Storm Surge. Celia Ashley

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СКАЧАТЬ but she rose to check it, slipping her foot back into her shoe. On her way across the floor, she gave a wrinkle in the area rug a shove with the toe of her sneaker. She felt something hard beneath. “What’s that?”

      Without waiting for an answer she expected wouldn’t be forthcoming, Paige grabbed the rug’s edge and peeled it back. A curved iron handle stuck up at a slight angle from a recess in the floorboards where it normally rested, meaning it had been moved. She stepped back, searching each man’s face. “What is that? A trap door? Do you think someone might have—”

      “I’ll check,” said Dan. “Paige, give me that flashlight of yours.”

      Liam held his hand out for the flashlight at the same time, ignoring the fact Paige had extended it in Dan’s direction. “It’s only a crawlspace,” Liam said. “Every cottage along the beach has one. Still, it’s worth a look.”

      “Why don’t you just let a cop do his job?” Dan demanded with a touch of sarcasm.

      At the change to Liam’s demeanor, Paige dropped the instrument onto his palm instead of Stauffer’s and moved away. She didn’t care which man did the checking. It wasn’t out of the question that a rambunctious cat could have shifted the handle in a battle with the rug, but she needed an assurance that no one lurked beneath the cottage.

      Paige pulled the rug back a little more. “It couldn’t be the man from the beach, could it? I can’t see him moving that quickly.”

      Liam paused, the ring for the trapdoor gripped in his hand. “The one you said you saw earlier?”

      “I saw him again, right before I ran up here.”

      Liam looked at Dan. “Were you out there on the beach?”

      “Yeah, and I didn’t see anyone. Anyone but Paige, that is.”

      Sand ground between Paige’s fingers as she stretched them in agitation. “I followed him. Or tried to. He disappeared when I was climbing off the rocks.”

      “I didn’t see anyone,” Dan repeated. “And that’s a stupid move, trailing some unknown guy alone in the dark like that.”

      Paige remained silent. Liam shot her a fierce, unfathomable glare before yanking the trapdoor up, rusted hinges creaking. He shined the light down into the darkness. Paige stepped forward to peer into the hole from behind him.

      Dan grabbed her arm. “Just do me a favor and stand over there.”

      Mutely, she complied. From a man’s viewpoint, it made sense to have a woman out of harm’s way. But as the woman in question, one who’d always maintained her independence, free from reliance on any male in her life, the request grated. Still, she was grateful not to have to deal with a possible intruder alone.

      “Do you see anything?” she called down to Liam, who had descended into a crouch at the bottom of the decrepit stairs.

      Dan wagged his head. “I think we would know if he did.”

      Hunkered over his heels, Liam shuffled forward. The light went with him, blocked from the crawlspace entrance by his shadow. A tremor shook the floorboards beneath Paige’s feet. Dan felt it, too, and ducked toward the entrance.

      “You okay down there?”

      Liam appeared in the open square. “Sorry, bumped the joists. I want to check something farther back. If I yell—”

      “I’ll be right there,” Paige said at the same time Dan spoke similar words. Blushing, Paige retreated to the chair and sat. Stupid thing for her to say. She folded her hands between her thighs. Dan lowered himself to his knees next to the trapdoor.

      “Is he talking down there?” Paige asked.

      Dan waved a hand. “Shhh. To himself.”

      She heard Liam say something else, louder this time. Dan shoved his upper body into the opening. Paige tensed. Two seconds later, he was back out and rising. Liam appeared a moment later. He climbed up, brushing cobwebs from his hair, and then flipped the door shut. The crash of wood on wood echoed through the room. He pushed the handle down into the depression. The two men pulled the rug back into place.

      “Clear?” asked Dan.

      Liam nodded in a manner that made Paige sit up.

      “What was down there?”

      “Spiders,” said Liam. “Some discarded furniture. A few nests.”

      “Nests?” Paige echoed. “What kind of nests?”

      “The kind that might be the reason Shadow keeps coming over.”

      Paige pictured a dank and dirty subterranean space filled with cavorting mice. Better than rats. And far better than a bearded man in a coat and a knit cap—because that was where her mind had traveled, despite the absurdity. “Thank you both,” she said, “for checking.”

      Liam tossed the flashlight to her. Paige snatched it from the air above her head.

      “I’ll be heading home, then. You’re safe.” He shot a look at Dan. “I assume.”

      Paige stood. “I—”

      “It’s all right. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

      Dan followed him outside after telling her he’d be right back. Paige frowned at the closed door, listening to their indistinct voices on the opposite side, Liam’s gravel tones raised. Since she had no interest in an abrupt conversation between two strangers intent on pissing on each other’s shoes, Paige went to the bathroom to rinse the sand from her hands. A few minutes later, Dan returned.

      “Paige?”

      She stepped out, towel in hand. “I’m assuming you have something to tell me? You came looking for me, after all.”

      “Yeah. You need to be more careful with your doors.”

      “It was shut—”

      “I know it was. When I came around to knock before I saw you on the beach, the lights were all on but the door was closed.”

      Paige frowned. “What are you saying? That Liam is lying?”

      “He said the door was open and the lights were off, didn’t he?”

      “Yes, but that doesn’t mean he lied.” Paige thought a moment. “It could mean that after you were at the door and before Liam came over, someone else came and went.” A light chill fingered its way along her nape.

      “That, too,” Dan agreed.

      “Why would someone come in here?” Paige heard the shrill intensity in her voice and knocked it back a notch. “I mean, does it look like a place where someone might be stashing big bucks?”

      “Nothing’s missing, right? Check your purse, now, will you?”

      Paige hurried to the bed. She yanked her bag from the headboard. Her wallet was still inside, along with the cash and all her cards. Her keys СКАЧАТЬ