The Haunting at Sebring Hotel (A Riveting Haunted House Mystery Series Book 13)

by J. S. Donovan

  Asher turned his eyes away. “Whoa. Slow down.”

  “Look,” Raven demanded.

  Asher slowly turned back to her

  She held the shirt just below her chest. A large gash was cut into the right side of her pale belly. It was inches deep and bloodless.

  “Oh my—we need to call an ambulance!” Asher exclaimed.

  “The cut is twelve years old, Asher,” Raven said plainly.

  “But that would mean…” The revelation hit him. He quickly scooted away from her. “No, no, that’s fake. This is just one of your creepy stunts. It’s not funny.”

  Without even the slightest reaction, Raven put four fingers into the cut.

  Asher scrambled to her feet.

  Raven drew out her bloody fingers and held them at eye level. Her expression was pained.

  “You’re one of them!” Asher pointed and shouted.

  “My father and I both are,” Raven said.

  Asher put both hands on his head. His eyes were so wide, he thought they’d pop out of his head. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

  He felt his chest tighten and his breathing strained.

  “You promised me you wouldn’t freak out,” Raven replied, staying calm.

  “I thought you would tell me your dad is a serial killer or something! Not this!” Asher pulled out his inhaler. His legs felt like jelly. He leaned against the window to keep his balance.

  “How is this worse?” Raven asked, her eyes watering.

  “It just is!” Asher shouted. He pulled out his inhaler and took a hit. It only calmed him down a little.

  Raven stood up. “Asher, I’m still me.” She neared him. “Nothing has changed.”

  Horrified, Asher ran for the stairs. He tumbled down the final three steps, pushing himself to his feet and running into the deadly tempest.

  37

  Meat Locker

  Anna picked the unfamiliar lock. She didn’t hear her phone buzzing in her purse. Successfully removing the lock, she put it aside and pulled open the large freezer door.

  Light from the kitchen spilled into the meat locker. Two rows of rusty meat hooks dangled from the ceiling. Something was snagged on the last hook. Something bloody and meaty.

  Knives of various kinds rested by a functional sink lining one wall.

  Anna’s heart fluttered. She entered one step at a time, walking between the rows of hooks. She stopped in front of the eight-inch strip of bloody meat. One side was maroon and the other was pale. Anna reached out a hand to touch it but stopped herself. This can’t be real, she thought. She looked into the sink. Plastic sheeting lined the inside. Dried blood and flesh rested at the bottom. The skin was a day old but distinctly human. Anna knew not what part of the body it originated from. She didn’t want to know.

  Pale as death, she backed away from the sink.

  She took deep breaths. She pulled her phone out of her purse as she ran for the door. She kicked off the heels that were slowing her down. She dashed into the kitchen and made a hard right, slamming into someone’s broad chest. Her phone was knocked from her hand and skidded across the floor.

  “Anna?” Cameron looked down at her.

  Anna pointed back to the locker. “There’s…”

  She noticed he’d changed his clothes. He now wore a long-sleeve shirt, cheap jeans, and shoes wrapped in grocery-store bags. He held a small key in his gloved right hand.

  “You find something?” he asked innocently.

  Anna suddenly became light-headed. Her pulse quickened and her body trembled. She opened her mouth to speak but found no words.

  Cameron glanced past her shoulder and at the open freezer door.

  Without any more hesitation, Anna swiftly slipped by him. She hit her shoulder against his as she ran for the phone.

  Cameron grabbed the back of her dress and yanked her back. Her scream echoed off the kitchen’s walls.

  Cameron hushed her. “It's just a big misunderstanding.”

  Anna rammed her elbow into his groin.

  Cameron grunted and doubled over.

  Anna dashed away, the back of her dress tearing as she raced for the bar. She threw her body at the door, busting it open. Soft music played over the speakers as she smashed into a table. Pain thumped through her side, but she kept going. She saw the glass bar door.

  Like being hit by a bus, Cameron tackled her to the ground.

  Screaming, she struggled to escape his weight but was no match.

  “Don’t fight,” Cameron said calmly. “You’re not going to win.”

  Her arms and legs flailed as he put her into a chokehold. His muscles pressed into her throat. Her screams were silenced. Her face glowed blood red. A vein bulged in her forehead. Darkness closed into the corners of her vision.

  Cameron continued hushing her. “It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay. That’s it. Go to sleep.”

  Anna lost her fighting spirit. Her body went limp.

  Cameron kept her pinned for a moment longer. He looked at the side of her tear-stained face. She was out cold. He cursed under his breath. “Why couldn’t you just stay in bed?”

  He let her go and sat up. Adrenaline pumped through his being. With the power of life and death in his hands, he felt like a god. He thought maybe things could change for the better between Anna and himself. She was a killer too after all.

  “Mom!” someone shouted from the lobby.

  Cameron cursed.

  Justin dripped across the glossy lobby floor as he ran by the counter. He kept his phone close to his ear, listening to his mother’s voicemail again. She’d locked the front door early this evening and wasn’t in her office. Justin beelined for the elevator.

  He jogged by the bar’s glass door, noticed something in his peripheral view.

  “Mom!” he shouted, seeing her face down the bar floor. He rushed into the room, dialing the first 9 in 911.

  The moment his foot stepped into the bar, a wine bottle swung out of his blind spot and slammed into his nose.

  Justin was knocked off his feet and landed on his back. His head rested to the side. Blood streamed from his broken nose.

  Cameron kept the wine bottle in a striking position. Blood smeared the side.

  He kicked Justin’s side. “Get up.”

  The teenager didn’t move.

  “C’mon. Don’t play with me.” Cameron kicked him again.

  Either out cold or dead, Cameron assessed. He set the bottle aside and checked Justin’s pulse. There was a faint heartbeat.

  “It would’ve been easier if you died,” Cameron mumbled.

  He grabbed the boy’s ankles.

  Seventeen… he thought coldly. I’ve killed younger.

  38

  Dark Waters

  Sheets of rain flooded Asher as he ran from the lighthouse. Raven ran after him. His feet clacked on the dock. He slipped on the wood and hit his chin. He scrambled to his feet and reached the dock. Lightning flashed, revealing the boat for a mini second.

  “Asher, please!” Raven shouted.

  “Stay away from me!” Asher yelled.

  Asher picked the lock and pulled on the rusty chain. The corroded metal cut into his palms. He gasped in pain. Water and blood rolled down the metal links. He held the chain like a leash, keeping the boat from drifting away. Inches of water sloshed around the inside.

  Raven took two steps on the dock before stopping. “You’ll drown if you go there.”

  Asher lowered himself to a seated position. The freezing downpour soaked him to the bone. He put one foot in the boat. The waves rocked the bow.

  Raven carefully approached him. “Why don’t you let me help you?”

  “You’re one of them,” Asher shouted. “You lied to me this whole time!”

  “I didn’t lie… I just didn’t tell you the whole truth.”

  “Same thing,” Asher said, at his wits’ end.

  He pushed off the dock and landed in the boat. Inches of water soaked through his shoes an
d socks. He grabbed the paddle and rowed.

  Rain and darkness kept him from seeing the shore. The sidewalk lamps dozens of feet from the cliffs were his only source of light. He twisted back. Raven stood at the end of the dock. She was unfazed by the rain falling over her.

  Asher kept his head low. The wood plank made for a horrible paddle. The waves rolled under him. The wind slapped his face. He spat out water. He got twenty yards before a large wave rolled over his boat.

  Before he could scream, he was under the icy water. The riptide spun him around. His only means of escape was to swim upward. His head breached the water. He kicked hard. The current had carried him dozens of yards away from the lighthouse.

  He struggled to keep hold of his glasses. He coughed. The icy water numbed his fingers and toes.

  Something grabbed his ankle.

  He shrieked just as Raven popped her head up out of the water. “Hold onto me!”

  Asher wrapped his arms around her waist, and she swam quickly. Asher felt the ridged wound below her shirt. He gagged but didn’t let go. His teeth chattered.

  They neared the rocky coast. The current sucked them toward the jagged rocks. “Let go!” Raven shouted.

  Asher obeyed.

  She grabbed his hips. Lightning flashed in the sky. The jagged rocks were only twenty feet away. When they were less than ten feet away, Raven launched Asher. He shot out of the water. His arms flailed as he flew through the car and across the muddy grass. Pain shot through his elbow. He rolled to his back. The rain pelted his face. He guarded his eyes with a hand.

  Like a creature from the deep, Raven crawled up the small cliff and towards Asher.

  He froze in fear.

  “If we don’t get you inside, you’ll end up like me.” Raven helped him to his feet.

  Trembling and in agony, Asher leaned against her. She helped keep his balance. They rushed through the woods. Club Blue stood ominously in the storm. Only a handful of windows shone golden light. The rest of the hotel was dark as night.

  They headed to the front entrance. Anna’s Kia Sorento was parked outside of the door. The doors were closed but the vehicle was running. Asher and Raven neared it. There was no one inside. Asher got a bad feeling. He pulled on the lobby door. Locked.

  He cupped his hands and peered through the glass. The counter was vacant.

  “Do you have a key?” Raven asked.

  Asher felt in his pockets and removed the master key. “Can’t you walk through walls?”

  Raven said, “Something like that would break your fragile mind.”

  Asher’s jaw fell open.

  Raven smirked.

  They stepped into the lobby. The warm, dry air was the closest thing Asher ever felt to heaven. The rain added an extra twenty pounds of weight to his clothes. Hugging himself to stay warm, Asher said. “I’ve got to find my mom. Tell her that the car is running.”

  He hurried to the elevator.

  “After saving your life, you’re just gonna run off then?” Raven asked bitterly.

  “Raven, I can’t handle this right now.” Asher rapidly pressed the button.

  Raven balled her fists. “I knew you’d react like this. Ugh, part of me wishes I let you drown.”

  Asher turned back to her, a horrified expression on his face.

  Raven said, “We could’ve been together that way.”

  The elevator dinged.

  Raven continued. “After all the years being here, you’re the only one that actually talked to me.”

  “I’m sorry, I have to…” Asher’s voice trailed as he slipped into the elevator. “My mom needs me.”

  The dead girl watched him as the elevator doors closed.

  Asher’s teeth chattered. Water puddled around his drenched shoes.

  “Hurry up,” he said anxiously.

  The elevator dinged.

  He took one step before noticing a crimson droplet on the floor. He glanced into the second-floor hallway, seeing another one a few feet ahead.

  A cloud of dread fell over him. He stepped out and followed the bloody droplets. The trail became less frequent the farther he went and eventually ended outside an unoccupied suite. Asher glanced around the hallway. He ran back to his suite and grabbed his phone. Justin had called a few times. Asher redialed him. His phone went straight to voicemail. Asher thought about calling the cops, but he knew his mom couldn’t handle another scandal. He grabbed a towel from the restroom and dried off. His clothes were still soaked, but at least they weren’t as heavy.

  He returned to the suite where the bloody droplets stopped and unlocked the door. Remembering back to the time where he spied on the guests, he knew there was a tunnel entrance to this room, but he just had to figure out what corner. He tried the wall behind the tall lamp standing in the corner of the room.

  Trembling from the cold, he brushed his hand up and down the wall until he found the hidden switch. It was near the ceiling where no one could accidentally trigger it. It opened with a click. Asher slipped inside. He followed the corridor, using the flashlight on his phone as his guide. He continued through the inner walls. He saw the naked fat man standing at an elbow in the hallway. Asher swallowed his fear and went that way. Maybe the fat man was the one who had left the bloodstains? Asher hoped so. The fat man walked down the branching corridor. Asher followed him. He peeked through paintings that overlooked the ballroom balcony. He continued until reaching a dead end. The fat man phased through the dead end. There must be a hidden door there, too. Much like the one with the old film camera.

  A thin light shined through a little peephole. Asher turned off his flashlight. He stood at eye level with the peephole and peered inside.

  The room was well lit and tidy. It was twelve feet wide and fourteen feet long. Shelves lined the left and right wall. They were full of different trinkets. The back wall had a variety of tools, surgical and otherwise. At the middle were two dental chairs where Anna and Justin were strapped.

  Asher nearly wet himself.

  Their mouths were gagged with plastic balls. Their hands and ankles were bound by leather straps. Justin’s nose was swollen and bent to the side. Dried blood stained his lips and chin. Anna’s make-up was smeared and her hair tangled, but she had no visible wounds. They were both awake.

  Agent Cameron eyed the tools on the back wall, pondering which instrument he should use. “I cut off a man’s face once right where you are sitting, Anna.”

  Anna whimpered through her gag. She squirmed, but her binds were unrelenting.

  Cameron looked over his shoulder. “Guess who was in your chair, Justin?”

  Justin roared in rage. His fists were balled so tightly his knuckles turned white. He tried mightily to break the binds.

  Cameron smirked. “Father Stephen. Do you know what’s funny? He even tried praying for me in the end. Me? As if I’m the one who needed help.” Cameron laughed and shook his head. “I have to respect the man. He died with integrity.” Cameron pointed to the box cutter. “I used this one to open his throat. It was a hell of a clean-up. Thank goodness for that meat locker. It took me a little while before I could properly dispose of him. I wasn’t done, as you are well aware.”

  Cameron grabbed the Taser off the wall. Content with his choice, he walked between the chair and faced his victims. “You have questions. I’m not going to bore you with answers. Long story short, Dad and I had a particular taste that only this place satisfied. The FBI was just a means to remove the scent. Understand? Good. We have a long night ahead of us, and then I have to leave town. No doubt the police will look for you. It's obvious you left because the police knew you killed your husband.”

  Anna begged through her gag.

  Cameron stood next to her, a sympathetic smile on his face. He brushed her hair aside. “I really cared about you. I just wish this part of my life could’ve stayed hidden.”

  Justin screamed through his gag.

  Cameron quickly twisted back and shot him with the Taser.

&nb
sp; Justin gurgled. Every muscle in his body contracted. He looked like he was about to split apart under pressure. Cameron kept the trigger pulled.

  Asher dialed 911.

  “911. What’s your emergency?”

  Asher whispered. “He has my mother and brother.”

  “Who and where are you?”

  “Cameron Ryder. We’re at Club Blue. Hurry.”

  Cameron suddenly turned to Asher.

  He backed away from the peephole. He saw me!

  The tasing stopped and Justin’s noises with it. Replacing the Taser’s needles, Cameron approached the hidden door.

  Asher ran down the corridor.

  Alerted by his footsteps, Cameron ran after him. “Hey! Come here!”

  Water squished in Asher’s shoes. He scraped his shoulder against the wall as he ran. He jumped through the hidden door and scurried through the suite.

  Andrew Warren stepped into the hallway. He saw Asher. “What’s wrong, boy?”

  “Run!” Asher shouted.

  Cameron bolted out of the door.

  “What’s going on?” Warren shouted.

  Cameron flicked out a knife and slammed into the old man, knocking him over like a bowling pin. With his belly split open, Warren sprawled out on the floor. Blood leaked out the side of his lip. His mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water.

  Cameron kept moving forward, a bloody knife in one hand and the Taser in the other.

  Asher ran down the ballroom stairs.

  Cameron reached the balcony and fired his Taser.

  It zipped by and hit the pillar near Asher.

  Cameron cursed. He let go of the Taser and ran down the steps.

  Unable to breathe, Asher crumbled to the checkered floor. He squeezed his chest and sucked in gasps of air.

  Winded, Cameron slowed his sprint as he neared the boy.

  Asher fished his inhaler out of his pocket.

  Cameron stepped on Asher’s wrist, pinning his inhaler hand to the floor.

  Asher gulped air, but none seemed to fill his lungs. He was drowning.

  Cameron watched him, a pitying expression on his face. “I liked you, kid, but you just had to keep snooping around.”