Doug and meet Ava. That way, she knows at least one of us when she comes down here.”
Derrick looked to Doug who nodded and waved for Derrick to follow him. Down the hall and up the stairs they went. Bright colored construction paper covered with drawings and glitter festooned the first door on the right as they topped the stairs indicating that it had to be Ava’s room. Doug moved to the door and knocked.
“Ava, honey? There’s someone here I want you to meet,” he said. He then opened the door.
The room was cheerful and definitely looked as if it belonged to a girl. White wallpaper with unicorns, fairies, and rainbows covered the walls. A canopied bed to the left was bookended on each side with a nightstand that had lamps of fairies, their wings glowing. The furniture was white wood, including the many-shelved unit to the right that held books, stuffed animals, and toys.
Ava herself sat on the carpeted floor in front of a unique Victorian style doll-house that had working lights. One of the dolls was in her hand. Her dark eyes were wary as she watched her Father enter with Derrick, a man she didn’t know. She set the doll down carefully on the floor, and then rose to her feet. She wore pink jeans and a sweatshirt that boasted an image of the Power Puff Girls.
“Ava, this is Derrick. Derrick, my daughter Ava,” Doug said, making the introductions.
“Hi,” Ava said in a voice that was small and showed her shyness.
“Hi, sweetie. That dollhouse looks pretty cool. Would you show it to me?” He didn’t want to approach the girl without an invitation, as she looked very skittish. Given what was going on in her home, he could understand why she would be, too.
Ava cast a glance at her Father for direction, and he gave a supportive nod. Doug crossed the room and sat down on the floor next to where she was standing, so she wouldn’t feel alone with the stranger.
“Come on, Punkin,” Doug said. “Let’s show Derrick, your pretty dollhouse.”
“Emma doesn’t want me talking to him,” Ava said in a quiet voice, giving Derrick an apologetic look. She did, however, kneel back down on the floor next to her Father.
“Why doesn’t she want you talking to me?” Derrick asked, giving her a bright smile. “I’m not a bad guy.”
“She says you are,” Ava said. “She says you are here to hurt her and Sarah and me. She says you are evil, and the woman with you is a devil.”
Doug’s eyes went wide. “Woah, now Punkin, think about it. Would we let anyone in our house that would hurt you?”
Ava looked up at her Father and gave him a shrug of her tiny shoulders. “I dunno,” she mumbled.
“Yes you do,” Doug said. “I would never let anyone come here who would want to hurt you or Mommy.”
“Emma doesn’t sound like a very nice person if she is trying to make you afraid of people,” Derrick said.
“I thought she was nice at first,” the child said, her eyes showing a sadness that should never be on a five-year old's face. “She was for a long time, even though she was kind of mean to Sarah. But now, she’s kind of scary.”
“I have a friend downstairs, her name is Lauren. I think she would really like to meet you and talk to you about Emma and Sarah. She may be able to help make them a little less scary,” Derrick said.
“Sarah isn’t scary, she’s nice. She just has to do what Emma says,” Ava said.
“Why?” both men asked in unison.
“Umm,” the girl’s brow furrowed as she tried to get the words right. “Something about… Sarah belonged to her. So she got to boss her around.”
“Sounds like Sarah needs some help too then,” Derrick said. “Would you like to come talk to Lauren?”
“I thought you wanted to see my dollhouse?”
“Oh, of course. We’ll go downstairs after you show me this pretty dollhouse,” Derrick said, giving the girl a smile.
Ava turned to the house, picking up the doll she had been playing with before and used the doll to take Derrick on a tour of the house. She showed off the lights that worked and the intricate metal-work of the brass bed in the parent’s room. The piano in the living room actually played music, and from the small attic room at the top, she showed Derrick her favorite piece. She held out to him a beautifully decorated Christmas tree that had tiny wrapped presents beneath it. After he had admired it properly, she put it in the living room and plugged it in. The tree lit up, and Ava unplugged the other lights in the small room, leaving only the colored lights of the tree to illuminate the dolls living room.
“I can see why you like it so much,” Derrick said with a smile.
“I love it. Mommy made it for me herself.”
“Wow, that makes it extra special then, huh?” Derrick smiled to the girl, happy that she was still able to find some solace in her make-believe play.
“Yeah!” She looked at her Dad and sighed. “I’m going to get into trouble, but okay. Let’s go talk to the lady.”
Derrick stood and smiled at the little girl. “Don’t worry, sweetie. We’re here to help you. I promise.”
Chapter 14
“You two ready to rock?” Liam had gotten one of the tripod cameras set up facing the table Teeny and Aiden were next to. He flipped a switch and lights came on, making it bright enough to film.
Aiden lifted an eyebrow. “We’re not just going to start walking through?”
“Nah, this is TV, man. We have to introduce stuff,” Liam said, pushing record, then making his way over to them.
“Welcome back,” Teeny said, looking at the camera with a smile after Liam had settled in on the opposite side of her from Aiden, the two tall men framing the small woman. “Night is falling on Barrington Prison, and we’re about to begin our night long investigation into this tragic location. With us tonight is our special guest, Aiden Perkins, who co-leads the local paranormal group Southern Paranormal Investigations and has investigated this prison before.”
“As usual,” Liam said, taking over the presentation without missing a beat, “we’re well equipped with our EMF readers, temperature gauges, audio recorders, still cameras, both normal and full spectrum, and an array of video cameras including our body cams.”
“You’ll be right with us as we make our way through the hallways of this once strong and stoic building, going into some areas that haven’t seen the living since shortly after the prison was decommissioned in the ’80s,” Teeny said, picking up from Liam’s tech talk. She then turned to Aiden and gave him a charming smile. “What do you say, Aiden? Are you ready to help us release the ghosts of this prison’s past?”
“If it’s safe to, then sure,” Aiden replied, looking at Teeny and Liam instead of the camera. “But I still say some areas of this place are spiritually unsafe to go.”
Teeny looked back to the camera, her smile only a tiny bit forced after Aiden’s answer. “Is that a foreshadowing of danger? Or is it the trumped-up fears of old superstitions and legends? It’s time to find out as we turn off the lights and begin our investigation.”
They stood there for a moment, and then Liam moved to the camera and stopped the recording. Teeny began getting her own equipment together. They waited for Liam as he took down the lights and Teeny spread out a blueprint of the building.
“I figure we’ll hit the first cell block and then move on to the cafeteria,” she said. “We’ll see how long that takes us. I want to try out the box at midnight.”
“Speaking of superstitions,” Aiden said with a hint of sarcasm.
“Aiden this is a television show, not a normal investigation. We have to play it up for the drama a bit,” she said.
“Can’t have the viewers getting too bored,” Liam said, picking up a weird contraption that looked a little familiar to Aiden.
“Is that an SLS camera?”
“Yup!” Liam grinned as he answered. “We probably have the budget to buy one, but I made this baby myself. Just needed the Xbox Kinect, its power adaptor, and a tablet. Then poof, you have your own structured light sensor camera.”
“I thought Teeny was your inventor,” Aiden said with a bit of a grin, making a mental note to talk to Derrick about his Xbox stuff.
“I invent the cool, edgy stuff,” Teeny said with a smirk to her partner. “He gets the DIY videos off of YouTube.”
“Ouch,” Liam said, clutching at his chest with one hand, still holding the SLS with the other. “That hurts. You wound me.” The grin on his face said otherwise.
“Yeah, yeah,” Teeny said, waving his words away.
Aiden grinned a bit. They obviously had camaraderie, having been working together for the past few years. Liam could be off-putting at times, but Teeny seemed to at least have a genuine interest in what they were doing. The sound of an engine caught Aiden’s attention, and he turned a bit towards the doors of the lobby.
“That your off-duty cop arriving?” He looked between both Liam and Teeny as he asked this.
“Should be,” Liam said.
Teeny went to the doors and opened one, as the figure of their guard, shrouded by the darkness outside, had his hand raised to knock.
The Dead Show Page 9