Page 62 of The Haunting of Lockton

A deep growl rumbled beside my ear, and the faint shimmer of her brightened.“What was done to all of us. Because of him.”

“Arthur Warren?” Skyler asked.

“No.”A mournful wail started low before growing in volume.“He smiles with no warmth. He smiled while restraining me too. I can’t escape him even now.”

“Samuel Howard,” I said.

Her wail turned into a piercing shriek.“His name! Don’t say his name!”

I cried out at the sharp sound and slapped a hand over my left ear. The doors on all the cabinets and drawers, then flung open at the same time.

“Whoa, what the fuck!” Skyler jumped and grabbed my arm. The bed frame he’d knelt beside earlier flipped over, andhe crashed into me as he tried to get farther away, his fingers gnarling in the material of my coat.

Then, everything became still. Eerily so.

Cold air tickled my cheek, but I didn’t see anything beside me. That cold then shot down my spine as I felt a presence. One different than the one I felt with her.

“He’s standing right behind you,”she whispered.

“Fuck this shit.” Skyler yanked on my arm and dragged me with him as he ran toward the exit.

I glanced behind me as we reached the door. The spot I had been standing only seconds before? A dark shape hovered inches off the floor, its head bent to the side. A pale face then came into focus, with pitch-black eyes and a sinister grin stretching his thin lips.

After fleeing the room, we ran farther down the corridor, putting distance between us and the medical ward.

“Jules,” Skyler said into the walkie-talkie as we stopped in the corridor beside a window. “Something huge just happened.”

“What?” Julian’s voice came through, followed by static.

“I think the ghost of that psychopath Samuel Howard just tried to kill Paxton.”

Okay, kill might’ve been an exaggeration. But that unsettling presence had felt dark. Twisted. In all the years I’d guided groups through Lockton, I’d never encountered the Hanging Man myself. Not once. I had seen occasional flickers of apparitions and heard voices, but never anything like that. I had never once been afraid to be here.

Until now.

“Is he okay?” Julian asked with an edge of worry in his tone. “We’re coming up.”

Skyler answered his brother, but I zoned out of their conversation.

My attention had shifted elsewhere. Directly ahead of us, in front of one of the windows, a figure materialized. The outline of his body flickered before trying to stabilize into something more solid. The ghost still had an unnatural glow, however.

“Skyler,” I whispered.

He followed my gaze and froze.

Steps clonked up the stairs as Julian and Taylor reached us. Skyler flung out an arm and motioned for them to look. Julian’s eyes widened.

“I miss him,” the ghost said, gazing out the window with such sadness I felt it sink into my own chest. Short dark hair jutted upward, and his complexion had a darker tint even in the moonlight. He turned his head toward us. “I miss him so much.”

Wait.Those words had been on the EVP Skyler had let me listen to.

“Roy?” I asked with a slight tremble in my voice. Talking to ghosts was nothing new for me, but the ones here at Lockton weren’t like Alan. They were so haunted. Sad.

His body flickered like static before he appeared closer to us. “You know my name.”

Skyler sucked in a breath. His phone was in his hand, but he didn’t lift it. He’d either totally forgotten about the investigation or was too shocked to move. Julian wasn’t recording either.

“I do,” I said.