“Because the fool I hired to do the work was over at Belterra last night with his girlfriend. She won a lot of money. They figured they’d rather go to Vegas and get married. Never mind he had commitments.” Noah continued to sit there, his shoulders tight, lines bracketing his mouth.
Trinity groaned and dropped her head into her hands. “You’re kidding me.”
“I’m afraid not.” He rubbed the back of his neck, frustration in every line of his body. “He works with his brother and a small crew of men, but Teddy is the one with the most experience in older homes like this. His men don’t feel like they can handle it without him. So they aren’t going to do it since he won’t be here.”
Well, she’d wanted to find a way to stop thinking the dirty thoughts. Noah had done her a favor, in a roundabout way. She was still hot, but it was the kind of hot that meant she wanted to explode. Maybe she should start banging her head against the nearby post. It might do something to relieve the scream building inside her.
“Did they give us a time frame on when they think they can do the job they hired on for?” she asked, forcing herself to speak the words instead of snarl them.
“Nope. I’m not going to ask for one. I’ve got another crew I’m going to call, and the next time those bozos put in for a job with me I’m going to tell them to take a hike,” Noah said, an odd glitter in his eyes. Then he blew out a breath and looked over at her. “I’m really sorry, Trinity. Teddy hasn’t ever done anything like this. If I’d had any idea…”
He had his hands hanging between his knees, fingers linked.
“Hey…” Without thinking about it, she reached over and covered his hands with one of hers.
The warmth of his skin was a jolt, almost electric in its intensity. She felt the buzz of it rush through her and her breath caught in her lungs.
Wow.
There it was again … that odd little click. Her heart started dancing around inside her chest as their gazes locked. She found herself staring into the deep, incredible blue of his eyes. They were the color of the sky just before the sun disappeared below the horizon, a blue so dark they were almost black. Incredible. Hypnotic. For one second, those eyes dipped down, lingered on her mouth.
Her heart jumped up into her throat and then started to beat about two hundred times a minute. Jerking her gaze away from his, she pulled her hand away. Shrugging awkwardly, she said, “Look, it’s not like you planned on him winning a bunch of money and skipping town, right?”
“Well. Technically, I think it was his girlfriend,” Noah said, his voice tired. “No, I wouldn’t have pegged him for doing this kind of thing, but—”
“No buts.” She stood up and brushed the crumbs from the muffins off the denim capris she’d pulled on. With a forced, fake smile, she turned to look at him. “I think we have to look at this as an odd situation. It’s not like you can plan for it.”
“It’s my job to plan for this sort of thing.” He continued to sit there.
“Plan for it next time,” she suggested. “Let’s focus on what we need to do to get the floor fixed. I want to use that pantry.”
Seconds ticked by, and then finally he shifted his gaze to hers and he nodded. “Let’s redo the measurements. I don’t have them handy. I need to have them on hand, get some pictures. I’m going to reach out to a friend, see if I can call in a favor or two.”
* * *
A favor or two.
A full-on headache was screaming behind his eyes as he finished the measurements in the living room. It was the easier of the two jobs that would need to be done immediately. Other things, like refinishing the floors, could wait, but these two jobs, this repair work in the living room and the problem spot in the pantry, were going to be serious issues if they weren’t addressed. Actually, they were already serious issues and they needed to be taken care of now.
He’d just have to go about it in the right manner when he talked to Caine Yoder.
The good news was that Caine had seemed like he wasn’t in one of his total antisocial moods when Noah had seen him the other night.
Sometimes talking to Caine was like talking to a wall, and if you wanted to get Caine’s men working on a project—and they were some of the best—you had to deal with Caine. He worked with a group of Amish builders out of Switzerland County. Caine was basically their go-between and handled all the business dealings. He was also a certified pain in the butt, if you wanted Noah’s honest opinion, but the man did have a soft spot for kids.
Noah would just point out that there was a child living in the Frampton house, one who could get hurt at any point if the repair work wasn’t done in a timely manner.
Caine would give him a hard time.
Noah would listen to it.
Then they’d go a few more rounds and Caine would set a ridiculous price that Noah would have to fight over. Eventually, they’d come to a workable solution.
He should have just gone to Caine in the first place. Noah had to be honest, though. He tried to avoid Caine, all because of episodes like last night. The man had a way of seeing right through you. That, combined with how disagreeable the man could be, made him frustrating to work with.
But he’d get the job done. At this point, that was all Noah cared about.
Hearing the creak of wood behind him, he glanced up.
Trinity stood in the doorway, looking sleek and sexy in a pair of denim capris and black tank top. Noah tried not to focus on those endless legs as she lifted a hand to the doorway, looking around distractedly. Her gaze finally landed on him and she asked, “Micah didn’t come in here, did he?”
Frowning, Noah pushed back onto his heels and shook his head. “No.”
She sighed and brushed her hair back. “He’s too quiet. He’s never this quiet.”
Putting his tools down, Noah rose to his feet. “He knows to stay out of the areas that are being worked on, right?”
“Yes. Those are the off-limits spots.” She worried her lower lip, and despite himself, he felt something warm and heavy shift inside him. He wanted to be the one taking that soft, full curve in his mouth. Judging by the way she’d looked at him earlier, she probably wouldn’t even mind. It was a knowledge he really didn’t need to have, but now he couldn’t stop thinking about it.
How would she feel? How would she taste?
Focus, Noah. Focus.
“Of course, with Micah, that just means I have to watch him twice as closely,” she said, a grimace twisting her face. “But he’s not in any of the rooms that are being worked on right now. I already checked … oh, no.”
She spun around.
Noah was already behind her.
“He wouldn’t go into the pantry, would he?” Noah asked, all thoughts of tasting her dying as fear started to work a cold, nasty thread through his heart. “You told him to stay out of there, right?”
“Only at least two or three times a day,” she said. “I’ve got the bench in front of it. The lock’s busted, or I’d just lock—oh, no.” She paused in the doorway to the kitchen and then lunged forward. Two seconds later, Noah saw why and he tried to grab her, but she was already halfway across the floor.
The bench had been pulled away from the pantry door and it was partially open.
* * *
Terror slammed into her as she closed her hand around the doorknob. Then her heart jumped into her throat as she saw Micah under one of the low-lying shelves, studiously coloring in one of his workbooks. The single bare bulb overhead cast a dim, urine-colored light across the room.
Darting a glance to the sagging area in the middle of the floor, Trinity gingerly edged inside. The boards groaned ominously.
“Micah, don’t you remember what I said about coming in here?” she asked when he lifted his head, staring at her wide-eyed and startled.
“Um.”
“Don’t um me, big guy,” she snapped. Keeping to the very edge of the floor, she knelt down by him and held out a hand. “You need to get out of here. It’s no
t safe until Mr. Noah gets the floor fixed. That’s why we keep the bench in front of the door.”
How had he moved it? Was he part ox?
“But I like it in here,” Micah whispered.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s not safe.” She waited until he rolled out from under the shelf and stood up, putting his smaller hand into hers.
“Stay off the middle of that floor, Trinity.”
Looking up, she saw the grim look on Noah’s face, and she darted a look toward the space, nodding. Oh, she’d definitely stay out of the middle; he didn’t have to worry about that. Not at all. “We will. Micah, walk along the wall and take Mr. Noah’s hand, okay?”
She waited there until Micah had done that, and the relief was almost painful once he was off that floor. He tugged his hand from Noah’s as he turned around, staring up at her with big, sad eyes as she started to follow his path along the wall. “Am I in trouble?”
“You bet.”
He heaved out a sigh and looked down at the toes of his sneakers. Then, just as she reached the doorway, he jerked his head up. “My schoolwork!”
He lunged away before Noah could stop him, and out of reflex Trinity moved to block him.
The second her foot touched those boards in the middle, trepidation reached up, grabbed her. She heard the boards crack and instinctively she threw out a hand, shoving Micah back.
Every nightmare she’d had about that damn house came true. It was like the floorboards just … melted. Right under her feet. She fumbled, tried to move. But she was already falling.
* * *
Noah bit back something ugly as he tried to grab the boy. Micah was about as slippery as a fish. Trinity blocked Micah, and as she looked up her and Noah’s gazes locked. Everything slowed.
One second she was there, and then she was falling. Noah swiped out a hand to grab her, but it was too late. His fingers brushed against the soft material of her top and that was it. Her scream bounced off the walls and he was already moving, but he wasn’t fast enough. A cellar—there was a cellar down there, his mind noted, filing it away even as panic crashed through him.
What the—
In the back of his mind, he was thinking all sorts of thoughts that had no bearing on the situation—should have boarded the door, should have made Teddy get started in here sooner, should have used Caine’s group—
Nonsensical thoughts that made it easier for Noah’s mind to process the real problem.
That was the fact that Trinity was lying sprawled on her back in a small, dark space that had probably been used as a fruit cellar back when the house was built. Light from the exposed bulb over his head shone down on her as he stared over the edge. “Trinity!”
She groaned and reached up, touching her head. “Micah?”
Noah shot the boy a look—he was standing there, white-faced, eyes frozen wide. “Mama!”
As Micah tried to dart around him, Noah caught him by the waist. “Sorry, pal. You need to stay back until I help your mom.”
“But she fell!”
“Micah!” Trinity’s voice, tight and laced with pain, came from the hole in the floor. “You sit your butt down and listen to Mr. Noah. Now.”
“Sounds to me like she’s fine,” Noah murmured, nudging the boy out of the way. “Go sit on that bench right there and be quiet a minute, okay?”
Once Micah had parked his little tail down, Noah focused back on Trinity.
“Trinity.” His voice sounded firm and level, a fact that surprised him to no end, because he was terrified. “Are you hurt anywhere?”
She grimaced. “I don’t know. Micah’s fine?”
“He is.” Noah shot the boy another look and then glanced around, trying to figure out how in the hell to get her out of there. If he went down he could lift her up, but not if she was hurt.
She went to sit up.
“Trinity, damn it, don’t go moving yet,” he said. “We need to know if you’re hurt.”
“I’m not. Well, my head a little but…” She groaned again and sat up, ignoring him when he told her again not to move. She reached up, touching the back of her head. “You cussed. Preachers don’t cuss.”
Noah didn’t bother asking where she’d heard that—it was Madison; she probably knew what size shoes he wore. “I’m not a preacher anymore, Trinity. Be still for me, okay? Are you hurt?”
“No.” Her voice was grouchy and she sighed. “I’m pissed off. There’s a hole in my floor, Noah. A hole. Why in the hell is there a hole in my floor?”
She went to go to her knees.
The bottom of his stomach dropped away as she froze and went white—white as death itself.
“Trinity?”
“Noah—”
Her voice broke.
Following her gaze, he found himself staring.
It took his mind a minute to process it—another to adjust. All the while, in the back of his mind, he heard the echo of a familiar voice … just a ghost by now, but one that had haunted him for a long, long time.
“Trinity. You’re sure you’re not hurt?”
“Nuh … no, no.”
He nodded. “Then move back, now,” he said, his voice taut. Pulling the flashlight from his belt, he peered into the dark maw, still staring at what Trinity had seen. “I’m coming down. I’ll boost you out and you can get my ladder.”
Trinity was whimpering by the time he got down there, carefully, unwilling to take his eyes off the gruesome discovery.
He touched her shoulder and she hurled herself at him, burying her face against his neck.
He didn’t blame her. He didn’t want to look, either.
But he couldn’t look away.
Nothing could make him look away from the odd, almost mannequin-like display stretched out on the dirt floor. It’s not real, some part of him thought. It couldn’t be real.
Parts of it were nothing but bone. That wasn’t the worst. The worst were the almost-flesh-looking parts, bits that looked a strange grayish white.
“Tell me that isn’t a person,” Trinity said, her voice low and soft. “Please tell me it isn’t.”
Noah wished, more than anything, that he could do that.
Instead, he just cupped his hand over the nape of Trinity’s neck.
In the back of his mind, he heard the words: Noah, just trust me.…
CHAPTER FOUR
This wasn’t happening.
Trinity sat in the cab of Noah’s truck, cradling an exhausted Micah against her chest and staring up at the house.
She kept staring at it and hoping she’d feel that little click again.
That odd affirmation that she was in the right place. That she’d come to the right place. That she’d left New York for the right reason.
This house. She was supposed to be here, right?
Yes, she was bleeding her savings account dry because of this place, but hey, her mother had left her that money; it was supposed to be used for something, right? Why not find a beautiful old home and fix it up? Make it beautiful again?
“Trust me to find the house that had a body buried under the floor,” she whispered.
Micah made a weird, snuffling sound deep in his sleep, his face pressed against her breast, as though he was trying to escape, even his dreams. She understood that desire.
Very much.
She’d felt the urge to hide against Noah and just never, ever let reality interfere when they’d been down in that dark hole of a pit. With a body lying a few feet away.
A body.
For pity’s sake.
Horror lurked just below the surface, but she was afraid to let it out. Screams threatened. There might even be tears, but she was afraid if she let herself start to scream, start to cry, she might never stop.
She had to hold it together, because Micah was already freaked out.
He’d been through so much already.
Mama … why are the cops here? Did Daddy do something wrong again?
Micah had whispered it ag
ainst her neck when they’d come onto the porch as the police cars came spilling down the street. First one, then another, then another until their small street was crowded with six city police cars and an ambulance.
An ambulance …
She’d lied to him.
She didn’t know how to explain to him that there was a body down there.
Baby, we found something in the ground. They have to look at it and see what’s going on.
Maybe it wasn’t a complete lie, but she needed time to settle before she could tackle explaining that horror to her son.
“Hey.”
Startled, she jerked her head up and found herself staring into a pair of familiar green eyes. The woman in front of her was somebody she knew—Trinity had met her before. But …
“It’s Ali,” she offered, smiling. “Ali Holmes. I work at the pizzeria where you two eat on Thursdays.”
“Right.” Trinity nodded as memory came crashing back. Memory. Reality. She’d rather reality just take a nice long hike, but she was probably stuck with it. “Thursdays … kids’ night. Micah loves that place, especially the play area in the back.”
Ali smiled. “That was my addition to the place.”
“Your addition?” Working on autopilot, Trinity’s gaze returned to the house as she spoke.
“Yeah. My parents own the place, and when I graduated and started working there I told them it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have some place for kids to play. It made it nicer for families … and you don’t want to hear any of this right now.”
Wincing, Trinity looked back at her.
The woman’s face was full of sympathy and her eyes were kind. That kindness almost did Trinity in and the screams building inside her grew louder and louder—so desperate to break free. Clenching her jaw until she knew she could keep them silent, she said softly, “Right now, I don’t want to do anything but hide. That’s not much of an option, though, is it?”
“I guess not.” Ali moved over and settled against the truck cab, staring up at the house. “What about company? You want that or would you rather I just left you alone? Be honest. I don’t mind.”
A laugh hiccupped out of her. “Please. If you can tolerate the fact that I’m liable to spaz out at any given moment, please stay. I feel like I’m about to go into two thousand different pieces.”
Deeper Than Need: A Secrets & Shadows Novel Page 4