Chương 6
Someone had tied Ben’s wrists.
Someone had restarted the station.
The voices were frightening.
The humans behind them were dangerous.
Evelyn looked at Ben.
“Did you see who restrained you?”
“Hannah.”
“No.”
He pointed at her.
“I saw her.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“Where?”
“Inside.”
“What was she wearing?”
Ben frowned.
“That jacket.”
Burgundy.
Evelyn looked at Hannah.
“Where were you yesterday?”
“At home.”
“Anyone verify?”
Daniel answered.
“I can.”
Evelyn turned.
“All day?”
“Morning. Most of the afternoon. We had dinner together.”
“Any period she was gone?”
Daniel thought.
“Maybe two hours. Three.”
Hannah looked at him.
“I went to my mother’s.”
“Can she verify?”
“Yes.”
Evelyn nodded.
Not proof.
But something.
“Ben, did this Hannah speak to you?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
“She said Michael needed help.”
“Anything else?”
“She knew my sister’s name. She knew about the email. She said I was safe.”
Hannah whispered, “Video.”
Evelyn looked at her.
“What?”
“It didn’t have to be me.”
Daniel understood first.
“Deepfake.”
“Not just video,” Hannah said. “Live synthesis.”
Ben stared at her.
“I touched you.”
That stopped them.
“What?”
“You grabbed my arm.”
Hannah’s face emptied.
Ben continued.
“You walked me down the stairs.”
A real person.
Not a screen.
Not a speaker.
Daniel said, “Then it was someone who looked like her.”
Hannah’s eyes moved toward the maintenance corridor.
“Or someone made Ben think she did.”
Evelyn looked at Ben’s pupils again.
“What happened before you saw Hannah?”
“I watched the video.”
“Where?”
“Control room.”
“For how long?”
“I don’t know. Ten minutes.”
“Headphones?”
“Yes.”
“Any smell?”
“What?”
“Chemical smell. Sweet, sharp, solvent, exhaust?”
“No.”
“Headache?”
“Yes.”
“When did it start?”
“After the video.”
Evelyn nodded.
Sensory manipulation was possible.
Drugs were possible.
Suggestion was possible.
Memory was fragile under stress.
None of it required ghosts.
None of it made the situation safer.
A siren sounded.
Not an alarm.
A warning horn from the cable machinery.
Hannah looked up.
“The drive motor.”
The wheel accelerated.
“What does that mean?”
“The cable is moving.”
Daniel stared into the tunnel.
“Why?”
Hannah went to the control panel.
“Because something’s coming up the line.”
They heard it before they saw it.
Steel wheels.
A low mechanical rumble traveling through the mountain.
An old cable car emerged from the fog.
Its windows were black.
It moved toward the platform at walking speed.
Nobody spoke.
Ryan finally said, “I withdraw my earlier request for ghosts.”
The car stopped.
Its door opened.
Empty.
Inside, on the floor, sat a black plastic equipment case.
Evelyn approached but did not board.
A white envelope had been taped to the case.
EVIE.
Daniel said, “Don’t.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“You have the look.”
“What look?”
“The doctor who thinks curiosity is protective equipment.”
Under different circumstances she might have liked him.
Evelyn used her trauma shears to lift the envelope.
No wires.
No obvious mechanism.
She opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Her father.
Not an old photograph.
He appeared to be standing in this station.
Older than he had ever lived to become.
Gray hair.
Blue flannel shirt.
Looking directly at the camera.
On the back, one sentence had been handwritten.
YOU CAN ASK HIM WHAT HE MEANT.
Evelyn stared at it.
Her hands did not shake.
That bothered her more than if they had.
Hannah said, “Don’t.”
Evelyn folded the photograph.
“What did he mean by what?”
Evelyn put it in her coat pocket.
“Nothing.”
The speaker system crackled.
Her father’s voice filled the station.
“Evie.”
Her knees almost gave.
Not because it sounded similar.
Because it contained the small rasp he had developed after his second round of chemotherapy.
Because it pronounced her nickname with the same soft emphasis.
Because memory did not prepare you for hearing the dead return at full volume.
“Evie, I’m sorry about the porch.”
Evelyn shut her eyes.
Nobody knew about the porch.
Her father had spent his last lucid afternoon trying to tell her something while she repaired a loose board on the back porch. She had been angry with him for refusing another treatment.
He had said, I’m sorry about the porch.
She had assumed morphine confusion.
He died before explaining.
The voice said, “You always wondered.”
Evelyn opened her eyes.
Daniel was watching her.
Not suspiciously.
Worried.
That was worse.
The voice continued.
“I can tell you.”
Evelyn walked to the control panel.
Hannah followed.
“Evelyn.”
“Where’s the main power?”
“You can’t just shut it down.”
“Why?”
“Because Ben said there may be other people inside.”
Evelyn stopped.
Right.
That was the trap.
Not emotional manipulation alone.
Responsibility.
If they killed power, they might kill lights, ventilation, pumps, emergency communications.
If they left it running, whoever controlled the system kept control.
A choice with cost either way.
She looked at Ben.
“Did you see anyone else?”
“No.”
“Hear anyone?”
“Yes.”
“How many?”
“I don’t know. Voices.”
“Human voices?”
“I thought so.”
That distinction had become useless.
Evelyn looked at Hannah.
“Can you isolate the behavioral system from life safety?”
“Maybe.”
“How long?”
“Twenty minutes if the diagrams are still in the control room.”
“Where?”
“Inside.”
Of course.
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
Hannah looked at him.
“I know the layout.”
“That’s exactly why you’re not going alone.”
“I wasn’t asking permission.”
“You’ve lied to me for three years.”
“About this.”
“That isn’t the defense you think it is.”
“I know.”
They stared at each other.
Then Daniel picked up his flashlight.
“I’m still coming.”
Hannah’s face softened for half a second.
He saw it.
“Don’t read into that.”
She nodded.
“Fair.”
Evelyn turned to Ryan and Claire.
“Stay with Ben.”
Ryan nodded.
“If we hear anything?”
“Trust what you see more than what you hear.”
Claire asked, “And if we see something?”
Evelyn looked at the empty cable car.
“Be skeptical.”
Ryan sighed.
“Excellent medical advice.”
Evelyn, Hannah, and Daniel entered the maintenance corridor.
The door remained jammed open behind them.
May you like
The air inside was warmer.
Old conduit ran along concrete walls. Water dripped from overhead pipes. Emergency lights glowed every thirty feet.
