“That’s a hole for sure,” he commented aloud.
Price tilted his head to the side.
At first, he had pictured something large enough that a person could be put in, simply for the fact that he’d seen one too many horror movies. Then, he had pictured something half that size. Maybe a hole a dog would dig to hide a bone or a toy. He had only imagined one other potential size and it had been a misshapen thing made by a rooting armadillo or roaming raccoon. Maybe an overzealous squirrel.
But what he was looking at didn’t match up with any option he had pictured.
Instead, it just looked like something a small child had done while playing. It was a small hole that a shoebox could fit into and that he guessed was made with a gardening tool instead of someone’s bare hands.
Price looked around the yard again.
There were no other holes or disturbed spots around.
“Okay, I’mslightlyintrigued,” Price said aloud. He hooked one thumb through his belt loop to rest his hand and used the other to pull out his phone. He took a picture with it and was about to call the sheriff’s department to look for Josiah’s number when movement flicked out of the corner of his eye.
A few yards away was the back door with a bank of windows on either side. Those windows were covered by curtains and blinds from the inside. The back door, however, seemed to be open.
“Josiah?” Price called out, walking towards it.
He knew Josiah the same way he knew most of Seven Roads. Everyone in town had a story attached to them that the rest of the residents knew. Josiah was a young guy, smart too, but absolutely strange. He quieted when he should talk and when he should be quiet, he gave a sermon. That had become most apparent when he had gone on a tangent about the difference between air vents and air ducts during Mr. McCall Senior’s memorial service. While everyone else was doing the small nods and smaller talk, Josiah had been talking commercial use versus residential grade air-conditioning terms. Not the worst thing a person could do, but it had definitely been a story that had stuck.
Maybe that was why Price didn’t think too much about the back door being ajar. Or Josiah not answering his call right away. Price was thinking of the man who had taught him about ductwork and not someone who might have been trouble lurking in his house.
It was an oversight on his part.
One that Price realized quickly.
He pushed the door open. It led up through the middle of the house and alongside the stairs.
“Hey Josiah, it’s Price Collins. I was told to come out and—”
The movement that had caught his eye flashed again. This time, it was in the form of someone stepping into the hallway, opposite him.
Price knew he was standing on someone else’s property. He knew he hadn’t been given permission to come inside, just as he was acutely aware that he had no uniform on, no badge to flash and no service weapons or equipment to defend himself.
What he didn’t know was what a person dressed all in black, with a ski mask to boot, was doing in Josiah Teller’s house.
But he did know he was about to found out.
* * *
There are alot of situations where a woman might want to meet an attractive man. Out for a night on the town where you and your girls are feeling pretty and flirty? Yes. Walking through the grocery store on a perfect hair day? Absolutely. Just really wanting to get lost in a daydream while you’re sitting at a coffee shop, staring idly through the plate-glass windows? Definitely a situation where running randomly into a good-looking man might be a nice occasion.
However, being caught breaking and entering into a house, dressed like a robber, isn’t exactly ideal.
JJ mentally swept her own outfit as she looked the man opposite her up and down.
Her hair was braided tight and tucked tighter beneath her mask; the man’s hair was curling out from under the edge of a baseball cap. Her black sweater and joggers were baggy enough to hide her curves; the black undershirt clung in an appealing way against an upper body that she assumed was as fit as his arms. Her stance was perfect for being lithe and fleeing the situation, body tilted slightly toward the living room she was closest to; his stance was like his body—he had walled off the exit behind him and seemed ready to close in on her. JJ knew he couldn’t see her dark eyes, slightly panicked; she could see the way his bright gaze wasn’t moving an inch from her.
The man was handsome. The man was trouble.
JJ moved fast. One second, she was in the hallway, the next she was in the living room and hightailing it to the front door. Adrenaline filled her veins. Panic filled her feet. Her mind went to opening the door; her feet went the other way.
Pain exploded against her hip as JJ hit the hardwood, mere steps away from the entryway. The man wasn’t far behind.
No one has perfect balance. You hit the ground, you use the ground to hit whoever you’re going up against.
JJ’s godfather’s words were old but the directive in them was urgent. Instead of scrambling to her feet and trying to recover, she paused. If her pursuer realized she had stalled, it didn’t stop him. He was barking something out as he closed the space between them and reaching for her with clear intention of trapping her in that good-looking gaze.
