Haunted (7 page)

“Seal all the access points to the main house from the attic,” Dagmar said. “One through twenty-four, secured
now
.”

The staff began tapping at keyboards. The map displayed on the main monitor showed barriers sliding into place, even as Devon could be seen moving closer to the staircase that gave access to Caitlyn’s room.

“Block him off,” Dagmar said. “Quickly!”

“But not that one,” Amy cried. “We have to keep Caitlyn’s fantasy.”

Dagmar gave her a cool look. “Being murdered in her bed probably isn’t part of it.”

“But we have to do something!” Amy knew that Caitlyn’s fantasy had to be fulfilled, not just to provide customer satisfaction but to ensure that she made progress on Rex’s challenge. “Wait. Her room is beside Zach’s. I noticed how he looked at her.”

“She is exactly what he desires,” Rex said quietly.

“Then we can make this work.” Amy pointed to the display. “You have to leave this access open, the one at the top of the staircase in the wall between Caitlyn and Zach’s rooms. He has to think that everything is normal.”

“You can’t mean to confront him,” Dagmar was incredulous.

“He’s dangerous,” Rex said.

“I have to make this work,” Amy insisted.

“No,” Rex said, but she was already on the run.

“Let me into the hidden passageway, then seal it off again,” Amy said, sounding as commanding as she could. “I’ll make him go back up those stairs.”

“But how?” Dagmar demanded.

“I’ll think of something.” Amy took a deep breath. “Dreams have to come true at The Phoenix,” she whispered and felt Rex watching her.

Their gazes locked for a moment and Amy knew this was her chance to prove herself.

He gave a minute nod, the door opened to the passageway, and Amy ran.

Chapter Two

Devon was hard with anticipation. He eased through the attic of the manor house, hearing the wind whistle around the chimneys and the floor boards creak under his feet. The entire house was quiet, as if everyone except him was asleep.

He couldn’t imagine anything better than a houseful of unsuspecting victims and a passkey in his hand that would open any door. He could take
any
of them!

The illusion of the manor house was fabulously maintained. As someone who routinely made things look as they weren’t, Devon appreciated The Phoenix’s concern with the details. There were even old trunks in the attic, dressmaker’s dummies and broken pieces of furniture. The house could have been a hundred and fifty years old, instead of just one or two. The roof was pitched and angled, and the tops of the many staircases hidden from casual view.

The doors that sealed the access to those staircases, though, betrayed their modern origins. They were smooth steel, insulated, and slid open silently on tracks that illuminated for the barest moment. In each door frame was a card slot, with a tiny light that gleamed green when the passkey was accepted. The passkey was a card with a magnetic stripe.

Devon had memorized the layout of the attic, and went directly to the access door he needed. He’d checked it out earlier in the day. There was a flight of solid wooden stairs leading down from it. Once through the portal, the house looked antique, as if stepping through a doorway could toss a person back in time. At the foot of the staircase was was a small area between the stairs and the outside wall of the house, maybe the size of a foyer, with a door on the left and one one the right. Another staircase continued downward to the left beside the first one, descending into darkness. There were no lights in the passageways, but Devon’s eyes adjusted to the darkness well enough.

In the house itself, the magnetic key didn’t work. He had a brass church key that unlocked the period doors and he fingered it as he began down the stairs. The steel door slid closed behind him, but he’d expected that.

He waited for his eyes to adjust, then put one hand on the wall and started down the stairs.

How would he take her first?

The dead guy he was supposed to impersonate had had pretty tame tastes, at least from what Devon had been able to find out about him. There was one picture of Caitlyn hog-tied and blindfolded. She was smiling in that image, though Devon would have liked it better if she’d been afraid.

Or weeping, even.

Begging for mercy. He clenched his fist and closed his eyes, loving even the thought of that kind of power over another.

Devon carried a black rope, much like the one in the picture, and a blindfold. His idea had been to begin with their established game and go from there.

He should gag Caitlyn, he decided, then she’d never be able to raise an alarm if things moved a little bit faster than Devon had planned. He’d have to innovate, maybe find something in the room to use as a gag.

Devon was putting the church key into the lock of the door that opened into Caitlyn’s room, his heart pounding, when a sudden noise startled him. Someone was coming up the stairs to the left!

“I can’t imagine why you need to check on the fires now, much less why you have to use this access to do it,” a woman said, her voice gruff. There was a lot of stamping of feet, as if several people were trudging up the stairs together. “I understand about fire hazards and regulations, but it’s the middle of the night, and I would have liked to have gotten my sleep.”

“It’ll only take a moment,” a girl replied, her voice high and squeaky. “We have to ensure the safety of our guests.”

Two of them. How many more?

Devon slipped back up the stairs toward the attic, hiding himself in the shadows. He could wait a moment for this group to move on. He didn’t want to be disturbed once the game began.

He saw a flashlight shine around the small landing, as the gruff woman continued to complain, and took another couple of steps up to ensure that the darkness cloaked his presence.

But there was only one woman on the landing, a small one.

It looked like Madame Amelia.

She suddenly shone the flashlight straight at him, blinding him for a moment. “The spirits are strong,” she whispered, and Devon knew she meant to stop him.

As if that could happen! But she seized the church key he’d left in the lock and flung it down the stairs. It clattered as it fell, and Devon roared that she had impeded his access.

Deceitful bitch!

But a stupid enough one to have tried to stop him alone.

Devon dropped the rope and blindfold, then leaped down the stairs and tackled her. They fell together, wrestling, and Madame Amelia proved to be stronger than she looked. Maybe it was desperation. The flashlight fell and rolled as they struggled together. He locked his hands around her throat and felt her pulse leap.

This was the good stuff. He banged her head once against the floor and she sagged back on the floor, no longer fighting him. Devon tightened his grip and chuckled, giving her time to appreciate that he was going to kill her. The lighting was perfect, the only illumination from the flashlight. The way it was cast at the ceiling made the shadows long and stark like a horror movie.

“Nobody stops me,” he whispered with glee, even as she scratched as his hands in a futile effort to free herself.

Devon squeezed, watching her struggle for air, taking his time. She rallied one last time then the fight went out of her and her eyelids fluttered.

He had time to wish she’d been more afraid.

Then she kneed him hard in the genitals, making a sudden and remarkable recovery.

Devon recoiled in pain and she rolled on top of him immediately, fighting like a tigress. She scratched his face and clawed at his eyes, beating him about the head with her fists. He heard more running footsteps and people calling from below, then managed to throw off her weight.

She seized the flashlight and swung hard. She was fast.

She hit him on the side of the head and Devon staggered back at the impact. He decked her and kicked her feet out from beneath her, then ran back up the stairs. He fumbled for his passkey and opened the steel door, only sighing with relief once it was sealed behind him.

* * *

Rex was beside Amy when her eyes opened, his fingertips on her pulse. “Stupid,” he said when she opened her eyes. “Impulsive and stupid.”

She could see, though, that he was relieved.

So was she. Devon hadn’t killed her, after all.

“It had to be that way,” Amy argued, sitting up with an effort. “He had to run, but not realize how much was at stake.”

Rex ran a finger down her bruised throat. “You could have been more hurt than this.”

“Dangerous,” Dagmar said flatly, her disapproval clear, then listened. “He’s sealed into the attic,” she said to Rex who nodded agreement. “The other guests are safe.”

“Good.”

Dagmar spoke into her headset. “Excellent. Leave him one way out. You know the routine.”

“Make him sweat first,” Rex murmured and Dagmar nodded agreement.

“Where will you let him out?” Amy asked.

Dagmar smiled coldly. “Into the infirmary, of course. We have cages for his kind.” Her eyes glinted, then she turned away, directing the capture in a steady murmur as she descended the stairs.

“Did you find the key?” Amy asked as Rex helped her to her feet.

“Why?” He extended his hand and the brass church key was on his palm.

“Because we have to finish this.” Amy took the key, then touched a warning fingertip to her lips. She retrieved the rope and blindfold that Devon had dropped on the stairs, then turned out the flashlight.

She quietly unlocked the door to Caitlyn’s room as Rex watched.

Caitlyn, it appeared, slept with a light on which would be useful. Yes, Amy liked how the light from it poured into the hidden passageway.

Amy arranged the rope and blindfold, just inside the hidden passage but so that the light from Caitlyn’s room fell on them. Rex stepped into the shadows on the descending staircase as Amy unlocked the door to Zach’s room.

She let it squeak as it opened. Then she left it ajar just enough that the light from Caitlyn’s room would be visible in Zach’s room.

She surveyed her work, knew that she had done all she could, then noted Rex’s nod of approval. She hurried toward him. He took her hand and urged her down the stairs silently.

Amy heaved a sigh of relief when they were back in the security room. Rex didn’t let go of her hand and she dared to believe that he was pleased.

“Zach’s taken your bait,” Dagmar said, nodding at the video feed of what had to be the corridor between Zach and Caitlyn’s rooms. The infra-red showed a man’s figure, who moved differently from Devon. He looked into Caitlyn’s room, hesitated as if to consider his options, then gathered something into his hand. “Looks like you saved this one.” The crew applauded Amy and she took a little bow.

“It’s a very satisfying business, making fantasies come true,” Rex murmured and Amy glanced up to find him smiling at her.

“Addictive, even,” she said, and his smile broadened.

He touched a fingertip to her throat. “I think you need a bit of attention tonight.”

Amy’s mouth went dry at the gleam in his eyes. “I think I should be taught a lesson for taking such a risk,” she whispered.

Rex nodded and rested the weight of his hand on her shoulder. He nodded to Dagmar and her team, then led a very submissive—and very excited—Amy to his quarters.

* * *

Devon was panting and pacing in the attic.

But he had escaped.

He stood still and willed his heart to slow. He couldn’t hear anything through the soundproofed door, but he guessed that they were looking for him. Could he lock it behind himself somehow?

He returned to the door, and bent down to examine the slot where the card went. It was dark in the attic and he wished he’d grabbed that flashlight. Something beeped as he was squinting at the slot.

The little light illuminated briefly, but it was red.

He had a moment to hope that his wish had come true, then he wondered.

Devon hurried to another door that gave access to the house below, choosing one randomly. Were they watching him? Did they anticipate his choice? His adrenalin was pumping at the possibilities.

He took a chance and slid his pass key into the slot.

Unlike before, the light stayed red and the door stayed closed.

Devon straightened and looked around the attic. There were more doors. Surely one of them was open?

Surely they hadn’t sealed him into this place?

Surely she’d been working alone?

But even as he had the thought, two stainless steel partitions slid out of the walls with a quiet hiss and met in the middle, effectively dividing the attic in half.

“No!” Devon roared and raced toward the new wall, already knowing what he would find. He ran his hands over the smooth steel barrier, but there was no way to get a grip on it. He knocked on it and banged on it, but it was made of the same insulated material as the doors. He worked his way to the far end, checking obsessively, then heard that whisper of sound again.