What Hides Inside: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 2

have ended his marriage over one incident.”
“Well, he’s ending it over something now,” Cecile pointed out. “I wonder if that has anything to do with it. Maybe he caught her out.”
Sam kept quiet and schooled his face into a blank expression. As much as he would’ve liked to lay all the blame on Janine’s possible infidelity, he knew better. In any case, Bo would’ve told him if he’d caught Janine in a compromising situation. The potential leverage it would afford Bo if she had cheated on him, however, did not escape Sam. He filed the idea away for future reference.
“I don’t know,” Andre said. “Maybe. Whatever his reasons are, though, it’s a good move for him, in my opinion.”
“I think you’re right.” The words were out before Sam had time to think about what he was doing. Fuck it, he thought, shoving the quick flash of panic impatiently away. He was sick of watching every word he said. “I mean, I don’t really know her, but I got the same sort of feeling as you, Cecile. Like she wasn’t good for him.”
“And you want everything to be good for him.” Cecile’s voice was very soft. If it hadn’t been for her sharp, searching gaze, Sam would’ve thought she was talking to herself.
He refused to look away from her. “We all want that, don’t we?”
Cecile’s smile was knowing and a little sad. “Yes, I suppose we do.”
Andre looked from one to the other in evident confusion, but kept his thoughts to himself. “Okay. Well, I need to start looking into these investigation requests.”
“I’ll give it another hour or so, then call around and see what time we can go talk to some of the kids on this list,” Cecile added. “I’ll try to set up at least one appointment for later this morning, Sam. With any luck we can talk to all of the students today.”
Sam nodded. “Great. I’ll have our questions ready in a little bit.”
The three of them turned back to their respective jobs, and Sam allowed himself to relax a little. As he typed, he thought about Cecile, and the sympathetic way she’d looked at him before. He’d wondered before if she suspected about him and Bo. Now, he was sure she did. To his surprise, it didn’t bother him. He knew she wouldn’t say anything, not even to David.
It suddenly hit Sam that Cecile was the second of his friends to find out about him and Bo. First Dean, now her. Somehow, the thought was comforting rather than frightening. Smiling to himself, he finished his list of questions and hit print.
    The first two students Sam and Cecile talked to weren’t able to tell them anything they hadn’t already heard about the missing students, or the rumors of what had taken them. Both had known at least one of the missing students in a waving-hello-in-the-halls sort of way, but weren’t good friends with any of them. One boy had been in the tunnels once, but hadn’t seen anything unusual.
    Both kids spoke with breathless, horrified awe of the creatures that had been glimpsed by a friend of a friend, or the weird noises some students swore they heard in the courtyard during rare moments of quiet. Their tales sounded like the sorts of stories that always surrounded old, atmospheric buildings, growing through years of telling and retelling and gathering embellishments along the way.
    The thing was, none of the stories involving South Bay were more than a few weeks old.
“This is really fucking weird,” Sam said as he and Cecile climbed into the SUV, heading for the next interview. “Both of these kids can remember almost exactly when people started talking about things living in the tunnels.”
“Yes. The day after the first disappearance.” Turning in her seat, Cecile backed the SUV carefully out of the driveway then started down the narrow street. “Honestly, I’m not sure how much importance to attach to it. Stories are bound to spring up after something like that happens.”
“That’s true. But think about it for a minute. We’re already pretty sure that there’s a dimensional gateway in the tunnel, right?”
“As much as I hate to admit it, yes.” Cecile sighed. “That scares me, Sam. Even though it doesn’t seem to be as out of control as the one at Oleander House.”
“No, it doesn’t, does it?” Sam frowned, thinking of what Cecile said. Shaking off the disturbing possibilities that sprang into his head, he focused on regaining his previous train of thought. “Let’s talk that over with the rest of the group