Spirited Away

by Angela Campbell

  “Please don’t tell my dad.”

  “I gotta call this in, kiddo. You know that.”

  “Yeah, but do you have to mention my name?”

  Noah hooked his thumbs on his belt loops and hung back. If he hadn’t thought the situation interesting before, he was fascinated now.

  The officer shook his head, but smiled. “Alright, verify the homeowner’s information for me, and I’ll try to keep your name out of it.”

  She rattled off a few details about Hannah Dawson – now Hannah Collins – while the officer scribbled them down. It wasn’t anything Noah didn’t already know. Hannah was a pretty nurse who’d lived here for about a year. Her then boyfriend – husband now – had moved in a couple of months ago.

  The cop glanced up and returned his attention to Noah. “I’m gonna need to see your identification, son.”

  Clenching his jaw muscles, Noah pulled out his wallet and handed over his driver’s license. He’d had the ID updated a few weeks ago. He matched the dark-haired picture of himself perfectly, which was a good thing since he’d had blond highlights and glasses in the last one. While the officer jotted down his information, Noah glanced toward the girl. He tried to guess her age. Late teens, he thought. Cute. Had great legs. Probably jailbait, knowing his luck, because he didn’t mess with teenagers.

  He realized in a fleeting moment of self-consciousness that he was acting like a true male member of the West family, trying to judge how easy it would be to take a woman who’d caught his eye to bed. Well, so what? Something about her eyes had him rethinking she was at least early twenties. Not jailbait at all. This was a woman who stirred his blood, and there was no fighting heredity. Noah intended to find out more about her.

  The officer grunted and handed the ID back. “Thanks for coming to help, Mr. West. Why don’t I walk you back to your house now?”

  Not that he needed the escort. Didn’t take a genius to read this situation.

  Noah tipped his head toward the young woman anyway. “I live in the two-storey stone house if you need anything while you’re here. See you around, Spider.”

  She flashed him an awkward wave. “Seriously, thanks for your help!”

  Officer Jack followed him to the edge of the yard before saying, “You lived around here long, Mr. West?”

  Noah sighed and turned to face the man. Last thing he needed was to capture the attention of a snooping cop. “No. I’m renting the house across the street. Moved in a couple of months ago.”

  The officer squinted against the early afternoon sun. “Tell you what. That young woman in there is special. Make sure you don’t get any ideas while she’s here. Got that?”

  “Sure.” He held back the smile that would have betrayed the fact that it was too late.

  “Good.”

  The officer started to move away, but Noah couldn’t resist asking: “Her dad is a cop, right?” It was the only thing that made sense. It would be a helluva reason to keep his distance, but, then again, he loved a good challenge.

  Jack nodded, but a smile played at his mouth as he opened his car door and looked back at Noah. “Not just any cop. Chief of police. You have a good day now, you hear?”

  Chapter 2

  “Let’s see how long it takes to crack their system with this baby.” Smiling, Spider tapped ENTER on the script she’d spent the afternoon writing.

  Leaning back on the sofa, she watched the computer code whiz past on the screen. A glance at her watch sent the thrill of victory racing through her veins. Thirty minutes earlier than she’d expected – new record. “Who’s awesome?” she asked the cat stretched out on the floor watching her. “I am. Uh huh. That’s right.”

  Call her crazy, but it looked like Abbott rolled his eyes before he looked away. His tail thumped against the carpet. Translation in kitty speak: You’re a loser.

  “Don’t be a hater, cat. You know I’m awesome.”

  Well, except for that whole getting locked out of the house thing.

  Spider loved her job, but it was still weird to think that Zachary Collins had hired her in the first place. She’d gone on the job interview to meet him and ask for his autograph more than anything. Not only had the gorgeous star of The Psychic Detective – now a private security guru – hired her to work as the cyber security specialist for his firm, but she was sitting on his sofa right now, drinking diet soda and about to log into Days of Adventure to kill some trolls on his big-screen TV.

  Life was good.

  Setting the laptop on the coffee table in front of her, she fired up the game console she’d brought with her. It only took a few minutes more while she waited for the multi-player game to connect to grab her controller and slip on the headset she used to swap insults and accolades with her guild.

  No one in the house yelled for her to get the phone, do the dishes, or grab the laundry out of the dryer. There was no loud shouting at the football game on the television or chatter from the poker game going on upstairs.

  Just sweet, awesome silence.

  Oh yeah, she could get used to this.

  Just as she was logging into her account, a knock at the door interrupted her. Yeah, but no; she wasn’t expecting visitors, and that’s how she wanted to keep it.

  The pounding on the door intensified.

  Yanking off her headset, she hurried over and peeked out. Kellan Murphy stood on the front porch.

  She punched in the code to disarm the alarm and flung open the door. “What are you doing here?”

  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 e
ven 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.