“Jammies?” He chuckled.
She ignored him. “A loud noise from the kitchen spooked the animals and then the bedroom door started opening and closing on its own, Noah. Opening. And closing. On. Its. Own! All of us were scared to death. It’s like the animals kept staring at something I couldn’t see and whining. I didn’t sleep a wink!”
She’d almost packed up her car and driven home, but she knew she’d be in for a round of twenty questions if she came dragging three animals into her house in the middle of the night. The only thing scarier than a ghost was her father intent on an inquisition.
The humour had fled Noah’s eyes, replaced by a brooding but otherwise unreadable expression. She pointed a finger at him. “You know what I’m talking about because a similar thing has happened to you, hasn’t it?”
Bam. Bam. Bam.
The loud knocking startled Spider so badly, she sprang to her feet and stared at the ceiling where it had seemed to originate while she considered making a run for the door. Noah’s eyes were wide as they locked with hers. Without saying a word, he darted for the stairs. She was right behind him.
The echo of their footsteps on the uncarpeted landing was the only sound in the otherwise silent house. Noah stopped outside the only room with an open door. His chest rose and fell with deep, heavy breaths.
She pushed to her tiptoes to look over his shoulder and glimpsed the edge of a messy bed.
Clunk.
The new sound drew Noah into the room. He flung open the closet door while Spider entered more cautiously, darting her gaze around every nook and cranny and seeing no one. A weight settled in her lungs that felt … unnatural, as if she’d suddenly walked into a sauna, only the temperature was rather cold up here.
She edged closer and spotted nothing unusual in the walk-in closet. “What was that, Noah?”
“I don’t know.”
She took a step closer and—
“Aieee!” The jab of something in the middle of her back shoved her forwards and into Noah. They tumbled into the closet together in a mash of tangled limbs, Noah’s weight cushioning her fall from beneath.
The door slammed shut behind them, flooding the room with near-darkness.
“Noah!”
“Are you okay?”
“Someone pushed me!”
“Are you hurt?” he demanded in a firm, but panicked voice.
She shook her head.
“Emma?” He practically shouted.
“I’m fine. You?”
“Fine.”
He pushed up and against her, and it took serious effort to uncurl her hands from his hard biceps to let him go. Fear clawed at her insides as he shoved her away and frantically rattled the doorknob. She reached a hand around and massaged her back. What had shoved her so hard that she still felt the sting there?
Noah swore so harshly that Emma felt her face warm. She scrambled to her feet as he kicked at the door and then stepped back when he threw his shoulder against it. She wasn’t thrilled to be in here in the near-dark either, but geez.
Um, why wasn’t the door opening?
Her voice was a squeak. “We’re locked in? How are we locked in?”
The door burst open and Noah rushed out, grabbing the edge of the bed to steady himself from falling. When he glanced back towards her, his eyes were alive with something wild and dangerous. The white of his knuckles as he gripped the bedpost betrayed his terror.
“Noah, are you okay?”
“Claustrophobic. Give me a minute.” His breathing was as labored as if he’d just climbed a mountain. She reached out a tentative hand to comfort him, but drew it back when he looked away.
“Sorry,” he managed. “Closets and I don’t get along, especially when I’m locked inside one.”
“No arguments here.” Something about the tone of his voice triggered her curiosity. “You’ve been locked in one before?”
“Few times.”
Well, that sounded awful. She shifted on her feet, uncertain what to do next. She was dying to ask him why he’d been locked in a closet a few times, but that probably wasn’t polite. Turning, she realized the door was hanging at an angle, torn from one of its hinges. Dang. Noah, one – closet, zero.
She risked a step closer and another, until she was back inside the small space. The air didn’t feel as heavy in her lungs as it had a few minutes before. She spun around, taking in the contents, mostly clothes and boxes, and noticed a small hole in the wall near the floor. Kneeling, she reached out and poked her finger in it. Coarse fabric scraped her fingertips.
“Noah, I think I found something.”
“What?”
A shadow fell over her as he moved into the doorway. Dry plaster crumbled in her hand, expanding the opening. “Do you mind if I see what’s behind here?”
He reached into his jeans and retrieved a pocketknife. Passing it over, he said, “Be careful. There could be wires in there.”
Carefully, she jabbed the hard metal into the surface until the rotted area collapsed into dust. Not wires, but some kind of box covered in rough cloth. Sticking her hand into the enlarged hole, she retrieved a small black box caked in white powder.
“What is that?” he asked, lowering to his haunches beside her.
She lifted the lid and gasped. A gorgeous diamond ring sparkled in the stream of sunlight pouring into the closet. Arching an eyebrow, Spider lifted the piece of jewelry for him to see.
“I’d bet my entire Marvel collection someone tossed us in here because they wanted us to find this.”
* * *
This was insane.
When Emma had pried the wall away with the knife, the loud scrape of metal against dry wood had sickened him. He’d attributed the gut-wrenching feeling to his hatred of small spaces and the traumatic feeling of getting trapped inside one again. But as the smooth, cold metal of the ring touched his skin, dizziness sent the walls spinning around him.
Memories of his father’s voice mocking him through the closet door sent a rush of anger and fear coursing through his mind.
No!
Pushing to his feet, he escaped the cursed closet. Maybe he couldn’t stop the panic, but he could shove it aside, or, better yet, hide it. He turned to see that she’d followed him, and his spine straightened. “None of this proves the house is haunted.” Even to his ears, the statement sounded weak.
“Noah, don’t pretend something weird didn’t just happen.” She pressed closer and snatched the ring from his grasp. “We were pushed into that closet. I think your ghost wanted us to find this for some reason.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.” She paced to the window, held the ring up to the light and examined it closer. “But I know people who can help. My friend, Alexandra – she’s psychic. She’ll know what to do. She deals with this stuff all the time.”
His first inclination was to argue, but the mention of King stopped him cold. This could be the opportunity he’d been looking for to get closer to the supposed psychic detective.
Emma looked at him, moved closer. “You wouldn’t hesitate if you didn’t want help.” Her fingers clasped his upper arm, and some of the tension eating away at him seeped slowly through his pores. It was strange, the calming effect this young woman had on him. “Let me call her. She’ll probably come right away. We can rid ourselves of this pesky ghost by evening. What do you say?”
Did that mean King was back in town already? Or did Emma not know her co-worker had left? Either way, it was worth finding out.
“All right.” He leaned closer. “But I’m only doing this because of the experiences you’ve been having.”
One of her brows lifted. “Yeah, right.” A beautiful smile erupted all over her face. “This is going to be awesome. I’ve always wanted to see her do this up close. My phone! Where’s my phone?” She spun around and hurried down the stairs.
Sighing and wiping a hand over his tired eyes, Noah glanced around the room. Something damn strange had happened
in here. This could be an ideal opportunity to see King work her magic, figure out how she conned people. He could be packed up and ready to move on in a few days if whatever was happening here escalated.
The distant sound of Emma’s voice captured his attention and sent an unexpected pang of guilt piercing through his chest. It was a shitty thing to do, using her like this. He liked her, didn’t want to hurt her.
His father’s genes kicked in and reminded him that it was also an opportunity to spend more time with her, get to know her better and find out if she was willing to act upon their mutual attraction. Oh, yeah. He could tell she was interested. She hadn’t been able to hide her appreciation earlier.
Don’t even think about it, West. There’s no telling how innocent she might be. Not to mention, the police chief’s daughter. That was a whole mess of complication he didn’t need.
He was the son of a convict: an abusive asshole, womanizer and alcoholic. Those things had a tendency to rub off, one way or another. Even if he was the type of man who believed in fairy tales, this young woman deserved better than him.
She’d also claimed to have a boyfriend, and Noah wasn’t the type to poach a woman, no matter how attractive he found her.
Strange thing was, he was still tempted. How long had it been since he’d been with someone? Six months, at least. He’d been tiring of the whole dating scene, if that’s what you wanted to call it. His longest relationship had only ever lasted a week. It had never bothered him until recently. Loath as he was to admit it, coming home to this empty house every day was damn lonely. The feeling had been amplified the more he’d observed Zachary Collins and his fiancée interacting. The friendship between them had been as obvious as their sexual chemistry. Such a weird thing to witness. All he usually saw were couples fighting. What would it be like to enjoy a woman’s company so much you wanted to spend time with her out of bed as much as in?
With heavy limbs, he slipped on some socks and shoes before heading downstairs to see what Emma’s plan was. He caught the tail end of her conversation. Didn’t sound promising.
“So you don’t know when you’ll be back?” Emma dropped into the chair, frowning as she listened to the response. “Well, any ideas on what we can do in the meantime? I’m serious, Alexandra. I was terrified last night.” She twirled a finger around her ginger locks and then sighed. “Okay. Thanks. I really appreciate it. And I’m sorry about your brother’s marriage. I hope you can help him get things worked out.”
Noah wandered over to the glass of whiskey he’d abandoned last night – another failed sleep aid – and downed the contents in a gulp. He’d found a half-empty bottle of the stuff in the cabinet and taken advantage, something he rarely allowed himself to do. She ended her call and sighed loudly.
“Sorry. She won’t be able to help right now. She’s out of town with a family emergency and doesn’t know when she’ll be back.”
He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. “Shame.”
“Yeah. Her brother’s in the military and his wife just filed for divorce. Since her brother’s overseas, Alexandra went to try to find out what’s going on. She’s always trying to help people like that.”
Interesting. “Except you.”
She shot him a look of disapproval. “She’s going to call a friend, some guy she knows who’s psychic like her. Anyway, she’s going to see if he’ll stop by and help us figure this thing out. She actually seemed worried when I explained some of the things that had happened.”
“So what do we do in the meantime?”
Excitement danced in her eyes. Wow. She really believed in this stuff. “I was thinking about it.” She reached for her bag and pulled a laptop out. “I think the ghost is trying to tell us something. I think she wants help. If we can find out who used to live here and why they hid this ring in the closet, maybe we’ll find some answers.”
He moved closer to see what she was doing. “How do we do that?”
“We can check property records. Probably easier just to ask your landlord what he knows. Maybe it’s something to do with him or his family. I’ll do another search of the newspaper archives online to see if this address returns anything while you go call him.”
Bossy, too. He liked that. “Yes, ma’am.” Smiling, he found himself doing as suggested. It only took him a few minutes to come up short. “We’ve got a problem. He’s not available now. His secretary scheduled me in for a meeting this afternoon. What are you doing for lunch?”
The clacking of computer keys stopped as she glanced up at him and shrugged. “No plans.”
“We’ll stop and grab something on the way. My treat.”
“Really? I can come?” Her expression was bursting with delight now.
“You seem to know a helluva lot more about this stuff than I do.”
“Oh, this is going to be awesome!” Setting her computer aside, she hopped to her feet and hugged him, so quickly he barely felt it. Gripping his biceps, she grew serious as she stared up at him. “Don’t worry, Noah. You’re not alone in this. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Coming from anyone else, he might have laughed. Something about the sincerity in her voice, the concern in her eyes soothed something inside of him.
He managed a smile. “Thanks.”
Strange thing was, he meant it.
Chapter 6
Why, oh why had she chosen her favourite deli as their lunch spot?
Spider and Noah had barely had time to sit at a table with their food when a familiar face pushed through the crowd toward them, his intent to make a nuisance of himself obvious in the tense lines of the man’s all-too-familiar features. From across the room, her ex’s sky-blue gaze had pinned her in her seat.
“Fudge,” she whispered, angling her head down and hiding her face with one hand.
“What?” Noah asked.
“Nothing.” She forced a smile and scooted her chair closer to the wall. Did she have time to make a run for the bathroom? Or maybe, the exit?
“Emma?”
Reluctantly, she looked up. “Paul. Um, hey.”
Paul was dressed in his uniform, so hopefully he’d get a call from dispatch and leave. Soon. His thumbs hooked around his belt close to his pockets and his gun as his gaze raked over Noah. Frowning, he focused on her again.
She gestured to Noah. “Paul, this is—”
“Your hair’s not blue anymore.” His tone managed to sound both condescending and complimentary all at once.
Her face caught fire as she brushed the soft locks away from her brows. She’d managed to avoid him for about two months now, which was a real accomplishment considering how often he dropped by her house under the pretense of seeing her father. “I went natural for a friend’s wedding. Didn’t want to ruin her photos.”
Not that Hannah would have minded having a blue-haired bridesmaid, or else she would have never asked Spider to participate. Spider had figured going natural for a few weeks was the polite thing to do. Besides, she’d been planning to go pink soon anyway.
Crossing her arms, she looked at the man sitting across from her to gauge his reaction. Noah’s brows furrowed as he leaned back. Maybe he wasn’t a fan of anime hair. She couldn’t tell.
Paul ignored Noah. Smiling, he put his hand on the back of her chair and leaned closer, lowering his voice. “I told you not to dye it to begin with. This suits you so much better.” His fingers toyed with the ends of her hair. “You should leave it.”
Once upon a time, the gesture might have been intimate, pleasant even, but now his proximity made her stomach roll. She was a bit ashamed to remember all the times she’d allowed his possessive posturing, but, then again, Paul hadn’t always been overbearing. Not until he’d gone through the police academy and decided he liked being a douchebag.
He leaned closer. “I miss you, Emma. It’d be nice if we could go out, talk, clear the air. It’s time you snapped out of this phase you’re going through.”
He was pouring on the charm
because they were in public, but phase? That was a passive aggressive insult if ever she’d heard one. She gritted her teeth to keep from causing a scene, which is pretty much what she’d always done with Paul after a point. That thought irked her so much, she lifted her eyes and glared at him.
The new her – Spider – wasn’t nearly as timid.
She was about to open her mouth and shoot a stinger his way when she caught Noah’s gaze on her. There was no judgment in his eyes. Only curiosity. Lord only knew what he must have been thinking.
His voice was loud over the scraping of his chair across the floor as he pushed back, stood, and told Paul, “We haven’t met. I’m Noah West. Emma’s date.”
Spider slumped lower in her seat as Paul straightened and stared at Noah’s outstretched hand without taking it. Bless Noah’s heart for trying to save her, but oh, boy. This was not going to end well.
The young cop frowned as he looked at her again. “I don’t remember your dad mentioning you had a new boyfriend.”
“Does her father know everything about you?” Noah inserted with a skeptical I-don’t-think-so look in Paul’s direction. “Not to be rude, but we were in the middle of something.”
“Not to be rude, but so was I.” Paul’s hand moved to cover his holster. “Emma, let’s go.”
Yeah, right. He was out of his freaking mind if he thought she’d even consider leaving here with him.
The radio at Paul’s hip squawked out a call for assistance. Disorderly conduct a few streets from where they were, which was good, since there was about to be disorderly conduct in this restaurant if one of them didn’t leave soon. His jaw muscles twitching, Paul lifted his handset and responded.
To Spider, he said, “I’ll call you later.”
And I won’t answer.
The menacing way he and Noah continued to stare at each other reminded her of a couple of male lions she’d watched on the National Geographic Channel. They’d been fighting over a herd of lionesses, and it had gotten downright nasty.
Sheesh. Noah was one heck of a good actor here.
He watched Paul leave before he sat down again. “Old boyfriend?”
Spirited Away Page 6
