What Hides Inside: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 2

closer. “What happened? Are y’all okay?”
Bo turned toward them. His face was pale, eyes wide. “Yeah, we’re fine. Cecile found something.”
Sam’s insides clenched. Not one of those missing kids. Please, not that. “What?”
Taking a step back, Bo swept his flashlight beam into a shallow bay in the wall. Sam gasped. “Oh my God.”
Lying against the crumbling, mildewed brick, with one torn strap and a broken zipper, was a backpack full of textbooks. The name stenciled across the front read “Arlene Ray”.
Chapter Seven
    David stepped closer, staring at the backpack. “Arlene Ray. That’s one of the missing students.”
“The latest one to disappear,” Andre said. “I remember reading about it in the paper the day Mr. Innes hired us.”
“We have to call the police.” Cecile’s voice shook. She pressed close to David, and he wound an arm around her shoulders. “What if she’s down here someplace?”
Sam shook his head. “I don’t think she’s here.”
“She’s gone through the gateway, hasn’t she?” Dean fixed a wide-eyed gaze on Sam. “Something took her.”
“And the others.” Crossing his arms over his chest, Bo glanced around at the rest of the team. “Cecile’s right, we have to call the police. But don’t anybody mention inter-dimensional gateways, or especially beings from those other dimensions.”
“They won’t hear it from me.” Dean let out a dry laugh. “It’s never good for the cops to think you’re crazy.”
“Maybe a couple of us should go call, while the others stay here,” David suggested. “Just to make sure the bag doesn’t, like, disappear or anything.”
“I don’t think it’s likely to disappear,” Bo said. “But I know what you mean. If we’re really dealing with a dimensional portal, then we’re flying by the seat of our pants here. Anything could happen.” Bo’s brow furrowed in thought. “Cecile, you and I can go call the police from Mr. Innes’s office. The rest of you stay down here, but don’t touch the bag or disturb the area around it. Gather whatever information you can by simply looking. I have a feeling that when the cops get here we’ll be kicked out, for the rest of today if not longer.”
Andre nodded. “We’ll do what we can.”
“All right. We’ll be back as soon as we can. It might be a while. We’ll probably need to wait for the police to arrive and bring them down here.” With one last look around, Bo laid a hand on Cecile’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s go.”
Cecile gave David a quick kiss, then she and Bo started off toward the South end of the tunnel. Sam watched them until they rounded the corner in the distance, then turned his attention to the backpack and the scooped-out place in the wall where it rested. There was something odd about it, something different that Sam couldn’t quite put his finger on. When he realized what it was, he gasped out loud and took two steps toward the spot before he caught himself.
“What the hell, Sam?” Andre glared at him. “Don’t mess with the evidence, man. I for one do not want to go to jail for interfering with a police investigation.”
“Sorry,” Sam mumbled distractedly, still staring at the place where the backpack lay. “Guys, look at the wall and floor where the backpack is. Do you see anything different about it?”
David crouched down and peered at the place for a long moment. “No, I don’t see… Oh, hang on.” Jumping to his feet, he backed up a few paces. Sam knew he’d figured it out when he let out a low whistle. “I see. Damn.”
“What?” Dean cocked his head and narrowed his eyes at the spot. “I’m not getting it.”
“Dean, you and David said the monks found a pit in the ground when they bought this property, right?” Andre’s voice was slow and deliberate, excitement building in his eyes.
“Right,” Dean confirmed. “But I don’t—” His eyes went wide, jaw dropping. “Wait. The floor and wall are concave. Oh wow, this is it, isn’t it? This is the pit the monks found.”
“Sure seems like it. But let’s make sure, huh?” David trained his flashlight beam on the ceiling. Sure enough, an irregular opening gaped almost directly above where the backpack lay. The beam illuminated a short stretch of rough-hewn burrow angling up into the darkness.
“I’ll be damned.” Taking a cautious step closer, Andre leaned over to peer into the dirt shaft. “I don’t see any light coming from the other end. It seems to curve