Page 91 of The Haunting of Lockton

“Of course,” I said, feeling that familiar sadness wedge between my ribs. “You can have whatever you want.” As always. I tended to spoil him on that day. I sipped my coffee and then took a bite, chewing it slowly. “What were you saying about the riot?”

“Oh. Right.” Alan’s body flickered. “Word around town was that the uprising was somehow connected to magic. Survivorsreported objects flying through the air and glass exploding without being touched. The Grays were called in to investigate the matter because of the claim.”

“Magic?” I paused mid-sip. “You never told me that before.”

“It never seemed relevant. Besides, magic seems far-fetched, doesn’t it? I wrote it off as nothing more than a rumor.”

Skyler gave him an incredulous look. “Dude, you’re a ghost. A ghost who’s sitting here talking to us and who can make coffee. Which is really good, by the way. How can magic seem far-fetched to you?”

“Well, when you put it like that…” Alan vanished from his chair and reappeared in front of the kitchen sink. He faced the window that overlooked the backyard. One of his favorite spots.

“You embarrassed him,” I told Skyler.

“How can you tell?”

I smiled over at Alan before focusing on my mug. “I just can.”

“This is kind of big news,” Skyler said before shoving more of the toast into his mouth. “A lead.”

“A lead?”

“Yeah.” He swallowed the bite and didn’t even pause before scooping up another. Where he put all that food, I’d never know. His body was rock solid and toned to perfection. He had called my cooking the food of the gods, which was fitting since he clearly had the body of one. “We haven’t found much information about the massacre slash riot. Maybe the truth was covered up, you know? Like if magicwasinvolved, they would’ve locked that shit up tight, not wanting word to get out. But word still did. Obviously. The people in power could’ve removed all documents mentioning it though.”

I blinked at him, shocked.

“What?” he asked, then wiped at his face. “Do I have powdered sugar on my mouth?”

On his cheek, actually. And it was adorable, so I would pretend I hadn’t noticed it. “You may be onto something.”

He perked up at that. “Yeah?”

“A cover-up would explain why the riot was glazed over. They didn’t want word getting out about what really happened.”

Skyler smiled. “Should I start calling you Mr. Holmes now instead of Ichabod? Are we gonna put our detective hats on and go snooping around?”

“Too late. You already snoop around.”

“And I’m bringing you in as my sexy accomplice.” He winked. The freaking adorable charmer.

Alan glanced back at us over his shoulder with a small curve to his lips.

“Are you sure you’re ready for such a deep investigation, detective?” I teased. “You know you’ll have to stop crushing your candies long enough to do it.”

“Eh. I found something more entertaining.” Skyler averted his gaze to his plate, a wrinkle forming in the center of his forehead. He seemed suddenly self-conscious. As his gray eyes lifted back to mine, they appeared lighter in the sunlit room. “I can’t walk away from this, Paxton. From the mystery… or from you.”

I told myself not to get my hopes up. We needed to take each day as it came, just as he’d said. But still. The vulnerability in his expression right then matched the one in my sternum that quaked.

“I can’t walk away either,” I said, reaching across the table and placing my hand on his. From the mystery or from him. But I couldn’t say it. I could barely talk at all as the shake intensified, adding a stinging burn to the mix.

“What of the doctor’s ghost?” Alan asked, pulling me from that place by changing the subject. “He seems rather unpleasant. I’d hate for either of you to get hurt.”

The incident with the Hanging Man still made me uneasy. Even more so now that we’d reviewed some of the footage and learned he’d called me and Skyler “unnatural.” I was used to ghosts, but he made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

“Don’t know,” Skyler said. “Jules is researching stuff about mediums. Maybe there’s a way for him to do something about the Hanging Man too.” He turned in his seat to look at Alan. “Speaking of my brother, why don’t you like him?”

“Pardon?”

“You vanish when he’s around. You don’t have any trouble showing yourself to me though.”