Spider tapped her foot, wishing he would leave. Her Adonis wasn’t making her feel any better.
“Call me crazy, but I doubt Zach or Hannah would have left their beloved pets in my care if they thought I was incompetent.” That reminded her: she’d forgotten to feed the animals their lunch. D’oh! She needed to make notes or something, like putting a reminder in her phone. Her breath came out in a huff as she moved toward the kitchen.
Kellan sighed and rolled to his feet. “Alright, I’ll leave, but I’m gonna stop by every now and then. That’s just a fact.”
“Yeah, and I’m sure Brian and E.J. will be stopping by, too.” She jerked the plastic container for the dog food out of the cabinet with more force than was necessary. Empty. Seriously?
As the only child of a cop, she’d grown up with a hundred brotherly types in the men who worked with her dad. She’d been hoping to escape all that brotherly concern with the men she worked alongside. Guess she’d been wrong.
Why wouldn’t people just give her some credit already? She could take care of herself, and a cat and two goofy dogs too.
“I’ll make sure no one stops by but me,” Kellan assured her. “Although, I think Dylan is coming to spend the weekend with Alexandra soon, so Zach’s little brother might drop in. I can’t make any promises there.”
Since Spider had an even bigger crush on Dylan Collins than she did on Kellan, she wouldn’t mind a quick visit from Alexandra’s hunky boyfriend. He didn’t treat her with the same kid gloves everyone else did. Plus, she didn’t stand a chance with him, and that somehow made him … less intimidating. Not that she stood a chance with any of them, but still.
The new forty-pound bag of dog food was heavy as she dragged it out of the pantry. A ripping sound preceded a rush of pellets scattering across the tiled floor in every direction. Darn it! She frowned and scrunched her shoulders as Charlie and Costello charged into the kitchen and gobbled up food like they were starving vultures. Abbott sprang out of somewhere and started playing soccer with the hard nuggets.
Spider took a deep breath and looked at the man watching. Amusement lit up his eyes. She pointed at the floor. “To be fair, that could have happened to anyone.”
“Yep.” He tiptoed around pieces. “Know where the broom is?”
She gestured to a closet. He was closer to it anyway.
Fifteen minutes later, she closed the door behind him, reset the alarm and slid down the back of the door.
She could do this. Right?
***
A loud knock jolted Noah out of the doze he’d finally succumbed to. Blinking away the blurriness from his eyes, he glanced at his clock. Eleven p.m. The only light in the room was the flickering of his television.
Thump.
He glanced up at the ceiling, his heart pumping like a hydraulic piston in his chest.
It was happening again.
Thump.
His hands squeezed the edges of the recliner. Ignoring it wouldn’t make it go away, or at least it hadn’t the other times. He sucked in a breath and cold air froze his lungs. When he exhaled, a white puff dissipated in front of his face.
Thump.
He forced himself to his feet. Even though he knew what it would read, he checked the thermostat anyway. It was still set on seventy degrees, but the room felt like a meat locker. Even the slick wood of the baseball bat he’d propped against the wall was cold to the touch, and—
Thump. Thump.
At the sound, he spun. This time it had come from downstairs. The kitchen? His feet felt heavy as he moved slowly in that direction.
He kept his voice loud and confident as he called out, “Hello?”
No answer.
The volume on the television jumped to a deafening level. The alarm clock in his study began screeching like a banshee. The clanging of metal-on-metal made it sound as if a marching band had invaded the kitchen. Covering his ears, he peeked into the room. All the pots and pans hung on the rack swayed to an unseen force, violently knocking into one another.
The kitchen door slammed shut in front of him. Noah was plunged into darkness as the television shut off, and seconds later the alarm clock did the same. Only a slither of moonlight penetrated the black room.
His heartbeat struggled to calm itself as he looked around. Nothing but shadows.
Soft, feminine whispering teased his ear, but for the life of him, he couldn’t make out the words.
The television flickered to life again at normal volume. Warmth chased the chill on his arms away.
As quickly as it had started, it was over.
After settling the baseball bat back in its spot against the stairs, he hurried over to one of the video cameras he’d set up the day before. It still flashed red, so he removed it from the tripod and carried it into his study. He removed the memory card and inserted it into his laptop, wondering if he’d captured anything through the night vision lens.
“Come on,” he muttered as he waited for the video to pull up. Rubbing at his eyes, he set the video to play at a fast speed. A pixilated version of himself sank into the chair and changed positions a few times before he jerked awake. He slowed the speed so he could watch, listening for the activity.
It was all there, caught on tape.
Noah ran a hand down his face, a breathy chuckle of laughter escaping his chest. There it was, all on tape this time. He wasn’t crazy. Holy mother. He wasn’t imagining it.
After rewinding the video, he stuck in earphones and jacked up the volume near the end. The soft whispers were audible. Barely.
Two explanations seemed plausible.
Either someone was pranking him, or there was some natural phenomena causing the lights and power to malfunction in the old house. Could be some kind of electromagnetic anomaly in the area that had caused his electronics to go haywire and the pots and pans to act possessed. Those type of things messed with brain waves, too. Some of the things he’d seen could have been hallucinations.
An electrician was supposed to come out tomorrow and check the wiring. That would probably explain things.
A bark outside drew his attention.
He groaned and pushed to his feet. “Don’t tell me she’s lost the dog again.” As he peeked through the blinds, he saw the ginger-haired girl being pulled into his yard by not one, but two dogs. At least she had them on leashes; although, from the look of things, it wouldn’t take much for them to get free.
They stopped at the edge of his front yard, and one of the dogs scrunched into the required catcher’s position to do his business. Thankfully, the girl pulled out a bag to pick it up.
And just his luck that they’d stopped under the streetlight.
He flipped the light switch off, raised the blinds and reached for the Nikon he had set up on a tripod. The camera angled until she was in the frame, zoomed in and captured a few shots. Might come in handy later.
The zoom tightened on her face as he focused the lens.
He hadn’t realized how pretty she was until now. Oh, he’d noticed she had a great body. He whistled. Girl was a looker that was for sure. And not a girl at all. She was a young and sexy woman. Exactly his type, but, then again, every woman was his type.
“Darling, too bad your daddy’s the chief of police. We sure could’ve had