CHAPTER 25: IN THE LIGHTHOUSE
Shane didn’t like the lighthouse. Granted, he disliked the keeper’s house more, but the lighthouse was a close second.
Courtney felt the same way.
“You okay?” he asked her.
She nodded, her gaze traveling up the stairs. “Do we need to go up there?”
“Maybe tomorrow night,” Shane answered. He sat down beside her, draped his arms over his raised knees, and looked up to where the young man, Dane, had been killed.
“Why tomorrow?” Courtney asked. “Why not today?”
“I’m hoping someone will come and check on me in the morning,” Shane said. “I haven’t checked in since I arrived.”
“And if they don’t come?” Courtney said.
“Then I break the lantern,” Shane said. He fished out his cigarettes, lit one, and blew the smoke away from her.
“Why not now?” Courtney asked.
“It’s too risky,” Shane said.
She was silent for a short time before she said, “Because if you shatter the light and there’s already a rescue crew on its way, they might not be able to get to us.”
He nodded. “Exactly. If we break it tomorrow during the day though, whoever monitors the light on the mainland will send a boat out immediately. It has to be standard procedure because the lights are always on, they have to be for safety. Which means there has to be a boat on standby at all times. More than likely, a Coast Guard patrol boat. Maybe even a cutter. But there’ll be one ready.”
“And they’ll take us off the island,” she said softly.
“I hope so,” Shane said.
“What about the bodies?” Courtney said, looking at him. “Eileen’s neck was broken. Dane was ripped apart.”
“I’ll deal with the fallout of their deaths,” Shane said, the cigarette trembling in his hand briefly. “I don’t want to go to prison for a couple of murders I didn’t commit, but I’d rather be alive than dead and trapped here forever.”
“You think that’s what happens?” she asked softly.
“I do,” Shane said. “When I was up there, the ghost who killed Dane said he needed help to clean the lighthouse. I’m assuming that was why he killed Dane.”
“What? Like some undead indentured servant?” she asked, her voice quivering with a hint of revulsion and fear.
“Exactly.”
“What if he needs more?” she asked, trembling. “What if one isn’t enough?”
Shane reached out a hand, and Courtney took it.
“We’re in here together,” he said softly. “We’ll be okay. We know what to look out for.”
She hesitated and then asked, “What about Scott?”
“Scott has a choice to make,” Shane said gently, without any malice. “He can come and be safe with us, or he can sulk in the keeper’s house. It’s really his decision.”
“Yeah,” she whispered. “You’re right.”
Courtney leaned against him, pulling his arm up and around her shoulders.
“What do we do now?” she asked.
“Now,” he answered, “we wait to see what happens, if anything.”
“Do you think it’ll be a quiet night?” she asked hopefully.
“No,” he said with a shake of his head. “I think someone will come in, and they’ll be coming for us. Maybe more than one of them.”
