Chapter 26
“Mariah Hartford,” Oscar said in the commanding voice he used when speaking with the dead. “Show yourself to us. Dr. Wilkes is gone. Everyone else has left. You’re safe, and it’s time to move on.”
Nigel watched from the other side of the room as Oscar worked. Dawn turned the sky outside from black to gray, so there wasn’t a great deal of time left to finish clearing the ghosts from the asylum.
His breath came easily—he’d never take just being able to breathe for granted again. By the time they’d reached the ER in Weston, he’d been completely fine—no fever, no coughing, nothing. His struggle had never been with allergies or bacteria, but with the twisted spirit of Dr. Wilkes.
Which had made it simpler to tell the medical personnel a version of the truth: they’d been exploring the abandoned asylum, with permission from the owner. There’d been a collapse, and Adrienne, Zeek, Chris, and Oscar had fallen through the floor, escaping with bruises and some nasty cuts. At least they were all up to date on their tetanus shots.
Oscar’s head wound had bled badly, but not required stitches. The scalpel through Adrienne’s hand had been the worst of it, and she left with stitches, bandages, and a splint to keep her from tearing the injury open while it healed.
Ethan had accompanied them with a credit card from Ms. Montague, using it to pay their medical bills on the spot. It was the least she could have done, but she had seemed genuinely sorry for her actions. So at least there was that.
Oscar’s eyes tracked something Nigel couldn’t see. “I’m sorry for what happened to you,” he said to the air. “It was wrong. You have every right to be angry. But you’re only punishing yourself now. Your parents are long dead, and all the nurses and doctors are gone. It’s time for you to rest.”
A shimmer in the air that might have been the glint of sunlight off water, had there been any water or sun. Oscar smiled, eyes filled with compassion, and the surge of love in Nigel’s chest caught him off guard.
He was so damned lucky.
Oscar’s shoulders relaxed, and he turned to Nigel. “She’s gone. I think we’re done here.”
They’d spent the night walking the asylum from basement to fourth floor, looking for any lingering spirits, while Chris, Zeek, and Adrienne removed their equipment. Most of them had departed once the doctor’s unholy hold was broken, including the wandering ghost in the cemetery. The rest—a handful of children, the creeper, and finally Mariah—Oscar helped cross the veil into whatever came next.
Nigel crossed the room and kissed Oscar. “I love you.”
Oscar kissed him back, then hugged him close. “Love you, too.”
Holding hands, they walked down the stairs as the light outside strengthened. Without its ghosts, the asylum felt more sad than anything else. A monument to both the hope of humane treatment for the mentally ill that had seen it built, and to the darkest side of institutionalization that had followed.
“Your grandmother would be proud of you,” he said as they reached the entryway.
“I hope so.” Oscar sighed, then shrugged. “I was so worried about letting her down…but the truth is, I never knew her. Maybe she would be proud, and maybe she wouldn’t. I have to stop worrying about her, and focus on whether I’m proud of me. Of us.”
Nigel squeezed his hand. “You’re the one who cleared the ghosts.”
“But I wouldn’t have gotten to this point if I hadn’t had other people around me. What if Mamaw had a whole group with her when she investigated, instead of just one friend with a camera? People who knew enough to help when she got possessed.” They stepped onto the front stoop, and Oscar half-turned to look down the entry hall. “Maybe she would never have come here at all.”
Nigel had been unconscious during the final confrontation with Dr. Wilkes, but he’d heard the details. “True—we would have both been goners if it had just been us down there.”
He spoke lightly, but a shiver went through him. The memory of struggling for breath invaded his dreams; he was going to have to bring the experience up in therapy at the very least.
Still holding hands, they walked down the steps to the drive. Tina and Chris had loaded the last of the gear and shut the back doors to the van. No doubt workers hired by Ms. Montague would come to strike the tents later in the day.
Ms. Montague herself stood with Dr. Lawson by Lawson’s Prius. As they approached, she said, “I’ll call you, Ruthie. If I may.”
Dr. Lawson put her hands on her hips. “You may. I don’t promise I’ll answer, though.”
“Well.” Ms. Montague smiled slightly. “It’s a start.”
Both women turned at the sound of grit under their boots. “Taylor, Fox,” Dr. Lawson said gruffly. “You didn’t run into any trouble, I hope?”
Oscar shook his head. “All the spirits have departed. The asylum should be safe from now on. As safe as any abandoned building, I mean.”
Ms. Montague folded her hands atop her silver-headed cane. “Thank you for your hard work. I regret making things more difficult, but?—”
Dr. Lawson cleared her throat loudly.
“What I mean to say is, I apologize for both the generator and keeping it secret.” Ms. Montague extended one slender hand. “I look forward to working with you again in the future.”
Nigel wasn’t one-hundred percent certain she’d learned her lesson, but he shook her hand anyway, as did Oscar.
“Thanks for the opportunity to come here,” Oscar said, because sometimes he was a little too nice. “It was throwing us in the deep end, but we got the job done.”
“If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to wait with Ethan. My driver should be here soon to pick us up.” Ms. Montague gave them a regal nod, then made for her private tent.
Dr. Lawson rolled her eyes. “‘My driver.’ Christ on a crutch.”
“Must be nice,” Nigel agreed wryly. “So…you’re on speaking terms again, I take it?”
She actually blushed, which was something he’d never imagined she was capable of doing. “For now, anyway. But she’s going to have to do a lot of groveling to make up for that stunt she pulled.”
“Make her fly you to Paris for dinner,” Oscar suggested. “I’m sure she has a private jet lying around somewhere.”
Lawson snorted. “I’m sure she does. But someone has to worry about destroying the environment, so I’m not setting foot on the damn thing, no matter how much groveling she does beforehand.” She shook her head and switched gears. “Good luck writing all of this up, Taylor.”
“If you want to split credit…”
“I’m done with academia, so thanks but no thanks.” She opened her car door and climbed in. “Next time Patricia contacts you, call me before she drags you into some hellhole, all right? I can’t always drop everything to run to your rescue. I have a life of my own, you know.”
“Thanks, Dr. Lawson,” Oscar called as she shut the door and rolled down the window. “Drive safe!”
As the red Prius trundled away down the broken asphalt, Nigel’s stomach growled. “Let’s get out of here and find some breakfast.”
Chris and Tina had gathered around Adrienne and Zeek’s car, so they made their way over to them.
“It was good to see you again,” Adrienne was saying to Chris. “I mean that.”
“Yeah, well…sorry I overreacted when we got here.” Chris ran a hand back through their hair, disrupting the pink streak amidst the black. “I guess we work better as friends than we did as a couple.”
“Definitely.” She swung open the passenger side door. “Come on, Zeek. I have a lot of editing to do so we can get this uploaded to our channel.”
“Um, right.” He glanced at Tina. “So you’ve got my number, right?”
Adrienne rolled her eyes. “You’ve asked her that three times. Get in the car!”
“I’ve got it,” Tina said, then hugged Zeek. Grinning, he hugged her back. “I’m going to crash as soon as we get home, but I’ll text you as soon as I’m not completely sleep-deprived.”
“Cool.” He gave her a last squeeze, then jumped when Adrienne leaned over to beep the horn. “I better go—she’s cranky when she hasn’t slept much.”
“I am not!” Adrienne yelled. Zeek rolled his eyes and got in the car. As they drove away, he rolled down his window to wave enthusiastically. Tina waved good-bye with equal fervor.
“Okay.” Oscar rubbed his hands together. “Everything packed? Nothing left in the tents?”
“We got it all, boss.” Chris rolled open the side door and climbed into the van’s backseat, followed by Tina. Nigel hauled himself into the passenger seat, and Oscar got behind the wheel and started the engine.
“I’m ready to get home,” Tina said, collapsing back against her seat.
Nigel’s stomach growled again. “First, Waffle House.”
Chris turned to Tina. “And isn’t Waffle House like home, if you really think about it?”
“It absolutely is not.”
Oscar guided the van around the worst potholes, leaving the asylum behind. At the end of the drive, they passed under the iron archway and turned east, heading into the rising sun.
OutFoxing the Paranormal will return with Book 4, The Hollow Sea.