They will have to go over every inch of that lake. We don't know how many people are in there. I can hope it's just the ones we already know are missing, but I'm not optimistic. Rodney was too invested in collecting the people for his mother. And Laura was too lost in her delusion. The combination is disastrous.
Xavier sits down beside me, and for a few seconds, we just watch the excavation in silence. Finally, I look over at him.
“Are you okay?”
“No,” he says.
I nod, accepting the answer without the need for elaboration or justification. Without needing to reassure or comfort him. He's not okay right now. I don't think I am, either. And that's okay.
“Thank you,” I say a few seconds later. “Manipulating that Spirit Box was brilliant.”
He nods. “I hoped it would work.”
As soon as the Spirit Box started talking, I knew what was happening. Xavier had been manipulating and revamping his ghost hunting equipment since getting it.
“How did you know I was going to need it?” I ask.
“I didn't,” he says.
“Then why did you give it to me?”
“I didn't do that, either,” he says.
“Then how did I have it?” I ask.
“I don't know,” he shrugs. “I didn't notice it was gone until we were getting ready to leave the cabin to find you. I was collecting my equipment and saw that it was gone. I figured you had it.”
“Just a coincidence?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “Hasn’t Sam said it enough times? No such thing as coincidences.”
I manage a hint of a smile and a short laugh, but I don't feel any humor. I look down at my hands, then back at him.
“I've done a lot of things in the course of investigations,” I say. “A lot of things I probably shouldn't have done. And things I'm not necessarily proud of when I look back at them. But they're things that I had to do. Sometimes you don't get to choose what's absolutely right. Sometimes you have to make a choice, and I will always choose to do what I can to protect people and stop criminals.”
“I know,” Xavier nods.
“I feel horrible about what I did in there,” I say.
“Why?” he asks.
“I invoked the spirit of a dead child. I pretended the ghost of a dead nine-year-old boy was talking to his mother,” I say. “It just feels so manipulative and cruel. I'm the one who said these paranormal investigations feel disrespectful. And then I do something like that,” I say.
“Maybe it wasn't all fake,” Xavier says.
I shake my head.
“You were manipulating it,” I say. “I know you were.”
“I was,” he says. “But that doesn't mean what happened in that cabin was all manipulation. The Spirit Box is a piece of technology. It's not the most important tool you use. You are. And maybe this time the choice you made was to let Aaron speak through you in a way.”
Xavier and I look into each other's eyes for a few seconds before he opens his arms, and I rest my head on his shoulder. He’s never stopped surprising me. I hope he never will.
Sam walks up to us and leans down to kiss me on the top of the head.
“You ready to go?” he asks. “You really should get checked out at the hospital.”
“I will,” I say. “But there's something I need you to do for me.”
“What is it?” he asks, stroking his thumb across my cheek.
“Call Detective Fitzgerald and tell him I need a favor,” I say.
Sam looks at me strangely.
“Okay, he says. What's going on?”
“Violet isn't a part of this. Rodney killed who would be good friends for Aaron. They chose people who would have been around the same age as him each year. Violet was a four-year-old girl. It wasn't them. And both of them deny it.”
“So, you think it was an accident?” Sam asks.
“She didn't end up in that cavern by herself,” I say. “Just have the detective set aside a time to talk to me, okay?”
“Okay,” he says.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
“Is this really necessary?” Carrie Montgomery asks me a few days later as we make our way through the woods.
“It is,” I say. “I'm sorry. I know it's a lot. Just bear with me.”
“I thought this was done,” she says. “Laura Mitchell is in custody. Rodney is dead. Why are we doing this?”
“Well, that's true. Rodney Mitchell was unfortunately killed, and his mother was brought into custody under suspicion of various murders at the campground. But that doesn't resolve Violet’s case.”
“What do you mean?” she frowns, a slight note of unease in her voice. “Violet was taken on the exact date as those other people. I even heard there was another girl who got taken that day who people didn't even notice.”
“That's true,” I nod. “We're still working on identifying her. We wouldn't even know about her if it wasn't for a very important witness. But here's the thing. Violet's death did become the time that was marked as the anniversary. It seemed to line up with all the other deaths and disappearances. But she wasn't connected to the others.”
“So, you're saying her death was a coincidence? How many killers do you think are wandering around the park at any given time?” Carrie asks.
“I hope there aren't any now,” I say. “But I didn't say that Violet's death was a coincidence. I just said she isn't linked to the other victims. People like to talk about the curse of Arrow Lake. I can understand what that means now. Rodney and Laura Mitchell created darkness here. But both were horrified by the circumstances around Violet's death.”
“Of course, they would say that,” she scoffs. “What are they going to do? Admit to everything? Say they enjoyed the killing?”
“Yes,” I say. “I know it's something you don't want to hear. It's something that most people who consider themselves normal don't
