when the search and rescue team’s finished.”
“We have to pick up the van,” I said.
“All right, but don’t go inside.” Millie gave me a somber look. “I don’t want to add your name to the list of the dead.”
I tapped Caitlin on the arm. “Let’s go find Killian.”
Millie gave us a wave as we headed out, her attention focused on her notes.
Killian was waiting for us. He drove us back to the asylum and we parked near the van. The search and rescue team had already arrived and while we saw their cars, they were nowhere in sight. I assumed they were deep into the building, hunting for Hank. The ambulance and two medics were waiting nearby, in case they were needed.
“I hope they find him,” I said, staring at the building. “I feel like it’s watching us.”
“The creature?” Killian asked.
“The building…creature…they’re one and the same now. I wonder if razing the building will do anything to destroy it.” But then I shook my head. “I doubt it, though. The curse was on the land long before the asylum was built, so it would just be without a form again. I don’t know which is more dangerous.”
“I’m thinking the focused form. The building gives it more of an anchor.” Killian shrugged. “That’s just my opinion. I’m not an expert in these things.”
“Me either, but I agree.” Caitlin bit her lip. “If the curse—hex—entity or whatever it is has too much focus in the physical realm, then it can interact more.”
Either way, this place was like psychic quicksand, waiting to suck down unwary visitors. We waited, but it was getting colder and darker.
I finally turned to Caitlin. “We should go. We can’t do anything else tonight.”
“But…” The pain in her eyes was hard to watch. I liked Tad and Hank, but they were good friends of hers, and she was suffering.
“All right,” I started to say, but then stopped when there was a flurry of movement at doors to the asylum. “Something’s happening!”
We jumped out of Killian’s SUV just as all seven rescuers came hurrying out. Three of them were carrying a limp form that I recognized as Hank. The medics rushed over to meet them and—by the activity—we could tell that Hank was still alive.
As we headed toward the leader of the S&R team, it was obvious they were shaken.
“You found him? He’s alive?” Caitlin bombarded them as we closed the distance between them and us.
“We found him, and yes—he’s alive. He’s weak and incoherent but he should live, I think.” The rescuer shook his head. “Whatever’s in there is bad news. I don’t think I ever want to set foot in there again,” he said. “We’re going to run crime tape around the entire compound. We’ll rope it off before we leave.”
I wanted to go see Hank, but they were already loading him into the ambulance. I turned to Caitlin. “Let’s take the van back to the office, then we can drive from there to the hospital where we can see both Tad and Hank.”
She nodded. “I’ll call Wren and tell her what’s going down. She’s known them longer than I have, and she needs to know, even if she is a thousand miles away on vacation.”
I promised to call Killian from the hospital—by now he was highly invested in the case—and then Caitlin and I headed toward the van. I was never happier to see the back of a place as I was when we drove back to the main road.
Overhead, the storm broke and once again, snow began to flutter down again. We were settling in for a long winter, I thought, and right now the icy glow of the snow made everything seem sparkling, icy, and dangerous.
Chapter Thirteen
Back at the office, we unloaded the van, made sure everything was locked away and the alarm code was set, and then headed for the hospital in our separate cars. I stopped on the way at a drive-thru for sugar ordering brownies for both Caitlin and me..
Moonshadow Bay was jumping as I threaded my way through the busy streets. Holiday shoppers were out in droves, and it made me want to be with them. It would be so much better, more comforting, shopping for gifts than trying to stop some ravenous building from killing anybody else.
I snorted. Put like that, I sounded like a nutcase.
As I bit into the gooey peppermint-chocolate brownie, the serotonin kicked in and I began to relax. Self-medication through chocolate was a favorite tactic of