“And look at little ol’ me, I got two. You know how to make a woman feel special.”
My nerves were abuzz. Octavia’s quips had lost their biting edge and offered something teasingly sweet. I scrambled to think of something witty to say back, not expectingher willingness to flirt without an undercurrent of disdain. I was at a loss, a rare occurrence that left me scratching my head.
“The combination of the shoe in the ground.” I gently guided us toward the more dire topic because that was all I could offer right now. Octavia leaned her head back for a second, groaning softly. I paused at the sound of it, having to look away from the curve of her parted mouth to finish properly.
“And your accounts of your employees’ injuries on site were red flags I didn’t take seriously enough. It won’t happen again,” I promised in a hard voice. “To assure that doesn’t happen, we need to be on the same page. My job is to make sure you’re in the right headspace.”
Her forehead wrinkled, unable to hide her intrigue. “And how are you going to do that?”
“When the rest of my team gets here, they’ll delve into investigating everything there is to know about this ranch and the people who have walked on it,” I said. “My job will be to learn about you.”
“I told you, I haven’t pissed anyone off?—”
“No, I know.” I held up my hands, trying to show her we were on the same side. “I’m learning about you so that we can work on a better way for you to manage your fear and stress. This ghost’s got its sights on you. What you experienced last night was more than an oven burn or an ankle twist. This thing tried to bury you and in doing so, it’s planted a promising seed of fear. It’ll feed off it if you let it grow.”
“I’m not…” She sighed and wiped under her nose with the back of her hand. “Going to let it grow. Nightmares aren’t going to keep me from running this place. I can promise you that.”
“Good.” I smiled. “I can anchor with that.”
Octavia’s brows met in the middle. “Anchor?”
“It’s an old saying. Basically, it means I’m the person who’s going to hold you accountable. My job on most sites is making sure clients don’t let fear grow. I’m by their side,yourside, through it all. An emotional support human, if you will.”
She studied me, those dark eyes softening like they had the night before on the couch. Like they had when I promised not to leave.
“You are the woman I thought you were, by the way,” I murmured.
Octavia bit on her bottom lip for a second, shy and unsure. “What woman do you think I am, Rae?”
“One who doesn’t back down from a fight.”
TEN
“What are we looking at?”Nico stood at the end of the desk we’d pushed into the middle of the room. We’d rearranged the space to maximize our usage. The RV was often too tight for all four of us to conduct research comfortably, so whenever a client had extra space, we took advantage of it.
We shoved the twin beds against the wall along with our luggage. Case after case of tech Nico collected (and perhaps stole from the Guild) made the space feel like some government operation.
“This is a map of the ranch.” I laid out the printed sheets of paper that pieced together a visual of Elmwood.
“And these are known hotspots.” I circled the second floor of the house, a spot in the yard, and the stable in red. “We need to get a handle on the history. Octavia and her brother don’t know the previous owners, so we’ll have to take a trip into town to see if their library records are decent.”
“What about online?” Jonah leaned on the desk, staring hard at the map.
“You can try it,” Nico said around a mouthful of ice cream. The Daniel siblings made their own, along with butter, bread, and pasta. It was all very domestic and sweet. Ranch life seemed peaceful without a haunting hanging over one’s shoulders. “But I already scoured, and this place is in the Stone Age. I’m talking dial-up and no interest in digital archival.”
“A shame but not surprising. There’s still a working payphone at the gas station.” December stuffed her face with her own bowl of ice cream. I wrinkled my nose, a little irritated by their symphony of smacking. Jonah caught my eye, and we exchanged raised brows.
“We’ll clear it together,” I said and quickly added, “Nico can’t do it on his own.”
December’s shoulder deflated. She wanted to resume her admin work since their check-up gig was cut short. Jonah puffed up his cheeks and let out an inaudible sigh, nearly as disappointed as my cousin. He’d been laser-focused on physical aspects of the job.
“It’d take months to sift through the data if one person was doing it,” I explained as Nico opened his mouth in protest. He didn’t like our roles on the team crisscrossing if he could help it. Nico had systems that only made sense to him and believed sometimes teamwork slowed him down.
“We’ll be lucky if we have weeks before this thing escalates again. And next time…it could be fatal.” My pulse drummed at the thought, nearly deafening me.
“So, it’s official? Last night’s readings confirmed this is a cat five?” Nico asked.
Jonah’s gaze landed on me only for a second, but it was enough to set my cheeks on fire. I resisted the urge to tuck my hands underneath my armpits and make myself as small as possible.
