Page 65 of Cadaver Lab: Mind Over Murder

“The B-Listers and I can help with that. We can follow along on our trikes.” Alice’s voice behind her had Natalie spinning to see the old woman standing in the doorway.

Alice had a colorful bruise on her cheek and a white gauze bandage on her forehead but she was the best thing Natalie had seen in a long time.

Natalie ran at her. She restrained her emotions enough to give the ninety-year-old the gentlest of hugs as she said, “I’m so glad you’re all right. But should you be up and walking? And I really don’t think you should be riding your trike so soon.”

Or at all…

Alice waved away the concern with one bruised hand then said in a firm loud voice that went a long way to alleviate Natalie’s concerns about her health, “Whatever it takes, we need to do it. To save Mudville.”

Natalie smiled, and ignoring the haze of tears said, “To save Mudville.”

A few people in the crowd echoed the sentiment.

Alice turned to Natalie. “See. Simple.”

Natalie nodded, even though this didn’t seem simple at all.

In fact, it felt very complicated, especially now with her new limitations. She couldn’t help with the distance test the way she wanted to. Couldn’t keep track of the brain ghost.

It could be listening right now and she wouldn’t know it, and now more than ever that scared the hell out of her. What if it heard their discussion about getting rid of it?

If she knew anything from her interactions with the entity, it was that it was not going to go easily. It would fight against them. And it had already proven that it could win.

“Nat,” Liam said next to her.

She glanced over and saw the concern in his expression.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

He lifted the cell in his hand. “My battery is dead.”

“Did you forget to charge it?” she asked, hopeful this didn’t mean what she feared it meant, but knowing she was wrong.

He shook his head. “It was at one hundred percent when I unplugged it from the charger this morning.”

She felt the press of fear creep up, pushing against her from all sides. And she could swear she heard a nearby deep and decidedly evil chuckle.

Chapter Thirty-Three

“Nat! Wake up.”

The hushed yet somehow loud whisper woke Natalie out of a fitful, nightmare-filled sleep.

She startled, sitting bolt upright. “Wh—what’s happening?”

“Gabe, you have to wake her gently. She was sound asleep,” Millie said. “We’re so sorry, Natalie. We know your rule about coming into your apartment uninvited. But the testing is done.”

“To be fair, Millie darling, it’s almost time for her to get up anyway. And she’d want to know the maximum distance the ghosts can travel right away. We’re in kind of a code red emergency situation here,” Gabe said.

Yesterday had been a long stressful day with the shop full of people, but not customers. Most of the traffic was comprised of Mudville citizens demanding answers. Answers she didn’t have. At least the crowd had kept her so busy she didn’t have all that much time to obsess about the brain ghost. Unlike last night while she lay in bed exhausted and awake.

“Morning, Gabe. Millie,” Liam mumbled into the pillow. His day hadn’t been much easier. He’d crawled into bed after she had after being locked away in the lab for hours, researching, trying to find something that might block the ghost since the lead vessel hadn’t done it. She had to wonder if being in such close proximity with the haunted brain wasn’t responsible for some of Liam’s exhaustion as well.

Liam pushed himself upright now, looking weary as he planted his feet on the ground. He sat on the edge of the bed for a moment.

He finally got to his feet and shuffled toward the door to the kitchen, grumbling, “I’ll make coffee.”

“Sorry, Natalie,” Millie said again.