An Inner Darkness Book 5 Bay City paranormal

leaned against the wall, weak with relief. Adrian’s hand must’ve hit the necklace when he moved and set it swinging. What Sam had heard was simply the sound of the shark’s tooth rasping across the wooden bedpost.
    The adrenaline drained from Sam’s body, leaving him shaky and exhausted. Exiting the room for a second time, he closed the door and shuffled back into his and Bo’s bedroom. He fell into bed and wrapped his arms around Bo, molding himself to Bo’s back. Bo muttered something unintelligible and wriggled deeper into Sam’s embrace, then lay still again with a soft sigh.
    Sam buried his face in Bo’s neck and shut his eyes, but sleep was a long time coming. When he finally drifted off, his dreams were filled with darkness and terror, and the click of obsidian claws.

    ***
    Sunday dawned cloudy and cold. Bo, Sam and the boys spent most of the day watching movies and finishing off the rest of the birthday cake. After dinner, Sean and Adrian gathered their things and Bo drove them back to their mother’s house. To Sam’s surprise, Adrian offered him a handshake and a solemn goodbye before leaving. For Adrian, it was equivalent to the rib-cracking hug Sam always got from Sean. That one simple gesture nearly canceled out the lingering bitterness of Sam’s confrontation with Janine the day before.
    Sam spent the rest of the evening in high spirits. He was still practically floating when he and Bo arrived at the Bay City Paranormal Investigations office at eight forty-five Monday morning.

    Danica McClellan, the company’s latest addition, glanced up from the pile of paperwork on the reception desk with a smile as Sam and Bo entered. “Hello, Bo, Sam.” www.samhainpublishing.com 19

    Ally Blue
    “Good morning, Danny.” Sam flung his arms outward as if trying to hug the whole office at once. “What a gorgeous day.” David Broom leaned backward in his chair to peer through the front window at the rain pounding outside. “Um. Yeah.” He grinned, blue eyes sparkling. “Bo, what’d you do to him this morning? Whatever it was must’ve been pretty good if he’s this happy on a Monday morning.”
    “David, really.” Cecile Langlois, who’d been dating David for just over a year, patted his balding head as she rose from her desk and crossed to the coffee maker at the back of the room. “When are you going to learn not to ask?” Laughing at David’s apprehensive expression, Bo shut the umbrella and dropped it into the plastic bucket they kept beside the door. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing like that.”
    “Adrian said goodbye to me last night.” Still grinning, Sam shrugged out of his jacket and hung it on the coat rack, where it dripped water into the puddle already on the floor. “I know it’s not much, but usually he either ignores me or gives me the evil eye, so I felt like it was progress.”
    Cecile gave him a wide smile. “That’s great, Sam.” Rising from her seat, Danny walked around the desk and kissed Sam on both cheeks. “What a step forward for you both. I’m very happy for you.”
    “Thanks.” On impulse, Sam pulled her into a tight hug. He’d liked her from the minute she’d first walked into the office to apply for the job of receptionist-slash-office assistant. She looked reserved and conservative, from the close-cropped, graying Afro to the dark business suits and sensible shoes, but she was an Earth Mother at heart. She’d already converted Cecile to vegetarianism and had come close to talking David into it as well before he balked.
    With a soft laugh, Danny patted Sam’s back and drew out of his embrace. “Bo, you have an appointment at nine,” she said as she returned to her work. “He called just this morning.”
    Bo tossed his jacket onto the coat rack and moved over to lean against Danny’s desk.
“What kind of case?”
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An Inner Darkness
“A potential haunting. Quite an active one, from the sound of it. The man was very anxious to talk to you.”
David let out a whoop. “Cool.”
    “What’s cool?” Dean Delapore wandered in from the bathroom at that moment, drying his hands on a paper towel. He tossed it in the trash can and plopped into his chair.

    “Hey, y’all.”

    “Hi.” Bo scanned the piece of paper Danny handed him. “There’s a Mr. Jones coming in in a few minutes with a haunted house case for us.” Dean’s eyebrows went up. “We’re paranormal investigators. Checking out haunted houses is