Page 78 of The Haunting of Paynes Hollow

“I already put up three. You want more? A hundred bucks a pop.”

I don’t say anything. I do not even make a noise, but he throws up his hands as if I won’t shut up about it.

“I installed them today, okay? That’s part of what I was doing. After you got that photo at the lake, it made me think there might be a point in trail cams. Get shots of anyone snooping around. One is aimed at the beach. One at the steps of your cottage. One over by the shed.”

My heart picks up. “There’s one by the shed?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I see the pictures?”

He shrugs. “Sure. I need to download them manually, but I’ll show any to you tomorrow.”

“Can I see them now?”

He peers back at me.

“Please?” I ask.

I wait for him to ask for an explanation. He only shrugs. “You’re the boss.”

Twenty-Three

The trail cams only snap shots when movement is detected. The one by the shed has taken two since Ben set it up. A picture of me entering the shed and one of me leaving. They’re from early this evening, when I went inside and found my wet clothing.

Ben shuts down the phone app, muttering. “I need to get this to my truck, charge it up.”

“It’s at fifty percent.”

“Yeah, and I don’t let it go below that while I need to be monitoring your ankle bracelet. If my phone dies, the app alerts your grandfather’s lawyer that I’m not doing my job. It’d also be an excuse for your uncle and cousin to say you could have left the property.”

“Okay. But the camera, what time did you set it up?”

When Ben doesn’t answer, I look over at him. We’re in the cottage living room, and he’s paused by that book of Great Lake legends.

“This yours?” he says.

“My grandfather’s. I rescued it from the crawl space. I used to read it as a kid.”

He nods, but his gaze seems distant.

“Ben?” I say. “When did you set up the shed cam?”

“That was the first one. I put it up earlier today.”

So whoever put my wet clothing in the shed did it before then. I’dbeen hoping it would catch some stranger sneaking in with my lake-drenched clothes. But there are only those two shots of me, nothing in my hands.

I peer outside. “It’s getting dark.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m going. You’re the one who wanted the photos, Samantha.”

“That wasn’t a hint, Benjamin. If I wanted to kick you out, I’d kick you out.”

He snorts. “You absolutely would not.”

“I—”

“If I hadn’t been here, would you have told that camper to leave? Or politely asked him to be gone by morning, despite the fact that someone has been trying to drive you off and may have kidnapped your aunt, and it could be that guy impersonating a camper.”