35. Hannah

Chapter 35

Hannah

T he next day followed the others with me continuing my renovation on my B in fact, it felt warmer than usual for a late summer day.

Max continued to knead and purr on my lap, which I found reassuring. If there was someone watching me, he’d not only know about it, but he’d also sound the alarm.

I squinted out the three windows on the left wall but saw nothing unusual outside.

Still, the feeling persisted.

I lifted my phone and scrolled into social media, where I caught up on the Mystic Harbor News. Creature Cones, Melly’s ice cream shop, was offering a coupon, two cones for the price of one. I’d mention it to Reylor, and we could go into town tonight after dinner for ice cream. And a monster fair was coming to town and would be setting up on the outskirts. They promised rides, monster strength demonstrations, plus various monster-style food. Now that was something I definitely wanted to go to. I’d bet anything Reylor would join me.

A dull thud rang out behind me.

I froze.

Max stopped purring and kneading. He crooked his head around to look first at me before his gaze traveled past me, toward the back of the parlor.

I gently lifted him and placed him on the sofa beside me, and he hopped up onto the back, staring toward where the sound had come from. His tail whipped back and forth, smacking against the top of the cushion.

After setting my phone on the sofa, I rose and spun, taking in the empty room. No one peered through the windows, and I didn’t hear anyone moving within the building or close outside.

“You spooked yourself,” I whispered as I rounded the sofa and walked over to the high-back chairs flanking the big stone fireplace.

Something had fallen onto the floor beside one of the side tables, and I bent forward to pick it up.

I frowned at the pipe in my hand.

It was warm, as if it had just gone out. I caught a whiff of the smoke I’d smelled yesterday, though the pipe remained empty of tobacco or ash.

“Justin?” I whispered, gaping around.

Max hissed and leaped off the sofa, scrambling so fast out of the room, he scattered the throw rug I’d laid on the hardwood floor near the door. I tiptoed to the arched entryway and peered into the hall. No Max. No one else, for that matter.

Pipe smoke hung in the air, and a cool breeze swept across my body, bringing on my chills.

A soft, subtle sound echoed from above, but I couldn’t quite place it. I froze, listening, but the sound wasn’t repeated.

Leaving the parlor, I hurried down the hall to my suite, though I found the rooms empty, as were the dining rooms, the kitchen, the library, and the big living room. As I crept through the first floor, my heart thudded faster than it should, a drum in my ears that nearly blocked out every sound but the distant crash of the sea. I swallowed past my dry throat, and I suspected if I tried to speak, it would come out a croak.

Should I call out? Maybe one of the orc construction workers hadn’t left yet. Just because it looked like they’d all gotten into their trucks and driven away together didn’t mean one hadn’t remained behind to do some final touches. Or use the public bathroom. Or step outside to enjoy the view.

But . . .

There was no way I was going to call out.

I backtracked to the parlor for my phone, but I couldn’t find it. It wasn’t on the cushion where I’d left it, not in my pocket, and when I dropped to my hands and knees and peered under the couch, I didn’t find it there either.

Inside the kitchen, I scooped up a mug of soup, and I carried it with me.

I wasn’t running any longer. If someone was here, I was going to find them and tell them to leave.

But I’d bet anything there was no one inside the building with me. Justin was making his presence known, and he didn’t bother me a bit. Whenever I sensed he was around, I felt comforted, not afraid.

Feeling a bit silly carrying soup through the building, I crept up the stairs and made the loop around the first floor, poking my head into each bedroom and bathroom, finding nothing unusual. I experienced the same thing on the second and third floors.

It was only when I reached the door to the attic and found it unlocked and open again that I heard someone moving carefully around above me. Was this Justin or had a fourth villain entered my building to search or harass me?

Max scrambled over to stand beside me, peering up the staircase. His tail whipped back and forth, and his whiskers twitched.

Like Reylor had yesterday, I moved slowly and with great care up toward the attic, avoiding the stairs I’d learned creaked when you stepped on them.

Near the top, I stopped and peeked up into the big open area still cluttered with Justin’s possessions.

Someone stood near the window, and with the light behind them, I couldn’t see who it was. Human, from what I could tell, though I couldn’t speculate any further. Their back remained to me while they riffled through one of the tall bureaus. I think this one had been in Justin’s room, though I couldn’t be sure. When I bought the place, I hired movers to haul everything up to the attic. Back then, I wanted his things out of the way while I renovated.

Leaving Max scowling on the stairs, I crept across the attic, taking care where I placed my feet. I kept the mug of soup by my side. When I was close enough I could reach out and touch the person, I stopped.

“What are you doing?” I snarled.

Evelyn Blakemore spun around and hissed. “Where is it? Where is it?”

“Where is what?”

“You know.” She lifted her arm and pointed a handgun at my head.

Damn, I should’ve left the building instead of searching.

“Grant was supposed to buy the place with the possessions intact,” she said. “And I’d take it off his hands.”

“You pushed Grant to buy my building and threaten me?” I asked in horror.

“It’s your own fault. You wouldn’t cooperate.”

“This is my building. I’m not selling.”

“Which is why I made Sylvia come here instead. She did a great job building your friendship. But you wouldn’t set up a time for the two of you to go through the attic, so I told her she had to act. Why did you have your poor friend Sylvia arrested?”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Sylvia had pretended to be my friend? I was right. She’d acted like she was out of her mind as a cover for her actions. “You made Sylvia break into my building?”

“And you caught her. But I need it. We played with it when we were kids, not realizing it was real. I thought it was some ancient thing, a joke.”

“What ancient thing left for kids?”

Although . . .

“If I don’t get it . . . well, let’s just say that I owe a lot of people money, and they don’t forgive those who don’t pay them back on time.”

“Loan sharks?”

“More or less. But enough of that.” She tightened her grip on the gun and nudged it toward me. “Tell me where my grandfather hid the map or I’m blasting your brains across the room.”

I don’t think so.

With a grunt, I flung the thick, hot soup into her face.