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“Hey, Cisco,” Ronan said, answering the phone. He tapped the speaker button so Ten could listen to the call.

“I hate to do this to you again, but I need you to come out to a crime scene.” Cisco sounded tired.

“Essex Street again?”

“No, this time it’s the Hawthorne Hotel. Room 334. The room is trashed and the man staying here was taken to Salem Mercy Hospital after he told us he was injured in a bar fight.”

“I don’t understand how this is a case for us if the guy was in a fight,” Ten said.

“There have been no reports of an assault, a fight, or even a loud disagreement at any of the bars in Salem or the surrounding towns. According to the hotel, the guest came back to the room around five, ordered room service and never left again until the medics wheeled him out on a gurney. He was obviously in some kind of altercation, but it wasn’t a bar fight.”

“Okay,” Ronan said on a sigh. “We’ll be right there. Are you calling in Jude and Fitz?”

“Already done.” Cisco paused. “Uh, Ronan, there’s one more thing you need to know.”

“What is it?” Ronan couldn’t imagine the news getting any worse.

“The reason I’m calling you out is because of the victim’s name. It’s Jeremy Daniels.”

“Oh, shit,” Ronan muttered. “That’s the man who brought Delilah’s witch board and diary to the museum the other night.”

“Exactly. He was scheduled to check out in the morning and has a flight booked to Richmond, Virginia. He’s hell bent on getting out of town and making that flight, so you’re going to need to work fast to find out what the hell happened. You and Ten certainly know more about this kind of stuff than I do, but it feels to me like the attacks on the kid at the museum and the tourist dressed as a Confederate soldier were test runs for what happened tonight.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Ten said.

“I told Fitz not to bring Aurora. Everly shouldn’t be here either.”

“I’ll call Kaye and ask her to come stay with Everly and Ezra. We’ll see you shortly.” Ronan ended the call.

“Everly’s not gonna like this,” Ten muttered, getting out of bed and pulling on a fresh pair of jeans.

“Yeah, well, I’m sorry for that, but I don’t want her to see the trashed hotel room or the injuries suffered by Jeremy Daniels.”

Twenty minutes later, Kaye had arrived to stay with the kids and everyone got into Fitzgibbon’s SUV to head for the hospital.

“I didn’t really catch what Delilah said to you yesterday about resting in peace,” Fitz said. “This attack didn’t sound very peaceful from what Cisco described.”

“Delilah said she couldn’t rest in peace yet because she had things to do. I assume this is one of the things,” Ten said.

“Makes sense,” Ronan added. “Daniels was the one who had possession of the witch board and diary. He obviously knew her spirit was trapped inside when he told the kid at the museum not to take it out of the box. If I were Delilah, I would have gone after Daniels too.”

“We need more information about Daniels. Not only how the board came into his possession, but any backstory too,” Jude said from the front seat. “He might know how Delilah came to be trapped inside the board or might have more information about how she died.”

“I’m guessing the story and the board have been passed down through the generations, the same way other people pass down valuable antiques.” Fitz shook his head, as he pulled into the Hawthorne Hotel’s parking lot. “Let’s get a quick lay of the land here and then we’ll go to the hospital. I have a feeling Daniels is going to want to get the hell out of there as soon as possible.”

Ronan climbed out of the SUV and, along with Fitz, Jude, and Ten, headed for the lobby. Cisco was standing near the check-in desk.

“Good, you’re here.” Cisco motioned them toward the elevator bank. “There’s not a lot to see, just some broken furniture and the room service dishes, but if this assault was done at the hands of a spirit, she’s pretty damn powerful.”

“I was afraid of that,” Ten said, as the elevator doors opened. He got inside and was followed by the others.

“Fitz said you spoke with Delilah today.” Cisco wore a concerned look.

“Yeah,” Ten said. “She appeared to Aurora after she was able to work one the spells in Delilah’s diary. I asked if there was anything I could do to help her and she said that she had some things to do before she could rest in peace.”

“And you think what happened here tonight was one of those things?” Cisco shook his head.

“Yeah. I’ll know more when we get up there.”