Chapter Thirteen
THEY ate the pizza first, and there might have been more than a couple of beers before anyone wanted to talk.
Hell, Blaine wasn’t all that sure he wanted to talk regardless.
Flynn touched his good arm, startling him out of his thoughts. “Let me check your shoulder, okay?”
“Yeah. Yeah, okay. I’m sorry about all this, guys. Really.”
Jason snorted. “How’s it your fault?”
“Yeah, exactly. You’re the one being hurt by it the most.” Flynn lifted his shirt and touched him lightly. “It’s not any worse. Might even be a little better.”
“We’re here. Ghosts don’t haunt piece-of-shit apartment buildings,” Darnell drawled.
Flynn chuckled softly as he settled next to Blaine. “I imagine they haunt what they need to haunt.”
“So, what do we know?” Will asked.
Jason shrugged. “There’s footage of when Will and Blaine did the room last year. Jill’s sending the file names so Flynn can look them up. I know that the brain-tumor guy had a family that didn’t let the lover in and that he got in after… an aunt smuggled him in, I think? A brother? Something. Then he died from an apparent suicide.”
Blaine shook his head. It wasn’t a suicide. He knew that, but he couldn’t know that, right? That was crazy. The man was out of his mind with grief and pulled a Romeo and Juliet.
“Not a suicide?” Flynn asked, eyes wide. “Someone killed him?”
“What?” Jason looked as confused as fuck. “Who said that?”
“Blaine—he shook his head no when you said the lover died from suicide.”
“Did I?” Had he? Really?
“Well, yeah. Didn’t you? Am I going crazy now?”
“No. No, I just… it was instinctual, you know? Like it didn’t feel right.”
Will held up one hand. “Wait. Let me set up the static cameras in case something happens, okay?”
Flynn nodded jerkily. “Yeah, yeah. Sure. Sorry I misinterpreted, babe. But what makes you think it wasn’t suicide? And who would have killed him?”
“Why would you bring a gun to a hospital to see your lover?”
Darnell nodded. “That’s what I was wondering.”
Flynn’s eyes went wide. “Oh man. You’re right. Somebody killed him, and they fobbed it off as a suicide. No wonder his spirit is unquiet. We need to make this right.”
“Guys! No more words until cameras are rolling!” Will’s voice was disgusted. “You are the worse wannabe celebrities ever.”
That broke the tension that had begun to build again, and they all burst out laughing.
Blaine grabbed the last piece of pizza, then offered half to Flynn. Huh. Must be love.
“Thanks, man.” Flynn scarfed it down, then chased it with the last few mouthfuls of his beer. “I didn’t realize how hungry I was.”
Yeah, they’d been too busy being fucking haunted.
“Okay, we’re rolling. Now you can talk to your heart’s content.” Will came back and sat. “Did you get the file names for the film yet, Jase?”
“Not yet. Blaine, Flynn, why don’t you both go back to talking about the new discovery about David’s supposed suicide?”
“Well, I don’t know that it’s a discovery. I just feel—strongly feel—that it wasn’t a suicide.” Blaine believed it, and every time he said the words, he believed it more.
“Yeah, we were talking about it, and we couldn’t help but wonder why someone would take a gun to the hospital to visit their sick loved one. I mean, he wasn’t planning to kill himself, was he? He was trying to see his lover and didn’t know Christian had died.” Flynn looked like he was pondering things.
“Right,” Blaine agreed. “And was there anything to say that David was violent? What did he do for a living? Did he have a criminal record? What about Christian?” Away from the barn and the shouting voice, Blaine could think again, and his brain was crowded with questions.
“Looks like it’s time for some old-fashioned research.” Flynn grinned. “I know this one has an unhappy ending, but I do like a good mystery.”
Jason nodded, fingers tip-tapping away at his keyboard. “There’s got to be more information here than we thought there would be.”
“Well, you never looked that hard to begin with, right?” Flynn asked. “I’m not saying you did too little, just that you didn’t need to look into it that deep, right?”
“I only had the basics, until you asked about it today.”
“Okay, then. I guess we should start digging. Figure out what exactly happened with Christian and David, look into their lives.”
“Yeah. Yeah, okay,” Blaine agreed. “Flynn, you and Darnell can hunt up the film from that night, and I’ll work with Will on the footage we just shot.”
“And I’ll keep digging on the net,” Jase added.
“Rock on.” For the first time in a while, Blaine felt like he could breathe. Really breathe.
“It’s always good when a plan comes together,” Flynn noted.
“It’s something, all right.” Blaine grinned, though. “Let’s see if we can hear anything from the barn footage.”
Flynn stopped what he was doing to listen in.
They were there, looks of true panic on their faces, but the ghostly voice was nonexistent.
“How is that possible?” Flynn asked. “We were all there. We all heard it. It was damn loud at some points!”
“I don’t know. I don’t….” Blaine stopped and tilted his head. “What the fuck was that?”
“What?” Flynn crowded him and hit Rewind.
“Look.” Blaine was reflected in the mirror above the fireplace. The glass was shaking, shimmering, and he swore there was someone behind him, draped over his shoulders.
“Oh my God!” Flynn looked behind him like he expected the guy to still be there. “Shit. Guys, you have to see this.”
Blaine’s skin crawled a little, though. He wasn’t sure he wanted to see it again.
They backed it up and played it frame by frame, and it was totally there.
“That’s fucking creepy, man.” Darnell shook his head. “I know we’re goddamn ghost hunters, but that’s not cool.”
“It looks like it’s sitting on your shoulders, Blaine.”
“No, it looks like it’s whispering in your ear.”
“No, it looks like it’s trying to merge into him.” Flynn rubbed Blaine’s back with one hand, like he was trying to reassure himself that the thing wasn’t still there.
“It’s not cool, whatever it is.” Blaine shook his head, swallowed hard, and then stood. He didn’t want to see that.
“This is amazing.” Jase sounded excited. “We’ve never had such clear film of an actual entity!”
“I just wish it wasn’t at Blaine’s expense,” murmured Flynn, shivering. “God.”
“Is it biting on him?” Will whispered.
Flynn shrugged. “Something bit him. And the bite looked more human than buggish. And then something tore it all open again earlier today. So you tell me.”
“Ew. Let’s not talk about that, huh?” Blaine was going to gag.
“Ixnay on the aggotmay,” Flynn told the others.
They went back to their separate corners to fulfill their various tasks.
Jason sat up suddenly. “Fucking weird. It says here they died on May 12, 1984. Isn’t that the day you were born, Blaine?”
“It’s my birthday too,” Flynn said quietly.
Blaine stared at Flynn. “What?” No way.
“Swear to God. Down to the year.”
“Well, Christian died around noon, and they heard the shot around two for David,” Jason shared.
Flynn shivered. “I was born in the afternoon.”
“I don’t know. Don’t ask me what time I was born. I was born at that fucking hospital!”
“Oh my God!” Flynn sat there with his mouth hanging open.
“Jesus. Jesus.” Darnell looked gobsmacked. “Are we saying…?”
“I don’t know what we’re saying.” Jase started making notes. “But it’s a huge coincidence that you were both born the same day as the couple from room 204 died. And that when you both showed up at the hospital together… things started happening.”
“It’s all like a setup. It has to be.”
“By who?” Flynn asked. “I mean, who would do that to us? Why? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“I’m as big a fan of a good conspiracy theory as the next guy, but I’ve got to admit that Flynn raises a good point. Who would do it and why?” Darnell scratched his head and shrugged. “There’s nothing on the tape of you and Will going through the room on the initial run-through. I mean, nothing. This all started when Flynn showed up. Hey—have you got any enemies, man? Maybe this is because of you and not Blaine.”
Blaine looked to Flynn. “Ex-boyfriends? Jealous scientists?”
Flynn shook his head. “I was always the breakee—not that there were many. As for scientists….” Flynn shrugged. “I’m not exactly in a popular field, you know?”
“True that.” Jason frowned. “So let’s assume that it is supernatural. What do the ghosts want?”
“For us to go to room 204.” Flynn held out his hands. “What? Don’t look at me—that’s what I’m getting from it.”
“You can’t go there.” Blaine was sure of that. Knew it would be a terrible idea.
“You keep saying that.” Flynn sat back. “But I’m not letting this hang on to you. We don’t know if it’s doing more than just putting bugs in you and ripping open your skin. Maybe it’s zapping your energy too, taking years from you. I don’t know what’s real and what’s not, but you’re being hurt. That’s real.”
“You two just keep thrashing over the same shit,” Will said.
“What if the three of us went and did a live feed?” Jase asked.
“Which three—you, me, and Will?” Blaine asked.
“No, I meant Darnell, Will, and me,” Jase answered. “You said you didn’t want Flynn there. I’m guessing he doesn’t want you there either.”
Flynn didn’t hesitate for even a second. “You got that right.”
“That’s fair, I guess. Do we have any information about them? Anything new?”
Jason shrugged. “David was a schoolteacher, and Christian was an artist. David had a sister here in town who was killed by a bus about five years after David died.”
“What about Christian’s family?” Flynn asked. “The ones who wouldn’t let David see him.”
“There was a mom and dad, a brother, an aunt. Superconservative types. Dad was a minister.”
“Oh man. That had to be rough on Christian. Poor guy.” Will shook his head. “We should go do this now, yeah? Get it done.”
“It’s already late, guys. You could go tomorrow. In the daylight.”
Flynn nodded vigorously at Blaine’s suggestion. “I think that’s a great idea. I know we need to solve this, but daylight sounds way safer than going at night.”
“That makes sense.” Darnell didn’t look all that eager to go. “Let’s research tonight.”
“Sure. And maybe Blaine and I should go with you. Maybe we should sit out in the van outside. In case you guys need backup,” Flynn suggested.
“We’ll discuss it tomorrow,” Blaine said. “We’re all going to pretend like we’re not total dipshits and research tonight.”
“Damn, I was kind of going for total dipshit,” Flynn teased him, eyes twinkling.
“You and me both. I wanted another beer and a Stargate marathon.”
“Oh, I like it.” Flynn nodded. “What do you say, guys, is it a plan?”
Jase threw up his hands. “What the hell.”
Thank God. Blaine couldn’t go back there. Not yet. Not now.
Tomorrow he’d find another excuse.