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As I head toward my room, the scratching noise starts up again. It really does sound too big to be a rodent. What if a poor bird got stuck up there?
Biting my lip, I tiptoe to the hall closet and find a flashlight before creeping into my room.
Instead of crawling back into bed, I walk to the closet and slip inside before flicking on my flashlight. A small stack of boxes gives me enough height to reach the hatch in the ceiling, and I pull it down, lowering the fold-up ladder as quietly as possible.
I’ll just pop open the roof hatch to allow whatever’s up here to escape, then go back to bed.
The wooden steps scrape against my bare feet as I climb, and I wave the flashlight around to scare off any woodland attackers before I step up into the attic.
The large, open space runs from one end of the house to the other, with sheet-draped furniture making ghostly shapes alongside boxes. I should find some time to spend up here, going through everything and getting rid of what we can’t use.
Not everyone who recently moved to Hartford Cove arrived with possessions or the means to purchase necessities. The furniture that’s collecting dust up here could go to a needy home, and who knows what treasures hide in those boxes?
There’s absolutely no reason to hoard what others could use.
I sweep my flashlight around in search of the mystery scratcher. “Little birdy, who is definitely not a rat?”
“What are you doing?”
I shriek and spin toward the ladder, brandishing my flashlight.
Haut squints against the blinding light and holds up a hand. “What are you doing up here at this time of night?”
“I heard noises.” I point the light at the floor. “We either have rats or there’s something trapped up here.”
He frowns and climbs farther up the ladder. “When did you hear noises?”
“Just now.” I quiet and listen for the scratching, but silence fills the attic. “Well, I heard it a minute ago. That’s what woke me up.”
Haut shakes his head. “I didn’t hear anything.”
My mouth opens to argue, then closes. Haut, with his super hearing, would know better than anyone if there’s something scurrying around in the attic.
He walks over to wrap an arm around me. “You were probably dreaming about it, and that’s what woke you.”
But I heard it out in the hall, too, when I was most definitely awake.
Afraid he’ll tell me I was the only one moving around in the house, I keep those words to myself. It wasn’t that long ago that I hallucinated things, some of them real and most of them not.
Dr. Lopez has taken blood samples to make sure the meds Bryant tricked me into taking are out of my system, but she warned me that it could take six months before their effects completely fade.
I’ve worked so hard to be independent, to be more than my psychosis. Admitting I’m hearing things feels like a huge step backward.
I lean my weight against Haut’s warm body. “If there were rats, your naked ass scared them away.”
He gazes down at me for a heartbeat. “My tail is definitely bigger than theirs.”
I shine my flashlight on his tail, which really is intimidating, no matter how many times it’s been inside me. “Truly terrifying.”
His arm curls around me, and he guides me toward the ladder. “Back to bed with you, little mouse detective. And if you hear any more noises, wake one of us up before sneaking around in the attic at night.”
Dust sifts beneath my feet as we walk back to the opening, and I shine my flashlight across the floor. But the only footprints are ours, and whatever noise woke me is gone.
* * *
I fold my arm under my breasts and glare. “So, you’re my babysitter, huh?”
Barron leans in the open doorframe. “Don’t say you didn’t expect it after what happened yesterday.”
