Blood? Belle hadn’t let herself dwell much on that possibility, but in the back of her head, she’d suspected the same thing. Desperately, she’d hoped the thought was simply an illusion generated by her fear. Knowing the guys had drawn the same conclusion didn’t comfort her. She shivered and let Tate hustle her down the stairs.
An hour and a cup of tea later, she was calmer as the police left with reassurances that the house was secure and they would start looking into everyone who had been there earlier that day.
“You really didn’t see those words on the wall before you went to bed?” Kellan hovered above her, his tone pure interrogation.
Belle had already retraced the evening about a dozen times with the police, but she grasped her patience firmly in hand to answer. If one of the guys had woken up screaming, she’d likely be freaked out, too.
“No, but I was exhausted. I literally fell into bed with my clothes on, so I didn’t have any reason to turn on the light.” Of course if she had, she would have noticed the message someone had seen fit to leave her. But on the bright side, she’d already been fully dressed when the police had arrived. “I didn’t see it. And I have no idea who would be trying to scare the bejeezus out of me. I don’t have any enemies that I’m aware of, especially in this city. I just got here.”
The police had done some quick forensic thing and determined the message had been written in pig blood. They said they’d investigate the vandalism and possible break-in, but much of the department was mired in the madam murder that had taken place a few blocks away and was now gaining national news attention.
“I think we should pack up and head home until we know who’s trying to scare Belle and why.” Eric paced the kitchen.
Tate nodded. “We can spend tonight in a hotel and catch a flight home tomorrow.”
She was afraid, yes. Terrified that someone had come into her house, in her bedroom, intending to frighten her. But she wasn’t leaving. Her future was here, and these men didn’t seem to understand that she couldn’t go back to the relationship they’d had before. If she followed them back to Chicago, she would be just their secretary again, taking care of their professional needs, but not really fulfilling any of her own.
“No. This is my home now, and I’m not going to let some jerk scare me out of it.”
“Belle, someone broke in. It’s not safe, especially until we know who and what we’re dealing with.” Kellan’s voice sounded hard as nails.
“You know that’s not totally true.” She shook her head. “No one had to break in. Did you see the list of contractors and delivery people I gave the police? Probably twenty people were in and out of here today, including the creepy old guy next door who told me my grandma was a witch and I shouldn’t follow in her footsteps.”
Two of her neighbors had shown up in fact, one a very nice woman who wrote novels for a living and had brought her muffins. The other had thumped a bible in her face. Belle knew which neighbor she’d be inviting to dinner parties.
“There were the interns from the law office,” she went on. “Don’t forget the electrician, the plumber—”
Tate frowned. “Was that the guy with the beer belly and the mullet who told you to call him Captain Ron?”
“That’s him.”
“Was he in the military or something?” Eric looked confused.
“No, that’s just what he likes to be called.” Belle sighed. It followed that such an interesting city would have lots of colorful characters. She just wished they weren’t all in her house at once.
Tate just shook his head. “And I thought I was weird…”
“Focus, guys,” Kellan snapped.
“I remember everyone who came through—the UPS guy, the handyman who gave you an estimate, even the teenager who delivered our pizza.”
“How about the three couriers who needed your signatures on documents? There were tons of people here today,” she pointed out. “Any one of them could have come into my room at any time. The house was wide open.”
Tate tapped his fingers along the kitchen table. “The question is, why would someone do that? The weird neighbor and Captain Ron guy I can see since they kind of seem unhinged anyway.”
“Which is what I told the police,” she said to Kell.
“What’s creepy neighbor guy’s name? Did you catch it? I was on a call when he stopped by.”
“He was an ass who maligned my grandmother. I blocked out his name.” Belle smiled tightly.
“I’ll find out tomorrow. I know the police say they’ll look at everyone, but I’ll put some extra effort into him,” Eric promised.
“Or we could just walk next door and have a nice chat with him.” Kellan had a placid look on his face that didn’t fool Belle for one minute. If she let him, he would threaten the man next door with all manner of violence. After the guys had gone, she had to live next to the him. She couldn’t let Kellan make a bad situation worse.
“No. We’re going to let the police deal with him. Tomorrow morning, I’ll let Mr. Gates know that I won’t allow any interns back in the house. I’ll watch every single delivery man. I’ve already called for a new security system. But for all we know, it was a prank,” Belle theorized, though she suspected otherwise. “I can’t let someone scare me away.”
The memory of that ghostly voice floated through her brain again, but Belle shoved it aside. She was not “getting out.” She also refused to let her active imagination run crazy. Of course she was scared. Whoever had done this could be a whack job of Manson proportions. She hoped this episode was simply the work of someone trying to rattle her. Her house wasn’t haunted, and no ghost had written that warning on her wall.