Ghosts of Rosewood Asylum (25 page)

“Okay.”

“The Demon Hunters have known about this gig
for a lot longer than we have.”

“How do you know that?”

“Pierre slipped up this morning. It’s one of
the reasons I believed the other parts of his story.”

Zach wasn’t following, and his facial
expression must have shown it.

“While Pierre was lamenting his missed
chance to man the control center last night, he made the comment that ‘he’d
been looking forward to Demon Hour at Rosewood for a week.’”

It took a moment for the implication to sink
in. Then, Zach remembered Bryce mentioning taking a plane from California. Of
course.
Demon Hunters
had known about this investigation for longer than
just a couple of days.

“He said it so casually, so off-handedly,”
Angel continued. “I don’t think Matthew even picked up on it, but I did. How
could he have been looking forward to it for a week if—”

“If Sci-D just got permission for the
investigation a few days ago.”

“Right.” Angel ran his hand through his
hair. “So boss? With all this going on, wouldn’t it make sense to keep me at
the control center tonight?”

Zach smiled. “Haven’t you ever heard the
axiom, ‘Keep your friends close and your enemies closer’?”

Angel nodded. He still wasn’t exuding
enthusiasm over his assignment. “Last thing. What’s on your forehead, boss?”

Zach had almost forgotten about the oil.
“Don’t worry about it,” Zach said to Angel. “It’s just something that helps me
focus.”

Maybe it was the anointing oil or maybe mere
intuition, but Zach knew with certainty that Angel was innocent. He was just as
certain that Matthew was guilty.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Angel had walked over from Rosewood, so he
rode back with Zach. Once Zach spied the mini-crowd that congregated around the
main entrance, he was grateful for the company. He pulled up and honked at the
security guard who took his sweet time unlocking and opening the gate.

With the commotion outside, Zach almost
didn’t hear his cell buzz. It was Wendy.

He answered. “I could really use some good
news.”

“Well hello to you too,” she said. “Whatcha
doin’?”

“Angel and I are trying to get back into
Rosewood. Apparently the fact that we’re investigating it was on TV today.”

The cell transmission couldn’t hide her
excitement. “I know, right?
Good Morning Chi-Town
!”

“Yep. Yep. So, what do you have for me?”

“Are you someplace you can focus?”

He was pulling up the Rosewood driveway.
Sara stood near the
XPI
van and was already glowering at him, likely for
having taken too long to get the holy water.

“Of course not. But go ahead anyway.”

“Okay, well our historical research revealed
something rather...well, rather disgusting.”

“Great.”

“Remember how Rebecca suggested during the
tour that suicides might have been buried in unmarked graves on the Rosewood
grounds?”

“They were?”

“Not only that. Zach, the burials were done
on the site of the old female quarters.”

Zach was exiting the car when the news hit
him. He felt ill. Suicide corpses buried under the homes—under
Joey’s
home?

Angel headed towards the Rosewood lobby
command center. Zach put his phone against his thigh to muffle the sound.
“Angel, wait. Hold up a second.”

“Sure, boss.”

He apparently hadn’t muffled it enough.

“Zach,” Wendy said, once he’d put the phone
back to his ear. “Tell Angel I said hello. Please.”

When Zach did so, Angel’s face glowed. Why
Wendy liked to torment him so, Zach would never understand.

“Anyway, back to the burials...”

“All right,” she said. “Dr. Johansson’s
notes were pretty specific regarding those. Patrizia and I are going through
all of the patient records to find out how many were buried back there, but the
number is certainly in the dozens.”

Playing a hunch, Zach blurted out the
question before it fully made sense in his mind.  “Are you counting them
forwards or backwards?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I mean go through the records backwards.
From the closing of Rosewood until the suicide.”

She sighed. “Okay, we can do that.”

“Did you find out the name of the woman
found in the basement?”

“Oh sure, in our spare time.”

“Wendy...”

“Dr. Johansson was rather peculiar about
that information. I’ve looked through several hospital records, but the only
reference he made were the initials, P.M.E.”

“It would really help to have a first name
in order to try and communicate with her tonight. ‘P’ doesn’t help much. Could
it be Paula? Pamela? Patricia?”

“Penelope, Petunia, Ptolemy...”

“Wendy.”

“I know. I know. It’s just you’ve got us
going in so many different directions, Zach. We’re trying to read a thousand
pages of a nineteenth century doctor’s scribbled notes.”

“I know,” he said. He repeated it attempting
to convey more empathy. “I know. Your work is going to be greatly rewarded.”

“I hope soooo...”

“So, is there anything else?”

“Oh, yeah! I almost forgot...again. That
name you mentioned to me that sounded familiar? Paramour?”

“Yes, John Paramour,” Zach confirmed.

Wendy spoke, but her transmitted words
didn’t even register in his brain when she uttered them. It was as though she’d
said something in a foreign language.

“Could you repeat that?” Zach asked.
Evelyn’s chilling biography of John Paramour had led Zach to suspect that he
had been, at minimum, the serial arsonist, if not also the man who set himself
on fire months after the female quarters burned to the ground.

This time when Wendy said it, she slowly
enunciated each word.
“John Paramour was the Pullman Chief of Police.”

“You okay, boss? Angel asked.

Zach hung up with Wendy and needed a moment
to collect his thoughts. It felt as if all the blood had drained from his head.
He surveyed the Rosewood grounds. There were no shadows, but the gray sky and
cool temperature led to a feeling of gloom. It appeared the sun wouldn’t be
breaking through the overcast. Dusk would come early. Even in this light, he
could hardly see beyond the first row of trees at the far end of the property.
Once the sun set and the sky darkened, it would provide the perfect cover for
him to induce an episode and call on his visions. It was the least likely spot
on Rosewood’s property where he could be interrupted or discovered. As though
on cue, the scent of
Sailor Black
invaded his nostrils.

Now you’re onto something, godson.

“Boss?” Angel’s voice contained concern.

“I’m okay,” Zach said. “Listen. That ‘side
project,’ as you call it, with Rebecca...it’s just taken on much more
importance. I’m going to need you to be very watchful of her and the entire
situation.”

“Why? What’s going on?”

“Nothing to worry about. Just be mindful and
pull the plug over there if things get out of hand.” The more Zach talked about
it, the more he wished he could send more people to Joey and Ginny Foster’s
with them, but a request like that might cause her to cancel the investigation
entirely. “And Angel, before you leave?”

“Yes.”

“Pull some of the hallway cameras and put
them in and around room 317. Also, let’s get a couple more cameras and
recording equipment in the basement.”

“Sure. Hey...” Angel lifted an index finger.
“What about if I put some of those ‘Whistling EMF-EVPs around?”

Angel had developed a revolutionary gadget
that was comprised of a combination of ghost-hunting devices typically used
independent of each other. They’d tested it with decent results on their
season-ending episode. The “Whistling EMF-EVP” operated exactly as named. It
entailed using a standard EMF meter which was connected to a device that
emitted a variable-pitched siren, or whistle, depending on how quickly and how
high the EMF meter spiked. The simple genius of Angel’s idea was to then
connect an EVP to the device set to VOX mode. This would start and stop it when
there was a noise. Thus, the recording device only turned on at the sound of
the siren and when paranormal activity was most likely to be occurring.
Additionally, the noise could alert the team of the EMF spike even if they were
in another room.

“Good call!” Zach said. “How many did you
make?”

“I’ve got three standard ones and four that
I’ve modified slightly.”

“Modified how?”

“Basically, one of the things I’ve played
with since we last used them, was to insert a tiny vocal chip to activate in
conjunction with the siren mechanism, so that when—”

“In English, please,” Zach said.

Angel smirked and wagged his head from side
to side. “Okay, okay. The modified ones both whistle and emit random questions.
You know how you can squeeze certain dolls or stuffed animals and they ‘say’
something?”

“Sure.”

“These lil babies I made are rigged to ask
questions like: ‘Who are you?’ ‘What do you want?’ ‘Who goes there?’ stuff like
that.”

“That’s awesome. So not only will we know
where the EMF activity is, and record any EVP activity in the area, but the
device will ask questions
we’d ask
if we were in the area!”

Angel shrugged, grinned and seemed to be
attempting to squelch a blush.

Zach continued. “Okay, put a couple of them
in the basement—one on the staircase going down there. Put one in the hallway
outside of room 111 and put one in room 317.”

“What’s with room 317 all of a sudden?”

“Don’t worry about it,
mi hijo
.” Zach
slapped him in the arm. “But move quick. Rebecca’s giving an important
presentation before you two leave.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“Soul Snatchers,” Rebecca began, “are a rare
and rather insidious paranormal breed.”

Unlike Wendy, Rebecca had never mastered the
art of public presentation without reading from a script. She continually
looked from the camera to the notes she clutched with both hands and back to
the camera.
XPI
and Demon Hunters intermingled on the Rosewood front
lawn. As Zach gazed out at their faces, he couldn’t help but equate it to a
police lineup. He smiled at Matthew and quickly looked away, fearful that his
suspicion might be betrayed in his eyes.

“A Soul Snatcher is purported to be an
entity of power and extreme evil.” Rebecca appeared to have lost her place in
her notes and froze.

“Take your time,” Sara called out.

In contrast to her demeanor with Wendy, Sara
either remained silent or gently encouraged Rebecca during her speeches. Later,
all Sara’s skills as an editing genius would be needed to splice Rebecca’s
presentation into a TV-ready monologue. Zach wondered if either Sara or Rebecca
could be the other person tampering with evidence. Sara had acted strangely on
this case, but he rejected any thoughts of her sabotaging their results. As for
Rebecca, he couldn’t imagine either a motive or an opportunity for betrayal.

Rebecca coughed. Standing next to her, Zach
sensed her trembling. He put his hand on her back and gave it a quick rub. She
flashed him a weak smile.

“Soul Snatchers often start as misguided
people who’ve lived ugly and dysfunctional lives. Individuals whose existence
is characterized as egotistical and self-serving. After death, they remain
attached to our realm and use their powers to sway the will of living people in
order to gain their souls. It seems that a Soul Snatcher’s skill in
manipulating others is where his true power lies. They supposedly persuade the
innocent and or sick to do their bidding with promised lies.”

To his left, Bryce and Rico stood side by
side. Both appeared to be focused intently on Rebecca’s presentation and were
overlooking her herky-jerky style. Had one of them made promises to Matthew to
manipulate him to do their bidding? Certainly if Bryce had been in the know
about the investigation for a week, he would have had ample opportunity to try
and taint the results. And his motive? Who knew what motivated him? He seemed the
type that would put on a pay-per-view Ultimate Fighting bout against his mother
if it would promise big ratings.

Rebecca’s speech continued. “Any willing or
manipulated victim can offer their souls to a Soul Snatcher and he will collect
them. As a Soul Snatcher collects, or snatches souls, he gains in power. As he
gains in power, he can use his powers to do many things, such as manifest
himself in the world of the living or infiltrate people’s subconscious.”