“Don’t tell me what to do,” Trinity snapped back. She was aiming her camera into every corner, trying to get another look at her ghost. “Spirits, reveal yourselves!”

“I just don’t believe this,” Ruth Anne said. “I’m a bigger ’fraidy cat than all of you, but this is ridiculous.” She got down on her knees and peered underneath the Kjërring storage unit. “Nothing again. He’s gone.”

Amy felt doubly relieved. Maybe now they would go back to the break room. Even better, maybe they’d call it a night and go home. But then she glanced across the Bright and Shining Path, and she saw it.

On the other side of the walkway, opposite Dining Rooms, was a purple Sylbian bedroom display. Everything in the room was meticulously arranged. Not a single detail was out of place—except the ruffled white bed skirt around the box spring. Underneath it, protruding from the shadows, rested a hairy human hand with a gold wedding band on one finger.

Amy nudged Basil. He followed her jabbing finger, and his eyes went cartoon-character wide.

Their terrified focus alerted Matt and he turned around, followed both their gazes, and took an involuntary half step backward when he saw the hand. He tried to pull Trinity back, but she squirmed out of his grip. Ruth Anne retreated on tiptoes to the opposite side of the Bright and Shining Path.

“Um, we see you,” Basil announced, too loudly.

Nothing happened.

“Under the bed,” he continued. “With the wedding ring. Hairy hands. We see you, hairy hands. And … we have you surrounded.”

The hand didn’t move, didn’t even twitch. Amy had the sinking feeling that they’d found a dead body. Someone had died in Bedrooms and there was no way they could leave a dead body for morning shift. Basil would insist on removing it before the Consultant Team arrived. This night was never going to end.

“Look, we’ve called the police,” Basil tried again. “You can come out now or the cops will drag you out. Do you want to be pepper-sprayed? And Tasered?”

All at once, Ruth Anne strode past him, approached the bed and raised one end, revealing a man splayed out facedown like a starfish. He burst into motion, scuttling away like a bug after its rock has been lifted. Stumbling to his feet, he immediately whacked his head on the edge of the raised bedframe. He had too much momentum to stop, but the collision knocked him off-balance; he wove his way across the Bright and Shining Path, caught a Sploog love seat at midthigh, and went flying over it, head over heels.

“You better run!” Matt shouted.

“No, do not run!” Basil yelled. “Stop!”

The man pushed himself off the floor and limped into an ocean of desks, heading for the shortcut in Storage Solutions. “I said stop!” Basil called again. “The doors are locked! We’ve got you on tape!”