An Inner Darkness Book 5 Bay City paranormal

this one.”
    “Same here.” Sam halted his own video and turned to face Dean, who sat at the desk beside his. “All we have left is one audio recorder and a little bit of thermal, right?” Dean nodded. “Yep. Looks like this case might be a bust.”

    “God, I hope so,” Sam said with feeling.
    Dean laughed. “Yeah, for once I guess we all kind of hope that.” Sam slumped in his seat with a yawn. It had taken them two days—well, one and a half, seeing as how Wednesday was only half over—to go over the bulk of the video, audio and thermal from Friday night and Monday. Janine had refused to let the group come back after Monday, claiming they’d already found the cause of her family’s hallucinations.
    So far, the hours of tape they’d reviewed bore out Janine’s opinion. They revealed nothing more sinister than one loose shutter and a couple of bats in the attic. That fact, combined with the high level of electromagnetism leaking from the entertainment center to the children’s rooms upstairs, lent strength to Bo’s theory that an uncontrolled electromagnetic field lay at the heart of Lee and the boys’ experiences. Sam had been almost afraid to hope Bo was right, but it seemed as though he was.
    Sam was relieved, and not only because it meant Sean and Adrian were in no danger after all. He much preferred Bo relaxed and happy than tense with worry over his sons.

    The front door opened, letting in a blast of damp wind as David rushed inside.

    “Damn, it’s blowing hard out there.” Shucking his jacket, David hung it on the coat rack and mopped the beaded raindrops from his face. “Y’all find anything yet?” Dean shook his head. “Zippo. What about you, did the research turn up anything juicy?”
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An Inner Darkness
    “Nope. That old house is as boring as they get.” David crossed to the coffeepot on the other side of the room, grabbed his War Eagle mug from the shelf and filled it to the brim. He blew once across the steaming surface before taking a cautious sip. “No murders, no suicides, nothing. Only one person died there that I could find, and she went peacefully in her sleep.”
    Dean wrinkled his nose. “God, you’re right. Dull as dishwater, as my granny used to say.”
Laughing, Sam rose to his feet. “In this case, dull is good. Bo’s very happy that we haven’t found anything, and I for one want to keep him happy.” “I bet,” David said with a smirk.
    “Shut up.” Sam walked over and flicked David’s ear. Ignoring the resulting yelp, he poured coffee and creamer into his own mug. “The fact that no one’s reported any hauntings at the house in the past, or any violent deaths which might produce hauntings, just makes it more likely that we’re right about this being hallucinations caused by that ridiculous EMF level.”

    Dean rubbed his chin, a thoughtful expression on his face. “Speaking of which, what are we going to do about that? It’s got to be fixed, before it starts causing real problems.”

    “Lee’s already got an electrician coming out to take a look.” Sam shrugged.

    “Hopefully they’ll be able to take care of it.” The door opened again, admitting Danny and Bo. “Lunch is here,” Bo called, holding up two rainspattered take-out bags. “We brought stuff for Cecile and Andre too, aren’t they back yet?”

    Sam shook his head. “No. Of course the place they were going to look at is all the way out in Bay Minette. The round trip plus the interview would take at least two or three hours, and if they went ahead and toured the site who knows when they’ll be back.”
    “It’ll keep, no worries.” Taking the bags from Bo, Danny set them on her desk and started pulling out various sandwiches and wraps from the Cajun restaurant down the street. “David, why don’t you and Sam get some drinks out of the fridge?” David grinned at her. “Sure thing, boss-lady.” www.samhainpublishing.com 49
    Ally Blue
Danny rolled her eyes, but an indulgent smile tugged up the corners of her mouth.
Sam snickered behind his coffee mug. Bo and Andre might run the business, but Danny ran the office, and they all knew it.
    A few minutes later, the whole group sat in a lopsided circle in the space between the two rows of desks, talking while they ate. Sam munched his shrimp Po Boy, content to listen. Normally, a morning as unproductive as the one they’d just had made him feel a little cranky. This time, the lack of any