Chapter 19
Arabella woke to the sound of Horse snarling and barking.
What was going on?
Getting up, she slid her feet into slippers and grabbed her robe, hurrying out of the room. A light shone into the kitchen window and she let out a cry, hiding around the corner in the hallway.
Was someone out there?
What was happening?
There was a strange noise. Almost like someone crying or screeching.
A ghost?
Oh God.
What did she do? Were these the noises that Abe had been talking about? The ones that the owner of the house had heard?
Another flash of light moved through the kitchen window. Were there people in the backyard or over the fence? But there were mostly trees back there.
There was another strange noise and Horse started to howl.
Shit.
Should she call the police?
Abe wouldn’t have his hearing aids in so he likely wouldn’t be awake.
Rushing back, she grabbed her phone and put through a call to the sheriff’s office.
The dispatcher promised to send someone out immediately and she settled down on the floor with Horse, trying to keep him calm.
She should go and check on Abe, except she was scared to leave.
She needed to get his number so she could call him.
I want Eli and Kellan.
No, no. It had been three days since the storm. She’d spent the first day embarrassed. Then the next day upset that they’d left town without telling her. Which was ridiculous.
And now she missed them?
What was wrong with her?
The fact that they’d left town the next day had made her wonder if she’d just imagined those feelings between them.
What experience did she have with men, after all?
Absolutely none.
She’d had two fiancés and hadn’t even kissed them properly. She wasn’t a virgin, but that had been a big mistake. She’d slept with this guy when she was seventeen and he’d turned out to be a total asshole. He’d taken photos of her without her permission and then spread them around her school.
It had been a complete, humiliating nightmare.
After that, she hadn’t wanted to even kiss another guy.
The noises died off and the lights stopped. Horse was trembling and trying to get into her lap. The big baby didn’t realize that he weighed sixty-five pounds and wasn’t a lapdog.
She heard a car pull up and realized she was just in a thin dressing gown. But before she could rush into the bedroom and change there was a knock on the door.
“Shit,” she muttered to Horse who was growling. She grabbed his lead and attached it to his collar before opening the door.
Oh. Great.
Deputy Doofus was here.
That wasn’t nice.
She really had to give him the benefit of the doubt.
“Good evening, Arabella.”
“Hi, Deputy.”
“Please, call me Zane.” He smiled but it looked kind of smarmy.
Benefit of the doubt.
“Right, Zane. Sorry to disturb you,” she said.
“You could never disturb me,” he replied.
Urgh.
Yep. He was definitely giving her a creepy vibe.
“So, I heard these noises like cries. And there were lights flashing through my kitchen window. Which maybe means someone was walking around the back of the house or the forest behind with flashlights. I don’t know what they would be doing or what those noises might have come from, though.”
“Now, how about we leave the detective work to the professionals, okay?” he said.
She bit her lip so she didn’t point out that he wasn’t an actual detective. He still had more experience than her.
When he didn’t immediately move to investigate, she wondered if she’d missed something.
“Um, are you going to go look?” she asked.
“Sure. Sure. Lock up. In case those ghosts come back. I’ll go searching for them.”
Nope. It was official.
Definitely a doofus.
Twenty minutes later, he knocked on her door again. By this stage, she was tired and cold. She’d gotten dressed and had just made herself a hot chocolate. She carried the mug with her to open the door.
Then she realized she hadn’t checked who it was first. Eli wouldn’t be happy. Well, he’d never know and it wasn’t like anyone else would knock on her door at this time of night.
Deputy Doofus smiled at her while leaning against the doorway. He seemed to think he was hot stuff as he crossed his arms. “You know if you wanted to see me again you didn’t have to make something up. You could have just told me.”
“I wasn’t making anything up and I didn’t want to see you.”
His gaze narrowed. “No need to be rude.”
“There’s also no need to be condescending and dismissive. Despite the fact that you seem to think you’re amazing, I didn’t make anything up to get you here. And I would appreciate you being professional.”
Anger filled his face and for a moment fear flooded her. But he just backed off.
“Well, I’m going to leave now. Please try not to waste police time again, Ms. Bridges.”
That.
Asshole.
Horse growled at him.
“And make sure that mutt doesn’t come near me. If he bites me, I’ll have no choice but to put him down. Already had one complaint about him.”
Fear flooded her and she quickly shut and locked the door. Leaning back against it, she slid down onto her bottom and drew her legs up to her chest. Horse leaned into her.
“Who even made that first complaint?” she asked, realizing she’d forgotten about that.
“Don’t worry. I won’t let him near you, Horse.
In the morning, we’re going to see Jake and we’re going to file a complaint.
And if he doesn’t listen, we’ll just have to move.
This place isn’t exactly turning out to be the paradise I thought it was. ”
Sniffling, she threw her arms around him and hugged him tight.
Eli sat on Jake’s desk while Kellan stood leaning against the wall by the door. When Jake walked in, he startled then sighed, shaking his head.
Poor guy looked tired. He should take a vacation.
Eli couldn’t imagine how much work it must take to be the sheriff of Haven. But Jake did a far better job than the sheriff who had been in office when Eli was younger. Frank had been a hunting buddy of his father.
And fucking useless when it came to protecting him and his brothers.
“How did Eleanor not see you come in?” he grumbled.
“We’re FBI agents,” Eli told him. “We can sneak in wherever we like.”
“Also, she’s getting old and blind,” Kellan said. “She should really retire.”
Jake spun and pointed at him. “Do not say that to her. You’ll upset her. And she’s just filling in for Megan.”
Kellan held up his hands. “Fine. I don’t know why you thought I would say anything.”
“Yeah, no idea,” Jake said dryly. “What are the two of you doing here? I thought you had to leave town for a case?”
“Hmm. We did. But that case brought us back here,” Kellan told him.
Jake stilled. “What? Why? Is something going on?”
“We’re not sure,” Eli said, running his hand over his face. “There have been reports of a new drug being out on the market. It’s meant to enhance your senses and it can’t be detected on any sort of standard test.”
“Then how do you know about it?” Jake asked
“Because people are dying from it,” Eli said.
“Take it in small doses, everything is all good. Large doses and you get delusional. People think they can fly and they’re jumping off bridges or the roofs of houses.
They’re trying to outrun trains or swim in a bayou known to have alligators.
The list goes on and on. And it’s taken a while for people to start piecing all of these deaths together and figure out that something weird is going on.
It wasn’t until we got several reports from relatives or friends of the deceased who said they were taking this new drug.
And that they had been acting weirdly before their deaths, saying things like they thought they were invincible. ”
Jake frowned and sat behind his desk. “Get off my desk.”
Eli sighed and glanced at Kellan just as one of Jake’s deputies knocked on the door.
Who was he? Eli hadn’t seen him before.
“Yes?” Jake said coolly.
That was surprising. From what he knew, Jake was a good boss. He took care of everyone under him. But it was clear he didn’t think much of this deputy.
“I’m just headed out. Anything you need?” the guy asked. “Hey, I’m Zane.” He walked in and held out his hand to Kellan, who just stared at him.
Eli got off Jake’s desk and walked forward, holding out his hand to Zane. “I’m Special Agent Eli Jones and this is my brother, Special Agent Kellan Jones.”
“Oo-ee, FBI agents,” Zane said. “I’m in the presence of greatness.”
This guy was . . . weird.
“You are,” Kellan said without inflection.
Zane blinked at him, clearly not knowing how to take him. “Right. Well. Anything, boss?”
“No,” Jake told him. “But try not to upset anyone today.”
“Just doing my job.” He walked out with a wave of his hand.
“You don’t like him,” Kellan said immediately.
Jake raised his eyebrows “You’re not here to discuss my deputy.”
“Why did you hire him if you don’t like him?” Kellan asked.
Yeah, he could be like a dog with a bone when he wanted to know something. But right now, Eli was interested in the answer as well.
Jake sighed “I didn’t. We’re short-staffed and the sheriff from the next county asked me if I could take Zane for a while.
He was struggling with him and thought I could help sort him out.
But the truth is that he’s not a good fit and I wish I had never said yes.
I’m planning on sending him back. It would have been good if Linc had returned though because I’m going to be very short-staffed. ”
“But if he’s causing you issues, he’s probably making more work for you,” Eli pointed out.
“Yeah, he is. Right. Back to this drug. Why are you telling me? So I can keep an eye out? That hardly warrants a personal visit from you guys.”
“Well, we’re talking to a few different county sheriffs in the area about this.” Eli brought out his laptop and connected it to the projector, showing Jake a map of Texas. “These are all the cases we’ve discovered so far.”
They stared at the map for a moment.