by Jana DeLeon
They climbed out of the truck and hurried inside before the drizzling rain soaked them. Joelle shrugged off the light jacket she wore and headed to the kitchen, Tyler close behind. She draped her jacket over one of the kitchen chairs, then pulled open the refrigerator and grabbed a bottled water.
“Would you like one?” she asked Tyler, who stood in front of the patio door, staring out into the swamp.
“No, thanks. This rain has ruined any chance of my tracking the man you saw last night,” he said with a sigh. “Any prints he may have left were washed away.”
Joelle could practically feel the frustration coming off of him. Tyler was a man of action. Certainly he’d had to exercise patience with his work with the Marine Corps, but the feeling of being trapped here added to the helplessness that Joelle felt about the entire situation. Perhaps Tyler felt the same.
“So what are you planning on doing today?”
He turned around to look at her. “First, I’ll check the laptop and make sure we didn’t have any activity on the cameras while we were gone.”
She froze. “Surely he wouldn’t come inside during the day?”
Tyler shrugged. “He could have been watching when we drove off. Or he could have already been inside and heard us leave. Carter thinks that someone was listening to their conversations when Danae was here. The timing of things was too perfect to suspect otherwise.”
“He ran away last night,” she continued to argue, completely uncomfortable with the idea that he might be in the house with them at this moment. “We would have heard him if he came back in.”
Tyler shook his head. “Not if he has another way in—one we don’t know about. Carter is convinced there’s an alternate entrance to the house, and I’m inclined to agree. I don’t think someone’s been able to slip unnoticed through the front door all this time.”
She frowned. “If he has a way in, then why was he on my balcony last night?”
“I don’t know,” Tyler said, looking a bit uncomfortable. “Maybe he figured you were locked inside and wanted to assess who was in there with you. He might be willing to risk an attack on one person, but that first night, there were three of you in there.”
“Oh.” She immediately realized what Tyler was too classy to say—that the intruder was trying to determine if she was sharing a room with Tyler. “So how do we find the entrance?”
“Give me a minute,” Tyler said and hurried out of the kitchen. He returned shortly with the laptop he had hidden in one of the front rooms and wired to the motion-activated cameras.
He placed the laptop on the kitchen counter and opened it up. “If he’s been inside since I rigged the cameras, I thought they would give us a starting point for finding the entrance.”
Joelle moved next to him and watched as he brought up the surveillance software. “Two saved files,” she said, her pulse ticking up a bit.
“Nine a.m. for the first video. I hope it’s not mice,” he said and clicked on the first file.
As soon as the video feed opened, Joelle sucked in a breath. “It’s him!”
She leaned forward, trying to make out the grainy infrared video, and saw a dark figure emerge from the kitchen hallway into the entry. He looked upward and then continued ahead until he fell out of sight of the camera.
“Can you zoom in on his face?” she asked.
“Already working on it,” Tyler said as he froze the video as the intruder stepped into the entry. He highlighted a section on the video and tapped the mouse pad to expand it.
Tyler cursed as the grainy feed came somewhat into focus. “He’s wearing a mask. I figured as much after what you saw last night, but I hoped he’d slip up and remove it when he was inside.”
He started the feed again and she pointed at a blur on the screen just before the intruder disappeared behind the camera. “What was that?” she asked. “That blur?”
“Let me see if I can slow it down to get a better look.”
He backed up the feed a bit, then inched it forward frame by frame until the intruder was right below the camera. “I still can’t make it out. Let me slow it down some more.”
He backed the feed up again and moved it forward at an even slower speed. This time, he managed to capture the blur as it was right in front of the camera.
Joelle’s eyes widened. “Oh, wow!”
The vulgar hand gesture was grainy, but there was no mistaking it.
Tyler cursed and closed the feed. “He knows the cameras are there.”
“But how?”
Tyler shook his head. “Maybe he was inside when I rigged them. Maybe it’s because I’m staying here and he was looking for something like this.”
“Does everyone know what you did in the service?”
“My dad, Carter, Carter’s mom and your sisters for sure. I don’t think it’s common gossip, but I suppose someone could find out if they tried.”
He clicked on the second feed and watched as the intruder walked back down the hall to the kitchen.
“We know he didn’t come through the patio door,” she said. “So how did he get in? How did he leave? There’s no other way out of the house that way except the patio door. Could he have taken the servants’ staircase upstairs and left that way?”
Tyler shook his head. “I have a camera pointing at the hallway where that staircase emerges.”
“Well, he didn’t go into the kitchen and disappear into thin air!”
“No, but he could have walked through the butler’s pantry and worked his way around the back side of the house from the formal dining room. The camera doesn’t cover that area of the house.”
A wave of disappointment washed over her at their failure to narrow down the possibilities, then suddenly she remembered something. “Come with me,” she said and hurried out of the kitchen and around the entry, taking the long way to the formal dining room.
Her pulse quickened as she pointed to the painting of Alaina that she’d unearthed the day before. It was still leaning against the door to the butler’s pantry. “I propped it up there yesterday. He couldn’t have come through that door without knocking down the painting.”
“He could have easily propped it back up afterward.”
She sighed. “You’re right.”
“Let’s check again, just to be sure.” Tyler walked over to the door and slid the painting to the side. He walked inside the pantry and studied the wall that ran along the exterior of the house. Shaking his head, he pulled open the cabinets and peered inside. “There’s no exit here. He can’t walk through walls.”
She blew out a breath of frustration and slid over to peer inside the cabinets. As she moved, her left foot banged into something small and hard and she stumbled into Tyler. He reached out to steady her, but she caught her balance and took a step back to flip up the end of the rug.
“Holy crap,” she said as she stared at the iron ring secured to the wooden floor.
Tyler pulled the rug from the floor and tossed it in the dining room. The clear outline of a trapdoor stared back at them. He reached for the ring and pulled the trapdoor up, exposing a narrow set of wooden steps that led straight down. Joelle hurried into the kitchen to snag a flashlight, and he shone it down the stairs.
Joelle peered down into the dark hole, thinking it was the last place she wanted to go. “I guess we have to go down there, right?”
Tyler grabbed the lantern from the kitchen and lit it, then handed Joelle the flashlight. “I’ll go down first with the lantern. Wait until I tell you to come down. If the steps are rotted...”
He didn’t finish but she understood the score. She needed to remain up top in case a call for an ambulance was required. She leaned over, watching as Tyler slowly descended the narrow stairs.
“The stairs are good,” he called out when he got to the bottom. “Just be c
areful. They’re narrow.”
Joelle tucked the flashlight in her back pocket and, taking a deep breath, stepped down. She clutched the ridges of the trapdoor until she got low enough to grab the railing, then ducked under the edge of the floor. The railing stopped halfway down and Tyler reached up to offer his arm. She held his arm with her right hand, just to keep herself steady, and negotiated the rest of the stairs.
When she got to the bottom, she looked around, somewhat surprised at the size of the room. It was probably twenty feet square with a dirt bottom. At some point, an attempt had been made to finish out the dirt walls, but it wasn’t complete. Two walls were covered in paneling, but the other two only contained two-by-four framing.
“I didn’t think people had basements in this area. Isn’t it below sea level?”
He nodded. “It’s not common, that’s for sure. But I don’t think this is a basement—I mean, not like what you and I know as basements.”
She frowned. “It’s under the house and surrounded with dirt. What else could it be?”
“A root cellar. The house is over a hundred years old.”
Suddenly Joelle understood. “And they didn’t have refrigeration then, so they stored perishables underground. That’s why the entrance is in the butler’s pantry.”
Tyler walked slowly around the room, taking in every square inch. When he got back around to Joelle, he shook his head.
“I don’t see why anyone would come down here now. It’s empty except for that stack of unused lumber.”
“Maybe someone used it as a hiding place. I bet you could hear everything said in the kitchen from down here.”
“I guess it’s possible he could have held the edge of the rug when he pulled the door down. Then no one would have seen it if they passed through here. Still, it’s a big risk. There’s nowhere to hide if anyone came down here.”
“Desperate people do desperate things,” she said. “I see it all the time.”
Tyler studied her for a moment, then nodded. “I guess you do. Well, there’s nothing else to see here, so let’s get back upstairs.”
Joelle started up the stairs, disappointed that yet another promising lead had turned into nothing. Short of the intruder dropping down a chimney like Santa Claus, she had no clue how he was getting inside the house. She knew Tyler wouldn’t stop looking until he found the answer, but what could happen in the meantime? What if someone shot at her through the walls as they had Alaina? What if she couldn’t scramble and get away as fast as her marathon-running sister had? Joelle was in good shape, but she definitely wasn’t a sprinter.
As she stepped into the kitchen, she felt her cell phone vibrate in her jeans pocket. Hoping it was Alaina or Danae, she pulled it out, then frowned.
“What’s wrong?” Tyler asked.
“Unknown number.”
“Answer it,” he said and stepped close to her. When she put the phone to her ear, he leaned in so that he could hear.
“Hello,” she said.
At first, there was only silence, then they could hear someone breathing. Finally, the phone beeped and she looked at the display.
“The call dropped,” she said.
“Or he disconnected. It could have been a wrong number.”
Joelle nodded, but something told her it wasn’t a wrong number. Something about the breathing had hit a nerve, and somehow she knew it wasn’t as simple as a wrong number.
Then the phone vibrated again.
“It’s a text,” she said and pressed the button to open.
Return what’s mine, or maybe I’ll take something of yours.
She sucked in a breath so hard it made her dizzy. Tyler put his hands on her shoulders to steady her and looked down at the phone.
“There’s something attached to the text,” he said.
She blinked twice to clear her vision, then accessed the attachment. As soon as the first picture came into view, she gasped. It was a picture of Danae walking down the sidewalk in front of Zach’s condo in New Orleans. She scrolled to the next picture, then the next, her heart pounding harder in her chest with every image—picture after picture of Danae in New Orleans. Then the images shifted to Alaina, and Tyler cursed.
“That’s in Calais,” he said.
In a daze, Joelle scrolled through the pictures of Alaina entering the general store, getting in her car at Carter’s house and walking into the café. When she got to the last image, she dropped the phone.
“No!” she cried.
It was a picture of her, Alaina and Willamina, sitting on Willamina’s back patio.
Unable to stand the stress any longer, she burst into tears. Tyler immediately wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to his chest, hugging her tightly. She clutched him, feeling as if she were drowning, and sobbed as she’d never done before.
Tyler stroked her hair and whispered, “It’s going to be all right.”
Finally, she slumped against him, her body spent. She stayed there for a while, relishing the comfort of his strong arms around her, until she mustered the strength to regain control. Then she looked up at him. “I’m sorry,” she said.
“Don’t you dare apologize. Anyone in your position would be upset. I’m a half step away from losing it myself.”
His expression was a mixture of sympathy, worry and frustration, and Joelle’s heart leaped at this man’s honor and heart. He may not have wanted this job, but he would risk anything to protect her and her family. In all her life, she’d never met anyone like him, and she doubted she ever would again.
He looked down at her and lifted one hand to wipe a tear from her cheek. “He will not hurt you or your sisters. I won’t let that happen.”
“I know,” she said and believed every word.
He stared at her a moment more and his expression shifted from frustration to something else...something she hadn’t seen before. A shiver of excitement ran through her as she realized he was going to kiss her. Before he even lowered his head, her lips were already tingling, waiting for his touch.
When his lips brushed hers, her knees went weak and she had to lock them in place. She slid her arms around him, the feel of his strong back beneath her fingers sending a thrill through her already-stimulated body. He deepened the kiss, and a rush of heat passed over her as she prayed that this was only the beginning.
“Anyone home?” Carter’s voice boomed from the entry.
Immediately, Tyler broke off their kiss and released her, then rushed out of the kitchen without so much as a backward glance. Joelle stared after him, not sure whether to be angry that he could switch gears so quickly or angry at Carter for interrupting something that could have gotten very interesting.
What she knew for certain was that a little taste of Tyler Duhon was not nearly enough.
Chapter Thirteen
Tyler strode away from the kitchen wondering what the hell he was thinking. Strike that. He knew exactly what he’d been thinking, but couldn’t believe he’d allowed such a slip in self-control. The last thing he ever intended to do was hook up with a woman with a dangerous job, much less a client. He’d done it before and it had ended tragically. He wasn’t about to risk that again.
Joelle was beautiful, intelligent and built like a pinup girl—which was exactly his type—and if she’d been an accountant and not his client, then he would have told Carter to come back in a couple of hours. But reality painted an entirely different picture and right now, he was thankful his friend had interrupted before he carried things too far.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Tyler said. “Joelle just got a call and texts that you need to see.”
“From Brant?”
“It has to be.” Tyler waved him toward the kitchen.
As he stepped inside, his gaze went immediately to Joelle. She stoo
d in front of the refrigerator, drinking a bottled water, and a tiny blush crept up her face as he walked up to her.
“Hi, Carter,” she said.
Tyler felt a pull of sympathy as she tried to force a smile, but didn’t quite achieve it.
“Show him the texts,” Tyler instructed.
She passed Carter the phone and they both watched as Carter scrolled through the feed. His jaw clenched tighter with every new image until Tyler wondered if his teeth would break. When he got to the last image, he cursed and placed the phone on the kitchen counter.
Tyler watched as Carter paced the length of the kitchen twice but wisely kept silent while his friend worked out his personal—and completely justified—anger.
Finally, Carter stopped pacing and ran one hand through his hair. “How is it that he’s gotten all these photos in Calais and not a single person has seen him? I have every business owner and trustworthy person in town on the lookout. None of them have seen him.”
He picked up the phone and scrolled to the picture of Alaina entering Johnny’s Café. “These were taken on Main Street. How could he get close enough to take these pictures and yet no one saw him?”
“Maybe sitting in a vehicle with tinted windows?” Tyler suggested. “He could be farther away than we think and using a telephoto lens.”
Carter scrolled to the picture taken at Willamina’s house. “This one was taken from the property line, not thirty yards from where you were sitting. He could have easily picked you off with a rifle from that location.”
“I don’t think he wants to kill me,” Joelle said. “If I’m dead, I can’t tell him what he wants.”
“No,” Tyler said, “but he could kill one of your sisters to make you talk.”
Carter blew out a breath and Tyler knew his friend had already gotten to that possibility.
Joelle’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped. “I don’t know why I’m surprised. I know he’s capable of hurting someone, but I hoped the pictures were just to scare me.”
“And they may be,” Carter said, “but we can’t assume that.”