“She’s right, Jared. You should stop.” I don’t mean to sound as creepy as I do, but it’s working in my favor.
Jared, a red-haired, freckle-faced boy who can’t be any older than fifteen, comes to a stop and slowly turns, raising his arms to the side. He’s holding a camera in one hand.
“Don’t shoot us,” the girl begs. She has long blonde hair and vivid eyes and is way too pretty for Jared. “We didn’t know anyone lived here.”
Hasan stands at the end of the driveway, ready to stop the kids if they start running again, and I can feel the others behind me, ready if I need them.
“What the hell are you doing on my property?” I ask.
The girl’s eyes widen in fear. “We…we…wanted to see—”
“Shut up,” Jared mumbles. “We were looking for our dog.”
“With cameras?”
“Night vision. To try and see him better.”
God, this kid is a pompous ass. “You are still trespassing, and whatever footage you recorded previously will disprove your lost dog story.”
He shrugs. “What are you going to do about it, lady? Arrest us?” He lets out a snort of laughter.
“Actually, I might.” I lower my gun and pull my badge from inside my shirt.
“Shit, Jared!” The girl starts to cry. “My dad’s going to kill me!”
“Tell me what you’re really doing here.” I let go of my badge, chain swinging over my breasts. I don’t want to press charges against these kids, even though I’m annoyed as fuck right now. That would take too long. They need to leave, and I’m pretty sure if the threat of being arrested isn’t enough to scare them away for good, having my gargoyles ominously fly overhead a time or two will be.
“What you’re really doing here,” I press, feeling the presence of the gargoyles move in.
“This place is supposed to be haunted,” the girl admits. “I saw the light on but didn’t know anyone moved it. I am so, so sorry.”
“Give me your camera.” I hold out my hand.
“No way. You can’t take it from me. I know my rights.” Jared snubs his nose at me.
“And I know mine.” I flash a fake smile. “I’m going to have to call this in. Trespassing and an attempted break-in.”
“Break-in?”
“You were on my porch in the dark. Pretty suspicious, if you ask me.”
“But we weren’t—we were just looking,” he stammers.
I shrug. “It didn’t look like it to me, and when the cops take your camera and phone for evidence, it’ll be up to the court to decide.”
“Just give her the camera,” the girl says through gritted teeth. “If he gives you the camera, will you let us go?”
“Camera first.” I extend my hand and Jared gives me the camera with a huff. I delete the three minutes of footage he recorded. The little shit lied and he wasn’t even recording in night vision. Everything is dark, blurry, and hard to see. “I don’t have time to deal with little assholes like you. I have real work to do. Murderers to catch. Drug dealers to arrest. Go home to your iPads and Netflix.” I hand him the camera back. “And if I ever see you put a toe on my property again, I will have you arrested for trespassing, okay?”
“I am so sorry,” the girl says, and tugs on Jared’s sleeve.
“And the house is haunted,” I tell them. “With lots of dangerous, angry spirits who don’t take kindly to strangers.”
“Or gargoyles?” Jared loses a bit of his attitude as his eyes flick behind me. Something spooked thembeforeI got out here. How much of the gargoyles had they seen?
“What are you talking about?”
“There were four gargoyles on the house. I’ve seen them before.”
