Page 73 of Possessed By Shadows

Jason peered at the screen, pausing and enlarging it after the guy appeared. But he shook his head. “No. Not one of our people. And we don’t do temps. Everyone on-site has worked with us for months and interviewed to get there. We have a rotating team, but he isn’t one of them. You think this guy took Lukas?”

“He has Lukas’s backpack.”

“Should we call the police?” Jason asked.

I sighed. “Already done that. They don’t seem much interested in helping.”

“What do you know about the guy who passed here?” Micah asked. “We didn’t see much when we were here before, but it looks like Lukas is talking to someone in the beginning?”

“Adrian. Lukas said he helped Adrian get into rehab. That he had been doing well. His body was found here, and the report buried. Lukas made it sound like Adrian had information about something? An old case, maybe. Our research team couldn’t find anything in public records.” Jason turned to one of the running computers and typed a few things in, pulling up a profile of the missing guy, now dead. “He was a runaway. Had been most of his life. Sounds like he was kicked out for being gay. Had a hard time staying clean. Overdosing and ending up here wasn’t a stretch.”

“Lukas didn’t seem to think so,” I said, leaning over to scroll through the file. A list of dates of arrest, some time in a psych ward, but all very general. He had only been twenty-three when he died.

“He had something to do with that big case that sort of messed up Lukas’s career,” Jason added. “The one with his girlfriend? But Lukas never gave us specifics. I think Adrian might have been an informant. And since it was that weird trafficking thing with the cop involved, maybe they killed him. But what do you do when the cops are corrupt?” Jason shrugged. “Can’t find anything.”

“And the cop is dead,” Micah added. “Right?”

“Yeah. No mention of him in any reports we can find though. Handful of kids who didn’t make it out of that. Others still missing. I know Lukas was really pissed about that. Kept trying to push their cases, but they fired him instead.”

“Because he wanted to keep looking for the kids who were missing?” I asked.

“That’s what he made it sound like. It took a long time to get permission to film here. Lukas has wanted in forever, and I know he’s been here several times. Not legally. Not like there would be evidence left of them hurting that kid here.”

“He catches a lot of little stuff on film and audio?” I asked. Maybe that was the only way he could see it.

“Yeah. More than the rest of us combined. Without him here, we might not catch much.” Jason gave us a wry smile. “One of the girls says he’s a magnet for the supernatural. They only show up when he’s hunting with us.”

Sort of like me? “Can we go in? Do you have cameras set up?”

“Yeah, we’ve got everything going. Already run baseline. Trying to keep an eye on the weather. And we’ll have to monitor the gate to keep people out. Already had half the neighborhood by asking if we’re some big TV outlet.” Jason shrugged. “That’s actually pretty normal. This school is still in a somewhat populated area. Not like the hospital we did last week.”

“Charity?” Micah asked. “Abandoned since Katrina?”

“Yep. That’s the one.”

“Anything happen there? It’s not on my tour route, but I’ve heard of it.”

“Nah,” Jason said. “Three days of nothing but being spooked by drips and our own shadows. No audio, nothing.”

“Sorry,” Micah said.

“Lukas wasn’t there. Might have had something if he was.”

I nodded and waved toward the building. “Can we go in? You have people in there?”

“Yeah. Let me walkie everyone.” Jason reached over and grabbed another walkie out of the charger, the green light indicating it was good to go. He turned it on and called the team, six groups checking in before he handed it over.

“Lots of people in there,” I added.

“Dangerous location. Have to make sure it’s clear and stable before sending in small groups that will be hard to pull out. By nightfall we’ll be on small group rotation. If you get turned around, walkie in, we’ll come get you. Might want to mask up too. There is a shit ton of mold in there.” He pointed to a box of masks on the table near the door of the tent. There were flashlights and audio recorders too. We took one of each and masked up before heading for the door.

“Here we go again,” I grumbled. The wood plank over the entry had been removed, unscrewed and leaning to the side, leaving a gaping entrance. The filming sign was taped to it. There was also standing water everywhere. “Let’s head back to where Lukas had his stuff set up.”

Micah peered around. “If we can find our way back.” We squeezed through a narrow opening in the slats of two-by-fours and made our way deeper into the building. We passed a couple teams as we went. They directed us to the easiest route, which did not entail jumping down into a hole in the floor from the third level. It was a long way around, and by the time we got there my hip was screaming.

“I hate being old,” I mumbled.

Micah’s laugh was grounding. “I’ll massage it better when we get home.”