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Damien: Can we keep this channel clear ffs.

Kingston: Oh, lighten up, Damien

Damien: Nobody asked you!

Alden: JONAH. CALL. IN.

Jonah: 10-4

The bickering probably continued but I had something I’d rather do than argue with the guys. I met Briar’s eye for a second before calling my boss, putting the call on speaker.

“What?”

“I have an alert set up for when Mercer posts. Check out his latest livestream and the comments under it.”

He hung up before I could ask any questions, but Briar had already pulled it up on her phone.

Peeking over her shoulder, I watched as the asshole sat in the graveyard surrounded by candles and the green light we’d seen before. Then my voice came through the speakers. The words, you’re not welcome here, were ominous given the circumstances. My distance from the camera gave my voice a distant, airy quality. Then Mercer squealed, the light died, the camera fell, and the live ended.

“Oh shit,” Briar said.

“Yeah, no way viewers are going to think that clip is him being kicked out by security.”

Briar nodded, pulling up the comments.

Are you okay?

What happened?

What do we do? Should we go check on him?

Hundreds of comments all with the same theme. People thought he’d been hurt, abducted, or were coming here to find him.

“Surely people don’t really think he’s been sucked into another dimension or some shit.”

Briar cocked her head. “I wish I could tell you that, but common sense is not that common anymore.”

I read a few more comments, all sounding the same, and huffed out a breath. “So, my boring guard job might now involve protecting a cemetery from a horde of gullible ghostbusters?”

“Unfortunately, yeah.” She was quiet for a moment. “Maybe if we figure out the real story, we can get it out there before his followers show up and do more damage to this place than he already has.”

I nodded, and we were quiet for a moment.

“The reel is still missing. Maybe we can look up the newspaper from around the dates the people in the Smith family died. See if we can find the obituaries and if they list family members, cause of death, that kind of thing. It was the next thing on the to-do list anyway.”

“So back to the library tomorrow then?”

She nodded. “First, I need some sleep.”

I glanced at my watch. “I’m done here anyway. I’ll take you back to your car.”

She yawned widely. “I’m so tired I don’t know if I can even drive.”

I turned the key in the ignition and faced her in the seat. “Where do you live? I’ll drop you off at your house.”

She blinked at me a few times in the dim light of the cab. “Or…”

I looked back at her, not understanding. “Or?”