Page 50 of The Legend of Lovers Hollow
“What Bez means is that we don’t take anything at face value. We’re investigators, so we like to have eyes and ears covering all the bases, then we’ll review the footage after the event to see if it captured anything.”
“That’s so cool.”
Thad grins. “It sure is. We get all the cool toys.”
“What else is there?” My gaze lands on another weird-looking piece of tech sitting on one of the console tables.
“That’s a Gaussmeter. It’s a more sensitive version of an EMF meter. These are designed to measure even smaller fluctuations in electromagnetic fields. We use them to detect subtle changes that might not register on standard EMF meters.”
“Okay, wow.”
“I know it might seem like we’re throwing everything and the kitchen sink at it. Usually, we’d choose several key locations and set up various tech to monitor. Depending on the property and the lore, we can sometimes spend one to two weeks on location, occasionally even longer. But we’re really short on time since we’re only here for a couple of days.”
“It’s a shame we can’t stay a bit longer this time,” Bez mutters, leaning over and squinting to make sure she has the camera set just right. “Sometimes on these short stopovers we don’t get much footage to work with.”
“I really don’t think that’s going to be a problem,” I murmur absently as I see Edwina drift closer, her eyes locked on Thad and a coy smile on her face, not that Thad can see her.
“He’s so handsome,” she coos dreamily. As she passes, one of the machines starts going haywire.
Edwina jumps in surprise and lets out a little squeal. “Oh my goodness, what is that noise?”
Thad jumps to his feet and checks the gassy meter or whatever it is. “Bez, look at this!”
Bez hurries over and grins when she sees the readings. “Looks like this place is going to be a goldmine.”
“Whatever it is, let’s hope the EVP recorder picked it up,” Thad says.
“It?” Edwina sniffs in disdain. “Well, I never! How rude.”
She disappears with a huff of indignation, and I sigh. Edwina has a tendency to mess with the heating settings in the bedrooms when she’s in a mood.
“You know, Thad,” Bez says thoughtfully, “maybe we could shift some things around in the schedule and come back later for a longer stay, perhaps even a full investigation. If things go well, we might even get a two- or three-part episode out of it.”
Thad nods. “Let’s see how this weekend goes.”
“Finished playing with all your little props?” an amused voice drawls.
We look over and Warren is leaning against the newel post at the foot of the stairs, casually sipping from a can of Red Bull, no doubt from Wally’s secret stash. His hair has lost some of its ruthlessly sculpted neatness and now falls forward, making him look sleep-mussed and sexy. He’s changed out of his suit and into jeans and a chunky knitted sweater, which is unbuttoned at the collar. But as my gaze gets to his feet, I stop and choke out a laugh.
“Are you wearing my unicorn slippers?”
Warren grins and lifts one foot, giving it a little jiggle. The bells sewn inside the sparkly silver horn ring out merrily. “Yeah, it was totally worth it just to mess with my brother.” He snorts. “You should’ve seen the colour of his face. I haven’t seen that shade in a while.”
“Your mother must have the patience of a saint.”
“No, she has the Prozac of a celebrity.” He takes another sip.
“You know that stuff’s no good for you,” Thad says as he eyes the energy drink.
Warren shrugs in response. “Yeah, well, some of us haven’t slept in thirty-six hours and are waiting for the jet lag to kick in.”
He seems to have gone from being irritated by Thad’s presence to casually indifferent, and I make a mental note to check in with him later and see if he’s okay.
Thad’s brow lifts. “Then shouldn’t you be getting some sleep, not getting wired on caffeine and chemicals?”
“That’s a regular breakfast for me,” Warren shoots back, both of his brows rising in challenge. “This ain’t my first rodeo, ghost humper. I travel a lot for work, so my body’s always in a constant state of flux. Some of us actually have real jobs instead of jetting around the world playing pretend in between facials and manicures for thatextra-special, camera-ready look.”
Thad’s eyes glitter with amusement and his mouth curves. “You think this isn’t work?”