Knead Some Space

by Harley Gordon

  No. No. No.

  “How do you know her?” Agent Smith asked.

  Novah rubbed at her chest, leaning into Talia who wrapped an arm around her waist. “She lives in my building a couple blocks over from here. And she comes to our meetings every now and again. She doesn’t like leaving her house. She only does once every couple months.”

  The agent’s head tilted. “Agoraphobe?”

  Novah shrugged. “Maybe. I never asked and she never said.”

  Was this really happening? Was Rachel really dead?

  “What meeting?”

  “Uh. Well...” Novah trailed off and gestured to the group behind her. “We’re a group of people who like to get together and discuss myths and legends and the paranormal.”

  Agent Smith nodded. “Ah. I see. And Mrs. Diaz was a member?”

  “Not exactly. She was usually a source. She knows a lot about well...everything. She’s a very well-read woman.”

  Novah wasn’t usually ashamed of her group or her beliefs, but something about this man was making all her instincts scream at her to be vague. That she didn’t want to be on his radar.

  It finally clicked that she couldn’t feel a single emotion from him. Her own emotions hid it from her at first. He was completely blank. Like some kind of robot. She might as well have been standing next to her espresso machine.

  Never had she encountered someone she couldn’t read, who could control themselves so well nothing leaked out and clung to her.

  The experience was scary and exhilarating at the same time.

  Who was this man? What was he?

  Whoever he was, he was dangerous to her. She needed to get him out of here.

  “Is Rachel all right?” Novah finally asked straight out, needing to know for sure.

  “She’s dead.”

  Novah had been expecting it, so she was braced for the blow that still almost toppled her over. She brought her hand back up to her chest and rubbed at it more, trying to smooth away the ache. “How?”

  The agent shrugged. “We don’t know yet. Looks like an animal attack.”

  It was really disconcerting talking to someone whose emotions she couldn’t read and who kept his eyes hidden so she couldn’t try to read him that way either. His face was completely blank, only showing the slightest signs of life.

  Was he a robot?

  Talia shook her head in disbelief. “Animal attack? In the middle of town?”

  He shrugged again. “It happens.”

  Right.

  “Can we help you with anything else?” Talia asked, her grip tightening on Novah’s waist.

  “Yes. How about one of you take me to her home? It’ll save us some time looking it up. Because it wasn’t the address listed on her license.”

  Whoops.

  Novah should’ve kept that piece of information to herself. But she completely forgot Rachel was so careful about who had what information about her.

  “Right. Yeah, she didn’t trust the government to know where she was, so as soon as she got her license, she moved to a new location.”

  “I see.”

  It made more sense for Novah to take him since it was her apartment building too.

  She turned to her friend. “Talia? Can you handle this?”

  Talia pulled away from her and nodded with a sniff and hard jaw. “Of course. Go on.”

  Novah looked over her shoulder at her group who were patiently eavesdropping. “Dorothy?”

  Dorothy held her thumb up over the top of her computer. “I’ll lead the meeting, dear.”

  She was so grateful she had these wonderful people in her life.

  “Thank you both.” Novah gestured for the agent with sunglasses to head towards the door. “Let’s go.”

  Agent Smith studied Novah for a moment before he dipped his head in a nod and strode off, leaving her to follow with quick steps in his wake.

  Outside, they fell into step next to each other and headed away from the scene down the street still flashing with red and blue lights.

  “She lives this way?” Agent Smith asked.

  Novah nodded before she stopped at the edge of the sidewalk and waited for the light to flash and let them know it was safe to walk. “Yes.”

  He side eyed her as they hurried across the street. “And she didn’t stop to see you on her way wherever she was going?”

  Novah shook her head, biting back a snarky comment at his suspicious probing. “No. I’ve been here since we opened. She never came in.”

  “Does she have any enemies?”

  Her lips twitched as she thought about all the people Rachel claimed were after her. “According to her, yes.”

  She had a long list of nemeses.

  “Who?”

  Novah shrugged. “The government, the military, a vampire or two.”

  Agent Smith’s stride faltered. “Vampire?”

  Novah grinned wide at him, enjoying his discomfort and surprise. “Yes.”

  Agent Smith adjusted his sunglasses. “She believed in the supernatural as well as government conspiracies?”

  They crossed another street, only about ten minutes from her place now.

  “Yes.”

  “And you do as well?” He side-eyed her again.

  Novah shrugged, refusing to be embarrassed. “More the supernatural than little green men, but to an extent, yes.”

  “Hmm.”

  Novah bit the insides of her lip at his noncommittal noise and blank face, trying not to chatter to cover her nervousness. She hated not knowing what he was feeling and loved it at the same time. It was terrifying and peaceful.

  Did he have so much control? Was he like her and so could block her? Was he so damaged from something in his past, his emotions were broken?

  But she couldn’t ask. She couldn’t give him any hint that she wasn’t a regular human. Especially since he worked for a branch of the government she wanted nothing to do with.

  Speaking of, none of this made any sense.

  “Why are you investigating her death, exactly? Seems like the FBI doesn’t really have a reason to get involved in an animal attack.”

  His jaw hardened. “That’s classified.”

  She didn’t bother hiding her dramatic eye roll. “Of course it is.”

  For Galileo’s sake, that was the biggest pile of garbage she’d ever heard.

  He scowled. “Don’t turn it into something it’s not. I can’t divulge details of an active investigation with a civilian.”

  “I didn’t realize animal attacks were classified and investigated so thoroughly.”

  He huffed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Stop digging. I just need you to take me to her place so I can check things out. Just covering all my bases.”

  Novah decided to back off for now, even though everything that came out of his mouth was bull. Besides, they were here.

  She pointed at the rundown and peeling apartment building in front of them. “Well, here we are.”

  Agent Smith’s lips turned down in a frown. “This is where you live?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  He looked around. “Not the safest area.”

  Novah shrugged. “Most of my income goes back into the donut shop. It’s still a new business and this is the closest building I could afford within walking distance of my store.”

  “Hmm.”

  Novah gritted her teeth at his repeat of that irritating sound, this time sounding judgmental and disapproving. “I’ll see if I can find the landlord and ask him to let you in.”

  She wasn’t sure why he needed her to come with him. She could’ve just given him the address and unit number and sent him on his way.

  “No need. I have her keys.” He slid his hand into his pants pocket and pulled our a set of familiar keys.

  “Oh. That’s good then. She has like six deadbolts.”

  “Show me to her unit, please?”

  Novah’s brow furrowed. “It’s unit eleven C on the third floor. You can go crazy.�
��

  He held the door to what passed as a lobby for her. “I’d like you to join me.”

  “Why?” Novah wasn’t sure she wanted to invade Rachel’s space.

  She’d been in her home before, but only a few times.

  “You knew her. You might be able to find something that I won’t. People like her have a lot of hiding places.”

  Novah shook her head as she led him to the stairwell. “She didn’t trust me enough to show me those. Or even admit she had them. We weren’t that close. She took care of my cat sometimes and I went to her for information sometimes. Nothing else.”

  Agent Smith shrugged as he led the way up the steps at a fast pace. “You still know her better than I do.”

  She considered questioning him wanting her to come since the investigation was classified, but she wanted to know what happened to Mrs. Diaz. Maybe they weren’t close, but Novah liked her. She needed to find out what happened.

  Especially since the FBI was so interested in the death.

  Agent Smith opened the door to the third floor and gestured Novah through.

  She turned left and stopped at Rachel’s door. “Here we are.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Sure.”

  He shoved the key in the first lock, but didn’t turn it, pausing to glare at her through the dark lenses of his blasted sunglasses. “Before we go inside, I need to know you’ll keep whatever we find to yourself.”

  “Uh. Sure.”

  Depending on what they found in here, that was going to be really difficult to do.

  “I’m serious. You can’t return to your donut shop and tell your little conspiracy group. I will charge you with obstructing an investigation if you do.”

  Novah stiffened at the threat. “Fine. I’ll keep it to myself. I don’t know why you’re involving me in the first place.”

  “I told you the reasons. That’s all you need to know.” He finally turned the key in the first lock before moving to the next one.

  “Right.”

  Because federal agents often had civilians help them out in investigations.

  This wasn’t a book or TV show. It was real life.

  Which meant there was something else going on.

  Did he know? About her abilities? Had she been discovered somehow?

  It was the only reason she could think of that he’d want the help of a donut maker and conspiracy nut.

  Novah barely kept herself from screaming when Agent Smith opened the door and Rachel stood in the doorway covered in blood.

  Chapter Four

  Agent Smith walked right through the dead woman and Novah shuddered as she was forced to do the same thing. She hated walking through ghosts. It made all the hair on the back of her neck stand to attention and made dread curl in the pit of her stomach.

  But she couldn’t afford to act strangely in front of a government agent.

  Rachel turned to watch them, eyeing Novah specifically. “I know you can see me. I’ve always known you had the gift. But keep pretending in front of the suit. I can’t believe you brought him to my house. He’s going to find my files. You can’t let him find my files. They’re hidden beneath the floorboards under my bookshelf. Don’t show him. Come back later and get them. You better not. Because I have a file on you.”

  Of course she did.

  Novah rubbed at her forehead, trying to ward off the stress migraine forming behind her eyes.

  Agent Smith inspected Rachel’s house, bringing her attention back to him. “She doesn’t really have the place of a conspiracy theorist.”

  She rolled her eyes with a huff. “We’re not all Mel Gibson in that movie.”

  “Of course. But you also said she rarely leaves her home. I guess I expected a little more...” Agent Smith trailed off.

  Novah’s lips quirked on one side. “Hoarders?”

  He winced with a shrug. “Yes. And walls covered in red yarn and blurry photographs.”

  “Like I would cover my walls in mindless scrawls and ripped up newspapers. I took pride in my place. He sure is a judgmental jerk, isn’t he?”

  Novah didn’t disagree with Rachel’s comment. So far, she wasn’t impressed with this guy.

  “Where are her files?” Smith asked.

  She raised her brows in question. “Files?”

  “Yes, the information she’s gathered on the supposed crash or paranormal events? I assume she wouldn’t back it up on the Cloud.”

  Novah shrugged. “I have no idea. She wouldn’t have shown anyone her hiding places.”

  Why did he think she’d know anything like that? And why would she tell him? Rachel wasn’t under investigation. She was the victim of an animal attack. He had no reason to look into her life.

  The only reason Rachel was telling someone now was because she was dead.

  And Novah couldn’t let Agent Smith get ahold of any files about her. Especially if Rachel had somehow figured out Novah’s secrets.

  Though she couldn’t figure out how.

  Unless Rachel had her own secrets.

  Did she have some sort of special abilities too? Did Novah waste all this time and there was someone like her right under her nose?

  The thought was heartbreaking.

  When Agent Smith turned his back to peek through the drawers of Rachel’s filing cabinet, Novah turned to the ghost and mouthed, “Come find me later at home.”

  Rachel nodded, giving Novah a better look at the wound on the side of her neck. It looked like a vampire bite. A lot different from the man who came in the shop earlier other than the placement. Novah had never seen any animal bite that left two holes in the side of someone’s neck. Granted, she wasn’t a medical examiner or a vet, so it was possible.

  But in the middle of town?

  Not quite believable.

  “It’s really clean. Is it always like this?” His voice made her jump and spin around to face him.

  Novah cleared her throat. “Every time I’ve been by.”

  “Was she just neat or did she have a little OCD?”

  “I’m not sure. I’ve never witnessed her get overwrought over a crumb or stray fly before, but she likes organization and a tidy home. She lives...I mean she lived alone. You don’t make that much mess when it’s only one person to clean up after.”

  “Your place looks like this too?”

  Novah snorted. “No. Not this nice. But it’s not a pigsty either. Do you live alone?”

  She was going to punch him if he said it was classified.

  “I do.”

  “Are you this clean?”

  He dipped his head in a short nod. “Yes.”

  “Do you have OCD?”

  “It’s never been diagnosed, but maybe. I wasn’t as a child though. I think it was learned through my service.”

  Novah frowned. “Service?”

  “To my country.”

  She tilted her head to the side. “Is that a fancy way of saying military?”

  “Sure. Something like that.”

  “Are you trying to seen like you stepped right off the Men in Black set, or is it some wacky coincidence?” Novah was quickly running out of patience with this cryptic crap.

  His lips twitched. “I’m trying a little. Thought it’d be fun to mess with you.”

  She scowled at him. “Hilarious. Can I go now? I don’t know what to tell you or show you. It’s highly likely she kept all the information on a flash drive in a safe deposit box.”

  Hs brows rose. “Was she that paranoid?”

  “I don’t know. But considering she didn’t even want her address on record? I doubt she’d have wanted whatever you’re looking for here where it could be stumbled upon.”

  “Perhaps.” Agent Smith frowned as he studied the bookcase.

  Novah tried to think of something to distract him, wanting his attention away from there, though she had no idea how she’d get back inside to get to the hidden files. She didn’t exactly have lock picking experience.

  “Does
she have any family listed? Someone who will come and take care of her things and plan her funeral?” Novah wanted a chance to say goodbye.

  Rachel deserved a funeral.

  “Not that I found on a preliminary search. But I can let you know.”

  “I’d just like to pay my respects.”

  “Of course.” He squatted by the shelf, still frowning at the floor. “I think there’s something here.”

  No. No. No. No.

  “This guy is a pain in my behind. How did he notice that? Don’t worry, Novah. I have backups if he finds what I have hidden there.”

  “What?” She tried to play it cool and keep the panic from her face.

  Maybe she should’ve considered wearing sunglasses everywhere to hide her expressions. It certainly worked for him.

  “There’s a scrape here, like she moved the bookcase regularly.” He rubbed his fingers across the mark on the floor.

  “You think she’s got some secret room behind it?”

  “I think I want to move the bookcase and find out. Come help me.”

  She couldn’t exactly say no. “Okay.”

  Novah took position on the left side of the shelf, grabbing the edges while he took the right.

  “Ready?”

  Novah nodded.

  “Push.”

  They shoved the bookcase over and there in plain site was the floorboard Rachel mentioned. It even had a nice handle on it, to make it completely obvious.

  Smith sat back on his heels. “I guess she didn’t trust banks either.”

  “I guess not.”

  Chapter Five

  Agent Smith grunted as he yanked up the trapdoor. They both coughed and waved their hands in front of their faces as dust billowed around them.

  “Guess she hadn’t used this cubbyhole in a while. I wonder if she has another one somewhere.” He reached inside and lifted out a stack of file folders bulging with papers.

  Rachel sniffed and crossed her arms. “Of course I do. I have them all over the city. It’s not safe to keep everything in one location.”

  Novah itched to get her hands on the stacks of files Agent Smith set to the side before he ran his hand around the inside of the hiding place.

  “It’s just files here.” He frowned.

  “Why do you need her files? Why are you digging into her life over an animal attack?”