Looking once again across the table at Jason, she noticed he was listening to his two-way radio.
“I’ll go check it out,” Trudy heard him say as he excused himself.
“Is everything all right?” Paul started to rise from the dinner table.
“Everything is fine. Sit and relax. I have to go and check one of the cameras.” Jason slipped from the room.
Trudy caught up to him at the base of the stairs. “What’s going on?”
He looked at her warily. “One of the cameras on the third floor caught the door of your room slamming shut.”
“Oh, I left it open for the dog when I came down to dinner.”
“Jasmine?” He raised a questioning brow as he referred to the golden retriever who was sound asleep under the dining table.
“No.” She bit her lip and tried not to laugh at his puzzled expression. “I left it open for the other dog that was whining and scratching at my door.”
“Oh, I see, the imaginary one,” he quipped, climbing the stairs two at a time. Trudy was almost at a sprint to keep up, careful not to slip in her high heels. They finally reached the third floor. The air was so thick that Trudy could barely move her legs and felt the hair on the back of her neck rising in warning.
“Shhh. Did you hear that?” A door slammed from inside her room.
“What the hell was that?” Jason said as he reached for the door, looking down at her.
“It’s probably just a little mouse,” she said, causing him to frown down at her before slowly turning the knob.
They entered the room as quietly as possible, and a blast of frigid air struck them. Jason reached over to flip the switch for the light. Everything was normal. They quickly searched the room for any signs of a disturbance. The room was just as she left it, and the door to the bathroom was open as before. She couldn’t figure out what made the slamming noise that they heard.
“Uh, were you typing an email earlier?” Jason asked, looking at her laptop.
“Oh, yeah, to my mom. I forgot.”
“You better take a look at this.”
Trudy looked at the screen and saw her email was
still up. She had written, “Hi, Mom. We’re at the house. All is well. Please...” That was where she stopped when she’d been interrupted by a phone call, and that was where it looked like the email went wild with,
“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEGGGGGG
GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG.”
The two letters repeated the whole way down the page. “How is that possible?” she questioned.
“Maybe your keys are stuck.” He bent down to get a better look at the keys then tapped them to see if they were sticking.
“Please, there’s nothing wrong with the keys. Someone was playing.”
“Who?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not talking about a human.”
“You think a ghost did this?” Humor danced around his mouth as he tried to keep from smiling.
“Well, it certainly could be a possibility, and it is the reason we’re here.”
“Not we, you. I’m here to look at things rationally.”
“Rationally...really?” She was irritated, folding her arms over her chest and glaring at him. “What was rational about the events that led us into this room? And for the love of God, what was rational about what happened to you in the basement?”
Jason sat on the bed, elbows on his knees, and looked down at the floor. “I don’t know, but I plan to find out.”
She looked at him for a moment and could almost feel his confusion. He was a bit lost in all this chaos. She sat beside him and mimicked his pose. Trudy elbowed him on the arm, and the simple touch sent a thrill racing through her body. “I guess we have our work cut out for us.”
His gaze settled on her half-smile. “At least it won’t be boring.”
Her heart did a somersault. “Yeah, I don’t do well with boring.”
Feeling brazen, she leaned over and planted a quick kiss on his mouth. His eyes widened in surprise, and Trudy jumped up, grinning from ear to ear.
“Let’s go, Mr. Young. They’re probably wondering what’s happened to us.” She was halfway out the door.
Jason grabbed her hand before she could reach the hall and spun her around. His lips claimed hers before she could grasp what was happening. Trudy felt his hand on the small of her back molding her to him, while his other hand gently held her head. She felt a thrill like never before, and just as her knees started to give out, he released her.
“Better hurry, Gertrude. Wouldn’t want anyone to think you were trying to take advantage of me in this here grand bedroom.” He smiled into her eyes, and once again she was lost. She shook her head to clear it and get some control of her senses.
“We better go, or I’ll be taking advantage of you.” She laughed, and he did too. She loved the sound of it. She glanced over her shoulder. “I hope that damned camera of yours was turned off.”
As they headed out the door, Jason walking just behind her, he grimaced when he saw the red light on the camera on and grunted, “Oh, shit.”
Emerge
Submerge
