Pounding on the room’s door brought Raissa out of her satisfied haze. “Raissa,” Maryse said in a loud whisper. “There’s somebody out back. I’m opening the door.” Raissa heard the key turning in the lock and looked at Zach, who was frozen, staring at the door as if he were headed for the chopping block. It was far too late to do anything about clothes, or blankets, since the only one within reach was the one they were laying on. So Raissa did what any other woman would do in that situation. She smiled.
Maryse opened the door and slipped inside. She looked toward the bed, but when she found it empty she looked the other direction and gasped. “Holy shit.” She put her hands over her eyes. “I am sooooooo sorry. I had no idea you two were…um…working? On the floor? In the nude?”
She spread the fingers on one hand and took a peek. “Okay, well, maybe I’m not completely sorry.”
Raissa laughed as she sat up and tossed Zach’s clothes to him. “The bathroom’s behind you. Put on some clothes before she gets any ideas.”
Maryse lowered her hands as Zach slipped into the bathroom, and leaned slightly to the side so she could watch his backside. “You mean any more ideas.” She grinned at Raissa. “Wow. Nice butt, but don’t you dare tell Luc I said so.”
All of a sudden, the grin dropped from Maryse’s expression. “Holy crap—I completely forgot. The monitors. There’s a guy out back.” She grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt from the dresser and tossed them at Raissa. “Would you mind?”
Raissa slipped into the jeans and shirt as she studied the monitors. “Where did you see him?”
Maryse pointed to a monitor showing the alley behind the hotel. “He was behind the hotel at the back door. He tried the door handle, and I figured he was going to try to break in, so I hauled butt down here.”
Raissa studied the screen and frowned. “Then where is he now? The alarm never went off, so he’s not in the hotel.”
“Maybe we should have Helena look. She’s in the room next to mine. I could send her outside.”
Raissa nodded. “Do that, but get right back in here afterward. I don’t want us separated if we don’t have to be. Where’s Mildred?”
“She had three glasses of wine at dinner tonight, so she’s sleeping like the dead.”
“Good, then tell Helena to keep this quiet so we don’t panic her.”
“Gotcha.”
“Who’s Helena?” Zach asked, and they both jumped. Maryse stared at him, her eyes wide, then rushed out of the room, shooting a fearful glance at Raissa on her way out.
“Who’s Helena?” Zach repeated. “Another friend?”
“You could say that.” Raissa frantically searched her mind for a rational way to explain Helena Henry. Finally, she decided to avoid the topic for the moment. “She has special abilities.”
Zach raised one eyebrow. “Can she make herself invisible? Because I can’t think of a good reason to send someone outside the hotel to look for this guy unless you want them dead.” He stared at Raissa for a moment. “You don’t want her dead, do you?”
“Of course not!” Because she already is. “I would never intentionally put another human being in danger.” Not a live one anyway.
Thankfully, Maryse slipped into the room again and saved her from any more Helena questions. “Well?” Raissa asked.
Maryse shot a nervous look at Zach, then looked back at Raissa. “She was asleep, but she’s headed downstairs now. If she sees anything, she’ll come back up.”
Raissa nodded and looked at the screen displaying the back of the hotel just in time to see Helena walk through the hotel wall and into the alley. She tapped the screen and Maryse stepped closer to look. Zach looked at the screen, then at Raissa and Maryse, wondering what the hell they found so interesting.
Raissa knew she was holding her breath as she watched Helena stroll across the alley to the garage. Neither Raissa’s nor Maryse’s car was in Mudbug, much less in the garage, but the intruder had no way of knowing they’d arrived by way of a fish truck. Helena walked through the wall of the garage, and Raissa looked over at Maryse.
Maryse’s eyes were wide as saucers, and she inclined her head toward Zach. Raissa barely shook her head to let Maryse know that Zach was not in on the Helena connection. With any luck whatsoever, he’d never have to be. Raissa looked back at the monitor.
But her luck had run out.
A man burst out from the front door of the garage and right behind him came Helena. Raissa might still have been able to swing an explanation if it weren’t for the trashcan lid and crowbar Helena was wielding like one of King Arthur’s knights. The only blessing was that Zach couldn’t see what she was wearing. Unfortunately for Maryse and Raissa, they could, and full body tights with a family crest on the front was not Helena’s best look.
“What the hell!” Zach stepped in between Maryse and Raissa and leaned forward until his face was only inches from the monitor. “What is that?” He looked from Raissa to Maryse, neither of whom were speaking. “You both know something, and I want you to tell me what it is right now.”
Raissa considered what it must look like from Zach’s point of view and understood his disbelief. After all, floating garage articles chasing an intruder down an alleyway wasn’t something you saw all that often.
Maryse gave the monitor one last panicked look. “I better head downstairs. I mean, there’s no chance he’s coming back to the hotel, right?”
“I seriously doubt it,” Raissa said. “Go intercept.”
Maryse nodded and hurried out of the room. Raissa watched the monitor until she saw Maryse open the back door and poke her head out. Helena appeared a couple of seconds later and slipped into the hotel with Maryse, dropping the crowbar and trashcan lid next to the back door. Raissa let out a sigh of relief that the excitement for the night hadn’t involved injury or death.
“I want an answer,” Zach demanded, “and I’m not leaving here until I get one.”
“An answer to what?” Raissa tried on her best innocent look. “He was obviously looking for my car or maybe Maryse’s and something spooked him, so he ran.”
Zach’s face flushed with anger. “You know damned good and well what spooked him. The man was being chased by a crowbar—a crowbar without a human being attached. Damn right he was spooked. I’m spooked, and I’m three stories up in a hotel room. It’s like a B horror movie. What the hell is going on, Raissa? I know you and Maryse are keeping something from me. That whole picture-taking story never added up.”
Raissa sighed and sank into one of the folding chairs in front of the monitors. “How open-minded are you?”
“In what way? Religion? Politics? Equal rights for cats?”
“To…um…paranormal things.”
“You’re telling me your friend, this Helena, can make herself invisible? I’m not buying it.”
“No, she doesn’t make herself that way. Man, this is hard. The paranormal realm has so many avenues that we really don’t know that much about. I’m learning every day, and it’s been my business for over eight years.”
Zach stared at her, clearly uncertain of what to say. “You told me you hacked information to convince your psychic reading clients you were the real thing.”
Raissa nodded. “And that’s true, but…uh…that part where I told you I talked to dead people…Well, it’s actually only one dead person, and I didn’t ask to talk to her, but she’s there anyway.”
There was complete silence in the room. Raissa was sure neither of them was breathing. Zach stared at her with a mixture of horror, confusion, and a touch of fear. His expression clearly said he’d not only bought into the ravings of a madwoman, he’d slept with her, too. He was probably mentally processing his severance pay as he stared.
“I know,” Raissa said, “it’s a lot to buy—”
“It’s impossible to buy. I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, but you’re not going to play it with me.” He shoved his wallet and keys into his pants pocket and turned to leave the room, but before he could walk out, Maryse stepped in.
“I thought there might be a problem with, well, you know,” Maryse said, “so I came back to help.”
“Oh, there’s a problem all right,” Zach said. “You two are crazy. And from now on, you’re on your own.”
Maryse shook her head. “We’re probably crazy, but not in the way you think.” Maryse looked to Zach’s side and nodded. “Show him, Helena.”
Zach looked to his right as Raissa’s lipstick rose from the dresser.