Scream in the Wind (Paranormal Peacekeepers: Book Two)

Chapter Seven

CHAPTER SEVEN

Grace

"Where is she?"

I guided the beam of my flashlight along the walls, waiting for someone, anyone, to appear, but nothing happened.

An hour had passed since we'd escorted Mrs. Smith to the closest hotel and paid for her room for the night. And forty-five minutes had passed since we'd started the investigation. Annoyingly, aside from some weird vibes, we were coming up empty.

"You're sure you saw her?"

"For the thousandth time, yes," I assured Mark. "Vi did too."

From behind the camera, he sighed. Yeah, more often than not, we had dud cases where we came up empty, but I knew this wasn't that kind of case. Earlier in the day the little girl was so eager to play that-

"She's hiding!" I exclaimed as realization sparked.

"Yeah," Mark deadpanned. "Ghosts tend to do that."

"No. I mean I'm supposed to find her. Earlier, she wanted to play hide and seek. I think she's playing with us."

"Great. Because our jobs aren't already a huge freaking game of hide and seek."

I held in the irritated breath I wanted to exhale and pushed him toward the door. I loved Mark like family, I really did, but sometimes it was hard to like him.

"Just go."

When we stepped out into the hall, something caught my eye and I knew I'd been right. Whoever the little girl was, she wanted me to find her. Well, that was my job and I was damn good at it.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," I sang in a soft whisper.

"Grace?"

I kept my eyes forward, refusing to miss her flash of curly hair again. "Yeah, Mark?"

"Could you try to be a little less creepy, please?"

"I could try, but I'd fail."

Of all the Peacekeepers, Mark was the only one who didn't really get me. Usually, Miles worked the tech equipment with me, and he was use to my weird habits of baiting the dead. But Mark wasn't. I'm not sure why Bodhi felt the need to switch things up and pair me off with Mark for the night, but I didn't question his authority. Not often, at least.

"Getting a reading on the infrared."

I looked back to find Mark with his eyes on the camera but his hand pointing toward the back door.

"Inside or out?"

"Just slipped outside."

I sprinted toward the door and held it open for him so he didn't run into anything.

"Watch your step."

Fresh air hit our lungs and it was positively blissful after breathing stale, stagnant air for so long. Outside, we walked through Mrs. Smith's manicured back yard and crunched through gravel and grass, swinging our heads back and forth, searching for signs of a spirit. But she was gone.

"What's that?"

Mark's voice carried even though he was whispering and I bit my tongue to keep from telling him to quiet down. We didn't need the neighbors coming over and hindering our investigation with inane questions.

"You see something?" I asked.

"No. Can't see shit. But back there in the corner there's... something."