Author's Note: Here's part two! I should probably put a disclaimer: I only own Josie and her parents right now, might add other characters later, but for now that's it. I was having some trouble choosing who to do the pairing with, but I've figured it out now. It's going to be Barry! Got to love his accent! On to reading!
When I pulled into the parking lot of TAPS, I started to get a little nervous, more for the investigation than the interview though. As I was walking into the office, Jason and Grant were leaving, I assumed for a reveal. We had a small conversation and they told me good luck and everything, but they had to get going so that they weren't late for their reveal.
Kris was no longer sitting at the front desk when I went in so I went on to the conference room to wait for the GHI team. Robb was already in there so I sat down and we got to know each other a little better and he informed me that I would be able to investigate with each member of the GHI team for about 20 minutes and between each investigation time I would sit with one of the team members at command central watching the cameras in 10 minutes increments so the whole investigation would take about two and a half hours, at least for me it would, they would stay for a couple more hours after I left to conclude the investigation. I was also told that really my interview would go through the night with each team member so when the whole team was finally in the conference room, we left for the Whalen Café and I rode with Barry and Joe.
When we got to the bar, Robb, Barry, and Dustin went in for the tour of all the hot spots, which left Joe, Brandy, and me to unload the equipment from the vans.
"So, Josie, are you excited for your mini investigation tonight?" Brandy said as we waited for Robb, Barry, and Dustin to come back.
"I'm very excited. It's been a little longer than what I wanted since my last investigation. And I really wish I could stay for the whole investigation." I said.
"You could ask Robb if you could stay, I don't think he would mind." Joe said.
"What about me?" we heard Robb say as he, Barry, and Dustin came back to the vans.
"Josie would like to stay for the whole investigation if it's all right with you." Brandy said, saving me from having to stutter out a response.
"I don't see any kind of problem with that. And really it was Jason who didn't want you staying the whole time, Josie." Robb said, leaning against the van with one arm about his head. "He did want you to call him when you were ready to leave so he could come get you though. I'm sure he'll understand, though." He added thoughtfully.
"Awesome. Thanks, Robb. And that is something he would do." I said, rolling my eyes slightly, but smiling.
"Okay. Well, let's start setting up then. Josie, why don't you help Joe set up central command? We'll have to put it in the van tonight because this place is kind of small." Robb said and everyone agreed with him so I started to help Joe set up central command while everyone else went to place IR cameras, mini DV's, and digital audio recorders in various places throughout the bar. I quickly understood how all of the cords had to be set up and which monitors they all connected to so Joe and myself soon found ourselves in a random conversation about food.
"Wait, your favorite type of food is Italian even though you're half German and half French?" Joe said, accidentally cutting me off from my rambling about Italian food.
"Oh, uh, yeah. It is kind of strange, isn't it?" I said, laughing slightly. "What's your favorite type of food, Joe?"
"Definitely Mexican. Don't ask me why because I really don't know." Joes said, my laughter seeming contagious.
"I don't like Mexican food. Actually it's more like Mexican food doesn't like me. Whenever I do eat it, it usually takes a couple of weeks for my stomach to return to normal." I said, giving Joe a good laugh with my comment about Mexican food not liking me.
"Are you two talking about food or am I hearing things?" I heard Dustin say as he walked to the van.
"Why yes, actually, we are." I said, still smiling.
"Well, I guess that's one way to get to know someone." Dustin said, making us all laugh.
Soon, everyone was standing outside the van and Barry was showing us all the camera angles so I listened and payed close attention to be able to hear what the claims were for each space.
"All right, thanks Barry. Now, Josie, why don't you stay out here with Barry for the scheduled ten minutes and Dustin you come with me and we'll take the second floor while Joe and Brandy take the first floor. That okay with everyone?" Robb said and we all agreed. "All right, let's go lights out." He said and we all went inside to turn all the lights off.
When I got back to central command, Barry was already sitting in the van watching the cameras.
"Hello Josie." He said as I climbed into the back of the van to sit with him.
"Hey Barry. How's it going?" I said, smiling, because I was in a very good mood for some reason.
"I see you're in a good mood." Barry said, also smiling widely.
"Yeah, I guess I am." I said and we fell into an easy conversation.
Ten minutes later, as promised, Robb came over the walkie and said, "Okay, Barry and Josie, me and Dustin will switch places with you for the next twenty minutes."
"Okay, Robb. We'll take the thermal and full spectrum up there and se what we can get." Barry answered so we got Barry's full spectrum camera and the thermal imager and got the audio recorder from Robb and Dustin when they came to the van.
Barry and myself went up to the second floor, letting Joe and Brandy know beforehand of course, and we decided to investigate the small bathroom that actually had quite a few reports.
"Well this should be fun." I said, eyeing the small room apprehensively.
"You have nothing to worry about. The two of us will be able to fit in there. If we had a camera crew with us I wouldn't even bother trying to investigate in here." Barry said, walking into the small room.
"Well, okay." I said and followed him. I decided to sit on the sink counter and Barry put the seat down on the toilet and sat on it after he put the audio recorder on a shelf.
"This is Barry and Josie in the small restroom on the second floor of the Whalen Café with a short EVP session." He said once he sat down and then continued, "Is there anybody here with us tonight?" then after a pause, he motioned for me to say something. "We aren't here to hurt you, we just want to communicate with you." I said and Barry smiled at me encouragingly. We continued the EVP session for about ten minutes and then decided to try debunking one of the claims.
"The claim is that when people are leaving this room, right before they turn the light off, a face appears in the mirror." Barry said as I jumped down from the counter. Of course when I did that, I stumbled and fell into Barry.
"Are you okay there?" he said, laughing slightly when he caught me and my face started turning red.
"Yeah, I'm good. Thanks." I said, thoroughly embarrassed.
"Okay, now what could be making people see a face in the mirror do you think?" he said, studying the mirror.
"Are they seeing it out of the corner of their eye or full on?" I said, also studying the mirror.
"Out of the corner of their eye." Barry said, looking at me like he knew what I was getting at.
"Okay, now this mirror looks kind of old, so there's a few things that could be happening." I said, using my hand to talk like I always did when I was on to something. Barry was smiling at me and motioned for me to continue. I studied the mirror a little more and found what I was looking for. "Here, look. There's this slight deform right here and I think that at the right angle, it could look like a face." I said and turned like I was leaving the room and out of the corner of my eye, I saw what looked exactly like a face in the mirror and when I looked at the mirror completely the face was gone.
"I gather that you figured out what's going on with this?" Barry asked as I started smiling and he smiled himself.
"I have in fact figured it out." I said and Barry started slowly moving towards me, but then Robb's voice came over the walkie.
"Okay guys, Joe and Josie, y'all come to central, Barry and Brandy continue upstairs and Dustin and I will take downstairs." He said.
"Okay, and just so everyone knows, Josie has debunked the claim in the small restroom of a face in the mirror as just being a spot on it." Barry said, smiling widely.
"That's great. Good job, Josie." Robb said and I could tell he was smiling.
The investigation went on in the same way for a while but I investigated the most with Robb because he needed to know my investigating style so that he could decide if I would be a good addition to the team.
When we got back to TAPS office, I got a little bit scared because standing outside nest to the door was Jason with his arms crossed and a stern look on his face. "Oh no." I said with my hand over my face as Jason came over to the van. When they asked, I told Barry and Joe that it would be best for them to leave and get the van unloaded as quickly as they could because Jason would wait for no one to be around to talk to me, and he did in fact do just that. I stayed seated in the van and turned to face him as he stood close to me while leaning slightly on the open door and as everyone passed by to go inside, they all gave me an apologetic look. Jason sighed before he started speaking.
"You stayed for the whole investigation." He said and he was looking at me so intently that I had to look away.
"I know, but –" I started and Jason cut me off.
"You were only supposed to stay for the first two and a half hours. Do you have any idea how worried I was? Even Kristen was worried about you. Don't ever make me worry like that again." He said, moving his hands to my shoulders.
"I'm sorry, Jason. You know I had no way of coming back anyway." I said, still looking down.
"Did Robb not tell you that I wanted you to call me when you were done?" he asked and my eyes went wide because Robb had told me that and I had just completely forgotten.
"Jason, I am so sorry. I completely forgot about that. I feel so stupid now. I'm so sorry." I said with my hands on his arms because his hands were still on my shoulders, but then he pulled away from my grasp and ran a hand over his face.
"It's fine, I should've known you would forget." He said and then surprised me by starting to laugh. I looked at him with utter confusion, but couldn't help laughing with him. I threw my arms around him and he put his arms around me, but then he picked me up out of the van, which made me hold on to him tighter, and he told me I should be getting home.
Before I started home, I went inside to tell everyone good-bye. "Thank you so much for allowing me to do the investigation with you guys, I loved every minute of it." I said when I found everyone back in the conference room and smiled. "Thank you for agreeing to it, you debunked most of the claims, which helped a whole lot." Robb said and gave me a hug before I left, as did everyone else.
When I got home, I changed into my pajamas and sat on my bed to watch some old Ghost Hunters episodes. I fell asleep thinking about the investigation and the team, particularly Dustin and Barry. I knew I could like both of them very much and that I would become very good friends with them quicker than anyone else on the team. That is, if I got a spot on the team. I quit thinking of that depressing thought and fell asleep smiling.
Thank you for reading! Reviews and such would be so lovely! :)