The Shape of Night(67)

“Definitely. Since that’s where Kim had the strongest reaction.”

He takes in a breath. “That room gives me the creeps, too.”

“Which is why we need to focus there.”

I stand up. “We can help you carry stuff upstairs.”

“No,” says Maeve. “I want you to let us handle everything. In fact, I prefer my clients to stay elsewhere for the night, so we can concentrate on our work.” She glances at Hannibal, who’s been slinking around the kitchen. “And your cat will definitely have to be confined, or his movements will confuse our instruments.”

    “But I want to stay and watch you work,” says Ben. He glances at me. “We both do.”

“I have to warn you, it can get pretty boring,” says Maeve. “Mostly it’s just sitting up all night watching the dials.”

“What if we’re perfectly quiet and stay out of your way?”

“You don’t even believe in ghosts, Dr. Gordon. Why do you want to watch?” Maeve asks.

“Maybe this will change my mind about the whole thing,” Ben says, but I know that’s not the real answer. He wants to observe because he doesn’t trust their gadgets or their methods or anything else about them.

Maeve frowns, tapping her pen on the papers. “It’s not the way we normally do things. Ghosts are less likely to appear when there are too many people emitting bioelectric fields.”

“This is Ava’s house,” Ben points out. “Shouldn’t she decide what happens here?”

“Just understand there’s a chance your presence may inhibit any manifestations. I do insist that you keep the cat locked away.”

I nod. “I’ll put him in his carrier.”

Maeve glances at her watch and stands up. “It’ll be dark in an hour. I’d better get to work.”

As Maeve heads upstairs to join her team, Ben and I remain in the kitchen, waiting until she is out of earshot.

“I hope you aren’t paying them,” he says.

“They haven’t asked me for a cent. They’re doing it all for research.”

“And that’s the only reason?”

“What other reason would they have?”

He glances up at footsteps creaking along the second-floor hallway. “I just want you to be cautious about these people. They may sincerely believe in what they’re doing, or…”

“Or?”

“You’ve given them complete access to your house. Why didn’t they want us to stay and observe?”

    “I think you’re being a little paranoid.”

“I know you want to believe, Ava, but psychics often swoop in just when people are at their most vulnerable. Yes, you’ve seen and heard things you can’t explain, but you’ve just recovered from a bacterial infection. Cat scratch fever could account for what you’ve experienced.”

“Are you telling me to call off the whole thing?”

“I’m just advising you to be careful. You’ve already agreed to this, so we’ll let them do their thing. But don’t leave them alone in your house. I’ll stay, too.”

“Thank you.” I glance out the window, where dusk is rapidly fading to night. “Now let’s see what happens.”





Twenty-Six


I lure Hannibal into his crate with a bowl of food and he doesn’t even notice when I latch his door shut; his face is too deeply buried in kitty chow. While Maeve and Todd and Evan set up their gear in various rooms around the house, I go to work doing what I do best: feeding people. I know that staying up late at night makes you ravenous, so I assemble ham sandwiches, hard-boil a dozen eggs, and brew a large pot of coffee to keep us all fueled through the night. By the time I’ve laid out the food on platters, night has fallen.

Ben pokes his head into the kitchen and announces: “They’re going to turn off all the lights in a little bit. They said you should come upstairs now, if you want to take a look at their setup.”

Carrying the platter of sandwiches, I follow him up the stairs. “Why do all the lights have to be turned off?”

“Who knows? Maybe it makes it easier to see ectoplasm?”

“Ben, a negative attitude is not going to help. You could sabotage the results.”

    “I don’t see why. If the ghost wants to appear, he’ll appear, whether I believe in him or not.”

When we reach the turret, I’m startled to see how much equipment Maeve and her associates have hauled upstairs. I see cameras and tripods, a tape recorder, and half a dozen other instruments whose purpose is a mystery to me.

“All that’s missing is a Geiger counter,” Ben says drily.

“No, we’ve got one of those.” Evan points to a meter on the floor. “We’ve also set up a camera in the downstairs hallway and another one in the master bedroom.”

“Why the master bedroom?” asks Ben.

“Because the ghost’s appeared there a few times. That’s what we’ve been told.”

Ben looks at me and I flush. “I’ve seen him there once or twice,” I admit.

“But this turret seems to be ground zero for paranormal activity,” says Maeve. “It’s where Kim had the strongest reaction, so we’re going to focus our attention on this room.” She glances at her watch. “Okay, it’s time to turn off all the lights. Settle in, everybody. This is going to be a very long night.”