Caged — Christine Morgan

His business cards read: Nathaniel Caron, Psychic Advisor. Gifted (or cursed) with the ability to perceive emotional energies, he's something of a loner more by necessity than choice. Aside from a few close friends and a string of failed or on-again/off-again relationships, it's pretty much him and his big fuzzy bastard of a cat. Even in his quirky neighborhood, he's regarded as something of a curiosity. A harmless weirdo, according to some. A con artist taking advantage of gullible old ladies, according to others. He makes his living doing spiritual readings and counseling, with the occasional missing persons or lost pets case thrown in.Several years ago, though, Nathaniel helped track down a monster. A human monster, a child-abductor, Warren Sigmund. He'd take his victims to an old barn, lock them in cages, do terrible things. One of the children he seized was Tina Pascal, daughter of Nathaniel's closest friend, police officer Jack Pascal. On an awful day ending with gunfire, Warren Sigmund was shot twice. Brain-dead, in a coma, confined to a care facility ever since, Sigmund was no longer believed to be any kind of a threat. His recently reported death would certainly seem to confirm that. It'd be impossible for Warren Sigmund to be up and around.Yet, now Tina insists she's that seen 'the bad stranger' she remembers from when she was little. The care facility appears to be hiding something. Other patients there have had strange experiences, talking about hauntings and malevolent forces. Nathaniel's never been 100% sure either way about ghosts, but the more he looks into it, the more he has to admit, the impossible's starting to seem pretty possible after all.