Oleander House: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 1

assured her, though his voice still sounded weak enough to make her frown at him.
“Something happened, obviously,” David said, sitting cross-legged on the floor beside Bo. “So what was it?”
Bo glanced at Sam with a mixture of concern and embarrassment in his eyes. “I don’t exactly know. It all happened so fast.”
Sam, feeling a little stronger now, extricated himself from Bo’s embrace and sat up. Cecile wound a supportive arm around his shoulders, and he gave her a grateful smile.
“It was what I’ve felt before,” Sam said. “Only a thousand times worse. It was like something was right inside my head, trying to get out. Like it was using me somehow to manifest itself. I couldn’t breathe. The temperature dropped, I’m not sure how much. It was freezing. And the room looked all dark and foggy.” Sam shook his head. “Never been so scared in my life.”
Cecile’s sharp gaze held his. “Scared of what? That it was going to harm you?”
“No,” Sam answered slowly, just now realizing what it was that had frightened him. “I was scared of it getting loose.”
Three pairs of eyes stared at him as if he were a particularly interesting museum exhibit. He hunched his shoulders under the weight of their combined consideration. They’re just thinking about what you said. They’re not like other people. They don’t think you’re crazy.
    He wasn’t entirely sure he believed that, but he held doggedly onto it anyway. If these people couldn’t believe him, no one ever would, and the thought was too depressing to bear.
    “Hey, Bo,” David said, apparently oblivious to Sam’s discomfort. “Reckon you got it on tape?” He picked up the video camera Bo had dropped when Sam collapsed. “This thing’s still running.”
    Bo blinked. “Maybe. Hell, I forgot all about the camera.”
“We were just finishing up downstairs,” Cecile told them. “Are you done here? Maybe we could take the tape downstairs and see what’s on it.”
Bo shot a wide-eyed look at Sam. His thoughts were crystal clear to Sam—he didn’t want anyone to see the way Sam had touched him just moments ago, or the way he’d responded.
“That’s a good idea,” Sam said before Bo could object.
Bo’s eyes sparked with anger and frustration, but he didn’t argue. The investigation took precedence over everything else and they both knew it. Sam stifled a smug smile. He’d counted on Bo’s professionalism to transcend his fear of being outed.
Sam let David help him to his feet. He stood there for a minute, assessing how he felt. A bit lightheaded, but otherwise all right, he decided.
They all trooped downstairs, Cecile hovering solicitously at Sam’s elbow. In the library, the four of them gathered around the table.
“Where are Amy and Andre?” Bo tugged nervously at the end of his braid, his gaze never still. “Are they still outside?”
“Guess so.” David hooked the camera up to a monitor and started rewinding the tape. “They just got done with their inside rooms about half an hour ago, they’re probably not finished with the outbuildings yet.”
“We can show this to them later,” Sam said. “No point in interrupting their work before we even know if there’s anything to see.”
“Right. Okay.” Bo still sounded jumpy, and Sam bit back an impatient exclamation. He found Bo’s dread of watching the tape beyond annoying. Even if that brief interaction had been caught on video, Sam doubted anyone besides himself and Bo would read anything into it.
That, of course, was the crux of the matter. He and Bo both knew what it meant, even if no one else did. Why was it so painful, Sam wondered irritably, for Bo to acknowledge the attraction between them? Sam certainly wasn’t going to tell anyone, and he’d already accepted that nothing would come of it. He didn’t understand why Bo was so afraid, if he never intended to act on his feelings.
Maybe he can’t promise himself that, Sam thought in a sudden burst of insight. Maybe he knows that if he lets things get even a little out of hand, he won’t be able to stop himself.
Sam wasn’t sure how to feel about that. The sound of the tape clicking to a halt saved him from having to think about it.
“Okay, folks,” David said as he started the tape playing. “Here we go. Keep your eyes peeled.”
Sam pushed the thought of Bo and whatever was between them resolutely to the back of his mind, concentrating all his energy on watching the tape. Beside him, Bo was