Mitch crossed one leg over the other. “Good. I don’t like the idea of being stranded on Spooky Island, or any island for that matter. And if you once refer to Rusty and me as Skipper and Gilligan, you’ll have to wear hats to hide the weird shape of your head for the rest of your life.”

Rusty gave a quick snort but kept his eyes and hands glued to the task at hand.

“And what’s with that Nina chick?” Mitch said. “I thought you were going to be the lead on this.”

“I still am. But we need Nina to give her psychic impressions, help build the tension. You’ve seen those shows. Audiences eat that stuff up. The only difference here is, she’s the real thing and not some hack.”

Mitch gave a derisive laugh.

Paul took a seat beside him. “No, I’m serious. I’ve seen what she’s done so far.”

Patting Paul on the arm like he was an excitable child, Mitch said, “No problem, Paulie, we all know psychics are real. I agree that having one on the show will help with the theatrics, and that’s all that really counts.”

Something had been nagging at the back of Rusty’s brain. He had to scratch the itch before it drove him mad. Turning from his mobile control board, he asked, “What made that noise after Jessica and what’s-his-name went upstairs?”

Paul shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. Nina says it was like a psychic sonic boom or something. It definitely wasn’t the house settling.”

“Not unless it settled into a sinkhole,” Mitch said.

Rusty said, “So you think this place is really haunted? To be honest with you, I thought we’d have to jazz things up to make this saleable. I know the gruesome history of the island will have networks drooling, but really, what are the odds of catching anything real?”

Pointing at the ceiling, Paul said, “Our ace in the hole is what will tip the odds in our favor.”

Perplexed, Rusty said, “What are they, actors or special effects people?”

“Nina says Jessica is some kind of ghost lure. And Eddie’s got something going on too. They can’t help but bring them to us.”

Mitch rose from the chair, his back and knees popping. “Paul, I don’t exactly know what you and your crazy sister and brother-in-law have concocted, and to tell you the truth, I don’t want to know. I’m here to film it, edit it down to just over forty minutes and pitch the fucker. Hopefully you can keep the drama to a minimum so we don’t end up with the paranormal Jerry Springer Show.”

I’m not comfortable with this at all, Rusty thought, turning back to his gear. There are too many people telling too many lies in too small a place. A psychic sonic boom? What the heck does that even mean? And now we can’t even get off the island if we wanted to.

Paul and Mitch left the library, debating about where to start the night’s first scene. They closed the door behind them, leaving him to work in silence.

Rusty ran extension cords throughout the room, expecting that blood freezing noise to erupt at any moment. It was going to be a long five days. He wished he’d packed warmer clothes. It was like working in a wintry graveyard.

Bad analogy, Rusty.

He suddenly felt very alone and very, very vulnerable.

Chapter Twenty-One

There was a light knock at Jessica’s door. She flipped her cell phone onto the cushiony bed. Out here, the thing was as useful as a rock. She’d been standing on chairs and crawling on her hands and knees hoping to get just one bar. It would be nice to be able to call her aunt or Angela, and exceedingly helpful if she could get a word out to Swedey and see if he was able to dig up more dirt on the Ormsby clan.

Daphne Harper stood outside the door, looking apologetic. Before Jessica could speak, she held up a slight, pale hand, her eyes downcast.

“Before you say anything, I want to apologize to you. I understand what we did wasn’t exactly fair.”

Understatement of the year, Jessica thought.

“I know it’s hard for someone of your means to understand what it’s like to be desperate.”

“How do you know about my means?” Jessica asked coldly. Even most of her neighbors back in the Long Island neighborhood where she was born and raised weren’t aware that she was a multi-millionaire.

Daphne took an unconscious half-step back. She did raise her head to meet Jessica’s icy glare. “You may dismiss her, but Nina does have some remarkable abilities. Truth be told, she frightens me. Which is why I would appreciate it if you and Eddie would stay close to Alice and Jason. I understand it’s a lot to ask, coming from a woman who deceived you.”

Jessica let a long, uncomfortable silence pass. She had to check herself from slamming the door in Daphne’s face.

“Paul and his friends plan to start filming tonight,” Daphne said.

“We’ll stay with the kids,” Jessica finally said. “Someone with some sense has to. You do know why, don’t you?”

Daphne slowly shook her head. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

Sighing her irritation, Jessica said, “You do know why you brought me here, correct?”

Playing with the sleeve of her jacket, Daphne said, “Yes, of course I do.” The words were defiant but her tone was defeated.

“That part of me that you wanted to use to bring out the EBs here. Your children have it too. Didn’t Nina tell you that?”

Daphne looked genuinely shocked.

Looks like I’m not the only one getting their chain yanked.

“From what Eddie can tell, their ability, for lack of a better word, is weak, unrefined. But they have it. I only came here to help them if I could and protect them if it became necessary. So, in a way, nothing’s changed much for me. So yes, we’ll be with them tonight and for as long as we’re here.”

Before Daphne could respond, Jessica closed the door. It wasn’t the most mature thing to do, but damn it felt good.

Eddie and Jessica ate dinner with the children by the water where it was warmest. He could almost believe it was late spring, this far from the strange house. The trail of EB children kept their distance from them, which was what allowed the heat of the day to penetrate their moveable chill. When they sat down by the water’s edge to lay out their sandwiches and apples on a thin blanket, Eddie cast a mental request for the EBs to give them some space so they could eat without shivering.

To his surprise, the EBs had responded, granting his wish. It was the first time he’d had a focused interaction with an EB for a year.

Please let that be a sign that I’m getting some of my strength back. It was possible that Jessica was charging him as much as the dead. It made sense, considering how strongly tethered he was to them.

Jason and Alice devoured their dinner and had been skipping rocks along the water for the better part of an hour. Jessica had been the one to show them how to get more skips on each throw. Most of Eddie’s rocks sank to the bottom after a two skip maximum. Jessica’s rocks danced atop the liquid surface like frantic dragonflies.

It didn’t take long for Alice and Jason to become fledgling experts.

“You keep this up, there won’t be any more rocks left on the island,” Eddie said. He lay on the blanket, propped up by his elbows. The orange reflection of the sun shimmered as rocks rippled the water.

Jason looked around his feet. “We may run out of good, flat rocks.”

Alice, who was crouched low, poking around the dirt, said, “We can just find another spot if we do.”

Jessica offered Eddie the last half of a ham sandwich. Paul had made the dinner for them, in between being called into the library by Mitch. He hadn’t spoken or even looked them in the eye. To Eddie, he looked like a man waiting to be punched, his body tensed in a defensive position at all times. Tobe and Daphne had spent their time in the great room with Nina. It seemed to give Jessica great pleasure when Eddie told her he’d overheard Daphne having some harsh words for the flamboyant psychic. No one looked happy in that room.