Ghosted

Chapter Twenty-Two

‘Holly, wake up.’

My eyes snap open and I know something’s wrong. ‘What? What is it?’ I squint up at Callum. He’s fully dressed.

‘Jason didn’t check out. I went to grab coffee, and the woman on the desk stopped me and asked if I knew if he’d be checking out today.’

‘What? No. He checked out yesterday morning.’ I toss back the sheets and clamber out of bed.

‘Yeah, well, he didn’t.’

‘Okay. Maybe he just… forgot? Have you called him?’

‘Of course I called him. He didn’t pick up.’

‘What about his brother? Have you checked to see if he’s heard from him?’ I’m still zipping up my jeans as I rush back into Callum’s room with my boots tucked under my arm.

‘I don’t want to worry Chris until I know what’s going on.’ He paces the floor. ‘Are you ready? The manager’s going to let us into his room.’

I finish lacing my boots and grab his hand. ‘Come on.’

The manager is standing in the hall outside Jason’s room, looking almost as worried as we are.

‘We sent the cleaner in late yesterday,’ the manager says, ‘and Mr Wright’s belongings were still inside.

You’ll forgive me, but the receptionist saw you all come in quite late and in high spirits the other evening.

We assumed he’d simply decided to stay another day and, as we aren’t fully booked, the night manager just made a note of it.

’ He unlocks the door and pushes it open.

‘Jason?’ Callum calls as he shoves his way into the room.

‘He’s not in there, Mr Jefferies. Just his belongings.’

‘Jase?’ Callum calls again. He strides to the bathroom.

‘I’m sure it’s a mistake,’ I say. ‘He probably left a few things behind by accident.’ But when I look around, it’s obvious something’s not right.

Jason’s bed is unmade. His overnight bag is on the floor, half-packed, and a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt sit folded neatly on the chair, ready to be worn. His toiletries – toothbrush, shaving cream, razor – are still sitting on the edge of the sink.

Callum stares at me terrified, his hands clasped on his head. ‘He’s really not here.’

I pick up a set of car keys from the top of the dresser. ‘Should we check his car?’

‘Fuck.’ He snatches the keys from me and stalks from the room, shoving past the manager in his haste.

‘I’m so sorry,’ I say, then I chase after Callum.

I find him in the parking lot standing in front of an olive-green Ford Mustang, tucked behind a large black SUV.

‘He would never leave his car. Never.’ He stares at it. ‘How did I miss this? I’m so fucking stupid.’ He rushes back inside.

The manager appears, a phone in his hand. ‘Would you like me to call the police?’

‘Let us check with his family first,’ I say. I start down the hall after Callum. When I get to his room, he’s checking his gun. He slides it into his waistband and pulls his shirt down to cover it, then grabs his jacket.

‘Callum, what are you doing?’

‘I’m going to get him.’

‘We don’t know where he is.’ I stand in front of him, blocking his exit. ‘Callum—’

‘Don’t we? It’s something to do with the house, Holly. It has to be.’

‘Why would you think that? Maybe he met some girl at the bar the other night and snuck out to meet her and just… lost track of time.’

‘No. If he did that, he’d message me. Besides, you heard him, he said he had to check out early because he had a meeting.’

‘But why would he go to the house? We told him not to.’

‘I don’t know, I just know he’s there.’

‘You don’t. Let’s just call the police and—’

‘Yes, I do.’

My hands go to my hips. ‘How?’

‘Because I can feel it. I’m going there now and I’m going to bring him home.’

I close my eyes and picture the Western house. ‘I don’t… Callum I don’t sense anything.’

‘I’m positive, Holly. Please just trust me.’

No matter what happens, you can trust me .

I search his face, see the fear paling his cheeks, his eyes determined. ‘Okay. Give me five minutes to get my stuff together.’

‘We don’t have five minutes.’ He slings his duffle bag over his shoulder. ‘I’ll meet you in the car.’ He stops at the door, slumping against it. ‘It’s Jason, Holly.’

I grab his hand and give it a gentle squeeze. ‘And he’s smart and strong and can take care of himself.’

‘If anything happens to him…’ His voice cracks. ‘He’s here because of me. All of this is because of me.’

‘This is not your fault. If he’s there, we’ll bring him home.’

Callum stares out the window as we speed towards the Western house, clenching and unclenching his jaw.

‘I should’ve checked in with him,’ he says for what must be the tenth time. ‘Made sure he got home okay. We always do that. I can’t believe I didn’t do that.’

‘Stop blaming yourself. You didn’t drag him out here.’

‘I did though, just like I dragged you.’

‘You didn’t drag me either. Jason chose to come and so did I.’

I stop at a traffic light, tapping my hand on the steering wheel as I glare at it, willing it to turn green. Then I put my foot down again, taking off with a screech.

I steal another quick glance at him. His knee is bouncing, his body tense. Every nerve in my body is alert. There’s something going on here I’m not getting. How can Callum be so sure Jason is at the house? How can he feel it?

He turns and catches me watching him and a quick frown darkens his brow. ‘When we get there,’ he says, ‘I think I should go in alone.’

‘There is no way in hell I’m letting you go into that house alone, especially after what happened to Richard and that other man.’

‘Exactly. Richard warned you. Elizabeth’s spirit warned you. Maybe you should stop and listen for a change.’

I glare. ‘I don’t care. I’m coming in with you.’ He turns away again. ‘I have to call Mr Rosing. We need him to let us in.’ I puff out a terse breath and dial Rosing’s number.

‘Rosing here.’ His voice comes through the car speakers.

‘Mr Rosing, it’s Holly Daniels, sorry to call so early. Did you get my message last night about meeting us at the house today? If you’re available, we were hoping you could meet us there as soon as possible.’

‘It’s no trouble, I’m an early riser too,’ he says. ‘The house is ready for you. I’ve left a key tucked above the front door jamb, and the gate is unlocked.’

‘Oh great, that’s great. And you’ll meet us there?’

‘Yes, and Mr Western. He’s looking forward to meeting you both. We should be there in about thirty minutes. But don’t wait for us. Head straight on in. We’ll wait for you in the garden.’

‘Mr Western’s here in East Mill?’ I turn and look at Callum; his face is the palest I’ve ever seen it.

‘He arrived late last night,’ Mr Rosing says, then he adds, ‘I was driving out to pick him up when you called.’

‘Then I guess we’ll be seeing both of you soon.’ I hang up and look at Callum again. ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this.’

‘Same,’ he says.

I press my foot to the accelerator, the car growling as it takes off.

We arrive at the Western house about twenty minutes before Mr Rosing is due to meet us there. Callum stalks to the gate.

‘Callum, slow down.’ I race after him, but he ignores me. ‘Callum.’ I reach for his arm.

He shakes me off, swings around and snaps, ‘My best friend’s in there, Holly!’ I recoil. ‘I’m sorry. I’m panicking.’

‘Well, don’t panic. We need to focus. We can’t be emotional right now.’

‘I am focusing. On getting into this cursed house.’

‘Then do it with less emotion.’

‘I don’t do less emotion. That’s your thing.’

‘Hey, I don’t deserve that.’

Callum stares at me, a heavy breath lifting his shoulders. ‘Sorry.’ He pushes the gate open. It swings back silently. ‘Come on. Let’s find Jase and kick some dead ass.’

I try to ignore the churning in my stomach as I walk along the path, stopping at the foot of the stairs that rise to the porch. I let out a small groan.

Callum pulls a flashlight from his duffle and hands it to me, then pulls out another, along with an EMF meter. I note the tremble in his hands.

‘Are you okay?’

‘Not at all.’ His face is pallid, etched with fear. ‘I feel like something’s creeping under my skin.’

‘I sense it too. The presence isn’t trying to hide from me anymore.’

‘But why am I sensing it?’ He flicks on his EMF meter, and it squeals to life with an ear-piercing alert.

Lights flash across the display – green, yellow, orange and red pulsing all at once.

‘What the fuck? That’s not supposed to happen.

’ He gives it a whack. But the tool keeps on squealing, the lights flashing faster and faster.

He quickly switches it off and drops it back into his bag as if it bit him.

‘Maybe whatever is here is too powerful for your tools,’ I offer. ‘Maybe it’s so powerful that you can sense it, like you did with the woman in the window.’

His eyes flit between mine. ‘Holly, I need to—’

Bile suddenly gushes up my throat. I double over, my hands on my knees, and swallow back the acrid taste. ‘Give me a sec.’ I take a few deep breaths, then eventually straighten up again. ‘That was a rough one. Sorry, what were you saying?’

He shakes his head. ‘Nothing. I’m just freaking out. This place is… I don’t like it here.’

‘Yeah, me neither.’

We step onto the porch and it sighs under our weight with a low creaking groan.

‘Well, if the spirit didn’t know we were here already, it knows now,’ he says.

‘Pretty sure it knows everything we’ve done since we arrived in East Mill.’

We carefully negotiate the broken pieces of wood and shards of glass that litter the porch, stopping briefly to take in the enormity of the blown-out window, before standing in front of the grand door, preparing ourselves for whatever’s behind it.

Callum reaches up for the key, unlocks the door and we step inside.

The morning sunshine bright in the garden fades quickly.

He frowns. ‘It’s a bit dark in here, considering all the windows.’ He flicks a light switch, but nothing happens.

‘Maybe the spirit wants to keep us in the dark,’ I say.

His body heaves with a heavy sigh. ‘Yeah, well, I’ve been kept in the dark long enough.’

Baleful laughter cackles through the air, echoing off the walls.