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hardwood floor to the camera. The viewfinder is open and he sees two faint mists flow together near the old fountain in the courtyard.
    When he hits rewind and plays it again a voice rings out. “Darling!”

Chapter Nine
    A LEXIS OPENS HER DOOR AND pushes Maxwell into the hallway. He may be the landlord and deliciously handsome but the skeptical sneer on his face is enough to make her give him another shove.
    “Maybe you’re just the only person here who would see a crack in the cement floor and decide to go digging around in it.” Maxwell brushes off the front of his sports coat.
    “I’m not the only one around here who has seen the figure of a woman. You’re telling me nothing strange has ever happened to you here?” Alexis hears the sound of a door opening around the corner of the apartment hallway.
    “Thought they saw. There is no proof.”
    “And I suppose my word is just not good enough for you.” She advances on him with an angry stomp.
    Maxwell backs away, hands up. “We’re not that close . . . yet. What are you going to do, curse me?”
    “I’m not a witch!”
    “Really?” he says with an impish grin. “Then stop putting a spell on me.”
    “You are cursed,” Alexis slaps at his lapel and tries to swallow a smile, “charmless troll.”
    “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay tonight? Make sure the boogey man plays nice?” Maxwell turns the corner.
    “Nice try. And don’t worry, I know exactly how I’m going to prove what happened to me was real.” Alexis peeks around Maxwell and calls out, “George? You busy tonight?”
    George inches out of his open door, pushing a hand through his wild, curly hair and accidentally knocking his glasses on the hallway floor.
    “Oh, I see,” Maxwell says quietly to Alexis. “Trying to make me jealous?”
    She rolls her eyes and pushes past him to talk to George. “I’ve been meaning to ask you more about your hobby. What kind of paranormal research do you do?”
    Maxwell throws up his hands in disgust and strides off down the hallway, turning to wave as he descends the stairs. George doesn’t know what to say, unsure if she is serious.
    “Really, George, I’m serious. I want to know.” She drops her voice before continuing. “I saw Delia’s ghost. That’s how I knew to go to the laundry room. She led me there and I found her body. Am I going crazy?”
    George puts on his glasses and pushes them up his nose. “Want to see something crazy? Last night my camera equipment turned on all by itself and recorded the courtyard. You tell me what you see.”
    He opens the door to his apartment, the mirror image of her studio directly across the courtyard. Alexis walks in, gingerly stepping over all the cords and extra recording equipment. George stumbles around and leads her to the tripod and camera near the window. He tips the viewfinder towards her and presses play.
    Alexis watches as two separate columns of mist form near the courtyard fountain. The recording doesn’t have high volume but she clearly hears a voice call out, “Darling!”
    She turns to George and asks, “Do you think ‘my deal’ could be a nickname for Delia?”
    “You heard that? Where? I didn’t see any other EVPs on the recording.” George grabs for the camera.
    Alexis steps back. “Wait, you didn’t hear that?”
    “Actually I did; last night before the camera turned itself on. But you just heard it now? Are you clairaudient? Clairvoyant? A psychic medium?”
    “Whoa, slow down. I have no idea. Ever since I moved in to Blackvine Manor I’ve been hearing things. I see things too but more like faint impressions, or… I don’t know how to describe it.”
    George is listening intently, so Alexis sits down and tells him everything. “The night I found Delia Charles’ body, I was reading a book on extrasensory abilities left to me by my mother. It was a chapter on using meditation to open and control channels of communication. Next thing I know Delia is leading me to