I held up my hands defensively. “Hey, I can’t say anything about honesty, can I?” He laughed quietly, his shoulders relaxing a little. “Do you know much about her life before you met? She’s new to town as well, isn’t she?”
Jarrid nodded. “Yeah, this little place had quite the influx with the four of us, didn’t it? We probably lowered the average age of the place by a good few years. And, no. What do I need to know? She’s a teacher, so she can’t have a bad bone in her body. Plus, she’s got such a massive heart.” His eyes flashed with something I couldn’t read, and then I could swear his cheeksturned a light pink as he said, “Anyway, we don’t really do that much talking. The woman is insatiable.”
I grimaced, not wanting to hear about Jarrid’s sex life, especially when mine was so lacking.
“What do you need?” I said, steering the conversation back on course.
“Can you go to the house? It’s secure. We’ve had people over there to make sure, but Sean wants to check the tech side—see if there’s anything we missed—so it’s really you he needs anyway.”
“My car’s in the garage. Won’t be ready until later.”
He pushed his hand into his pocket and pulled out his keys, throwing them to me. I caught them in one hand as he said, “Take mine. I’ll walk to Amber’s, grab her spare keys, and use her car. She won’t mind.”
I furrowed my brows. “You sure?”
He looked relieved. “Honestly, you’d be doing me a solid. You can pick the house keys up from Sean on the way out, and he’ll be on the end of the phone if there’s a problem.”
I stood, collecting my laptop and phone and pushing them into my bag. “Right, best get going.”
34
ROMAN
It tookthree hours to get to the judge’s house. Not only was it quite a trek, but traffic was a nightmare, and when I arrived, I was stiff from sitting for so long and pissed that I’d spent my entire afternoon in the car.
The sun had set, which meant, by the time I checked the place out and then drove home, it would be another late night when all I wanted to do was search for Hana. Seeing her today, albeit briefly and through a grainy image, had only refuelled my obsession, and the need to know where she’d gone was at the forefront of my mind.
I parked a couple of streets away from the address Sean had sent me. I didn’t want to draw attention to the fact I was there.
I unlocked the front door of the massive house. “Jesus, do posh people not heat their homes?” I mumbled to myself, pulling the hood of my sweater up before dropping the keys onto the side table in the hall. The place was in darkness, so I flicked on the lights, looking around at the ostentatious décor and hideous ornaments as I walked into the living room.
My eyes scanned high and low, searching for anything that looked suspicious or out of place. There wasn’t any sign of cameras or computers lying around.
I continued walking, my feet on the hardwood floors and the hammering of my heart the only sounds. I knew I was here alone, but it felt like there were eyes on me; an eerie feeling making the hairs on my arms stand tall.
“No such thing as ghosts, Roman,” I muttered to myself as I moved into another room, turning on the lights in there too. “I’m not cut out for this shit. This is why I watch people through the lens of a camera. Not going to get murdered there, am I?” My mumbles helped make the silence less ominous, but my feet moved faster as I searched the other rooms. I found a laptop and a tablet, which I put in a pile to take with me, but I didn’t find anything else downstairs, so I made my way to the wide, sweeping staircase.
I was halfway up when a bang echoed through the house, and I paused, straining to listen for its cause as my heart bounced off my ribs.
“Hello?” I called, wondering what Sean or Jarrid would say about me announcing my presence to a potential burglar/serial killer. When there wasn’t another noise, I started walking slowly, peering up to the upper floor that was shrouded in darkness.
I passed a light switch, flicking it on and expecting the floor to light up, but nothing happened. I tried again, flicking the switch up and down a couple of times, but still nothing. A lump appeared in my throat, my palms growing sweaty.
I eased my phone from my back pocket and typed out a message to Sean.
Me: Some weird shit is going on. Not sure I’m here alone.
I switched the phone to silent and turned on the torch as the device vibrated with a reply.
Sean: Get the fuck out.
Me: I’m probably being paranoid. I’ll call you when I’m done.
Sean: Wasn’t a request. Get out!
I ignored him, holding onto the bannister as I tried my best to be quiet, which, at my size, was pretty impossible.
There was another sound, a shuffling, as if someone was dragging their back against the wall, trying to stay out of sight.
