“You’ll have to remove Ullman first,” Lawrence said. “Then maybe we’ll be able to move Gloria on as well. If her hatred is as strong as Fox says, that might be what’s keeping her here.”
Tina glanced warily at Montague before asking, “Are we absolutely sure there isn’t really buried treasure on the island?”
“We looked for it.” Montague’s voice was calm once again. “This was before we sent the Vanderwalls to a hotel over on Hatteras. We held a seance, just the three of us, and Gloria gave us very specific instructions. The Vanderwalls were against us looking for it, since they’d already done so and thought it would be a waste of time, when all they wanted was to get their renovations back on track.”
“Understandably so, since they’d sunk all of their money into the place,” Lawson chimed in.
“Indeed. Ruthie distracted them one evening, while Robin and I snuck out. We took shovels from Mr. Vanderwall’s equipment shed—long fallen to pieces now, of course. We dug and dug, but there was nothing there.” She shrugged.
Nigel adjusted his glasses. “Very few pirates actually buried any loot, and in every known instance it was recovered quickly afterward. Otherwise, they spent what they stole as soon as they were back in port. The odds of there being actual buried treasure here are astronomical.”
“But not zero,” Chris said.
“Unless you brought an excavator in your backpack, I don’t think it matters.” Oscar finished off his coffee. “Why did Gloria accuse Robin of hiding the treasure if y’all didn’t find anything to begin with?”
“Because she wants to sow discord, obviously.” Montague’s mouth tightened into a harsh line. “Negative spirits feed on negative energy, do they not?”
“And the promise of riches is the easiest way to get people to turn on each other,” Tina said ruefully. “So what next?”
Oscar considered a moment. “We need to check out the cupola, in case Robin is up there. Assuming Ullman won’t pitch a fit and interrupt.”
“I’d advise against it.” Dr. Lawson exchanged a look with Montague, got a nod in return. “The lantern room itself might be sound, but the gallery surrounding it definitely isn’t. The Vanderwalls were talking about repairing the steel struts holding it up, but of course they never got around to it. I’m sure it’s in even worse shape now.”
“I see.” Oscar didn’t care for the idea of Ullman—or Gloria, it seemed—shoving him onto the gallery deck so it could collapse under his weight. “In that case, let’s try to come up with a plan to get rid of Ullman. Suggestions?”
“Let’s try the…” Nigel stopped, as if just saying the next words was hard for him. “The Devil’s Toy Box.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE
“It’s a terrible name,” Nigel groused as Oscar opened the equipment case with the box inside. “It makes it sound like we believe in devils and demons. But there’s no scientific proof such things exist. Not to say there aren’t any non-human spirits, such as thought-forms, but no agents of cosmic evil.”
They’d returned to the dining room inside The Cottage, leaving Dr. Lawrence, Ms. Montague, and Ethan back in the trailer. The seance had been incredibly difficult for the two women, emotionally speaking—Nigel couldn’t truly imagine how they must feel, hearing the words of the entity that had killed Robin.
“Zeek says viewers love that sort of thing,” Tina said from behind her monitors. “Demons and devils, I mean.”
Of course he did. They also loved investigations of well-trodden sites like the Stanley Hotel. But surely OutFoxing the Paranormal was above picking such low-hanging fruit.
Oscar stood up, the box cradled carefully in his large hands. “What would you call the device, Nigel?”
“A Faraday cage with additional wave reflectors.”
“An FCWADWR.” Chris inserted a fresh battery into their shoulder cam. “Real catchy, doc.”
“Let’s stick with Devil’s Toy Box for now.” Oscar placed the box into his backpack. “Okay—we’re going to want salt, plus something to lure Ullman inside. He must be low on energy after all that banging around he did upstairs, so a nice pair of fresh batteries should do the trick.”
“We should take the SLS cam, too,” Chris said. The Structured Light Sensor camera used infrared light to map its surroundings and detect humanoid shapes, including those not apparent to the naked eye.
“I’ll operate it.” Nigel went to the bag containing the SLS and unzipped it. “We might as well try for an EVP while we’re at it.”
Oscar clapped his hands together. “Excellent! We’ll get Ullman safely sealed away, transport him to the mainland when we leave, and turn him loose in the cemetery he’s buried in. That should be far enough from The Cottage for him to dissipate.”
Nigel hoped it would be that simple. “Where should we set up?”
“The parlor?” Tina suggested. “He showed up in the mirror there the first day.”
“Or his bedroom where he died?” The location would certainly hold significance for Ullman’s spirit.
