CHAPTER NINE
It’s funny how different things can feel by the light of day, let alone look. Our alarm clock was Davenport rattling the door and trying to get in. I actually fell out of bed and onto the floor, trying to get up in a panic, my body confused from lack of sleep and the terror fresh in my mind.
Yet the moment I opened the door to sunlight streaming in through the halls and Davenport’s disapproving face, I felt like whatever we dealt with last night was nothing compared to this woman’s wrath.
“Pardon my intrusion,” she said, disdainfully eying my clingy t-shirt that my breasts were high beaming through. “But I need a word with the three of you. Since you’re staying on my property, I take it you won’t mind.”
She pushed past me and walked over to the beds where a shirtless Dex was sitting up, his crazy bed hair pointing every which way, and Rebecca pulling her covers up to her collarbone.
“I don’t want to say this more than once, but it’s too late for that,” she said.
“And good morning to you too,” Dex said with a groan. “Are you sure we can’t have coffee before the lecture?”
She put her hands together. I noted she was wearing another brown suit that made her look like a giant Hershey’s Kiss. “So then you know what I’m about to talk to you about. This morning as I was getting ready for work, I got an alert to my email saying that the motion detector on the camera had been tripped. Imagine my surprise when I saw footage of the two of you,” she looked from Dex to me as I rubbed my bruised tailbone, “careening down the staircase like you were on fire.”
I gulped. “We’re sorry, we—“ Rebecca started.
She raised her nose in the air and went on as if Rebecca hadn’t said anything. “I don’t even know how you two managed to get up there without tripping the recording the first time. I never got an email about that.” I shot Dex a look to keep quiet. We didn’t want to tell her we’d been in the body chute. “What on earth were you guys doing up there without my permission?”
“We are so sorry,” I said, coming forward with my arms across my chest. “We were only on the second floor, We just thought we heard something, like someone was here. We just wanted to look around.”
She cocked her ugly eyebrow. “And? Did you find anything?”
“Sorta,” I said, though now I could see Dex was giving me a look to keep my mouth shut. I guess he didn’t want us sharing our footage with her just yet. “We thought we saw a dog.”
“A dog?” she repeated. She seemed to mull that over. “I don’t know anything about any dogs. But this building does house raccoons on occasion. I’m sorry if it gave you a fright.”
That was no damn raccoon, I thought, trying to convey my thoughts to Dex. We knew raccoons.
“Still,” she said, clearing all the sympathy out of her throat, “you know I don’t want anyone up there without a staff member present. This could be a large liability for us. Do I make myself clear? Those floors are off limits unless I give you permission otherwise.”
Dex raised his hand straight up into the air like an eager school kid.
She narrowed her eyes. “What is it?”
“Can we have permission?”
She sighed like her patience was near depletion. “You have your tour with the historian in two hours. I suggest you film what you can. If you want to do more after that, then we’ll talk.” She marched across the room toward the door then looked over her shoulder at us. “Coffee is in the teacher’s lounge.”
She left the room just as I remembered something. “Dex,” I hissed. “Did you remember to get all the beers out of the staff fridge?”
“Fuck!” he exclaimed and popped out of bed. He ran out the door and down the hall in just his boxer briefs. His hard, beautiful body got a cry of surprise and look of admiration from an early-bird teacher who had just walked in the main doors. I could only hope he wasn’t sporting his usual morning wood, though I’m sure our encounter with Davenport had officially frozen his balls.
I looked over at Rebecca. “How did you sleep?”
“Why, do I look tired?” she asked almost defensively.
“No,” I said, coming around to sit on the edge of her bed. She did have dark circles under eyes and this sense of weariness to her, but I was no better off. “I just barely slept at all. Doesn’t help that these beds aren’t made for two.” I observed her, pondering over her words from last night, that she wasn’t in her right frame of mind. It had been at least two months since she and her ex-girlfriend broke up and I wondered if she was still deeply affected by it.
Before I had a chance to ask her though, a breathless Dex appeared in the doorway, a six-pack of beer cradled in his arms like he’d just stolen the holy grail, and quickly shut the door. “That was close,” he said, opening the cupboards under the nurse’s sink and sliding it in there. “Let’s hope Kelly doesn’t like beer.”
“Did anyone see you?” I asked.
He grinned. “With the beer, no. In my underwear? Let’s just say I gave a few teachers something to dream about tonight.”
I snorted while Rebecca’s eyes sought the ceiling.
With the school slowly coming alive, it became easier to go about the morning without that ever-present cloud of dread hanging over me, enough that I was able to use the showers by myself and not freak out that someone was going to trap me in the stall or pull a Psycho. The events of last night seemed far away, and even though I was a bit nervous about the tour, I was excited to hear some of the truths about the place from a trusted source and not “Dikipedia.”
Just before nine o’clock, as bleary-eyed students were shuffling into their classrooms and occasionally looking at our motley crew with curiosity, the three of us waited outside Davenport’s office for Brenna and the guide.
“Hey guys,” Brenna said, waving at us as she came down the hall. She looked bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and I had no idea how she was able to work at this place day in and day out without going absolutely crazy, especially given the things she had seen.
Dex smiled, adjusting the camera in his hand. “Does your boyfriend ever sing ‘Hot for Teacher’?” He glanced at me. “Man, if you were a teacher, I’d be singing that to you every night. Maybe pull your hair back into a bun, put on some sex kitten glasses, and carry a large ruler…”
“Dex!” I admonished him, jerking my head at Brenna.
She only laughed. “It’s no bother. And yes, he sings ‘Hot for Teacher’ all the time. Makes a nice change from Raffi.”
Rebecca leaned in closer to her and lowered her voice. “So what can you tell us about the man who will be giving us the tour?”
“Patrick?” she asked. “He’s legit. Lived in Gary his whole life. His mother or grandmother used to work here.”
“But does he know about what you’ve seen?” I asked. “Will he think we’re nuts if we start talking about what we saw last night?”
Her attention sharpened. “What did you see last night?”
Dex patted the camera. “We have footage. We haven’t looked at it yet, but I think it picked up most of the anomalies. When do you have a break today?”
“Just at lunch,” she said. “Noon.”
“We’ll come by your room then, if that’s okay,” I said. “I personally have a few questions for you myself.”
She nodded with trepidation. “Okay.”
The doors to the school opened and in walked a man in his mid-forties with thick brown hair and glasses. He was hunched over a bit from bad posture and wearing a khaki jacket that looked too warm for the sunny day we were having.
“That’s Patrick,” she said, gesturing to him. “I’ll see you at noon.”
While she walked off, Rebecca managed to catch Patrick’s eye.
“You’re Mr. Rothburn?” she asked.
He gave her a shy smile and walked over to us. “I am, but please call me Patrick. Are you…?” He had quite the low, raspy voice.
We all introduced ourselves, which went well until Dex added “Ghost hunters” to the end of his introduction.
Patrick brought a toothpick out of his front pocket and stuck it in his mouth. “Oh, I don’t care much for ghost hunters.” He eyed Dex’s camera warily.
“Weren’t you told why we’re here?” Rebecca asked.