Page 151 of 1001 Dark Nights: Bundle Forty-Two

“I wish I’d realized I’d been seen. That whoever it was hadfigured out who I was. I wish we’d come straight here. If we had, then OfficerWhittaker would be...”

“Debbie, we all wish that right now,” Angela assured her.“We will find him, trust me. We’re good at what we do. And part of what we dois looking after people like you, who might be indanger. So, please know that none of this is your fault.”

Debbie nodded.

Mark parked the car in the semicircular drive. “We’re here,”he said cheerfully. “And it’s a great place, I promise.”

“We had my sister stay here when she was in danger andinvolved with a case,” Colleen said. “Megan isn’t a Krewe member, she’s aneditor. But she... well, anyway, I think you met another of our team members,Ragnar Johansen? She’s married to him now. Anyway, she, uh...”

Colleen paused awkwardly, and Angela hid a smile. She didn’twant to explain that her sister saw and spoke to the dead—and had her specialtalent of what they called reading between the lines.

“She’s just great, and we all love her,” Angela saidquickly. “So, let’s show you the house.”

Again, Mark keyed in the code and used his fingerprint toopen the front door.

And then they were in.

Angela knew the house well, but Mark and Colleen would bestaying. She decided they should do the tour of the place.

Mark pointed out that every window was attached to the alarmsystem, as were both doors. They told Debbie that she was welcome to check outthe upstairs and choose a bedroom after they’d shown her the kitchen.

Red ran around, wagging his tail as he approved of theirlocation and assured himself that no one was there.

Seeing that everything was going well, Angela knew that sheshould get moving. Debbie still looked stricken, but behind her, Colleengrimaced at Angela and mouthed, “We’ll be fine.”

“Jackson left Ragnar to get the police going on thehouse-to-house searches for the video surveillance,” Mark said. “He should beout front any minute.”

Angela nodded. “Perfect, thanks.”

She headed out to the gate. She knew the code as well andkeyed it in.

Then pressed her forefinger to the pad.

The gate opened. Someone changed the code weekly—or wheneverthe house came into or out of play with temporary guests.

She stood in front of the house for a minute, glancing ather phone. She had a message. Jackson was on his way to get her. She judgedhe’d arrive in a minute or two.

She wondered if she should have stayed behind the gate untilhe did, but she hadn’t seen anything at the cemetery. Not to mention, thecriminal carrying out these murders was unlikely to accost an agent in broaddaylight, especially in an area where cameras were set to record every move.

Yet still...

As she stood there, she felt strange.

As if she were being watched.

The safe house was in a neighborhood of upper-middle-classhomes. The yards were decent-sized, and fences or walls surrounded most of thehouses. A lot of them were fairly large, offeringthree to five bedrooms each and garages, and many had pools in the back.

There were no high-rises on the street. Which meant that noone could be watching her from a window in a tall building.

Then again...

There was a park across the street anddown a bit. It had trees that stretched high toward the sky, handsome,well-kept bushes, and a playground just beyond. Moms, dads, kids, aunts,uncles, and friends ran about, see-sawing, climbing on the jungle gym, and justhaving fun.

It was ridiculous to think that someone had somehow followedthem and was watching her from a tree.

Or a merry-go-round.

She gave herself a mental shake.