Alex recalled the sensation of hands tightening around her own throat in the study.
‘Her phone’s completely drained,’ Gabe murmured, and she could imagine him examining it as he spoke, drawing his own conclusions as to what had done that. ‘So’s her laptop. Everything here with a battery, I imagine.’
Gabe believed that ghosts could do that, drain power from batteries to steal the energy and manifest themselves. And they had found cameras, recorders and other equipment drained in just such a way on more than one of their investigations. It wasn’t evidence of ghosts, as far as Alex was concerned, but Eduardo couldn’t explain it. He was diligent about charging everything up. Yet it still happened. She’d put it down to faulty equipment or some kind of electromagnetic interference they didn’t understand yet. Now she wasn’t so sure. It seemed like a flimsy excuse, a desperate grab at rationality.
And it didn’t matter. Not right now.
‘Are you sure she’s okay?’ Alex asked through a tight throat.
‘Yes. Here, do you want to talk to her?’ His voice was warm with reassurance. Gabe had always been good at that. And right now, she needed it.
‘Alex? I’m fine.’ Daphne sounded very small and tired. But she was herself again. ‘Really. Just a bit wobbly now.’
Wobbly. What a word to use. ‘You’ll go to a doctor, right?’ Alex didn’t mean her tone to come out so harsh but it did and she couldn’t help it.
‘I promise,’ Daphne murmured. ‘Gabe’s going to take me in the morning. It’d only be an ER now. Better I see someone who understands.’ Because if she turned up in the average ER claiming to have been attacked by a ghost, they’d probably medicate her and lock her up while charging her a small fortune for the privilege. Daphne had confessed that was one of her greatest fears. Alex suddenly understood it far too keenly. ‘Gabe’s looking after me. Don’t worry.’
Gabe took the phone back. ‘I’ll keep you updated,’ he told her. ‘I’ll stay here with her tonight and we’ll make sure she’s fine. Stay safe, okay? You aren’t there alone, are you?’
Her eyes met Nick’s again. They were darkly beautiful and they watched her intently, bright with concern.
‘No. Nick’s here.’
‘Huh, right.’ That didn’t sound positive. But at least he didn’t argue this time. He had concerns enough of his own. ‘Be careful, Alex. I don’t like any of this.’
Neither did she. And she didn’t like his implications either. ‘Nothing is going to happen between me and Nick, Gabe. Nothing at all.’
It felt like a lie even as she said it.
He wasn’t buying it either. ‘Yeah, so you say.’
‘I do. And anyway, it’s none of your business anymore.’
She hung up and steeled herself, ready to turn around and apologise. Nick didn’t need to be in the middle of her, Gabe and whatever overly protective thing her ex had going now. It was excruciatingly embarrassing, with her coming to oust him. Being stuck in this wretched building, and all the weird attraction and strange goings-on, was just heaping in on top of that.
But he didn’t need to have overheard that. Or her outright rejection of him.
She really ought to apologise. She really ought to explain.
But when she looked for him, Nick was gone.
CHAPTER 28
NICK
The accounts books were all out of order. At first he though Alex might have done it, going through them ahead of him to look for ammunition. But she hadn’t been into the storeroom where he kept them, and all his current records were on the laptop. Besides, these went back years, from long before Theo had arrived. They had packed it all away when they switched to the online system. But Nick had been so careful to make sure they were in order.
They weren’t now.
He’d have to take everything out, go through the books, and put them all back in order. It was going to take hours. But if she wanted to see the originals…
He definitely wasn’t hiding from her. And he wasn’t replaying the conversation she’d had with her friends through his mind.
Nothing is going to happen between me and Nick, Gabe. Nothing at all.
She’d been so lost and afraid when he’d come into the kitchen, straight from the wild wood and the night. All he had wanted was to fold his arms around her and comfort her. And then she said that.
It shouldn’t bother him. It was the best thing, the right thing. He needed to stay away from her, he knew that. That was what had sent him out to the woods in the first place, to ground himself, to get some perspective, to put distance between them and combat whatever seemed intent on forcing the two of them together. Because he wanted her. She was all he could think of now. Alex O’Neill…
