Oleander House: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 1

better.”
“Probably not.” Sam gestured toward Andre’s tape, which had just stopped. “Did you find anything on that one?”
“Nope. Lots of Cecile pretending to talk to ghosts, lots of David ragging on her and her getting mad at him, but nothing unusual.”
“Shame. I was kind of hoping we’d find something.”
“You and me both.”
Sam took the barn tape out of the VCR and started rummaging through the bag for the nursery tape from the day before. “Wonder what was up with David and Cecile this morning?”
“Hell, after last night, I’m not surprised.”
“Last night?” Sam frowned, trying to recall anything other than Bo. He had a vague recollection of David and Cecile sitting together talking, but that was all. “What happened?”
Andre gave him a strange look. “You mean you didn’t notice?”
“Guess not. What, did they get friendly?”
“You could say that. Cecile was pretty cool after she pulled that giant stick out of her ass. Smart and funny. David started getting that look in his eye, they got to talking and eventually they left together.”
Sam raised his eyebrows. “Really?”
“Yep. I can’t believe you didn’t notice.”
Sam pretended to fiddle with the video equipment in order to hide his blush. “Bo and I were busy talking shop. I got pretty caught up in it.”
Andre chuckled. “Bo does the same damn thing. When he gets in a conversation about a subject he’s interested in, a herd of elephants could march through the room and he’d never see it.”
A heavy feeling settled in Sam’s chest. He’d recognized that look in Bo’s eye the night before. The look that saw only him and excluded the rest of the world. He knew Bo must’ve seen the same look in his eyes.
If one of us was a woman, everyone else would’ve noticed, he thought with surprising bitterness. It bothered him that the world at large didn’t recognize his desire, and he wished it didn’t.
“Hey, guys!” Amy said, breezing through the door with a small audio recorder in one hand and a thirty-five mm camera in the other. “Did we catch anything?”
“Not yet.” Andre pulled Amy onto his lap, equipment and all, and kissed her. “What about y’all?”
Bo and Amy had spent the morning sweeping the upstairs rooms with still cameras and handheld audio recorders, while David and Cecile did the same in the outbuildings.
Amy shrugged. “Who knows? We’ll have to listen to the tapes and develop the film.”
Sam felt Bo enter the room, his presence raising the hairs on Sam’s arms. Sam glanced sidelong at him, and didn’t know whether to feel triumphant or terrified when he caught Bo looking back. Bo turned hastily away, cheeks going beautifully pink.
“So, how’s it going?” Bo clapped Andre on the back, studiously avoiding Sam’s gaze. “How far have y’all gotten?”
“We just got done with the barn and the washhouse,” Andre answered. “Not a damn thing so far.”
“Okay. Let’s all take a break for lunch, then we’ll switch places. You and Sam can take the cameras and audio recorders around the downstairs while the rest of us review potential evidence.”
“Did anything happen in the nursery this time?” Sam asked, congratulating himself on sounding far more collected than Bo did.
Bo looked straight into his eyes, shoulders tense as if it were difficult to do. “No. Of course we didn’t have the thermometers or EMF detectors, but we didn’t feel the temperature drop, and we didn’t experience anything unusual. We’ll just have to wait and see if we caught any EVPs.”
“Electronic voice phenomena,” Cecile said as she and David came in. “Right? David’s been explaining it to me.”
“That’s right.” Bo arched an eyebrow at the pair standing much closer together than they would have twenty-four hours previously. “I’m very happy to see you two getting along so well.”
David grinned. “Beats the hell out of arguing all the time.”
Andre leaned forward, resting his chin on Amy’s shoulder. “Cecile, can I ask you something?”
She looked nervous, but nodded. “Sure.”
“Are you really psychic, or what?”
“Of course I am.” The room went quiet. Sam could see Cecile’s face closing up. “You don’t believe me.”
“It isn’t that we don’t believe you.” Bo darted a warning look at Amy. “It’s just that some of the things you’ve said and done have been a little…well, over the top. To be perfectly honest, it’s the sort of thing that experience has