Chapter 12 Ghosts #2
“Thank you for stopping. I probably shouldn’t go in since it’s not officially mine yet. That’s something I need to emotionally prepare for. We should get back. I’m keeping you from your work. You have more important things to do than cater to me all day.”
“If I remember right, the trip into town was my idea.” I don’t make a move for the car and am about to suggest we take a walk on the wild side and trespass through the hellhole she plans to call home, but my cell alerts me again with a text this time.
Bella – When I ring you two times in a row, answer your damn phone. It’s bloody important.
“Hold that thought. I need to make a call.” I put my fingers to the screen.
It barely rings once. I don’t get a sarcastic greeting or even a berating for ignoring her like I usually get. Instead, my little sister is all-business with an intensity I do not like. “We have a problem. More specifically, you have a problem, Dev. Where are you?”
Harlow tries to step away, but the tone of Bella’s voice puts me on edge. When I close the distance between us, Harlow freezes. “I took a trip to town. What’s wrong?”
“A guest who just checked in triggered one of your parameters,” Bella says.
“Who?” I demand. My unofficial targets have been pure speculation for years. Not one thing from the case that ended my career has come to light, which means my intel was shit even though my intuition still nags at me.
“Not who. What,” Bella corrects me. “A credit card that hasn’t been used in years has seen the light of day in the States. And not just the U.S. of A. It was run at your manor.”
“Fuck,” I bite.
Harlow tries to take another step away, but I give her a curt shake of my head.
I don’t know if it’s the fact my past has reared its ugly head at my place of business, or if it’s the need to keep her close because the last time my senses were this heightened, a mate ended up dead on my watch.
I reach out for Harlow’s arm to pull her close to me.
Bella keeps talking. “I don’t recognize the name, but I double checked the credit card. Hell, I triple checked it. No activity in years until today. And the fact it’s at your place...” Bella lets that thought trail off. There’s no point in finishing it.
“I know what it means.” As I grit the words out, Harlow tenses in my hold. I slide my hand down her arm until I clasp hers before I lead her back to the car. “I’m on my way back now. Send me the name and everything you know. I’ll call as soon as I get to my office.”
“Do that,” Bella demands. “Dev, this—”
“I said I know what this fucking means. I’ll call when I can.”
“I’ll be waiting. Until then, I’ll dig deeper on my end,” Bella goes on. “We’ll talk soon.”
Neither of us say goodbye before we disconnect.
“Devon?” Harlow calls as she keeps up with my clipped pace over the rocky path we hiked to her grandmother’s old home.
I don’t let go of her hand, but I do give it a squeeze. “I have an issue back at the office that needs my attention. I’ll bring you back soon, and we’ll walk through the house. You shouldn’t go in alone. Who knows what you’ll find in there.”
She doesn’t pull her hand from my grasp. She holds on tighter. “What’s wrong?”
We make it back to the car faster than the hike to the house. For some reason, I don’t lie or bullshit her. “I’m not sure, but it could be bad. Hell, with my luck, I’m sure it’s worse than bad. I don’t know enough yet, but I will.”
I’m forced to stop or let go of her when she comes to a halt. “Please, tell me what’s wrong?”
I drag a hand through my hair and realize this is the least comfortable I’ve been in my own skin for years. “I can’t explain.”
“Well, I guess the tables have turned.” She crosses her arms and frowns. “You’re not the only curious one.”
I rip the shades from my face and level my eyes on her. “As much as I enjoy the banter, we need to go.”
Her lips tip toward the sun on each side before her tongue sneaks out to wet the crease of her lips.
“I’ll remember this the next time you hold me hostage in a diner and demand for me to be an open book, Mr. Donnelly.
It seems I’m not the only one keeping secrets.
Take that to heart, for what it’s worth. ”
I turn and hold my arm out for her to go first, because there’s no way I’m turning my back on her out here in the middle of nowhere. “So many assumptions. And here I thought you were clever. You might think I have a heart outside of the very scientific organ that keeps me alive, but you’re wrong.”
She holds her head high, and thank fuck, takes my cue to start moving again.
Once she’s a small step in front of me, I follow.
“Even though most of the things you do and say make me agree with that, I’ve seen glimpses.
You’ll have to convince me you don’t have a heart.
I’ve danced with the devil once. I know the difference. ”
Fuck.
This woman.
What I wouldn’t give to have time to dissect that.
I’ll have to put that off for another day. I have more important shit to worry about.
Harlow’s creepy-ass house isn’t the only threatening ghost from the past that’s reared its ugly head today.
It seems I have my own.
And it just checked into my manor.