Handcuffs and Haints (3 page)

Sometime during the night, Zoe heard muffled voices, and realized Nick must have gotten a call on his cell.

“Yeah, I’ll be right there.”

He kissed her on the forehead, she mumbled, only half awake.

“I’ll be back soon. I got a call I have to check out in town. If I’m going to be long, I’ll have an officer ride out here. Don’t worry.”

Zoe hugged him, not wanting him to leave. “Please come back soon.” A frisson of fear at being alone after the events of the day ran through her.

“I will. I promise.” He kissed her long and hard before he slipped out of the bed.

Zoe heard the front door close a few minutes later as she drifted back into sleep.

A noise woke Zoe up later, a thumping from downstairs. She clutched the sheets and then decided to get out of bed. Nick wouldn’t have been so quiet. The sounds from below were random as if someone was searching for something.

She bolted out of bed on quiet feet, glad she was naked and quieter that way. Wrapping the sheet around her, she inched out of the bedroom and darted across the dark hall into the guest bedroom. She got into the corner behind the half open door, thankful for the nightlights in the room and in the hall.

Footfalls sounded on the steps, slow and deliberate.

I’ll run when he gets up here.

A shadow passed across the doorway. She knew he was heading to her room. When she thought he would be past, Zoe darted out of the room and shuffled down the steps, trying to be quiet.

She heard the light flip on in her room as she gasped for air, panicking. Throwing the front door open, she ran toward the woods beyond the side of the house. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she wondered if the intruder would follow.

For a few minutes, all was quiet. Zoe fought to control her breathing.

“Zoe, where are you, girl?” She stiffened behind the tree. Cletus Pool was calling her.

She clamped her lips together, praying he would leave and wishing she had a cell phone.

“I just want to talk to you! We need to come to an agreement. There’s stuff on this land belongs to me, and I don’t want you here. Ain’t gonna hurt you.”

As his words died, the sound she had heard the night before started again. A team of mules or large animals snorting and whinnying.

“Woah there! Woah.” The voice was foreign to her as if from a dream.

Ghosts…

A high pitched scream split the air, and the clopping of mules’ hooves rang out for another minute. All went silent. Zoe didn’t move.

A truck pulled up.

Nick. Please be Nick.

Zoe started out of the woods just as Nick called her name. “Zoe! Zoe, are you out here?”

“I’m here.” She ran to him, stopping short at Cletus Pool’s mangled, crushed body. “Oh my God.”

Nick took her into his arms. “Shh. It’s all right. What did you do to him? Are you okay? Why are you wearing a sheet?” He held her away, looking into her eyes, his expression grim.

Zoe laughed, the pitch high and hysterical. “I’m fine. The sheet is because it’s all I could get to. And I did nothing to him. I swear. He came into the house. I managed to get out and into the woods. Then I heard…well, I heard the team of mules and driver again.” She swallowed, wondering if he would believe her.

“Are you serious?”

“Would I lie about a dead man, even one as scummy as Cletus Pool?”

“I don’t think so.” He kissed her, and she melted into his arms, exhaustion rolling over her. “So now you believe in ghosts, huh?” He touched her chin.

“I do. I think one and his team saved me tonight.”

“Maybe you’re right.”

“I know you have to make some calls, but what do you think he was doing here?”

Nick snorted, leaning against his truck. “Looking for treasure. There’s a rumor the old couple who lived here at the turn of the century left some.”

“Are you serious?” Zoe sighed.

“I am, and knowing him, he didn’t mind stealing something real in the meantime…like your computer. Maybe he thought he’d run you off by coming out here.”

“That’s what he hinted at before…” Zoe shuddered, and Nick pulled her into his arms. “Shh. Let’s get you inside with some warm milk while I make the calls.”

They walked into the dark farmhouse, and Zoe decided then and there that she wasn’t going to run away again, even if it meant staying in Georgia with her deputy.

She stopped at the door, kissing him long and hard. “I love you.”

He whistled. “It’s pretty soon for declarations of love. You’ve had a long night…”

“Shh. I know what I want, and I’m going to make sure you know it, too.” She snatched his cuffs from his belt, and he grinned as she let the sheet fall to the floor.

“Don’t worry. You don’t have to cuff me, ’cause I’m not going anywhere, Zoe.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear, deputy.”