Deadly Fate (Krewe of Hunters #19)(29)

“I’m not staying alone!” she told him as he glared at her.

“Go in with one of your friends.”

“I’ll stay directly behind you!”

“You’re going to make me lose him!”

She stood still at that, wincing, and then turned around and returned to the house. She stood just inside the door, watching the night. One officer remained in front. The others had vanished into the darkness and shadows surrounding the house. The moon had disappeared behind a cloud—only the dim lights from within the house afforded illumination, and then seemed to play tricks on the mind, as well.

Clara was shivering.

It seemed that she stayed there for hours, keeping her eyes on the one officer left in front—afraid to look around in any direction.

If she did...she might find herself alone with a dead woman.

And then the men returned to the house in disgust.

“There was no one out there?” she asked anxiously. “Nothing?”

“Yes, there was something,” Mike said.

She looked at him, frowning.

“Bear,” he told her. “Some kind of bear, by the tracks. It made off into the woods.”

She nodded, swallowing. Just an animal.

So, besides a crazy killer, she might have met up with a pissed-off bear out here, as well!

But Thor was shaking his head, oblivious to Clara. He looked at Jackson. “Something about it I just don’t like. A bear doesn’t listen at windows.”

“They were bear tracks, for sure,” Mike said.

“They appeared to be,” Thor said.

“You think someone has some kind of a snowshoe that emulates a bear track?” Jackson asked him.

“Well, hell, idiots come up here to try to emulate Big Foot or abominable snowman tracks now and then—why not a bear?” Mike mused.

“It’s impossible to search the forests in the dark,” Jackson said. “We’ll get all the crews started again in the morning.”

He was the first to really note Clara then. He touched her cheek. “Hey, you’re okay. The place is surrounded by law enforcement—guys who know how to use guns,” he assured her.

Thor glanced at her, annoyance in his eyes. She was sure that he saw her as the person who “possibly” imagined things, and had slowed him down on his hunt.

She really didn’t give a damn.

“Jackson, I need to get to the Mansion in the morning.”

“Oh?” he asked, frowning.

“Miss Avery is certain that there’s another way inside—that someone was in the Mansion when she was,” Thor said.

Jackson and he seemed to exchange some kind of silent communication.

Thor continued, “So, we’ll take another good look in the morning. Forensic crews have been all over the place, but...”

“But they weren’t there when I was,” Clara said. “And I know that I heard something. Anyway, good night, gentlemen.” She turned and headed back into the room that had actually been assigned to her.

She tried to tell herself that no ghost was as bad as an agent with an attitude.

But that was a lie.

She was still terrified.

And so she lay awake with the television on and the lights glaring.

Somewhere along the line, she slept.

She felt as if someone tried to wake her then, speaking her name softly, shaking her shoulder.

She opened her eyes.

And there she was, Amelia Carson, dark hair curling around her pretty features, snow hood fallen back, a serious look on her face.

Clara nearly screamed. Except that when she blinked, Amelia was gone.

And Special Agent Thor Erikson was at her door, tapping, calling her name and—as seemed perpetual now—scowling when he looked at her.

“You wanted to go by the Mansion? Let’s do it,” he said. “Five minutes, please.”

The door closed and she was left alone. She sat up, shivering and certain that the room was exceptionally cold, even for Alaska.

It was as cold as...

Death.





6

Forensic crews had worked through the night at the Mansion; in their efforts to find anything at all, they had removed, bagged and tagged the props in the bloody scene that had been left there by Wickedly Weird Productions.

But it wasn’t the inside that concerned Thor at the moment.

While Mike was seeing to it that the remaining members of the film crew and Ralph, Simon and Larry were returned to the mainland, Thor, Jackson and Clara were walking around the Mansion.

And Clara was right: a group of Sitka spruce grew by the side of the house, all of them huge trees and some with heavy branches.

Smaller branches lay broken in the snow. Any number of birds or other animals might have caused the breakage.

But it also might have been caused by a man climbing a tree.

Thor remained downstairs with Clara while Jackson went up to a second-floor bedroom. He looked down at them, easily opening and closing the window.

“See!” Clara breathed, turning on Thor. “There was someone in there!”

“Might have been someone in there,” he said.

“Might have been!” Clara exclaimed, staring at him furiously. “I’m trying to help! I tell you things—and you act as if I’m a terrified two-year-old! Don’t tell me to talk to a damned ghost—and then disbelieve me when I tell you something credible!”