They won’t find it, but someone will.
Zach could hardly traipse over there now and retrieve the stuff. He had planned on getting it later when everyone was asleep. If someone found it before then, good luck to them in trying to figure out what it meant.
From afar, he reexamined the charred remains of the old stables. He hardly thought the fire was a mistake. A premeditated action most likely, and he suspected foul play rather than paranormal activity. Is this why Matthew and Bryce had slipped out the secret hole in the fence? To get materials to commit arson? Was this their way of distracting attention from the hospital building so that they could plant more bogus evidence? And lastly, where were they?
Hunter sidled up next to Zach. “Something there is that doesn’t love a fire.”
“Where did you get that from?” Zach peered at him.
“Rebecca said it to me at some point,” he said. “It’s kind of eerily catchy.”
“And, in this situation, appropriate.”
“Someone or something is starting these fires in the hopes of damning these spirits to hell.” Hunter said, in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Do you believe fire cleanses a place of them?” Zach asked.
“In certain cases, I believe it does.” Hunter said. He was silent a moment. “You’re thinking about leaving, aren’t you?”
“I’m thinking I might need to beat up both Bryce and Sara but I’d say it’s time to pack up our stuff and get the hell out of here before someone else gets hurt.”
Hunter made a guttural noise that sounded a cross between a growl and a “hmmm.” His lips scrunched off to one side and it looked as though he was biting at the inside of his cheek.
“What’s buzzing through your head?” Zach asked.
“The doctor,” Hunter said. “I feel responsible for him now. It feels as though things here aren’t yet finished.”
“What do you mean? You still feel his presence?”
“No,” Hunter said. “I mean, yes I sense he hasn’t left, but no, it seems as though he’s still in hiding. It just feels like our work here isn’t done.”
“It may not be,” Zach said. “But it’s done for tonight. I’m putting my foot down before someone else gets hurt…or worse.”
Hunter nodded absently and peered out at the line of trees in back of the property. “So do you want me to stick around then?”
As tempting as it was to ask Hunter to stay, as much as Zach missed Ray and wanted someone who he knew was firmly in his corner, Zach didn’t want Hunter involved with whatever negativity would certainly come of what he was about to do.
“No. You head out now,” Zach said. “Let’s talk tomorrow.”
“Yes, we sure will,” Hunter said still gazing far away. “Yes, we will talk tomorrow.”
“What are you planning to say?”
Most of the chaos had subsided. The fire engines departed, and only the fire marshal and a couple fire inspectors remained to poke through the rubble. Angel and Rebecca returned from the Foster residence. Zach ordered him to leave the control center intact, but begin taking down cameras from the third floor and work his way downward. He asked her to spread word for everyone to assemble in the lobby. That’s when he noticed Patrizia staring at him.
Maybe it was the insanity of the situation, possibly it was his exhaustion, but Zach finally recognized the expression on her face as she gazed. Her head slightly cocked, her eyes set and her lips slightly parted. She was looking at him with an expression of longing. Sara had approached and Zach pushed thoughts of the implications of that to the back of his mind.
“Zack, what are you planning to say?” Sara repeated.
“Just keep the cameras rolling—no matter what. I’ve got a plan.”
Sara rolled her big brown eyes but said nothing. She darted off to coordinate with the cameramen.
Zach stood outside Rosewood’s front door encouraging team members into the asylum, Patrizia approached with a look of determined intention. She gripped his forearm. “We need to talk.”
Zach hustled along as she dragged him down the long Rosewood façade and pulled him around the corner of the building. Did she have some important piece of evidence that would further implicate Matthew and Bryce or someone else? Before he could think through the implications, Patrizia pressed him up against the brick wall. He didn’t even put up a fight when she pulled up his shirt sleeve.
Her dark eyes looked down at the gauze bandages and then glared at him. She only needed to utter one word. “Why?”
The tingly pinpricks of embarrassment attacked his torso, especially his back. He muttered the first thing that came to mind. “It’s not what you think.”
“I know you’re not suicidal,” she said. “But you’re a cutter?”
Zach knew of the practice. He actually understood why people might put themselves in physical pain to release emotional suffering. Still, he had never cut himself, nor would he ever. She gazed at him with such concern, such nonjudgmental interest that he felt the need to show her.
He unwrapped the gauze; they’d be healed by now. He could feel her penetrating glare as he wound it around and around in counterclockwise circles. When he’d finished, he held out his wrists for display. There was some spotting of blood on and around his Chi Rho tattoos, but as she undoubtedly could see, there were no cuts.
“I-I don’t understand,” she said. Her fingertips caressed the insides of his wrists in tiny S-shaped patterns.
“It’s okay,” Zach said. “No need to apologize and I appreciate your concern.”
Still with his back pinned up against sharp bricks, he wasn’t sure that he fully appreciated her concern, however…it seemed the right thing to say at the time.
“Do you?” she asked. “Do you really?”
His heart cranked into double time, and with the shortage of blood in his veins, he needed to be careful, very careful.
“I think that I do.” He needed to look up at her because of her heeled-boot advantage. “Patrizia, we should—”
“Go in,” she said, completing his thought. “I know we should. I know we need to. I just needed you to know that I care. I’ve watched all your shows and I know that you’re for real. I care a lot.”
Her face inched closer to his. If not for the brick-wall supporting his spine, Zach might have fallen over. As her lips gravitated towards his, Zach thought of her tattoo and the lithe arm that bore it. Their lips met. There was a creamy taste of lipstick and softness. At first, her nose tickled his cheekbone, and then pressed into it as he moved deeper into her mouth. His tongue lightly caressed hers in slow rhythmic circles. She emitted a soft whine of desire. It was a sound he’d never expected to hear from her, but it was unmistakable.
From seemingly another dimension, Sara’s voice was laden with sarcasm. “Za-ach, we’re all waiting for youuu.”
Patrizia pulled away and stared at him. Zach knew he should say something witty or clever or romantic, but he was too stunned to process. Given the circumstance, anything that he would have uttered may not have made sense.
“Well, anyway, I just thought you should know,” she said. She turned and walked away leaving Zach alone.
He expected Sara to come prancing around the corner of the building and, in a knowing voice, ask what had been going on. She didn’t, and it allowed him to consider his next move.
Playing poker, Zach had learned that sometimes it was necessary to talk your opponent into or out of calling your bet. In this situation, with a lot of bravado and bluster, Zach could accuse Matthew and Bryce of deception and fraud, but getting at least one of them to admit guilt would be far better. Besides, if someone other than the two of them were involved, he’d only know for sure if that party was fingered by one of the other two culprits.
He turned the corner and caught a glimpse of Patrizia approaching Rosewood’s entrance. Before she slipped from sight, she glanced back. Even from that distance he could see that she was grinning at him. Only then did he realize
it was the first time he’d seen her smile.
Chapter Thirty-Six
“What’s the John Dory wif you chaps pullin’ down the cameras?” Pierre asked, before Zach had a chance to address the Demon Hunter and XPI teams.
Bryce stood on the far side of the lobby away from the group by several feet. Everyone was present or accounted for. Angel could be seen occasionally on the video monitors hauling down equipment. It looked like he’d finished removing the cameras from the third floor and was taking them down on the second level. The rest of the team stood around the lobby waiting for explanation to what was going on. The only member missing, and the one member Zach really wished could have been there, was Ray.
“Yeah, boss,” Matthew said, “What gives?” His voice seemed tentative, although it may have been Zach’s knowledge of Matthew’s guilt being amplified.
“We’re packing up and heading out before someone else gets hurt on this investigation. I take it you’ve all heard about Sashza?”
Heads nodded throughout the room.
“You think her accident had something to do with Rosewood?” Wendy asked.
Leave it to Wendy to ask the question most likely to make it onto the actual show. Sara zigzagged around the room with a handheld video cam; two regular cameramen also were filming the meeting. The whole scene ultimately might not make it into the final cut of the Halloween Special, but if it did, Sara would edit it to provide maximum drama.
“To be honest, Wendy, I don’t know if they’re connected or not.” Shelly and Rico’s eyes bulged at the mere possibility that they could be. Others maintained their somber mood. “But with this place’s history of fires, and a fire here both last night and tonight, I’m not willing to take that chance. Something at Rosewood likes fire.”
Sara momentarily dipped her camera. She was possibly already visualizing the shot, with that line as a commercial.
“Dude, you’ve got to be shitting me.” Bryce strode from the far end of the lobby towards him. “You’re going to run away now? Whatever. That’s fine. But I think I speak for my entire team when I say that we’re staying.”
The Demon Hunters appeared either uncertain or unprepared to pound their fists together and bark. Zach had counted on precisely this reaction from Bryce.
“In fact,” Bryce had moved closer, but maintained a safe distance. “The attack on her has us even more determined to solve the mystery of this place. We shall exorcise each and every evil spirit here at Rosewood!”
At that, the Demon Hunters erupted in their signature cheer.
“Bryce, I understand your frustration and desire to avenge your fallen team member, but I need to tell you something and I need to say it right to your face.”
Bryce obliged. He towered over Zach. Like a ruffled-feathered peacock, Bryce puffed. His chest and shoulders swelled in a posture that suggested he was not about to back down.
But he’d never expect this.
Out of the corner of his eye, Zach spied Angel at the top of the lobby’s circular staircase. He must have noticed Bryce in Zach’s face and treaded down the stairs, as a sign of support—perhaps to lend physical support if needed.
“Man to man,” Zach said, looking up at Bryce. “I need to apologize to you.”
Apparently expecting an insult or an argument, Bryce reacted almost as though Zach had slapped his face. He opened his mouth and closed it.
Zach put his hand on Bryce’s arm. His cohost’s already tense muscles further constricted into stone-like bulges. “I need to look you in the eye and say ‘I’m sorry’ because one or more members of my team have sabotaged this mission and put us all in danger. Worst of all, he may have rigged an explosive device in Sashza’s stove as retaliation for her having tried to warn us.”
The group’s murmur was loud enough to echo through the asylum’s lobby. Bryce’s glare softened for just a second. He cleared his throat. “Who?”
Zach so wanted to say, “You know who, you bastard.” Instead, in dramatic fashion, he extended his arm, finger pointed, directly at Matthew. In silence, members of both teams turned and stared at the accused.
Before Matthew could deny it, Zach advanced on him. “Before we all arrived here at Rosewood, he cut a hole out of the back fence so that he could get onsite to plant evidence. I’ve seen the net-like contraption he devised to cover up the opening. At some point, he planted a device in the administration building which caused the wild EMF readings. After we went to bed last night, he removed it. Then, he paused the filming of two different video cameras and allowed his accomplice to sprinkle peach juice in room 217, which Patrizia’s research has uncovered, wasn’t even the room the peach jar patient killed himself in.” The last part seemed to provide more credence to the accusation.
“I didn’t…”
“You did!” Zach’s anger level rose but was cut off by the smell of Sailor Black. He stopped four feet shy of where Matthew stood and took a deep calming breath. He would need to stay centered during this speech. “I gave you an opportunity and you betrayed me. Worse than that, even if it wasn’t intentional, whatever you planted in the old stables building may have caused the fire!”
Matthew shook his head.
“Yes,” Zach said. “I know for a fact. You organized and led someone else to stab me in the back. Who?”
Matthew said nothing. For a moment, Zach wondered if his plan had failed or worse, would backfire.
“How could you do this to me, Matthew? How?”
“I’m sorry,” he said.
When he admitted it, everyone froze. The silence was so complete that even a tiny piece of plaster falling on Rosewood’s third floor would have sounded like thunder.
“Who, Matthew? Who else did you recruit? Who else did you poison?”
Matthew’s eyes lowered and his head drooped.
“I didn’t,” he said again. “I didn’t recruit anyone.”
“What do you mean?” Zach asked.
Matthew looked up, but didn’t make eye contact. He was looking past Zach. Please say it, Zach thought, please say it.
“It was Bryce. He called a week ago and asked me to help him ensure a good show. That’s all we were trying to do. Make sure this case got us results.”
That was it. He’d gotten Matthew to say it!
“Whoa, dude!” Bryce said. “You got caught with your hand in the cookie jar. Don’t go trying to smear my good name.”
“Stop lying. It’s over!” Matthew turned to Zach. “I broke the camera, yes. I planted the device and I paused the videos so Bryce could sprinkle peach juice in the room, but I did not do anything to the stables building or to Sashza. I had nothing to do with the fires.”
“I don’t believe a word you say.” Angel rushed toward Matthew. “I trusted you—we trusted you. Screw Bryce Finman, you’re the damn traitor.”
He pressed his face close to Matthew’s. Before Zach could step in, Matthew pushed Angel away. He attempted a punch which Angel mostly dodged. It hit him in the meaty part of the shoulder. Turk and Rico grabbed Matthew at the shoulders. Zach pressed both hands to Angel’s chest and struggled to hold him back. Rebecca and Shelly stepped into the middle of the fracas. Zach wished they hadn’t but they did.
“Calm, calm,” Zach said in Angel’s ear. “I’ve got this.”
Angel eased up some, but it felt tentative.
“Bryce,” Zach shouted. “I know Matthew’s telling the truth. I saw you two leave out of the hole in the fence together!”
Bryce looked like he had taken a punch on the chin. “Dude, that’s bullshit. What are you talking about?”
An extremely unwelcome figure stood behind Bryce.
“I don’t give a rat’s ass what any’a ya’s are talkin’ about. Git yer shit asses outta here!”
Flanked by two state troopers, he wasn’t a phantasm, although, at that point, Zach wished he would have been.
“Don’t even pack yer shit up neither,” Grant Winkler shouted. “I don’t get paid no overtime, a
nd I ain’t even on the clock. You can come back tomorrow during the day. At my convenience.” He cackled as if they’d been sentenced to a chain gang under his command.
The only one in the room who moved was the state cop on Winkler’s left. Tall and uniformed, he strode over to Matthew. A buzz cut of blond hair could faintly be seen under the trooper’s brimmed police hat.
“Do you want to press charges?”
“Huh?” Matthew appeared stunned.
“I saw that,” he pointed to Angel, “gentleman get up in your face. He can be charged for that.”
“Hey!” Angel said. “He pun—”
“Quiet, boy. I wasn’t talkin’ to you.”
He turned back to Matthew. “Do you want to press charges, sir?”
Demon Hunters and XPI alike stood motionless.
“Excuse me, officer,” Sara called out. “Would you mind saying your name on camera for our television show?”
His attitude likely wouldn’t have changed more if she’d proclaimed that she was the Queen of England.
“Yes, ma’am. Officer White, ma’am.”
“How appropriate,” she said. “Oh, Matthew, I’d answer the officer correctly, or else I’m sure the network will most certainly be pressing criminal charges in this matter.”
Matthew shook his head. “No officer. No charges.”
The cop nodded and looked relieved that this incident may not make the airwaves.
“Look children. The party here is over. Git out now!” Winkler wasn’t as sauced as the prior night, but it was early. He still had time.
“Let’s go people,” Sara called out. “Grab what you can and throw it in the trucks. Pronto!”
Both teams started moving. They unplugged monitors and packed their ghost hunting equipment into metal cases.
“No grabbing your playthings. I said to git out now!”
Everyone froze.
“Oh I’m sure the policemen won’t mind if we grab just a few expensive items on our way out. Would you, Officer White?”
He made eye contact with his partner and turned back to her. “No, ma’am. We’ll wait outside, but we can only give you five minutes. Grab what you can and contact Mr. Winkler tomorrow for the rest.”
Ghosts of Rosewood Asylum Page 23