Chapter 7 #2
Piper hugged Lori tightly. “Thank you for coming. This was the best dinner ever.” She bent down and patted Misty. “I’ll see you for our walk tomorrow, girl.”
“Thank you for having me,” Lori said, watching Misty give Piper doggy kisses.
When Piper disappeared upstairs, Mitch turned to Lori. “I’ll walk you home.”
“You don’t have to do that. It’s just across the yard, and I have Misty,” Lori objected while secretly hoping he’d ignore her.
“I know,” Mitch said. “But I want to.”
Something in his tone, protective and gentle at once, made her not argue. They stepped outside into the warm night, Misty trotting between them. The short walk between houses had never seemed so long or so short at the same time.
As they walked, Lori felt it again. That sense of being watched. The hair on the back of her neck prickled. She glanced around, seeing nothing but shadows and starlight, but the feeling persisted.
Mitch must have sensed her tension. “Is everything okay?” he asked quietly.
“Fine,” she said. “Just jumpy sometimes. New place, you know.”
They reached her porch, and Lori fumbled in her purse for her keys. Her hands were shaking slightly, though she couldn’t say if it was from the unsettled feeling or from Mitch’s proximity.
The keys slipped from her fingers and clattered onto the porch.
“Sorry,” she said, bending to retrieve them.
Mitch bent at the same time. Their heads nearly collided, and they both straightened quickly, laughing awkwardly.
“Let me,” Mitch said, picking up the keys.
He unlocked the door for her, then handed back the keys. Their fingers touched in the exchange, and neither of them moved for a moment.
They stood there in the porch light, so close Lori could see the flecks of gold in his eyes. Could smell his aftershave, something woodsy and clean. Could feel the warmth radiating from him.
Mitch’s gaze dropped to her lips, and Lori’s breath caught. He was going to kiss her. She could feel it in the air between them, in the way he leaned slightly closer, in the way her own body swayed toward his.
Then his shoulders stiffened. He stepped back, the moment breaking like a bubble.
“Goodnight, Lori,” he said, his voice rougher than usual.
“Goodnight,” she whispered.
He turned to go, and that was when Lori saw it.
Movement in her peripheral vision. A figure stepping back into the shadows at the side of the cottage. There one second, gone the next.
Misty’s entire body went rigid. A low growl rumbled from her throat, and the hair on her back stood straight up. The shepherd moved to the edge of the porch, staring at the shadows, every muscle tense, and started to bark.
Mitch stopped. He turned back, his expression changing instantly from awkward to alert.
“What is it?” he asked quietly.
“I thought I saw something,” Lori said, her voice barely above a whisper. “Over there, by the side of the cottage.”
Mitch was already moving, descending the porch steps, heading toward the spot where Lori had seen the movement. Misty started to follow, but Lori grabbed her collar.
“Stay,” she commanded, her heart hammering.
Lori watched as Mitch disappeared around the corner of the cottage. Seconds ticked by, each one feeling like an hour. Then he reappeared, his expression grim.
“There is nothing there now,” he said. “I’ll get my flashlight and check it out.”
Fear crystallized in Lori’s chest. “So I’m not imagining things?” she asked.
“No,” Mitch said firmly. “You’re not.” He came back up the porch steps. “Go inside. Lock the door. Check all your windows and the back door. Make sure everything is secure.”
“Okay,” Lori said, trying to keep her voice steady.
“I’m going to take a look around. I’ll check the property and make sure whoever or whatever it was is gone.” Mitch gave her a reassuring smile, but it never reached his eyes, making a chill spread up her spine.
Lori nodded and stepped inside with Misty. She locked the door immediately, her hands still shaking. Then she went through the cottage methodically, checking every window, every door, making sure everything was bolted shut.
“It’s probably nothing,” she told Misty, who stayed close to her side. “Probably just a tourist who got lost. Or a kid being nosy. Or a small animal. Nothing to worry about.”
But her voice lacked conviction. She remembered the cigarette butt under her window. The sedan at the end of the road. The man in the tan windbreaker. Were these connected? Or was she creating a pattern where none existed?
She finished her circuit of the downstairs and climbed to the second floor, still checking windows. In her bedroom, she paused at the window that overlooked the front of the property.
Mitch was out there, walking slowly along the property line with a flashlight. Methodical. Professional. Like someone who’d done this kind of sweep before.
Lori watched him, her heart still racing. Did he patrol like this regularly? Or had he seen the figure too? Was he as concerned as she was?
The flashlight beam swept across the grass, paused at certain spots, and moved on. Mitch’s posture was alert, tense. This wasn’t a casual look around. This was a security check.
Who was Mitch Brandon, really? He had told her he’d worked in intelligence for the government and was retired. But watching him move through the darkness with practiced efficiency, Lori suspected there was more to that story.
And whoever had been standing in the shadows outside her cottage they’d vanished the moment Mitch started looking for them.
Lori stepped back from the window and pulled the curtains closed. She changed into her pajamas with shaking hands, pulled the doggy bed right next to hers, and then climbed into bed with Misty curling up on the floor beside her.
But sleep was a long time coming. Every sound made her jump. Every creak of the old house set her heart racing. And even with all the doors locked and windows checked, she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone out there in the darkness was watching.
Waiting.