by Dale Mayer
The printer was beside the door. That made no sense. Had he thought to make this look like a robbery? Because if so, he failed. Big time. And Will didn’t fail at much.
Or maybe it was an afterthought. Hell, maybe he just liked the printer. She studied the machine. Then motioned at it. “The printer doesn’t have a memory, does it? That he’d be able to take and retrieve the information that had been printed?”
“No. We don’t have a big expensive network here partly for that reason. We buy new printers almost yearly.” Trevor studied the square looking one on the floor. “This is a printer scanner copier thing but bigger than the last one.” He shrugged. “Easy to replace, just irritating. All this has done is set me, us, back a day to clean up.”
“You’re sure there was nothing here for him to find? Not your home address, your bank accounts, your friends names and places…” She spun to look at him. “Would he have gotten Kali’s address from here?”
“He might have,” Trevor said slowly. “I’d wondered how he’d found us there.” He frowned. “But the break in happened afterwards.”
She snorted. “Or he came here first and got what he needed, then after I changed his mind, he came back to look for whatever it was he’d come for the first time and destroyed the office in a temper because either he couldn’t remember what that was or couldn’t find it.”
Trevor stared at her. She could see him slotting the information into the correct boxes and he grinned. “You know that’s very possible.”
“The question is did he get what he wanted the second time?”
Trevor looked around. “This is a temper tantrum. So my guess is no.”
“The issue is are we safe at Kali’s house?”
“I’m not sure any house is safe.”
And that bothered him. She could see his face twisting in a frown. “I’ll call a security company that has done a lot of work for me in the past.” He pulled out his phone and walked away.
Hannah turned her attention to the mess in front of her. She knew Will had been here – but could she find any proof? She’d love to see him in jail for a year or two, although her father would most likely get him off. Particularly if he’d done this on orders. She wandered through the mess and studied the area. She had no idea what kind of proof she’d be looking for. Just because she recognized his energy didn’t mean it would stand up in court. The place was such a mess she couldn’t see anything that might have been new or different. She studied one corner. There was a crushed coffee cup on the side where the window had been broken. Would that have been from Will’s cup? She didn’t recognize the company logo on the side. If it wasn’t from around here or one that Trevor’s staff regularly attended, then it could be Will’s. He was a steady caffeine addict.
Trevor walked up behind her. “What did you find?”
She pointed to the coffee cup on top of the glass but still under pads of paper. “Do you think that was from one of the police, your staff or from Will?”
“Interesting.” He crouched down to take a look. “Believe it or not, my staff aren’t coffee drinkers. They are green tea addicts. The cops know better than to add to a crime scene, but neither should they have missed this.”
“It’s partially hidden, and I wouldn’t have noticed except I accidentally kicked these pads of papers.”
He nodded, got up and went into his office then came back out with tweezers and plastic bag. He carefully bagged the cup. “I’ll let the police decide if this is valuable or not.”
“Good. I’m all for anything that will nail Will’s ass to the jail cell wall.”
“So feisty,” he murmured. That grin of his flashed. “I like it.”
“Ha. You like it as long as it’s not turned on you,” she replied. She wandered the rest of the room looking for something that was out of place.
“Can you see his energy or just feel it?”
She spun. “One can see energy?”
He laughed. “Absolutely. I can see your aura. Or rather, the little bit of your aura you let us see.”
She blinked. “So you’re thinking I might be able to see Will’s energy?” She motioned with her hand. “As I look around I don’t see anything different. I see the destroyed office.”
“Well, you are in tune to it to such an extent that it would be very possible.”
“What brought you to the cup?”
She opened her mouth to say nothing, then slowly paused. Had it been nothing or had she been following something? “I feel like I followed something, but I’m not exactly sure what that was.”
“It would be Will’s energy.” He studied her, hands on his hips. “Willing to try something?”
“Sure,” she said cautiously. “Like an experiment you mean?”
“Yes.” He walked toward her. “Close your eyes and reach out for Will’s energy. You know when he’s close, so see if you can sense him here.”
“I already know he isn’t here but I know he was here,” she stressed. “So not sure what else I could pick up.”
“Can you see him? In your mind, do you see him walking through here? Touching things. Breaking windows?”
“I can see the energy like a human shape but no features walking through here,” she said excitedly. Then froze. “Wait, what if I’m making this up?”
“Are you?” he asked in a reasonable tone. “Why would you do that? It would take a lot of effort to imagine him there.”
She frowned. “But making something up and trusting what I see are two different things.”
“So don’t think. That’s the trick. Open your mind to Will’s energy. An energy you know so well, you’ve escaped his tracking energy many times…”
“Not escaped. He’s always found me. I just found a way to hit back.”
“Exactly,” he said softly. “And now you have another chance to hit him in a different way. Did he touch anything?”
“Sure he touched it all, but the glowing stuff around his hands is much less than the rest of him.”
“That’s because he wore gloves. So we don’t need to worry about fingerprints.”
“I’d expect nothing less,” she said. “He’s done stuff like this before. I used to call him my father’s enforcer.”
The snort came from the direction of Trevor, but she didn’t open her eyes. “The whole room is glowing,” she said in surprise. “I can see his energy, but there is a glow almost everywhere.”
“That could be the energy of the objects in the room, including the floor. Remember everything is energy so you have to filter out certain things to read his energy more clearly.”
She slowly spun in his room. “But my eyes are closed.”
“Right,” he said with humor. “So tell me, are you in grayscale or not.”
“Not,” she said in astonishment. “This…this space is full of color. Will’s energy is still red but fainter.”
“And the other colors?”
“Your assistants, their colors are green and a light blue. Yours is complex, mostly deep forest green.” She frowned. “Is that healthy to have a dark color like that?”
“Look in my direction now.”
She opened her eyes and looked at him. “I can’t see anything.”
“Close your eyes and look again.” This time humor overlaid his voice.
“It’s not nice to tease the newbie,” she said lightly, but she looked at him in her mind. And found him flowing in a soft mint green. “That’s beautiful,” she cried. “So was the dark green because its old energy, and the light mint green the new energy or the dark because you were angry and frustrated.”
“Well, in this case the dark energy was old, and I was angry and frustrated. So maybe both reasons came into play there.”
“And the light mint green energy?”
“That’s who I am right now. I’m happy,” his voice deepened. “Even in the middle of this mess.”
She studied the green energy and realized it kept wafting toward her. She glanced down at
her own body, her energy snugged up tight – as it always was. His energy was reaching for her, and she wasn’t reaching back.
And for the first time she realized why she might not have had any relationships that felt right. Her relationships had always seemed to be cold and of course had been short-lived. And now she knew why. It wasn’t the others. They had likely reached out to her too, but like now, she’d never reached back. Damn.
“What’s the matter?”
She sighed. “Apparently now I know why I suck at relationships.” She explained a little of what she saw. As she did so she watched his energy pull back against his own body. “Don’t please. I have to learn how to do this. I don’t want you to feel you can’t reach out for me. I’m just not sure how to reach back.”
“First off,” he said, “you have to want to.”
“Didn’t I make that clear last night?”
“That’s on a whole different level. On the physical level, yes, you did. But on this level – no, you didn’t.”
*
It was fascinating to watch Hannah process new information. She was damn fast at it. Now that she had a grasp on how some of the energy systems worked, she was picking it up quickly. The more she did the more she’d find she’d be able to do.
“I won’t pull back consciously,” he said. “But it is natural to not want to continue to put yourself out there without getting a positive response.”
“A horrible thought,” she admitted. “I’ve spent a lifetime keeping my energy in close to my body to avoid detection, and now I find that very same system has kept me from having happy, loving relationships.”
“Avoiding detection?”
“My mother’s words. Potentially a reason why my mother was also so very unhappy. Maybe she’d never realized how she was shortchanging herself and my father by keeping her aura close.”
He nodded. “Very interesting phrasing she used.” It said so much about her mother’s life. “We need to see her diary.”
She took a deep breath. “I hate to say it but I think you’re right.” She turned in a slow movement. “First we finish here, then we go to my house.” She motioned with her arm and gasped. “I can see energy sliding off my arm with the movement.”
“That’s normal,” he said. “Think about the energy that remains behind when you pick up an object.” At her sharp look he nodded. “It’s the same thing. All movement leaves behind remnants of energy.”
She closed her eyes. “Based on that information I can see a trail of Will’s energy as he created his carnage. He left a lot of energy in your personal office.” She walked forward to stand in his doorway. “And lost a lot of that energy in what looks like a temper fit.”
“I always lock up my files and all the competent sources out of the office, so there was nothing here for him to find. We have an onsite storage vault. But I was in the process of doing cloud storage and then taking everything offsite. I deal with some angry families. Particularly where inheritances and trusts come into play,” he said quietly. “I can’t ever leave anything to chance.”
“Scary thought.”
She closed her eyes again and surveyed the rest of the rooms but couldn’t see anything else helpful. He collected the cup she’d found and walked her back out to the car.
“My house?”
“Your house.”
Her stomach gurgled. And he laughed. “Your house first then we’ll have brunch.”
“Drive fast,” she said. “I’m really hungry.”
The roads were still empty. He followed her instructions to a beautiful house backing up to one of the many rivers through the area. Large wrought iron gates secured the front of the property. “Let me out,” she said. “I can open it manually.”
He paused to let her open the door, then texted Drew to give them their location in case of trouble.
He got an almost instant response.
Not smart. You shouldn’t go in there alone.
No choice. Mother left Hannah a diary. It’s important to the case.
Chapter 32
Hannah used the manual release to open the gate. The newer security systems had a code you punched in. She’d hoped her father hadn’t had enough time to change this one to something like that or she’d not be able to get in. Although she had no qualms about climbing the fence. In fact, it might be a lot easier to leave the car parked out here instead of inside the grounds. She thought her father had control of the gate at his house, and if he didn’t want to let them out, it was quite possible he had the means to stop them from doing so.
Frowning, she held her hand up to Trevor to stop him from driving into the yard. He rolled down the window and she explained the problem. He nodded and shut off the engine.
She really liked that about him. What she said had value. He listened. He didn’t knock her worries down or trample over her concerns. Even if he disagreed, he acted in a respectful way. “It’s not very far to walk.”
“This will be fine,” he said. “We can always hop the gate if need be.”
“I lived alone. There won’t be anyone here.”
“And what about Will? What if he came here next?”
She sent him a look of outrage. “Then we’d better check out if he pulled the same stunt as he did on your office.” She stormed ahead only to have her feet falter. She slowly turned back to face him.
“I think he probably found your office through me. We’d been there the day before. What if he tracked us there? Found it was your place and came back to destroy it.”
Trevor immediately tugged her up against him and in that firm take-charge voice he allayed her fears. “My office would be even easier to find. I gave your father a card the first day. The address is there. That had nothing to do with you.”
She beamed up at him. He smiled and dropped a kiss on her lips. “Now lead the way.”
They walked, arms linked, down the winding driveway to the large stone house. It could have been imposing but instead ended up being endearing. The rounded stones gave it more of a cottage look instead of mansion although it appeared to be well over six thousand square feet and three stories high. They passed another small building sitting beside the driveway.
“That’s the gatekeeper cottage,” she explained. “This was my mother’s house at one time. The housekeeper back then lived there with her husband. He looked after the gardens.”
“Convenient.”
“They were a lovely couple,” she said warmly. “I really missed them afterwards.”
“After what?”
“After my mother’s death. I was moved to my father’s other estate and only came back here after leaving college.”
“And that’s the first time you mentioned attending college.”
“Ha, that’s because I didn’t finish. I was placed in a private hospital again. So of course I wasn’t competent enough to continue my studies.”
“He let you live here? Alone?” Trevor’s voice sounded doubtful. “That doesn’t sound like him.”
“Well, I had a housekeeper who was a dragon lady and some guards, so I was a virtual prisoner. Later, I fired the housekeeper and told the guards to go back to my father’s estate, as they were no longer welcome here. That’s how I lived this last year.”
“Fascinating.”
“I was still under his surveillance though,” she muttered. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he has the house bugged.”
At that Trevor sent her a sharp glance but she ignored it. “I couldn’t get rid of the guards fully. But they did move to the cottage. That at least gave me some privacy and independence.”
“Until you blacked out?”
She nodded. “Exactly.”
They climbed the steps to the long lazy front porch. She reached up above the doorway and pulled down a hidden key then unlocked the door.
She pushed it open and stepped in, walking around the door. He watched as she turned off the alarm system. The inside of the house was beautiful and spacious but com
fortable.
“Will your father know you are here?”
“I believe so. But it depends if he’s traveling or sitting at home and plotting our demise,” she said lightly. “We’ll find out soon enough.”
She walked into the kitchen and stopped to turn around. “It all looks the same.” She turned and motioned to the side. “The stairs are this way.” She led the way upstairs to her bedroom. There she cried out in joy as she saw the open closet. “Clothes. Yes!”
“So he hasn’t touched anything?”
She rummaged into the closet pulling out several different items. “Not that I can see.” She walked back for another load and this time brought out a small carry-on bag. She packed it with several changes of clothes and added in her nightwear and underclothes. Finally she straightened and looked around. “I should grab a second pair of shoes and a warm sweater.”
“And your mom’s diary,” Trevor said in a quiet voice.
“Right.” She walked to her night table and from the bottom drawer pulled out a small box and placed it on the bed. She stared at it, memories flooding her mind. “She gave this to me herself.”
“When?”
“A week before she died.”
“What’s in it?”
Hannah looked over at him. “I have no idea. I’ve never opened it. I couldn’t before then, well… I forgot all about it.”
*
Crazy. Trevor looked at the keepsake and that Pandora’s Box tale came to mind. That Hannah’s mother gave it to her daughter just before her own death said a lot. Whether she was in fear of her life or had psychic abilities that foreshadowed her death, it was a little unnerving to see this sitting there.
“And the diary?”
She frowned and pulled the drawer out further. “It’s supposed to be in here.” She dug to the very back. “Here it is.” She pulled out a small leather bound book and handed it to him.
“Not very diary like?” he commented. He’d half expected one of those little teenager books with a tiny clasp and a key with a lock that would keep no one out. Instead this had all the earmarks of a little black book. He opened it to see some writing, but not a lot and only on a few pages. He tucked it in his pocket for her to read later. Then he picked up the keepsake box and put it into her bag. “Are you ready?”