Forcing his mind away from visions of Oscar plummeting out a window, he asked, “Are you sensing anything?”
“Not yet.” Oscar shone his light at the boarded-up window. “This must be where Robin fell.”
“Where she was pushed.”
“Yeah.” Oscar took a step in the direction of the closest remaining window, but Nigel caught his arm.
“Please don’t get too close. I’ll open the windows.”
Oscar looked as though he wanted to object, but didn’t. Nigel cursed and fought with the warped frames, feeling like a fool when Oscar had opened the ones downstairs so easily. He only managed to get them open a few inches, but that would have to be enough. “There.”
“Not bad for a guy who sits at a desk all day,” Chris teased. “I’ll be sure to add this to our blooper real.”
Nigel looked at the windows and winced. “Maybe I should go to the gym with you,” he said to Oscar.
“You can. But I love you and your noodle-arms just as they are.”
“Thanks a lot.” Nigel stood on tiptoe to kiss him.
Oscar kissed him back—then stopped and looked around. “Gloria is here.”
“This is where her father summoned her.” Nigel pictured seven men in old-fashioned suits seated around the table, hands joined to let their energy flow into whoever acted as the medium. “And where the Vanderwalls used the talking board to communicate with her.” And where Montague thought she’d killed Robin, though he didn’t say that part out loud. No need to give her any ideas. “Maybe she’s here because she wants to communicate with us? We could use the board?—”
“We’re not summoning demons,” Chris said firmly.
Nigel ground his teeth. “The Ouija board is just a tool, remember? We used a talking board before and it was fine.”
“Technically we were attacked by an angry spirit,” Oscar said. “Though to be fair, it wasn’t the one we were communicating with.” He considered a moment. “We can try the spirit box or an EVP, but you know what?”
“What?”
“I’m leaning toward a good old-fashioned seance.”
CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN
“A seance?” Tina asked doubtfully, once they were all back together in the dining room. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? You were possessed the last time.”
The memory wasn’t a pleasant one. “I didn’t know what I was doing. None of us did. We’ll run our plan by Dr. Lawson in the morning, make sure we’re being safe.”
His mamaw had conducted seances—there was even one they’d found recorded on old 8 mm film. As far as he knew, nothing bad had happened to her during any of them.
“We’ll communicate more clearly this way,” he added. “Or we might. The spirit box, the rest of it, it’s all fine but limited when it comes to convincing her to move on to the next world.”
Chris seemed uneasy despite his reassurances. “Montague did warn us not to trust this kid. And you want to contact her in the same room where she maybe murdered the last medium who tried to talk to her.”
“That’s why we’re going to be extremely careful.” Oscar turned to Nigel, who leaned one hip against the table, arms folded. “What do you think?”
The lights reflected off Nigel’s glasses, making it difficult to see his eyes. “I agree—it will be a more effective way of communicating with Gloria. But I share Chris’s concerns. Plus, we have to be very careful we don’t get Ullman instead.”
That sort of mistake was what had gotten Oscar possessed during their first investigation. “Don’t worry, I won’t let him in.”
“Then, yes, let’s talk to Dr. Lawson about it, first thing.” Nigel frowned. “We’ll still need to interact with Ullman at some point if we want to get him to leave.”
“Let’s make Robin and Gloria our first priorities,” Oscar decided. “If push comes to shove, we’ll leave Ullman here to be freed by the sea. I don’t want to do that, obviously, but this place can only stay standing for so many more years. If it washes out into the sound, I think he’ll pass through the veil on his own.”
“Right.” Nigel straightened. “Let’s see if we can even find Robin. Hopefully she isn’t here, and Ms. Montague is just having nightmares about what happened. Understandably so.”
