A Ghoul's Guide to Love and Murder by Victoria Laurie

told him. “I’ll put them back tomorrow.”
    â€œ
Any
way,” Gil said, “if you had your cell in your vest pocket right next to a magnet, then it probably protected it.”
    â€œBut all of the other magnets in the room didn’t protect the other cell phones?” Heath asked.
    Gil got up and started to pace. “I know, I know!” he said. “It doesn’t make sense. The magnetic energy in that place was insanely high. There’s
no way
Oruç or his demon or even both of them should’ve been able to pull a stunt like that!”
    â€œAnd yet they did,” I said.
    â€œUnless there was something else at play,” Heath said. “Could the lights have been taken out and the batteries drained by some other means, Gil? Something man-made?”
    Gil frowned, tapped his lip, thought for a long moment, and said, “Nothing I’ve heard of could’ve done that,” he said. “There’s no electronic device I know of that could drain several dozen cell phones in a room all at once. I mean, that’s just
insane
!”
    â€œSo it had to be Oruç and his demon,” I reasoned.
    â€œAfraid so,” Gil said. “But how, I still can’t figure out.” He went back to pacing again, and after a moment he added, “I need to get into that building! Something’s super fishy about this whole thing.”
    â€œThe police will have the crime scene sealed untilthey’re through investigating,” Heath said. “I doubt they’re going to let us walk in and take a look around.”
    â€œWe still have to talk about Ayden,” I said next.
    Heath sighed heavily. “I hate to get him mixed up in this, but I don’t know how else to convince the Boston PD that we’re not making any of this up.”
    â€œIt bothers me that he had to leave the force because of the panic attacks,” I said. “How is he surviving?”
    â€œI asked him that too,” Heath said, “and he told me that his dad passed away a year ago and left him a nice inheritance. He’s also got his pension, which probably isn’t a whole lot, but he insisted that he’s doing okay. Plus, he said that he’d just gotten his PI license, so I don’t think he’s given up the investigative life.”
    â€œDo you think there’s any truth to his theory that the demon left something behind in his mind?”
    â€œI don’t know, Em. I mean, it’s possible, but have we ever encountered something like that?”
    â€œMaybe with Lester,” I said, referring to an old case we’d worked. The memory of all that made me shudder again.
    â€œWhy did Ayden think Oruç’s demon is still in his head?” Gil asked.
    â€œHe’s been having really bad nightmares for the past couple of years,” Heath said. “Ayden didn’t go into detail, but he said they were graphic and always involved murder. He said the nightmares were what brought on the panic attacks, and he’s seen every shrink in town and hasn’t been able to get them to go away.”
    I frowned. “Lester had nightmares too,” I reminded them. I didn’t like the coincidences.
    â€œWe should call him,” Gilley said. “Ayden, I mean.”
    I nodded and glanced at the clock on the wall. It was nearly midnight. “It’ll be close to nine on the West Coast,” I said. “Ayden should still be up, right?”
    We made the call and our friend the former inspector picked up on the third ring. “MacDonald,” he said formally.
    â€œAyden?” I said. “It’s M. J. Holliday. How are you?”
    â€œI don’t know any M. J. Holliday,” he said gruffly. The tone of his voice threw me a little, and as I had him on speaker, I looked around at Gilley and Heath, who also appeared taken aback.
    â€œDon’t know me?” I said. “Are you