Adja's voice had to be diluted in the machine's noise. She didn't have the right technique: Léon was wiping the tears off his cheeks, listening carefully, but he didn't seem to understand what she was saying. Sylvana took over, pronouncing sentences in a very strange and unnatural tone. She had time to practice that, not me.

'Léon. Adja is with me.'

'What? Oh! Is it true?' Léon exclaimed, crying again. 'Can she talk to me?'

'She is trying, but one needs to speak differently to be heard.'

'Léon?' Adja called, trying to imitate Sylvana.

Léon's face lit up, as if he believed she was still alive.

'Adja, I can hear you! How... how could I help you...?'

'You will have to tell my parents I'm dead,' she answered, choking on every word.

'Can't I do anything to change it?' he asked, defeated. 'This mad girl ended up killing you, right?'

'I am not MAD!' Sylvana burst, making Léon recoil.

Sylvana took a deep breath. A trace of guilt crossed her eyes. She didn't seem to particularly enjoy screamed like a tormented soul.

'I do not know what happened, I made a mistake...'

'I'll call the police so they can take care of you, Adja,' Léon went on. 'I can't leave your body in the middle of the room...'

'Don't tell anyone before the end of the investigation! Only after, and my parents first!'

'What? But... I won't go on without you, Adja, that's stupid! Do you think I'll go in every bedroom, stepping over your corpse? It's over, now! I don't care about the Dormeaux anymore, it's my fault you're dead and I will take responsibility for this!'

'You have to film the rest. It's my last message for my subscribers, for my family... Do it for me and for them, okay?'

Léon looked hopeless, and Adja could not blame him. Sylvana stayed politely silent, aware of the seriousness of the situation. She held the spirit box in the air, redder and redder, but refusing to intervene. Adja noticed her tense features and asked Léon to take the machine in his hands.

'Is she still here?' Léon said with less aggressiveness.

'Yes, and she's going to tell us everything she saw before her death. We have to pick up where we left off.'

'I won't do this one meter away from your dead body, Adja.'

'Put me on the bed and hide me under the sheets, if it stresses you out so much.'

Léon lifted her corpse with a mixture of sadness and repulsion. He had surely never touched a dead person before, and even worse – a dead person he knew. Sylvana whistled in disapproval as she watched him transport her clumsily, as if Léon was doing anything sensual dragging her lifeless body.

'Stop. He's not doing anything wrong.'

'He is touching you,' she said. 'I do not like him that much, even after everything you have explained.'

'He won't touch me anymore when I'll be buried.'

'You will find peace after your funeral, and you will leave me,' Sylvana sighed, turning away from her.

'You'll leave too, you know! The investigation will help us both find the answers that we need to find peace.'

Sylvana did not seem thrilled by this perspective. Obviously, I reckon she would want me to stay with her for eternity. As for Adja, she didn't know what she wanted. Once she would be declared deceased by Léon, what would happen? She had nothing to do in this house. She had never lived there. It's a mess. I am dead, and it's a mess. The word spun in her mouth without making any sense. Dead.

'I know you do not want to spend the rest of you existence with me,' Sylvana abruptly lamented. 'Talking to me with machines, making me use a Ouija board, being cold when I am here... All of this is acceptable. But talking to me face to face, for real, it seems so strange to you than you cannot look me in the eye.'

'It's true.'

Adja felt out of everything. Defeat was taking control of what was previously her stomach, as a dark and devastating spiderweb. Meeting Sylvana after days of anticipation didn't feel her with joy whatsoever. What could she talk about with her, apart from their investigation? They had nothing in common, apart from the fact that they were both dead. Great.

Adja watched Léon tuck her in.

'This was my father's bed,' Sylvana commented in a glacial tone. 'You will rest in peace.'

'Did he rest in peace?'

'Yes. He understood perfectly why life left him, even if he did not say a word about it. I do not know what he was suffering from, but...'

Sylvana fell silent. She looks so sad... I would like to know everything, but it's not the right moment.

'Léon,' she called through the spirit box. 'Go back to the hotel. I will talk to Alphonse Dormeaux to know the end of the story. You will have to edit the videos yourself...'

'I don't know if I'll be able to watch the footage,' he sobbed. 'I'm certain I will watch you die again... What if the police come to see what's going on and I'm accused of leaving you here without calling them?'

'The real video will be for my parents, you will edit my death out for my viewers.'

'Listen,' Sylvana chimed in. 'Officially, Adja was resting a little in that bed and had a heart attack. You found her after days of searching her in Toulon.'

Léon seemed lost, but he nodded anyway.

'That's the best solution. Well, I think?'

'I'm sorry,' Adja apologized. 'I'm sorry you're in this situation, sorry for everything...'

'Everything would have ended the same way, right? If you had come alone, with another guy, a girl... Sylvana would have tried to show you what she remembered, and you would have d– I mean... left...'

'You're right, Léon. Go back to the hotel, and don't tell anyone yet.'

Léon picked his belongings, unsteady, and looked one last time at Adja's body. She looked like she was peacefully sleeping under the covers. His mouth twisted a little and he shook his head.

'Have fun, Sylvana. You finally got her.'