Chapter 38
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
“Montague said what?” Tina gasped.
Nigel shared her surprise. Of all the times for Ms. Montague to bring up a matter best left in the past…
“Maybe she thinks airing things out will help Robin move on?” Chris suggested weakly. “Like, she’s still here because of unfinished business, and now she can cross over?”
“Unfinished business like breaking up the polycule?” Tina’s eyebrows climbed toward her hairline. “I know ghosts are people, and people are dramatic, but that’s a Real Housewives level of petty.”
Oscar was finishing off his delayed dinner of ramen.
“It’s not impossible,” he said, dabbing at his mouth with a paper napkin, “but I’ve read parts of Robin’s journal, remember?
Not the private bits, obviously, but I feel like I got a sense of her personality just from what she wrote about mediumship.
I don’t think she would linger on this side of the veil just to break up with Dr. Lawson. ”
“So, are we going to do what Ms. Montague wants?” Nigel asked. “Lure Robin into a Faraday tent and haul her off the island if we have to, alongside Ullman?”
Oscar met his gaze. “You don’t think we should.”
Instead of answering, he asked a question of his own. “Robin wanted to communicate something to Ms. Montague, or I got that impression. Did you?”
“I sensed she wanted to talk,” Oscar agreed. “Nothing more specific than that. My back was to the mirror, but I take it she was focused on Montague?”
Nigel hunched his shoulders and leaned his elbows on his knees. He didn’t want to make wild accusations, but… “Ethan was nervous before the seance started. I assumed I was being paranoid like you said earlier.”
“I didn’t—”
Nigel held up his hand, and Oscar fell silent. “He was also the one to break the circle.”
“He was worried about Ms. Montague.”
Chris cleared their throat. “I didn’t notice anything alarming about her beforehand. Sure she was pale, but that’s to be expected given she was looking at the ghost of her girlfriend who died tragically. We can review the video easily enough, though.”
“Montague didn’t object to him breaking the circle, and she seemed pretty shaken up.” Oscar frowned uncertainly. “Ethan knows her far better than anyone else here. He might have noticed some small sign we’d miss, even if we went back over the footage.”
“You’re not wrong,” Nigel admitted. “Combined with his sneaking around upstairs, though—and all right, maybe it wasn’t sneaking, maybe he was just doing what he was told. But he had a briefcase with him, and I assumed it was just notes, but what if he stole something?”
Oscar’s expression indicated he thought Nigel was being overly paranoid again. “Is that why you think he interrupted the seance? Because he was afraid Robin would tell Ms. Montague he’s a thief?”
When he put it that way… “I just know she was trying to communicate something,” he settled on.
“Does it matter?” Tina piped up from behind her monitors. “Ms. Montague wants Robin removed. And she’s kind of our boss, so…”
“Good point.” Her grant money had saved his job, and not only kept OtP afloat, but bought whatever fancy new equipment they asked for. He looked to Oscar. “You’re our medium. What do you want to do?”
“I hate the idea of removing Robin by force. But she’s passed up chances to move on, and with the storm on the way…”
“We could come back after,” Chris suggested. “Surely Ms. Montague would let us do that.”
“After disobeying a direct order?” Tina shook her head. “We’re not going to get another cent from her if we do that.”
“Not to mention the house might not be structurally safe to set foot in after a tropical storm hits it.” Oscar sighed and stood up.
“As much as I’d prefer otherwise, we don’t really have another option.
We’ll clear Robin, and Gloria as well, if we can.
And since we only have two nights to do it, we’d better get started. ”