He looked into the master bedroom first, only to find it empty before heading down the hall and came to a stop in the living room at the sight of Mrs. O’Malley crying.
She didn’t look up. “Your friends aren’t here right now.”
“Is everything okay?” He sat on the chair next to her, wishing Shay had joined them that night.
“Oh, just the problems of an old, sentimental fool. Shay says everything is fine, that’s she’s not upset, but she hasn’t come over in days and now Finn’s left too.”
No wonder she was upset. “But he hasn’t. I was just talking to him.”
“Talking to who?” Don asked as the group came in through the front door.
PJ and Dave gathered behind him, gaze bouncing back and forth, trying to catch up with the conversation.
“We would have been back sooner, but we ran to the Sugar ‘N Spice Delights Bakery and man, that woman, Lilly, is a something else. She held our coffee hostage until we disclosed our business in Camden Point,” Dave said.
Colin sat forward. “Did you tell her?”
“Heck no.” PJ ran his hands through his silver hair and shook his head. “But I practically had to phone my wife to prove that I was married. We told her we were visiting a friend staying at Osprey.” He turned to Mrs. O’Malley. “As I said, ma’am, we’re not here for our fifteen minutes of fame. If you want to tell your neighbors why we’re here, that’s up to you. I’m pretty sure that woman is the local town crier.”
Mrs. O’Malley laughed. “Head gossip monger is just one of her many talents.”
“Who were you talking to?” Don asked again.
Excitement flared through Colin, lighting up his entire core. “The ghost of Finn O’Malley.”
“What?” PJ asked.
“Seriously?” Dave followed.
“Tell me you got it on tape,” Don said.
Colin nodded. “Had the digital and the video going the whole time and I got evidence.” He ran them through everything that had happened. Answered their questions and watched tears of a different kind trail down Mrs. O’Malley’s cheeks.
“You actually heard him say ‘Shay’ without any equipment?” PJ had a dubious look on his face, just like at work when he heard tales of people asking to pet the animals.
“Yeah. It was faint, but I heard it.”
“You said you caught the block moving on camera, right?” Don called over his shoulder as he walked into the kitchen where they’d set up the monitors.
The others, including Mrs. O’Malley, followed and gathered around the table while he rewound the tape to when Colin had first entered the room. The group watched and waited, as Don fast forwarded to the part where the camera first fell—or rather what looked to them like an unseen hand had lifted it then placed it lens down. The video didn’t have sound, so they had to make do for the moment with what they could see. And that was the block moving, both times on its own.
“This is amazing.” PJ scratched his head and clapped Colin on the shoulder. “We’ve never caught anything like it before.”
The guys all started talking at once, asking questions, or making suggestions.
“There’s more.” Colin held up his hand to quiet them. He turned to Mrs. O’Malley. “While you were gone, Shay and I came over and did some investigating on our own.”
“I told Shay you were welcome to come back.”
Each member of his team responded with scowls, a shake of the head and, in PJ’s case, a refusal to look at him. After what he was about to tell them, he wouldn’t be surprised if they asked him to leave the group.
“I’d caught an EVP on my recorder from our first night. It occurred right before the faucet-exploding incident. A single word: ‘Believe.’”
“Uh-huh, go on.” Mrs. O’Malley encouraged.
“Shay heard it too, so we came back over when we hoped the spirit would concentrate on just the two of us. I was asking Shay about her grandfather’s first name and that’s when the picture of you, your husband, and his cousin Finn flew off the table and the glass broke. I also got hit on the head by what felt like a person’s hand, but Shay was in front of me and no one else was in the house.”
“Hmmph. Meddling, stubborn old goat. Didn’t believe I’d tell her about him so he took things into his own hands, I see. And he’s punishing me by blocking his presence from me.”
Despite the evidence before them, Colin could read the expressions on his team’s faces and see the uncertainty and worry. No one they knew had full-on conversations with a spirit, not the kind Mrs. O’Malley had reported. Granted, her gift was like something out of a movie, but based on everything Colin had seen and experienced he didn’t have any doubt.
“The team will want to review the evidence in full, Mrs. O’Malley.” Don shot him a look that said they’d talk later. “However, based on what we’ve just seen and Colin’s personal experiences here, I’d have to say you have paranormal activity going on in this house.”
“Ha!” She clapped her hands together and chuckled. “Finally, I’ve got something to share with the family and prove to them I’m not crazy. Oh, they’ve been humoring me for years, going along with what I say and pretending to believe in O’Malley’s spirit, all except Liam. Even Shay refused to believe. Now, they’ll have no choice and I won’t have to worry about them locking me up in some old folks’ home where they monitor your every move.”
Colin’s heart clenched at her words. He hadn’t realized that option had even been discussed or was a fear of Mrs. O’Malley’s. Shay had never said anything.
Shay.
Oh crap. She was going to kill him for breaking his promise. He’d not only told her gram about their evidence, but the team. He’d done the right thing, she’d see that. Granted, he shouldn’t have agreed to keep information from either his team or Mrs. O’Malley in the first place, but he hadn’t believed then. Things were different now and no one with a heart could have left the sweet woman in tears when they could give her happiness instead. Shay would have to understand when she heard the circumstances.
And if not, he’d cross that bridge when he came to it.
Chapter 9
All she wanted to do was lie on the beach and sleep. Last night’s wedding celebration had gone on until the wee hours of the morning. Well, just past one a.m., but when the alarm went off at six, did it really matter? Not when you had a herd of energized toddlers and kids to corral and keep from burying or drowning one another. At least the agenda for the day called for simply playing on the beach and for the most part her trusted sidekick, Sara, had everything under control.
Which left Shay time to think as she enjoyed the gorgeous hues of blue from the sea to the sky, while the sun warmed her skin and worked on turning it a lovely shade of pink.
Things between her and Colin had been off lately, which was completely her fault, and she’d owned up. ‘Fessed up to her fears and then apologized and told him she wanted more. Sure, sure, it was in a text message instead of face-to-face, but she’d expected some kind of reply.