Twilight: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 3

thing’s shadowy form.
“Its shape changed some at Oleander House and South Bay, but it was never transparent,” Sam mused as Dean switched the camera off. “And like you said, Dean, its behavior’s more consistent with a residual haunting than with an actual live being. It never ignored us before.”
“Right. But I’m glad it’s ignoring us now.” Bo tapped a finger to his chin. “Okay, here’s my tentative recreation of the event. This area has a high EMF level, which gives it the potential to support a portal. Somehow, the portal was activated. We’ll leave the how of it for now. However it happened, one of the inhabitants came through, it killed a person, and the killing was ‘recorded’ as a residual haunting.”
“What about the portal?” Dean asked, fiddling with the zipper on his jacket. “I figure it must be closed now, since Sam didn’t sense it, but why? And how? Who did it? Or do you think they did it?”
Bo stared into the gathering darkness. “I don’t think the portal was under their control, because if it was I doubt they would’ve closed it, and I doubt very much that this would have been the first killing. I think the portal was most likely opened by a second person, someone other than the body we found. Whether Harry was the person who opened the portal or the person who was killed, or neither one, I have no idea. We’ll have to wait for the police report.”
Dean nodded in the direction of the trail. “Why don’t we go back to your cabin and go through our video and pics? I don’t know about y’all, but I’m freezing my ass off out here.”
“Good idea.” Moving back to Sam’s side, Bo settled an arm around his shoulders as the three of them began the trek back through the trees. “I don’t know if they’re still serving dinner at the same time, but I assume Lex or Carl will tell us if they aren’t.”
Nodding, Sam tucked the notebook and pen into his jacket pocket and wound his arm around Bo’s waist. “If the detectives are still questioning the staff, it’s bound to delay dinner, especially since there aren’t any guests to worry about. We should have time to go over at least some of our stuff first.”
“Assuming we’re right and what people are seeing is a residual haunting, what then?” Dean asked, training his flashlight beam on the tangled and snow-shrouded undergrowth in their path. “I guess we’ll need to figure out how and when the portal was opened and why it closed again, but I’ll be damned if I know where to start.”
In the flashlight backwash and the glow of the fading sunset, Bo’s face was solemn and thoughtful. His arm tightened across Sam’s shoulders, and Sam wondered if he even realized it. “I suppose the logical place to start would be with the body in the woods. Once we know whether or not it’s Harry Norton, we can move on from there.”
“If he’s the one who’s dead, either that thing killed a person who was a psychic focus—something we haven’t seen or heard of before, though admittedly our experience is limited—or there was another person there at the time of the killing who was able to open the portal.” Sam firmed his grip on Bo in order to help him climb over a fallen tree. “If the body isn’t Harry’s, then it’s possible he’s the focus, wherever he is.”
“Of course either way, there’s no way to know for sure when the portal was opened, or closed.” Sighing, Dean stopped beside the large white boulder and played the flashlight beam over it. “At least you’re pretty sure it’s closed, right, Sam?”
“It’s about the only thing in this case I am sure of.” Without letting go of Bo, Sam rested a hand on the rock. The stone felt frigid against his palm, the dusting of snow melting into prickles of icy cold in the heat of his skin. “Y’all know I’ve picked up that weird abnormal energy thread around here, but it’s nothing like what I felt at Oleander House or the school. Those were…” He stopped, trying to find the right words. “They felt alive. This feels dead.”
“And you don’t know if those portals left behind that same energy after closing,” Bo added, his eyes searching Sam’s face. “You didn’t go back to either place after it was all over, and you weren’t in any shape to notice things like that at the time.”
Sam let out a dry laugh. “You could say that.”
Both times he’d faced one of the interdimensional portals and the beings inhabiting the other side,