Sinister Entity (11 page)

“So, do you want to go out and grab a bite to eat?” he said.
 

Jessica shook her head. “Why would we do that?”

“Well, I just assumed you would prefer to do your work in the dark. Might as well carb up before the sun goes down.”

“That’s ridiculous. There’s no set time for EBs to show up. The only reason people do it at night is because A, things are creepier at night and they get their thrills from it and B, since cameras are often used, spirit activity just shows up better in low light. The truth is, just as much happens during the day, except we’re so surrounded by activity, noise and the simple act of going through our day-to-day lives that it’s almost impossible to notice any signs.”

Eddie smiled. She was pretty damn perceptive.
 

“What are you thinking?” she said, suspicion heavy in her tone.
 

He recovered by throwing out a question. “But you have cameras set up, too. Don’t you think you’d get better evidence if you waited until later, like say after a nice Mexican meal?”

It may have been a trick of the light, but he could have sworn she almost smiled.
 

“Look, at this point, I only want to help Tim and Kristen. I’m not that concerned about evidence. They already have more of that than they can handle, and it’s not like I’m about to show this to anyone else. These are just here in case something odd comes up that, if it’s positive, I can show them. After all, you did promise Tim that it would all be over after tonight. It might be nice to show them just how that happened.”

Her sarcasm was not lost on him.
 

Walking over to one of the cameras, he peered into the lens and said, “So you have no intention of posting this on your website?”

“Come on, I know you’ve looked at everything I have up there. I post things other people send me, and only if I think it has merit. What I do is between me and my clients, unless they specifically ask me to post it in hopes of letting others know they’re not alone with their own troubles. Their anonymity is the most important thing to me, just like our family’s was after…well, everything. It’s also why you’ll never see me roll up in a car or van with some gimmicky ghost-hunting logo wearing my custom-made shirt and hat, broadcasting to every neighbor what I’m there for. People who come to me are at the end of their rope. They don’t need me bumbling through their lives like a thousand-pound bear.”

Score another one. Eddie had to admit, she was good. Just what he’d hoped. It made his insane gamble coming to New York worth it. And underneath it all was this reckless current that even she wasn’t aware of. He hoped he was up to the task of helping her navigate through the forces surrounding her.
 

“So, what kind of EB do you think we’ve got here?” he asked.
 

Jessica snapped a few pictures of the room. “At first I thought it was a classic case of poltergeist energy originating from one of the kids. My last night here proved me wrong. I was a little disappointed because it would have been my first. This isn’t a poltergeist at all, just a very active, pissed off EB or EBs. I couldn’t be so lucky to find another Enfield poltergeist.”

“You mean that case in England where the poltergeist activity tormented that woman and her two children?”

Eddie was proud of the look of shock on her face.
 

“See, I’m not a total novice. In fact, poltergeist phenomena is a special area of interest at The Rhine,” he added.
 

“Did you minor in it?” she asked.
 

“Nah. Just a passing interest. How could I resist? ‘
Do not go into the light, Carol Anne
!’”

Jessica gave a rare smile. “I love
Poltergeist
. Not too crazy about the sequel.”

“Not many people were,” Eddie said. His stomach growled, awake and seeking attention.
 

“If you want to step out and grab something, go ahead. It’s going to be a long night,” Jessica said.
 

“That’s okay. I’ll make it.”

He had to cover his stomach with his hands when it made another angry protest. Jessica reached into her backpack and tossed an energy bar his way.
 

“I have a bunch of them. That and Red Bull keep me going.”

“Thanks. What do you want to do until—”

Eddie felt the spirit’s presence storm into the room a split second before it marshaled its strength and slid a dining room chair into the wall. A sharp pain stabbed the back of his eyes just as the chair began to move. He dropped his head into his hands, squeezing his eyes so tight, bright sparks swam against the darkness.
 

“See, I told you,” Jessica said. She took in a sharp breath when she saw him lean back against the sofa in obvious pain. “Are you okay?”

He shook his head, blinking hard. “I’m fine. Whoa, that was strong. You’ve got one angry bastard here.” He’d never felt anything like it before. Contact with angry or upset spirits could sometimes bring a slight pressure to his head, but nothing like the whip-crack he felt in his skull.

“Or bitch.”

“I can assure you, that S.O.B. is a bastard. And I’m happy to report that it’s only one.”
 

“Only one?” Jess repeated, incredulous. “Then he must be one powerful spirit. I was beginning to think I’d stumbled into an EB clubhouse.”

A white-hot needle jammed itself into the center of his brain and a picture frame on the wall behind him shattered. Eddie paused to catch his breath. Jessica came to his side, concerned. The last thing he wanted was for her to perceive him as a liability.
 

Jessica leaned closer and touched his arm. “Do you need an aspirin or something?”

He shook her off. “Nah, it wouldn’t do any good. Trust me, the pain is temporary and it’s nothing medicine could cure. My mind will adjust to it the longer we’re here.”

They stood in silence, waiting. The pain ebbed, giving him a moment to collect his thoughts and better still, to try to piece together what he had gleaned from his brief contact with the spirit in the house.
 

“You said it was a bastard. Do you know who it is? Did you get a name? And please don’t tell me you see a name that begins with a W. I know how that con works.” Seeing that he was okay, Jessica was back in control, the hard-ass ghost hunter.
 

“I could feel that it was one-hundred-percent masculine, but I didn’t get specific details. I do know that it’s royally mad at you. It’s in a kind of disbelief that you keep coming back for more. It was content to just pull the occasional prank here and there, until the McCammons brought you in. It knows what you want and what you can do and it’s not about to go down easy.”

Jessica scratched her head. “So, you’re telling me I made things worse?”

Eddie was reluctant to answer truthfully, but he knew lying would get him in deeper water. “In a way, yes.”

She kicked over one of the empty camera cases. “Damn it! I was afraid that would happen. The longer this went on, the crazier things got. When the McCammons first called me, they were concerned because they would wake up and items on shelves were on the floors, either stacked on top of one another or arranged in weird patterns. Kristen said she saw a fork jump off the kitchen table once, but all in all, it was more bizarre than anything else. Things were quiet for me the first few times here, but then stuff started to move all over the house. I thought it might have been latent energy in the girls, but even with them miles away, it got worse. Damn it! How could I have been so stupid?”

Her anger with herself was put on hold when the case skittered across the floor, back at her feet. This time, Eddie got by with only a wince.
 

Inexplicably, the smell of burnt toast, the kind Eddie’s mother used to make by holding bread over the burners on the stove when his stomach was upset, filled the room. He dashed into the kitchen to make sure nothing was lit. He skidded to a stop when the floor vibrated beneath his feet. The flatware jangled in their drawers as if someone was running their hands through them, back and forth, back and forth.
 

He inched over to the kitchen drawers, the contents smashing around with increasing intensity.
 

“Be careful,” Jessica said, just inches behind him. He nearly jumped. He had no recollection of her following him into the kitchen. “The drawers in here have a tendency to fly open. It sounds like the knives and forks are being stirred up like a shaken bottle of soda.”

“That’s good advice,” he replied, willing his voice not to shake. They both took several steps back.
 

The noise stopped. The burnt toast smell disappeared. The house was still, possessing a sensation of absolute vacancy.
 

“Okay, that was weird,” Eddie said.
 

Jessica clapped him on the back of his shoulder. “Not for this place. You sure you can handle it?”

Eddie shrugged. “Can of corn. Especially now that I know what you do and why it’s so afraid of you.”

She put a hand on her hip, raising an eyebrow. “Oh really. And what would that be?”

“I’m not sure how you make it work, but it’s terrified of giving you its name, because if you know its name, you can banish it.”

A look of shock washed over her face. Her mouth hung slightly open. “How…how could you know that?”

He smiled. “I told you I have a gift. And judging by the ache in my head, I’m about to put it to good use.”

They both jumped when they felt a tapping right underneath their feet.
 

Tap
.
Tap-tap-tap
.
Tap-tap
.
 

It did it again, the force behind the tapping stronger with each repetition.
 

Jessica looked down at the floor. “It did that the last time. I spent a week wondering what it could mean. I looked up Morse code on the Internet, and thought it was spelling out the initials E.S.I. I went through the records of the house and couldn’t find any past residents matchingthose initials. I guess it’s not Morse code.”

Eddie was about to answer her when she was lifted from the floor and yanked backward, flung against the far wall like a toy tossed by an angry child. There was a loud crack and he prayed it came from the wall and not her bones. As he rushed to her aid, he was jolted by a needle of intense pain in the center of his skull.
 

He dropped to his knees, helpless as drawers and cabinets opened and closed in a rhythm very much like an unholy applause, the house itself cheering over the swift defeat of the two strangers, urging the presence that gripped its fibers to deliver the final blow.
 

Chapter Eighteen

Jessica’s eyes fluttered open in time to see every kitchen drawer slam shut simultaneously. As they did, the refrigerator door opened with a loud, slow squeal of its hinges. She pushed herself up off the floor, balancing on her outstretched arm. Eddie was only a few feet from her, cradling his head in his hands, on his knees, oblivious to the world around them.
 

There was a popping sound, followed by a sharp
plink
. A bottle cap spun in circles, having been tossed from inside the refrigerator. A two-liter bottle of soda came crashing down, emptying its brown, sticky contents onto the linoleum. The tops of other soda bottles, condiments and juice containers rained out of the door, tapping across the floor. Their contents joined the initial slick of soda until it was a soupy mess, a concoction of pop, ketchup, tomato juice, mustard, hot sauce, barbecue sauce, milk, pickle brine and salad dressing.
 

The goopy blob inched steadily toward them. The stench of things better left separate was nauseating.
 

Jessica got to her feet on wobbly legs and leaned down to help Eddie up. Eddie pulled his hands away from his face, staring at her with unfocused eyes.
 

“If you don’t want to ruin your clothes, you have to get up,” she said to him, tugging on his arm.
 

He turned to where her gaze fell, registered the pungent smell and got to his feet. Jessica held his hand and led him around the mess and into the living room. They both collapsed onto the couch.
 

“Are you all right?” she asked. He still looked dazed, his mind wandering somewhere off the reservation.
 

It took him a moment, but he replied with a dry rasp, “Yeah.”

Other than the mess being made in the kitchen, the rest of the house was relatively silent. It was usually like that with investigations—moments of extreme activity, followed by hours of unnatural silence. You never knew whether the EB was building its strength for another round or had decided to vacate the premises for a while. It left your nerves on fire, your senses straining to the point of exhaustion.
 

Jessica took an internal stock of things, realizing nothing was broken. She would have one hell of a bruise on the parts of her body that hit the wall and floor, though.
 

Eddie sat staring into the kitchen. He said, softly, “That was insane. Have you ever seen anything like that before?”