Closer: Bay City Paranormal Investigation, Book 4

followed, savoring the change in Bo’s mood and hoping it would last. He had a feeling it wouldn’t, but you never knew. Stranger things had happened.
    David, Cecile and Andre were still going over evidence from the previous two nights when Sam and Bo returned. Andre sat on the edge of a chair, headphones on, frowning at the laptop screen. He glanced at them and nodded before turning his attention back to his work. David, sprawled on his stomach on the carpet with the thermal camera in front of him, acknowledged Sam and Bo’s return with a distracted wave.
    Cecile stopped the audio recorder in her hand and took her earbuds out. “Hi, guys. Did you have a good run?”
    “It was all right,” Sam told her, mopping sweat from his brow. “Hot.”
“ Very hot, especially for mid-May.” Bo brushed his fingers across the back of Sam’s hand as he headed for the kitchen. “I’m getting some Gatorade, Sam, you want some?”
“What flavor do we have?”
“Hang on.” Sam heard the refrigerator door open, then the sound of glass and plastic being shuffled around. “All that’s left is lemon-lime.”
Sam wrinkled his nose. “I hate lemon-lime. It tastes like sweat.”
Bo’s laugh floated from the kitchen. “That’s because it’s meant to replace the electrolytes you lose through sweating.”
“Just bring me a bottle of water, if you don’t mind.”
“Okay.”
The refrigerator door banged shut, and Bo came back into the living room with a plastic bottle in each hand. He handed the bottle of water to Sam, then twisted the top off his Gatorade and gulped half of it in a few long swallows. Sam drank the cold water gratefully.
“Where’s Dean?” Bo flopped onto one of the chairs around the dining table, holding his sweating bottle to his forehead.
“Outside someplace.” Chuckling, Cecile tucked her legs beneath her. “We all went out on the beach for a walk earlier, just for a little break, and we met up with those college kids staying next door. One of those boys was completely smitten with Dean. They’re out there talking still.”
“Talking, my ass.” David glanced up and grinned, blue eyes glinting. “I’d bet my last dollar Dean’s got that kid’s cock down his throat by now.”
“David!” Cecile uncurled one leg and aimed a barefoot kick at David’s forehead. “Don’t be crude.”
“What? It’s true!” He grabbed her foot and bit her big toe, making her squeal.
“You don’t know that.” Shaking her head, Cecile retrieved her foot before David could bite her again. “In any case, Bo, Dean is outside with his new friend.”
Andre stopped the video he was watching and pulled his headphones off. “Just for the record, Bo, I told him he could stay out there for a while. He was up working today before any of the rest of us.”
Bo gave Andre an affronted look. “I wasn’t going to say anything.”
Andre raised a skeptical eyebrow, but kept quiet. He put his headphones back on then restarted the video.
Scowling at Andre, Bo turned back to Cecile. “Have y’all found anything since Sam and I left?”
“Nothing we didn’t already know about. You already know about the EVPs.”
Sam and Bo both nodded. Cecile had captured three distinct voices on her audio recorder the night before— two different male voices and one female. The woman seemed to be speaking French. Even though he hadn’t been happy about Bo doing evidence review—and dragging him into it as well—Sam had been just as excited as the rest of the group about the find.
“What about the headless soldier?” Bo asked. “How did that footage come out?”
Cecile shrugged. “We could make out the shape, but it isn’t as distinct as we would’ve liked.”
“That’s not surprising. At least Dean got footage of it, even if it isn’t very clear.” Bo pulled on the end of his braid. “So, there’s nothing unexpected?”
Bo’s tone was casual, but Sam heard the real question lurking behind the seemingly innocent inquiry. He shot Bo a stormy glare. Bo ignored it.
“No,” Cecile answered. “Of course we haven’t reviewed everything yet, but we’ve been over the thermal and audio and most of the video from the time when Andre and I felt that weird change in the fort’s energy, and nothing’s showed up so far.”
The smile that curled Bo’s lips seemed triumphant to the point of gloating. Sam bit his tongue. He wasn’t about to let Bo goad him into another fight.
Downing the rest of his water, Sam crushed the