Where The Heart Is: A Bay City Paranormal Investigations story by Ally Blue

the thermal screen. The form, whatever it was, hadn’t returned. It seemed to have vanished. Crossing to where Sommer still stood with one hand on the dresser, Dean set the camera on the solid surface and wound his arms around Sommer’s waist. “Are you okay? We can stop if you want.”
Nodding, Sommer looped his arms around Dean’s neck, the equipment still in his hands. “I’m fine. My folks and I haven’t been close for a long time, but they’re my parents and I love them. It’s hard, not knowing what happened to them, whether they’re dead or alive.” He laughed, the sound soft and sad. “It’d almost be easier if they were dead. At least that way, there’d be a damn good reason they never contacted me.”
Dean nuzzled into Sommer’s hair. “I’m sorry.”
Turning his head, Sommer brushed a light kiss across Dean’s temple. “It’s all in the past now. Let’s see what’s in this drawer.”
Dean blinked. For a moment there, he’d forgotten all about the mysteriously opened drawer and what it might mean for the investigation. He gave Sommer a squeeze, then dropped his arms and pulled his mini flashlight out of his pocket. “You want me to look, or would you rather?”
In answer, Sommer set the EMF detector and audio recorder on top of the dresser and held out his hand. Dean put the flashlight in Sommer’s palm. Sommer switched it on and knelt on the floor beside the dresser. While he carefully pulled the drawer fully open and shone the light inside, Dean picked up the camera and aimed it at Sommer. “Is there anything there?”
“I don’t see anything.” Bending lower, Sommer aimed the flashlight’s beam and peered into the depths of the drawer. He ran his free hand along the inside and along the underside, then straightened up with a sigh. “It’s empty. Nothing attached to the bottom either.”
“I’m impressed that you even thought to look there. I wouldn’t have.”
“Yeah, well, I always wanted to be a detective when I was a kid. I had the entire Hardy Boys collection. Used to drive my family and friends crazy tapping on the walls all the time, looking for hollow spots and secret passages.”
The mental image of a wide-eyed and serious young Sommer, hunting for hidden doorways and forgotten secrets, made Dean smile. “That’s adorable.”
“Too bad my childhood detecting skills didn’t pay off this time.” Sommer clambered to his feet, his mouth hitching into the crooked smile that made Dean’s chest ache. He pushed the drawer shut with his foot, turned off the flashlight and stuck it in the back pocket of his jeans. “We have one more room left. Is it all right if we move on?”
“Sure.” Dean glanced around the room. He saw nothing resembling the misty figure from before, and nothing showed on the thermal. “Even if nothing else happens, I think we got some really strong evidence with the thermal. Who knows, maybe we’ll get something on audio too.”
“I hope so.” Retrieving the EMF detector and audio recorder, Sommer walked to the doorway with Dean beside him. Sommer stopped in the hallway and stared into the darkness of the spacious room. “I wonder why that…that apparition, or whatever it was, wanted us to see an empty drawer?”
“That’s a very good question.” Dean studied Sommer’s face in the cool glow of the thermal screen. “Was the dresser there before you converted the room to a guestroom?”
“Oh, yeah. The drawers were full of my mom’s sewing supplies.” Sommer smiled. “The one we just looked at was packed so full of patterns I almost couldn’t get it open. I remember that because two of the patterns tore when I finally forced the drawer open, and I felt bad about ruining her things.”
Dean moved closer and hooked his free arm around Sommer’s waist. “That’s all there was, though? Sewing supplies?”
“Yes. I went through every bit of it, hoping to find some sort of clue about where Mom and Dad had gone, but there was