From the look the nurse gave James as he said he was here to speak to Mrs. Delinsky, he knew he was in for it. The nurse picked up the phone, but it was easy to figure out which room in the sterile hospital hallway was hers, even before her harried-looking nephew came down the hall looking for them. Hers was the one that was surrounded by people in expensive suits. The sound of someone yelling hoarsely carried through the air as a white-faced nurse hurried out of the room as well.

The nephew, a tall man a little younger than James and nicely tanned for mid-December, stopped at the nurse’s station. The stress dropped from his face as he looked James over. “Are you from the Foundation for Paranormal Studies?”

“Yeah,” James said, holding out a hand to shake. “I’m James McManus and this is my cousin, Gabriella McManus. We’re here to interview Mrs. Delinsky.”

“Terrific,” the young man said, taking James’s hand in a firm, practiced handshake. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Zach Delinsky, Rita’s nephew. Thank you for coming. We’re hoping to keep this as discreet as possible.”

Zach Delinsky held himself with the confidence of someone who came from money. His teeth were sparkling white as he smiled at James for a beat longer, then turned to give Gabriella a quick handshake as well. “Cousin, huh?”

He looked back over at James with a charmingly raised eyebrow and expectant smile. James was about to say something in response, but the sound of a shouted lecture was still coming from the hospital room. As they walked toward it, James tried not to groan. But clearly, Zach could see what was going on because he gave James a wry smile.

“Yeah,” he said. “Aunt Rita does not like being told what to do. And with everything that’s happened, tension’s been pretty high, you know?”

“Of course,” James said. “We’re sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you,” Zach said. “My uncles were two of the worst things to happen to our family. But I appreciate the sentiment.”

James and Gabriella exchanged a look, but said nothing. Zach either didn’t notice or didn’t care as he led them through the group of nicely dressed men and women and headed into the hospital room.

An older nurse with a lined face was standing by the door as they came in. “Ma’am, just let us know if you need anything,” she said, voice flatly professional as she nodded toward Mrs. Delinsky, who was lying in the hospital bed.

“I won’t need anything from you,” Rita Delinsky said, voice raspy and ice cold.

The nurse rolled her eyes at James as she walked out, and he grimaced in sympathy at her. This was going to be fun.

“Mrs. Delinsky?” he said, taking another step in.

“Who the fuck are you?”

“Aunt Rita, these are the people from the Foundation. They’re here to talk to you about-” Zach’s voice dropped as he glanced toward the door. “-about what happened.”

“Great, it’s about time.”

Rita Delinsky had her leg in a cast and was hooked up to a few monitors beside the bed, but her eyes looked clear and alert as she narrowed them at James. He knew what she saw. He was scruffy, unshaven, and tired-looking. And normally he thought nothing of that. But right now, he could feel her judgment and just wanted to be done with this.

“I’m James McManus, the captain of the North Worcester County branch,” he said. “And this is Gabriella, one of my associates.”

Rita Delinsky looked at Gabriella. “What are you, seventeen?” she said. “No, I need professionals.”

“We are professionals, ma’am,” James said. “We report directly to the Foundation for Paranormal Studies in Boston. Could you please tell us what happened this morning?”

“I have no idea,” Rita said, looking up at the white tiles on the ceiling. “I woke up on the ice outside the cottage.”

“Were you spending the night there?” James asked.

“No,” Rita replied. “I was at home in Wellesley last night.”

“Wait,” James said. “So you fell asleep in Wellesley and woke up in Ashburnham.”

“Yes,” Rita answered tersely. “With four broken bones and a concussion.”

James winced. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Um, can you tell me what you remember?”

“That’s all there is,” Rita snapped. “I went to bed in Wellesley. When I woke up, I was cold and in pain. I opened my eyes and saw a figure standing over me.”

“What did they look like?” Gabriella asked.

“Formless,” Rita replied.

For a second, the harsh mask dropped away, and James could see genuine fear in her eyes. “It was like a person made of smoke. It got close to my face, but I couldn’t see any features. And then it vanished.”

James mentally ran through the possibilities. Shadow person. Or maybe that mischief spirit from Halloween, or one of its kin. But mischiefs didn’t go around shattering people and transporting them fifty miles west of their beds, at least in James’s experience.

“Anyway, someone was trespassing on my family’s land and called the police, who came and got me,” Rita said.

“They were taking a walk in the woods,” Zach clarified, giving James a long-suffering look.

“On our land,” Rita snapped. “They’re lucky I didn’t call the cops on them.”

James was grateful for all the practice he had at keeping his face neutral because he needed every bit of it right now. “Then what happened?” he asked.

“Then nothing,” Rita replied. “They brought me here. And whatever that is, it killed my brothers yesterday. This isn’t natural and we’re paying the Foundation a lot of money to solve this. You’re supposed to be protecting us.”

James and Gabriella looked at each other. “We’re not bodyguards…” James started.

“No, those gentlemen outside are,” Zach said.

James looked outside. The people in suits that he’d assumed were family members were still milling around in the hallway. But as he looked closer, he saw a comms device in one of their ears.

So there was security involved. Good of the Foundation to let him know.

“Right,” James said. “We’re going to be talking to some of your other family members over at the, um, the cottage later today, too. The Foundation has us out here to collect data and figure out how to stop this.”

“What is it?” Rita demanded, that fear sneaking into her voice again. “What could do this?”

“We don’t know yet,” James admitted. “We’re still getting all the information. But my team will be working on it along with the main branch in Boston, so we’ll keep you updated. And in the meantime, the folks out there will get you set up with all the protections we have available.”

“I guess it’ll have to do,” Rita muttered. “Now leave. I’m tired. I’m going to rest now.”

“Right,” James said. “Thanks for your time. We’ll be in touch. Um, take care.”

Rita had closed her eyes, but she opened them enough to glare at him before closing them again. Zach motioned for James and Gabriella to follow him out the door.

James made eye contact with one of the bodyguards as he walked past, a bald bulldog of a man, who gave him a wink. James smiled and nodded back, then hurried after Zach.

“Sorry about my aunt,” Zach said. “Even on her good days, she’s a nightmare. They all are.”

“Don’t worry about it,” James said. “We’re used to dealing with all kinds of people.”

“So you’re heading to The Cottage from here?”

Zach pronounced it in a way that James just knew it was capitalized. “Sure are,” James said.

“Good. The rest of my family is there now. I’ll be going over later, so take my card. Call me if you need anything.”

Zach handed James a business card, and he took it without a second thought, as though he took business cards all the time. “Thanks,” he said, slipping it into his pocket.

“It’s nice to have you here. You seem like you know what you’re doing.”

It had been a little while since someone had said that to James, and he wasn’t quite sure what to say in return. But Zach just gave him another brilliant smile. “I’ll see you soon.”

Zach walked back toward the room, leaving James and Gabriella to head toward the elevators.

“Wow, she was a treat,” James muttered as the elevator doors slid shut behind them.

“Seriously,” Gabriella said. “She’s lucky she’s not dead, and she’s still complaining?”

She let out a long breath, then raised her eyebrows at James. “So, are you going to call him?” she asked.

James had pulled out his phone to check for any missed calls from Headquarters. “Hmm?” he asked, scrolling through a text from Amelia confirming everything was fine at the State Forest.

“Zach.”

“I mean, if we need anything, I guess. I’ll see how it goes at this cottage, though.”

There was silence for a little too long as he responded to Amelia’s text. He looked up to see Gabriella looking at him, eyebrows raised.

“What?”

“Are you serious?”

James shrugged, lifting his hands in frustration. “What are you talking about?”

“He was flirting with you, dumbass.”

“No, he wasn’t.”

Gabriella looked at him, shaking her head in apparent disappointment. “Did you seriously not notice?” she asked as the doors opened on the ground floor.

“Notice what?” James said, walking out of the elevator and into the lobby. “He was not flirting with me. He was offering help if we needed it on a case.”

“Oh yeah, and all of our sources are so charming and so willing to help.”

“If you think he was so charming, you call him.”

“He didn’t look at me twice,” Gabriella said.

“He wasn’t flirting with me.”

“What’s the problem?” Gabriella asked as the automatic doors opened and they headed out into the parking lot. “Is it because he’s a guy?”

“Of course not,” James snapped, looking around for his car. “But this wasn’t flirting. All he did was hand me his card and offer help. Wait, is that how you and Elliot got started?”

He could almost hear her roll her eyes as he spotted his car and started toward it. “Do you have any cash?” he asked. “I have to pay for parking, and I think the credit card machine here is usually broken.”

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CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 6