Page 56 of Dead Vengeance

The tip of his tongue darts swiftly over his lips, and he stands tall again, less of a conversational stance. It’s like he wants to move away, end this. But he stays. And again, he takes a long time to answer. And again, I have the weirdest feeling he knows exactly what I’m trying to get at. Because if that thing can’t read my mind, then, hallucination or not, Jem must have really been there.

And that means, after all these years, I finally have proof, of a sort, that he’s gone.

Archer’s reply is slow, like a politician who knows every word is a soundbite that could sink him. “This creature is… new to me. I don’t know it well enough to give you a reasonable answer. All I can say is…” His fingers tap across the table, and he watches them rather than me. “All I can tell you, honestly, is that it hasn’t been inside my head like that. It’s created hallucinations for me, pathways to someplace dark—the same place it took us last night. But it hasn’t… conjured anything, or anyone, I know.”

“Do you know a lot of dead people?” Something bitter twists in the words, and I’m immediately sorry for it. Archer’s so kind. He doesn’t need me here—he could fire me any second. He’s taking this time to talk to me, to help me understand, and I don’t know why I lashed out like that.

If he felt it, he doesn’t show it. He only leans close and says, “I don’t. No one but the old ghosts who visit this place. If it wanted to show me a person I knew, who was dead, or who I thought might be dead, in order to scare me, it wouldn’t have one. And that’s why I can’t tell you. I wish I could.”

Guilt and sadness curl up together in the base of my gut. Archer doesn’t move. Doesn’t shift his comforting presence away from me. Only says, very gently, “If this is too much, you don’t have to do it. Call Gerald, tell him that other guy walked off the job, and have him send someone new. Maybe someone who knows what they’re doing this time.”

“I’m beginning to think there isn’t anyone like that at the office,” I joke.

“Then maybe Gerald should come out here himself. See what you’re all dealing with.” There’s an anger beneath the words, and it brings me out of my pity party.

Poor Archer. He’s got a serious problem and nothing but losers to help him. And god knows what he’s paying for the privilege.

“Let’s go upstairs.” I’m already rounding the table, but I only get about halfway before my feet start to feel heavier. When the gravity of what I’m about to do hits me, and the fear sets in. The darkness that looms at the top of the staircase seems to thicken to forbidding, and I find myself shrinking closer to Archer. “How bad is it up there?”

“It’s fucking scary.”

I laugh a loud and anxious laugh at his candid answer. “Okay, good to know.”

“Just remember—”

“It’s not real. I know.”

“No.” He stands tall. He’s so close now his cologne fills my nostrils, and I can virtually feel the cashmere of that sweater. “The front door is right there. No matter what you see or hear upstairs, the door is right there. That’s the way out of the house; that’s the way out of any hallucination it might create. Leave the place, and it will stop. Just like it did last night.”

Throwing a glance over my shoulder, “And the door won’t be locked this time?”

“No,” he assures me. “That was Simon messing around. He’s off somewhere else now, so you don’t need to worry.”

“All right.” The words come out calm while my insides are heaving. I’m thinking about that gun I left outside. That it’s more powerful than it looked. That this might be the ideal time to use it. “Should we shoot it?”

“Do you want to…” He glances at the door. Back up the stairs. Back to me. “Shall we just look before we shoot? I think maybe you’d want to discuss this a little further with Gerald or… or a higher-up. Later. Before we shoot.”

“Right. Yeah. Makes sense.”

Now I’m scared and embarrassed. A perfect combination for a man who might be walking straight to his death.

Or worse.

But I do walk. I walk directly to the stairs and force a foot up. I make myself look into the darkness, and fuck. Fuck, I could swear I just saw something. Some shadow in the dark. And for all my attempted ‘calm and capable,’ I stop before I even make the second step. “Your, um… Was that your ghosts?”

“Hmm?” Archer, at my shoulder, studies the gloom. “They shouldn’t be up there. You saw Simon leave, and Lacey…” He takes a step past me, and screw being brave, he can go first. “Anyone up there?” he calls.

No sound comes back.

Archer looks around the room, studying our surroundings. “We’re not hallucinating. Not yet, away. So… maybe it was just a shadow?”

“A shadow of what?” I ask, even if I don’t really want to.

“A shadow of… um…” He blinks twice. “You know, we can leave. What if we just went to the village for—”

“I can do this,” I tell him firmly.

He drops back onto the step next to me. “I’m not suggesting you can’t. Only that—”