Spirited Away

A brown blur whizzed past her, but Kellan snatched the dog’s collar before he could escape. Again.

Spider sighed. “You heard what happened, didn’t you?”

Charlie jumped up against the blond hunk in greeting, and Costello meandered over to inspect their visitor before sitting on the man’s feet. Kellan, another private investigator employed by Zach’s firm, glanced up from petting them, his forehead crinkled. “No. Something happened?”

Feigning ignorance, she lied. “No. Nothing happened.” With a shrug, she shut the door behind him. “Nothing at all. Just me and the boys hanging out. Getting lots of work done. That’s all.”

He arched a brow. “Uh huh.” His gaze dropped to her shirt, and he curled his sinfully gorgeous lips. “That’s a good one; I like that one.”

She glanced down at the royal-blue t-shirt she wore that declared: “Dear Math, I’m not a therapist. Solve your own problems.” It was one of her favourites.

“So, something happened?” Kellan asked, sauntering into the room.

“Guess what?” She pointed out the laptop. “I wrote a script for our new client. It’ll keep trying to log into their website with randomly-generated usernames and passwords. I should be able to run a report and tell them by tomorrow how strong their online security is, and how to fix whatever holes I find in there.”

“Sounds great.” The tall, muscular Adonis walked over to the couch, glancing around as if he was looking for evidence. He plopped onto the cushion beside where she’d been sitting and put his heels up on the coffee table. “So you want to order a pizza or something. Maybe watch a movie? I think The Lord of the Rings trilogy is on-demand.”

Watching LotR with an Adonis would normally not be an unappealing way to spend the evening – but seriously? Spider resisted the urge to stomp her foot and scream, “No! This is my time! My privacy!”

Instead, she crossed her arms and pursed her lips. Her voice was laced with accusation when she said, “You stopped by to check on me.”

His hands lifted. “Can’t I stop by and check on a friend?”

“You’ve never stopped by my house and checked on me before.”

“Well, I mean, you live with your dad…” He shifted uncomfortably. “Spider, come on. You’re a young girl who—”

“I am twenty-five-years-old!” She stomped her foot. “All of you treat me like I’m twelve or something.”

Each one of the hottie private eyes employed by the agency – Zach, Brian, Kellan, E.J. and even the freelancers – acted as if she was his little sister instead of another kick-butt and take-names colleague. Alexandra did too, but at least Spider had never had a crush on the woman. Truth be told, she’d always wanted a sister, so she didn’t mind Alexandra’s overprotectiveness quite as much as the men’s.

And to be fair, there was a lot about her they didn’t know. A lot that she didn’t want them to know.

Kellan eyed her foot meaningfully. “Whoa. Don’t get offended. It just means we all care about you. Besides, you weren’t around when someone tried to kidnap Abbott and Costello. Hannah has a lot of money. You can never be too safe.”

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 fun together.”

The short mutt lifted its head and glanced toward the window. Noah muttered a curse and froze. The woman – Emma – chewed at her lower lip and glanced around before bending to pick up the dog’s poop.

The phone behind him rang, and dread settled in his gut. Noah had a feeling he knew who it was, so he reluctantly tore himself away from the window to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Just checking in, West,” a raspy voice drawled. “I was starting to think you were avoiding my calls.”

“I told you. I prefer email.”

“Haven’t gotten any of those from you either. You’ve been there more than a month. I expected to have something by now. Talk to me.”

Noah closed the blinds and flipped the lights back on. His gaze fell on the collection of photos pinned to a corkboard. Photos of Hannah Dawson and Zachary Collins getting in their cars, walking their dogs and moving around inside their house across the street. Alexandra King and Zach Collins’ younger brother sitting at a table at one of those sidewalk cafes.

“Collins just got married,” Noah said. “He’s on his honeymoon. I’ve been tailing King today.”

The gruff voice swore. “You got anything yet?”

“No.”

“If Collins isn’t there—”

“So what?” Noah reviewed the pictures he’d just shot on his camera. “Give me another week or two. I’ll have enough evidence to make you happy.”

“We’re paying you a hell of a lot of money to prove those two so-called psychic detectives are frauds. You’d better get us something soon.”

The other man abruptly ended the call, but it was the paused image on his laptop that gave Noah more reason to worry. He didn’t have time to figure out what was going on in this house.

He had a job to do, and the sooner he finished it, the sooner he could address the problems in this house and get a decent night’s sleep.

Rubbing his eyes, he risked another look through the blinds. Emma – he preferred the name to Spider – and the dogs were still lingering in his yard. It was late. Dark. Didn’t the young woman know it wasn’t smart to be walking the dogs alone at this hour? Granted, it was a nice neighbourhood, but … he couldn’t help but think about his sisters doing such a ridiculous thing.

With a harsh curse, he reached for the keys sitting on the desk. It would do as an excuse to go outside and see that she made it safely home.

He pretended not to notice her as he stepped out on the front porch, trotted down the steps and headed for his car. Good thing his garage was still filled with moving boxes. Otherwise, he’d have parked inside. The dogs began barking and Noah lifted his gaze in their direction, acting surprised to see them.

Strange thing was, both dogs and the woman were looking up at his house. Emma smiled, directed an awkward wave toward his second floor, and then tugged the animals back before dropping her gaze to where he stood. “Come on, guys. Our night time walk is over. Shhh!”

Noah followed her gaze up toward his bedroom window.

“Sorry,” she called, drawing his attention back to her. “We didn’t mean to bother you or your, er, wife.”

The irony of that idea tugged at his mouth. “I’m not married.”

“Oh.” She glanced back toward the window. “Girlfriend?”

A chuckle tickled his windpipe. “Don’t have one of those either.”

If this was her idea of fishing to see if he was attached, she was doing a lousy job of being subtle.

She bit at her lower lip. “Point is, we didn’t mean to bother you and your friend then.” She turned and practically had to drag the growling dogs after her. “Come on.”

Noah scratched at his neck and followed her. “Wait. What do you mean, me and my friend?”

With a nod toward his house, she seemed more preoccupied with the dogs than him now. “The woman in the window.”

He jerked his gaze toward the upstairs bedroom window. The light was on. What the—? His muscles froze, rooting him to the spot. He hadn’t been in the room tonight. No reason for that light to be on.

All thought of his new red-headed neighbour fled his mind as he bounded up the stairs and back into his house. This could be his best chance to catch the person who’d been messing with him.

But there was no one in the bedroom, nor any other room in the house. He searched them all. Nothing.

The house was empty.

Chapter 3

Mornings sucked.

After letting the dogs out, Spider lumbered like a zombie from the kitchen back to bed and groaned when she saw that it was an hour-and-a-half earlier than she’d planned to get up. Only six hours since she’d fallen into blissful slumber. She faceplanted into bed and pulled the sheets over her head.

Working from Zach’s house. Can set own hours. Sleeeeep.

A heavy weight settled against the back of her neck. She was drifting toward unconsciousness so she ignored it until, a few seconds later, the sheet tugged at her hair, exposing part of her face to cold air and the light in the room. A tiny claw nicked her scalp.

“Stop it, cat!” She swatted over her shoulder and connected with fur. “Y’all are seriously messing with my beauty sleep,” she grumbled and dug deeper into the pillow.

The cat’s weight shifted away from her.

She started to doze, but a sharp prick at her ear followed by “Mreeeoow” shocked her awake again.

Spider flung the sheets off her head and glared at the animal. “You have a litter box! What do you want?”

Abbott shifted on his front paws on the pillow beside her, watching her with big, rounded kitty eyes that rivaled those of Puss in Boots. “Meow.”

“You’re hungry?”

He stood and brushed against her. “Meow.”

She glanced at the clock. “According to the note Hannah left, it’s not time for you to be fed yet.”

“Meow.”

“Will you let me get some more sleep if I feed you?”

“Mrreeow.”

“Don’t make a habit of this, cat.” With heavy-lidded eyes, Spider padded into the kitchen and set the cat’s food out. Charlie and Costello came running, and Spider shrugged. Why the heck not? After pouring them some food, she shuffled back to bed, nudging the bedroom door shut. Darn animals could entertain themselves for a while.

She glanced at the clock again before tugging the sheets over her face and snuggling into the pillows. Ah, sleep.

Her muscles relaxed as her mind sank into a comfy dream. A lake glistened beneath bright sunlight as birds chirped in the distance. Music and singing grew closer. Wearing one of his trademark suits and over-sized glasses, Elton John sat on the lounger beside her cooing out a song about unicorns and elephants – Wait, what? –while the hot neighbour from yesterday peeled his shirt off and dove into the gleaming water, revealing a set of abs so chiseled Michelangelo would have drooled.

The hottie from the lake surfaced right in front of her, slicked back his wet hair exposing arm muscles so defined she wondered if he was for real, and, smiling, asked her, “Do you wanna—?”

Spider’s eyelids jerked open as the bed sheet pulled at her hair and slid toward her shoulder. Something sat on her feet, so she kicked toward it, hoping to dislodge whichever animal was making a nuisance of himself now.

And she’d been having such a delicious dream, too.

“Abbott!” She flung the sheets away from her, sat up, and glanced at the foot of the bed.

No cat. No dogs.

She blinked as she stared toward the door, which was still shut.

“Guys?” she whispered, and glanced around.

Something or someone had just tried to tug the sheets off her – right? She patted the bedding to make certain she was alone. Totally alone.

Hmmm. Dream? That kind of didn’t make sense though. About as much sense as Elton John belting out a song about unicorns and elephants. Then again… She snickered and shook her head.

Sighing, she pushed the hair away from her face and decided she might as well get up. It was almost nine. Time to get up anyway.

She was wiggling her feet out from under the covers when the sheet she still held in her right hand ripped free of her grasp and landed in a heap at the end of the bed. Ripped. Right. Out. Of. Her. Hand.

And then she saw—

Holy crap!

Heartbeat racing to a near explosion, Spider screamed and bolted for the door, throwing it open and darting for the living room. Charlie and Costello started barking and nearly tripped her in the hallway as they ran like maniacs toward the room she’d just deserted. Abbott sprang to his feet and disappeared into one of the rooms in the opposite end of the house.

Spider pounced onto the sofa, grabbed the phone and hugged a pillow to her chest as she stared in the direction from which she’d come.

The dogs were barking like a pack of wild things.

“Be careful!” she called out to them from where she huddled at the edge of the couch.

She punched in 9 and 1 to her phone, then hesitated. Dang it all, what if she was overreacting?

In what seemed like minutes but was probably only seconds, the two dogs quieted to a few huffs and came trotting down the hallway. Costello poked his head around the corner and looked at her as if he was thinking, “Exactly why were you screaming again?” Charlie sprinted toward her, leapt onto the couch, and began slathering her face with yucky dog kisses.

The pillow made a great shield against yucky dog kisses. “Was someone in there or what?”

Probably not, since no one had tried to kill her yet.

Costello jumped on the couch beside Charlie and panted hot, stinky breath in her face in reply. She pushed his nuzzle away.

Oh yeah. She was so not a dog person.

“You’re right.” She petted both dogs as she glanced wide-eyed down the hallway. Had she seen what she’d thought she’d seen? “I was probably dreaming or something.”

Probably.

Bam. Bam. Bam.

She squealed and both dogs went berserk, jumping off the couch and charging towards the source of the noise – the front door. Her rib-cage almost broke from how hard her heart slammed against it. Heaven help her, she was going to have a heart attack before this day was finished. Hand to her chest, she followed the animals, nudging them aside so she could see who on earth had just bypassed the doorbell and banged on the door so darn early … and with such force. Was it The Hulk? Sheesh.

No, not the Hulk.

Hello! Hottie neighbour alert.

After hurriedly punching in the alarm’s deactivation code, she jerked open the door and flung herself at Noah. “Thank goodness you’re here!”

Charlie whizzed past, but Noah reached down with one hand, grabbed his collar and pushed him back into the house before he could get far. She seriously needed to remember that dog did that. Realizing her arms were still twined around the man’s waist, she pulled back.

“I would have come sooner if I’d known I’d get that kind of a greeting.” Bent over now, Noah scratched the dog behind his ears and didn’t seem to mind in the least when Charlie slipped him some tongue.

Eww. Just eww.

“Would you please come in and check the bedroom for me?” She nudged Costello back with her foot and gestured down the hall. “I think someone might be in there.”

“What?” Noah straightened and stepped inside, pushing the door shut behind him. “Where?”

She led him part of the way and then pointed out the room. “There.”

“Stay here.” He disappeared through the doorway, both dogs trotting after him. He finally reappeared, hands held out. “I don’t see anyone.” He checked the other rooms before declaring, “Nope. I don’t see anyone else in the house.”

She released her breath in a rush.

He stopped a few feet away from her, so close the scent of soap teased her nostrils. “What happened?”

With Noah so close, she was aware of how her nightshirt clung to her free breasts and even more aware she’d been having an inappropriate dream about him less than fifteen minutes ago. She crossed her arms, not that he hadn’t already seen her in her pajamas, and shrugged. “I thought someone pulled the sheet off me while I was sleeping. I guess I was dreaming.”

“Maybe.” His forehead creased as he glanced back toward the bedroom. “It could have been one of the pets.”

“No. They were shut out of the room.” She shook her head. “Anyway, I’m sorry. Did you need something?”

His gaze fell to her chest before flicking back up to meet hers. Heat engulfed her face. Her tank top’s statement “Gamers do it all night” probably seemed a little provocative. Yeah. She really should go put on some more clothes.

“I wanted to ask you about the woman you saw in my house last night.”

“Oh.” She lifted a hand and played with the end of her hair. “What about her?”

“Did you get a good look at her?”

“Why?” She smiled. Was he harboring a criminal or something? Trying to decide whether Spider had seen too much?

Her smile slid off her face. Or he could be one of those crazy men who kidnapped women and kept them chained in the attic. She took a step back.

“This is going to sound strange, but there shouldn’t have been anyone in my house last night. Are you sure you saw someone?” He watched her carefully, drawing her attention to the vibrant green of his eyes, shadowed by dark lines underneath. Even darker hair fell in shaggy waves that framed his face. He had that McDreamy Patrick Dempsey haircut going on. Stubble highlighted a strong jawline and luscious mouth.