Page 63 of Good Girls Beg

If he ever had that carefree expression now, I hadn't seen it. The kid in the photo looked like he had nothing to be guarded about, or angry. He'd changed since then, that much was clear.

Remembering what I was here for, I straightened up and stepped over to the wardrobe.

The door was half open, clothes hanging in no particular order. Pants here, shirts there. It reminded me of my own wardrobe. Organized chaos, I liked to call it. Disorganized chaos might be more appropriate. Whatever, I knew where to find things.

My breath caught in my throat.

At the side of the wardrobe was another door. Made of timber, it was exactly like every other door in the house. Except for the lock beside the worn knob.

This had to be it.

The door that led to the basement.

"Bingo."

I place a hand on the knob and twisted. I thought it would be locked, but the door opened easily as though it was well-oiled or used often.

Was that? Yes it was. A set of stairs led down, deep under the house.

I pulled the door all the way open until it lightly touched the inside wall of the wardrobe, took out my phone and turned on the flashlight.

The stairs looked well worn from hundred years of people making their way up and down.

Something dark stained the outer edge but I decided not to think about that too much. Instead, I'd dwell on the fact the doorway was in Oak's room. That tracked. After all, he was the security guard. Was he guarding something in the basement as well?

I sucked in a breath but couldn't smell anything nasty. Nothing that smelled like rotting corpse, although the smell that came from the basement wasn't pleasant either. Whatever it was, I couldn't put my finger on it. It was heavy, thick.

I swallowed hard and started down the stairs.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

HEL

I tapped my fingers on my desk and watched the scene on my laptop screen with rising irritation. The intrusion on my personal property was not appreciated. My carefully determined boundaries were being crossed. Stepped all over. I wanted to put my hand through the screen and wrap it around her throat…

I lowered my hand to the desk, took several breaths to calm myself.

Hel Egger did not lose his shit, but this wasn't something that could go unpunished.

I tapped on the screen of my phone and pressed on Oak's number. It rang twice before he answered.

"Yeah?"

"Is that any way to address your boss?" I snapped. Yes, we were friends, but at work he was my employee. A security guard. Did I need to remind him that was his choice?

The line was silent for a few heartbeats.

"Yeah, boss?" I hadn't expected Oak to apologize, but this greeting was only slightly less aggravating than the first one. Whatever though, I didn't have time for his bullshit right now.

I told him what I saw on my screen, sensing his anger rising through the phone line.

"This shouldn't have happened," he said quietly.

"You think?" I said sarcastically. "Of course it shouldn't have happened. That's something we'll discuss later. In the meantime, I want this taken care of. You know what you need to do."

The phone crackled as he sighed into it.

"Yeah I do, but…" The phone crackled again.