he neared them. His expression seemed strangely impassive in the dark, but his sharp green eyes glittered despite the shadows cast by his brows.
Zoe clicked on her light as he neared them. Mason stopped at Keira’s side, put his hands in his pockets, and glanced between the pair. “Bit late to be touring the countryside, isn’t it?”
Damn it. Keira clutched for some explanation that might make sense to him, but she came up empty. Unlike Zoe, the simple excuse of “I wanted to see where Emma died” wouldn’t fly with Mason, and he would think she’d gone insane if she started talking about ghosts. The best she could hope for was a diversion. “I could say the same to you. What’re you doing out here?”
“Following you,” he said simply.
She frowned. “Wait—were you in the car?”
“Yep. I was having trouble sleeping, so I thought I’d stand guard in case Gavin showed up. Imagine my surprise when I saw you coming down the driveway.” He tilted his head and raised one eyebrow. “Then imagine my escalating surprise when you seemed to vanish into thin air. I eventually walked into the town in search of you…and followed Chatterbox’s voice.”
“Oops.” Zoe gave an apologetic shrug.
Mason’s gaze didn’t leave Keira’s face. He seemed to be trying to read her, but his expression was still too restrained for her to know if he was disappointed by what he found.
She licked her lips. “I really appreciate you keeping an eye out for me, but you can go home. I have something I need to do with Zoe.”
“It’s going to be dangerous, isn’t it?” His tone was gentle, but she still felt knots squirming in her stomach.
“Not unless you consider Dane a threat, which I personally don’t,” Zoe unhelpfully supplied.
Both of Mason’s eyebrows rose. “Ah. You’re going to Crispin House, then. Am I allowed to know why?”
Keira grimaced. There was no way to play their outing off as a casual stroll any longer. “I want to see where Emma died.” There. Now he’ll try to talk us out of it or threaten to call the police or go through a spiel about how disappointed he is or…
But Mason didn’t speak for several long beats. His eyes roved over Keira’s face, their intensity sending prickles up her spine. Then, at last, the unreadable expression broke into a lopsided smile. “Can I come?”
“Huh?” She blinked at him. “Sorry, I mean…huh?”
He shrugged. “You don’t have to give me your reasons if you really don’t want to. But I suspect you have a good cause. And maybe I need a bit of an adventure after these last few months of doing nothing of significance. So yeah, to heck with it. I’m along for the ride.”
She glanced toward the trees surrounding Crispin House. “I won’t sugarcoat it: this is both risky and stupid. Are you sure you want to come?”
“If you’ll have me. Like I said, I couldn’t sleep. And”—he shot her a sheepish grin—“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a tiny bit curious about the house.”
Keira could finally breathe again. She glanced at Zoe. Her companion shrugged, indicating the choice was hers, so Keira smiled. “Yeah. Definitely. Let’s go.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Keira pulled out her flashlight but didn’t turn it on. They slipped into the forest, with Zoe leading the way, her light bobbing across the dead, spiky branches blocking their path. Keira followed closely, and Mason was just behind her. Zoe continued to stomp through the leaves with very little concern for how much noise she was making, but at least Mason seemed to know how to be subtle. He was larger and heavier but made far less noise than Zoe.
A dozen paces into the forest, it became impossible to see, and Keira was forced to use her flashlight. The woods were untamed and had no man-made paths.
The group slowed their pace as the flat ground became consumed by indents, protruding roots, and fallen trunks. The instability forced them to test almost every step before trusting their weight to it, and the stress was starting to fray Keira’s already-tired nerves.
Zoe led them straight for several minutes, then she took a sharp right. The disorienting, twisting path around the trees had thrown off Keira’s sense of direction, but she thought they were moving parallel to Crispin House.
At last Zoe turned right again, leading them back toward the house. The forest began to thin, and Keira clicked off her flashlight. Zoe kept hers on.
“I’ll point it at the ground; stop worrying,” she whispered