“I thought you were going to let us sleep in?” Kayleigh said, stifling a yawn with the back of her hand.
Sean laughed as he climbed down from the ladder and folded it up. “It’s almost one in the afternoon. Everything is ready to go. I was just putting up the final camera before running a test to make sure we are all set.”
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t think I drank that much last night.”
“You and April were feeling no pain. My shoulders still hurt from holding you both up on the walk home.”
“Is April awake?”
“Only just. She has a pot of coffee going as we speak. Go grab yourself a cup and pour me one, too. I’ll be down in a minute.”
With a little salute, Kayleigh headed for the stairs, pulling up her Animal Crossing pajama pants, the bottom of which had slid under her heel. With each step down the stairs, the smell of coffee got a little stronger. Rounding the corner, she headed for the kitchen, where April sat at the island, hunched over and head in hands. Her usually lustrous blonde hair hung limply, the ends of one side resting in a little pool of spilled coffee beside her mug. “You look like I feel,” Kayleigh said.
Slowly lifting her head, April assessed her friend with bleary eyes, the coffee dripping off her hair and onto her plain white T-shirt. “Why do I do this to myself?” she asked.
“Because you try to keep pace with us when you know you are a lightweight,” Kayleigh said, pulling a pair of mugs out of the cupboard and filling them with coffee.
April groaned as she took another long slug of coffee. “Do we have any Tylenol?”
“Upstairs bathroom in the medicine cabinet.”
“That’s too far away,” April moaned, lowering her head onto the cold granite countertop.
“Let me finish my coffee, and I’ll go get you a couple. I want to shower and change before Sean shows us the camera setup.”
As if on cue, Sean strolled into the kitchen, his laptop tucked snugly under his arm. He patted April gently on the head and flipped open the computer. “Is that mine?” he asked, pointing at the steaming mug of coffee on the counter.
“It is,” Kayleigh replied.
“Cheers. Are you ready to see how all this works?”
“Can you give me ten minutes? I want to hop in the shower and freshen up a little bit.”
“No problem.”
“Cool. Come to the bottom of the stairs. I’ll toss you down the Tylenol for Sleeping Beauty there,” Kayleigh said, nodding towards April, who was then snoring lightly.
A few minutes later, Kayleigh stood in the shower and let the scalding hot water wash over her body, the scent of her lavender body wash, helping clear the fog in her head. She wanted to stay in longer but knew that April would be hopping in there sooner rather than later, so she ended the shower while there was still plenty of hot water. Toweling herself dry, she pulled her black hair into a ponytail and slipped on a hair tie. She put on a pair of ratty sweatpants and a Freddy Kreuger T-shirt that said, “Welcome to My Nightmare.”
When Kayleigh got back downstairs, April was up and about, her coffee replaced by a bottle of water, which she was guzzling down like there was no tomorrow. “You feeling better?” Kayleigh asked.
“Another two of these bottles and a shower, and I’ll be ready to go,” April replied.
“There is still plenty of hot water, so have at it.”
Finishing the last of the water, April headed for the stairs, stopping to give Kayleigh a peck on the cheek, the smell of alcohol coming off her in waves, like the heat from a blast furnace.
“Good lord, girl, you smell like a distillery. Get in that shower before you give me a contact high,” Kayleigh said.
“You still love me,” April said as she rounded the corner and headed upstairs.
Sean tapped away at the keyboard on his laptop and gave a little round of applause as four images popped on the screen. “We have liftoff.”
“Lemme see,” Kayleigh said, dragging a chair over beside him and angling the laptop towards her. “Damn, the picture is super clear, Sean. Awesome job.”
The laptop screen showed four distinct views from inside the townhouse, the living room, the kitchen, looking down the stairs to the front door, and along the hallway on the second level. Each live video had a time and a series of numbers running across the top, adding a touch of flair to the black and white videos.
“Now, I have these set up live for the moment, but I am going to change things up and put on the motion detector setting now that I see they are working as they should be. I also need you to download the app for your phone, which will alert you any time the cameras catch movement,” Sean said.
“Is that something I need? I mean, we are going to be faking all this stuff.”
“I know, but I have a couple of set-piece ideas that I think will be great. Catching you on camera while the app sounds to let you know there is movement somewhere else in the house is going to look great.”
“You’ve given this some real thought. I wasn’t so sure you were on board with all of this,” Kayleigh said.
“It’s a little corny,” Sean admitted. “That said, April has channeled her inner Jennie Olson and written an amazing backstory for this place.”
“Jennie who?”
“You know, that author whose books she always has her face shoved in. The creepy goth chick that writes horror and dark fantasy.”
“Okay, yeah, I know who you mean. I love that April is so into this, and I hope you know that we wouldn’t be able to do this without you.”
Sean shrugged, hiding his discomfort at receiving a compliment by shrouding himself in a sweet-smelling cloud of smoke from his vape pen.
Heading into the living room and picking up her phone off the coffee table, Kayleigh installed the camera app and added a username and password. Once it was up and running, she toggled open the menu and selected the camera option, which displayed the image from the kitchen. Swiping left and right, she was able to move between each of the camera displays. Kayleigh wasn’t much of a tech wizard, but the camera software was well laid out and easy to follow. She couldn’t wait until they started creating their haunted house clips.
She was still messing with the software when the doorbell chimed. Tucking the phone into the pocket of her sweatpants, she opened the door, just as the bell rang again. Terry stood on the front steps, a manila envelope in his right hand. Kayleigh was surprised to see him there, but then she remembered that she had given her address in the contract. “Hey, Terry. Would you like to come in?”
“That won’t be necessary, Miss Barnes,” he replied, flashing his goofy grin. “I’m here to tell you that the game is about to begin. Are you ready to play The Hollow-Eyed Girl?”
Chapter Four
Day 1
“Oh my god, that was fast,” Kayleigh blurted out.
Terry beamed and waved the envelope in the air. “Your first clue is right here, but I do have to go over some things before I give it to you.”
“Of course, Kayleigh said, stepping to the side and making space for Terry to enter the home. “Come on in.”
She watched as Terry looked over her shoulder, his eyes going wide. Turning around, she saw April coming downstairs, wrapped in nothing but a towel that did little to cover her assets. “Ahem,” Kayleigh coughed loudly. “We have company, April.”