Someone was jackhammering their fist against the wood. I was amazed the door still held. If they were trying to wake the dead, they were succeeding. I jumped out of bed and threw on the first robe I could find. It was a smooth black silky number with large pale flowers and a decidedly geisha feel. I didn’t have time to be picky, since the pounding reverberated around my empty apartment like an echo with a vendetta.
James rolled off the bed behind me, running an absent hand through his hair. He looked completely unfazed by the early morning wake-up call, which was good news. It meant our visitor wasn’t a serious threat. I was happy to know I wouldn’t have to start the day off with my fists.
“Morning, Jessica,” James murmured as he strode toward the bathroom. “Call me if you have any trouble.” He shut the door behind him.
The pounding intensified as I belted my robe. I hurried out of my bedroom wondering who the mad knocker was. It could be my father, but I hadn’t sensed him. That didn’t mean much, since I hadn’t sensed last night’s attacker either. I sampled the air, but there were still too many other lingering scents in my living room from last night. A residual blast of pheromones gave me a little jump. Yikes.
I stopped in front of my nailed-together, barely still upright door and paused. It was probably an angry neighbor coming to give me grief about all the racket I caused last night. But there was no way I was making the same mistake twice.
I pressed my face up against the door right by the defunct deadbolt and inhaled deeply through the tiny opening.
I barely needed a full breath to figure out who was on the other side.
Crapola.
I wondered for a second if I could get away with not answering. This so wasn’t how I wanted to start my day. It was six-thirty in the damn morning.
Another stream of fist-pounding, followed by a muttered curse. “I know you’re in there, Hannon. I can wait out here all day if I have to. There’s nothing on my agenda today more important than nailing your ass to the goddamn wall. Now open up!”
Dammit all to hell. How was I going to get the door open without causing a scene? “Hold your horses, Ray,” I grumbled. “I’m here, but at this ungodly hour I was asleep like most of the other normal people on the planet. Gimme a minute.”
Most likely, when he arrived at work this morning he discovered that a police car had been dispatched to this address last night, so he hightailed it over without thinking it through. Now I had to deal with him.
“I’m going to wait for exactly five more seconds, Hannon. Then I’m going to kick it in.”
“Ray, are you holding a warrant for that?” I called. “If you have one, you’ve been a very busy boy this morning. If you don’t, kicking my door in would mean lots of nasty paperwork for you—not to mention some serious legal hassles. I’m not sure I’d rush into that direction if I were you, but honestly, be my guest …”
He grunted his response, adding a few choice words.
Cripes, this man pissed me off. I should let him break down the door. He would get reprimanded and if nothing else, maybe someone without an evil grudge against me would be assigned to my case. But deep down I knew there was really no way to get rid of him; like a homing pigeon, he would always come back.
So I did the only thing left I could do. I braced my silky geisha-clad shoulder against the door, grabbed on to the knob with both hands, and gave it one swift, hard yank.
The door popped instantly free of the opening. I stumbled back a few steps ungracefully as it wobbled against me. I’d used too much strength, but I recovered nicely, and calmly placed it a few feet to the right of the opening.
I turned back to Ray with a sunny smile on my face, like nothing out of the ordinary had just happened. “Hi, Ray. So glad you could drop by.”
Ray was momentarily stunned. He tried to recover himself, but it took a second. “What in God’s name is going on here now?”
“You know, Ray, people keep asking me that and I don’t really have a good answer. But I promise when I have one you’ll be the first to know.” I turned and headed to my kitchen to make a pot of coffee. Ray chased after me, lecturing my retreating back.
“Did you happen to know a police car was dispatched to this location last night at approximately eleven-fifteen p.m.?” he barked. “And they left without even coming in. The officers who responded actually said they ‘forgot’ to file a report. Doesn’t that seem a little strange to you, Hannon? A little too out of the ordinary for this quiet building to get hit again so soon?”