I looked to Mack.
Mack didn’t hesitate. “This floor. I’ve got the walkie-talkie. Delaney, you with us or with them?”
Falisa beat Delaney to the answer. “Go with them to start off with, Delaney. You’ve worked with us plenty, get some experience in.”
His pinched face turned even more sour. “Yeah, okay.”
I got the distinct impression Delaney and I would have a chat at some point tonight. But I’d give him the benefit of the doubt. He might be smart enough to keep his opinion to himself, who knew?
Armed with light, walkie-talkies, holy water, and salt, we split up at the base of the stairs. Mack walked steadily, his head swiveling back and forth as he looked. We had a janitor’s key that opened all the rooms, and he opened the ones that weren’t already open for us, poking his head in. Delaney had the other key ring and did the same on the other side of the hallway. I stayed in the middle, thermal glasses on, watching both their backs. I didn’t think we’d missed any talismans, as we had matched everything on Rachel’s list, and it stood to reason that if we couldn’t readily enter a room, she shouldn’t be able to. Still, she was a rattled and nervous young woman and anxious people didn’t have good recall. I wanted to stay on my toes just in case.
The glasses told me a more illustrated story than Mack and Falisa had. With them on, I could see it for myself, and I understood better why Mack was so unnerved by this place. It really did look wicked bad. And the miasma was thick—so much so I felt like someone could slice it up and serve it. No wonder they weren’t sure how many ghosts were in here—this stuff covered any sort of track left behind. Until something popped out of the woodwork, we could only hazard a guess.
We were halfway through the hallway when Mack visibly jumped. I was at his side in a second, gun poised, although I didn’t see anything to shoot. “What, honey?”
Mack stayed in the doorway, pressed up against my side, his eyes glued on something straight ahead. “I caught the tail end of something. Something white and bright, that’s all I can say. Maybe the friendly ghost in residence, maybe not. Went straight through the wall.”
“Not going to chase it?”
He shook his head firmly. “Not the right atmosphere for that, cher. There’s already too much pressure in here from the malevolent spirit. Let’s wait for it to come to us.”
“Okay.” I backed away to give him room.
The phone rang in my pocket and I shifted the gun to my other hand to answer it, putting it on speaker. “Hey, Sylvia. You’re on speaker with Mack and Delaney.”
“Good, I need a sitrep. What’s going on?”
Mack leaned in to answer her. “Bad juju down here, boss. The miasma’s so thick I can’t get a good read on anything else. I just caught the tail end of a spirit but I don’t think it’s the troublemaker. It might take us a few days to figure this out and get a solution hammered down.”
“So no possibility this is just a prank?”
“No way in hell,” Delaney said firmly. “If you could see this place, you’d understand. It’s really godawful in here. Makes my skin crawl. It’s no wonder the students don’t want to be in here. Even someone who isn’t sensitive would pick up on it.”
True. I picked up on it, and I sensed nothing on a pretty reliable basis.
“Boss, we’ve got multiple accounts of students being hurt here,” Mack added. “Falisa actually applied holy water to one of them. This thing, whatever it is, is going bad really fast. We have to nip this in the bud, otherwise it’ll be a disaster later.”
Sylvia groaned. “I was afraid you’d say that. Well, the president of the college called me screaming, and I basically told him I’d call him back and hung up. It sounds like you’re well within jurisdictional rights to investigate. I’ve got your backs, boys. Just do your job.”
And this was why I loved my boss. “Sure thing. Sorry you have to deal with his screaming.”
“Part and parcel of the job. Now, listen, if this takes a turn for the worse, pull out and give me a chance to send another team in to help. I do not want injuries, am I clear on that?”
“For that matter, we don’t want injuries. Trust me, if things go to hell, I’ll pull everyone out.”
“Good. Keep me updated.” Click.
We trudged on, checking rooms as we went. It took three hours to do a full sweep, often with Mack and Delaney pausing and cocking their heads like dogs listening hard for something. Whatever it was, both men usually grunted sourly and pressed on, as if their minds were playing tricks on them.
The full circle led us back to the common room, the only place in the building we’d fully salted, so we had a place to rest if we needed it. One look at Mack and I could tell he was flagging. This homecoming of his had been very stressful in all the wrong ways, and I wasn’t sure if he could survive an all-nighter without a pick-me-up. I leaned in a little to him and asked in a low voice, “Want me to fetch you a Coke?”
“Cher, bless you, I could use the caffeine hit,” Mack responded gratefully.
“Okay, I’ll fetch us both one. Two minutes, don’t leave this room.”
He lifted his arm, hand splayed as if taking an oath. “Promise.”
13
I stretched my arms over my head, trying to get the blood flowing some more. I could feel the tension building in my shoulders and was trying to head that off as much as possible. I cracked my neck to either side as well and felt marginally better for it.
Delaney cleared his throat, an attention-getting sound. “Look, I’m not homophobic—”
I groaned, as nothing good ever followed those words.
“—but can you not do that in front of me?”
Dropping my hands, I looked at him sideways. I had a feeling this would go south very quickly. Fortunately, the walkie-talkie was in my hand. I hit the talk button subtly and turned to face him. Two years ago, even a year ago, I would have apologized and ducked away from this confrontation. But being in the outside world from my hometown had taught me a lot. I liked to think I’d grown from it. I wasn’t going to let him treat my relationship with Brandon like it was something disgraceful. “Not do what in front of you, Delaney? Hold hands with my anchor? Call him endearments? You’re acting like I’ve done something wrong. I haven’t.”
Delaney’s boyish face screwed up in anger. “You’re unprofessional on a job—”
“Back that horse right up. There’s not a medium in the world who isn’t affectionate with their anchor, even if they’re siblings. Nothing in the rules say we have to be perfectly professional on a job. Try a different excuse, sir.”
The red in his cheeks could have been mistaken for embarrassment, but it wasn’t. It was anger, pure and self-righteous. “Fine. Fine, I don’t like looking at it. I can’t believe they let you pick some guy as an anchor and just roll with it. Although he’s not really your anchor, is he? Just your fucktoy.”
I saw red, my hand tightening around the walkie-talkie to the point I heard the plastic creak. “He will be after this case. And that’s something else that isn’t your call. You’re not homophobic? Bullshit. You can’t even stand the thought that I’m with him.”