Shadow in the Pines (5 page)

Dani shrieked when something brushed against her face, but a quick swish of the flashlight revealed a long string hanging from a bare light bulb in the ceiling. Giving it a tug, she was surprised to find that it worked. Not that it offered enough illumination to dispel the gloom. Instead, it cast an eerie, yellow glow that faded before it reached the stairs.

Cautiously, Dani made her way around a corner into the heart of the cellar. Bandit’s barking sounded like it came from another world and Dani wondered if the sensation was similar to that of a book she’d just finished. One of her favorite protagonists had been trapped exploring the underground caves in New Mexico, something Dani hoped never to experience. She’d never allow herself to be caught in a situation where she’d have to test the possibility of severe claustrophobia.

The place was relatively bare, with a few boxes sitting open on shelves along one wall. Spider webs and dirt were everywhere, but it was a large room with planked flooring that was curved and warped with the dampness. Dani was around the corner from the stairs, shining her flash light beam into the boxes, when she thought she heard footsteps above and stood upright, listening intently.

“Noah?” Maybe he came over after work. Or maybe she was imagining things. She didn’t hear it again, but she’d seen enough. Turning to go back up the stairs, she jumped like she’d been shot when the metal door clanged shut, cutting off the light from above ground, followed by a sharp scraping sound and the whish of leaves.

Damn! What the hell was that? She stood, frozen, willing her heart to slow down so she could hear something besides the incessant beating in her ears. Probably the wind blew the door shut, she told herself. She hadn’t been able to lay it all the way back against the ground due to the pile of branches and leaves. A good gust could do that, couldn’t it? Not likely, a voice inside her head told her. Well, she could believe it if she wanted to, she retorted in her mind.

Climbing the stairs, she reached up and gave the door a gentle nudge. Nothing. Another push, a little stronger this time. It didn’t budge. Finally, she pushed on it with all her might, resting the flashlight on the step between her feet. The door was not going to move!

Pushing and banging with all the strength she had, and ignoring the rising panic that threatened to choke her, she was finally rewarded by the sound of Bandit barking steadily at the door. Collapsing on the top step, she dissolved into a shivering heap, terrified at the thought that maybe someone had locked her in. All of Beth’s spooky insinuations came flying back, causing goose flesh to rise on her arms.

Breathing deeply, she tried to stay calm. Of course no one locked her in. It was the wind, nothing more. Noah would come over after work and find her and they’d laugh about it over dinner. She refused to even consider the fact that they’d made no definite plans for today, or that she didn’t even know if he’d come over, much less look for her if he didn’t find her right away.

Whistling, Noah cut a path through the trees between his house and Dani’s. He’d been doing a lot of whistling lately. Relationships, at least good ones, were a rare commodity in his line of work. Most of the cops he knew were divorced, or acted like they were. After his first marriage ended in disaster, he’d endured a lot of years of dead end relationships. Either the girls were scared of what he did for a living, or they wanted too much too soon. Nearing the age of forty, with all he’d seen, he really didn’t blame them.

He’d pretty much decided he’d live the rest of his days alone when he moved to Tyler, aside from an occasional outing and some casual sex. He had no problem getting dates, that part was easy. It was brain food he craved. Spending time with a woman who was thoughtful and intelligent. Someone who at least tried to understand why he did what he did.

When he first met Dani, he had to admit, it was the idea of convenience that appealed to him. An attractive woman, happily pursuing her own career, who made few demands on him and lived right next door. But one night with her shot that all to hell. Little by little, he found himself wanting to call her just to hear her laugh, or to tell her about something interesting he’d seen that day because she always seemed to know exactly what he was talking about, even when he didn’t say it very well.

Of course the idea of joining her in her bed was never far from him, and he’d taken many a cold shower after leaving her at night. But what they had was too rare, too important for him to jeopardize it by moving too fast. Dani Jones was a very real part of his heart. He could wait until she knew that.

Exiting the trees at the low end of the driveway, his heart skipped a beat as he saw her car in the drive, much the same way it had as a child when he discovered the prize at the bottom of the Cracker Jack box. He knew it would be there, but it wasn’t quite real till he touched it. Still whistling, he took the front porch stairs in one leap and called, “Anybody home?”

He already had the screen door open when he realized there was no answer. “Anybody home?” he tried again. “Dani?” Silence. She must be here somewhere. Creeping cautiously inside, he listened for any sound that might indicate her whereabouts. “Dani?”

Thinking maybe she was on the phone, he moved into the kitchen. Nothing. Her purse and Daytimer were there on the counter, though, along with her car keys. Maybe she was upstairs. It was odd that there was no music playing, and he didn’t think she’d be working up there with the front door wide open.

“Dani?” he called a little louder this time, taking the stairs two at a time. The first door he came to was her spare room. He’d helped her move some boxes in there not long after they met. Opening the door carefully, he saw that it was dark and everything was just like he’d last seen it.

On full alert now, he moved back into the hall, calling her name again before opening the bathroom door. There was no sign of her in there, or in her bedroom either. A familiar feeling of dread crept over him as he headed back down the stairs and out the door.

“Dani!” he yelled full out, ignoring the fear that gripped his heart irrationally. She was probably just gone for a walk or something. “Dani!” he called again, breaking into a run when he heard Bandit’s answering bark. Moving around the back of the house, he could see that she’d been there. The lawnmower and weed-eater were propped beside the garage door, and a stack of trash bags bordered the back of the yard. The rake was laying half buried in a pile of leaves like it had been casually abandoned.

“Bandit! Where’s Dani?” he called, seeing the dog wiggling with excitement on the far side of the yard. “Where is she, bud?” he called, looking around the perimeter at the trees that bordered her land. Bandit barked again, but didn’t budge from the spot. Odd, he usually had to brace himself for the onslaught of the little mutt flinging himself at his legs. A feeling of apprehension went with him across the yard and he stopped, listening, about ten feet from where the dog stood. Was he imagining things? “Dani?” he called, thinking he heard her call his name.

Faintly, so distant it sounded like the wind, he heard, “Noah!”

Two steps closer, he saw the metal under the dog’s feet, almost completely covered in leaves. He was on it instantly, shoving the leaves aside to reveal two metal doors with a thick branch jammed under the handles. Removing the branch, he jerked the door open, revealing Dani’s tear stained face.

She leapt at him, flinging both arms around his neck as she sobbed. Lifting her off the steps, he carried her effortlessly to a grassy spot a few feet away and sat down with her in his lap.

“What happened?” he asked gently, smoothing the hair back from her eyes.

“I don’t know,” she wailed, still shaken with sobs.

“I’m sure as hell glad you got that dog,” he said, scratching Bandit behind the ears as he snuggled up next to his mistress.

“Me too,” she said, pulling away from his chest as she tried to compose herself. “Did he help you find me?”

“Rooted to the spot,” Noah answered, still feeling a little shaky. “I didn’t even know this place was here. How’d you get in there? I could barely see the doors through the pile of leaves.”

Dani rubbed the tears from her face and straightened her shoulders, already feeling foolish. “I know. I was raking when I found it so I decided to go in there and take a look around. But while I was down there, the door blew shut and I couldn’t get out. Dumb, huh?” She tried to laugh, but inside she was still shivering.

“Not dumb,” he reassured her, stroking a strand of hair from her cheek. “But I don’t see how that door blew shut.” Carefully, he eased her off his lap and got up to re-examine the door. When he turned to look at her again, his eyes were narrowed and a frown creased his face. “That branch didn’t just happen to blow between the handles either. Did you hear anything?”

She tried to think. “I don’t know. I thought I heard footsteps, I thought maybe it was you,” she smiled briefly, “but when I called your name…” She didn’t like the way it was starting to sound. “I’m sure it was just the wind, Noah. I couldn’t get the door to lay flat because of the pile. It just blew shut.”

“Uh huh,” he didn’t believe her. “Ready to go inside? I need to call this in.”

Without speaking, she nodded and got to her feet with his help. Once inside, she sank down on the couch, too numb to argue with him. Maybe she was still in shock, but it didn’t faze her to hear him telling someone on the phone that she’d been deliberately locked into the cellar. Fifteen minutes later, the place was crawling with cops, asking questions and examining everything in her yard. Dani didn’t even begin to relax until it was all over and she sat snuggled up beside Noah on the couch with a steaming mug of Suisse Mocha in her hands.

“You don’t have any idea who would do this?” he asked for the umpteenth time.

“Noah, I told you,” she said, “I hardly even know anyone around here. Why would someone want to lock me in that cellar? I didn’t even know there was a cellar back there. Besides, it was just a branch jammed under the handles, right? Probably Bandit was scratching up there and that’s what happened.” Utterly exhausted, she felt like her mind was frozen, refusing to even think anymore.

“Maybe,” he didn’t sound convinced.

“Probably,” she argued. “You saw all those branches and leaves. There’s no reason in the world someone would do that on purpose.” She sounded so convincing she almost believed it herself. “The wind blew it shut and Bandit was scratching around, trying to get me out. That’s all it was.” Never mind that she didn’t hear Bandit barking close by until considerably after the fact. She didn’t want to accept anything else.

He studied her face for a moment, obviously not sure if he believed her or not. “You want me to stay tonight?” he asked. “No strings.”

“Oh Noah,” she hugged him. “I’ll be fine, really.”

A muscle worked hard, flexing rhythmically beneath his beard. “All right,” he said, kissing her softly before he got up. “You call me if you need me, no matter what time it is.”

“I will,” she said, following him to the door and standing on tiptoe to kiss him again.

“I’ll be by in the morning,” he said, stepping out the door. “Now let me hear that deadbolt turn before I go.”

After the evening’s activity, the house seemed incredibly empty after he’d gone. Dani decided to forego her nightly ritual bath and climbed into bed. The mystery she was reading was a little too suspenseful for comfort so she put it up and decided a good night’s sleep was what she needed.

Sleep didn’t come easy, though, and was filled with bizarre dreams all night. At the crack of dawn, she was wide awake with a throbbing headache and an urge for caffeine. The last twenty four hours were a jagged blur in her head, taunting, tormenting, then moving just out of reach. When it became apparent that she wouldn’t go back to sleep, Dani stumbled to the kitchen and started a pot of coffee, then went to retrieve the morning paper from the yard. Since she usually slept in a soft, old pair of sweats and a T-shirt, there was no need to change before going outside. She was halfway up the drive before she stopped and looked hastily over her shoulder.

The sunrise creeping up behind the house was bright and clear, with just a hint of the cold weather soon to come. She’d heard the winters here were more intense than in central Texas and was secretly hoping for the snow she’d rarely seen in Austin. There were still a few birds that hadn’t flown south chirping happily in the trees above her head and Dani sincerely hoped she’d catch some of their cheery mood. Scampering back down the drive in bare feet that were starting to get cold, Dani stopped short when Noah emerged from the trees beside the drive.

“Noah! You scared me,” she gasped.

“Sorry,” he offered her a crooked smile. “You’re not usually out this early.”

“Oh, and you are?” she asked grumpily, scooting back up the porch steps.

“Always,” he said in a voice that was much too cheerful, following her in the door.

“Whatever for?” she asked, pulling another coffee mug out of the cabinet.

“Seems a shame to waste good daylight,” he smiled, sitting down in a chair beside her at the kitchen table. “What’s for breakfast?”

“Coffee,” she grumbled, sipping hers and willing it to work fast.

“I can see you’re not a morning person,” he observed.

“Brilliant deduction, detective,” she grinned reluctantly. If left to her own devices with no early morning classes, she’d probably stay up till four or five in the morning, then sleep till noon or after.

“Investigator,” he corrected her with a grin. “What’s the plan for the day?”

“I don’t know,” she yawned. “I’ll probably try to keep breathing…”

“Good plan,” he nodded, watching her with an amused expression. “And then?”

She scowled at him, wondering if he was this cheerful every morning. “I need to finish up in the yard, then I need to go shopping,” she groaned.

“Great!” he said with far too much enthusiasm.

She rolled her eyes and smiled again. Coffee was kicking in and she had to admit, he was cute when he was so happy.