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Jake was looking at her sympathetically "Don’t look like that--kid," he teased "He’s really not out to put you through the nth degree"

"Huh?" she looked at hiot soood," she said

The five of the around the table; it was a nice ela said

She took a long s of her beer "I had a patient one time, a really nice old , but one day, he went into cardiac arrest The doctors worked on him, but he died I had been his nurse He’d been such a nice old fellow and he o--I was sorry Well, I wound up in the hospital ht of the day when he had died, and I happened to be alone in the fridge--that’s e called the body storage--when he gripped my hand I can tell you, I was so terrified thata deep breath

"He wasn’t really dead?" Will asked

"Oh, no He was dead And don’t stare at me like that I don’t share this story often," Jenna said

"I’m sorry," Will said "I didn’t mean to stare at you in any way that wasn’t full of trust and syela prompted her

"He just wanted to talk to me He said that his business partner hadon the heart attack Thehis son--froed until recently--about the will that left his half of the business to hi story short, there wouldn’t have been an autopsy because he was a stage-4 cancer patient and he had died in the hospital I starteda squawk about the situation, there was an autopsy, and it was proven that the partner had poisoned the IV I went back down to thethat I’d been crazy the first ti was okay, and he thanked me with tears in his eyes, and toldto thank ht the way thatit today So, Angela,Mr Petti when you found his skeleton beneath the floor, you let theela said She reached across the table and squeezed Jenna’s hand

Jenna took another very long s of beer "And now, you all think I’ her beer "To us," she said softly "The ghost-files team The Krewe of Hunters Or, whatever they want to call us"

"The Krewe of Hunters? I like it," Will grinned, lifting his beer bottle as well "Indeed, to us And a sworn promise None of us will ever think the others are crazy, and on’t be afraid that the others think we’re crazy We all know that we’re delightfully different, and that’s that!"

They clinked bottles

"What do we think about Jackson?" Jake asked "What do we think he thinks?"

"He thinks he’s boss," Angela said

"He is the boss," Jake punctuated his re

"Technically, Adaela corrected

"Whatever, he’s in charge of the teauy," Will said "And we shouldn’t be lying or hiding things fro, prove it"

Angela stood up "I’ the castle, everyone"

She turned and started out of the room Whitney tossed a cardboard coaster at her "If it’s a really fancy place, bring us all doggie bags!"

Angela turned back to her, laughing "Okay, ht Maybe not… Ti in the kitchen, grateful for the friendships she see with them

Up in her room, she paused The door that separated her rooht, but it was closed He evidently wanted his privacy

Priain, and it was that tiina had died, and a time when it seemed that the past liked to replay, aled the lines She had to be crazy, she decided She had been terrified in the basement that afternoon--it had just been for split seconds really Then Will had coain

What would have happened if she hadn’t left the basement?

She didn’t know She hadn’t been afraid of the e light in the fil behind her So ready to pounce on her

Ghosts didn’t pounce They didn’t have much physical power Ghosts did exist in this house Maybe Jackson knew it, and , flesh-and-blood huth had to be involved as well

She sat on the bed, half closing her eyes "Annabelle? Percy?" she called softly

For a

Then, in her mind’s eye or in real life, the little boy appeared Aout from behind him