CHAPTER TWENTY

‘What?' Ella asked. Luca's manic tone had summoned her from the other end of the precinct back into her office. She'd spent the last two hours putting out and dodging verbal bullets from every disgruntled business owner in town. Between the irate haunt owners, the apoplectic mayor, and the general public's sudden fascination with pitchforks, she was running on fumes.

‘Ell, I think I've got something. You're not gonna believe this.' The words tumbled out like a verbal avalanche. Ella couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Luca so hyper.

'Hit me. Every haunt is closed down, but that doesn't mean our guy isn't going to strike.'

‘HangingLangley,' Luca blurted, like that explained everything.

Ella blinked. ‘Bless you?'

‘No, no. HangingLangley. He's this vlogger, a real piece of work. But get this – he's got videos of himself trying to break into Shadowland and the Crypt of Despair. Right before the murders.'

Ella felt her blood pressure spike. She leaned over Luca's shoulder and squinted at his laptop screen. Sure enough, there was a string of videos, each thumbnail more clickbaity than the last.

‘Who is this guy?'

'I don't know, but in this one video, he's talking about seeing a masked man run out of Shadowland. The same night Natasha Langston died.'

‘He was at Shadowland the same night?'

Luca pointed to the screen. ‘Look at the date and tell me I'm making this up.'

Ella double-checked her partner's maths. 'You're right. What's this guy look like?'

‘Tall and gangly, if that's what you're thinking.'

‘That's exactly what I was thinking.' Ella jumped to her laptop with renewed focus. The world of pissed-off business owners suddenly seemed a million miles away. ‘Let's find this guy's real name.'

‘It's Carter Langley. It's right here in his description.'

‘Perfect.' Ella navigated to the police database and threw in the name Carter Langley. One result popped up. ‘Got him.'

‘What's the score?'

‘Twenty-four years old. Minor criminal record. Trespassing charges. Seems he got busted violating a few old buildings. Seems he takes urban exploration pretty seriously.'

‘Job?'

Ella scrolled through the details. ‘Unemployed.'

‘Obviously.'

'Yeah. The address listed is 1313 Wrekin Heights. See how far away that is.'

Luca hammered his keyboard then said, ‘Four miles from here. One mile from the Screamatorium too. Just checking his page to see if he's tried to break into that too.'

Ella straightened up, grabbed her jacket and got ready to kick down some doors. Luca was oddly still at his laptop. ‘You coming or what? We've got enough to go on.'

‘Wait,' Luca said. He flicked his laptop screen. ‘Look at this.'

Ella followed Luca's gaze. There, next to Langley's smug mug on his videos page, was a little red dot. Pulsing, insistent.

The ‘Live' tab on his videos page was flashing. ‘What's that mean?'

Luca clicked into it. There was a single video with a thumbnail of a dilapidated building. The title read: OLD SANATORIUM SOLO HAUNT - LIVE AT 8PM. The little box below said 43 people were waiting in the lobby to watch.

‘A live stream of some old mental hospital,' Luca said. ‘Going live in… one hour.'

‘That old sanitorium. I was reading about that on the plane. It's a famous landmark around here.'

‘You know where it is?' Luca asked.

‘No, but I can find out.'

Luca jumped out of his chair. ‘Alright, hit his house first? Then the sanitorium?'

Ella checked the time. Just after seven PM. ‘No. We need to split up. One of us hits his house, the other takes the sanatorium. He could be at either place.'

Luca's eyes widened. ‘Split up? Ell, are you sure?'

‘Got a better idea, hotshot?' Ella asked. ‘Clock's ticking and we're short on manpower. Redmond and the rest of the crew are still out there trying to wrangle the mob.'

The mere mention of the ongoing chaos made Ella's headache flare. After they'd given the order to shut down every haunted house in town, it was like they'd kicked a hornet's nest while peeing on an electric fence.

But that was a problem for Future Ella. Present Ella had a killer to catch.

‘Well, which one do you want? House or mental asylum?'

‘Either suits me.'

Luca shrugged into his jacket. ‘You believe in ghosts?'

‘I believe other people believe in ghosts. That's about it.'

‘The supernatural. Religion for middle-aged moms.'

Ella was already at the door. ‘Exactly. One minute you believe in ghosts, the next you're cleansing your aura with crystals.'

‘Tell us how you really feel.'

‘Don't get me started, but right now we've got a scumbag to nail down. You okay taking his place on your own?'

Luca double-checked his handgun. ‘Why wouldn't I be?'

‘Because you've never flown solo before.'

‘So?'

Ella suddenly realized how Ripley had felt during their time together, trying to guide Ella and make sure she didn't accidentally break every protocol in the book. ‘If there's no answer at his place, do not go in there. Not unless you can hear someone screaming for help.'

'Aye, aye, captain.'

‘I'm serious. If anything feels off, call me. Don't go full cowboy.'

‘You too. Let's bring this guy back alive.'