15 Amityville Horrible by Kelley Armstrong Page A

rooms, jostling for elbow space.
    “I would suggest that Jaime take her group to the attic,” Gregor said. “I was unable to make contact there. I am hoping she will be more fortunate. We will go back to the basement.”
    “We’ve already seen the basement,” Wade said.
    “It’s boring,” one of the twins said.
    “And dirty,” her sister added with a shudder.
    “Gregor’s right,” Becky said. “Let’s mix things up.”
    I stepped toward Gregor. “Maybe check out that front corner room again. The one with the old carpet rolled in the corner. I felt something in there. A sadness.” I lowered my voice to a stage whisper. “I didn’t want to spook the kids, but I thought I saw spots on the carpet. They could be…” I dropped my voice a little more. “Bloodstains.”
    “Blood?” Wade perked up. He looked at Gregor. “She’s right. That room did have a vibe.”
    Gregor smiled conspiratorially at me. “I think you are right. I felt something myself, but I did not want to startle anyone again.” He turned to the others. “All right. We will return to the basement. If those young women were murdered in this house, we will find the place and put their spirits to rest.”
    As they trooped off, Becky said, “You guys? Attic.”
    “Yes, ma’am.” I shuttled my troops from the room, then slipped back to Becky. “Um, Gregor has the script for the attic. What’s the story?”
    “Beats me. Wing it..

Twelve
     
    It was a walk-up attic, one that had, at some point, been finished into a third floor. The current owners had let it revert to storage, mostly stuffed into one room now for the taping. Following Becky’s instructions, the kids, Sal, Frank and I headed through the first door, into the room she’d deemed “most attic-like.” In other words, it was claustrophobic and dark, just bare walls, no dormer window, with a second door on the other side, leading to another room.
    “Okay,” I said as we stepped into our room. “We’ve tried the lights, but they still don’t work. Gregor said they came on for a few seconds, then went out.”
    “Just like the basement,” Rory said.
    “Yes. We’ll try not to read anything into that. These old places have electrical—”
    A light in the next room flicked on.
    “I think someone heard you,” Cameron said. He laughed, but there was a nervous edge to it.
    “Well,” I said. “As long as that light’s working, we might as well move into—”
    The light turned off. I motioned to Sal to tell Becky to cut the theatrics. It was too obvious.
    “Seems we aren’t welcome in that room after all,” I said. “Let’s go this way then.” I started toward the next doorway. “It’s rumored that—”
    The other light turned on again. I shot an off-camera glare at Sal, who motioned that it wasn’t the crew doing it. Right. That’s the problem with these shows. Because I’m also part of the cast, they’re hoping to get a few startles out of me, too, so they sure as hell aren’t going to admit when the effects are staged. Best to just work with it, as I’d told Rory.
    “Is that light a message from the spirits?” I said, looking up. “Telling me they’d like me in that room?”
    No answer.
    “Okay, but if the light goes off again, we stay out. No one likes a tease.”
    Cameron gave a nervous giggle.
    “We’ll move in there,” I said. “But be aware that if this is a manifestation, it may not be a friendly one. As I’ve been trying to say—”
    “Run,” a voice whispered behind me.
    I jumped, stumbling in my heels. Ricardo leaped forward to catch me.
    “Okay?” he said.
    “I just…” I took a deep breath. “I think I’m spooking myself.” I managed a smile. “Which is really not the point.”
    “At least we didn’t all run screaming downstairs like some people,” Rory said.
    I motioned Frank to cut the camera. Once it was off, I took a deep breath and rubbed my arms. The boys watched me, looking concerned. Rory’s gaze bore into