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Cody barreled past, knocking Oliver aside and stopping in the middle of the gravel parking lot. He’d pulled on his boots but hadn’t tied them and he stood in the rain and put his hands to his head and turned left to right several times before spinning to face Oliver.
“What the fuck?” Cody shouted, his eyes wide with shock. “Where the fuck is Demmy?”
“He’s gone,” Oliver said, raising his voice over the sound of the rain. “Just like Dave.”
Cody strode up to him, and Oliver backpedaled into the room. He dropped the lantern and held up his hands as he feared Cody might start swinging. Cody didn’t strike him, but he did grab Oliver by the upper arms, his fingers gripping tight as he shook him.
“He can’t be gone. We need to find him.”
“We will!” Oliver pushed free and moved around Cody. “Keep your hands off me and let me think.”
A scream pierced the night, cutting through the rain and wind and sending gooseflesh racing up Oliver’s arms.
“Who the fuck was that?” Cody stormed out the door to stand beneath the overhang and stare out into the night.
“It sounded like the same scream Dave and I heard our first day here.”
The scream came again, shrill and full of vibrato. Cody took off at a run, long legs carrying him through the night and the rain. Oliver stepped out the door in time to see him disappear around the corner of the motel toward the back.
“Goddamn idiot.” Oliver grabbed both of the long-handled flashlights and jammed one in the back pocket of his jeans. He picked up one of the long iron pokers and, closing the door firmly behind him, set off after Cody. The flashlight beam cut through the rain but not much more than a few feet ahead. Oliver was soaked by the time he made it to the start of the trail, but movement from the corner of his eye made him stop. Who was that? He switched off the flashlight and squinted through rain-streaked glasses at the opposite end of the motel. Was that Cody? Had he simply run around the building?
A figure moved from the woods to the far corner and disappeared. That hadn’t been Cody. For one, it wasn’t tall enough. Secondly, the face had looked very pale, like the one he’d seen outside the window.
Hands grabbed him, and Oliver screamed.
“It’s me,” Cody said, then pulled his head back and frowned. “You scream like my teenage niece.”
“Someone’s down there.” Oliver tipped his head toward the corner of the motel.
Cody immediately started in that direction. “Was it Demmy?”
“Cody!” Oliver said in a harsh whisper. “Get back here.”
“What? Was it Demmy?”
“No. I think it was the woman I saw outside the window.”
Cody grew very still. “The ghost?”
“I don’t know. Whoever it is, they moved from the woods to that corner of the motel.”
“I’ll bet they’re going to the room again.”
Oliver pulled the second flashlight from his back pocket and passed it to Cody. “Let’s go see if we can help them find what they’re looking for.”
Cody led the way to the front corner of the motel, and they pressed their backs against the wall. Moving slowly, Cody peered around the corner, then pulled back and turned to whisper to Oliver.
“The door is open.”
“I closed it when I left to follow you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
Cody started to turn away, preparing to round the corner and head for the room. Oliver pushed up from the wall and had taken a step forward to follow. But a figure with a pale face and long, stringy hair stepped in front of them from beneath the end of the overhang and released a long, piercing shriek right in their faces.
