Oleander House: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 1

methodical sweep of their assigned indoor rooms and the barn. They’d turned up nothing obvious so far. Later review of the video and stills might show something, but they hadn’t seen or heard anything out of the ordinary, and Sam had not felt the sense of menace he’d experienced before.
    They set out across the sun-baked expanse of yard from the barn to the washhouse. Sweat prickled Sam’s skin. His shirt and jeans clung damply to his body.
    “Damn, it’s hot,” Sam complained, not for the first time.
Bo laughed. “You got that right. We need a nice breeze. Or some rain.”
“Wonder what the temperature is.”
“The thermometer outside the sun porch said one hundred and five.” Bo squinted up at the hazy sky. “That’s even hotter than usual.”
“Oh great.” Sam wriggled uncomfortably as a bead of moisture rolled down his back. “God, I’d love to be able to strip right now. I feel all sticky.”
He’d said that primarily to see what Bo’s reaction would be, and it didn’t disappoint. The way Bo flushed and quickly turned away gave Sam an entirely childish satisfaction.
As Bo opened the washhouse door and started inside, Sam stopped, frowning. Ever since they’d first stepped outside the house, he’d had a strange feeling something was missing, but hadn’t been able to put his finger on it until just now. The afternoon seemed unusually subdued. Too quiet. It occurred to him that he hadn’t heard a single note of birdsong since that morning. Normally the cacophony of crows and blue jays was so constant it became background noise.
“Hey, Bo,” he said.
Bo turned in the doorway. “Yeah?”
Sam couldn’t help feeling a little smug at the weight in Bo’s eyes. He’s still thinking of me naked. Irritably he shoved the thought away. Now wasn’t the time.
“It’s awfully quiet out here,” Sam observed. “Did you notice?”
Bo perused the yard, brow furrowing as he noticed the silence. “Now that you mention it, it is quieter than usual.”
“You can still hear all the insects, but the birds are missing.”
The realization was unsettling. Sam wondered what it meant, if it meant anything at all. The odd quiet didn’t necessarily have anything to do with the things that had happened in the house. Maybe the birds couldn’t stand the suffocating heat either.
“Maybe it’s nothing,” Bo said. “But we’ll make a note of it and discuss it with the others tonight. See if they’ve noticed anything similar.”
Sam nodded and followed Bo into the washhouse. In spite of the shade, the small building was nearly as hot as the outdoors. “Could we open the window or something?” Sam asked, tugging at the collar of his Tshirt. “It’s hard to breathe in here.”
“Absolutely.” Bo set his camera down on an old wooden table that stood against one wall and forced open the single tiny window. He took a deep breath. “That’s better. Now maybe we won’t have to strip after all.”
Sam smiled at the challenge in Bo’s eyes. He could play this game far better than Bo, and he knew it. “You can still get naked if you want. I won’t mind.”
Anger flitted across Bo’s face, swiftly replaced by a teasing mask that Sam recognized right away because he’d worn it so often himself. “I bet you wouldn’t. But I’m thinking I’d like to keep my clothes on, for now.” Bo picked up his camera. “Let’s get to work. We just have this building and the old kitchen, then we can go inside and take a shower.”
Sam took pity on Bo and pretended he didn’t hear the suggestion in that statement, or see the way Bo’s eyes widened when he realized what he’d said. He must’ve been hiding his sexuality for years, Sam mused, watching Bo fiddle with the camera. I wonder if he has any idea who he really is anymore.
The thought made him ache on Bo’s behalf. Sam knew what it was like to keep the secret of his homosexuality from others, but he’d never tried to hide it from himself. He couldn’t even imagine the damage that must do to a person’s psyche.
“Sam?” Bo’s voice was sharp. “Quit daydreaming and get busy.”
Sam obediently started the video rolling. He said nothing about Bo’s irritated tone, or the more-thanobvious reason for it. Following the plan they’d outlined earlier, he made his way around the room, asking the same questions he’d asked everywhere else that afternoon. As usual, he felt himself tense when it came time for the question that had preceded the