“I do. I can’t explain it. But it’s him.”
“I believe you.”
The three words were heavier than she expected. Ashley closed her eyes to keep from crying. They lay there in the quiet and Ashley slowly remembered how to breathe. “Thank you.”
“I can help you look, too,” Bug said. “Have you done any of your investigating at the motel?”
Ashley turned to face her. “Why?”
“Not trying to be mean,” Bug said, “but Logan’s dads are clearly part of this. Somehow. I don’t know, they’re…”
“… suspicious,” Ashley finished. “I know. But I promised Logan I would let her talk to them first.”
“She doesn’t think they’ll just lie?” Bug asked.
“I don’t know.”
“I think Logan seems cool, but maybe she can’t really see the obvious,” Bug said. “I’m just saying it’s worth a look.”
“We’ll see,” Ashley said.
Maybe Bug was right. Either way, if she wanted her old life back, she needed to end this. She needed to find Tristan, find the killer, and find the old Ashley who didn’t spend every day afraid of the dark. She wanted the old Snakebite back one way or another.
No more ghosts; she wanted this to end.
21
The Jukebox Knows Your Name
ALEJO: Something wrong?
[Alejo taps at his phone, pulling up the Scripto8G screen. He watches Brandon carefully. Something is clearly wrong.]
BRANDON: I just don’t like it in here. It feels off.
ALEJO: Yeah, it’s haunted.
[Brandon does not laugh. Alejo moves toward the stairs but stops when his phone screen lights up. He opens the message, moving his shoulder to shield it from Brandon’s view. The camera zooms in to show that the Scripto8G reads ALREADY HERE.]
ALEJO: Already here?
[The cameraman gives a muffled response.]
BRANDON: Let me see that.
[Alejo hesitates. His hands tremble.]
ALEJO: It just says already here. Any ideas?
[The phone flashes again. This time, it reads HERE ALL ALONG.]
A knock sounded from the door to room eight.
Logan muted the TV and climbed out of bed, brushing stray potato chip crumbs from her shirt. In the past week, Alejo and Brandon had kept mostly to themselves, coming and going from the motel in near silence. She’d barely seen either of her fathers in days. At one point, she’d worried about Brandon and Alejo hearing her ParaSpectors marathon through the walls, but they acted almost too normal, like they had nothing to hide. Like the entire population of Snakebite didn’t suspect them of murder. Like there weren’t teenagers dropping around them.
She opened the door. Alejo wasn’t alone. Brandon stood behind him, cleaning his glasses with the hem of his button-up, which she assumed was a strategy to avoid making eye contact.
“Can I help you?” Logan asked.
Alejo peeked into her room. “I thought I heard my voice.”
“Oh, yeah.” Logan grabbed the remote and shut off the motel TV. “It’s the one where Brandon gets possessed and you guys have to exorcise him in the basement. Extremely good TV.”
“A terrible episode,” Brandon scoffed.
“I don’t know—I had fun. I wasn’t the one who had to writhe around on the floor for once.” Alejo scanned the room. “I was gonna invite you to a little family dinner, but I don’t want to break up this rager.”