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“Before you get your panties in a bunch, it’s familiar territory.” There was a dark chuckle on the other end before the voice turned serious. “Consider it an apology for my impatience. I should’ve waited for you to begin with.”
“Oh?”
“Another loose end.” It didn’t clarify much, but Zbirak knew he’d be getting his answers tomorrow. “And something tells me you’ll enjoy trimming this one.”
Zbirak smiled. His line of business didn’t allow him to trust people, and although he had little in common with his current employer, the man had gone out of his way to make sure Zbirak knew he respected his talents. An extra job was no hardship to maintain a relationship like that.
Zbirak had been silent for too long. “As a bonus,” the man said, “I’ll buy you the best damn steak you’ll ever eat.”
Zbirak’s smile widened. “Deal.”
6
After walking a block from the uninhabited jewelry store, Cassie’s internal temperature returned to normal. Donning her jacket, she stuck her hands in the pockets, already chilled to the bone.
What happened in the jewelry story was supernatural, but what did it mean? She hadn’t seen anything—no ghosts, no visions, no shadows moving out of the corner of her eye. Whatever the other side was trying to tell her, it wasn’t getting through.
Harris drove them a few blocks to a small restaurant named Tommy’s. It sold sandwiches, soups, and a single cobb salad. The detective got a bowl of chowder large enough to feed three. Cassie got the salad. They requested a small table in the back, jammed against the wall. The lunch hour crowd was loud and boisterous, but Cassie enjoyed it after the jewelry store’s oppressive silence.
“So.” Cassie lifted a forkful of lettuce smothered in blue cheese dressing to her mouth. “What now?”
Harris shrugged and slurped her soup. She seemed forcibly cavalier about the fact that they had hit a dead end. Like she was willing to do anything but admit they’d already lost their best lead. “Gotta figure out where the jewelry store owner went.” She pulled out her phone. “Either that or go through the flash drive and find another address.”
Cassie stuffed another bite of food into her mouth, afraid that if she spoke, she’d say something she’d regret. They’d only been at this for an hour or two, but she was ready to give up hope. Maybe it was a gut feeling, or maybe it was guilt over ignoring David’s final wishes. But Harris wasn’t going to let go of this until they found something.
But what if they found something Harris didn’t want to know?
Cassie pulled out her own phone and flipped through the photos of the jewelry store. She wondered what the people around her thought—two young women on their phones instead of talking to each other. Typical Millennials. If only they had any idea what these women were here for.
Cassie swiped to the next photo. Nothing out of the ordinary. The room was full of empty cases. Pamphlets and litter on the floor. The unused filing cabinets. If they had at least found something, maybe this wouldn’t feel like a lost cause. Cassie took another bite of salad, then flipped to the next photo, and—
She gasped around a mouthful of food. “Holy shit.”
Harris looked up. “What?”
Cassie forced the food down her throat. “I’m not sure.”
Harris made a frustrated sound. “Well, you said that for a reason.”
“I mean,” Cassie said, leveling her with a glare, “I’m not sure what I’m looking at.”
“Pictures from the jewelry store?”
Cassie nodded. “I took them in case we needed to look back at something.”
Harris must’ve gotten tired of her beating around the bush because she pushed her chair out as far as it would go—about four inches—and came around to Cassie’s side of the table, not caring that she was now towering over the older couple to their left. She leaned down for a closer look. “Is this the filing cabinet in the second room?”
“Yeah, the one in the corner.” Cassie leaned forward, too. Their heads were almost touching. “I didn’t notice this at the time.”
Next to the black, beat-up, metal filing cabinet was a shadow. Darker than it should’ve been, like it had some mass to it. In fact, it almost looked solid and three-dimensional, as though it weren’t simply resting against the wall, but stepping away from it. From this angle, Cassie couldn’t tell whether it was a man’s or a woman’s. But it wasn’t hers—which was off to the left side of the picture.
“Where was I when you took this?” Harris asked.
“The third room. I just popped my head in here for a minute.” She swiped forward to the next picture. This one focused on the other side of the room. But you could still see the filing cabinet. And the shadow.
“We have to go back,” Harris said.
Cassie looked up at her. “Wait. We don’t even know if this is something worth investigating.”
