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“No, I just want to see something.” He wasn’t going into it with Shah. At least not yet. He needed to take a look at the setup first.
Shah shrugged. “Follow me.” He turned and started down the stairs. Flynn followed, making note of all the cameras they passed on their way to the basement. At the bottom of the stairs, they headed back toward the security offices but instead of using the door on the right, they went through the one on the left.
Shah stopped as soon as they walked through the door and flicked on the weak overhead lights. “I hate this place,” he muttered.
Flynn said nothing, but at first glance he was inclined to agree. The damp air settled on his skin with a cloying chill as he followed Shah through the labyrinth of exposed pipes and forgotten corners.
The thunder crashed and Shah put his hand up and touched the concrete walls as they walked. “This place gives me the creeps,” he said in a quiet voice.
Flynn's senses were on high alert. There was something about this place that set him on edge as well. "We're just here to check out the electrical equipment," he said ostensibly to calm Shah down but he wasn’t sure if it was Shah or himself he was trying to reassure.Stupid. He was letting the stories he’d been told get in his head. He had to be logical about this.
As they moved deeper into the basement, the musty scent of old wood and dust filled the air. Their footsteps echoed eerily, the weak light from the naked bulbs hanging from the ceiling painted grotesque shadows on the walls. Flynn’s hand instinctively drifted toward where his gun would be, if he was carrying one.
They stopped by the very back corner and Flynn's gaze swept over the exposed wires and circuit boxes that lined the walls, his trained eye seeking any sign of tampering. It all looked old and unsafe as fuck. “How the hell…?” He didn’t even know what he was looking at.
“I know,” Shah said, his voice tense. “It’s one of the reasons I hate being in here. The wiring is ancient. I feel like the whole place could burn down around our ears.”
That was not a comforting thought. “Wait, you live here?”
Shah shook his head. “Not permanently but I do stay here on occasion. I have a room in the new section that Mrs. Carruthers keeps for me. Just down the hall from yours.”
Flynn chuckled grimly. “You must be the only person she likes then.”
He grinned. “No. She tells me when she wants me to stay there and I don’t have a choice, so I negotiated with her. It has to be my room where I can keep my stuff and grab a shower or a nap if I need.”
Flynn laughed. “Smart man.”
The conversation had relaxed him. He was being stupid to let the circumstances get into his head. He knew better… was better than that. He raised his cell and let the flashlight play over the panel. The master power switch was flipped to theOnposition, its once-white label now faded and smudged with age.
He looked closer. The switch glistened in the glare of the flashlight. Reaching out, he touched the switch and frowned.
“What?” Shah asked.
“It’s sticky.” Flynn glanced down at his fingers. The tips had a pale substance on them, along with some glitter.
Shah’s lips thinned. “What’s that?”
“No idea.” He smelled the smudge, but with everything in the basement smelling damp, he couldn’t tell what the faint scent was. “Regardless, I think the lights going out was on purpose. Someone hit the switch.”
Shah's eyes widened. "But who could've—" Before he could finish his sentence, a distant, chilling sound echoed through the basement. It was the faint, almost ghostly sound of laughter.
“What the hell?” Flynn’s pulse raced and he hustled back along the wall. The laughter got louder. He exchanged a wary glance with Shah, his instincts urging him to be cautious.
"Stay alert," Flynn instructed in a low voice.
As they ventured deeper into the basement, the darkness seemed to close in around them. The light from the naked blubs wavered with each crash of thunder. Flynn's pulse jumped as he rounded a corner, his flashlight beam falling upon an old mirror that had been propped against the wall. In the warped reflection, he saw a flicker of movement, a figure standing just beyond the edge of the light.
His muscles bunched. "Who's there?" he called out, his voice echoing through the damp silence as he whirled around.
The figure stepped into the light and Flynn blinked. There were horns coming from its head and its eyes were black.What the fuck?
“For Christ’s sake, Donovan,” Shah’s voice was harsh.
“Sorry, Dad. Didn’t mean to scare you.” Donovan pulled the mask off and had the good manners to look sheepish. “Mrs. Carruthers sent me down to find you. She’d like you to talk to some the people from the party. They’re claiming someone stole their jewelry. She sent them to wait for you in the salon. She would like you to come up right away.”
Shah swore under his breath. “I have to go deal with this.”
Flynn waved him off. “No problem. I’m going to poke around down here a bit and then I’ll be up. Send Donovan down here to get me if you need any help.”
