Something inside him was broken, and Emma deserved more. How could he ask her to hang around while he figured out how to be complete? Who knew if he could be?
She was kind, funny and loyal to a fault. She was everything he hadn’t known he was looking for. How could he stand to lose her?
A shadow on the ceiling moved, snapping his body to alert. Seconds later, the cat jumped on top of him. Releasing the breath he’d been holding, he relaxed as the animal strolled up his body, stopping to stand on Noah’s chest. Almond-shaped eyes stared down at him for several seconds until, finally, the cat sank down, sprawling across him as if he were a body pillow.
The animal’s purr was soothing and, eyelids drooping, Noah let it lull him to sleep.
Chapter 19
Spider wasn’t certain how well her plan would go over with Noah, but that didn’t stop her from setting everything up while he was busy showering upstairs.
It had taken her a while this morning to figure out if she had everything they needed to try her other plan – the one she hadn’t shared with him yet – but she’d found an extra voice recorder in Zach’s desk, downloaded and tested a few software applications, and called Alexandra to make sure they wouldn’t be doing anything crazy like opening up portals to release evil flying monkeys or something.
When he’d suggested they make a trip over to his house to go through Kate’s belongings, she’d seized the opportunity to put her plan into action. Guilt almost had her spilling out the details before he’d opened his door, but considering how quiet he’d been since last night, she’d figured he wasn’t in the mood to hear them.
Noah took one step into the room and froze. “What’s all this?”
“Umm.” She bit her lower lip, wondering if she’d overstepped her boundary by touching his stuff. “Hear me out first.” She walked over to her laptop, which was sitting next to his on the counter. She’d connected and anchored his DSLR camera and tripod to his machine and had positioned it to capture images in the central part of his living room. “I was thinking.”
“Heaven help us.”
“You’re so not funny.” She switched the camera on and aimed it at him to do a test check. His bemused expression filled the screen on his computer. Yep. It was working, which was beyond awesome since she had no idea what she was doing. “Remember how Kate scared me to death by typing those crazy words on my computer?”
He frowned. “I remember you mentioning something.”
“Point is, she was able to communicate with me through the computer. You know, sort of like an Ouija board, I guess. Since Connor hasn’t returned and Alexandra is knee-deep in family drama, I thought we’d try to reach out to Kate ourselves. If she could give us more details, like the name of her killer, we can solve this case once and for all.”
He ran a hand over his face. “I don’t know if this is such a good idea.”
“Of course it is. Come here.” She moved behind the counter, pulled up one of the new applications she’d found and retrieved her phone. Noah reluctantly moved behind her to see what she was doing. “See this?” She turned and held up her mobile.
“Your phone?” His voice was wary.
She opened up an app and smiled. “Not anymore. I just turned it into an EMF reader.” She barely resisted the urge to give him two snaps and an “Oh, yeah!”
“I’m supposed to know what that means?”
She shook her head and turned away in disgust. “Haven’t you ever watched a ghost-hunting show?”
“Not my thing. Sorry.”
She sighed, typing fast to bring up the programs she’d installed to link her computer with her phone and record all of the information they captured. “Electromagnetic field detector. Supposedly, it can detect the presence of a ghost.” She picked up her phone and stepped closer to show him the display. “See this? If there’s a spike in the reading, that’s an indication we’re not alone.”
“Or that you’re standing next to some electrical equipment.”
“Or that.”
She noticed the weary lines creeping back into his features. “I suppose I should have waited to talk to you about this first.” After all, Kate was his mother. It was easy to get caught up in the excitement of a ghost hunt without realizing the people on the other side were simply that. People.
She hadn’t stopped to think how traumatic this might be for Noah either. It was probably far too soon to expect him to be okay with this. With any of this.
“Know what?” She sat her phone aside. “Let’s not do this. We can wait—”
“No.” He grabbed her hand to keep her from turning. “You’ve got everything set up. This was a good idea. I think.”
“Are you sure?” She stepped closer, slipping her arms around his middle and watching his expression for any sign that he was only pacifying her. His shoulders sank as he slid his hands up and down her arms, half smiling.
“I’d like to get this mystery solved so I know you’re safe and we can move on from all of this.”
Moving on from all of this could mean moving on from her. A tiny nugget of doubt worried at her hope that he meant moving on with her rather than away from her.
He was a hard man to read, but she decided to take him at his word. The poor guy already had enough to deal with. “Right. Should we do it now, or do you need a little time to adjust?”
He shook his head. “What do I do?”
She reached for the voice recorder. “I might be overdoing things a bit, but I figure at least one of these has to work, right?” She turned the recorder on and placed it in his hand. “We ask Kate questions. Record everything. I’ll be over here at the computers, so if she prefers typing her answers, I’ll know it. The camera is also recording in case we can get anything that way.”
“You’re right. I think you’re overdoing it just a little.”
She shrugged. “Well, I’m hoping we only have to do this once.”
“Right. Good plan.”
Smiling, she handed him her phone and explained again the way to use it. “She’s attached to you, so it’s probably best if you ask the questions.”
“Sure.” He swallowed. “Do I walk around or what?”
Good question. “Maybe. Start in here and see what happens. Remember, if the reader spikes, stop and talk to her.”
His face paled, but he clenched his jaw and nodded. Slowly, he moved to the other side of the room. Clearing his throat, he asked, “So … is anyone here?”
Spider’s gaze focused on the displays linked to her computer. A blank Word document was open in the left-hand corner, available as a writing tool if Kate wanted it.
But absolutely nothing happened.
“Ask again,” she urged him gently. “Walk around.”
He paced to the other side of the room. “Anyone here? Kate?”
The digital meter jumped, and Spider gasped. “Did you see that?”
“Yeah.” He glanced around the room. “Kate?”
It jumped again.
“So you’re here. Good.” He hesitated. “We want to help you. We think we know what happened, but we need some help figuring out your killer’s name.”
Spider nodded encouragement at him from her station.
He held out his hands in question. “How do I get her to tell me a name?”
The reader spiked, higher than before, and so did Spider’s heartbeat. “Ask her to type it over here.”
Before Noah had the chance, two letters appeared on the document.
JD.
Spider sucked in air and stepped back.
“What happened?” Noah hurried to see, his body tensing where it pressed against hers. He swore. “I don’t suppose you can give us a last name?”
The letter C appeared in front of the blinking cursor. Nothing else.
“Kate?” Spider asked.
The letter O appeared twice as the screen flickered and went black. The steady hum of the power source faded to silent.
“What? No!” Spider
tapped the space bar, hoping the machine had only gone to sleep, but it remained frustratingly dead. “Crap!” She hurried to her bag, hoping she’d brought her power cord. “Oh, I’m so stupid! I bet she drained the battery by pulling from its energy in order to type. Stupid! Why didn’t I have it plugged in?”
“Camera’s dead, too. So is your phone.”
Seriously? Spider could kick herself for such an amateurish mistake. She’d seen enough of the shows with guys who ran around taunting spirits to know this had been a probability. She hurried to plug her laptop directly to the wall and drummed the touchpad impatiently while she waited for it to boot up again.
Noah’s hand settled on her shoulder as he leaned over her from behind and wiggled the hand that held the voice recorder in front of her. “This still has juice.”
Spider straightened. “I wonder if we captured anything.”
“Only one way to find out.” He hit rewind and then play.
Jostling sounds mixed with the white noise of distorted silence before Noah asked his first question. “Anyone here? Kate?”
A snakelike whisper could be heard.
“Holy hell.” Noah jerked his head back. “Did someone say yes?”
Spider nodded. “I heard that, too.”
Their voices from earlier followed. When Noah again asked, “Kate?” there was another distorted response. Unintelligible this time.
“I can’t make out what she’s saying.” Noah pushed the recorder toward her.
“Me either. Here. Let’s see if this works.”
Her computer had rebooted, so she connected the voice recorder, downloaded the raw wave file and inserted it into the program she’d used to decipher Kate’s previous message on Noah’s video. A few minutes later, she thought she had the proper sound waves alienated and digitized enough. She clicked play.
“Danger.”
It was still hard to make out, but Spider would bet her month’s salary that’s what the word was.
“I can’t believe this.” Noah leaned against the counter and stared in shock at the wall. “Did we get anything else?”
They listened through the rest of the recording. Something faint in an urgent-sounding tone could be heard right after Noah’s voice asked, “I don’t suppose you can give us a last name?”
Spider worked her magic on that clip, amplified the volume, and listened carefully.
“Cot!”
She looked at Noah for clarification. “What do you hear?”
“Caw?”
“I hear cot.”
“Replay it.”
She did, and they couldn’t come to an agreement on what the sound meant. Crossing his arms and leaning back against the counter, Noah glanced around the room. “We know she was writing C-O-O before the computer died. What last names would that be?”
“Cooper?”
“Cook,” he offered.
She sighed and shut the lid on her laptop in frustration. “Have we talked to anyone with a name that begins with C-O-O?”
Noah’s brow furrowed. “What was the name of that bartender? The one at the new restaurant that used to be Wally’s?”
“I have no idea. I don’t think I asked.”
“Me either. Maybe one of us should.”
A shot of adrenaline bolstered Spider’s courage. “I bet it’s him! Oh my gosh!” This had to be the lead they’d been looking for. She reached for her phone, but it was dead. “Dag nab it. I can’t call them and ask his name.”
“Wow.”
She frowned at him. “What?”
“Your language is … wow.”
“Shut up.”
Chuckling, he reached for the landline. “Can you work your magic on Google and get me a number?”
She did, settling down in the chair beside him, biting her thumbnail while she listened to his side of the conversation. He thanked the person for their help and disconnected the call.
“Well.”
Spider grabbed his arm and shook him. “What’s his name?”
“Carl. Carl Spottswood.”
“Carl!” She sprang to her feet, itching to replay the audio clip. “I suppose she could be saying Carl.”
She leaned close to the speaker, but she swore she still heard “Cot!”
“Spot? Maybe we can’t hear the rest. Spottswood?”
Noah shook his head. “Maybe, but I don’t know. How does that make him J.D.?”
“A nickname?” Spider shrugged. “Let’s ask her again.”
Noah grabbed her before she could reset the equipment. “I think we should wait on Connor or your friend, or let the police handle things from here on out. We could end up chasing an innocent man because we mistake something we hear. Besides, I think I need a break.”
She opened her mouth to argue, but quickly shut it again. Her heart turned over at the anguish in his handsome face. It was tempting to tell him to go take his break while she tried on her own, but Alexandra had warned her not to go solo on something like this. Something about attracting the wrong kind of energy by being alone and vulnerable.
“Fine. Do you want to go take a nap or something?”
He pulled her hip forward until it met his. “Or something.”
“Oh.”
“We have to be good around the pets later, right?”
“Uh-huh.”
“The pets aren’t here now.”
“No, they aren’t.” Her voice was barely a whisper.
“This might sound crass, but I would really love to lose myself in you for a while. Forget about everything in my effed up life and soak in your warmth. Will you let me do that?”
She softly covered his cheek with her palm and loved the way his green eyes softened to hazel at her unspoken agreement. Relief made her muscles soften. She’d been so worried after last night that he hadn’t wanted her anymore. He covered her hand with his, lacing their fingers, holding her gaze. Then he leaned down and kissed her, a lingering kiss that caused her to melt from the inside out.
She curled her hands around his shoulders and he lifted and carried her, refusing to remove his mouth from hers until he had no choice in order to lift her shirt up and over her head.
***
It was much later when Spider opened her eyes and realized the animals were overdue for their afternoon potty break. Worst pet-sitter ever. Noah’s breathing was steady, his face relaxed in sleep, so she slid out of bed without disturbing him, got dressed, scribbled him a note and went to check on the animals.
Charlie and Costello danced around her as if she’d been gone three years rather than three hours, their tails wagging in happy doggy bliss. She squatted and gave them affectionate rubs in reward before letting them out back to do their business.
She tried calling Connor again, simply because she thought he might listen to her message and at least send her a text in reply. She explained everything that had happened this afternoon. And then added, because she thought it was funny, a fake shriek. “Oh my gosh, Connor! I think … I think I see a red-eyed ghost coming at me. It’s getting closer. Oh no! If only I knew a psychic or someone who knew about these things to help me!” Then she made a kissy sound into the phone and returned to her normal voice. “Call me.”
She hit END and settled back on the comfy sofa, wondering if she had time to unwind with a quick game with her friends if any of them were online. She connected through the console and put her headgear on.
The familiar slashing sound of swordplay greeted her as she entered the game already in progress.
Foul-mouthed rants assaulted her ears, prompting her to tell her two friends, “What have I said about all of this swearing? Geez. I leave you guys alone for few days, and you’ve lost half our gold? What’s wrong with you people? We’re down three lives, too?”
She cut down two trolls, her blue-bearded masculine dwarf avatar twirling across the screen in combat.
“SpeedySpider! You’re back!” SuperWiggles123 cheered through the earpiece.
“He
y. Hey. Told you she hadn’t joined another team.”
MartyMcFlyTimeTraveler’s large giant-with-a-mohawk avatar came running over to her muscular dwarf. “Where were you the other night? We almost got slaughtered at the dam.”
“Had a date.”
“What? No!” He wailed. “You’re supposed to marry me, remember?”
She snorted. “And what? Live in your parent’s basement with you? With that filthy mouth of yours? No thanks.”
MartyMcFlyTimeTraveler was a fourteen-year-old Catholic school student in Des Moines, Iowa. She knew because she’d done background checks on all of her online friends. A girl couldn’t be too safe. Especially a girl gamer. As soon as guys heard her voice in the game, they were all over her. They probably fantasized all girl gamers looked like Mila Kunis or something. As if.
“Hey! I got plans. Career plans.”
A troll dove out of some bushes toward them, and Spider flipped her dwarf backwards, stabbing the offender with an easy manoeuvre that saved them both.
An ear-piercing burst of static caused her to cry out in pain. “Check your microphones, boys. Someone’s got issues.”
“I didn’t hear anything.” SuperWiggles123 disagreed, but most of what he said was distorted.
“Me either,” MMTT concurred.
As they continued to fight on screen, Spider adjusted her headphones.
A whispering sound seemed to be interfering with the game. “You guys don’t hear that?”
“Nah. Just the sound of awesome slaughter as we head to the next level. Oh yeah!” MMTT chuckled.
Static and whispering. Spider pressed one of the headphones against her ear.
A soft whisper said, “Cop.”
Holy guacamole. Spider’s breath caught in her chest. Was Kate still trying to communicate with her?
“Oh yeah! Did you see that?” MMTT asked with delight.
“Shhh!” Spider shushed him. “Quiet for a sec.”
She strained to hear Kate through the background noise of the game. Bursts of static sent stabs of pain through her ears, but she couldn’t take the headphones off.
Spirited Away Page 22
