What Hides Inside: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 2

absolutely couldn’t do was let his libido have its way.
“What’d you say?”
Startled, Sam glanced over at Andre, who’d pulled his headphones off and was looking curiously at him. His friend’s face wore a puzzled frown, and Sam abruptly realized that he’d been muttering out loud. “Nothing. Sorry, just talking to myself.”
Andre cocked a skeptical eyebrow at him, but didn’t say anything. He slid his headphones back into place and restarted his video. Letting out a sigh of relief, Sam returned his attention to his computer.
For the next couple of hours, Sam and Andre sat silently watching the video they’d shot the day before. It was tedious work. The picture never changed. If it weren’t for the time display ticking the seconds away in the bottom right corner, Sam would’ve thought it was a photo rather than video. The absolute stillness gave him an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his belly.
“Weird, isn’t it?” Andre asked, echoing Sam’s thoughts.
Sam nodded. “Yeah. Not even a spider anywhere. Nothing. It’s not normal.”
“Only one other place I ever saw anything like that.”
Sam swallowed. “I don’t want to go through that again.”
Grief filled Andre’s eyes, and Sam mentally kicked himself. As if what Andre went through wasn’t ten times worse. As if it wasn’t all your fault anyway.
Andre gave him a tiny smile. “Stop it.”
“I’m sorry,” Sam blurted out. “I didn’t mean to bring it all back. I shouldn’t have said that.”
Shaking his head, Andre removed his headphones, shut off his video and reached over to stop Sam’s as well. He turned in his chair and pulled Sam’s headphones off.
“I don’t need you to remind me,” he said softly. “I think about Amy every single day. I see her dying every time I go to sleep.”
“I’m sorry,” Sam repeated, wishing he could do more than apologize. “I’d go back and change that whole fucking week if I could.”
“I know. But you can’t, and neither can I.” Giving Sam’s shoulder a shake, Andre pinned him with an intense stare. “You have to stop blaming yourself, Sam. What happened wasn’t your fault.”
To his horror, tears stung Sam’s eyelids. He blinked rapidly a few times, and managed to keep any from falling. “Wasn’t it? I was the conduit. The gateway only opened because of me.”
“Yes, you were the conduit, but you didn’t have any control over it.” Taking his hand off Sam’s shoulder, Andre leaned back in his chair. “I wanted to blame you at first. I tried to. But there was nothing you could’ve done to prevent what happened. It just took me a little while to see that. I expect it might take you longer, but you have to see it eventually. You’re too much of a scientist not to.”
Though he’d known intellectually that Andre didn’t hold him at fault for Amy’s death, this was the first time Sam had heard Andre say it. The first time, in fact, that he and Andre had talked about that night at all. Knowing Andre not only didn’t blame him, but still respected him professionally, lifted a huge weight from Sam’s shoulders.
“Thank you,” he said. “You don’t know how much that means to me.”
Andre nodded. Sliding his headphones on again, he swiveled around to face his computer and started the video. Sam followed his lead, feeling lighter than he’d felt in a long time.
    The next few hours passed more quickly for Sam than the previous ones had. Keeping his mind focused on watching the video effectively kept him from thinking of Bo, and what the next day might hold. Even the endless tapes from Oleander House had been exciting compared to the video from the school. Glancing at the window, Sam stifled a yawn. The last rays of the setting sun poured through the cracks in the closed blinds, striping the darkened office with golden red.
    He almost missed the change when it came. A faint vibration, blurring the picture for a moment before clearing again. Leaning closer, Sam rubbed his eyes, wondering if he’d imagined it. The picture shook again, more noticeably this time, accompanied by a barely audible rasping sound that seemed to come from behind the bricked-over portion of tunnel wall. Sam let out a surprised gasp.
    “Hey, Andre.” Reaching over without looking away from the screen, Sam nudged Andre’s arm. “Andre, look.”
    Andre glanced at Sam. “What?”
“The video moved.”
“Moved? What do you mean?”
“I mean it moved. It vibrated, like…” Sam
    stopped,