Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
“Show me the other one in here.” She looked around the kitchen, trying to see the line of sight one would have from the outside, if they could see anything through such a small hole. It might afford them a view of the breakfast nook, depending on what was outside.
The second hole was in the front of the house. It was a little higher, maybe three feet up, and this one also looked drilled, not chewed. It was in line with the sink and cutting boards where Molly worked.
“I’d like to look in your bedroom,” Sonia said.
“What is it?” Molly asked. “Do you think the walls are riddled with bugs? I’ve heard of bees making their nests inside walls and people having to move.” She led the way down the narrow hall to her bedroom.
“It’s definitely not bees, Molly.”
The bedroom was about the same size as the kitchen. The bed was a four-poster, in antique seafoam. The duvet was white lace as were the curtains. The dresser and vanity were scrolled wood in antique seafoam. A woman’s room. Sonia thought it was beautiful and classy, just like Molly. The wall separating the interior from the outside was the only wall that might have the “wormhole” on it. The other three were all interior walls.
“I checked that wall yesterday,” Molly said. “If I’d found anything, I wouldn’t have slept in my bed.”
Sonia saw the telltale pile of sawdust. The hole faced the bed. She touched the hole with the tip of her finger. It felt like a hole one might drill through wood. She crouched low to examine it, shining the light from the small flashlight she carried on her keychain.
“Do you get dressed in here? In your bedroom?”
Molly sank down onto her bed. “It isn’t worms, is it?”
“There’s something inside the wood. I’m going outside to look.”
“What do you think it is, Sonia? Has Blake found me? Is that what you think?”
“I don’t know yet. I’ll be right back.” She hurried outside and sprinted around to the side of the house, her heart beating wildly in her throat.
On the outside, she found the entry point. Using her flashlight, she located the thin tab and pulled. A tiny, wireless camera fell into her waiting hand. She smelled Kai and Gray before they got to her and whirled around to face them, the camera in her palm.
“What the hell?” Kai said. “Where does that lead?”
“Molly’s bedroom.”
“How many?” Gray spat the question at her, already striding around the house, using his leopard’s ability to smell and his visual acuity to find the other cameras.
She followed him. “At least seven more. She undresses in that room, Gray.”
Kai had circled around the house in the other direction. In the end, they found nine cameras. Molly came out onto her porch and watched them, her knuckles jammed in her mouth and tears running down her face.
“It’s him, Sonia. Blake. He’s found me. I should have known not to come here. It isn’t like I had tons of money, and I don’t have much now to be able to pick up and leave. What am I going to do?”
Sonia put her arm around Molly’s waist. “You can stay at my place while we figure out what to do.”
“I don’t sleep with clothes on,” Molly whispered. “They have recordings of me without clothes and —” She broke off, looking horrified. “Sonia.” She began to sob.
Sonia knew exactly what she meant. She was alone a lot and needed sex. To have someone violate one’s home and record every private moment, that wasn’t right. “Pack a bag and let’s get out of here. We can talk at my house.”
A dark-colored SUV pulled up to the curb and Bastien Foret slid out. He walked toward them; his sharp gaze took in the group on the porch, touched Molly’s tears and then dropped to the two men. Both slid the cameras into their pockets as he approached.
“Molly? Are you all right?” It was a demand, spoken in a low tone of complete authority.
Molly dropped her face into her hands and cried louder.
Bastien moved right past Kai and Gray to pull her away from Sonia and into his arms. “Someone better tell me what’s going on here. And I mean right now.” There was steel in his voice.
Kai and Gray separated. It was a subtle movement, but it put them to either side of the detective.
Bastien narrowed his gaze on Sonia, not in the least intimidated. “Tell me.”
“Molly?” she asked. She wasn’t going to tell Molly’s story, not without permission. She had no idea if Molly had confided anything at all to the sheriff.
Molly nodded, her fists curling in Bastien’s shirt, her face pressed tightly against his chest.
“I hope that means it’s okay to fill him in,” Sonia said, giving her a second chance to protest.